It Starts With...

A creative thought molded into an award winning idea

A dream transformed into a legacy

A vision seen as a now reality

A passion burning to revolutionize the world

A purpose so driven it cannot be contained

A life changing step building confidence again

A Faith unshaken no matter the circumstance 

A belief so deep that winning is a given

An action changing a community

A job that is no more

A full-fledged Entrepreneur you are!

God Bless,

A. Mayartis J.

My Purpose... 7 steps to discovering you

Have you ever asked yourself: why am I here, what is my purpose or am I doing all I can do? At one time or another we have all questioned our reason for living, the questions usually come up during a transition or difficult time in our lives.  We have either sought out answers or filled our lives with “life,” hoping “life” will satisfy us or make us forget about the questions. It is rare that these questions disappear until we answer them.

I believe that we are all put on this earth for a specific reason, but only a small percentage of us take the time to find out exactly what that reason is and an even smaller percentage of us take a step to make it happen.  It is amazing how many people go to work every day unhappy in their careers and most of the time it is because they are not fulfilling their purpose.  When we take a deeper look into their unhappiness at their job, we often discover that they are not searching for other employment opportunities to change their happiness because they are:

•        Content with their financial situation.  
•        Scared to leave because of the unknown.
•        Assume that this is their life … A Grin and bear it mentality.  

Although all of aforementioned reasons (or as I like to call them excuses) are somewhat valid, admit it ...you are settling.  IF you discovered your purpose you could have a fulfilling occupation that could possibly pay you more AND positively impact the lives of the people in your community.   Whether you are happy or not in your current occupation aren’t you curious to find out what your purpose is on this earth?

Oprah often tells the story of how she knew she was meant for more… Her grandmother was hanging out the laundry and told Oprah to watch because she would have to do this soon.   Oprah did as she was told, but a still, small voice inside her, “really more a feeling than a voice, said, 

"This will not be your life. Your life will be more than hanging clothes on a line.""  

I am sure we all hear that small voice, but do we listen?

The process of ascertaining your purpose can be a short one if you have already completed a thorough self-examination and are in-tuned with where you are or where you are going in your life.  The enlightening journey to find your purpose could possibly take a while, because it means you have to become transparent if you are not already and be completely honest with yourself.   Unfortunately, most of us are not ready for the quick reveal.  We need the Band-Aid to be ripped off slowly, revealing our insecurities and secrets bit by bit.  We are not prepared to discover that what we should be doing is so far out of our every day realm that it would scare us and fear will stop us from acting on our newfound purpose.   

I believe it is more beneficial to begin creating a mindset of deeper self-awareness, which will in-turn help you discover your purpose.  In considering the bigger picture, instead of giving you steps on how to reveal your purpose, below are 7 steps that will help you delve into who you are? These steps can be done by yourself or with an honest accountability partner, however you want to do it, as long as you do it. Don’t delay begin your discovery today…

My Purpose... 7 steps to discovering you

1. Discover Your Passion(s) – What do you love to do

• Make a list of all the things you really like to do.  Close your eyes and imagine if you had no responsibilities, what would make you happy to wake every day and do?

2. Unearth Your Talent(s) – What are you good at?

• Create a list of things that you naturally do well without much effort.

3. Be Honest With Your Dislikes - What do you hate doing?

•  Devise a list of things you despise doing. It maybe things you currently do at work, home, church and/or school. We all have something, even if we do not want to admit it.

4. Consistent Compliments  - What do people give you kudos for?

• Compile a kudos list. What thing(s) do you do that always receive rave reviews? Cooking, Singing, Organizing, Painting, Construction, Yard Work, Make Up…

 5. Examine your Downtime – What do you enjoy doing in your downtime?

• Develop a list of me-time activities.  This could be a key indicator of what your purpose is, because a lot of times the things you spend your time doing, dreaming or talking about are what your are meant to do.

6. Never Stop Learning – What kinds of things peak your interest?

• Write down all of the types of things you like to read.  If you had to read a book, magazine or a blog, what types of things are you drawn too?

 7. Create a journal  - Are you documenting your journey to revealing your purpose?

• Finding your purpose can open doors to so many things in your life.  Document the entire process, so you can look back and see how far you have come and all of the great things that have been reveled to you. 

After you have finished all 7 steps spend some time with each list.  If you feel comfortable enough, have your accountability partner read your list and then discuss each list with you.  Remember this is a discovery process and it is meant to make you transparent, so be honest and finish it; Do NOT let FEAR stop you from finding YOU!  We will be discussing steps to find your purpose in a later blog and my forth coming book, but right now continue to discover YOU.

God Bless,

A. Mayartis J.

Just Do It - ProcrastiNOT

“Procrastination is the bad habit of putting off until the day after tomorrow what should have been done the day before yesterday.” – Napoleon Hill

I like many of you often find myself trying to finish a project the day, hour, minute or second before it is due and although it is well done, it would have been even better, had I not been rushed.  We all say, “I do my best work under pressure and that’s part of the reason I procrastinate.”  No, we procrastinate because we do not plan ahead.

My procrastination started when I was in college, partly due to my hectic non-stop schedule.  My course load was average and I worked on campus, but my involvement in student government as well as being an active member in several organizations aided in the mismanagement of my time.   A typical day for me began at 7am and ended between 9pm and 11pm. 

My schedule…

At 7am I started my work-study job, which ended at 8am and I followed that with a quick bite eat on my way to the first of 3 back-to-back classes that started at 9am. At 2pm when my classes ended I would eat lunch and check mail on my way to my second work-study job at 3pm.  I finished working at 6pm and headed to dinner before one of my organization meetings that met at 7pm.  My social/ study group meeting time was 8pm -11pm depending on the projects for that semester.  At about 11 pm I would head back to my room to begin my homework at 12am, that was due the next day, NOT the work due a week or so later.  Please understand that I ALWAYS completed my work and did it well, but it started a pattern of me filling my days with everything else and leaving my homework for the last minute…literally the morning it was due.

The word “procrastination” comes from the Latin word procrastinatio, meaning, “to put off for tomorrow.”  As I stated earlier, I deferred everything until morning or tomorrow. Leaving me to do the best with the time that I had left, which I believe was not my best work.  Had I put a schedule together with all of my deliverables and worked on it little by little… I would not have been pulling all-nighters trying to finish my work.

In my junior year in college I began trying different methods that enabled me to stop the bad habit of procrastination.  Now that I am an entrepreneur working primarily from home it is essential that I complete my tasks not only on time, but also to the best of my ability, so that I can retain clients and gain the trust of new ones.  Over the years I have developed a 7-step system, which has helped me to eliminate my procrastination. 

Just Do It - A Mayartis J.  7-Step System 

1. Get started - On Sunday night while you are watching your favorite show(s), create a to-do-list for the next day and week.  This will help you to plan your week and more importantly develop a system that keeps track of projects in-progress as well as projects you have completed.
• Seeing this up-to-date list helps me to determine how to budget my time throughout the week 
2. Create reminders – Set-up calendar reminders that mirror your to-do-list.  These alerts will prompt you, when specific tasks are due, which if scheduled properly, will be days before the project is actually due.  Ensuring you are giving your teacher, client or customer the best work ahead of schedule
3. Take action - It’s amazing how taking one step to accomplish a goal brings you one step closer to finishing that goal.  Completing a task on your list creates mindset shift.  You feel instant relief, so you can move onto the next task.
• Every time I finish a task on my list I cross it off (if I wrote the list) or delete (if I used my computer), so I can actually see your list getting shorter
4. Relocate - Working in a different environment sometimes inspires creativity, but it also gives you a fresh start, that will motivate you to keep working on your list. 
• Instead of working in my home office, I some times go to a leased office, coffee shop or even a library.  The drive to the new location helps to clear my head and get me focused on the task(s) at hand
5. Wave the white flag -  It is often hard to ask for help, because many of us feel we are either being a burden on others or the people around us are incapable of doing it as well as we would.  In order to be efficient, it is important that we delegate to people who are proficient in the area that we need help. 
• I created a list of possible people I can delegate some of my work to in order to complete the projects.
6.  Shut down  - In this day an age it hard to go even an hour without checking, email, text messages or voice mail and as an entrepreneur you do not want to miss an important call, but sometimes it is vital to turn off and complete your project.  You can always return a phone call, email or text, but if you fail to hand in a project on time you could lose business or even worse… ruin your reputation.
7. Cross the finish line.  Anyone can start a project, but it is the person that completes the project that gets the grade, client or customer… especially if it is finished on time and to your best ability.

STOP your procrastination TODAY!  If you continue to procrastinate, how will you get your business off the ground, secure your first client, satisfy your first customer or get the best grades you possibly can.  Develop a “Just do it” mentality instead of I will do it later frame of mind.

God Bless

A. Mayartis J.

Parallel Career Metamorphosis

 You have spent every waking moment developing your skills as a professional athlete and although you are at the prime of your career you know in the back of your head that this will not last forever, but what is next for you? You are building a valued brand as an athlete, but you have other goals and aspirations, you have pushed aside to accomplish your first passion.  Now is the time, for you to utilize your brand in order to develop your other goals which in-turn will:

• Build financial security for you and your loved ones.
• Accomplish the other goals you have been considering.
• Create a stream of income, while you are still in your present occupation.

This process is called Parallel Career Metamorphosis or PCM

PCM is the process or period of transformation, from one stage in your career to another via self-examination, determination of your life’s purpose, creation of a detailed plan and specific actions taken to make it happen

Parallel Career Metamorphosis is not a plan B, but the middle ground between being a student and being self employed or being a professional athlete and developing a business that will extend your financial career after your first goal is achieved.  Very few people have the financial ability to decide that they are going to become an entrepreneur and leave their current company or drop out of school to start a business.  Those that have the financial stability to leave their current situation may not be ready to say goodbye to their first goal, but are ready to prepare for the next phase in their life. If you are ready to begin your transformation from where you are to where you are planning to go in your next business venture its time to:

1. Seek a mentor or an accountability partner to help you with the process.  Conduct a self-evaluation that will determine your talents, strengths/ weakness and passions.
2. Write down your list of your goals/ entrepreneurial ideas.
3.  Refine the list to under 3 actual goals
4.  Volunteer in the area(s) that you want to build a business if you do not have experience or expertise.
5.  Create a detailed plan to accomplish your goals
6. Take action no matter how scared you are – Do not let fear hold you back.

God Bless, 

A. Mayartis Johnson

No Plan B...Checking Off Another Goal

You are sitting in class thinking, I love my mom and dad, and I appreciate everything they have done for me, but I do not want to work a 9-5 job like they are right now.  So what do you do? You know, they would not understand if you did not find a corporate job with benefits and a consistent salary, after all that is why you are in school, right?

If you're a student athlete your first goal is to go to the pros, but in the back of your head you know the percentage of athletes that make it into the pros and you are probably second guessing yourself… NO SECOND GUESSING  - GO for your first goal of being a professional athlete with everything you have.  You have been working towards this goal your entire life and nothing should stop you from attaining it, BUT being a professional athlete should not be your ONLY goal.

We all have been engineered to be a success.  Strategically designed with specific traits and abilities to make our dreams come true.  Why not work on your other goals as well?  How great would it be if you could live your dream of being a professional athlete all the while creating a business that could sustain you during the off season or when your career as a professional athlete is complete?  

If you are in High School or majoring in a specific subject in college - enjoy the entire experience, travel, get involved with various organizations, learn everything you possibly can learn to successfully get your degree, AND THEN… consider starting a business.  How impressive would it be if you could create a business while still in school?  It would look great on a resume for a corporate job OR may even change the course of your future.  It could help develop traits that you didn’t know you had or acquire friends/business partners you will have for a lifetime.  Starting a business is a lot of work, but it is so rewarding.

You are probably wondering, if I want to start a business where do I begin? 

Start by exploring the following questions:

• What are your goals in life?  
• What are you passionate about? 
• What skills/talents do you posses? 
• Do you have the mindset of an entrepreneur or would you rather be an employee?

And then check back to “Branding Your Niche” blog often, because we will be discussing ways to become an entrepreneur, how to develop your brand (as an athlete or a business) and other random conversations on branding, marketing, creating the perfect team, parallel Careers, Defining your purpose, Finding your Why and anything that will help you… Brand Your Niche.

God Bless,

A. Mayartis Johnson