Do you have The Will To Win?

Okay, so I'm going to be extremely candid with this post.  For those not familiar with the corporate jargon, candid basically means keeping it 100! Or 8 more than 92 wit it, one hunnid!

 (sorry, too much Drake! lol)

The further I get in the pursuit of owning my own business the more conversations I end up having with people that claim they also want to start their own business or find a new job or company to work for because their current situation isn't working out the way they had hoped.

I can totally dig that, because all of those reasons are in part what's motivated me to pursue my dream of opening a salon and barbershop.  However, what I can't dig, is 5 to 12 months later those same people are saying the exact same thing with no progress.

Now, I get it, we all complain. Real talk, I've started paying more attention to how much I complain and I'm starting to get on my own damn nerves.  There's nothing wrong with talking to people about your problems and the obstacles you face, that's natural. It does become a problem if you're constantly making excuses for yourself and not willing to put in the work to make a change.

In my opinion, to win in life, there are 4 Keys to Success!  This is applicable to success in life, period. Even if you don't want to own your own business, or you're happy with your job, these are keys that will take you far in life to achieve and acquire whatever it is you want out of life.

1.  FEARLESS

To achieve any type of success in your life you cannot embody the spirit of fear.  

• You cannot be afraid of what people will think of you. 
• You cannot be afraid to talk to people outside of your circle.  
• You cannot be afraid to share your vision.
• You cannot be afraid to hear the word, "no."
• You cannot be afraid to ask for help.

Venture Connects - Networking Event 

Let's face it, if you're a minority trying to go into business or find a job you need to talk to people outside of your immediate network.  It's natural that we tend to mingle with people that are like ourselves because it's comfortable and it's familiar.  The reality is, not many of our family or friends are CEO's or executives of companies.  A lot of us don't have colleagues that can invest thousands of dollars in our business ventures, as brilliant as the idea might be. Now, if you allow this to stop you then you're not really a boss! By that I mean that hashtag, #boss, that everybody wants to put on their Facebook and IG posts.  No, you're not a boss or a hustler! You're not grinding and you sure as hell ain't on "beast mode," because if you were you'd find a way to meet people that could help you.

Perfect example, my GoFundMe campaign has been up for 4 months.  To date, I've raised $2,565 from the donations of 35 family members and friends.  My goal is $50,000 so clearly I have a ways to go.  Now, I could give up and say there's no way I'm going to hit $50K at this rate, and truth be told most of my Facebook friends and family are not in the position to donate large sums of cash to me because they have their own financial situations they have to deal with. 

I spy Kesia King working the room in her red blazer! LOL.

So, it would be naive of me to depend on just this one resource, right? Of course!  I have to go sniff out the big money, the investors, the people that do this for a living.  So what does that mean?  That means doing all the things I said you can't be afraid to do. I've been to at least six different networking events, by myself, sharing my vision and telling people how much money I need to raise and why they should help me.  Not only am I typically one of very few females in the room, but I'm generally the only black woman in attendance.  Talk about out of your comfort zone!  But if you want something bad enough, you'll do whatever it takes! 

Please believe, God helps those that help themselves. At the last event in August, I met an investor interested in my business concept.  We've now met on two different occasions and we're getting closer and closer to finalizing a deal.

2.  PASSIONATE

Plain and simple, passion shows through your actions.  You can't just tell someone your passionate about something, they should be able to see your passion.  Some might look at my social media profiles and blog and say, "she thinks she's cute all those damn selfies." Hahaha! I know that's what some of y'all think!  But honest to God, I love showing off the different styles I create with my hair.  I didn't go to hair school so sometimes I amaze myself at some of the hairstyles I'm capable of pulling off.  One things for sure, no one will ever doubt my passion for hair and no one would ever wonder why I decided to own a business in the beauty industry, because I share my passion with people everyday.

3. AMBITIOUS

Everyone can dream and have dreams but not everyone has ambition. According to Dictionary.com, ambition is, "the desire and determination to achieve success."  What you have to ask yourself is, how far are you willing to go to achieve success?  Are you the type of person to hear "no" once, and then give up?  Are you the type of person to say, "well I don't have the money, so I can't do that"?  Have you ever said, "so and so doesn't think this is possible, so it really doesn't make sense for me to try?" If you've ever said these things, sorry, you're not going to achieve the success you've dreamed for because you're not truly ambitious (and if you let me tell you you're not going to achieve success then you completely just missed my point lol). Ambitious people find a way.  If you're ambitious you kick, scratch, crawl and pull your way to the top. If you're ambitious you create opportunities, you don't sit back waiting for opportunities to come to you.  

4. RELENTLESS

If you're not physically and mentally drained every night while in pursuit to make your dream a reality then you are not relentless in your attempt to reach success.

• "But Kesia, I have kids" 
• "But Kesia, I have family members to take care of" 
• "But Kesia, I work full-time"
• "But Kesia, I don't have a car"
• "But Kesia, I'm not as outgoing as you are"

"Yaddy, yaddy, yaddy" as Tyrone Bigsby, Dave Chapelle's crackhead character on "The Chappelle Show" would often say. We all have responsibilities, that's life.  It's those that carve-out time to focus on themselves and their dreams that will be successful. If you're not going to be persistent than don't even think about changing your situation because the only way that's going to happen is if you say to yourself, "Self, I will not stop until I make this happen!" If you can't say that, then learn to get comfortable in the position you're currently in, because you're going to be there for awhile.

Substantiate your hashtag #boss, by getting in tune with the four keys to success! Help yourself and our community by living your dream and being an example for generations to follow.  What will your legacy be? And will they say, you had the will to win?