1. How did you arrive at running this business? What path brought you here?
2. What are you known for professionally? What do you have a knack for?
3. What’s the one problem you are best at solving for your clients? What do your ideal clients say about you?
4. Who have you worked with in the past? And what have you done for them?
5. What are you most passionate about professionally? What most excites you about your work & the contribution you can make?
6. What are you passionate about personally? What do you really enjoy? What can’t you stop talking about?
7. Where can we find you when you’re not working? What’s your favorite way to spend a weekend or a Sunday afternoon?
8. How long have you been doing what you do?
9. Where did you grow up and why aren’t you there now?
10. Any volunteer activities you’re crazy about?
11. Any nonprofits you love, & why?
12. Any awards or medals, or even medallions? Personal okay, too.
13. What would be impossible for you to give up?
14. Why would someone not want to work with you?
15. How do you want to be remembered?
16. Anything else you’d like to tell people about yourself?

The following tidbits are just a few pieces of advice to get you started. More to come.

• Success is a journey – enjoy the ride.
• The first order of business is to define what “success” is to you. And it better not be something boring like “Have a lot of money so I can buy a bunch of things“! The sooner you realize that success is not about that, but about being a better “you” today than you were yesterday, the quicker you will start enjoying success.
• Invest in yourself:
  • Don’t look at what you are today, look at what you want to become
  • Do something that moves you forward every day. If you are not moving forward, even small increments, you are losing ground. EVERY DAY. I can’t stress this enough… EVERY DAY!
  • Find men and women who are where you want to be:
    • Meet them – be bold – successful people LOVE to give back to motivated young people who show respect and appreciation
    • Network Network Network
    • Find someone you respect and establish a mentor/mentee relationship – Do not waste their time – if they give you advice…follow the advice. If you don’t follow advice, at some point they will stop giving it.
  • Craft a profile of yourself of how you want people to see – both right now and future you
    • Own it
    • Do what it takes to move forward every day: consistency is your friend.
    • INVEST IN YOURSELF! Make a habit of doing something productive in each of the following areas every day.
      1. First of all, and most importantly – spiritually. Make sure you are growing in God’s word.

The rest are in no particular order of importance, they all take a back seat to number 1.

1. • • • Intellectually – Read books that help you develop skills. Do not neglect improving your people skills. The best habit to get into is shutting off all screens at least 1 hour before bed and read good books right before you go to sleep.
       • Physically – Being physically fit is invaluable to your success – just trust me.
       • Relationally – spend time with the people you care about.
       • Financially – make sure you pay yourself FIRST – meaning, after giving a portion of your resources back into God’s Kingdom you should always put a nice chunk away in savings. This is a big topic…too big for this list.
     • Be patient! Success takes time – give yourself that time to grow.
     • If I didn’t say it before….Take some action that moves you forward every day. EVERY DAY.
   • Build a library of resources
     • Cover letters
     • Resumes
     • Case studies
     • Job descriptions
     • Profile resources – like images, bios, summaries, etc. of yourself
     • Anything that can help you later

Relax with it

• Seriously, relax with it. Have fun along the way. You are a great person, you have what it takes.
• Continue to focus on what God has given you and how He sees you
• Remember the Holy Spirit is your secret weapon.

BE BOLD

• Learn to enjoy networking
• LinkedIn can be your best friend
• If you are intimidated to reach out to someone you respect because they are “so far ahead of me“…put yourself in their shoes. Think about it – if you were a successful leader, and a young, up-and-coming, respectful young person was asking you for advice…how would you feel? How would you react?
• Trust me on this, the fear of “putting yourself out there” is TOTALLY FABRICATED BY THE ENEMY! I know because I HAD IT TOO!
• Smile when you are talking on the phone – it comes through.
• If you are in an important conversation, like an interview or just meeting someone you want to make a connection with, and you are trying to get a thought out but are struggling for the words
  • DO NOT GET FRUSTRATED
  • Do not get embarrassed
  • Pause, take a breath – look them in the eye and tell them you need a minute
  • Measure your words – meaning after you gather your thoughts be sure your response is addressing the question at hand or making the point you are trying to make.
  • If after a short time you don’t know how to answer, THAT IS OK! Simply tell the person “I Don’t Know” and if the situation warrants, tell them you can get back to them once you have a chance to find out the answer.

Learn to be proactive

• Remember the main thing? Always know what is going on around you.
• Learn to be the best “you” you can be – and get a little better each day.
• Listen and pay attention – practice active listening
• Ask questions.

The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz