Nelsapy

As a single mother I often felt guilty wondering if I was neglecting my children by working so much. Looking back, I some how managed to always have the weekends off and fortunate enough to keep a schedule during their school hours which meant having dinner together every evening as a family. Once my oldest became a freshman in high school she was enthusiastic about being envolved with extra curricular activities, in addition to advanced prep classes keeping her extremely busy resulting in many days of making it home as the sun began to set.

We were living in a tiny suburb of Sacramento, California known as North Highlands. Our apartment was just off Watt Avenue, a main street that stretched over several areas of Sacramento. From our upstairs living room window there was a clear view across a neglected dry field of chest…

Note: The following story, along with several of my other works are featured in Our Black Mothers: Brave, Bold & Beautiful. This is a piece I’m extremely passionate about for various reasons. During my first few readings I was overwhelmed with joy by how it touched and resonated with the audience, resulting in future invitations to read and or speak from the heart regarding my experiences as a mother and what I’ve learned. I’d like to now share with you. (Tim’esa is shown in the above image of the book cover on the top row and far right with the beautiful smile).

My mom left me to believe I had the flu when I was 17 and had been hanging around the house for over a week vomiting, but the reality was that I’d soon become a mommy myself. Although, I wasn’t quite sure what a “mommy” was because I’d…

Most of us, when hearing the word “fear” think of certain types of phobias like claustrophobia or arachnophobia. My personal fear has always been acrophobia (fear of heights) and aerophobia (fear of flying) which I’m slowly overcoming. The type of fear I’ll be writing about today however, I don’t believe is considered as an actual phobia. My fear is more of a “fearallacy” (a made-up word of the day borrowed from a follower, thanks ShiraDest ) meaning: A fear based on false, incorrect or mistaken reasoning. During my childhood, hearing stories in the news about babies being kidnapped, dying fron SIDS, not to mention my own personal experiences of abuse in general, I told myself I would never become a mother and until my teenage years the very thought of being a parent had been my greatest fear.

I destinctly remember a time in my life when that fear turned…

I’m certain that at some point we’ve all heard the phrase “never judge a book by it’s cover”, which is great advice I’ve always tried to stay mindful of, especially regarding people. However, that was not the case when I stumbled upon the books featured here today. As I recall the time I came across them in my haste and excitement at a yard sale, my thoughts were not only that I was getting a great bargain for $1, but I was also intrigued by the covers which sparked my curiosity. In this particular one shown above, my hope was that it would reveal information that may be useful later in life. I’m not sure what I may have been going through at that time. I was obviously still young as well as a bit naïve perhaps. The second book (shown below), well let’s just say by the cover alone…

There is this little fable about a spider that starved because its web was too wide. It starved not because it wouldn’t have been able to reach the far end of its web but because it got confused by the sheer mass of incoming signals. It just couldn’t differentiate between important and unimportant anymore.

Husband and wife who had been separated see each other again, and they fall into each other’s arms. They exchange a passionate kiss, they hug and hold on to each other, then they walk into the sunset, holding hands, happy to be reunited again. That’s how it would be in the movies or in books. The perfect scenario of a married couple still being in love after so many years.

Being an entrepreneur brings many challenges along with its many benefits. One challenge in particular involves your business mindset and recognizing if you’re setting yourself up for success or failure.

Figuring out what mindset you have involves using your common sense. If you’re afraid to fail, chances are that’s what will happen because you won’t want to take any risks so you won’t take any action. However, it IS possible to shift this mindset; so instead of being afraid, you become determined to make your business work. Which scenario do you prefer: Being determined and taking action or being afraid and cowering in a corner, doing nothing?

Here are some other common mindsets that may negatively affect your business:

1. A negative mindset can affect your confidence. How do you react if a boss or client says you made a mistake or they’re not happy with your final product?…