You’ve probably heard a million times that, to achieve something in life, you must work hard. But, what does “hard-work” really mean? Let me tell you… it’s doing all the ground work you REALLY do not want to do. Queen of the South is a show, I recommend you watch; the story is heart-racing and will hook you immediately but, I recommend to watch it because of the morale of the story. It’s a show in which you have to read between the lines and you’ll truly learn what it means to come from nothing and work your way up in a business and in life. You can find Queen of the South, here.
Now, A Hint of Life is a platform in which Andre (my sister) and I, share real advice on career, fitness and style and today, I want to share with you the ground work I have to do to keep this blog going and growing as a business. The pictures you see on instagram are pretty but, they ARE work. There’s a lot of behind the scenes that I wish I remembered to show… maybe showing behind the scenes would be more inspiring for you? Ok! so, How have I “made it” with A Hint of Life?
- First, having a full-time job to work as a my venture capitalist. I enjoy my full-time job, don’t get me wrong but my salary is used to save a lot of money and to invest in A Hint of Life. Raising money is not something I want to do and so, having a full-time job works for now.
- Working after-hours or before hours. This post is being written at 6:20am, before I have to leave for work. It also includes late nights. I worked until midnight last night.
- Working weekends. Photoshoots, planning and writing happen mostly on weekends.
- Invest for little return. Starting a business means a lot of investment and little return for a while. A lot of things look glamorous but it’s marketing. I’m not saying that what you see if not real life but, it’s a VERY pretty and SELECTIVE moment of our entire days.
- Little time with family and friends. I don’t see my friends nearly as much as I would want to and quality time with my family often gets put to the sideline when I’m working late at night. I’m present but not really interactive.
So, running a business or being an “influencer” in any industry takes a lot of ground work. Sometimes, I wish I could shut my computer at 5pm and go to dinner and drinks and a movie but it’s important to look at the bigger picture and not lose sight of it. Having a small business means people think you are boring, or you worry to much about money, or that you are simply crazy. I’ll tell you what I find to be true about those statements.
- Not boring, just passionate and with a vision
- Don’t really care about making millions. A true business is to benefit or make someone else’s life a bit better – that and freedom of my time is all I’m going after.
- Crazy? Yeap! Maybe but, the difference is that in 10 years I’ll be living the life everyone wishes they could.
I’m fortunate to have people by my side that believe in me; if you don’t, I encourage you to catch up on Queen Of The South (Season 1) so you can be ready for Season 2 when it launches on June 8th at 10/9c on USA Network and get some motivation and drive in your veins!
Have you watched #QueenOfTheSouth ? What are your thoughts about it – Let me know below 🙂
