Highs, Lows, and Hair Bows

Stories of motherhood, entrepreneurship, and trying to hold it all together.

  • Home
  • About
  • All Stories
  • Family Life
  • Special Needs
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Inspiration

A Christmas (Reading) List for the Budding Entrepreneur

December 12, 2016 by Cherie Leave a Comment

Are you are like me? Do you have a fire burning inside of you to do something big, significant, or life-changing? Maybe your aspirations are more personal and you just want to start, create, or do something for yourself.

If so, what are you doing about it? Have you taken steps recently that will help you figure it out? I’ve got a reading list at the bottom to inspire you to action, and a gift for one of you that’s ready to act on your “something”.


Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.” – Henry David Thoreau

In my promise to myself and to God, that I start living in the purpose I was created for, I have been absorbing all of the inspiring personal growth information I can get a hold of. However, it is the Christmas season and I have been busy fulfilling orders, which doesn’t leave me a lot of time for reading books. Instead, I have been listening to podcasts. My new favorite podcast this week is EntreLeadership, hosted by Ken Coleman. What I like most about EntreLeadership is that they are speaking to entrepreneurs at all stages of their journey, from those just starting out to those running large corporations, and everyone in between.

Reading over the podcast titles, I chose ones that would motivate me. I fell in love with (well, idealized kind of love) one of the EntreLeadership guests, Carrie Wilkerson (podcast #164- Maximize Your Profits & Productivity). Let me tell you why:

First and foremost, she has four children as well, and one with significant special needs. I instantly related (she had me at “hello”). Secondly, through her tough self-talk, she is able to manage successful businesses from her home while also being a mother, which can be hard for me to balance.

Carrie is known best as The Barefoot Executive, after her bestselling book of the same name. However, before she was “The Barefoot Executive”, she faced many challenges: her family was six figures in debt and she was more than 120 pounds overweight. She marks that her life-changing moment was when she was just “tired of disappointing herself; tired of delaying life in regards to debt, weight, and relationships”.

In the podcast, Carrie calls us to find the hunger in ourselves and decide that we can do better; don’t wait until we’re at the bottom before bringing ourselves up. She loves the quote by one of her mentors, Zig Ziglar:

Don’t give up what you want MOST for what you want RIGHT NOW.”

In changing her life, Carrie wanted to be healthy more than she wanted to eat a pint of ice cream. She wanted financial freedom more than she wanted new designer shoes. She knew the only way to gain more income for her family, was to start a business. Beginning with what she already knew, she grew a business online, using computer skills already had. Within one year, that business allowed her husband to quit his job and work at home in their business, and within two and a half years she had paid off all of their debt. She created a life she loves while keeping her priorities intact.

Carrie’s tough self-talk regarding negotiable and non-negotiables really stuck with me. She used the analogy of driving your child to school in the morning. The goal is to get your child to school, and it is non-negotiable. While driving there, you may encounter traffic, roadblocks, and detours, but you still keep moving forward. It isn’t ok to turn around and head back home at the first sight of a traffic cone.

She says we need to apply this same principle to other areas of our life and to have these hard conversations with ourselves as it relates to business, productivity, goal setting, personal growth. It is easy to give up on and disappoint ourselves, but if we plan for obstacles in advance and stay true to the end destination, then we’ll be more prepared to keep moving forward.

Therefore, to check back in:

Do you have a fire burning inside of you to do something, and what are you doing about it?

I have a Christmas (reading) list in my cart on Amazon. These books, along with other podcasts, are going to keep me moving in the right direction.

 



If you are ready to get moving too, tell me! You don’t have to tell me specifically what it is (if you don’t want to), but tell me how you’re ready to begin. I want to know, AND I will send the person with the most compelling comment one of these books, so also let me know which book stands out to you.

Wishing you peace, productivity, and motivation to start something great this holiday season!

-Cherie

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Filed Under: Entrepreneurship, Inspiration

About Cherie

Cherie credits her mother as being the first woman inspiration to her. Bringing into this world 12 children, her mother raised them up in faith (usually on a wing and 1000 prayers), and still found time for her writing and getting published.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


Hey there! I'm Cherie. I am an entrepreneur, wife, and a mother to four young children who have special challenges. I'm sharing stories about finding purpose through entrepreneurship and learning how to balance family life through it all.
Read my story...

From Cedar Rapids Marketplace:

Minky Weighted Lap Pad ~ Travel Size

Feather Pattern Weighted Blanket- Choose Weight

Autism Puzzle Piece Earrings

LimeLight by Alcone:

Custom Teen Collection- Not just for teens! Simple collection of great makeup

The Pink Barrette:

Cheer Hair Bows

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Copyright © 2022 Cherie Edilson | All Rights Reserved.
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.