self mastery

i am in a period of really working on and educating myself these days.

throughout my life, i have always been big on reading, but i used to be really into fiction, especially during my childhood.  thanks to one of my cousins, i became a huge fan of Mary Higgins Clark and Terry McMillan as a youngster.  i definitely wasn't into finance or business, let alone personal development or anything of that sort.  the closest thing to business development that i had an interest in at that time were these cassettes that my dad had about real estate investing.  otherwise, i was swimming in oceans of fictional works, making movies in my mind that surpassed anything i could have seen on screen.

about nine years ago, though, i began to focus on personal development because of what was going on in my life at that time.  and i'm so grateful that i did.  through the use of books, ebooks, audiobooks, and podcasts, i grew my knowledge a lot!  

now, i follow a few Youtube creators who i genuinely respect.  they have creative content surrounding personal development, mindset, financial literacy, and the like.  one such creator is Mark Tilbury.  he has a video that describes forty key books he has read that shifted his mindset and aided him in growing his income/net worth.  i have a few other content creators who i follow who did something similar and i am following their recommended books, pulling the needed details, and implementing strategies to improve my life overall.  as Kevin Trudeau mentioned in "Your Wish Is Your Command," you don't really learn something until you practice doing it.  it's not enough for me to say i have read the words, but i need to actually take actions based on what i have read.

unlike the times of my childhood, i struggle with reading as much as i would like.  i used to be able to complete 2-3 books a week if i wanted to, but now, i am excited when i complete 1-2 books per month.  i have responsibilities to maintain--jobs, children, home maintenance, etc.--but i make it an effort to read daily even if only a few pages at a time.  

with that being said, i am going to dedicate time to sharing what i learn along the way and how it is impacting my life experience.  hopefully, you can gather some tips or at least a booklist! 🤓

looking forward to sharing this growth journey with you!
#TheHummingbird 🌺

taking the leap

I have been meaning to develop a blog--and actually publish it--for quite some time. One of my mentors recommended keeping a log of my progress as I study and develop my skills in this new world. And by new world, I am referring to the world of tech.

In the fall of '23, I began studying sales engineering with a bootcamp program--which I will detail and share at a later time. I wanted to build on my sales skills but pivot out of the prior work I had been involved with (in my attempts to grow into becoming a remote closer, I had been contracting as an appointment setter for almost 2 years along with other sales work I had done for clients). It felt as if there was a glass ceiling and I wasn't going to be able to have the flexibility I desired if I wanted to have the income I knew I was well deserving of. So I decided to beef up my skills and choose a niche area that would be both useful and lucrative; thus tech.

As I began piecing together the advice I would hear from various recruiters and other successful sales people, I noticed that I was getting attention on platforms like LinkedIn. I noticed that recruiters were reaching out to me (even if their offers weren't completely in alignment with where I was looking to go). And I was grateful that some traction was a good feedback response. After all, it was better than having absolutely no traction at all.

After experiencing a slight pause from my plans (the prior month was almost entirely dedicated to recovering from the seasonal bout with pneumonia/bronchitis induced asthma symptoms), I am refocusing my efforts. Getting back to studying, back to developing my skill-building plan, and back to seriously looking for the right career fit. If any of you know me, you know that I am not one to entirely lean on a W-2 position--after all, I had been a contractor for the past 7 years or so--but given the ability to have a career path that can help me reach my personal and familial goals, working within the technology industry is something I can get behind.

Based on my transferable skill set and my prior sales experience, I deduced that my entry point for a tech position would likely be in the area of sales. However, I didn't want to be stressed by KPIs (key performance indicators) and other high-pressure essentials to commission-based earnings. Being an appointment setter whose income was constantly fluctuating taught me to at least have a base when working in the sales arena. It also taught me to sell something that is actually essential rather than solely desired. With these things in mind, I felt that sales engineering would be the best path to pursue.

But in my mind, I really want to grow. And while SE work may serve as a means for growth, I am also preparing myself with technical skills that will allow me more access and the ability to better help the organization I will work for. That is why I am now focusing on skill-building and a few key certification acquisitions. Certs for the sake of certs seems a bit senseless, but I am determining that there are certifications that can demonstrate my skills and possibly fill in the gaps for my lack of specific experience in the tech world. In my view, it can't hurt.

So, I am taking the leap (or already have begun to leap) into the tech space and am figuring out the best path for my skill-building process. I will be posting regularly in order to keep a journal of my process and to share with those who are interested.

Thank you for taking this journey with me. I look forward to taking this ride and you coming along!

-c. 🌺

never mind the mess...

"you inspire more people than you realize.  never mind the mess...keep being the message." 
🤍 -c. 

often, we find ourselves distracted from what we are meant to become...what we are meant to focus on.  there are so many things competing for our attention.  ever wonder why that is the case?

maybe it's because there is something earth-shatteringly different about you.  
something that is meant to birthed from you and your experiences that can only be delivered by you.
and maybe...just maybe, by distracting you, the very people who are supposed to benefit from the very message that only you can deliver will become stagnated as well.  

thus, a perpetual cycle of unfulfilled promises and dreams can occur all because we allow proverbial mess to distract us from staying on task and remaining steadfast to our journeys.  

maybe we need to do the inner work of healing.
maybe it's the song we need to write.
or maybe it's that child we know we need to say an encouraging word to.
...maybe it's just being who we are aloud so that our influence can be felt by those around us.
only we know what the "little", seemingly insignificant thing we must do is.  

but like a snowball, when we ignore that one little thing, it becomes normal to continue ignoring the nagging idea of doing something that we know we must.

and just like that...the fire becomes a little dimmer. 
bit
by
bit.

your light is meant to be bright.  never discount the value of what you can contribute to the world.  

with love,
#TheHummingbird🌺

a new era...

howdy y'all...

today felt like a moment for a bit of a #storytime.

as i revamp this blog and really share some of my thoughts from the current space i am in, i really want to encourage anyone who has or is presently facing some form of struggle.  resistance is a normalcy in this thing called life.  but the thing that separates us is how we handle our struggles.

do we run away from them? 
do we avoid them (only to find them waiting on us when we cease our avoidance methods)?

or do we confront them?
do we seek solutions?

our approach to these things makes the difference.

and our perspective as we take the journey is what allows us to have joy in the midst of the most sorrowful of circumstances.

while i cannot say i have always adopted an optimistic attitude, i have definitely learned that gratitude can change things in remarkable ways.  i always say, "gratitude is the attitude that increases your altitude."  

when i have been challenged, finding things to be grateful for really kept me centered (even when i felt completely hopeless otherwise).  appreciating the smallest details in nature made me see that the Creator had special purpose in everything divinely designed...down to the fleck of a butterfly's iridescent wing.  when i see the splendor of such things, how can i ever doubt my own design, my worth, my purpose?

as i move forward in sharing things in this blog, it may seem incongruent.  but the truth is, it is all based on my experience...so the thing that is congruent and holds all these pieces together is me.  

yes, i am a single mom. 
yes, i am divorced. 
so why in the world would i be talking about the happiness of being a housewife?

well, one reason is...i respect the position of a housewife.  i have always desired to serve in that role and i felt masterful when i had that opportunity.  

deep down, i am still very much a wife.  i am simply enriching myself so that i can be the best version of myself when that blessed gentleman makes the right decision to see me as his wife.  

so in the meantime, i meditate on it.  i speak life into it.  and i share what i know because there are many who could benefit from what i've learned and know.

i was "only" a stay-at-home mom...not a mogul!
why in the world would i talk about the importance of credit??

well, here again, i learned a lot because of necessity.  
when i was married, i wasn't allowed to manage my own money (sounds kinda weird, right?).  i thought i was doing the right thing by "submitting" to that rule, but it was to my detriment.  
i learned about developing excellent credit because i had no money when i left that situation (i had been a stay at home mom who, even during a brief time of working, wasn't allowed to have my own money).  i didn't have any proof of my ability to pay debts.  and anything that had been in my name was disregarded since it wasn't in the breadwinner's name...so my credit was a bit...tarnished, to say the least.

leaving that situation, i couldn't rent an apartment because of having poor credit...even if i did have income at the time.  i hadn't worked in a few years, so it was difficult to land a traditional job.  i felt defeated and lost.  

educating myself led me to a wealth of understanding when it came to personal finances (not to mention business finances, funding, and private family wealth).  i had to figure it out because i didn't want to live off of family members for the rest of my days.  and i didn't want my children seeing me do that either.  they have seen me climb my way up and out of some murky places.  
...and they respect the journey.

so when i go into some of these subjects (that may seem unrelated or maybe even unaligned with my present position), please know that i am sharing from a place of personal experience and growth...not to be a guru or a pseudo know-it-all.  

i'm just a woman who has had to learn from the rough and unpaved roads along the way...and it is truly my heart's desire to spare others a rocky climb.

i wrote some of these articles years ago and had them on another site (which may be why the dates show up as older than this very post).  i am transparent, open, and sharing with love at the center of it all.

at this moment, i can say as well, any reference to people who have once harmed me is not meant to be malicious...but it's meant to share the truth of what i have had to endure or grow from in order to now share what you can glean from.  believe me, it has taken years to get to a place of peace with most people who have mishandled me...there is no shade over here....only a glow.🧚🏽‍♀️✨

may you continuously enjoy your journey...and thank you for sharing mine.

with love,
#TheHummingbird🌺