my story:
I’m sitting on my living room floor, eyes closed, attempting
to clear my thoughts. I am just coming out of a really bad
year. My father has passed away, my health is failing, my
business has failed, and to cap it all off, my marriage has
ended.
I’m annoyed at the world. My life sucks. There is a litany of
complaints in my head. Why doesn’t somebody fix this or
that – my life, the broken sidewalk in front of my townhouse, the world.
I breathe deeply and my mind finally settles. A crystal
clear thought emerges.
“I’m somebody!”
My mind resists the thought. “These are not my problems,”
my mind insists.
“I’m somebody,” my mind repeats.
“It’s not the world’s job to fix my life. My job is to improve
the world.”
In that moment, my life changes.
In that moment I know, without a doubt, that like so many
others, I am the one the world is waiting for. I can either
live a life of complaint or a life of action to create a better
world.
find their courage to try something different, start something new.
Yet I’m still not quite sure what I actually want to do. So
I lean in as so many thought-leaders have said to do. I
choose something that feels like it’s in the right ballpark.
Leaving my job, I start a charity to build schools in Africa.
My kids convince me to take some of the stories I write for
them and publish them to raise money for the charity. All
three quickly become best sellers.
This teaches me two things. First, I don’t really like being
a children’s author. I love writing stories but going around
to schools and doing programs with kids is not really lighting me up. Second, I realize I have dozens of people coming
at me wanting to know how I put three books on the bestseller lists in only eight months.
Enter second light bulb moment. I’m having tea with my
best friend Shawne Duperon and she looks at me (as only
Shawne can) and says, “Honey, when the Universe sends
you a flood of something you love, maybe you should pay
attention.” I realize how much I’m loving teaching people
how to get their messages to the world.
So I rebrand myself and start teaching people how to
generate word of mouth epidemics and create influence
around their work. My mission in life is now to grow
thought-leaders and help them learn to spread the word
about their work.
I choose action, and my life changes.
Lean in. It’s easier to see the path when you do.
Most entrepreneurs have a moment like this where they
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