Surround yourself with successful people, if you want to be successful.
Last week these are the people I spent an evening with:
1. Successful women business owners
2. Deserving scholarship recipients
3. Ali Brown, Million Dollar Coach
My dear friend, Linda of Better Homes and Daughters, extended me an invitation to the NAWBO-SA (National Association of Women Business Owners-San Antonio) Awards Gala. NAWBO awarded six women with recognition as an Innovator, Visionary, Rising Star, Benefactor, Inspirational and Mentor. Additionally, they awarded over $20,000 in scholarships through the teen mentoring program where young women are encouraged to look to entrepreneurship. These students created a business plan as part of the scholarship competition. (Visit the NAWBO website for the names of the winners.)
In one amazing event, women in business came full circle from receiving a scholarship for college as part of a teen-mentoring program to receiving an award for the dedication to one’s business and community. The night was not only a celebration but also inspiring as the NAWBO also honored our Wounded Warriors and showered them with baskets full of pampering goodies and gifts of love.
Ali Brown took the stage as the keynote speaker and captivated the audience with words of encouragement, action and humor. Her story is one of beginning a business without any business knowledge and by never giving up, turning it into a million dollar coaching business. (eh-hem by the age of 35.)
- “Stop waiting for permission from others to step into your greatness.”
- “Embrace risk. Get uncomfortable with uncertainty.”
- “Be the CEO of your life!”
… just a few of her motivational commands.
More than the business advice, her story of the life-changing experience on the ABC TV Show: Secret Millionaire touched and inspired me. TV producers took millionaires out of their comfortable lives and put them undercover in impoverished areas where they lived off $55 a week. Only a few miles away from her Marina Del Rey home, Ali described it as “So close yet so far.” She met the pregnant and homeless women of Harvest Home in Venice, California. She was blown away by these women who had no one to love them and here they were bringing in new life. Ali loved Harvest Home’s philosophy of not giving a hand out but only a hand up creating these women to become self-sufficient.
“I was confused about who I was,” Ali shared. Before that time, she admitted her identity was wrapped up in her success. Through Secret Millionaire, she felt the layers being pulled away like an onion. Everything that Ali had done before, led up to that point so that she could be significant in the lives of women and children at Harvest Home. (At the end of the show, Ali revealed herself as a millionaire and was allowed to write the organization a check for $50,000.)
Que Means What, this blog (in case you forgot), was created because I am confused about who I am. Yes, mostly, I share light-heartedly about being a Tex-i-cana. From writing about my discovering culture, familia, healthy living, local events and more, I desire to be significant in the lives of others. Ali’s words inspire me to be diligent in achieving my goals. Because in that journey, I will learn many lessons and with those lessons, I will grow and share. And by sharing, I pray to be significant to others.
How are you significant to others? Is it through your business? family? blog?
