Creating Space

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As a serial creative entrepreneur you might love the chaos and the dot connecting just as much as you hate the distress that comes with it.

Let’s be honest you logically understand that order and structure serves you well, but one of your gifts is the ability to see that midpoint which others seemingly can’t spot.

Ultimately however, before getting to the next level one must decide to create space.

Once you’ve extracted the creation from the chaos, reduce, declutter, reorganize and THEN repeat.

This goes for both the physical realm as the digital one.

Growing up, we moved around a lot. It had something to do with expenses I suppose but we never had these conversations. We went from having few possessions to acquiring more and having more than enough , which was a blessing. Where we fell short as a whole was the ability to organize, manage all we were blessed with. Add the stress of not understanding many things about the legal and business world and it led to a chaotic workspace created by yours truly. Don’t be fooled I enjoyed all the learning but I’d be trying to understand loss mitigation while working on my PreCalc or physics homework while worrying about the fact that all the noise at home wouldn’t let me focus on my homework, while wondering if my crush liked me back, you know teenager things. It was a mess. I was a mess. As Sadia Khan recognizes in herself, I have and have had “nothing to complain about” and yet I also carried with me tons of insecurity. Despite love, family and accomplishments, for some reason it’s what I used to gravitate towards. Somehow the mixtape playing over and over in my mind was not very kind to myself.

I knew one thing though listening to the wisdom of those older than me would do me good. The most wise would share that despite their success, ultimately what mattered most was time. Time doing what you love, time with loved ones. Time. Years later I’ve learned to recognize it as a gift this ability to appreciate time, to choose the difficult vs. the easy. Despite my choice to understand this concept I have in fact fallen short of my ideal of someone who fully appreciates time.

I’ve grown to understand that the gifts I’ve been blessed with are my responsibility to learn how to best showcase them and share the lessons to in fact save others time, and be of service.

What I’ve found is that clarity comes in different forms. There are different roads that lead to the same destination. As well as there being different destinations worth getting to. Choosing to endeavor on a journey no one else has tread before is like choosing to walk directly into the storm, sometimes you’ll have enough time to get the umbrella or to find shelter and others… not so much. With every new nugget of knowledge comes the opportunity to use it, store it, invest it or completely dispose of it.

If you find yourself at a crossroads it might be time to create some mental space and dispose of the thoughts, actions, habits and routines that keep you from progressing. Create space in your schedule to improve. Create physical space by removing broken, torn or damaged items ( Book Recommendations: the Life Changing Habit of Tidying Up, Essentialism) Create mental space by no longer holding onto insecurities, self doubt and negative self fulfilling prophecies. It will take … time and effort. You might find yourself repeating what you swore you wouldn’t or breaking that new years resolution. However, resilience is built through repetition. If you haven’t conquered the vice, just try one more time ( and again as necessary.)

#faceittillyoumakeit #alwaysberesilient

Family Business Basics

What to prioritize?

In a Family Business? First things first, Family.

La Familia.

That is what the priority is. However, factors worth considering is what specific aspect of the family’s well being does each member immediately affected prioritize?

Is it financial means? To be able to enjoy vacations and luxuries or to make sure medical expenses can be taken care of should they arise, if they haven’t already.

Is it time with the family? Are they an adult or a child? Having the opportunity to work towards a common goal? Laughing, problem solving together and supporting each other through all the chaos that will inevitably follow especially during the startup years?

Is it creating a legacy and leaving something for future generations to enjoy?

Is it about facing a challenge and accomplishing what many would say is “ too difficult”

Is it making a name for an individual with the help of the rest?

Is it for the pride and joy of following through on a vision & dream?

Is it because some or one individual experienced prejudice, endured insults, belittling to name a few bad experiences at a job that they wanted to provide an environment for their loved ones where they would be protected from those experiences?

What does each person involved have to say with regards to the business endeavor.

Who is for it? Who is not?

Why or why not?

What emotions, doubts, insecurities do they have? Is it the dream they oppose? Or is it because they don’t have your experiences therefore they can’t see what you see?

Communication.

Talking AND Listening.

Both are essential.

Building Confidence as a Family Focused Entrepreneurial Woman in 2024 Part 1

“We become the sum of our influences.

The multiplication of our thoughts,

& the compound interest of our actions.”

— Marisol Galicia, Creative Entrepreneur

Becoming an Entrepreneur is popular now, some might say the latest trend. And I’m here for it. But here’s the catch we are all built differently. From different backgrounds, beliefs, and blessed with different gifts. Our journeys all began differently. Your timeline and mine might look alike from far away but as you zoom in you might realize it took me 33 years to fully understand a concept that came easily to you at 5 & vice versa.

Seeing women and men speak up about business and let alone display their success is not only informative but inspirational.…

However, the information I have sought out as someone on their journey is often is the “particularities of the how-tos.”

For example, how to manage a home while also helping your family business?

How to excel in school while helping to generate income, because our family’s finances require it?

How to learn skills that my future kids will have to learn from me especially if they are areas I fall short in?

How to keep business tasks BUSINESS & family, FAMILY?

What I’ve found so far, is that the answers are sometimes amongst several aspects of people’s life and examples, which requires putting in the time to learn, reflect and appreciate. Do you relate to this? Perhaps in hopes of preserving the family ideal? Especially now with what are being referred to as “attacks “ on the nuclear family.

One topic of high interest is confidence and the role it plays in our decision making.

We must be confident in our ability to change if need be.

We must be confident in the fact that change is possible.

We must be confident in our ability to produce great results.

We must be confident in our ability to communicate our needs and our shortcomings.

Confident enough to know when someone is or has taken advantage of us. And self aware if the opportunity for us to do the same presents itself. Confident enough to not seek revenge.

The journey from a girl to a woman is one thing.

The journey from a novice business owner to a full fledge entrepreneur another.

Meshing the two … add a bit of Latin family drama, first generation first world problems, misunderstandings, paperwork…tons of paper, language barriers, legal vocabulary, plus more and then you have what I like to refer to as a mess.

As, I continue on this path some items that used to be challenging to comprehend are becoming clearer. The more I pray, the more I tend to find clarity.

Strengthening faith seems to work similarly to acquiring skills needed to create a YouTube video or learning how to play a musical instrument. One editing skill or one chord at a time. Little by little and being in awe of creation itself always seems to guide me in the right direction. Perhaps you’ll find strengthening your faith will help you do the same. Keep at it. Its in the best interest of us as a whole for the individual to become the absolute best version of themselves, that is the version that is kind, provides value to a community, serves, and in turn their amazing existence, skills and gifts valued.

Just a few questions to ponder over:

What role do you believe confidence plays in your ability to become a family focused entrepreneurial woman?

How do your believe your faith helps you in the matter?

April Showers Bring May Flowers... | Your Attitude Towards Self Awareness

Dear Friend,

It has been rather cold lately. We’ve had a couple of dreary days and even a bit of snowfall. I asked myself, “ it is spring right?” And then I kindly reminded myself, that I created a “Hello Spring!” Post for the contracting business. Internal conversations have us thinking we really need our own comedy show sometimes (just me?).

The exciting thing about change is that if we make the decision to follow the direction towards optimization of productivity and we learn to give ourselves and others grace, what blooms can be really beautiful. Gaining the understanding that you’ve overcome a particular challenge before and that you will in fact face it and overcome this new version of it is truly satisfying.

The catch is understanding who you are. Who you truly are. Not the projection of others of you or the perception, but the real you. This seems to come with time, at least that has been my personal experience.

Identifying, what helps you figure these things out about yourself is crucial but not impossible, even if at times it seems so. In our culture today, it seems there is much confusion about many things and one of the tools we have been blessed with its availability of, is language. Any language. A way to communicate, comprehend, explain and pass on information. It seems it is our responsibility to make the most of what we have and if we fall short (as some of my ideas expressed in this very post might display), learn more, apply more, keep going, until you find the word that truly describes what is.

Although we might experience many failures, or dreary rainy April Showers, the flowers will come, perhaps in May.

withallmysweetness,
Marii [:),<3.]