My greatest teachers this month have been the women in Africa, and my friend and colleague who passed away.
Last month, I went on a trip to Africa to work with the women there. I traveled with my Business Coach and a group of Entrepreneurs who are building their own businesses and living lives they love.
I have learned that:
- Everything starts with a choice point. A choice point exists in every moment.
- Making a decision must be followed up with an aligned action.
- Making new choices creates new results.
In Africa, I met women who desperately need to create change in their lives and their circumstances. They have very little access to even the basic necessities we take for granted. When they say, life is hard, they mean it!
Struggle is a perception. Obstacles and roadblocks are perceptions. And this perception of what you can or can’t do will get you everything or nothing. I saw this contrast played out during my time in Africa.
First, I visited a village where families are living in mud huts with no running water, no toilets, and very little resources for day-to-day living. They depend a lot on charity. They work very hard. But they don’t really get ahead. In that village, my group built a house for one of these families. They have agencies who have stepped in to offer them assistance, but they are not able to get much traction in helping themselves.
In the second village I visited, I met a group of women who have decided to do better and be better every day. They have created a marketplace for the tourists, and they show up and sell their curios and showcase their talents. They are bringing in money and creating opportunities for themselves and their children. The differences are astounding.
These women struggle, but they don’t let it stop them. They are determined to succeed, against the odds they are presented with.
For two days, they traveled to a school where we taught them how to build bigger and better businesses, how to dream bigger dreams, and how to make them come true.
Think of what these women face every day. Think of what these women do every day… ANYWAY.
This made me think of me, and it made me think of you. What do we let stop us? When do we give up? Why do we never start?
These women came to learn from me, and I learned so much from them. I was there to give back, and they gifted me in every moment.
They have a choice point in every moment. They make decisions daily and follow them up with aligned action. They make new choices that create new results. They are building bigger and better lives through Entrepreneurship.
My Coach wanted us to see the contrast between the women in the first village and the women in the second village and the huge impact Entrepreneurship can have on an individual, a family, a community, and a world.
You have the ability to have the same impact for yourself, your family, your community, and our world!
Last week, my friend and colleague, Marion Elliott died. The last time I had seen her a few months earlier, she was on fire with her Mission.
Her death was a powerful and shocking reminder for me of my own calling and then of all of you who call me and email me and message me and connect with me at live events and listen to my radio show and read my emails and newsletters and blogs.
Let some of her words touch you at the deepest level in this moment, and, please, do not wait another minute or another day to do what you are here to do, what you are made to do. Her call to action is your call to action, right now.
Shortly before her death, she wrote this to you and me:
“My message in life is that we Baby Boomers are the first generation of women that will, in large part, live to be 100. And we still have to work to do – for our greatest fulfillment and our greatest contribution. This situation does not change that message. I may live four months or forty years – and I am planning on the latter. But I hope that my story will be a reminder of the urgency to live well, live fully, and live NOW!” — Marion Elliott
One thing I know for sure today is that if you thought I have been doing everything I am here to do and everything I am made to do, you ain’t seen nothing yet!
I am called to call you to action.
I am holding open the door. I am showing you the way. I am ready to share your journey with you. It’s what I was made to do!
What were you made to do? Isn’t it time you started doing it and having the life you desire and deserve while making the impact you are called to make?
I think so.
Connect with me, and let’s get you living well, living fully, and living NOW!