Make your competition irrelevant.

"A man’s gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men."

- Proverbs 18:16 (New King James Version)

I am sooo inspired by Issa Rae. From her hit show, Insecure, to now owning her own music label and two super cute coffee shop locations in LA, she's emerging into a legit mogul and I am here for every piece of it. What inspires me the most is that it all started with her YouTube series, The Mis-Adventures of Awkward Black Girl, where she did nothing but share her own unique voice and perspective. Instead of following the same old tired narratives, she created a fresh one and her gift made room for her. 

If you're wondering why the Issa Rae love-fest, it's because the other day I was preparing an elevator pitch as part a coaching program I'm in and, when outlining the greater problem that my business solves, my knee-jerk reaction was to spew out a standard narrative that is prevalent in the black female entrepreneur space. After writing it all out though, it just didn't feel right yet so I went to God about it and He ended up showing me a much better narrative for me; one where, by following Him all this time in business and using my own voice, I've created my own unique business problem that only my business can solve. Then, in the moment this was all coming to light, I got a text about Issa's LA coffee shops and it just all came full circle for me. (God be orchestrating these moments don't He!?)

I share all this to encourage you to lean fully into creating your own lane. God has a lane that is yours and yours alone if you just continue to follow His leading in your business. It might feel scary at first to swim toward uncharted territory—especially when it's so easy to just surrender to the current everyone else is following—but believe in yourself and the gift that God placed in you and keep swimming . It's only a matter of time before you look around and find that "competition" is virtually irrelevant to you because no one has the same anecdote as you. And baybee? That's a beautiful place to be. 

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Still Hungry? Eat more //

• 1 Samuel 17:38-40 → I thought of this scripture while writing this and think it's a perfect one to read and study in the context of this week's message. No one else's gifts fit you like your own. 

• This training from Paul C. Brunson was so phenomenal. In it, he touches briefly on the concept of red vs blue ocean which is a concept that, if you've never heard of it yet, is worth learning about.  

• I still have a few "day one", founding member spots left in Big Idea Food TRIBE™ (our new community). If you'd like to join, you can do so here.