Reclaim your POWER

WE’VE gone through a full month in 2021, and the novelty of the new year has worn off so much that those new year resolutions might be looking a bit ‘next year-ish’. But girl, why wait? It’s the start of a new month, and the ‘Black Girl Magic’ of February is beckoning you to refuel, reassess, and review your plan to conquer 2021. It’s time to reclaim your power!

With this in mind, entrepreneur and international motivational speaker Stacey Flowers delivered an energised and thought-provoking presentation on day two of JMMB Elevate 3.0, the virtual edition of the signature financial empowerment event, staged on Saturday, January 16, by JMMB Group.

Flowers, who became a mother at 17, shared personal anecdotes to help participants identify and overcome obstacles preventing them from pursuing personal or professional goals. She divulged that in 2016 she was enjoying career and financial success, and had embarked on what she expected to be a year of living her “best, stress-free life”.

However, the year began to take a drastic turn as, one by one, several members of her immediate family started experiencing personal crises and sought refuge at her home. The transition negatively affected her and her son, and was also the start of a rough period in Flowers’ life, culminating with two failed businesses, skyrocketing personal debt, and a nervous breakdown.

“I did not realise that I was leaking the power I once had to live a life fuelled by my passion,” she said. “When I realised, I decided to implement several strategies to help me recapture my happiness. I reclaimed my P-O-W-E-R.” For her, each letter in the word ‘POWER’ represented a step in her process to igniting her passion and living her ‘best stress-free life’.

People

People, Flowers said, must serve a specific purpose in your life.

“What many people don’t know is who those people should be — your cheerleader, your mentor, your coach, your friend and your peer… (with the respective purpose of ) always rooting for you; always pointing you in the right direction; always kicking you out of your comfort zone and stretching you; always connecting to the dreams of your hearts and always understand the industry you are trying to go into,” she explained.

Obstacles

The speaker implored entrepreneurs to anticipate obstacles as part of the journey. Obstacles should challenge you and force you to find the strength to persevere and overcome. “Do not opt out when you are faced with a challenge; lean in,” Flowers explained.

Why?

Knowing the reason for passion should be ingrained into an entrepreneur’s consciousness. “The people who know their ‘why’ can survive any ‘how’ or ‘what’ they will face,” Flowers said. Touching on a period in her life where she took a part-time waitressing job, much to the dislike of friends and family, Flowers explained that knowing her ‘why’ got her through that period. Her ‘why’, she shared, was gaining a better understanding of her finances, better money management and reducing her debt.

Expectations

Flowers believes an integral part of rekindling your passion involves establishing what you want for your life and deciding not to compromise those objectives in any way, no matter how convenient a less ideal alternative may be; challenging the attendees participating in the event to “step into an environment that is designed to serve you.”

Responsibility

For Flowers, this represents the ability to accept full responsibility for your actions and life circumstances, and to make the necessary changes to achieve your preferred outcome, without placing blame on yourself.

The serial entrepreneur closed her presentation by encouraging participants at the virtual financial empowerment event to implement the POWER technique effectively, and to spend time to identify their core values and prioritise the pursuit of these in all areas of their lives.

“The truth is that, in order for you to be able to reignite your passion to succeed, and to get the success that you deserve, you have to be willing to harness the POWER to succeed. That’s what I want for you,” Flowers said.