The Dreamless Entrepreneur by Nicole Nixon

The Dreamless Entrepreneur

As the CEO of my own data technology company, I wish I could say I was one of those people that had “big dreams” of what I wanted to become. Sadly, that was not me.

And I did not have “DREAMS” or so I thought!

I was raised by a single father of 3 girls which I’m the oldest. Although my dad was a minister, he
worked 3 jobs as well as a member of the US military. Needless to say, when my dad wasn’t working, my family was in church. It was rough growing up without having a mom in the house. As the “oldest” of 3 girls, I was always reminded of my responsibility to “set an example”. This was NOT what I wanted to hear. I was not happy. Dreams did not live here.

After graduating from high school, I entered college to obtain a degree in Business Administration.
Within a year, I became pregnant with my first child which suspended my college education. Two years
later, I welcomed my second child and was no longer focused on resuming my college education. As a
mother of two young children, my focus shifted from getting a degree to my new path in life; becoming
the best “mother” I could be.

With that in mind, I applied to Verizon Communications to start a new career, and was hired within 30
days. Even though I was not able to finish college, I decided to make Verizon my college. I volunteered
for EVERY project and worked many weekends to learn as much as I could. Aside from my normal job duties, I also performed multiple other jobs within the Verizon organization. My focus was to simply be the best professional and mother I could. Nevertheless, I still didn’t have a “dream” but something was pushing me to be "great"!

After Verizon, I was invited to join the management team at Time Warner Cable. It wasn’t until my time
at Time Warner Cable that I found a missing link in the telecommunications industry; Data Flow. I
pushed myself to study industry trends which led to my entrepreneurship journey. It was then I realized
that even when I thought I couldn’t dream, God dreamed for me until I could dream for myself! So just
when I thought I was a Dreamless Entrepreneur, my push for greatness allowed my dream to capture
me!

For those who are still trying to find their passion, and find that winning “Dream”- Don’t Worry! Even if you think you cannot dream for yourself, keep living to your fullest potential, and your “inner” dreams.

Learn more about Nicole via her website www.listingcentralllc.com and follow her on Twitter @ListingCentral. 

will become a reality!

PARENTS: DESTINY is calling… Will YOU Answer? by Dr. Deborah Tillman

Destiny is not something you wish or hope for. It is something you believe is meant to be. As I see it, we have three choices when Destiny Calls. First, we can choose NOT TO ANSWER. Motivational speaker, Les Brown said the richest place on earth is the graveyard because it is there that you will find hopes and dreams that were never fulfilled, the books that were never written, the songs that were never sung, the inventions that were never shared and the cures that were never discovered simply because someone was too afraid to fail so instead of running the risk of failing they didn’t try at all.

It is true that there is nothing to fear but fear itself. Fear holds us back from living the life God  intended for us to live. Life doesn’t happen when the alarm clock rings, life happens when we
wake up and realize that we still have a PURPOSE and that our past doesn’t dictate our future and our current situation doesn’t equal our permanent destination. We have to know that BEST
is our Birthright and that we were BORN TO WIN.

The second choice we have when Destiny calls is to put it on Call Waiting Destiny is calling US but we WAIT for someone else to answer the call. We expect someone else to fix what is broken, to mend what’s been wounded or to change what is not working. It is time to stop expecting others to come and save our children, families and communities. It is time to get out of our comfort zones and stop settling
for safe. Destiny does not call us to be comfortable. Destiny calls us to be committed to something greater than ourselves. My life and your life is suppose to make the lives of others better simply because WE WERE BORN.

Finally, when Destiny calls the last choice we have is to simply Answer the call. We have a legacy to leave to our children and our children’s children. The car we drove, the clothes we wore or the square footage of our homes will not determine that legacy. It will be determined by every life we touched, every tear we dried, every smile we shared, and every heart we held. You and I were born for such a time as this and encoded in our DNA is the millionaire mind of Madame CJ Walker,
The scientific hands of George Washington Carver
The strength of Sojourner Truth
The persistence of Mary McLeod Bethune
The voice of Marian Anderson
The passion of Barbara Jordan
The leadership of Dorothy Height
The character of Dr. Maya Angelou
Going with us are the values and principles of hard work, humility, self-reliance and respect for all people, kindness, empathy, faith and love knowing that in the end our DESTINY WAS WORTH FIGHTING FOR

Learn more at about Dr. Tillman via her at www.deborahltillman.com and follow her on Twitter @deborahltillman

WORTH FIGHTING 

See Your Path, Hear Your Destiny, and Speak the Vision by Dr. Catrina Pullum

We are a little over half into 2017. What have you accomplished thus far? You still have
five months left to make your vision a reality. Take a moment and think about the word, Vision. Within the bible, there are over 100 verses relating to vision alone. We normally cast our vision at the beginning of a year as New Year’s Resolutions. According to history.com, 75% of people manage to keep these resolutions for one week, 71% for two weeks, and by 26 weeks, only 46% of people are still maintaining those lofty goals.

To start building your vision, you must see your path. Your path is connected to your
purpose. To know your purpose you have to know yourself, and know what drives you to action every day. You must have a clear understanding of who you are and whose you are, and what parts of your purpose drives you to get up in the morning. Once we have established these things firmly in your mind, we want to take the vision, the images that we have seen for our lives, along with the message of the call of our destiny, and record them in a format to remind us what they are.

As we search for items to place on the vision board, we need to listen for the call on our
lives. Get magazines, newspaper ads, any sources of words and pictures you are comfortable cutting up, and as you begin to leaf through them, listen to your heart, listen for that still, small voice, listen for what calls to you. You might see affirmative words like “hope”, “love”, “beautiful”, “strength”, “joy”, “business”, or “family”. These words might speak to the chains you have recently broken in your life, or resonate along a chain still waiting to be broken. Search for and find the things which call to you, and speak to your destiny, to your calling.

Finally, you must give birth to the vision. Record it all on the vision board, all that you have seen and heard for your life. Once it is complete, stand in front of a mirror with your vision
board and explain the board to yourself, out loud. Speaking your vision out loud has two
purposes. First, is to sow the message of what you want to accomplish into the universe. 
Second, to show that there is clarity in your final creation for yourself. By voicing it aloud, you are able to show that the vision you saw was clear and plain. If it is not understandable to you, or everything you want is not represented there, work on it some more. If it delivers the message you desire, you then know that the message will resonate with you every time you see it, and that if you want to explain your vision to someone else, you should be able to state it clearly to them.

Learn more about Dr. Catrina via her website at www.drcatrinapullum.com (personal) & www.pullcorp.com or www.coe4youth.org  (business) and follow her on Twitter @drpullum (personal) and @pullcorpmedia & @centerofempower (business)