• Have you experienced a setback? 
• Did you place all your trust or resources in a place or a person?  
• Are you stuck trying to recover afterwards? 

If this is YOU, GET READY to go on a journey with me.

Now, grab a journal, pen/pencil, highlighter, whatever writes … and a cup of your favorite coffee or tea.

Then, relax. Settle your thoughts and silence all the noise around you and breathe. 

How refreshing was that? Really! How refreshing was that?

First, let me share with you – life happens! And you are not alone.

So, don’t become ashamed and suffer in silence. 

I’d like to share an experience of mine with you. 

“I was a Corporate Executive, and I found myself being handed a pink slip after so many years of dedication. Having a position in corporate America as an African American woman earning a six-figure salary was rare in the late 1990s and early 2000s.  Although I made a lot of money, I lacked the importance of savings and investments. Therefore, when I was handed the pink slip, this is when for the first time, I realized I had placed all my financial assets in one basket. That basket was with the same company who had just given me the pink slip.”

I immediately became disgusted with myself. That feeling temporarily paralyzed me financially and emotionally.  If this is you, right now -BREATHE? It’s going to be OK. There is hope on the other side.   

I recall this experience today as if it happened yesterday. My mind was racing all over the place.  The entire time, I was saying to myself, do not become stuck. I had two small children in private school counting on me. I cried out to the Lord in prayer, and I took a sheet of paper and created a list. I highlighted my personal and professional skills, strengths, weaknesses, and expenses. Then, I started to think about ways how to transfer those skills and market them to secure new opportunities. I also had to determine what could potentially stop me from securing any new opportunities.

It was at that very moment, I was reminded of a familiar biblical passage in, Habakkuk 2:2, “And the Lord answered me: Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that he who reads it may run.”  

You know that journal I told you to grab earlier, well this is why. WRITE THE VISION!

Keep it simple.

Until you can emotionally cope with the change of life events, especially if you are still an emotional wreck. Whatever you do, DO NOT bombard your mind. I knew at the very least, how important it was for me to organize my thoughts, this is why I started writing.

I challenge you right now, to write everything out so that you can begin the process of organizing your thoughts. 

Here are some suggestions on how: 

Step 1:  Dump all of your thoughts, skills, and finances on a sheet of paper or sheets of paper.  OOH! It looks messy in the beginning.

Step 2: Create categories. (Example: career, education, finances, ministry, expenses, family, etc). 

Step 3: Apply a time management method that best suits you. It will be the key to your success in this process. Procrastination is not an option.

In corporate America, I was trained to use the ABC123 Covey Time Management technique. This is a technique that focuses your attention on the tasks that matter most to your business and personal growth. 

Step 4: Lastly, identify and assess anything that you are no longer doing. 

Let me explain why number 4 is important. Since I was no longer working in corporate America, I had to replace the void I was experiencing from not fulfilling the daily business tasks that I was accustomed to. I managed over 22-processes, front-line managers, and their subordinates. That was not something I could immediately turn off from my daily application, after years of dedication.

This is why it was so important for me to map out how to transfer those business skills from its managing operations in corporate America to crafting my own small business development and management goals. I also mapped out how my personal growth and leadership plan would take shape to complement this transition. 

From this setback, I discovered what skills, processes, people, and financial resources were needed to build my first business consultancy firm in 2007. Imagine THAT! Who would have ever thought these simple steps would yield this type of return? 

If you found this content helpful, grab my freebie on the “3-WAYS to approach Your BUILD”. Click on the link here to gain access.