There are lessons you learn when you’ve spent a better part of your adult life in business.

You don’t value them at first, if you’re making money, you say to yourself “That’s good enough for me!”

But, is it?

Really?

What happens when you’ve hit a certain level (financially and emotionally)? You begin to spiral and the whole concept of making money just seems so flawed…

It doesn’t make you as happy as it used to. You feel like you’re trading hours for dollars.

It may seem like one of those 1^st world problems, but it’s a problem nonetheless.

Here’s 5 things you NEED to ground yourself and keep rising above the judgmental clouds of self-doubt, barren wastelands of trading hours for dollars, and the gloom and doom of total business collapse.

Your vision is your guiding light that will keep you going when the going gets tough, this is the one constant in your struggle that will tell you “YOU CAN DO THIS”. Without having a vision, you only end up hitting your head against the wall and questioning yourself, is this what I want to do in my life? Is it even worth doing? Am I on the right track?

With a vision – You tell yourself, no matter what… I have to do, I’m gonna reach that level and beyond. I’m gonna grind myself to the bone and make sure my name is among those who matter.

A five-year-old comes across you on the subway and you’re working on your laptop, if you have to tell that 5-year old what you do, how will you word it?

See? That is what clarity is all about, telling people what you do, how you do and why you do it in simple (not so clever) way which makes sense.

It’s important to have a crystal-clear message so you stand out with it. No one says that a message has to be cryptic and mysterious so people will remember it. They won’t … in fact they’ll forget it!

One cannot become a celebrity or become popular just by dumping content in the air and expecting it to stick. If you’re not establishing relationships, if you’re not expanding a network of people who empower you and you empower them in return… YOU ARE NOT DOING IT RIGHT!

Networking isn’t just for selling or running in the same circles as the big dogs. It’s about having people who are connected to you, what you stand for and your work. So they can help push you further and higher!

Doesn’t have to be fancy, doesn’t have to be out of the world, doesn’t have to be like anyone else’s. It only has to be EXACTLY like yourself. Period.

When you’re thinking of branding yourself, remember that people should feel three things:

1. Exactly as if they’d met you in person.
   
   
2. Insanely clear on who you are, what you do and how you can help them with their problem.
   
   
3. The emotions you evoke through your messaging and design, how do they feel? Supported, heard, relaxed, energized?

Nothing good ever came outta slapping together a website, putting an offer out there and sitting your ass down on a rock. There’s not a SINGLE successful person who can say I built and they came. They were MADE to come and buy!

If you are in this to win this? You’ve got to have a plan to stay in the game!

Doesn’t have to keep you up at night, and work the day like a zombie, it can be a 3-5-hour work day, but you HAVE to stick to your schedule and tell yourself… even if Donald Trump is the president, I gotta do what I gotta do!

True entrepreneurship does not begin without having your fair share of failures.

Don’t be discouraged by it.
Don’t be ashamed of it.
Don’t be afraid of it.

Own it and move forward!