🛑 Don’t let fear of failure hold you back from taking that first step. When I first started writing music, I had no idea the amount of public speaking that would soon be needed to perform onstage. 🎤 Not only do you have to practice your songs and perform them well, but you also have to engage your audience and take them on that journey with you.

(In case you didn’t know…public speaking used to make me really nervous.) 😳

I remember some of my first shows where I downright STRUGGLED through it.

😱 Lots of “ums”

😱 Lots of run-on sentences

😱 Lots of continuous talking until I simply had to take a breath

That’s right. Sometimes when you speak, you literally HAVE to remind yourself that you also need to breathe. Who knew? 🤯

My mom gave me the best advice I needed to hear at the time…. “Finish one sentence and thought before you start another one.”

I was literally so worried about the point I was trying to get across or how to word it that I was 10 steps ahead of myself. It was “squirrel brain” times 10! 🐿

Now there’s like a ton of ways you can improve your public speaking, but that’s not what I’m here to talk about. The point is that I did it anyway. I did it AFRAID. To get to that next level, you have to be willing to push through your fears.

As a perfectionist, I know firsthand that it’s hard to jump into something that you don’t feel accomplished at. I want to do things right the first time, believe me.

Sometimes you have to be REALLY BAD at something before you can be EXCELLENT. It’s through the mistakes and falling down that we learn how to get back up and crush it. 💪

I’ve been performing for over 7 years now, and writing music for 12 years. I am so thankful for all those times that I messed up or wasn’t perfect, because it taught me…

✅ How to be BETTER

✅ How to not be so hard on myself because I made a MISTAKE

✅ How to turn an epic FAIL into an epic WIN

To this day, before I get on stage, I mentally remind myself to finish my thought before I worry about the next one. Am I a perfect public speaker? Heck no! 😆 But I am super glad I didn’t let that stop me.

I can look back and laugh at how far my speaking has come. 😅 I can watch my oldest YouTube videos and cringe a little because I didn’t have the best camera 📸 and didn’t know how to record decent audio 🎙 and set up the best shot. 🎥

But guys… ➡️ If I WAITED to start until I knew how to do all those things, I NEVER would have STARTED. Just start. Whatever it is, go do it! ✅

🌟 Everyday can be a growth experience if we let it be. 🌟

“A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.” — Albert Einstein

Sometimes happiness is a feeling. Sometimes it’s a decision. Life throws a lot of curveballs. That’s out of my control, but there’s one thing that I CAN control… and that’s how I react to it. I can choose to be overwhelmed, upset, and worn down by the situation — — — OR — — — I can CHOOSE JOY. Feelings can be all over the place, but how I choose to RESPOND to those feelings is on me. #ownit

Next time you are overwhelmed with emotions that are hard to deal with, how are you going to respond to them?

I’ve been writing music since I was 11. When I was 16, I started doing shows anywhere that would have me. 🎹 I recorded my first studio album 💿, and there ended up being a lot more BUSINESS in music business than I ever realized. 💼 The thought of having to market myself, create email lists, basically anything that wasn’t music related, was just plain stressful to me. 😳

’Cause when you first start out, you think that if you throw some good videos online, someone big is magically going to find it and call you up. 🤩

Apparently that’s not how music business works… usually. 😋

It takes a LOT of hard work, behind-the-scenes hustle to make a thriving business. You fail a lot. You learn from it. You get back out there and try again. You fail more. You adjust what you do.

A career in business is like an ever-changing, ever-learning experience. I used to loathe it entirely, but the funny thing is now I am totally OBSESSED with it! 😍

If we step outside of our comfort zones, amazing things can happen. We mess up sometimes, but we grow from it. We might not know what to do right away, but we learn.

If you always play it safe, you will always have “safe results”. But OUTSIDE your COMFORT ZONE is all the ADVENTURE you might just be waiting for.

👉 What’s something that you “grew into liking”?

Can we agree that there’s always an excuse not to do something we know is crucial for our growth and well-being?

▪️ I don’t feel like it… maybe tomorrow.

▪️ I don’t want to.

▪️ It’s too hard.

▪️ I’m not good enough.

▪️ That will take too much effort.

▪️ What if it doesn’t work?

Literally this list could go on and on forever…. sound familiar?

In Exodus 3 & 4, God told Moses he wanted to use him to free the Israelites that were being enslaved and oppressed in Egypt.

That wasn’t something that Moses wanted to do.

He had his own list of excuses as to why he wasn’t the right man for the job…

▪️ “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?”

▪️ “Who shall I say sent me?”

▪️ “What if they don’t believe me?”

▪️ “What if they don’t listen to what I have to say?”

▪️ “I am not an eloquent speaker.”

For every excuse and concern that Moses had, God gave an answer, telling Moses that He himself would be with him. This literally resulted in Moses saying, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.” (Exodus 4:13)

We all know the great things Moses went on to do. He DID go to Egypt and was used by God to FREE the Israelites. It’s one of the greatest and most well-known biblical events!

Maybe God wants to use you right where you are. Maybe there’s something you know you should be doing, but have been struggling to even try.

Do yourself a favor and be stronger 💪 than your excuses. You never know the massive impact that will come from it. 💛

So… life can be pretty crazy.

You hustle and you hustle, but you just don’t feel like you’re getting anywhere. Your wheels are spinning, so you only hustle harder.

TRUTH BOMB 💣: Hustling harder doesn’t automatically get you to where you’re trying to go.

Sure, there are times when you just gotta give it your best and not hold anything back. Dreams don’t work unless you do, after all. 💪

➡️ BUT ⬅️, there are times when you’ve overworked yourself so much, and you just need to love on YOU a little extra if you’re going to keep moving forward.

I bet if I looked at your Google Calendar 📆 right now, it would be a hot mess. 🔥 Mine is! 🙋‍♀️ Running around everyday, with no scheduled time for rest. ⏰

Want to know some reasons why YOU should be INTENTIONAL about rest?

✅ Reduces stress levels

✅ Various health benefits

✅ Restores your mental energy

✅ Boosts your mood

✅ You are more CREATIVE

✅ More PRODUCTIVE

✅ More FOCUSED

Nothing wrong with being a go-getter. Nothing wrong with taking time to rest. Just remember that ⭐️ YOU NEED BOTH ⭐️ to truly make great progress.

“There is virtue in work and there is virtue in rest. Use both and overlook neither.” — Alan Cohen

Comment below! 👇 What’s your favorite way to rest, recharge, and refuel?

Do more of what you love! 💕 For me personally, the more I work on my music, on my career, on my dreams — the more I cast vision and see the next steps that I want to take.

Do I know where all of this will lead me? No way! But the point is, the more you envision your future, the more you can define what it is that you really want and how to make practical steps to get there.

All dreams need a roadmap if they’re ever going to come true. If you discover what it is that you want to achieve, reverse engineer it and see what steps you can take today to make it happen!

“If you are working on something that you really care about, you don’t have to be pushed. The vision pulls you.” — Steve Jobs

Where is your vision pulling you towards?

You know that feeling when you’ve been working towards something for sooooooo long, and then it kinda just FLOPS on you? 😩 It makes you want to throw in the towel, call it quits, and let the dream go.

I love it when others look at “successful people”, and think that they’ve got it all together. That they somehow stumbled upon success with little to no effort. 🤑

Wanna know a 🤫 BIG SECRET? 🤫

When we see the START of someone’s career in the public eye, that person has been working towards it for longer than you would know. It is merely the continuation of their journey. Leveling up so to speak.

When you start your journey, you always start at square 1. Not everyone is there with you to see that. 👀

They’re not there to see…

👉 The time you FAILED really bad

👉 The time you QUESTIONED if this was what you were meant to do

👉 The time you almost GAVE UP

So 🚫 don’t beat yourself because you’re not perfect. Cause guess what? 👉 Nobody is.

Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. 💡 When a reporter asked, “How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?” Edison replied, “I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.”

Maybe your journey has a lot of steps in it. It doesn’t matter where you are on that road. ➡️ The point is that you keep moving forward.⬅️

💪 “Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” — Winston Churchill

Leave a 💡 below if you agree!

#successsecrets
#staymotivated
#successmindset
#millionairemindset
#entrepreneursmindset
#successprinciples
#buildanempire
#successfulwomen
#hustleandgrind
#reachyourgoals
#fearlessmotivation
#instamotivation
#entrepreneurtips
#entrepreneurmindset
#entrepreneurialmindset
#businesstips
#entrepreneurmind
#motivationalposts
#startyourlife
#startuplife
#ceolife
#nevergiveupquotes
#successhabits
#femaleentrepreneur
#ladyboss

✅ Swamped.

✅ Overwhelmed.

✅ Stressed.

✅ Worn out.

How many times do we push ourselves to the edge?? 😣

I’m one of the people that wants to do it all. Be involved in everything. (And I mean everything! 😳)

If I see an opportunity that I think would be good for me, I jump at it. I keep piling it all on into a lovely mess of a stack. 😬

➡️ BUT HERE’S THE THING: It’s too much. ⬅️

In my attempt to do good things, it didn’t leave a good result. 🚫 I wasn’t productive. 🚫 I wasn’t well rested (which is pretty important by the way).

🚫 I didn’t feel accomplished — I FELT EXHAUSTED. 😴

Then I realized something. There are some things in my life that I have to be okay with giving up. Let me put it this way instead… when you say no to something, you’re saying ⭐️ YES TO SOMETHING ELSE. ⭐️

✅ Yes to something GREATER

✅ Yes to more time to invest in YOURSELF, so you can bring your A Game to the table

✅ Yes to living your BEST LIFE

✅ Yes to more QUALITY to invest into others

I have found that when I’m involved in fewer things at a time, I bring more ⭐️ quality, more 💪 energy, and more 💡 focus. I don’t want to be overbooked. I want to have the energy I need to pursue my best life. The best version of me. Getting to live my dream and not be so exhausted that I miss it. .

“Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.” — John D. Rockefeller

Comment ⭐️ below if you’re ready to go from good to GREAT! 👇

#firestarter
#girlpower
#womenpower
#womensupportingwomen
#bossbabelife
#bossladystatus
#successmindset
#livingmybestlife
#femaleentrepreneurlife
#girlbosstips
#buildingmyempire
#shemeansbusiness
#laptoplifestyle
#liveyourdreams
#womeninspiringwomen
#justgetstarted
#contentcreator
#womeninbusiness
#lifestyleblogger
#productivityhacks
#productivityboost
#motivation101
#motivationforlife
#successtip
#successformula

👇 Wanna hear a big TRUTH BOMB? 💣 💥

“Opportunities don’t happen. You create them.” — Chris Grosser

Do you…

◾️ Spend way more time THINKING 💭 about your dreams than ACHIEVING them?

◾️ Focus 💡 your energy on how not to fail instead of getting out there and TRYING?

◾️ Get SCARED 😱 to start, even though you know it’s what you are MEANT TO DO?

Sound familiar? Yeah, me too. 🙋‍♀️🙋‍♀️

I can get stuck in my head all the stinkin’ time. But let’s push past that together. Instead of LOOKING 👀 for opportunities, I want to ✨ CREATE ✨ them.

It’s okay if you don’t succeed the first time. The point is that you keep trying. Always get back up. Put yourself out there. The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

The first step is the hardest, but once you take it, you’ll be glad you did. The key 🗝 to success isn’t waiting for success to happen to you…. it’s to simply START.

🛑 STOP getting stuck in your head, and START DOING. ✅

👉 Comment ✅ below if you’re ready to get out there and start DOING!

#firestarter

#girlpower

#womenpower

#womensupportingwomen

#bossbabelife

#bossladystatus

#successmindset

#livingmybestlife

#femaleentrepreneurlife

#girlbosstips

#buildingmyempire

#shemeansbusiness

#laptoplifestyle

#liveyourdreams

#womeninspiringwomen

#justgetstarted

#contentcreator

#womeninbusiness

#lifestyleblogger

#productivityhacks

#productivityboost

#motivation101

#motivationforlife

#successtip

#successformula

I got to see the Studio C cast! (I didn’t know they would be there!)

Nashville Day 7:

It was our third day at FHL 2019. On the main stage, they started to announce that Click Funnels was collaborating with JK Studios (the new project by the original cast members of Studio C). I thought that in itself was amazing. When we came back after lunch, we were told we’d get to view one of the newest sketches made especially for entrepreneurs.

Well, get this guys…. We’re back from lunch, getting ready to view the amazingness that is JK Studios, when none other but Matt Meese and Stacey Harkey walk onto the stage…. like in real life!!!

I. Freaked. Out.

I’m a huge Studio C fan. It’s like SNL but clean and family friendly. Like the good old days of watching The Carol Burnett Show. (Why can’t you buy that anywhere online? Because that is SO funny too!)

So, they’re on stage talking about their new venture as JK Studios, when they let us preview a sketch that had not been aired yet at this point. If you watch them on YouTube at all, you know that they just released a new series called Freelancers, which is sponsored by Click Funnels. We were the first to see one of these episodes!!!

I was more excited than anyone else in that room. (At least I think so!) Hahaha! 😆😆 I totally love watching these guys, and it made my day to get to see them in person. This really was the coolest conference ever. 💯