Current status: from classroom teacher to full-time speaker
I know how I got here, but I don't. It's really like how those action movies show a moving train, and someone is climbing on the outside of it, moving from cart to cart! That's how I feel life's been going for me. Fast paced. Me moving quickly, climbing, pulling, stepping across as my heart beats into my chest cavity and mouth struggles to remain moist. Eyes-wide open and glued on my next move go I in this journey.
I haven't resigned from teaching, I'm waiting on the Department of Education to give full government clearance to enter their Spring Cohort as an Ambassador Fellow. I'm so stoked, you can't even imagine.
So as I wait for the DOE, I had to decide what I wanted to do in the interim. It fell on me like a soft fleece on a winter's evening: Sofia Speaks--go grow that, walk in that, claim that, tell the world you ARE that. So I did, and I am...and the rest is history writing itself like smooth poetic stanzas that drip from a poet's lips. With both terror and elation go I; you must always bet on yourself. I have a message, and it's that important--so I must offer it without reservation, trepidation, or apology. I'm coming through here, guns blazing!
The life on an entrepreneur is frightening, exciting, exhausting, and confusing all at once. What I'm learning in this space of speaking and consulting is that there are still barriers to be broken. My male counterparts still make twice as much as me in many spaces, and I'm just as talented, and in some instances, way more charismatic.
You fear overpricing your services, but I have to tell myself I'm not a rookie. This isn't my first rodeo or concert. I've been a speaker and teacher for the last 20 years of my professional career. And I'm damn good at it. As I continue to hone my craft, I still have much to learn though, yes I digress.
Yet, as I wait, I can't wait to travel the country, the world even, and break open the collection of keynotes, workshops, spoken word poetry, anecdotes, and lived experiences for the world to drink in and be nourished by.
Please follow the cadences of your heart and unearth your life's contributions. You are worthy and you are enough. I tell myself that every morning. Can I share some of my daily affirmations with you?
Daily I say to myself:
I AM:
-WORTHY
-ENOUGH
-NEXT
-ABUNDANT
-POWERFUL BEYOND MEASURE
-GRACEFUL WITH MYSELF
-A MAGNET TO SUCCESS
-A SAUGHT AFTER SPEAKER
-WORTHY OF TAKING UP SPACE
-AN ATTRACTER TO MY NEXT
In the words of Joan of Arc, "I am not afraid, I was made for this." And dear reader, so are YOU.
I believe in the both of us,
Mrs. G.