Today, I had the honor of being invited by Katie Ickes into her 6th grade classroom at Greenbrier Eastern Middle School in Lewisburg, WV. Katie Ickes is the founder of Vis Ability, a company that develops and facilitates “programing to grow entrepreneur efforts in our region through middle school and high school programming, as well as entrepreneur trainings and competitions working with Greenbrier Valley Economic Development and other economic development entities.

Today’s lecture was based on the “Successful Mindset.” I offered the class with what I learned so far from my hands on experience being just 2 years shy of owning/operating LBSPY.

Since I shared my thoughts with the class, I’ll share a few of them here too.

HOW TO REACH SUCCESS
1. Make your Business #1. There’s an 85% – 15% balance between running the business (and doing all the work we don’t exactly enjoy) to the lower percent where we love what we do!
2. Your Soulmate is… YOU! Not only are you your biggest supporter but you’re also your biggest resistance. Confront your fears and insecurities. You can be successful so don’t forget to remind yourself everyday. It’s important to keep pushing yourself even during difficult times.
3. Work. Learn by working. Less time researching. Truly, the best way to learn your industry is by doing the work and learning from your mistakes. I went into creating LBSPY without knowing a thing about advertising, ad design, or creating a newspaper from scratch. It’s been an incredible learning process and well worth the journey.
4. Create a Hybrid stream of income. This is absolutely necessary if you want to be financially secure.
5. Become Brilliant… at marketing! Learn how to make that website, logo, ad design, etc. It will save you time and money. If you need help getting started, contact me!
6. Unplug. Find the time to enjoy your life with ecotherapy, exercise, eating well, spending time with family and friends, sleeping, etc.

While I don’t consider myself an entrepreneur or successful, I do find myself dedicated and loving what I do. Running this small business has been the best learning experience of my life and best of all, I am living my dream. Not only am I my own boss but I love creating this publication and staying creative every day.

How do you reach success? Please share! I would love to hear from you. Also, thank you Katie Ickes for inviting me into your 6th grade class today! You’re doing an amazing job with fostering creative thought and promoting the entrepreneur spirit here in Greenbrier County, WV.

– Christina Entenmann, November 15 2013.