No I didn't have a lemonade stand growing up, or made any kind of goods to sell when I was younger. Perhaps it would have prepared me for what was to come. Then again maybe it wouldn't have. I went to a great school, got a gig I enjoyed and could live off of and was pretty content. Then I was forced to become an entrepreneur - when the job that I was so comfy doing disappeared. My company declared bankruptcy and I had to do "the hustle" to pay the bills. It was at this very stressful point in my life I realized that if I allowed all of my various skills, including my hobbies, make room for me, I could actually live off my gifts... This realization represented the start of a shift in my mind set.
Artists in all forms - singers, dancers, actresses, etc are all entrepreneurs and I admired them as such, except I didn't call them entrepreneurs. I called them faith walkers. To me it took some serious faith to audition repeatedly believing/hoping/praying that you are going to get that next gig, when a majority of the time there was an extremely high percentage that you would not...The artist life was unstable. I liked my radio gig. It was artistic, engaged me in the creative world while giving me a steady paycheck, a flexible schedule and a decent living. It was safe... or so I thought...until I got THAT pink slip.
Now I have had pink slips before but this time it was different because my field had changed. Consolidation reduced the amount of employment opportunities available. The jobs were no longer there. Some of the ones that were, seemed like demotions, were located in places I didn't care to live or were already filled before they were even posted! Others were just part-time. So what could I do? There was no running home to mama, and daddy couldn't bail me out. I realized once I couldn't find a full time job, I had to create one.
However, that didn't really initially happen either. I found myself doing multiple smaller jobs where my skills shined and were sharpened. It was piece-meal but it worked. I realized these were all gigs that I chose, that ultimately I enjoyed and actually got paid decent money to do. I still didn't necessarily call myself an entrepreneur though. I thought of myself more as a hustler. Entrepreneur seemed so high brow, hustlin' seemed more grounded, driven, grimy and desperate even. I don't even know how I survived my first year of "hustlin". When I did my taxes for that year, I think i made less than $25,000, a monumental difference from my previous years. Thing is I don't really remember being unhappy -- stressed at times -- but never miserable and never w/o hope. In fact now I remember in part how I survived. Some of those gigs paid cash! LOL! and truth be told, I set some of them up that way. It was faith more than anything that got me through that year though, and my faith grew exponentially.
It started with a faith experiment. Despite my tight resources, I made an agreement with the Holy Spirit. I said "God if you give me an extra grand a month above and beyond what I need, I will give it right back to you." Humble but challenging enough when you are suddenly making $25,000 a year. Mind you this was not a tithe in the traditional church sense. It was an offering that, quite frankly, I could have used towards savings, debt and eating out for a change. Still I had already designated a ministry to receive it. I guess deep down I knew the Almighty Creator would make it happen, After all isn't that what a creator does? Make. things. happen. The first three months I looked for that extra grand and when it came I made good on my promise. By the time the fourth or fifth month kicked in, something changed in my thinking. I no longer looked for it. I EXPECTED it! I had no idea how or where it would come, i just knew that it would & it did - consistently. There were times when i would look at my budget (Lord knows I would have been an accountant in another life because I enjoy crunching numbers!) and say " Ok I need these people to call me to work within the next two days in order to make that extra grand to give back to you." And you know what? It happened. Time and time again! A grand and then some! I would speak what I would want to happen and it would. I was in the "flow" as they say. This experience built an inexplicable confidence in me that all would work out -- "That I could have whatsoever I say & believed" regardless of what obstacles lie before me. This deeply held conviction I later learned is one of the key characteristics of an entrepreneur & a visionary. Even as I write this, I realize that God him/her/itself is an entrepreneur & what a vast business this universe is to run! hmmm makes me wonder what my employee evaluation would say PROMOTION! LOL!
Faith w/works gave me life in this season. I learned just as I was freely given blessings, so I too must freely give. It was through my faith based giving agreement with God that I received my heart's desires. You know what I decided to do then? GIVE SOME MORE! It seemed like the best investment w/a 100+% return. I asked for a significantly larger consistent sum of money to give back to God - and alas the greater challenge kicked in. Not for the Holy Spirit, so to speak, but for me. Based on what I was currently doing, I was asking for miracles. Like how can a minimum wage cashier, for example, receive the salary of a Fortune 500 CEO? The answer? I HAD TO BECOME ONE and therein lies the journey, and the faith walk I began.
My way of thinking HAD to change, my way of seeing had to change, my way of believing had to change and it still is! In the process I realized everything I needed was inside of me, abundantly placed there, for that is also where the Almighty Creator takes up residence anyway! Through my personal "money agreement" with Spirit, I held myself accountable for the resources I was blessed with. During that season until now, I have to believe that my gifts would make room, and that if I am willing to do the work necessary to prosper them, & learn from my mistakes, I would make it. I don't mean barely make it either! LOL Abundantly make it and I am still on that adventure (There is always room for abundance however you define it). Overall, I recognized that when I made a commitment to manifest my divinely designed potential, to agree honestly to work to realize my dreams, I became an entrepreneur.
So this blog is where I share part of my journey, including articles I have read, lessons I've learned and whatever else crosses my mind as I continue to carve out a space where I thrive doing the things I love...
Here's to the journey...
In faith,
NS
Artists in all forms - singers, dancers, actresses, etc are all entrepreneurs and I admired them as such, except I didn't call them entrepreneurs. I called them faith walkers. To me it took some serious faith to audition repeatedly believing/hoping/praying that you are going to get that next gig, when a majority of the time there was an extremely high percentage that you would not...The artist life was unstable. I liked my radio gig. It was artistic, engaged me in the creative world while giving me a steady paycheck, a flexible schedule and a decent living. It was safe... or so I thought...until I got THAT pink slip.
Now I have had pink slips before but this time it was different because my field had changed. Consolidation reduced the amount of employment opportunities available. The jobs were no longer there. Some of the ones that were, seemed like demotions, were located in places I didn't care to live or were already filled before they were even posted! Others were just part-time. So what could I do? There was no running home to mama, and daddy couldn't bail me out. I realized once I couldn't find a full time job, I had to create one.
However, that didn't really initially happen either. I found myself doing multiple smaller jobs where my skills shined and were sharpened. It was piece-meal but it worked. I realized these were all gigs that I chose, that ultimately I enjoyed and actually got paid decent money to do. I still didn't necessarily call myself an entrepreneur though. I thought of myself more as a hustler. Entrepreneur seemed so high brow, hustlin' seemed more grounded, driven, grimy and desperate even. I don't even know how I survived my first year of "hustlin". When I did my taxes for that year, I think i made less than $25,000, a monumental difference from my previous years. Thing is I don't really remember being unhappy -- stressed at times -- but never miserable and never w/o hope. In fact now I remember in part how I survived. Some of those gigs paid cash! LOL! and truth be told, I set some of them up that way. It was faith more than anything that got me through that year though, and my faith grew exponentially.
It started with a faith experiment. Despite my tight resources, I made an agreement with the Holy Spirit. I said "God if you give me an extra grand a month above and beyond what I need, I will give it right back to you." Humble but challenging enough when you are suddenly making $25,000 a year. Mind you this was not a tithe in the traditional church sense. It was an offering that, quite frankly, I could have used towards savings, debt and eating out for a change. Still I had already designated a ministry to receive it. I guess deep down I knew the Almighty Creator would make it happen, After all isn't that what a creator does? Make. things. happen. The first three months I looked for that extra grand and when it came I made good on my promise. By the time the fourth or fifth month kicked in, something changed in my thinking. I no longer looked for it. I EXPECTED it! I had no idea how or where it would come, i just knew that it would & it did - consistently. There were times when i would look at my budget (Lord knows I would have been an accountant in another life because I enjoy crunching numbers!) and say " Ok I need these people to call me to work within the next two days in order to make that extra grand to give back to you." And you know what? It happened. Time and time again! A grand and then some! I would speak what I would want to happen and it would. I was in the "flow" as they say. This experience built an inexplicable confidence in me that all would work out -- "That I could have whatsoever I say & believed" regardless of what obstacles lie before me. This deeply held conviction I later learned is one of the key characteristics of an entrepreneur & a visionary. Even as I write this, I realize that God him/her/itself is an entrepreneur & what a vast business this universe is to run! hmmm makes me wonder what my employee evaluation would say PROMOTION! LOL!
Faith w/works gave me life in this season. I learned just as I was freely given blessings, so I too must freely give. It was through my faith based giving agreement with God that I received my heart's desires. You know what I decided to do then? GIVE SOME MORE! It seemed like the best investment w/a 100+% return. I asked for a significantly larger consistent sum of money to give back to God - and alas the greater challenge kicked in. Not for the Holy Spirit, so to speak, but for me. Based on what I was currently doing, I was asking for miracles. Like how can a minimum wage cashier, for example, receive the salary of a Fortune 500 CEO? The answer? I HAD TO BECOME ONE and therein lies the journey, and the faith walk I began.
My way of thinking HAD to change, my way of seeing had to change, my way of believing had to change and it still is! In the process I realized everything I needed was inside of me, abundantly placed there, for that is also where the Almighty Creator takes up residence anyway! Through my personal "money agreement" with Spirit, I held myself accountable for the resources I was blessed with. During that season until now, I have to believe that my gifts would make room, and that if I am willing to do the work necessary to prosper them, & learn from my mistakes, I would make it. I don't mean barely make it either! LOL Abundantly make it and I am still on that adventure (There is always room for abundance however you define it). Overall, I recognized that when I made a commitment to manifest my divinely designed potential, to agree honestly to work to realize my dreams, I became an entrepreneur.
So this blog is where I share part of my journey, including articles I have read, lessons I've learned and whatever else crosses my mind as I continue to carve out a space where I thrive doing the things I love...
Here's to the journey...
In faith,
NS
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