Last week, I had the privilege to attend and speak at Tory Johnson’s Spark and Hustle event in Dallas. If you haven’t heard of it before, it is basically a three-day, power charged conference for female entrepreneurs. I met so many incredible women and learned some pretty amazing things that apply to all of us, and I am excited to share them with you!
Here are the top 7 tips I learned that are going to be game changers in my life and business:
1. Life is about the 3 D’s. You have to dream. What do you want to achieve? What’s important to you? Next, you must decide. How are you going to make that dream or goal a reality? And most importantly, you must do. Remember the old joke about the four frogs sitting on a log? Three decide to jump off. How many frogs are left? Four! There is a big difference between deciding to do something and actually doing it.
2. We get in our own way. What’s keeping you from getting to the next level of success? Too often, the answer is YOU. All of us stand in our own way. If we want to improve, we have to start figuring out how to stop tripping over ourselves.
3. If you aim for everything, you hit nothing. Be specific about your goals, both personally and professionally. When we try to accomplish everything, we usually end up frustrated and unsuccessful. Get specific about what you want and go for it.
4. We are addicted to fear. If you don’t believe it, go through the entire next week without worrying about your job, money, friends, family, etc. Think you can do it? While it’s ok to be afraid if you use the fear to propel you forward, most of us are paralyzed by it. Try to isolate the specific things that are creating the fear, and take action to move past them one step at a time.
5. Define what success looks like to you. Often, we get caught up in other people’s perceptions of what success looks like. In order to know whether or not you achieve success, make sure you clearly define what it looks like for you.
6. The only limitations are the ones we put on ourselves. I met an amazing fifteen year self-made millionaire, Maddie Bradshaw. Maddie came up with the idea for Snap Caps, the interchangeable magnetic bottle caps for necklaces when she was twelve! Maddie, along with her mother and sister have turned it into a multi-million dollar business, and she just published her first book. Wow.
7. You are the average of the people you surround yourself with. Are you surrounding yourself with people who are positive, bright, and energetic? Or, are you surrounded by negativity, complaints, and excuses? If it’s the latter, maybe it’s time to find some new friends.
I will explore some of these tips in more detail in later posts, but while it was fresh on my mind, I wanted to share what I learned with you. We are the only ones that can light our own spark, and we’re certainly the only ones who can hustle to make our dreams a reality.
On a side note, while I was at the conference, my husband stayed home with the kids to hold down the fort. Evan started collecting June Bugs but apparently misunderstood the name of the bug because when asked why he was collecting so many, he became very indignant and said, “I’m collecting ‘Jew Bugs’ because they help me stay Jewish!” Gotta love it.