THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING
I know it has been awhile since we last spoke but I do have a good excuse. I am currently finishing my second edition to my book “Planning for A Reason, A Season, and a Lifetime” (available on www.nicolesimpson.org ) and it will be available soon. That leads me to this article. I want to speak to those individuals who desire more than a traditional job-working from 9-5 simply isn’t enough. You have dreams, desires, goals and a gift that can help you achieve everything you desire and more! How do you know when your gift is the conduit to your financial freedom? Furthermore, how do you create a business out of your gift? I am reminded of a very good friend of mine who realized that at an early age, she was quite gifted at doing hair and making both men and women look beautiful. Not only did she make them look good, they left her company feeling special as well. Separately, I was working with an individual who desired to write a book about what parents experience when dealing with disabled children. That experience coupled with her compassion for animals being therapeutic for disabled individuals made her focus on an invention matching people with a disability to a four legged animal that compliments their medical ailments. […]
THE FUNDAMENTALS OF CREATIVE LEADERSHIP
Creative Leaders value and respect the individuals who follow them. Creative Leaders know they are the most important tools, and the origin of their success and the people with whom they are building and shaping their future. sharing a vision and implementing a strategy. These people are the most important “assets” for a Leader and should be treated like that. Creative leaders respect them as people. There is a special and personal bond between the Creative leader and each and every of their follower. People are very perceptive and sensitive about how sincerely a leader cares for them. Creative leaders focus part of their time and effort to really get to know deep enough each of their key followers-, deep enough that people see it is for real and can be sure that they also have a bond with their leader. […]
IDENTIFY THE GIFT
Did you have a moment to identify the gift that keeps on giving in your life? Is that talent and/or ability something you would love to do every day all day? Let us begin to explore entrepreneurial opportunities that you can consider taking a risk on. I want to reiterate that this series of articles are designed for ordinary people like myself with a desire to accomplish extraordinary miracles and success in their lifetime. I want you to consider things beyond the scope of sports skills, musical skills, and artistic abilities. For some reason, we are conditioned to believe that traveling down that career path is our greatest opportunity to obtain wealth. I agree that it is very compelling but I know too many entertainers with national acclaim and no money. I have relationships with athletes that have problems money cannot solve. I know creative geniuses without focus and direction in their life. I believe our objective needs to maintain a balance between ability to receive a steady income stream and the opportunity to make a difference in other people’s lives. […]
SHARE THE GIFT
Hello everyone. I am so excited that everyone is thinking outside of the box creating plans they can implement in their life in 2007. First I want to thank all of you for your support and commitment to sharing this site with your family and friends. Because of you, www.blackmoneymatters.com recently won a Black Web Award for 2007. The success of this site is consistent with what we have been discussing for the last few weeks. Identifying your ability and creating a business that is both personally fulfilling and a satisfactory financial vehicle as well. Mr. Gil Michel identified his talent, wrote a vision and made it plain. Then he shared his vision with others. This is what I want to discuss today. You’ve determined your true calling, you’ve envisioned yourself walking into your destiny and now how do you make that happen? Sharing your vision based on your talent with others will allow those individuals to assist you creatively with options of how to get started. After all, that is what deters people most often. They don’t know where to begin. Several weeks ago, I shared with you that I am in the process of revising my book Planning For A Reason, A Season, and a Lifetime…. […]
BLACK MONEY, BLACK FINANCE, BLACK LIBERATION
I spoke this weekend at an Entrepreneurship boot camp for The Urban Philly Professional Network. The head of the organization created something I consider to be profound and promising. He regularly gathers the black entrepreneurs of Philadelphia for networking events, training and motivation for their endeavors. I am proud of him because he has shown a consistent commitment to two issues of critical importance in the black community: black people working together and black people engaging in the ownership of capital. Black entrepreneurship is not just about money. It’s about LIBERATION. The easiest way for me to control another man is for him to know that I am the reason his kids get to eat every day. That man will do exactly what I tell him to do, when I tell him to do it, and how I tell him to do it. Historically, African-Americans have been consumers of products and sources of labor. We have rarely been in a position to own or control capital. This country’s empire of wealth was built without black participation, as our ancestors were unable to transfer assets to their children. We all know that. Slaves were a form of human capital from which our country’s foundation was created. Theft from the black community is in the trillions. […]
WORK THE GIFT
You’ve realized that you are destined to achieve extraordinary success in your life. You’ve identified which gift God has given to you to create that major opportunity to excel, and you’ve shared your vision with a select few individuals who assisted you with solidifying your plan of action. What next? Now you must work. Most people do not realize their maximum potential because they are always planning what they would do. There is so much time daydreaming about the vision and sharing it with others, that the actual work never takes place. But understand this, now it’s time to move. The path to your destiny must begin step by step. Today is the day you make your dream a reality. First you must choose a name for your company. When giving your company a name, I suggest you also write your mission statement as well. Then you must decide how would you like to operate your business. Would you like to be a sole proprietor? Perhaps there is someone who shares your dream with you and will support you 100% giving you an option to establish a partnership. Other choices include an S corporation, C corporation and Limited Liability Corporation. How you incorporate your business is primarily based on your personal goals and objectives. Once you name your company and incorporate your business, you must file for a federal tax id number. Why? This is the number that identifies your company with the federal government for all income earned by your new business. […]
GORILLAS DON’T PARTICIPATE IN RECESSIONS
Are u a recession monger ?? I mean just because gasoline is over 100.00 a barrel and we are paying more than 3.00 at the pump nationwide and we have had a downturn in the economy for two consecutive quarters does not mean we are in a recession !!!!!!!!!!! well maybe it does ….what do i know?? Hmmm let me think..doo doo doo doo doo doo doo (theme song from jeopardy people ..Come on !!) OK what i mean is us Gorillas cannot afford to be in a recession, therefore we should not participate. Yes we are stuck in this strange economic place with everyone else, but we must sell harder and sell smarter and while i love making lots of money we need to take a look at our debt. A friend of mine whom i respect greatly is always saying the sure fire way to wealth is debt reduction. It is not what you make but what you keep, so do not fret we can ride this out together. […]
TAKE YOUR GIFT TO THE NEXT LEVEL
Happy New Year! I anticipate this year, you are standing in the state of expectation working the gift that God has given to you. This is the last article relating to the series, The Gift that Keeps on Giving. We started the process by identifying the gift that we believed the Lord gave us as a means to financial stability. Then we shared the vision with people we trusted in anticipation that they would align with our call and support us in any way possible. Finally, it was critical that we began to work on the practical aspects of a new business. That would include establishing a business, opening a bank account, finding a mentor, and just moving forward with a plan of action. Now it’s weeks later and you may have a very serious concern. How do you get the word out that you are now an entrepreneur? People can’t take advantage of your services or purchase your products unless they know you are in business. So here are some practical ways to get started marketing and promoting your business. […]
SAVE MONEY BY TELECOMMUTING
Gas prices are on the rise, and for the next 6 or so months I don’t see a slow down. The reasons behind that are debated over and that is not the focus of this article. I am here to advocate for more telecommuting options in the workplace. Before you all get up in arms about the need for face to face interactions, I am not talking about a 100% solution here more so a 3-4 day work week. Most office professionals chit-chat for between one to three hours a day, and that is an observation of mine and by no means corroborated by any metrics. I think there needs to be a movement to partial remote work in the near future in an effort to increase productivity and avoid office distractions. The personal computer is quite powerful and only getting better with every new year. For heaven’s sake, we can deliver PowerPoint presentations from our cell phones now! It makes no sense to me why salesmen and executives are the only people allowed to work remotely. The same systems that are in place to handle their remote needs can service the majority of the other workers in a company. For instance, most knowledge workers like programmers and the like don’t need to be in an office every day. The only conceivable reason for this would be to justify a manager’s role in the office. I would like to contend that an effective manager can “manage” remote workers as well as traditional in-office workers. […]
AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMAN CHARTER A BANK?
The first woman to charter a bank in the United States was an African-American woman! An African-American woman whose mother was a former slave and whose father is said to have been an Irish immigrant. Maggie Lena Walker, who began working as a child, helping her mother wash clothes in an alleyway in Richmond, Virginia; was the first woman, black or white, to launch a financial institution for African-Americans. She overcame not only the oppression of the racist Jim Crow Era, but even defeated the prevalent sexism of the day that purposefully excluded women as viable economic forces. This African-American visionary was often quoted as saying, , “Let us put our money together; let us use our money; Let us put our money out at usury among ourselves, and reap the benefit ourselves.” She practiced what she preached by only employing African-Americans within a variety of roles from butler to architect throughout her life. Walker note only owned a bank, but she established a newspaper, The St. Luke Herald, in 1902, and served as one of the national leaders for the St. Luke’s fraternal burial society, which supported the sick and elderly within the African-American community before social security or welfare programs were established. […]