I wish I could tell you that God just gave me an idea one day and that with ease and joy it came to pass.
But honestly,I would be doing you a disservice if I didn’t tell you the real.
The insecurities that crept up, the doubts that made their way in and the tears
that fell as a result of this God-given idea.
The truth is though, this was a journey, a process, an evolution and I want to share with you
The top 3 things I learned during this process. So that while your’e going through your process (and trust me when I tell you, if you are creating anything, there will be a process) you will have somewhat of a road map to help you through.
#1 – There is only ONE guarantee!
When I started out creating Minding My Faith, my mind was all over the place. If you’re anything like I am, you like to have things in order before proceeding with a plan. I wanted to have every detail perfected, I didn’t want to move until everything was in order, and although that sounds good – the truth is that my intention behind it was ALL WRONG. You see, in my mind, if I perfected everything thing I was doing, that meant two things. First, it meant that no one could criticize what I was doing (because like, its perfect right?) And second it meant that it had to work. So as I went forward with my vision I quickly felt the overwhelm and frustration that is accompanied by being a perfectionist. When things weren’t playing out the way I thought they would, I wanted to give up. I would say things to myself like “who will even buy this”, “what if it doesn’t work” and my favorite “am I even enough”. As my mind was flooded with questions, God began to speak very clearly to me. He didn’t answer the question I was asking, but He gave me the answer that I needed to move forward. I wanted Him to tell me the plan, I wanted him to give me a guarantee that my idea would work. Instead He gave me the best guarantee anyone could as for, He reminded me that in all things, and in all situations “ ALL THINGS ARE WORKING TOGETHER FOR MY GOOD”. and so I took my guarantee and I kept pushing forward, knowing that if no one purchased one of my boxes, He would use even that to work for my good.
#2 – Widen Your Circle!
One thing that I’ve learned during this process is that, sometimes, your biggest supporters will be strangers. I used to get upset by this. And I would say (in my mind ) “don’t act like you knew me when I blow up LOL… but then I
Realized something. Sometimes the people who are in our immediate circle aren’t the ones we need to push us to the next level. I stopped focusing on who wasn’t in my corner the way I wanted them to be and I shifted my attention to those who were! I’ve had some amazing people help me along this journey, whether it be an encouraging word, helping me with new apps, listening to my vision and giving feedback, or just being as overly excited as I was during small victories. All of those things mattered, and God knew exactly who to send my way to keep me going when I wanted to give up!
Special thanks to Ebonee (@eboneetravels) Shaleena (@plantlovenlight) and Jamie (@andstillismile) three ladies who before I ever even met them, went above and beyond to help me during my journey.
#3 Obstacles are the Gateway To Success
There are some wins that will come to you, just because you are being obedient and following through on what God told you to do. Those wins are great! But they are not the whole story. For every win that I got, seemingly effortlessly, there were dozens of obstacles that I had to go through too! Battles I had to fight, to take hold of the vision that I saw in my mind. I’ve come to realize that there is this type of relationship between obstacles and
Success that many don’t speak on. They are almost married, and one doesn’t come without the other. Obstacles are a sign that success is on the other side, and success is a sure sign that an obstacle is somewhere in the midst. There may be different types of obstacles depending on what level you are on, but no one escapes them. How you deal with your obstacles on this level will determine the level of success you will have access to.
So don’t despise your obstacles, lean in to them – they are your gateway to success.
Those are the top 3 things I’ve learned during the process of launching my business. Minding My Faith Subscription Boxes are available now! Hope you allow them to be a blessing in your life!