I’m seeing where a lot of folks are canceling 2020 as if it’s already done and should be thrown away. No ma’am. No sir. That is not what we’re doing around here and neither should you. This year has dropped the bottom out of the bag, and only those that hold on for dear life will be able to reap the rewards. If you cancel it or throw it away you’re going to miss out on the benefits this year is providing. 

I know what you’re thinking…what benefits? 

People have lost their lives. Families have lost loved ones. People have lost their job. People are losing their homes and cars because they can’t afford to make their monthly payments or pay other bills. People have had to close their businesses. We are in the middle of protests on police brutality, equality, and civil rights. Buildings have burned down, and offices are closed. Businesses are not getting the funding from the government, as promised because banks are choosing who does get funding. What are the benefits of any of this?

  The truth is the benefit lies in how you react to what is happening around us. 

It is hard to find a benefit in the loss of life, other than to use it as motivation. Motivation to live your life to the fullest and pursue your dreams and goals to make that individual proud. Don’t become paralyzed and stop moving forward. Think about what they would want for you and your life. How can you live your life in a way that would make them happy? What you can finish that they started or wanted for you to complete? Let their love and desire for you lead you from here going forward. 

 Thousands of entrepreneurs have been born out of losing their jobs. I immediately think of the two sisters out of Maryland, Nikki Howard (worked for FDA) and Jaqi Wright (worked for DOJ). They started a cheesecake company during the government shutdown in 2019. The name of the company? The Furlough Cheesecake. Their Instagram says, “When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade…Well, the government gave us furlough so we’re making cheesecake!” You don’t know what you’re capable of doing until you’re backed into a corner, and you have to fight your way out of that corner. What talent, skill, or desire do you have to compete with? How do you come out of 2020, winning? Because you can.

 I’ll be honest with you, and I mean no disrespect to those of you who have lost business recently, but my business has seen an increase in the last 3-months as people have decided to take their life, their future, and their hopes and dreams into their own hands. I’ve done multiple strategy sessions in the past few weeks helping entrepreneurs, and those that want to become entrepreneurs, get clear, and streamline their goals. We’ve created simple performance plans that guide them step-by-step through the actions they need to take to reach their target successfully. Most of you know what you would prefer to be doing with your life, but you’re not sure how to go about doing it. That’s why women and men are following me and reaching out to me during this time. They want to know how to come out of this downtime in a better position. 

No one wants to be in a position where you can’t pay your bills or take care of your home. The best way to combat this and to make sure it never happens again is to get in a position where you are in control of your destiny. If you cancel 2020, then you’re saying you’re going to wait until 2021 to gain control. Do you really want to wait that long? I don’t think so. 

 If you’ve lost your job or lost revenue in your business, then I would challenge you to think of something you can do to add an additional stream of income to your life or business. Think complimentary product or service, something that is in line with what you already love to do or have done in the past. I see so many people getting creative with bringing in income right now. From home cooked dinners to homemade masks, from homemade Mother/Father’s day gift baskets to homeschool tutoring, from creating tutorials for career development to creating lower-priced training that leads to higher-priced ticketed programs, business owners are killing it. I’ve watched my marketing mentor, Audria Richmond, damn near triple her influence, her audience, her revenue, and her market share during this time by simply being flexible and innovative in creating new avenues to work with her and receive her knowledge. So you don’t have to lose or go without during this time if you take a knee and think about what you know or have that those around you need, that you can monetize. 

Speaking of taking a knee, this is an amazing time that we are living in. History is being made at this very moment and we’re a part of it. I’m not going to lie to you and pretend this time has been easy for me. I’ve struggled with “we’ve been here before, what’s going to be different this time?” and “I’ll wait and see how this turns out before I get excited”, but after protesting this past weekend for Dion Johnson, here in Arizona, along with all the other names of Black men and women who have been senselessly killed by police officers, I realized I need to take a different approach. What is the benefit of me being alive at this time in the world if I don’t do my part and lend my skillset to improving the quality of life for my community? I got lost in the fact that I’m not a front line activist. It took me a minute to see and realize that God has given me a different assignment of influence and activism. There are so many areas where racism exists and needs to be combatted, not just in how we are policed. Racial inequality exists in education, financial lending, capital for business, loan rates, employment, redlining neighborhoods, business opportunities, and the list goes on. My activism superpower is through economic empowerment using entrepreneurship. I help Black-owned businesses stand out in their industry with excellence in their messaging, brand, product development and presentation, customer service, and operation so that they can compete with any other business in their industry. I’m a damn good strategist, and I help change the narrative of what people think and believe about doing business with black-owned businesses. I said all that to say this; you too have a superpower that you can use to help shape this time in history. Your existence is a benefit to this time in the world. What do you have to lend to the movement of change, so that your children’s children’s children won’t have to deal with and protest the same issues we’re dealing with, that our great-great-grandparents were dealing with? 

 You see the benefit is whatever you determine it to be. 

 Will you let 2020 take you out?

Because by canceling 2020, you’re really canceling your opportunity to see what you’re made of and come out on top.  

Gravity says, what goes up must come down. Well, the opposite is true. When you bounce a ball, and it goes down, it has to bounce back up. Will you be in a position for the bounce back?

If you cancel 2020 you won’t. 

But if you decide, that no weapon formed against you will prosper, and you dig down deep to find some sugar to sweeten these lemons that are being shot out of cannons at us, you can bounce back from 2020 with a cold glass of lemonade with a side of inner strength, perseverance, innovation, breaking of generational curses, opportunity, and a scaled-up life.