Article in Black Enterprise Magazine March 2010

This will probably be the first of many blogs about the article in Black Enterprise Magazine due to hit the news stands any day now. I am using a variety of social media and social networking tools to build my business and the article will focus on how that is helping me to build Salome's Simply Delightful Creations.

First, let me lay down the emotions that are present for me right now.

I am absolutely ecstatic about this. I am too excited for words, really. I cannot believe what a wonderful opportunity I have been given. Just thinking about this just puts a smile on my face. I am like "Wow! This is phenomenal!" I am reminded of a saying my friend's dad used to say: "When success knocks, open the door and put her to work!"

The success of the business thus far has been nothing short of awesome! I have grown as an entrepreneur and the response from my customers has been outstanding! I love making quality products and love even more when people enjoy them!

I am also feeling a mixture of feelings, anxiety, being the main one: Am I ready? What's next? are a couple of the questions that run through my mind on a daily basis. I am learning to engage that anxiety and make it work for me. I am reading A Praying Life by Paul Miller and he has expressed how I choose to handle this anxiety this way:
"Instead of fighting anxiety, we can use it as a springboard to bending our hearts to God. Instead of trying to suppress anxiety, manage it, or smother it with pleasure, we can turn our anxiety to God...Anxiety wants to be God but lacks God's wisdom, power, and knowledge. A godlike stance without godlike character and ability is pure tension. Because anxiety is self on its own, (emphasis mine) it tries to get control. It is unable to relax in the face of [the unknown]."

The future is the unknown: How will I manage the growing success of the business? How will I bring others along? ... and on and on. Yet, with this new understanding of the place and role of anxiety in my life, I look toward the future with an under-girded and renewed sense of hope for the possibilities that lie ahead.

So, it is with excitement, purposeful anxiety, and hope that I lean into this gift and say, "Thank you! I'm ready!"

Happy New Year

I just wanted to drop you a note to wish you a New Year filled with the grace of God - Grace to Enjoy, Grace to Endure, and grace to Enact the plans that God has for you.

I am really excited about what the new year holds. I love this time of year, not because it is imbued with magical powers that give us the ability to dream, make plans, and follow through on our commitments beyond what is available any other time of the year. Rather, this time of year gives us the opportunity to rise to the potential of our calling and commitments because we take the time to give attention to them.

May your full year be like the New Year in this sense - you look forward with joyful expectation to the things God has in store for you and that you are looking for ways to be a blessing as a result.

Peace.