The Boundless Mindset Podcast: Recent Episodes

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Welcome to this amazing episode, I'm thrilled to have Sharon Nyangweso, the founder and CEO of QuakeLab, a dynamic force in the realm of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Sharon's journey from Kenya to Canada has been a testament to resilience and innovation, and today, we delve into her insights and experiences.

Interview Highlights:
- Origin Story: Sharon shares her journey from Kenya to Canada and how her experiences shaped her passion for equity and inclusion.
- QuakeLab's Mission:Exploring the core principles and unique approach of QuakeLab in promoting measurable diversity strategies.
- Design Thinking for Inclusivity: How Sharon integrates design thinking into her work, making inclusivity actionable and impactful.
- Community Engagement:Sharon's leadership in empathetic community engagement and the importance of moving from aspiration to action.
- Cross-Sector Collaboration: Insights from working with organizations across 11 countries and bridging diverse perspectives for inclusive outcomes.
- Ups and Downs: Reflecting on the challenges and triumphs of Sharon's entrepreneurial journey and the lessons learned along the way.
- Future Vision: Exciting developments and initiatives on the horizon for QuakeLab and Sharon's vision for advancing equity and justice.

Grateful to have Sharon Nyangweso at the Podcast, for sharing her wisdom and inspiring journey with us.

Stay tuned for more episodes empowering conversations and share your thoughts on this episode:

• What stood out the most to you?
• What did you resonate with?
• What are your takeaways

Connect with Sharon:
Quakelab

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In this episode, we get to hear Drayton Mulindabiwi Jabo's remarkable journey as a young CEO blazing trails in the world of innovation! At just 22 years old, Drayton is not your average entrepreneur – he's a creative visionary with a passion for turning ideas into reality.

Leading the charge at The Novas Group, a rapidly growing innovation firm, Drayton's unwavering optimism and keen eye for opportunities have propelled him to new heights. Join us as we dive deep into Drayton's story, exploring his relentless pursuit of creativity and his drive to tackle challenges head-on. From founding 20today20tomorrow, an ideation hub aimed at harnessing the potential of young talent for social change, to co-founding The Novas Group, Drayton's entrepreneurial journey is one marked by innovation, creativity, and boundless potential.

Don't miss this episode of Hub Talks as we uncover the secrets to Drayton's success and learn how he's reshaping the landscape of venture creation one bold idea at a time. Tune in now for an inspiring conversation that will leave you motivated to chase your own dreams!

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Hello Boundless Beings!

Welcome to another episode of the Boundless Mindset Podcast! Thank you so much for tuning in and sharing this time with us :)

I'm thrilled to bring you today's conversation with the one and only Saunia Keddon, the Program Manager at the Chnge Mker Hub!

In this episode, Saunia and I dive deep into the journey of the Chnge Mker Hub, discussing its humble beginnings, the inspiration behind its creation, and the challenges and triumphs of bringing such a transformative initiative to life. We also share our personal experiences and reflections on the impact of the Chnge Mker Hub on individuals and communities as we celebrate our one year anniversary.

But that's not all! Saunia also gives us a sneak peek into the exciting things that are coming down the pipeline at the Chnge Mker Hub, promising even more opportunities for positive change and innovation.

Thank you for joining our conversation and sharing this time with us! As always, we encourage you to engage, stay connected, and share your thoughts with us. Let's continue to inspire each other and make a difference together.

Without further ado, let's jump right into the episode!

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Welcome back, Boundless Beings! It's a brand new year, and I'm thrilled to be back with you on this journey of personal growth, empowerment, and community. I'm your host, Mona, and you're tuned in to another episode of The Boundless Mindset Podcast.

In today's episode, we're going to dive deep into what I've been up to during my break from the podcast and my exciting new initiatives for the year ahead. But before we get into that, I want to extend my heartfelt gratitude to all of you for your continuous support and encouragement. You, my dear listeners, are the reason I'm here, and I'm so excited to share this journey with you.

During my hiatus, I've been busy working on something that's incredibly close to my heart – the launch of the "Chnge Mker Innovation Hub." This is a space dedicated to empowering Black entrepreneurs to start and scale their businesses. I believe that when we support and uplift each other, we create a ripple effect of change and impact in our communities. This hub is a step towards that vision, and I can't wait to tell you more about it.

But that's not all! As we kick off the new year, I'm excited to bring you fresh, insightful content that will support you on your mindset journey. We'll be exchanging meaningful experiences, strategies, and stories that can truly bring about transformation and change in your life. I want this podcast to be a valuable resource for you as you work towards achieving personal and financial freedom.

And here's the thing, Boundless Beings– your feedback and input are invaluable to me. We're in this together, and I want to hear from you. Share your thoughts, your questions, and your suggestions. Let's continue to build a thriving community where we learn from one another and grow together.

Our shared goal is to achieve personal and financial freedom while making a positive impact in our communities. Recognizing that mastering our mindset is the key to unlocking our dreams and overcoming limitations, we'll explore powerful strategies and insights in the episodes to come.

So, get ready for an incredible year ahead, filled with inspiration, growth, and transformation. Together, we'll navigate the path to personal and financial freedom, and I can't wait to embark on this journey with you all.

Thank you for tuning in to today's episode! Let's connect, learn, and grow as a community. Stay tuned for more exciting episodes, and until next time, always remember – your mindset is the key to your dreams. So, keep dreaming big and never stop believing in yourself, Stay Boundless!

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In this episode, I’m focusing on challenging your fixed mindset thinking as step 2 to your Mindset Mastery journey.

What’s a fixed mindset or thought?

A fixed mindset means you believe that intelligent, talent, and other qualities are innate and unchangeable. If you’re not good at something, you typically think you will never be good at it. By contrast, a growth mindset means you believe intelligence and talent can be developed with practice and effort.

Examples of fixed mindset thoughts:

1. I can't make this any better; it is what it is.
2. I've always been told that I'm not good at ------.
3. I take feedback as a personal attack.
4. There's no point in trying if I'm going to fail anyway.
5. It's too late for me to start something.
6. Either I'm good at something, or I'm not.

Negative thinking is rooted in our fixed mindset. Once we understand that we can challenge our fixed mindset, the next step is to become aware how we can challenge it when it shows up.

But first let’s understand how negative thinking is showing up for you. What’s your thought pattern.

1) Understand Your Thought Patterns

There are many different types of negative thinking thought patternss:

• Black and white thinking- where we see everything as one way or another, with no in between
• Personalizing- where we assume that we are to blame for anything that goes wrong (this doesn’t take into account other factors that don’t have to do with us)
• Filter thinking- where we choose to only see the negative side of things
• Catastrophizing- assuming the worst possible outcome will happen

When we can recognize these negative thinking patterns, we can then replace them with more helpful and growth based thinking patterns.

2) Practice Mindfulness

Mindfulness like meditation, can help us focus on the present, rather than dwelling on events of the past or worrying about the future. When we detach ourselves from negative thoughts, we can view them as an outside observer and challenge them easier.

3) Focus on Gratitude

Challenge negative thoughts by focusing on gratitude. When we are in a negative headspace, it can sometimes be difficult to think about what we’re grateful for. Regardless, try thinking about three things you’re grateful for each day, even if they are really small. When we focus on gratitude, we are more likely to also adopt a more positive mindset.

4) Commit to continues growth and development

The more you do this, the more you program your mindset, challenge your fixed and negative thoughts and become more and more confident in yourself and your abilities.

If you want to know more about you mindset, take the mindset quiz:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VNWGWvKN7UNceZ1ovcYMDxwMBXd1G_tU/view?usp=sharing

Thank you for listening! Please Share your thoughts and takeaways on this episode.

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Meet Sara Sheikh! With more than 25 years of corporate experience, Sara started spending
days and nights, establishing her business, and working to scale it up. Within the first two years she grew her first business to multi six-figure revenue. Today Sara manages a successful
coaching business along with her modest fashion boutique.

In this episode, you get to hear about Sara's exciting entrepreneurial journey and the secret to her success that she now teaches to other entrepreneurs.

Connect with Sara Here:
http://www.sarasheikhllc.com/
https://www.facebook.com/sara.sheikh.92
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sara-sheikh
Sara@sarasheikhllc.com

Please share your thoughts and let me know what you thought of this episode and your takeaways!

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This Episode is all about defining what's self-awareness as the first step to any personal growth and mindset mastery.I'll explain the benefits of gaining increased self-awareness and what you can do to cultivate more awareness in your thoughts, emotions and behaviours.

Self-awareness is the habit of paying attention to our own minds—our thoughts, emotions, and behaviours. 

I discuss the following ways to practice being more self-aware:

1.    Pay attention to what bothers you about other people

2.    Meditate 

3.    Get into some good fiction

4.    Identify your emotional kryptonite

5.    Draw a timeline of your life

6.    Uncover your blindspots 

7.    Invite new experiences

8.    Learn a new skill

9.  Clarify your values

How are you cultivating more self-awareness?

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Meghan Stewart - Wills is a Certified Mindfulness Coach based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

She was featured as one of 10 women in the Ottawa area building community by supporting and promoting wellness.  Meghan says that Mindfulness is accessible to harness in our emancipation of mental slavery; it empowers self-awareness, self-mastery and equanimity.

This was truly heartfelt and enriching conversation that I couldn't get enough of. 
Hope you enjoy it too. 

Connect with Meghan:

Website: Mindfulnessmeghan.com
Youtube: Mindfulness Meghan
Instagram: @mindfulnessmeghan

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Some Historical Facts about BHM:

• The commemoration of Black History Month in North America dates back to 1926, when Harvard-educated African American historian Carter G. Woodson proposed setting aside a time devoted to honour the accomplishments of African Americans and to heighten awareness of Black history in the United States.
• This led to the establishment of Negro History Week in 1926. Celebrations of Black history began in Canada shortly thereafter.
• During the early 1970s, the week became known as Black History Week. It was expanded into Black History Month in 1976.
• In December 1995, the House of Commons officially recognized February as Black History Month in Canada following a motion introduced by the first African Canadian woman elected to Parliament, the Honourable Jean Augustine. The House of Commons carried the motion unanimously.
• In February 2008, Senator Donald Oliver, the first Black man appointed to the Senate, introduced the Motion to Recognize Contributions of Black Canadians and February as Black History Month. It received unanimous approval and was adopted on March 4, 2008.

As an immigrant teenager, I didn’t really grasp the whole meaning of BHM. In High School I felt that BHM was when we were allowed to be black or celebrate our blackness. it was upto the black kids to prepare something to present to the whole school.

School administration was not really part of supporting the student. I got the feeling that they were saying to us – it’s your month so do what you want!

We did some performances and put together shows for the school. But there were not many meaningful educational programs developed by the school and the teachers for BHM.

But now, I notice that BHM has evolved into something more significant and that’s a step in the right direction.

It's important that we create intentions and personalize what black history means to us to help to move the needle forward.

I was invited to speak at the City of Ottawa as part of the BHM celebrations this week I I truly felt honoured and humbled to take part in the event and the celebrations. One of the things that I talked about is to be intentional of what we want to accomplish by the end of this month?

Ask yourself:
How would you like to experience BHM every year?

What can you do to me more intentional and in your BHM efforts?

What can we do to use BHM to create awareness and amplify our voices?

To advance our cause and advocate for ourselves?

We can use our voices and capacity to show-up for ourselves and as a result we also show us for our community and those that come after us.

Sometimes, this means taking the initiative for BHM at your workplace, schools and in your community at large.

We can all do our part in our perspective spaces to inspire change, create awareness and hold others accountable to create safe and equitable environment for black people.

So this month, I ask yourself, how can I take advantage of BHM to move the needle in any way that you can

If you’re in the entrepreneurship space, talk about what it means to be a black entrepreneurs, the benefits and challenges and invite others to join you in this conversation. You can do the same in your prospective fields.

BHM is also a chance for others to celebrate with us and experience the diverse and vibrant black cultures in CANADA. Do what you can, make it inspirational, engaging and joyful

Happy Black History Month!

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I have to be honest…the concept of self-care is sometimes a bit foreign to me.

As I gain more self awareness, I start to ask myself, why that is?

Why it doesn’t come-up for me often?

What I am starting to realize is that I have been conditioned to not care about my self-care

Let me explain:

There’s a Somali proverb that says “Nin lagu seexdow, has seexan”

This translates to – If there’s someone sleeping on you, don’t sleep.

In other words, if you have people depending on you, you can’t afford to sleep.

This proverb explains exactly how I feel about self-care

As a young single mother, I often was busy doing everything that I could to meet my children’s needs. there was not much left to think about self-care and my own needs

When I entered the workforce, I felt that I better make use of this opportunity! I better work my butt off to go above and beyond to show my boss that they weren’t wrong in giving me a chance.

And when I finally became the manager of my Centre, I had 20 bosses that I answered to. I considered everyone in my team as my boss. I felt that it was up to me to make sure they were happy. I was the go to person for all their issues at – I had that open door policy for real!

But the problem with that was that I felt their needs were always more urgent than mine.

I did that because I felt, I wanted to do a good job. Support my people the best way that I could and at all cost.

In the background tho, the story that was playing was, like me so that I can keep my job.

I felt if I talked about my needs, I wouldn’t be seen as a strong person. I would be dispensable.

Can a WOC afford to complain at work and run the risk of being seen LAZY! Or God forbid Difficult! Can you relate to this?

I felt so depleted at the end of the day, I had no energy left for my family and myself to enjoy life. I just came home and crashed! Only to repeat the same thing tomorrow.

And now, As an entrepreneur I find myself at times this mindset showing up in different ways.

The thing that I have to be mindful of is that If I don’t show-up for me and my needs, I can’t expect others to do it.

One mistake that I made as a parent is that I’ve always sheltered my children from the problems, struggles cause I wanted them to have worry free life.

But what I realize is that even your kids need to understand that you’re human and that you have needs.This is why it’s important to allow kids to understand your needs as a parent and your challenges without traumatizing them.

That helps them understand and appreciate you and have compassion and empathy for you.

As I become more aware of this, I realize that the mindset behind my thinking is the lack.

It’s the belief that my needs are not important. That I exist only to serve others

As you reflect on your feeling towards self-care, recognize what's coming up for you:

• Do you feel comfortable to say no when something feels too much for you?
• Do you feel like you need a strong reason to say no?
• Do you resistance resistance expressing your needs?
• Do you feel like you have to do it all by yourself?
• Is the Strong Black Woman Syndrome showing up for you?
• Are you unwilling to do fun things just for you?

Remember, just because you have responsibilities does not mean that you don’t have to practice self-care.

Self-care is a feeling that you matter, and that you’re a worthy of prioritizing your needs above all

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I had the pleasure of chatting with Anwin Mbah.

The  founder of Wealthfluency and Gender/Racial wealth gap advocate helping business women gain clarity and control of your business finances so you can get more F-words (fun, freedom and family-time)

Take the Quiz and find out how to leverage your money archetype to build more wealth : https://www.wealthfluency.com/wealth-booster.quiz

Connect with Anwin

• IG: https://www.instagram.com/anwinmbah/
• LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anwinmbah/

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We’re so over with the New year resolutions!

Every year around this time we’re filled with so many mixed emotions that we often feel emotionally defeated. To the point that the whole idea of creating a new year resolution triggers us and brings up so many past disappointments and shame of all the things that we said we were going to do, but never got around to it

I 'm guilty of this! I remember getting to the point of not even attempting to try because I felt like what’s the point! I’m never going to do it anyway! And the problem became bigger than the New year resolutions, I stopped trusting myself. I stopped believing that I will do what I said I was going to do. I stopped being impeccable with my word.

This only started to change for me when I found a strong why. A strong desire of what I wanted to do. You see it wasn’t enough to just want to go to the gym because I want to look cute, or start a business because I liked the lifestyle of rich and famous CEOs

No, I had to find something deeper in my goals. That’s the only thing that truly helped me in the things that I eventually ended up sticking to doing. And I’m still on that journey of finding deeper meaning for somethings in my life that I haven’t found the consistency to follow-thought.

In addition to finding a deeper meaning to what you want to accomplish for the new year. It’s also important to monitor your progress.

You want to first think about what’s important to you to prioritize this year. What you focus on, grows.

This is why creating a YES list is so effective. So what is a yes list?

A YES list is a list of priorities that you decide to focus on this year. For example in your YES list, you could have: ·

• Health and Wellness
• Career and Business
• Finances
• Relationships
• Spirituality
• Adventure
• Contribution
• Growth

You want to strengthen your spirituality this year, whatever that means to you. Put that in your YES list. … etc

Think about how improving in these areas can impact your life. What does being physically and mentally well mean to you? How can that enhance your life?

Do that for all the areas in your life

You also want to create a NO list this year in order to become aware of the things that you want to move away from this year so that you have more time and space for the things that are actually helpful to being your best self.

You might put the following in your NO list:

• Toxic relationships
• Self-sabotage
• Lack and scarcity
• Playing small
• Negative energy
• Other

Once you create your Yes and No list, now you decided what you want and what you don’t want in the general sense

So it’s not about going to the gym, it’s about feeling healthy and well. t’s not about getting that promotion by this time, it’s about advancing in your career.

It’s not about generating certain revenue as an entrepreneur, it’s about being consistent in your growth.

Unlike the traditional New Year's Resolution, you’re not measuring how many times you went to the gym or how much money you saved, or if you got that promotion of finally created that dream business. Instead, you’re measuring saying YES to your priorities this year

Each day you want to ask yourself, how did I say yes to the things that are important to me.

As you say more YES to your priorities this yes, you start to build health habits and start to feel confident in your progress. With just one YES, you're able to impact all areas of your life to improve and move in the right direction.

Create your YES list today!

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What a year! I have mixed feelings about 2021. I felt the weight of the Covid 19th as it continue to restrict our lives and I also went through couple of challenging personal situations that offered some really good lessons for growth and learning. But also took a lot of energy and time to deal with

Wins:

• This is was the second year running my business on a full-time basis. This is the year were things got real for me past the honeymoon phase
• I felt that I gave myself the permission to try few things and just go for it.
• I enjoyed renting an office space for the days that I didn't feel like working from home
• Establish partnerships with some of the local service providers such as Invest Ottawa, The City, World Skills and the YMCA supporting their teams and clients.
• Another big win for me was also revamping my signature program to offer more value, I extended the program to 5 months with optimized coaching not only on business but also on mindset development which I was not able to do in the 12 week program.
• Hired a growth partner. This was a big win for me because I was on this one woman show for some time and I realized in order to grow further I needed another thinking partner.

Lessons:

So many lessons ….

• Prioritize ME time. Being in business of helping people, I find myself that I was putting others needs before my own all the time. I was not being as intentional about planning time to enjoy by myself
• Time to do more fun things, learn new skills and hobbies and just discover me in a different way. Looking forward to time with me in 2022
• Create systems to make my day to day tasks easier. I realized implementing automation wherever it makes sense can make life so much easier. Simple thing like sending people the link to your calendar so that they can book time with you was so valuable in cutting the time of going back and forth and scheduling. This something I’ll be looking to do more of this year
• Frequent feedback and evaluations. I felt that the year was going so fast and so many things happening< I didn’t take enough time to evaluate and reflect
• Bring back the fun! To make sure that I’m having fun with everything that I’m doing. I don’t want anything to feel like a lot of energy wasted. I want to rather align and enjoy the process. If I’m not having fun, then there’s an indication that something is off .

What to expect in 2022

Podcast:

• More Mindset, abundance, and mindfulness themes
• Planning on offering some practical tools that you can implement and add to your toolkit.

Coaching Business:

• Rolling out mindset mastery E-course again stay tuned for more info on this
• More workshops, and online events
• The Boundless Mindset Journal will also be available. I’m putting the finishing touches on it. I can’t wait for you to try it and let know your thoughts
• More collaborations with other WOC professionals, entrepreneurs and agencies

I feel like this year will be huge … a lot happening! Kids are growing doing their own thing! Super proud of them. I’m grateful for everything. I feel blessed and loved. I’m grateful for you being part of this journey with me. It's not always perfect, but I do it because I feel I can offer some value. Thank you for receiving and sharing.

Here’s to us! Happy 2022!!!

Kick off the New Year with a Bang and Book your Discovery Call HERE

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Another HOT topic!

What are you supposed to do if your partner does not support your business goals and vision.

was recently delivering my Manifest your Magic vision board workshop when one of the participants asked this questions. It also kept coming up when I asked on social media what topics listeners are interested in.

Becoming an entrepreneurs is a big decision that affects your partner in more ways than one. So it’s crucial to communicate and include your partner.

You want to make sure your partner understands and is on the same page with the changes and the disruption that will happen.

Two things that might cause stress in the relationship are finances and lack of time attention.

Your business will probably require investments that might come from the family finances and cause it to be point of conflict.

And if you’re leaving your 9-5, you’ll have to deal with the loss of your pay cheque and income consistency and how that’s going to affect your partner and family.

You want to make sure you clearly communicate the financial impact and figure out a way to deal with it. You don’t want to make unrealistic expectations and not letting your partner in the loop of what to expect when your business is not generating as planned. You want to communicate and find solutions before it becomes a major problem.

The other thing that might be causing issues with your partner is that your lack of availability and attention for him and the relationship.

It’s important that let your partner know that they are important to you and that you are prioritizing the relationship. Ways you can do that is setting time to spend together. Being present with your partner and unplugging from your work and other distractions such as social media.

What if you do all this and your partner just doesn’t want to be on board with you pursuing your dreams. In that case, there’s underlying issues that may have nothing to do with you becoming an entrepreneur.

This can provide an opportunity to work on your relationship and discuss some expectations. Because partners are supposed to support each other.

So why aren't they?

That’s something you’ll need to address if you want the relationship to work for both parties. It can’t be just one person giving all the time and not receiving.

If both parties and committed to each other, the relationship can grow and they can find a way to grow and flourish.

What happens often is that one partner takes the backseat and becomes supportive for the sake of harmony while the other partner expects to just reap the benefits without giving the same in return.

Then there's the societal and cultural expectations that expect women to always take the supportive role and stay in the shadows. So when the women starts following her dreams and shining, that makes some feel uncomfortable.

You might get a lot of criticism and hateful comments judging your actions and intentions.This experience can help you grow as person and help you tap into your inner strength and conviction about what you want and what’s important to you.

At the end of the day, you can submit to the cultural and societal pressures, pressure from your partner and extended family or choose to feel fulfilled to follow your dreams and creating the life that you want.

Whatever decision you make, it’s the best decision for you at this time.

Share your thoughts on this topic. Has this been an issue for you? How did you deal with it?

Thank you for sharing and being part of the Boundless Mindset Community.

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For those of you who have a strong desire to create their own businesses and want to start taking the steps towards that, here’s what you should know:

What do You Care About?
What topics get you fired up! You find yourself being gravitated to? Start with your interest. Don’t overthink this. An easy way to find out is to write down everything you did this week. Where was the bulk of the time spent?

A business coach that can guide you through this process. Book your FREE Discovery Call with me to discuss how to make this possible.

Create Content about What you Care AboutOnce you know your interest, then you need content creation. Content is how you find your customers. How you build your tribe and how you become a magnet to your ideal clients to buy from you. As a new or aspiring entrepreneur, content creation is your bread and butter. You can’t survive without it.

Show-up Big, Bold and BoundlessOne negative side of a 9–5 job is that we’re taught to filter what we say. Because telling the truth in the corporate world can get you in trouble or cause you to lose your job.
Standing for something builds an authentic engagement and loyal followers.
If you find yourself unable to express your views freely because of your job, then that will factor into your choice of leaving your 9-5 sooner rather than later.

Your Job is to ServeBecoming a successful entrepreneur is all about offering service. You might see the glamourized version of being an entrepreneur online, but the reality is that it’s not about the glitter and the glamour. It’s about finding ways to effectively serve others and offer value to your audience.
Without being helpful, nobody will want to pay you a dollar. In the beginning, You will have to offer free service to learn more about your target market and give them a chance to get to know you and find out if you’re worthy of their investment. That’s how you will get referrals and grow organically

Find a way to make $20You probably won’t start something tomorrow and be earning 6-figures next month. If that’s your idea of entrepreneurship, then sorry to tell you that may not happen.
What can help you is if you can create something that people are willing to purchase at a low price. This’s a validation that what you’re offering is needed and from there you can make higher ticket offers. It gives potential customers an entry point to you products and services.

The Golden Rule - Be Kind
Treating people with kindness and respect is such an underrated step. You represent your business and your brand. You have to be careful about what you say and how you interact with others. Being friendly, kind, fair and humble is what will help you become a trusted partner and a brand.
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” - Maya Angelou

Time to Cut the 9-5 Cord?
If you spend enough time outside of work hours, during lunch breaks, and on the weekend, doing the working on your business, there will be a tipping point. When you earn same or more of what you earn in your 9-5. That’s the tipping point. When you reach your tipping point, you want to create a buffer so that you’re not running back to your 9-5 at every setback. That way you leave the 9-5 permanently.

Book your FREE Discovery Call HERE to learn how you can create a business that will allow you to leave your 9-5.

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Dina is a certified Yoga teacher and Mind and Body therapist. She worked in her yoga practice with a variety of people from every walk of life – from sports athletes and martial artists, to people dealing with depression and addiction. Coupled with her life-long passion for psychology and personal development, she continuously strives to design comprehensive programs to improve well-being and quality of life, such as stress and pain management programs.

Dina's passion is to weave yoga and its practice and foundational philosophy with her own background in psychology and psychotherapy, to empower her clients and encourage them to be mindful, kind and compassionate, and to tailor comprehensive classes that promote the mental health and recovery of her clients

She adopts a holistic and integrated approach that combines solid principles from Yoga Therapy (for physical improvement), effective techniques and practices from Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and other Mindfulness techniques, meditations (for optimum mental health and emotional well-being). As well as creatively guided imagery and visualization techniques and progressive relaxation and hypnosis.

I'm honoured to be Co-hosting with Dina in the upcoming Manifest your Magic Vision Board Workshop Weekend Retreat taking place online on December 4th @ 10AM EST.

Join us and Register HERE:

Connect with Dina:

• Instagram: @practice.with.dina
• Facebook: @practice.with.dina

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Nike has almost a decade of experience working in African family businesses, as a NextGen in her parents’ businesses and also as a co-Founder of several others. This inside experience as a NextGen birthed a passion to help others in similar shoes as herself in being effective change champions that collaborate with other family members and stakeholders in co-building legacy businesses that would outlive them.

After graduating from University College London, United Kingdom, with a degree in Economics in 2008, Nike worked at Deloitte London for 3 years in Corporate Tax International where she qualified as a Chartered Accountant. Thereafter in 2011, she relocated to Lagos, Nigeria to work in her family’s businesses.

She is the co-founder of African Family Firms, a pan-African association of family businesses, and the author of “Building Resilient Family Enterprises”. She is a member of Family Firm Institute. Nike is rated as one of the top 100 Consultants globally in the Family Enterprise World by Family Capital, a leading online publication for Family Businesses.

CONNECT WITH NIKE:

• Website: www.nikeanani.com
• Facebook: @nikeanani
• Instagram: @nikeanani
• LinkedIn: @nikeanani
• Twitter: @NikeAnani

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I had the pleasure of interviewing Caelen Love.  A Certified Financial Coach from Montgomery, Al. and the creator of the  Raising The Bar Consulting, where your personal finances matter. 

At The Raising Bar Consulting,  Caelen helps aspiring female entrepreneurs become the CEO's of their money and money mindsets.  Caelen has over 15 years of Information Technology and Project Management in the United States Air Force.   After being in the military, and seeing other parts of the world, Caelen realized that personal finances is an important topic that's often neglected.  She says, "Think about it like this, how many days can you go without spending money?  I want to make sure that we accomplish our financial dreams, and understand how to manage our money effectively".

CONNECT WITH CAELEN HERE:

• Website: https://www.rtbarconsulting.com/
• Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/rtbarcon
• Instagram Page: https://www.instagram.com/rtbarconsulting

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We’ve all been there!

You get excited about your product or program launch, you put it together, start promoting it and then you eagerly launch expecting the sales to come in…..then nothing happens!

You give it some time – do more marketing – Still nothing happens!

This’s one of the biggest reasons why entrepreneurs feel defeated and decide to quit!

Before you quit, consider the following:

• Who did you create this product or service for? Yourself or your target market?  Sometimes we get great ideas that we fall in love with, but we forget that we should be falling in love with our target market not our products.  So ask yourself is this something that my target market wants, needs and will appreciate?
• Is the timing right? Depending on the product/service and your target market, timing might be an issue.  If you are launching a program for mom’s don’t do it during the Summer when the kids are home.  So timing might be a factor you need to consider because if you do everything right and the timing is wrong, you won’t sell.
• Are you pricing right? This is perhaps the simplest, but also the trickiest part of a product launch.   A high price tag item which has other alternative products with competitively low prices can cause the launch to fail. Consumer demand and the value placed on the demand along with supply should dictate price.
• Did you take enough time to market and prepare for the launch? Getting your customers attention takes intention, time, and planning and effort.  You want to make sure all your marketing channels are optimized for the launch.  The timeline for your campaign execution should be well thought out and planned well.  You should also consider working with affiliate partners to help with the launch. You want to take your time and consider everything to make sure your message is reaching your target market and facilitating sales.
• Do you have the right technology and system in place for the launch? Nobody has the patience to deal with system crashes when trying to purchase something when there are many other options available. You want to have enough time to do a soft launch so you can test your systems and procedures before you launch officially.  This extra can save you a lot of headache and lost un-happy customers.
• Did you include Testimonials?  and social proof from you past clients/customers? This can give reluctant buyers the reassurance they need to make a purchase.  Video testimonials are effective way to demonstrate how this product or service have helped others and will do the same for you.

After you re-examine all this you can launch again.  It may happen that you will be able to hit your target second time around.  If not, do the process again and keep trying.

You want to fall in love with the process not just the results.  That way you will be adjusting and pivoting as long and as many times it takes.

The thing to remember is that, even when you don’t sell, you still gain so much value form the launch.

What you develop will be an asset that you can repurpose again and use it as an asset in your business.

You will be able to gain more visibility and grow your audience as result of the launch.  The data you collect will get you closer to what your target market really wants and offer it to them.  Thus helping your business stay relevant and effective.

Are you launching something soon? Do you have some questions?

Get some answers.  Book your discovery call NOW

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In this episode I had the pleasure of chatting with Maureen Mwangi.

Maureen grew up in Kenya where entrepreneurship was not the norm. In fact, her mom and dad were the only entrepreneurs she knew. As a little girl, Maureen listened with fascination as they discussed their product strategies around the dinner table almost every night. As she got older, she became acutely aware of the financial freedom business ownership afforded her family, along with access to more opportunities.

Maureen quickly learned that the secret to her parents’ business success was the reputable, trustworthy product-based brand they created. While others were taking shortcuts and selling commodities on the cheap, Maureen’s parents focused on developing a reputation that was unparalleled in their market. Her curiosity for building breakout brands became the seed for what would become her voyage overseas in search of higher education in the U.S.

Years later, armed with a Master’s Degree in Marketing, Maureen quickly ascended to leadership and began to build some of America’s most beloved brands - from Lays to Chobani to L’Oreal to Dove. She mastered the billion dollar brand building strategies that most entrepreneurs never have the resources to access, and in doing so, she discovered her zone of genius - the rare ability to connect with a market and turn real data into
brand growth strategies that drive multimillion dollar growth.

Today, Maureen is one of the most sought after brand growth experts because of her unique track record for launching and scaling recognizable brands. She is the creator of Big Brand Academy, The Product Profit Lab, and Startward Consulting.

CONNECT WITH MAUREEN:
maureen@startwardconsulting.com
www.startwardconsulting.com

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Making your brand irresistible and getting your audience to fall in love with your business must be part of your daily strategy. It's not enough for your audience to have only heard of your brand once, you have to be in front of them consistently engaging, with them, offering value and sharing content.

The following strategies will help you become irresistible to your target market:

Differentiate

• Without differentiating your brand from that of competitors, your business won’t stand out and you will find it hard to connect with your target audience.
• Think BIG - BOLD & BOUNDLESS
• Take a stand, and never try to be all things to all people.

Create your distinct brand personality

• Be original and let your brand have its own personality .
• Create a visual identity that is unique and engaging and translates your brand story well
• Colours, fonts, formats, icons, drawings, and logos are all part of the visual identity or brand assets of your company.
• The way you look can make your audience feel connected to your brand immediately or get you passed over for your competitor.

Build relationship with your audience

• To have a happy and lasting relationship with your audience, you need to engage and build a relationship with your audience
• Use social media to monitor how your audience is responding to your products and services.
• Use the feedback you get to improve your business offering,
• By communicating your brand story with engaging and relevant content, your audience will feel more connected with your brand.

You need to demonstrate consistently that you genuinely care about your audience's needs and offer solutions to their problems. Becoming a leader in your space and gaining the trust and loyalty of your target market.

For more on creating your successful brand, Download the 4 Step Guide to Starting a Lucrative Online Business You'll Love!

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Finding the right business name is crucial for your business. It can set the tone for your brand and help you resonate with your target market.

Here are 6 things to keep in mind when choosing the best name for your business.

1. Keep it simple. Simple is good. You don’t want potential customers getting confused about how to spell your name when searching online. You want to avoid having to continually correcting the misspelled version of your name. Keep it simple.

2. Check how it sounds when you say it aloud. Sometimes names look good on paper, but don’t sound so good when said aloud. Before deciding, consider choosing a name that sounds good and easily rolls off the tongue.

3. Think long term, don’t pick a name that could be limiting as your business grows.You don’t want to limit your business to a particular product or a specific location. This can prevent a lot of problems down the road.

4. Your business name should convey a deeper meaning.
You will be using your business name for a long time, therefore it should be a name that has a special meaning for you and your target market would be able to relate to it.

There are a number of sites that can help you brainstorm names, including:

• VisualThesaurus.com (gives you a visual around a keyword)
• Shopify Business Name Generator (generates business name ideas and checks domain availability simultaneously)
• Naminum.com (allows you to generate names based on a theme)

5. Get feedback on the name. Come up with 5 to 10 names and then run them by friends, family members, and your potential customers. Get feedback from your target audience as well. This will help you get another prospective and identify somethings that you might have missed.

6. Conduct a thorough Internet search. Once you have chosen your best name, it's time to do a web search to see if the the domain name is available. Ideally you want to find available domain name so that you don’t have to purchase it from the owner. Get the .com domain name, instead of .org, .biz, .net …etc. Customers tend to associate a .com name with a more established business.

I'd love to hear from you! What are your thoughts on choosing your business name?

Download your 4 Step Guide to Launching Your Lucrative Online Business

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In this episode, had the pleasure of chatting with Maxine Grant!

Maxine has 15 years of experience in the marketing technology space, working in corporate Canada and always keeping her side hustle as a Graphic Designer, Project Manager, Special Events Manager, and marketer. She's helped many owners of start-ups establish their businesses.

In 2020, Maxine found herself downsized at the height of the pandemic. With her diverse skill set and genuine passion for encouraging others, Maxine felt that it was finally time to bet on herself and faithfully represent the change she wanted to see.

Searching for her "WHY", Maxine realized her purpose was considerably bigger than herself. She restructured her freelance gig to a full service marketing agency. She began disrupting change in the business world using proven Martech principles, and out of the box customer journey experiences - Creative Bang Lab was born!

Hear more about Maxine's entrepreneurial journey, where she gets her inspiration and resilience from, and how she's managed to become highly sought after in her industry.

Connect with Maxine here:

Website
creativebanglab.com
Bloghttps://medium.com/digital-speaks
Social Media

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/creativebangagency/
IG: @lady.purpose
FB: https://www.facebook.com/maxineg3/
@creativebanglabagency

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Growing up in Guyana with her single mother and seven siblings,  Abina appreciated the support her family received from the community.  As a family they were spared hunger and deprivation by the generosity and kindness of people in the community who helped them during those tough years. 

The experience had a lasting impact on Abina, and became the core driver of her intrinsic desire to provide similar acts of generosity and kindness to single parent families in similar circumstances.

She founded the SHARE-ON project in January 2020, a charitable initiative that aims to relieve hunger in single mother households in her childhood hometown of Linden in Guyana, South America.

Connect with Abina here:

WEBSITE:

https://www.shareonproject.org/

LINKEDIN:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/share-onproject-abina-gilbert

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In the words of the iconic Steve Jobs: "The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do."

There has been alarming data showing that entrepreneurs are experiencing mental health problems that’s often not addressed

There's a study done by the Canadian Mental Health Association: Going it Alone – The mental health and well-being of Canada’s entrepreneurs.

• Generally, entrepreneurs were likely to experience mental health issues frequently.
• Nearly half (46%) of the entrepreneurs experienced low mood or felt mentally tired at least once a week, while three of five (62%) felt depressed at least once a week.
• Nearly one in two (46%) felt that mental health issues interfered with their ability to work.
• Nearly seven in ten (67%) were stressed about their business’s cash flow.
• More than one-third (39%) were stressed about adequately fulfilling their responsibilities at work and at home.
• They also experienced stress about finding the right talent for their company (36%) and due to high self-expectations (34%).
• The degree of stress reported by entrepreneurs coincided with mental health concerns.
• More than half reported experiencing feelings of inadequacy (51%) and more than half reported depressed mood (50%).

The impact of entrepreneurial stress not only affects the work of an individual entrepreneur, but also extends to their personal and professional relationships:

• About three in five (66%) entrepreneurs face difficulty in maintaining worklife balance due to entrepreneurial stress.
• More than half (54%) of the entrepreneurs reported that stress impacted their level of concentration at work.

Some groups of entrepreneurs were more likely to experience mental health issues than others.
• Female entrepreneurs reported feelings of uncertainty and inadequacy, depressed mood, and feeling overwhelmed with far greater frequency than did male entrepreneurs.

• Entrepreneurs whose businesses are in the earlier or “growth” stage were more likely to report experiences of stress and were more likely to report mental health concerns than their counterparts whose businesses were “mature.”

But how come the numbers are so high for entrepreneurs suffering from mental health problems?

• Entrepreneurs are highly focused on their business development in the early stages to the extends that nothing else matters as much
• Their self-worth is linked to the success. They can’t allow the business to fail.
• The world expects them to portray that successful image at all cost no matter how they are feeling

So what’s the solution? How can Entrepreneurs become better at managing their mental health?

• Focus on the work, not the numbers. This means that entrepreneurs need to understand that sometimes the numbers will look good and sometimes they will not. So you should not be drastically effected by this all the time.
• Having the attitude of “This too shall pass attitude." Helps.
• Invest in creative outlets. Creative activities give the mind a feeling of productivity and fulfillment.
• Journal Regularly. Journaling is a way to keep tabs on your emotions. You can also identify patterns that signify deeper mental health problems and work to address them.
• Don't dismiss therapy. Many people find that they can manage high levels of anxiety by applying all their own helpful tools and strategies, but in some cases, these strategies don't work. And entrepreneurs need to seek the support of a mental health professional.

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So you're feeling discouraged that someone else already started their business with your idea! You think that maybe you're too late and there's nothing you can do about it, so you should just forget it!

Before you give-up, hear me out ...

Competition is actually a good sign. The fact that another profitable business exists means that there's demand for this product/service. Being the first in the market does not really guarantee success. Infect it's more riskier and requires a much more investment in changing the consumer perception

Having similar ideas in the market will give you the opportunity to improve existing gaps and inefficiencies.

Here are three strategies that you can use to differentiate yourself from your competition.

1. Create Your Niche

Differentiating yourself by creating your own niche is one of the most effective ways to stand out in a competitive market.

You can effectively customize an existing product or service to offer tailored benefits your specific niche. The more personalized your offerings are the more success you can achieve.

2. Create Custom Business Model

Can you figure out a way to create a revenue model that will help you gain access to the market effectively?

For example, can you offer a tool or resource for free while selling complementary products/services at a premium price.

You can offer a resource like blog or podcast to attract your ideal clients. That way, you can build trust and credibility with your target market, and you can introduce your premium products/services.

Or, You can consider changing your pricing to only charge for what a customer use. Another option is to offer bundles and packages to give more added value for your ideal customers.

3. Create Unique Customer Experience

80% of our business depends on repeat customers and referrals. Having a great customer experience, allows you to differentiate yourself at a personal level in making your customers feel like they matter.

Although automation may be an effective solution for different areas of business, but when it comes to customer service, it may not always work well. No matter how smart artificial intelligent software can be, there will always be a need for the human touch. This could be a great advantage for your business creating that high value human touch for your ideal clients.

So if your startup idea already exists, do not give-up too quickly. Make sure you assess the market, your competition and the unique value you can bring to this space. You can save a lot of time and resources by studying your competition and offering superior product/service for your target market in a way that's relevant and effective.

Love to hear from you! Did you learn anything new from this episode?

For More Resources Download Your 4 Step Guide To Starting Your Lucrative Business

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We go through reinvention multiple times in a lifetime. You can see reinventions happen as we move from childhood and to teenage years showcasing our character and identity.

Turning 30 can often trigger a lot of people to start adulting and taking life more seriously. That’s reinvention.

A different kind of reinvention might happen in our 40s or 50s. We might call mid-life crisis and can lead to major reinventing!

I feel like every five years or so I go through a reinvention, I consider it levelling up.

So if you are realizing that it’s time for you to reinvent yourself and choose a path that’s better suited for you at this stage of your life, Here are 10 ways to help you:

1. See the new YOU. Create a vision of your future self. What are you doing? How do you look? How are you feeling? Who’s with you? Don’t see this like to have to change who you are…it’s more like evolving to the better you.

2. Become the New YOU. Change your inner dialogue. Talk to yourself in the most positive manner. Never put yourself down. Always encourage. Write a brief description of the vision of yourself, the success you have and how you are living your life. It’s like a vision and mission statement for your personal life. Visualize every morning when you first wake up and every night before you go to sleep. Regular and repeated visualization will facilitate a quicker change. You will start to being and feeling the person you are becoming

3. Be patient. Know that change takes time. But with consistency and effort it will be sure to happen. Have faith that whatever you are envisioning for yourself belongs to you and will happen for you. Be grateful and stay the course. .

4. Upgrade your environment. Spruce up your closets, your home bathroom, your personal wardrobe. Everything that you see and other people see on a daily basis needs an upgrade.

5. Use your strength. We often so focus on improving our weaknesses, that we neglect to capitalize from our strength. Leaning into your strengths will give you the confidence to facilitate your reinvention. Create a niche that's complementary to your gifts, strengths and experience.

6. Become in-tune with your purpose. This may take more time than you like. If you will relax and just ask this question, "What is my purpose in life?" for 7-10 days every night before you go to sleep, the answer will appear. Trust me.

7. Let go of your past. It’s very important to not dwell on the past! It’s done! You have to move away from it and embrace the future that you’re creating for yourself. The best in the world only go into the past for analysis, evaluation and swift learning. Share my story about the gym

8. Upgrade your energy. Bring your best energy into your interactions with others. When you choose to vibrate at a higher frequency, you will be able to influence the energy of those around and position yourself more favourably. Try this, next time someone asks you "How are you? respond with something like "Fantastic!" instead of "I've been better".

9. Protect yourself from the haters. Of course not everyone will be onboard with your the new version of you. Your family and friends will have their own opinions about the direction you are going. It's important to not let their input influence and sway you from your goal and vision. They are speaking from their own fears and insecurities that has nothing to do with you.

10. Build your own community of supporters. You want to surround yourself with people that are supportive and appreciate the person you're becoming. They will be part of your support system as you reinvent yourself into your best version of YOU

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What is Impostor Syndrome?

It's the idea that you’ve only succeeded due to luck, and not because of your talent or qualifications. It was first identified in 1978 by psychologists Pauline Rose Clance and Suzanne Imes.

Where does it originate?Some experts believe it has to do with personality traits—like anxiety or neuroticism—while others focus on family or behavioural causes,

Some childhood memories, such as feeling that your grades were never good enough for your parents, or that your siblings outshone you in certain areas, can leave a lasting impact and make you feel like you’re not enough.

institutionalized discrimination, can also play a major role in spurring impostor feelings. The feeling of alienation, not seeing others that look like you in successful spaces, being told that you have to work twice as hard as the rest to show your worth, keeps you feeling like you're never good enough…that you have to outperform everyone else to be worthy.

Perfectionists who set high expectations of themselves can feel like a failure if they don’t meet 100% of the requirements. Any small mistakes can leave them questioning their competent.

Taking on the “Super woman” role can also leave us feeling stressed and exhausted from the need to attain unrealistic expectation in all areas of their lives

What are the Symptoms?Feeling like and impostercan happen to anyone; The Imposter syndrome doesn’t equate with low self-esteem or a lack of self-confidence. High achieving, highly successful people often suffer from imposter syndrome

The ultimate reason why we suffer from imposter syndrome is to protect our ego. We take on roles and anything that can damage that image becomes a threatening.

We don’t feel at a deeper level that we are worthy! We have the need to proof to others our sense of worthiness.

You may feel that you're not good enough! That you have not achieved enough! That you have so much to do before you can claim any success.

“I must not fail” – the pressure not fail which leads to an inability to seek success and to enjoy success when we get it.

“I feel like a fake” - Imposters believe they do not deserve success or professional accolades and feel that somehow others have been deceived into thinking otherwise, they have deep feelings that they lack.

“Success is no big deal” - The tendency to downplay their abilities or success and discount their value … they may say things like" I had a lot of help" or "It's easier than it looks".

Is there a Cure?Unfortunately here’s no cure. Most people experience moments of doubt, and that’s normal and part of everyday emotions. The important part is not to let that doubt control your actions.

One of the first steps to overcoming impostor feelings is to acknowledge the thoughts and put them in perspective.

The goal is not to never feel like an impostor, the goal for is to have the tools and knowledge to deal with the imposter feeling or thought when it comes up.

Some helpful tips to keep to help you avoid the imposter syndrome taking over your life:

• Have fun! Don’t take yourself too seriously
• Understand that you don’t have all the answers and that you still have more to learn and that’s an opportunity for growth
• Value your current position and know that there’s great benefit in what you have to offer
• Connect to your WHY. Know that you are not doing this to impress people or to get their approval. It’s not about you … it’s about the service you are providing.

Excited to hear from you! Please share you takeaways and comments :)

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In this episode, I had the pleasure of interviewing Sowmya Rajasekaran.

Sowmya is a champion and an outspoken advocate for inclusion & women’s empowerment with a key focus on social impact. She currently works with the Ontario Disability Employment Network to focus on Innovation & Best Practice in Diversity & Inclusion.

When COVID-19 hit, Sowmya lost her job and began reaching out to her community to check in. These conservations inspired her to launch Buildupwomen, an online community created to inspire, learn from, share, support, engage and build up women during and post-COVID-19.

Here's us, two WOC having a candid discussion on our experiences at the workplace, building our own tables and the future we want for our kids.

Connect with Sowmya here:

• LinkedIn: @SowmyaRajasekaran
• Twitter @SowmayaRajasekaran
• YouTube @Sowmya Rajasekaran

Hope you enjoy it! 

Please share your takeaways, rate and review this podcast episode :)

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This is a gratitude episode! As we celebrate the one year anniversary of the podcast.

I'm sharing with you the journey;

-  How it all started
- What I learned along the way
-  And some insight

Thank you so much for being part of this journey!!! I couldn't have done it without all your support.

Here's to US! and this exciting journey that we're on!

Excited to hear your thoughts :) 

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In this episode, I had the pleasure of interviewing Muna Mohammed, the founder of Eight50Coffee.
In addition to being an entrepreneur who created multiple successful startups, Muna is a high impact leader with a diverse range of experience in leading Marketing & Branding strategies.

For Muna, Coffee growing is a trade that has been woven into her DNA. She comes from a long line of coffee farmers and roasters. As a child, her father would recount stories from his childhood in Ethiopia with infectious enthusiasm.

Growing up in Canada, Muna develop ed a fascination with coffee and realized that it was a tradition that she wanted to continue. The name Eight50Coffee was inspired by The year 850AD signifying not only the origins of coffee but to its history, heritage and a date stamp of the beginning.

Through her brand, Eight50Coffee, Muna redefines the meaning of coffee. She invites her customers to experience the everyday joys through celebrating daily coffee moments, because each day is a new day to connect with the things that matter the most! Through Coffee, we find our moments.

Here's how you can connect with Muna:

• Website : www.eight50coffee.com
• Instagram: @eight50coffee

Love to hear your takeaways from Muna's story and her mission. Can't wait to read your reviews! :)

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In this episode I had the pleasure of interviewing Kawtar El Alaoui.
Kawtar is an international expert in the field of transformational education. She has more than 10 years of experience with multiple modalities and connected hundreds of people across the world with their core values, purpose, and larger positive impact in the world.

Kawtar is a faculty with Leadership That Works India and Mighty Heart facilitator with The Business Plan for Peace. Her programs focus on conscious communication, conflict transformation, cross-cultural understanding, diversity and inclusion, and soul purpose.

Kawtar bridges eastern wisdom with western methodologies and has a deep understanding of human patterns and soul journeys. Kawtar’s programs enable you to create a life where who you are, what you believe in, your work and your leadership are in perfect balance and flow, in harmony within yourself, with your environment, and in service to a better world.

Here's how you can connect with Kawtar:

• Website: https://www.conscioustogetherness.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/conscioustogetherness
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/conscioustogetherness
• Instagram: conscious_togetherness

Love to hear from you! What are you taking away from this episode?

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In this episode, I had the pleasure of interviewing Priscilla Jabouin!

As “The Dream Career Expert”, Priscilla’s passion is to help creative professional single women feel more fulfilled and happy in their life and career.

After her own need for a career change, in 2010, Priscilla returned to school to complete her Masters of Arts in Counselling Psychology. From that moment on, she embraced her new path as a Career Development Professional and Counsellor.

In 2015, she developed The My Map to Happiness™ Method, a 5 part self-discovery process to help her clients get deep inner clarity so they can identify what their heart truly desires (i.e., Dream Career/ Life Purpose) and gain the confidence to make it a reality (i.e., Take Action).

As a Holistic Counsellor and Career Coach, International Workshop Presenter, and Advanced Yoga Teacher, Priscilla integrates her advanced degrees in psychology and education, and in-depth knowledge of yogic philosophy, to create holistic coaching programs and workshops for her diverse female clientele.

Her mission, to inspire as many people as possible to wake up to a life and career they LOVE!

Connect with Priscilla:

• LinkedIn - Priscilla Jabouin
• Website: www.mymaptohappiness.com
• IG: @mymaptohappiness

I'd love to hear from you! What are your takeaways from Priscilla's journey?!

More on how to start your own successful online business;Download your FREE 4 Step Guide to Starting a Lucrative Online Business You'll Love!

Thank you for being here :)

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We’ve experienced incredible changes and shifts due to Covid 19 in the past year and half. With the lockdowns, the travel restrictions, working from home, dealing with personal and collective loss, the pandemic has been a lot to deal with!

As the world and businesses adopt to these changes and implement ways to stay viable and sustainable in the post Covid 19 era, It’s important that we take this time as individuals and reflect on what we learned from this experience

Are we using this experience to benefit us, to pivot and reinvent ourselves?

OR are we just waiting and hoping things will go back to normal?

The reality is that some of these changes will be more permanent than temporary. Our perspective has changed in so much that makes going back to pre Covid norms impossible.

·Some of these changes will include:

• Working remotely
• Digitization of businesses
• Accelerated innovation

As these changes take place, are you reflecting on how they can benefit you?

Are you recognizing opportunities to pivot and reinvent yourself and your business?

It's important to take this time to slow down and engage in reflection, evaluation and introspection.

If you could design a new path for yourself, a path that's more inline with your goals, values and dreams, what would it look like?

Take this opportunity to question the pre-Covid norms and create a better norm for yourself moving forward.

Let's get selfish and choose a path that will serve us better this time.

More on how to start your own successful online business;Download your FREE 4 Step Guide to Starting a Lucrative Online Business You'll Love!

Thank you for being here :)

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In this episode, I had the pleasure of interviewing Yasmen Abd Al-Ahad.

Yasmen is serial entrepreneur specializing in sales and customer service, in addition she’s hosts a weekly radio show, has a youtube channel and facilitates online events. In addition, Yasmen holds a law degree, she’s a mother of three and a wife. How does she do it all? What keeps her going?

It turns out that Yasmen loves working in a fast passed, ever-changing, environments. She gets excited about being involved in multiple projects.

Yasmen is a Muslim, Hijabi , black woman living in Jamaica. She’s involved in the media and lifestyle world sharing her prospective as a Muslim woman living in Jamiaca. Naturally I was drawn to her and I wanted to know more. So I reached out, introduced myself and invited her to join me on the podcast, and here we are!

Connect with Yasmen:

• YouTube: The Jamaican Experience with Yaz
• Instagram: Yasmen Abd Al-Ahad @yaz_zle
• Facebook: Yasmen Abd Al-Ahad
• LinkedIn- Yasmen Abd Al-Ahad

**I'd love to hear from you! What are you taking-away from Yasmen's journey?

More on how to start your own successful online business;**Download your FREE 4 Step Guide to Starting a Lucrative Online Business You'll Love!

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What is entrepreneurial burnout?

Burnout was first coined by psychologist Herbert Freudenberger in 1974. He described it as “a depletion or exhaustion of a person’s physical or mental resources attributed to his or her prolonged, yet unsuccessful striving toward unrealistic expectations, internally or externally derived.”

How burnout manifests in entrepreneurs

A study reported by the Harvard Business Review found a link between passion and burnout. They defined passion, concerning work, in two distinct forms: harmonious passion and obsessive passion.

Harmonious passion was measured as “someone who is motivated by the job because it brings them satisfaction and is an important part of who they are.” On the other hand, obsessive passion was indicated as “a job that is important to someone because of the status, money, or other rewards that it brings.”

The results of this study showed that entrepreneurs who adopted harmonious passion for their work expressed high levels of concentration, attention, and absorption. They were more flexible and found work-life balance without feeling guilty.

Obsessively passionate entrepreneurs were more driven by pressures and outcomes. Concerned with social acceptance, status, and financial gain. They often felt frustrated and broken down by their work. Despite their qualifications, they reported a lack of focus and difficulty in balancing other roles and responsibilities.

The study concluded that those who were harmoniously passionate had significantly smaller chances of suffering from burnout.

Signs of Burnout

Irritability: If you’re feeling more on edge than usual, or are easily annoyed with certain situations, there’s a good chance you’re dealing with burnout.

Weakened immune system: When you’re dealing with stress and burnout, your immune system is weakened, and you’re more prone to illness.

Exhaustion: Entrepreneurs who are burned out are often tired all the time, even after getting a full night of sleep. Your performance will start to suffer significantly when your brain isn’t functioning at its best.

Increased forgetfulness: When you’re burned out, your brain is in a fog, and it impacts your ability to remember things that would normally be top of mind.

Ways to Avoid Burnout

1. Make Time off a Priority

When you recognize the power of stepping away, you're able to tap into even more creativity and energy to plug back into the businesses upon your return.

2. Go Before You’re Ready

Plan a vacation each quarter even if you feel like you're not ready. The benefits that you get will fuel your drive, creativity and overall-wellness.

3. Plan Something to Look Forward To

Reserve time in your schedule away from your business to recharge and regroup, such as daily exercise, a weekly outings and short retreats...etc. You will not only have something to look forward to, but by reserving personal time you will have extra motivation to manage your time well.

4. Take 10 Minutes Every Day

Take 10 minutes everyday to meditate and be still. The benefits are cumulative and you will start to notice the difference it makes in your life.

**I'd love to hear from you! How likely are you to suffer from burnout? How are you prioritizing your time off?

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In this episode, I had the pleasure of interviewing Vanessa Meless!

Vanessa is a wife and mother of three beautiful girls. She is also the co-founder of Yae Family of companies that includes :

• Yae property management ( real estate)
• Yae organic teas ( functional teas to achieve health and wellness)
• Yae baby products ( silicone made and BPA free baby toys and utensils)

Vanessa is passionate about bringing her ancestral healing methods to modern women. Growing-up in Cameroon, Vanessa would see how her grandmother used natural tea blends to nurture women in the family during pregnancy and postpartum.

After moving to Canada, when Vanessa was pregnant with her daughters, her mom would make the journey to help her during the pregnancies and postpartum with special tea blends to aid the body prepare and recover for child birth.

Vanessa's inspiration for her business came from seeing the need that so many women had for natural healing methods. She believes that being a woman should not be difficult. Vanessa explains "I don't want my girls to grow up thinking that being a woman is hard and that they don't like being a woman. I want them to love being women"

Here's how you can connect with Vanessa:

www.yaeorganicteas.com

www.yaeshop.ca

https://www.instagram.com/yae_organic_teas/

https://www.instagram.com/yae_baby_products/

**Love to hear from you! What are you taking away from Vanessa's entrepreneurial journey?

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BrenéBrown's shares the findings of her research on vulnerability in her Talk Talk: The Power of Vulnerability which is the most listened Ted talk over 15 million downloads. She explains that many people don’t want to discuss shame or vulnerability. In fact, today, people are lonelier, more obese, and more addicted than ever before because they opt to distract or numb themselves rather than address their insecurities or shame.

When people numb their shame and insecurities, they also numb their joy, happiness, love and fulfilment – Living in numbness

Brené down the various aspects of shame, addresses the importance of vulnerability, and the characteristics of those that she calls the wholehearted people.

• They have a sense of worthiness of love,
• They have the courage to be imperfect and vulnerable
• They show compassion to themselves first and then to others,
• They are authentic in their connections – willing to let go of who they think they should be to be who they truly are.
• They believe what makes them vulnerable also makes them beautiful.
• They are willing to be vulnerable, not because it’s easy but because it’s necessary for their own personal growth and to benefit others.

I personally struggle with certain aspects of vulnerability. I would probably try everything I possibly can before asking for help. I’m not sure where that stems from. It could be from societal glorification of independence for those that do everything on their own.

Also being a black woman, not feeling safe enough to be vulnerable, I’ve learned to keep my guard up. Always appearing that I have it all-together as a survival mechanism .

But in business, and life this’s not a good thing. Asking for help and saying I don’t know how to do this will save you so much time and frustrations.

In business Vulnerability is a word that has been heavily misunderstood.

I find that lack of vulnerability is what stops so many people from pursuing entrepreneurship. I often hear people say, I don’t want to put myself out there! What will people think of me? What if I get rejected!

For so many of us, this becomes the thing that stops us from venturing out and trying new things at the risk of looking like a failure.

People seem to associate being vulnerable with being weak, fragile, powerless, or exposed.

What we’re not taught about vulnerability is that it can be used in business as a source of strength to connect with your clients, employees and partners on a deeper level.

When you recognize how to strategically apply vulnerability in your business, you will actually strengthen your connections and engagement

I observe people who use vulnerability the right way in business and I see how it makes them magnetic. When you use it the right way, you become more attractive and you look stronger; people want to be around you and engage with you.

Think of your own experiences with the people you know. Your family, friends, co-workers, or boss, do you like those people that always seem like they have all the answers, never showing any vulnerability or their human side?

Do you enjoy being around them? Same is true for your business and as an entrepreneur.

In essence, using vulnerability as a strength is when you can share a story of sensitive nature while empowering the person on the receiving end of the story.

Think of a tough situation you’ve had to deal with in your life that you were able to overcome. There're many ways you can hare this story. The key element is to highlight the challenge and how you overcame. That’s your story!

I'd love to hear from you! How are you choosing to be vulnerable tod

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In this episode, I had the pleasure of interviewing Suzan Richards, also known as Teachēr Suzan, the Artistic Director of the Cultural Arts Studio in Ottawa. A school of afro-Caribbean dance and wellness community space.

Suzan’s dance journey started early! At the age of 4, her parents enrolled her at the local community center where she trained in classical ballet and ballet-jazz. She continued her formal dance training at The Montreal Jazz Dance Academy, which led her to tour Canada with top performers.

This experience and her strong cultural roots from the island of Dominica motivated her to create The Cultural Arts Studio running now for over 26 years. Teacher Suzanne is a stable in the community!

In addition, Suzanne is a loving mother of two. She’s an arts Educator with MASC - Multicultural Arts In Schools and Communities (MASC) - a local not profit organization that offers schools and communities arts experiences. She is the co-cost of Caribbean Calendar on Rogers-22 and recently she’s partnered with ZYIA Active Wear which you can learn more about by joining her Facebook group.

Suzan is committed to preserving and sharing Afro-Caribbean culture through dance. She believes that everyone should have the opportunity to tell their story through dance and movement regardless of age, size, fitness level or disability.

"Dance is your story to write and interpreted through the language of your soul"Connect with Suzan here:

• Facebook - @Teachēr Suzan Richards
• Instagram - @theculturalartsstudio
• ZYIA Tr3be on Facebook

Thank you so much for joining! Excited to hear your feedback and takeaways on this episode.

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I remember the first time someone paid me for coaching. I took a picture of the payment and had a moment of celebration. Even-though the amount was not that big, I just felt like a professional – I’m finally getting paid doing what I love to do – it’s happening!

Getting paid doing what you love to do can on the one hand feel like too good to be true! And on the other hand, you may feel that you shouldn’t be charging money for something that you love so much that you don’t mind doing for free.

When I bring up the idea of pursuing your passion as a way to also make money, I sometimes get some push back.

I hear things like "But you’re not supposed to love your job! It's there to pay the bills"

What do you think about this statement?

How do you feel about living your entire life doing a job you don’t care about just so that you can pay the bills? Is that worth it for you?

When you reflect on this and you’re honest with yourself, you’ll recognize that you want your life to be more meaningful. You probably want to have life that you can look back on and feel like you lived your life freely and unrestricted following your calling.

But how do you do this? How do you find your passion and make a living doing?

Finding your passion can be intimidating task. So instead, I would encourage you to think about what brings you joy instead.

For example, If dancing is the thing that brings you joy, then you want to explore further.

• Do you enjoy the social interaction side about dancing?
• Do you love choreography, the design of dance sequences?
• Do you love the cultural/historical aspects about dance?
• Is there particular type of dance that you gravitate to?

Now imagine if you could do dance all day.

• If you had the freedom to spend your days dancing and you didn’t’ have to worry about money, what would your days look like?
• How would you structure your days?
• Would being a full-time dancer be a source of joy and happiness for you?

If the answer is YES! Then you want to continue exploring how you would like to exist as a professional dancer? How would you be able to offer value while staying true to what you love about dancing

You see, sometimes people avoid pursuing what they love to do as a way to make money because they have a limiting belief around that. They may feel that it’s wrong to charge fees for their gifts. But that’s their fixed mindset talking.

You're not doing this to make money, NO!

It’s bigger than that. You're seeking to live a fulfilled and meaningful life – spending your time and energy doing what you love to do and making an impact. Yes, you will get paid well for your work – but that’s not your motivating factor.

You owe it to yourself to take time and create space to think about what kind of life you want to live. At the end of it all , what do you want your life to mean. Is there a legacy that you want to leave behind? Is there an impact you want to make in your community and the world?

This can be frustrating at first because you have more questions than answers, but if you are patient and curious about where this journey of self-discovery will lead, it’s well worth the effort!

I will leave you with this:

Starting today, open the window of possibilities and give yourself the permission to seek joy. You will start to experience the transformation of demanding more and stepping into your true and authentic power.

I'd love to hear from you! What are your thoughts on this? Are you ready to invite more joy into your life?

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This is a question that it’s constantly on our minds as we embark on the journey of starting our businesses.

Here are three steps that will help you determine if your business has the potential to make money.

1. Determine if your business has good market

You need to identify if your product or service has a good market. Here are some characteristics to keep in mind when identifying a good market for your businesses

• Can your target market be grouped together? They share enough of the same problems and desires that they can be grouped together.
• Is your target market group large enough? Your market must be large enough for it to be worth the resources you’ll spend. It should give you the opportunity to generate sales in a consistent way.
• Do they share the same perspective? For example, you shouldn’t create a product or service that address the whole population – male and female. Choose one group with shared prospective such as – Active female vegans
• Will your business be in demand? Look at current and future trends to see if your business is sustainable. Have other companies done it and are successful at it? Competition is good in this case! It tells you that it’s been tested and proven to make money before you. Consider using Google Trends to learn about the frequency and volume of a particular topic to assess current trends.

2. Talk to your ideal customers

Think about who’s your target market, What do they like to do? Where can you find them?

You want to get in touch with your potential customers and talk to them. Join their social media groups to learn more about them.

Take part in conversations, ask questions, conduct polls, and conduct informational interviews.

You want to establish the motivating factors for your target market to buy your products/services. What would be a barrier to buying your product/service? What challenges does your target have? What are their goals, desires and aspirations?

This will give you valuable insight and information that will help you develop your product/service for your target market. This will also help you with your marketing strategy.

3. Create an MVP

An MVP, a minimum viable product, was introduces by Eric Ries the author of the Lean Start-up. He explains that the most effective way to develop a product is to create a simple yet viable product that can deliver value for your customers.

Creating an advanced product with many features is not effective at this stage. You want your customers to give you feedback before you perfect your product as you are working with only assumptions. As you get feedback from your customers using your product, you can then further develop and enhance.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this! Has the fear of not making money stopped you from creating your business?

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As an entrepreneur your mindset is your biggest asset.  It can either make you or break you.  Here are 8 essential mindsets for entrepreneurs.

1. Flexibility and adaptability
2. Ability to find opportunities
3. Critical thinking
4. Effective communication
5. Being comfortable with risk
6. Creativity and innovation
7. Initiative and self reliance
8. Optimistic view of the future

This episode will go through these mindset shifts that are crucial to succeed as an entrepreneur.

Love to hear from you! Which one of the discussed mindsets do you feel comes natural to you and which ones do you need to work on?

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In this episode, I had the pleasure of chatting with Patrice Lindo, the creator and CEO Career Nomad, Patrice has over a decade of diverse experience to empower women of color. Through focused and purposeful coaching, she fast-tracks their career progress by helping them learn to effectively navigate and leverage the dynamics of White corporate spaces.

Patrice is driven by a need to fill a professional void that has often made meaningful career progress inaccessible for women of color. She here to provide ambitious women with the strategic resources and social capital they need to create substantial progress in their career.
Having triumphed over these obstacles and institutional barriers myself,

We talked about her journey from a university drop-out to becoming a successful coach guiding the next generation of aspiring women of color towards influential management and leadership roles. She shared her self-care tips to stay centred in today's post Covid -19 era where the lines of work and life and increasingly blurred.

Patrice's infectious energy comes through...she's a whole mood!

Here's how you can get in touch with her:

• LinkedIn: @thecareernomad
• Instagram: @thecareernomad

I'd love to hear your insight! what are your takeaways from this episode?

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I had the pleasure of interviewing Deqa Abukar for this episode.
Deqa is an social entreprenuer and the founder of the swedish initiatives BLING and Womenisa which have hundreds of members and created several leaders. Deqa is passionate about creating change and improving conditions in the suburbs and especially for women.

In this episode Deqa shares her journey of integrating to Sweden as a child, her inspiration for becoming an entrepreneurs and what she's doing to normalize POC being leaders and successful entrepreneurs.

Here's how you can connect with Deqa:

• www.blingstartup.se
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/deqaabukar/
• https://www.instagram.com/deqaabukar/

**Love to hear from you! what inspires you from Deqa's story?

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In this episode, I had the pleasure of interviewing Paula Whitelocke, the owner of the Curly Hair designs.

Paula shares her entrepreneurial journey starting from the age of 13. in the basement of her parent's home. She officially started working at a hair solon at the age of 15. In 2010, Paula opened her own salon, and in 2014 she began to rebrand Curly Hair Designs.

Paula open's up about the inspiration behind her brand and the transitions it's gone through to grow and evolve. Curly Hair Designs fills a gap and provides clients with a comfortable and safe salon that celebrates their hair textures. Today, Paula’s clientele are diverse with their endless varieties of curls, waves, kinks and coils.

Paula is a local icon. In addition to owning the most sought-after salon for curly hair in the City, she expresses her passion for music and singing as Paula C. She is also involved in activism and uplifting our community.

She’s someone that chooses to show up authentically. Being true to herself and expressing herself and all that she does. I am honoured to have the chance to sit down with Paula and have a get to know her a bit more. I love what Paula stands for and all that she represents. She’s such an inspiration!

Here's how you can get in touch with Paula:

• Website: Curly Hair Designs
• Instagram: @curlyhairdesigns
• https: @CurlyHairDesigns

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This's a Q & A episode, I answer the top five questions that I get often.  

1. How do I find what i'm passionate about?
2. How do I choose the best business for me?
3. How can I get rid of my fears?
4. How  do I to stay motivated?
5. What can I do to have positive and abundance thoughts

Other episode that relate to these questions that you should explore:

• How to Choose your Best Business Idea
• When Feeling Scarred is a Good Thing
• Is your Mindset Helping you or Holding you Back?
• Starting with your WHY
• You Got This! Tapping into your Unique Gifts

Please share with me if you have more questions that I can include in the next Q & A episode.

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How do we become aware of opportunities around us?

There're always opportunities that you can take advantage of. But first you have to become aware of them.

Before you can identify an opportunity, you need to identify a GOAL. Once you know what you're trying to accomplish, then you're able to become aware of opportunities around you that you can leverage to help you achieve your goal.

In this episode, I give examples of opportunities that you can take advantage of to support you in achieving your goals in different areas in your life.

You always want to know what you can offer that you can use to fill the gaps that exist in particular space. Knowing this will give the advantage you need to leverage opportunities.

We are living in the golden age of self-marketing. You can create exposure and position yourself however you choose to using the internet and social media.

As black entrepreneur, using your background and story can add value for your business. As a result of the awareness created by the Black Lives Matter movement, organizations and companies are using black people as their marketing and promotional strategy. You can see this by observing the print material and pictures being used by big corporations.

You also want to take advantage of this and market your business as black owned and use your black experience as part of your marketing strategy. You can create opportunities for yourself and business using your story and black identity.

Here are Three simple steps that you can take to help you leverage your next opportunity:
Step 1: Identify a goal
Step 2: Identify that will help your with your goals
Step 3: Take your first action to move you towards that opportunity

If you find yourself hesitating and worrying about the results, shift your focus on the DOING not the results.

The magic is in the doing!This's how you'll continue to progress and advance. Every step will lead you to your next step.

Just do it! like Nike :)

Let's work together! Tell me a bit about you.

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I want to check in with you today - How are you?

When we are asked the question: How are you? We often respond without even giving it a second thought. This's because we know that it's only customary, and we're not really expect to give a real answer that reflects how we really feel.

But what if we tried to actually respond with a real and genuine answer when people ask us how we are doing - What do you think will happen?

One of two things can happen; You might have the chance to connect with someone in a real and genuine way. Giving both parties the opportunity to engage and share a meaningful moment. OR You might get the side stare and the conversation will not go far.

Either way, you will benefit. If the person engages with you, there's the potential to benefit from connecting with another human being. AND If not, you still pushed yourself to seek more out of your daily interactions - There’s tremendous growth in that.

Regardless of accepting the challenge to engage with strangers in this way, It's important to do regular check-ins with yourself and inquire – How you are doing? How you are feeling? And How you are being?

Throughout the day, certain things may happen that cause certain types of emotions and response from your part. These emotions and responses could be positive or negative. They can make us feel great or terrible. If we don’t take the time to examine them without judgement, we run the risk of letting them run our lives.

You might find yourself feeling a certain way and behaving a certain way and have no clue why that’s happening.

When you create the time and space for this kind of reflection, you will be able to revisit some of the things that took place throughout the day and how you felt about them. Giving yourself the opportunity to build awareness and deeper understanding of yourself.

As an entrepreneur, it's key to increase yourself awareness so that your feelings and emotions are not getting in the way of your results. Allowing yourself to self-reflect and increase your self-understanding will help you to be consistently moving forward, and showing up ready to do what it takes to succeed.

Make a decision to create time and space to have regular reflections in your life. This will help you to increase your self-awareness, your self-acceptance and become in-tune with how you are Doing, Feeling and Being.

How are you creating time and space for self-reflection in your life?

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I had the pleasure of interviewing Idil Farah.  Idil is a food nutritionist based in Toronto, Canada.  She has been in the health and nutrition field for 10 years.  Idil takes a wholistic approach to eating and food.  

Her own heath struggles have inspired her to empower others to take an active role in their health and use food as everyday medicine to enhance health and overall wellness.  Idil believes that when you use food as medicine and the kitchen as our pharmacy, we’re able to lead an active, healthy, energetic and soulful life.

In this episode, Idil was very open in sharing her own personal health struggles, some of the challenges she faced starting out and her advice to aspiring entrepreneurs.  I really enjoyed our chat, I felt our energy was in in sink and the vibe was so AMAZING! Hope you enjoy this episode as much as we did.

Connect with Idil here:

• www.idilsworld.com
• IG:  @Idilsworld
• Facebook: @idilsworldeats
• Pintrest: @idilsworld
• Twitter: @idilsworld

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In Episode 22, I started the conversation of Knowing Your Worth by starting to become aware and identify the things in your life that you are tolerating.

In this episode, I want to get a deeper look more about this topic, because self-worth effects so much about how we exist and show-up in the world.

Let’s start with the definition of self-worth.

Self-worth is defined by Merriam-Webster as:

“a feeling that you are a good person who deserves to be treated with respect”.

You might come across many different terms related such as; self-esteem, self-compassion, self-acceptance, self-respect, self-confidence, self-love, self-care, and so on. Although these all relate, but self-worth is the foundation or the core of our self-thoughts, feelings, and behaviours are intimately tied into how we view our worthiness and value as human beings.

How do we then find what Self-Worth Means to us?IAt an early age we observe that people around us show value us when we accomplish certain things. Our parents may us appreciation and affection when we do well in school. And the opposite may happen when we get Fs in the report card. Because of this experience we learn to measure our self worth based on performance.

It’s really important to remind children that they are loved unconditionally. That wether they achieve things or not, that’s not going to add or take away from their worthiness.

**How do we develop our self-worth as adults?

Increase your self-understanding**Ask yourself:
- What if everything I have was suddenly taken away from me? How would that make me feel?
- Who am I? What's important to me? How am I showing up in the world? What brings me the most passion, fulfillment, and joy?
- Where do I need to improve? What fears are holding me back? What mistakes do I tend to make?
- What abilities do I have? What am I really good at?

Boost your self-acceptanceForgive yourself for your mistakes, your fears, your short-comings, your doubts...etc. Commit to forgiving yourself and accepting yourself without judgment or excuses.

Recognize your self-worthPractice being responsible for yourself, your circumstances, and your problems. You no longer need to please other people; No matter what people do or say, you alone control how you feel about yourself;

As an entrepreneur, it’s easy to tie our self-worth to our businesses. Knowing your true self worth as an entrepreneur will give your the confidence and conviction to know why you do what you do. You won’t be caught up about what people think or say about you. Instead, you will be centred, confidently working to build your business, learning from experience and knowing that nothing can take away yourself worth.

I'd love to hear from you! What are your takeaways from this episode?

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I had the pleasure of interviewing Rahma Mohamed, also goes by her pen name Rahma Rodaah. Rahma is a mother of three, an author of children’s books, a TEDx speaker, a community leader, and so much more!

Rahma was born and raised in Somalia. At the age of eight, her family immigrated to Canada. They arrived in Quebec, where Rahma attended her first formal school in French. The first few years were challenging, she endured years of bullying due to being the only black Somali girl in her class and her inability to speak the language. But eventually, she would be first to graduate from University in her family, having mastered both French and English.

Reflecting on her struggles of growing up in a foreign country, Rahma became determined to write books centered on characters that are Muslim and with African roots. She set out to write children's books to encourage youth to be proud of their uniqueness by celebrating diversity. Rahma firmly believes that children need to be able to identify themselves in the books they read to enhance their self-confidence as well as bolster their sense of pride

In this episode, we talked about Rahma’s experience immigrating to Canada as a child, what inspired her to become a writer, raising confident and proud kids, her dreams for the future and so much more! Although this was the first-time meeting Rahma, our connection was instant. I’m inspired by Rahma’s passion for building a future where black-Muslim kids can take-up any space without the need to explain themselves. Join us in this enriching conversation.

Connect with Rahma Here:

• Website: https://rahmarodaah.com/
• TEDx - Pebbles that Build Mountains
• Instagram: @rahmarodaah
• Facebook: @rahmarodaah
• Twitter: @rahmarodaah

**Let's hear your thoughts about this episode, what were some of the things that resonated with you in this conversation?

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This is an important topic for me because when I realized the meaning of this it changed everything for me. It helped me show up differently in the world.

What do I mean by know your worth?

Look around you, what do you see? Are you happy with where you’re at in life? Are you happy with your job, career, business? Are you happy with your relationships? Are you spending your time with people that honour, love and support you?

If you answered No, to any of these questions, then ask yourself:

Why am I tolerating this? And see what comes up for you.

You might find yourself coming up with reasons and rationale why you are tolerating certain things in your life because you feel like it’s necessary for you to do so.

This is another way to justify that you are not worthy of what you truly want and desire therefore, not knowing your true worth.

Your dreams and desires are your higher-self telling you your worth.

It might take some time before we come to get to the place of where we're no longer tolerating certain things in our lives. It could be today, tomorrow or years from now. And for some, they will sadly never get to that point.

So why is it important to recognize your worth?

As soon as you decide that you are no longer tolerating things that are not serving you, you start to recognize your worth.

Knowing your worth will help you align yourself with the things that bring you joy, happiness and fulfilment. Therefore, Manifesting your Magic!

You can only manifest and receive what you believe to be worthy of. As long as you keep denying your worth, you won’t be able to invite your desires.

You have to create a space for your dreams and desires in your life, and you can’t do that when you stay in situations that don’t honour your worth.

If you are finding yourself in a job that doesn’t give you satisfaction and fulfilment, then you need to ask yourself why you are tolerating this job? And you need to be really honest with yourself.

Ask yourself, If I wasn’t tolerating this, how would I be spending my time and energy?

If you find yourself that you are tolerating a relationship that’s not loving and supportive, ask yourself why am I tolerating this relationship? Ask yourself if I could have the kind of relationship that I’m worthy of describe what kind of a relationship would that be?

Once you have these honest moments of reflection with yourself, you’ll start to identify things that you are tolerating in your life because of a limiting belief or lack of self-worth that you may have about yourself.

When I was contemplating whether or not I should quit my job, I had to have real talk with myself.

I had to ask myself why I was staying at this job even though I knew it was time to move on. You see, I believe everything comes with an expiry date, and once we fail to recognize that we are beyond this point and we need to move on that’s when we stay stuck!

When asked myself this question, the answer came down to the paycheque. I had to be honest with myself and know this was the reason why I was stuck in this job.

Then the next question was, is this pay cheque worth giving up my desires, dreams and my life vision.

After this honest reflection, I couldn’t convince myself to reduce my life to a pay cheque.

This was not an easy process, but it was a necessary step that woke me up and helped me gain the clarity that I needed.

Let’s do this exercise:

List all the things in your life that you are currently tolerating

Ask yourself, if I wasn’t tolerating each of these things what would be doing/having instead?

These are the things that you are worthy of! This will help you to start creating space for what you truly desire and cultivating your self-worth.

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I had the pleasure of chatting with Lissa Appiah. Lissa is a Certified Career & Resume Strategist and the founder of WeApply Canada. She offers career coaching, facilitates workshops, and creates career documents equipping mid to senior-level professionals to upgrade their careers and lifestyle.

Her passion for career development began by writing resumes for friends and family. She then progressed to create a young professional network at a charity where she supported the career progression of 75+ professionals.

In this episode, Lissa shares her entrepreneurial journey and how she went through the transformation of rediscovering herself and what's important to her. Lissa also talks about some of the challenges that she had to overcome and advice for new entrepreneurs.

Special gift for you:
Free Resume Review Guide: https://bit.ly/3i9mRXw
Connect with Lissa:

• Website: www.weapply.ca
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/weapply.ca/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lissaappiah/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/weapply.ca

This was an inspirational and insightful conversation! Let us know what you liked about this episode and your takeaways.

Also, I’m excited to share with you that I will be bringing back my popular workshop; Manifest Your Magic on January 20th

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The first time that I became aware of the LOA was when I realized that I was experiencing lack in many areas of my life. I had no idea that I was causing myself to be in this circumstance to be this way.

I found myself in multiple side hustles, but still not financially independent. I was still struggling to pay the bills and feeling exhausted! My quality of life was very poor, I had no time for myself and my kids. I felt like I was running all the time but never reaching anywhere.

One day I was having a casual discussion with my daughters and we were discussing past events that happened, and my daughter Khadra, said to me …”But you know mom, you allowed that to happen”

At first, it was difficult to hear that, as no one wants believe that they allowed undesirable - even painful circumstances to exist in their lives. But once I got over myself and the hesitation to accept the truth in that statement, I realized that YES in fact, I did cause that situation to happen. Without me allowing it, it would not exist! That was my wake-up call.

What is the LOA?

The LOA is one of the universal laws such as the LOG. Even though you can’t see it, it’s there working all the time!

The LOA is based on:

1. Everything is in vibration
2. Vibrations of similar frequencies are drawn together
3. You have the ability to control your vibration and the condition of your life

What’s Manifestation?

Dictionary Definition - To show something clearly, through signs or actions

“Manifesting is making everything you want to feel and experience a reality... via your thoughts, actions, beliefs, and emotions.”

• Angelina Lombardo, the author of A Spiritual Entrepreneur

What you think about all day is what you will manifest into your life.

This is why you hear people say – Same shit different day! Why do we continue to experience the same things continuously even though we so desperately despise it? – Because this is what we are thinking about all the time.

Try this:

• Pay attention to your thoughts without judgement
• Notice negative thought patterns
• Shift negative thoughts to more positive thoughts

I saw my world shift when I created my vision board and allowed myself to manifest my ultimate desires. As soon as I did that, I was AMAZED how my life started to change instantly. I felt that I was vibrating at a different level! I was no longer consumed by thinking about survival, instead my thoughts became all about thriving and being boundless!

That’s how I discovered the LAO accidentally!

Because of that vision board, I created my company – The Boundless Mindset – Which BTW was inspired by the name I gave to that year – Boundless

Waking up every day to support the people I most care about, feeling inspired and fulfilled, living my life the way I choose to live - showing up BIG, BOLD and BOUNDLESS!

As we welcome the new year, I challenge you to allow yourself to dream and desire the life that you want without hesitation, limitation or restrictions. See yourself living your best life. What does success mean to you? Describe how you are feeling, your environment and those around you.

I am so excited to share with you that I will be bringing back my popular workshop; Manifest ?Your Magic this month. Click on the Link for more info and to register:

Manifest Your Magic - 2021 Webinar

Now, I would love to hear from you! What are you manifesting today?

Thank you so much for joining me today! I appreciate your time and presence.

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By the time this episode airs, it's my birthday :) Thank you for spending my birthday with me <3

In this episode I share my personal thoughts on 2020 and how this year has personally effected me.  I also share some of the collective experiences that we as human beings had to go through in 2020. 

As you get ready to welcome the new year, consider taking time to explore your takeaways from 2020 and how you can use this experience to increase your awareness and growth.

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Wishing you and your loved ones a Happy New Year!

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Spirituality is anything that affects our human soul or spirit; it does not focus on material objects. Being spiritual is not inherently religious either. Although some people do seek spiritual in religion, a person can be spiritual in non-religious ways such as practicing meditation, personal reflection in writing, being in nature, being grateful, showing compassion and more.

How can spirituality benefit us as human beings in general?

1. It’s good for your health. A recent study by the American Cancer Society states that patients with religious or spiritual practices have better health, more energy for daily tasks, and fewer symptoms during treatments.

1. Spirituality improves mental health. A study conducted by the American Journal of Psychology found that people with a spiritual practice of some kind reduced their depression by 75% over the ten-year study period.

2. Spiritual beliefs generate gratitude. Psychology Today states that gratitude increases positive feelings such as optimism and generosity, while also increasing energy. Spirituality encourages us to be positive, which in turn also helps mental health. One simple way to be more grateful in your life is to write what you are grateful for each day in a gratitude journal.

3. Spirituality makes us more compassionate. Living a spiritual life helps us be more compassionate and empathetic towards others. Spirituality increases pro-social emotions, which helps us connect to those around us in positive and loving ways.

5. Spiritual people self-actualize. Spiritual individuals strive toward a better life and consider personal growth and fulfillment a central goal. Spirituality can be considered to be a path toward self-actualization, because it requires people to focus on their internal values and work on becoming a better individual.

How can spirituality help entrepreneurship? What are the benefits of being spiritual as an entrepreneur?

• Entrepreneurship lives in the idea of a successful outcome that has not happened yet. How does one acquire that faith? Being spiritual helps entrepreneurs to have the faith and the conviction that their hard work and effort will result in reaching their goals and living their dreams.
• Spirituality inspires good leadership. Self-awareness is key to the success of an entrepreneur and a leader. Even as a solopreneur, your leadership comes through in all that you do; the business decisions that you make, how you engage with your partners and your customers.
• Spirituality or being conscious encourages being the silent observer of thoughts and emotions in yourself and in others without any bias or judgment. As a successful entrepreneur it’s extremely important to remain calm and in control and to not let your emotions take over.
• As a mindful – spiritual entrepreneur, you’ll be able to harness more brain power by practicing meditation and being present which will give your brain the opportunity to gain clarity and increase creativity.
• Spiritual practices such as prayer, meditation, gratitude, living with intention can help entrepreneurs to stay grounded and be humble when business is going well. And it can give them the courage and faith to keep going when setbacks happen.
• Spirituality can help to improve the quality of life and overall wellness of entrepreneurs, creating important balance in life, business, self-care and care for the world. Spirituality can be the thing that keeps you sane and well balanced as a successful entrepreneur… it can be the secret ingredient to your success recipe 

Let’s hear your thoughts, how do you practice spirituality and how’s it benefiting you?

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In this episode, I had the pleasure of interviewing Kareen Aristide. Kareen Aristide stands out as a passionate woman in helping people achieve their full potential personally and professionally. She combines over 20 years of professional experience in employment counselling, entrepreneurship, personal development and mental health.

She offers consulting, training, coaching, conferences and networking events as a certified Human Behavior Consultant (Level I and II) with Personality Insights and a certified speaker with Expert Speaker. She completed a BA Honours in Psychology (concentration in Health Psychology) and a minor in Neuroscience and Mental Health.

Kareen is the instigator of a women's networking group called She Did It! Elle a osé! and owns l'espace PME, a co-working space and event venue for entrepreneurs and their families. She’s been married for 21 years and has 5 wonderful teens.

We talked about, the importance of self-care, the impact COVID19 is having on women entrepreneurs and what we can do to support each other and thriving the new normal.

Register for the She Did it! anniversary:
https://aniversary.shedidit.ca

Social Media Links:

· Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/kareenaristide

· LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/kareenaristide

· Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kareenaristide

· Twitter: http://twitter.com/kareenaristide

· YouTube: http://youtube.com/kareenaristidetv

I'd love to hear from you! what are some of the things that you're taking away from this conversation?

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Why is it important to invest in yourself?

1. You are your biggest asset. At any given time, you could lose all your wealth, your job, the economy … when you’ve invested in your own knowledge and skills, you’ll be able to shift and adopt to your new environment to reinvent yourself and be successful again
2. Your awareness and perspective will increase. You’ll be able to understand your experiences and give meaning to the things that will cause you to overcome challenges and grow as a person. You’ll learn to challenge your old belief system and make room for new beliefs that serve you well to help you achieve your goals.
3. You’ll be able to gain over-all confidence in yourself. This will affect how you show up in the world. How you carry yourself, how you communicate and interact with others and just feeling confident that you earned your place at the table. That you have invested in yourself valuable skills and knowledge that make your contribution so valuable.

I would like to share a personal story with you; When I decided to go to study to become a certified coach, paying for the program was not easy for me. As a single mom of three kids, surviving on one income was a struggle.

One day, I reached out to someone I found online who’s a coach in my City and asked if I could meet him. I wanted to connect with people in the industry and ask them to mentor me.

When I met with this coach and I told him that I was enrolled in a couch certification program, he told me that I didn’t really need it…that I could practice as a coach without being certified. Then he asked me “Are you good at coaching?” I told him “I think so…I think I’m naturally suited, get good feedback and enjoy coaching” then he said …” you don’t need the program!”

I remember leaving that meeting thinking…maybe he’s right, but I didn’t make my decision just yet, I was still feeling uneasy about dropping the course. I came to work the next day and I remember so clearly, we were in a lunch and learn webinar and the presenter was talking about abundance – the idea that there’s always enough and that’s the natural state of the universe to always produce more as we need it to support us. It’s our own perception that sees lack – that everything is limited – Time, money, resources…etc.

When I heard that, I remember being confused and turning to my collogue and asking her what does she mean?

Later that day, thinking about this helped me shift my prospective. In time I learned that the universe and god is always there to facilitate our growth and advancement and that the only thing that’s asked of us is to decide that we want more. As simple as that.

I didn’t drop the course; I knew dropping the course would mean that I didn’t believe that my dreams and future are not worth the investment. The cost of the course and paying for it was not the issue anymore – My perception and awareness has shifted.

So how do you choose what to invest in for your personal growth and development?

If you don’t have a specific goal, or you’re not sure where to start, begin with your WHY. Ask yourself:

• What’s important to you in life, in your career, in your business? if you could have it all - what would that look like?
• What are your values and interest and how can you design your life and business so that you’re able practice it daily?
• What knowledge and skills do you need to develop to help you get there?

Listen to Episode 8 – Starting with your WHY

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In this episode I had the pleasure of speaking with Meg Zirger.  She's a coach for female entrepreneurs.

Meg believes that true success in business comes from inner growth and evolution. She helps her clients to align their business with their passion and innate gifts.  cultivating confidence and solid habits, focusing on productivity that feels good so that they can move things forward with ease.

Meg loves contemplating and exploring the nature of human behaviour, transformation and transcendence. Enjoyed chatting with Meg, I hope that you get a lot out of this episode.

I'd love to hear from you! What successful habits would you like to incorporate into your life?

Here's how you can connect with Meg;
Website: https://megzirger.com/
Instagram: @megzirger

Get your FREE 4 Step Guide to Starting a Lucrative Online Business You'l Love!
For more, visit: www.theboundlessmindset.com

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I had the great pleasure of interviewing Ifrah Hassan who’s a proud Somali Canadian activist turned entrepreneur. She’s the owner of Ifrah's Essentials and Lifestyle Director 3 with Opulence Global, a Canadian company that specializes in health, fashion, beauty and personal care items and operates in over 200 countries and territories.

After only two years in business, she now leads a team of over 1000 partners and hundreds of their clients in 25 countries and counting. Two months ago, Ifrah left her government job of 10 years and is now earning $35K/ month working from home!

We had a rich conversation about how creating wealth can help our communities and help us reach personal and financial independence. We talked about the importance of learning to listen to the voice of our inner greatness, how we can overcome fear of failure, and gain the courage to take that first step and just start!

Ifrah's lifelong mission is to touch millions of lives globally by helping others achieve financial and time freedom as well as live a healthier, happier lifestyles!

Here’s how you can connect with Ifrah:

• Facebook Business: Ifrah's Essentials: Independent Lifestyle Advisor
• Facebook person: Ifrah Sucdi Hassan
• Instagram: @ifrahott
• Snapchat: @ifrahott
• Twitter: @ifrahsucdiott

I'd love to hear from you! How has Ifrah's story inspired you? What are you taking away?

Get your FREE 4 Step Guide to Starting a Lucrative Online Business You'l Love!

For more, Visit www.theboundlessmindset.com

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A vision is a vivid mental image of what you want your business to be in the future, based on your goals and aspirations. Having a vision will give your business a clear focus and guidance.

You want to take time to visualize the successful future that you want to create for yourself and your business. Creating a space in your daily schedule to visualize your future will make your vision real for yourself and bring it closer to you.

When fear, doubt and insecurities set in, your vision will get you out of it. It's like having a window into the future that only you can see.

The best way to formalize and communicate your vision for your business is to write a vision statement.

A vision statement captures, in writing, the essence of where you want to take your business, and can inspire you and your target market - It's the heart and soul of your business.

How to write a vision statement

To write an effective vision statement you should think about what your business does, and imagine what your business would look like in it's best possible state.

Make sure your vision statement:

• Is clear and written in simple language
• Is short yet powerful and memorable
• Helps to paint a picture in peoples' minds
• Incorporate your objective, advantage and scope

You can use your vision as a way to differentiate yourself and promote your business. It should be used to to guide and give your business direction.

There are many different types of vision statements and there is no wrong or right way to do it. The thing to be mindful of is to make sure your vision statement is unique to you and that you resonate with it.

Examples of inspiring vision statements:

• Tesla: To accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.
• Nike: Bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world. If you have a body, you are an athlete.
• Shopify: Make commerce better for everyone, so businesses can focus on what they do best: building and selling their products.
• TED: Spread ideas.
• Amazon: To be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online.

To get you started, Think of … If you could have it all

• Describe your business; be positive, be ambitious, be specific
• What value are you offering?
• How are you being profitable?
• Describe your life; home, family, leisure
• What are you excited about?
• What does your day look like?
• Describe how your business is impacting your community and the world.
• What changes are you inspiring? What do you stand for?

Now I would like to hear from you! How are you incorporating your unique story into your vision statement?

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I often get asked, do I need to do a business plan for to start my business?

The answer is that it depends on what you are using the business plan for.

The traditional business plan format is lengthy document about 20 pages long with financial plans and complex graphs and charts. So what’s the purpose of preparing a business plan? Is it a must to create one before starting a business?

Think of a business plan as a resume. You don’t need a resume to do your job, but you need a resume for potential employers to see your experience and qualifications before they hire you.

Your business plan serves a similar purpose for your business, it includes:

• Executive summary
• Business and industry overview
• Market analysis
• Competitive analysis
• Sales and marketing strategy
• Ownership and management plan
• Operating plan
• Financial plan

You’ll need a business plan in the following cases;

1. When you want to borrow money from a bank.
2. When you're pitching to investors
3. When you’re bringing on partners or other highly skilled professionals be part of your business.

If you’re not looking for a bank loan, investors nor partners for your business, then you probably don’t need to complete a lengthy business plan document, but you’ll need a PLAN.

You’ll need to determine the following for your business;

• Clearly identify and articulate the purpose of your business
• What is your business model - How will you make money?
• Who is your target market? What's your value preposition – What problem are you helping to solve for your target market.
• What is the most cost-effective way to communicate with your target market
• What are your channels of distributions? – How will you make your product or service available to your customers?
• What are your expenses? How much does it cost to do business? What's your break-even-point?

Instead of using the traditional business plan, I recommend my clients to use Business Model Canvas to plan their businesses.

I also recommend for you to download my 4 Steps Guide to Creating a Lucrative Business. This guide will help you understand the steps you need to create your successful business.

Now I’d love to hear from you! Tell me about your experience with a business plans – How has it been helpful to you?

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As Entrepreneur, we have all these fascinating ideas that are floating around and it’s difficult to just choose one idea.  in Episode 9, we talked about the importance of focusing on one business idea at a time and how that can help you succeed in your business.  In this episode we’re going to discuss how you can choose the best idea for you.

The important thing to keep in mind is that passion is important. Your chosen idea should allow you to infuse your passion into your business.  This is where your greatness lies and it’s linked to your WHY which we discussed in episode 8.  Knowing WHY and what you’re passionate about will help you get through difficult times and it will give you that added advantage to engage fully with your business.

Assessments Method - The assessments method is one of the best strategies I use with my clients to choose an idea that’s best for them and their business.  This method helps you assess every aspect of your business and yourself to make sure that you are perfectly aligned with a business idea.

Personal Assessment - The personal assessment will guide you on what you enjoy in life, what your passions are and what you really love doing. It will help you understand yourself better, so you can align well with your chosen business idea. 

Ask yourself:  

• What are my values? What’s important to me? What do I care about? What do I find meaningful and enjoyable?
• What do I currently do in my spare time that I love?
• What inspires me and makes me feel proud doing every day?

Resources Assessment - The resources assessment will help you determine if you have the time and the capital required to pursuit a business idea.  I often see clients limiting themselves because they don’t have a lot of money to invest in their business.  This forces them spend a lot of time and effort looking for investors instead of working on developing their business.  I always recommend to go with the lean start-up method; to create a Minimum Viable Product/Service and grow from there.  T

Strengths Assessment - The strengths assessment will determine what your strengths are, so you can use those strengths to support your business.  You want to create a business that will compliment your strengths and will let you capitalize on your natural strengths and abilities.  

Once you’ve completed your assessments, it’s time to eliminate the ideas that are not best suited for you at this time.

Step 1:Eliminate ideas that you’re not passionate about, that don’t inspire you and that you don’t see yourself doing long-term. 

Step 2: Eliminate ideas that you don’t have enough time and money to invest. This will help you focus on the ideas that you can start right away with your current situation.  

Step 3: At this stage you shouldn’t have many ideas still on the list.  Go through the remaining ideas and cross out the ones that don’t complement your strengths and abilities.  

Step 4:To help you decide the best idea to choose, ask yourself which idea brings me the most joy.  This will help you choose the idea that’s closely aligned with your WHY and that you connect with at a deeper level.  This is the idea that you want to focus on, because it will give you the fulfillment and the engagement that you need to sustain you and your business long-term.

For more, visit www.theboundlessmindset.com

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In this episode I had the pleasure of chatting with Sadia Abdullahi. Her business is called Sadie and the Bee Honey Company. She sells pure–natural-organic honey which she harvests herself from her bee farm as well as other natural products.

Her passion for beekeeping comes from a deep caring and concern for the fragility of the Honeybee population and the immense respect for their collectivist structure. She talks about her journey on how she started her business and how it came from a personal need to go back to nature to find peace and balance.

Sadia brings many years of experience as a social worker and community worker in Ottawa. Sadia worked closely with children, youth, and their families developing programs supporting youth, especially Black girls, to build confidence, develop talent and pursue their dreams.

The many skills she has learned from the hive and beekeeping are also the same skills she applies in her work as a social worker. Her dream is to one day start a private practice that incorporates beekeeping as a means to support mental health and promote wellness. When I look at Sadia, she represents black excellence – young, educated, proud of her culture and background with deep care for the community and the environment.

References:Apitherapy

Somali Lingo:
"Heblaayo” Means “So-and-so”
“Eeb culture” Means “Shame culture”

Connect with Sadia:Instagram: @sadieandthebeehoneyco
Email: sadieandthebeehoneycompany@gmail.com

For more visit: theboundlessmindset.com

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We’ve all been there, you get excited about a new business idea, there's also that project you’ve always been somewhat involved in, and then your friends present you yet another fascinating business idea that they think can go big! How do you just choose one? they’re all so exciting and you see yourself doing well in all of them. Choosing just one feels like you're giving up in some ways or losing something.

This is an issue that many entrepreneurs face, coming-up with so many great ideas all the time. And this is a great thing. Your mind is active and engaged with the world - inspired about what we can offer to benefit others and contribute to our growth.

Letting go of some business ideas so that you can focus on just one can feel like you’re giving up on amazing possibilities. So why do we even have to choose only one idea - why can't we do all of them?

You can, and you should explore all of your business ideas - test them out to see what feels right for you. But ultimately you should choose just one.

Working on multiple businesses when starting out, will scatter your time, energy and resources. You will end up not being able to accomplish what you want in any of them. Furthermore, as long as you are not prioritizing, you are stating to yourself and the universe that you’re not really serious about your business - That you’re just trying a bunch of things and seeing how they turn out.

I’m sure you’ve heard of the expression “less is more” that’s the case here. Choosing one business idea to focus on when starting out is key to your success and it will help you to:

Prioritize your time, energy and resourcesStarting a business will require a lot of your time, energy and resources. It will take all you’ve got to take it from an idea to launch. This will be the thing you live and breathe! Frankly speaking you can do this effectively when you focus on one business at a time.

Build a reputation for yourself and your brand
If you’re involved in many business/projects/ideas that are unrelated, you will not specialize in anything. You’ll dilute the value or your brand. Have you ever noticed those stores that sell everything? You go there when you need something insignificant and it’s just there for you to grab something and you’ll never remember them. When you’re starting out, you want to create a recognizable brand with a certain value, offering quality products and services.

It’s important to give yourself the permission to try and consider different business ideas. The more ideas you try the closer you’ll get to the right one that’s perfect for you at this time.

I tried a few businesses myself. It was great to get the experience and the exposure from each one of them. They all taught me valuable skills and experience which allowed me to grow personally and professionally. But It wasn’t until I decided to focus on a one business that I was able to gain the vision and clarity that I needed. I had to get everything else out of the way, so that I can make my business a top priority.

So how do you know which one to pick? How do you know the best business for you to focus on?

This is the topic of our next episode. Stay tuned!

For more, visit www.theboundlessmindset.com

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Why is it important to know your why when you are creating your business?

Simon Sinek talks about the golden circle in his first hugely popular Ted Talk with over 51 million views. He explains that people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it. He uses Apple as one of his examples, and talks about how Apple is able to communicate their why so effectively. Which is the reason for Apple's strong brand loyalty.

So What's your WHY for starting your business?
If your answer is "To make a lot of money" - That’s not enough!

There's nothing wrong with wanting a lot of money and luxury things, but your WHY should be part of your purpose, your calling, the gift that you want to offer the world through your business.

Knowing your WHY will give you a sense of purpose and direction. It will guide your business and allow you to inspire others who resonate with your WHY. Creating your own tribe - people that believe in why you do what you do.

Your WHY will sustain you when the going gets tough and doubt starts to set in. It will give you unwavering commitment to continue on your path of living your purpose through your business.

My WHY helped me gain the courage I needed to walk away from my job and put everything on the line for living my purpose through my business.

My WHY is: Helping ambitious WOC to become an empowering force and launch a lucrative online business they’ll love.

I could’ve chosen any business serving any target market - So why WOC and why Online Business?

The obvious reason is that I am a woman of color. But more than that is that I can relate deeply with the struggles and the experiences of WOC. I believe their ability and their potential. Beyonce says "girls run the world" - WOC are the backbone of the workforce. We bring so much dedication, hard work, creativity and heart to our jobs. Yet less than 4% of WOC are in leadership positions.

Why is that? We are often overqualified but yet we’re undervalued and underrepresented in the workplace. We watch the people we train get ahead of us. We’re lucky if we make it to middle management level, that's where the glass ceiling becomes so difficult to break!

In addition, we're exhausted trying to make ourselves “acceptable” by hiding parts of ourselves and identity in the hopes of not making anyone feel uncomfortable.

I believe that WOC deserve more than that! We want to show up big and bold, proud of our culture and identity - That’s the black girl magic!

Having your own business can give you exactly that. You can exercise your unique ability and creativity to establish a business that’s truly you! That lets you gain your freedom to do what you want, when you want and with whom you want! Gaining your freedom and financial independence - Sharing your gift and being an inspiration to yourself, your family and your community.

That’s my why - What’s yours?

For more, visit www.theboundlessmindset.com

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Mindset is defined as a person’s way of thinking and their view of the world.

How’s your mindset helping you to stay aligned with your goals in life and business?

The psychologist Carol Dweck has been investigating the questions – Why some people with no apparent exceptional skills or talents become successful while others don’t. She wrote the Mindset book in which she examined this topic in depth.

Her and her team did an experiment. They worked with students and divided them into two groups. One group was praised for their ability while the other group was praised for their efforts.

When the ability group solved a problem, they were told “You did this so well! You must be really good at this!”

And the group that was praised for the effort were told “You did this so well, you must really have worked hard on this!”

After a while, the group that were praised for their efforts continued to excel while the group that was praised for their ability declined in their progress.

Professor Dweck explains that we have either growth mindset or fixed mindset.

Someone with a growth mindset, believes that they can accomplish anything with some hard work and effort. While someone with a fixed mindset believes that we are born with a set of abilities that determines how successful they are and there’s really nothing they can do to change it.

How do you know what kind of mindset you have; growth or fixed?

Think about something that you did that didn’t work out as you hoped or planned. What was your thoughts about that? Did you think that you were just not good idea and you should just not do that and focus on other things? Or Did you think that there was something you can do differently to get a better – more desired outcome?

What if I have a growth mindset vs fixed mindset? Why does it matter in my business?

Well your mindset could be either helping you get ahead or holding you back! If you believe someone is just a “natural born public speaker” or that you “just can’t speak in public” you’re holding a fixed mindset. With a fixed mindset, you avoid new challenges because you’re afraid of being judged.

In a growth mindset, you believe you can develop any ability through dedication and hard work. Because of this belief, you have a desire to learn. This enables you to embrace challenges and persevere when setbacks happen during the learning process.

How can we change our mindset from fixed to growth?

Step 1: Become aware of your fixed mindsetListen to your fixed mindset “voice”. When you’re working on your business and trying to find opportunities, you might hear your inner voice saying “if I only had this ------------ ” or “If I was good at --------------- things would be a lot easier”. Recognize it as your fixed mindset voice.

Step 2: Recognize that you have a choice to change your fixed mindset self talkWhen you hear your fixed mindset voice, you have the choice to interpret it as challenges, setbacks and self-criticism (fixed mindset) or as an opportunity to challenge yourself and learn something new, explore strategies for better results and continued growth.

Step 3: Talk Back to your fixed mindset voiceAs you approach a challenge, your fixed mindset might say “Are you sure you can do this?" Answer with your growth mindset voice “I am not sure that I will get it right the first time, but with some experience and learning I will be able to know how to run a successful business”.

Step 4: Take consistent growth mindset actionTake consistent growth oriented actions. In time, this will help to reprogram your fixed mindset to shift to growth mindset.For more, visit www.theboundlessmindset.com

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I had the pleasure of chatting with Sassie Naidoo as we discussed some of the options WOC have for financing their businesses, the importance of money management in business and the ingredients for WOC to succeed in their business.

Sessie has over 4 decades of diverse experience in finance, education, and sales. She shared her passion of helping her clients to explore options that best fit their financial needs while supporting them to increase their financial literacy. As an experienced financial advisor, Sessie minimizes the guesswork of finding the best financial product for her clients. She’s well versed in the key requirements of lenders to help her clients secure their financing goals.

In our conversation, Sessie talked about her own journey on how she achieved her lifelong dream of starting her own business and what helped her get there. In Sessie’s words “I am rewarded when my clients learn the tools to help them achieve their financial goals”.

Here’s how you can connect with Sessie:

Website - https://sessiefinancial.ca LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sessiefinancial/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/sessie.naidoo.5

Resources:

• Four step guide to starting your business: https://www.theboundlessmindset.com/landing-page/
• Business Development Bank of Canada: https://www.bdc.ca/en/pages/home.aspx

What are you doing to increase your money knowledge so that you can reach your financial goals?

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I had the pleasure of chatting with Ikram, the owner of the Siti Fashion House. I was inspired by Ikram’s story and how passionate she is about her business vision and mission. She shared practical tips that helped her in her entrepreneurial journey.

Ikram spent years perfecting her signature headwrap technique. As a newbie in the headwrap biz, she takes the - less is more - approach, which keeps her clients looking stylish, vibrant and beautiful. Siti Fashion House sells authentic African material made in Ghana, Kenya, Ivory coast, and Rwanda. Siti Fashion House offers in-house one-on-one headwrap tutorials, as well as in a group settings. The name Siti is from Egyptian origin, which means "lady".

Ikram shared that embracing and empowering women are the main goals of Siti Fashion House. She urged aspiring entrepreneurs to not be discouraged and start creating their busines. She told us to “Find what makes you different and run with it!”.

Here is how you can connect with Siti Fashion House

• Website: www.sitifashionhouse.com
• ETSY : www.etsy.com/ca/shop/sitifashionhouse
• Pinterest https://www.pinterest.ca/sitiscarfs
• Instagram: @siti_scarfs

Drop a line and share what you’re taking away from this episode.

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Do you know that we’re all born with a set of unique talents and special gifts?
Gifts that no one else has but you. There’s only one you in the entire universe.
The truth is that we all have specific purposes for being here. Our desires,
dreams, and ambitions are directly related to that purpose. And our innate gifts,
talents, strengths and abilities are there to support us with our purpose.

One of my favourite authors and spiritual leader, Eckhart Tolle says: “You are here
to enable the divine purpose of the universe to unfold. That is how important you
are!” That’s how we’re all connected to one another. You carry within you
certain unique qualities and attributes that contribute to society. Your life
matters - your business matters - everything you do has an impact.

So how do you determine your unique gifts? and how do you apply it to your life
and business? at a young age we are taught to focus on improving our weaknesses. When we get feedback, the thing that we hear the most is what we need to improve...all
the things we are not good at! But that’s not where the magic is. The magic is in
knowing and magnifying your strengths. Recognizing our talents and gifts is what sets us apart from everyone else. It’s what will give you the confidence to do things your own way and not be afraid to create your own path that’s different from everyone else.
Whatever you do, your uniqueness adds colour, texture, flavour, and emotion to
your life, your business, and the lives of everyone around you.

To discover your unique talents and special gifts, consider this:

1. Think of when you were a child, how did you spend most of your free
   time? What did you enjoy doing? What types of activities were exciting to
   you?
2. What lights you up and gets you motivated? What activities do you love so
   much so that you lose track of time.

How to Apply Your Special Gifts

It’s important to get familiar with your zone of genius. the thing that you are the
best at and fully own it! How you show up in the world is special and unique.
Everything you do is uniquely yours - your general demeanour, your smile, how
people feel around you is truly unique and your undeniable gift.
The more you apply your whole self into your business the more authentic your
business will be. You will be able to resonate with your target market - they will be able
to relate to you, trust you and feel that they’re part of your journey and brand.
you are involved in the business that fits your vision, your values and your passion it becomes your life’s work and enjoyment.

Start listening to your gifts, strengths, talents, today - Pay close attention to your zone of genius and what brings you joy, then sprinkle it in everything you do.For more, visit www.theboundlessmindset.com

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Welcome To The Boundless Mindset Podcast!  

This show is about empowering ambitious WOC to launch a lucrative online business they’ll love!

Episodes will cover mastering mindset, overcoming fear and raising courage, clarifying your business vision, connecting authentically with your target market  to win their hearts and minds, and launching your business with ease and confidence!  I’ll be interviewing successful WOC entrepreneurs and featuring their stories and businesses.

I will also be sharing my personal story on how I quit my 9 to 5 job to start my company.  You’ll get practical tips and tools that helped me reach financial independence, personal freedom and most importantly living my  purpose.   

For more visit www.theboundlessmindset.com

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In the First episode we talked about how fear is holding you back from starting your business. in this episode. we’re talking about when being afraid can also be a good thing.

You’re probably wondering how being afraid is EVER a good thing?

Lets look at some of the ways fear can be helpful for your personal and business development:

Fear Can Be a Motivating Source

Fear keeps us safe and out of harm. But your body doesn’t know the difference between when you are in a real physical danger versus when you’re about to do something out of your comfort zone, such as giving a presentation. Your body reacts in the same way.

Every time you feel fear and you’re not in a physical danger, remind yourself; you’re feeling this way because you’re about to do something significant and out of your norm. Everything is OK.

Being fearful of making the leap to starting your online business is understandable. It means that this is a significant move and the stakes are high. Overcoming your fear and taking action will mean a great accomplishment for you. Use this as a motivation to push yourself to the next level.

Fear is telling you that you are leveling-up!

Fear Can Show You What Needs Attention

Fear can show-up to tell you things that you’ve been neglecting, avoiding or have some insecurity around. Use fear as an indicator to show you areas in your life that need some attention.

Next time you detect fear in your body, do the following:

• Take time to become aware and observe without judgment
• Inquire about the thoughts that triggered the fear based feeling
• Ask yourself what’s the root cause of the fear

Taking these simple steps will give you some insight on the root causes of your fears. Consequently you’ll learn to understand and validate your fear instead of running away and avoiding them.

Think of fear as that friend who gives you some tough love to motivate you.

Use Fear To Gain Courage

Every time you push yourself to overcome your fear, you build courage. The more you do this the more confident you get at getting passed your fears.

It’s beneficial to keep making small improvements in your process of mastering fear. Over time the steps for conquering fear will be ingrained on your mind to the point where you accept fear as part of life and you don’t let it stop you anymore.

To help you do this, take daily steps towards your goals. Regularly flex your courage muscle to overcome your fear of starting an online business. No step is too small, as long as you are doing it consistently, you will make progress.

I made a promise to myself to make sure that I take at least one step everyday towards creating my business. Some days it felt difficult to keep my promise.

It could be a small step like looking at logo designs or writing in my journal about how my business will change my life.

This helped me build the confidence that I needed to keep my dream alive. I developed the courage to consistently move in the right direction.

Share Your Story to Help Others

When you’ve successfully learned how to deal with and overcome your fear, you’d be able to take that extra step to help others facing fear. You can share your story of how you overcame fear and the strategies that you used to succeed.

By sharing your story you’ll inspire others to do the same. It’ll be a source of empowerment and inspiration for yourself and others.

Imagine conquering your own fears, how are you going to tell your story?For more visit www.theboundlessmindset.com

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In this episode we’re talking about the top 3 myths WOC struggle with in starting an
online business.

Here we go …

Myth#1: You need a lot of money to start your online business
This is a myth that stops so many WOC to take the leap of starting an online business.
Sure you need some money to start your business, but in reality you can start any
business with as much or as little money as you want. In many cases a large investment
in the beginning may not be a good idea. Starting small will give you the chance to test
your idea, perfect it, and scale as you grow.
So before you let this myth paralyze you, allow yourself to just go ahead and work on
your business. Don’t worry about the money just yet. No amount of money will help
you if you don’t have a viable business idea. Work on that dream for now and watch the
possibilities show up in your life.

Myth#2: You need to know everything about running an online business
Starting and running your online business will give you the opportunity to be
resourceful, maximize your existing skills and acquire some new ones. But that’s no
different than what you’ve been doing all your life!
For example think about your current role, did you know everything about the job on
day one? Likely not! But you didn’t let that stop you. Running your online business will
not be any different. You will acquire the necessary knowledge and skills to increase
your confidence as an online business owner. And for those skills that you don’t have
the time to master, you can always outsource for a small fee.
So before you let this myth stop you, allow yourself to visualize your dream business
and get a clear picture of what it would look like. This process will help you understand
some of the things that you are comfortable doing, the tasks that you need to refresh on
and the tasks that you’ll need to outsource.

Myth#3: You have to wait for the right time to start your online business
This is a myth that stops so many WOC to prioritize their business.
When it comes to starting a business there’s never the right time!
Waiting for the “right time” may never happen. If you have the desire and the vision,
NOW is the right time! Use this as an indicator to propel you forward to launch your
online business.

Now that we’ve busted these myths, what steps are you going to take to making your
online business happen?

For more visit www.theboundlessmindset.com

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The following are the signs that fear is holding you back from your dream business:

You Procrastinate A LotWhen you're afraid of putting yourself in the arena because of fear of failure, success,
uncertainty, judgment, criticism, or rejection, you tend to stand on the sidelines where you feel safer. When you face fear head-on, motivation replaces procrastination.

You Settle For LessWhen you're afraid to take risks and go for what you really want, you compromise in the
name of being realistic. But settling isn't realism; it's a devastating symptom of fear.

You Struggle To Make DecisionsWhen you're afraid, you avoid making decisions that lead you to your goals. You feel
uncertain about the outcome, so you do nothing. What you'll discover on the other side
of fear, though, is that uncertainty is the gateway to possibilities.

You Have Perfectionist TendenciesWhen you're afraid of criticism, failure, and rejection, you'll do anything to try to
become perfect. Of course, the mask of perfection also stops you from what you most
want: to be free to pursuit your dream business.

You Say Yes When You Mean No
When you're afraid to disappoint people you'll fall into fear-based, people-pleasing, self-
sacrificing behaviours that lead to resentment.

You Say No When You Mean Yes
When you're afraid, you're unlikely to take risks. You'll feel the yearning to start your
own business, but you'll say no because you're afraid to fail, afraid to succeed, afraid to get rejected, afraid to stir things up, afraid to get out of your comfort zone.

You Get Sick Often
Fear can trigger a stress response in the body that puts you at risk of disease and makes
it hard for the body to heal itself. This can have a long-term negative effect on your over-all mental and physical health.

How to overcome fear:

Step 1: Become Aware

Becoming aware of your fear is the first step to understanding how it’s controlling your
life. It could look like this:

• Fear of failure – I’m afraid of investing my time and money in a business that may fail
• Fear of rejection – I’m afraid that my family and friends will not think it’s good idea
  and I cant to risk losing them
• Fear of change – Starting my own business will change my life drastically and I feel
  scared of that change

Step 2: Have a Dialogue With Your Fear
When we have fear-based thoughts, our minds over exaggerate all the things that could
go wrong. It’s important to address your fears in a realistic and rational way. Know that
it’s natural to feel scared whenever you’re about to do something you’ve never done
before. That’s just how your brain functions to keep you safe.

Step 3: Focus on Gratitude
Whenever you recognize fear in your body, think of gratitude. For example if you feel
afraid of failure, think how grateful you are to be able to start a business that can
improve people’s lives. Gratitude and fear cannot co-exist, therefore being grateful is the easiest and fastest way to get rid of fear.

Step 4: Feed Your Dream
You have to carve out time everyday to feed your business so that it can grow bigger than your fears. When you take regular and consistent action towards your dream, you'll reach a point where you’re no longer willing to settle for less.

Ask yourself:
How will I carve out time this week and every week to feed my business?

For more visit www.theboundlessmindset.com