I’ll never forget the day I set up my HoneyBook account. I was beaming with absolute excitement. (Leave it to me to over-romanticize this entire moment. But honestly, it felt like the first day of High School or something).

Last week I told you about a time when I almost gave up on my business, but didn’t, because someone believed in me. In response, a follower commented: “What frustrates me about these types of stories is that it’s the same thing…’I held on to hope and all of a sudden it just happened for me!’.... Knowing HOW is what I noticed many want to understand.” I thought about her comment a lot this week. And while I do accredit much of my success to ‘holding on’ and keeping a positive mindset, I’ve also reflected on HOW and WHAT I did to build a six-figure business. Here are the top 3 things that worked for me:

Starting a business is hard. When I first started mine, I lived at my parents’ house so I could afford to work for myself full-time. Without paying rent, I could give my baby business a shot. So that’s what I did. I went all in. In the beginning, though, there was a lull (as there often are with new businesses). I had gone weeks—actually months—without making a single sale.

I remember when I first started working in the office again after almost a year at home. As much as I was excited for the change of pace and scenery, it was a tough transition. I had almost forgotten how much effort and energy it takes to get yourself prepared for a day at the office. This is the article I needed to read 6 months ago. I hope it will serve as a good reminder to prioritize what’s most important to you during this season of transition.

I know the feeling all too well. It’s the feeling of coming home from a long vacation or business trip and being totally disengaged from work and unmotivated to accomplish your daily tasks. It can be hard to get back into the swing of things and pick up where you left off. So how can we avoid the negative feelings and stress that comes with this? I’ve found there are three things you can do to avoid the vacation blues so you can jump back into your routine. Let’s dive in.

If you don’t have any real level of professional expertise, is it pointless to build a personal brand? Absolutely not. Take heart in knowing you don’t have to share educational content on social media to have a credible personal brand. Everyone has to start somewhere. If you’re a person who wants to serve others, share what’s true for you, and tap that creativity muscle, you will find immense joy and satisfaction from creating content consistently and engaging with an audience who is interested in who you are and what you do.

When you’re granted a vision, I believe it’s a sign you’re meant to carry it though. The “how” may not always reveal itself at first, but take heart that every great and perfect thing once began as a fleeting thought in someone’s head. Without vision, nothing would cease to exist. Vision is what enables us to plan our futures with wisdom and imagination.

There are hundreds of thousands of blog posts out there that will tell you how to wake up early. You may hear the common advice: charge your phone on the opposite side of the room while you sleep, count to 10 before falling back asleep, go to sleep earlier. I’ve read all the advice and I am sure you have to. Sure, it’s all helpful but nothing made my routine stick until I was willing to part with my precious remaining minutes of sleep for something more important: my morning routine. To wake up early, answer the question…

I never could have known the possibilities that would come from purging my closets, putting stuff in storage, packing up my car, and driving across the country. What I had initially labeled as a “trip for the soul,” quickly turned into one of the best decisions I had ever made for my business.

Caring too much about what people think about you is fear that causes deep turmoil, inner-restlessness, and sickening anxiety that can prevent us from taking action and building our personal brands. I know, because I've lived it. I used to let the opinions of others consume me until I actually couldn't take it anymore. The constant chatter in my head was making me sick and preventing me from making any real progress in my personal development. At some point, you begin to consider, "There has to be another way; there has to be a way out of this.” And guess what? There is. There is a way out. Here are a few tricks I've learned that have helped me build my personal brand and share content with virtually no fear.

As I transition into my second year of business and celebrate another round of Personal Brand Accelerator, I stand humbly on the mountaintop. I rarely feel this way. The nature of entrepreneurship is, afterall, uncertain. I suppose the secret is in loving where you are when you get there: be it the valley or the mountain top and all of the resting places in between.

Imagine what your life would be like if your sense of self was not based on painful past experiences that limit your beliefs? Imagine if you could rid yourself of negative learned behaviors that do not support the sensational vision you have for your future? The Enneagram shows us where our personality prevents us from going. It does not put us into a box, it shows us how to escape the box we’re already in.

It’s true. I quadrupled my revenue in the middle of the pandemic.

But first, let’s rewind 6 weeks ago.

Which comes first: the person or the business?

It took me months to settle into a solid routine where I felt efficient and accomplished at the end of my day, but I promise you it can be done.

I am living proof that you can live a life that you’ve always imagined for yourself.

Share what you know, speak with confidence, and serve your audience--radically.

Do you want to know a secret that all amazing copywriters know? If people don’t read the first line of your caption, they’re never going to read your second.

Above anything else, COVID-19 is giving us time; and time is one of the most valuable resources you can give to humanity. When given adequate time, humans always arise to the challenge.

When you build a personal brand, the opportunities are endless. Not only does it help you develop as a person, it positively impacts your bank account, too.