That word people struggle with saying is “no”. 

If you really think about it, it’s one of the first words we learn to say. The first three words uttered out of most babies mouths is “mama”, “dada”, and “no”. They say it to everything. Try to take something from them, they’ll certainly yell, “NO!” Try to make them eat something they don’t want, they’re going to scream, “NO!” Try to put them in the bed when they are fighting sleep, issa “NO!” 

Somewhere along the way, most people develop a people pleasing habit and lose that “No”...

They seem to have perfect lives. They live good, travel to the best places, wear the nicest clothes, have the best looking bodies, the perfect bae, and—most importantly—take the best pictures with lighting you could only dream of. 

So when it comes to your business, you waste your time trying to create the perfect circumstances before you put yourself out there to start sharing your gift with the world. You’ve convinced yourself that the only way people will buy from you or listen to you is if you are as perfect as some of the accounts you’ve been paying attention to.

That’s a whole lie.

The truth is, your conscious mind is serving up stall tactics on a silver platter—knowing that the...

Have you ever been so overwhelmed with having to make decisions about something that you just freeze and do nothing? Entrepreneurship can be exactly like that at times. There’s always so much work to do for your business that it can become overwhelming. 

According to Psychology Today, it’s thought that the average person makes around 35,000 decisions per day. That’s a whole hell of a lot of decision making, and it’s easy to see why we tend to put off some of those tough decisions we have to make for our businesses until later—and oftentimes, later never comes. 

If you’re into fitness like I am, you probably meal prep. The reason meal prepping is so effective, for people who want to eat healthy, is because it takes the thought out of every meal. Your meals are planned, so you don’t have to think about it and open yourself up to being overwhelmed and making poor decisions— which, of course, leads to failure.

I know...

Have you ever wondered why we experience pain? Not physical pain but emotional pain.

If you really think about it, some of the most painful moments in your life have probably happened when you decided to make a difficult change that you perceived to be for the better—in other words, when you decided to seek growth. The pain we experience, in these instances, could be as simple as the discomfort of taking on the unknown or as deep as the agony of heartbreak. 

In any case, it’s difficult to sit in the pain and allow it to take its course. Like accidentally touching a hot burner on a stove, your natural reaction is to retreat out of the pain back to the safety of the what is familiar and comfortable, but then you don't grow.

When we get accustomed to situations, ideas, and people that once may have served us but no longer do, it can be hard to let go—even when we’ve grown unhappy with it or them. As purpose-driven entrepreneurs, we have to seek...

I’m a pretty neat person. Not obsessively neat, but I like things a certain way. I never lose my keys at home, because I always put them in the same place. I never have to search for a left shoe, because all my shoes go back in the box as soon as I take them off. I never have to pick up clothes off the floor, because I just don’t put them on the floor. 

Although I don’t like to clean, at times, I’m pretty much a robot when it comes to keeping my living and working space neat and tidy. There are times, though, when I let it get out of hand. Surprisingly enough, the cleanliness of my home is usually a direct reflection of what’s going on in my life. 

When I’m feeling great about life and everything is somewhat in order, my space is clean and neat. When I feel like my life is out of order, you guessed it —I allow my space to get out of order and messy.

I only noticed this pattern a few years ago. I noticed that when I was...

I posted the video below on Instagram today after realizing I have some really dope friends in my life.

 

 

They’re all doing great things in their lives—growing businesses, excelling in their careers, raising families and everything in between. The part I love the most is that we all support and push one another to be better people. 

I think it’s extremely important, and maybe even vital, to your success that you surround yourself with people who have your back. I talk a lot about the mental struggle that comes with pushing through your fears and committing to giving your all to your business. Having supportive people in your life alleviates some of the stress that comes with that struggle. 

You should be able to share your dreams with your friends without fear of being insulted or laughed at. You should be able to tell them about your ideas and get their feedback—even if whatever you’re selling isn’t something...

I can’t tell you how many times people have responded to me in that way. Now, I understand that there’s a difference between complaining about something and not being complacent about something. I’m not talking about complaining. I’m not a fan of complaining, so what I’m talking about is the way people react when you dream out loud and share your future plans with them. It’s as if some people, who are fine with their lives, want to make you feel bad for wanting more out of yours. 

Of course if I’m healthy, it could be worse and I could be unhealthy. Of course there’s someone out there struggling with their health who...

There’s a lot in life and in business that we can run out of and just go get more. Supplies, products, customers, and even money can all be replenished. But there is one thing that we all need that is gone forever once it runs out. That is time.

As an entrepreneur, you probably often feel like there’s just not enough time in the day to get things done—I know I do. You need to email customers, market your products or services, update your blog, record your podcast, fulfill your orders, post on social media, and so much more. Juggling your personal life with your business can make it all very overwhelming. 

When you’re an ambitious person, you try to pack as much productivity as possible into the time you have available. If you don’t have a workable time management plan, you can find yourself running in circles and getting nothing done.  

My One Bold Action per Day commitment has really helped me to become much more productive, because...

I had a dream last night about a former friend that I haven’t seen or talked to in years. In the dream, I hadn’t seen him in a long time, but we ran into each other in a club and we basically picked up where we left off with our friendship. 

We had a few drinks in the club and when we left, he offered to drop me off at home. From that point on, there was a series of things about our interactions that made me really uncomfortable. Remember, this is a dream, so I’ll try to explain some of the things that happened. 

First, I had allowed him to use my phone in the club. As we left the club—to my surprise—I saw my phone at the door of the club, on the ground, in the rain. He casually picked it up and handed it back to me with very little regard for the fact that it was my property and was very likely ruined. 

Next, when I opened his passenger side car door, there was a young child there, sitting in the passenger seat of his car. This...

When I’m out around town or travelling and I see something that I find beauty in, I—naturally—want to take a picture of it. I pull my phone out of my pocket, find a great angle and I snap away—fully expecting to have a masterpiece to post on social media or to, at some point, frame and hang on my wall.

More often than not, I get home, look at the pictures, and realize they came out horrible. I could run into Big Foot, see a UFO, take a selfie with Barack Obama, and discover dinosaur bones, all in the same day, and every single picture would be unrecognizable. For years, I was convinced that I was horrible at taking pictures.

It’s not that I’m horribly bad at actually framing the picture or anything like that—I actually do a descent job at that. The most common problem I run into is that my pictures come out blurry. Not shaky hand blurry though. See, I either keep my phone in my pocket or my hands most of the time. If my phone is in...