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January Was Rough! Time for a Shift

Hey Gem!

If Your January was Anything like Mine then Basically IT WAS ROUGH! I honestly didn’t know if I was coming or going. I felt like I wasn’t near as enthusiastic as I needed to be and that I was being attacked left and right.

A little pretext: January involved not 1 but 3 instances of other people trying to steal my designs and sell them or tell others to copy them instead of supporting me. Not only that, I was constantly receiving insight about someone who is not the biggest fan of Felicia (aka me) and moves that they were making to undercut me. It was a lot to take on while still trying to manage a little something we like to call Grace.

As strong as I appear to be, I’m still human and when you’re a human it’s hard to overlook everything. Somewhere within the month I lost myself. I found myself being constantly upset, wanting to start a war, desiring to speak out and more. I had become someone I fought so hard not to be. Now most people will say I was still graceful but for me, I stepped a couple levels below who I KNOW I am. It was rough y’all, rough! Not to mention that I was sick for literally an ENTIRE Month. Now on the outside everything looked great, my business was BOOMING, I still managed to generate 5 figures in sales, launch my I AM Collection, announce a getaway for my customers and more. However, inside there was nothing but turmoil.

The beauty of turmoil though is that hopefully you’re learning a very valuable lesson while you’re trying to pass the test. What I have learned is how to recognize when I’m allowing outside forces to control my narrative. I am realizing that with a simple shift in my focus, I can get right back to me like I never left. So what does a shift in focus look like? I can only speak for myself but a focus shift for me is when I put my attention back on Christ and what he has called me to do. When I stop worrying and allowing others to have a say so in how I operate. It’s also when I put the blinders back on and grind like never before. When you shift the focus, you quickly find that you are motivated again, you’re creative, you don’t need validation and you laser in on nothing but positivity.

Some ways to shift the focus would be to listen to a podcast, read a book, take a walk, journal, go to therapy, be intentional about your day, be intentional about the things you listen to and the conversations you engage in as well. Basically you are making a conscious effort to reduce any and all negative thoughts and anything that could potentially be a trigger for negativity.

My goal here is for you to take a page out of my book, look at the people and things you’re surrounding yourself with and make sure it’s a good environment for you to be in. Be sure that your friends are truly your friends, evaluate your work space and any other space that you occupy, express to your spouse that you’re going through a rough mental patch and need his/her help and prayer and most importantly unplug. Learn how to enjoy your own company.

We all go through ruts, that’s life but it’s how you get out of the funk and the lesson you learned while in it that matters. Once you make that choice to shift the focus, leave me a comment below with your thoughts and your success story. Make sure that you join me every Thursday on Youtube Live at 7pm CST. This week we will discuss shifting the focus further.

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When & How to Allow Faith to Stand In The Gap for You

Hey Gem! I’m Back & I Have to be Honest with You, It Was Not My Intention to Drop A New Blog Post So Soon. However, After My First Post I Have Been Craving to Write More.

This Blog is Giving Me A New Outlet & If It Resonates with Any of You then I’ve Done My Part. What I Want to Discuss With You Today is When To Allow Your Faith to Stand In the Gap For You.

What is “The Gap”? For Me, The Gap is Fear, Disappointment, Doubt & When I’m Unsure of Something. The Gap is that Space Between I Know I Should but I’m Not Sure If This’ll Work. Oftentimes, I Find Myself Having To Let Faith Take the Reigns & Make My Flesh Take A Backseat. I’ve Learned Over the Years that I’ve Allowed My Fears to Stop Me from Reaching My Goals. Fear Can Be A Heavy Burden to Carry Around. It Makes You Second Guess Yourself, Question People’s Motives, Doubt Your Abilities & Gives You So Many Other Negative Feelings. Fear is In Fact An Attack of the Enemy. Anytime You Allow Fear to Win, You’ve Allowed the Devil to Also Win. The Two Go Hand In Hand.

So What Actions Have I Taken to Stop Fear & Doubt In Its Track. First, I Am Aware Of My Thoughts & How I Process Things. Typically, I Have A Random Idea and Immediately I Start Thinking Of All the Ways It Won’t Work. I’ve Had to Train My Mind to Think Positive First & Never Negative. It Was A WHOLE Struggle but I Would Not Be Where I Am Today Had I Let Fear Overshadow My Faith. Secondly, I Had to Give My Faith the Opportunity & Space to Grow. I Had to Speak to My Faith Daily Which Consisted Of Me Saying Affirmations, Journaling, Getting In the Word Of God & Constantly Thinking Positive Thoughts. You Have to Feed Your Faith Just Like You Feed Fear. It’s Literally the Size Of A Mustard Seed but If You Water It Daily, It Will Grow. Lastly, I Had to Learn to Trust My Faith & My Own Intuition. You Have to Learn to Truly Believe In Your Ability to Achieve Greatness. Learning to Trust My Faith Was My Biggest Hurdle Because Trusting Your Faith Means to Put It Into the Atmosphere & Then Do the Work Necessary in the Background to Bring Your Ideas Into Fruition.

Life Has A Funny Way Of Turning Our Worlds Upside & If We Don’t Have Faith in Our Talents and Abilities, We Won’t Survive. Take Today for Instance, I’ve Been Feeling Some Type Of Way Lately in Regards to Other People’s Opinions & How They View Me Without Giving My Faith A Fighting Chance to Work for Me. Instead of Taking A Backseat and Standing Firm On What I Know to Be True, I Allowed Outside Thoughts to Cloud My Vision. But Because I Am Aware Of How I Process & Operate, I Woke Up this Morning and I Got In the Word, Listened to A Podcast & Blasted Fred Hammond. I Realized that I Haven’t Been Feeding My Faith. I Wasn’t Refueling My Faith Gas Tank to Keep Me Lifted at All Times. I Had to Correct My Thoughts. I Had to Speak Life Into My Right Now & My Future. Again Faith Without Work is Dead. If You Don’t Activate Your Faith It’s No Wonder that You Doubt Yourself. It Explains Why You’re Fearful Of Taking that Leap.

I Want to Encourage You Today to Feed Your Faith. Give Life to Your Faith & Stand On It Firmly Knowing that Without A Shadow Of A Doubt You & You Will Achieve Greatness. If Nothing Else, If Your Faith Needs A Little More Help Call On Jesus. That’s My Gem for Today. Until Next Time, Smooches 💎

Don’t Forget to Hit Like and Leave Me A Comment on Your Thoughts Below.

Debunk the Myth of Work Smart, Not Hard

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Do Both.

Hello there and welcome to Treasured Gems by Mrs. Goldmine! Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read my thoughts. This is the place that you can come to find some of my most treasured gems and how I try to manage life, business and my faith. 💎

“I learned the value of hard work by working hard.”

Margaret Mead

Hey GEM Hey! So I had a list of topics that I wanted to open the blog up with and we will get to them but today I wanted to address how ridiculous the idea of working smart and not hard sounds. For YEARS, I’ve heard people say Work Smart, Not Hard as I’m sure you have as well. However, the problem with this concept is I’ve never seen a self made millionaire only do one or the other, they have ALWAYS done both. When people use this particular phrase, I look at it as though it is a cop out to actually doing the work and putting forth the effort needed to succeed in life.

Now I’ve only been in business for a year and a half and what I can promise you is that it is nothing short of a combination of hard work, working smart, common sense, determination and faith. For an entire year and a half, I dedicated all of my time to my business because I knew that if I just kept pressing forward, I would reach my goals. In 1 year, 6 months after I started my business, I made over 6 figures in revenue and honey that did not come from only working smart.

My days consisted of waking up at 4am and going to bed at midnight. I planned my tasks around my children and my husband while also managing to engage with customers, fill orders, drop off orders, create, design, cut, print… YOU NAME IT! I was a one woman show and I was going to prove to myself that dreams only worked if I did. Here we are in 2019, and Goldmine & Coco has grown so much that I have an assistant and friends and family that have to come over and help me to deliver on my promise.

What other people consider accomplishments, I call hard work and faith in God. Faith without WORK is dead. Know that by not cutting corners and building from the ground up, God will bless your latter more than your beginning. Not only that but you will appreciate it more. I remember as a child, my grandmother saying how people didn’t appreciate things that they didn’t work for and I have never worked so hard for anything else in my life. I find value in my work that I couldn’t find anywhere else. Discipline is what I use to wake up and push myself out of bed even when I don’t feel like it. Determination and perseverance are the secret ingredients needed daily to crush my goals. Faith and dedication to my craft keeps me up at night racing with ideas. When you take the time to mix all of those ingredients together, you are bound to make something happen for yourself.

Gem, I want to encourage you today to never lose sight of your vision and stay focused on your goal. When writing down your business plan, factor in what you are willing to sacrifice to see your dream come into fruition. Last but certainly not least, plan to work harder and smarter than anyone else in your field. Put in the work and soon enough everything you desire will become reality. I’m living proof. That is my gem for today and until next time, Smooches 💎

💎 Before you go, be sure to leave me a comment and if you find this blog post really interesting; share it. 💎