There is so much to do, and most of us are either too busy talking about it, or too busy looking for a shortcut. Yet nothing worthwhile comes from taking a shortcut, at least not in my book. For years I have said, “you become a Entrepreneur when you learn how to spell the word” in order to motivate myself to not only speak words, but to really live them, know the meaning of them and yes, actually learn how to spell them. How many people know how to spell the word Entrepreneur? Do you?

How much do you pretend to know and how much is swept under the rug? Have you ever thought about how it would feel to actually know _______ and not pretend, play it cool or put on a show?

In our digital age, where spell check fixes everything for you, I value genuine good grammar and spelling more than ever before and whether you do or not, I think the valuable lesson is still very present: don’t just talk; actually be who you say you are if only to experience true integrity with yourself. It all comes down to really doing your best in every situation, whether it be in business, love or life in general.

I am a big fan acting ” as if…” though, at some point, I feel that you should really own it, whatever it is, and do the work it takes to really be who you say you are.  Rather than sit around and complain or pretend to be someone you are not, I say, get up and do something about it. If at all possible, do so with a smile, with a positive approach and try to inspire others to help you on your journey. Come back in time with me and I’ll share a story that inspired this post…

Six years ago, I had a group of friends who I considered to be the most brilliant people I had ever met. I did not think so simply because they were my friends; I thought so because their wealth of knowledge was unlike anything I had ever come across in my life. These guys knew about everything from Politics to Economics to Ancient History and had seen so much of the world. We spent hours, days, weeks and months discussing the world’s problems and it was interesting to hear my friends’ input because their perspective was often very different than mine.  I was a Business Marketing major in college and they studied Philosophy, Science and Education. My friends would make jokes about how I was ” selling out” as a Business major, and while I could tell they were kidding, I’ve always believed that 50% of every joke is true, so I began to think about what kind of contribution I could make to this world as a business professional. Could I be a business woman and help the world in a meaningful way and make a contribution to this world as important as say, a scientist, a philosopher or a teacher?

What made my personal journey a bit more difficult was that at my core, I have always known that I was an artist. Growing up with a camera in my hand, I spent a great deal of time in high school studying the art of photography, and from a young age I was drawing, painting, singing and well, creating. I have always had art as part of my life and when I went to college I chose to study photography the old fashioned way: by taking photographs. I chose to major in Business because I had no idea what I wanted to do ( or rather, I wanted to do it all) and I felt like this choice would open the most amount of doors. I am happy to say that I was right about that. Somehow despite my artistic core, I have always had just enough practicality, which has kept me grounded in reality. I have always said that I am 90% right brain, but that the 10% that is more left brain is exceptionally strong, which has been my gift and my curse, and something that I am still working to find balance in.

Having always been fascinated by the business world,  and realizing early on that I wanted to make a real difference in this world, I was constantly searching for creative businesses and those companies and business leaders who were truly making a difference in the world. I wanted to study them. I wanted to become one of them. I did a lot of soul searching while in business school and often felt very out of place ( especially seeing as most of my friends were not on my path). It was not until I move to Rome and for the first time, enjoyed an Economics class did I realize that yes, I could enjoy the business world and find a way to make the world a better both by contributing to creative businesses that I believed in, as well as by being an Entrepreneur.  After seven years of working in a variety of business environments, as well as running my own creative business, it has become apparent to me that yes, I do believe business people can change, improve and help the world just like anyone else can. The important thing is not what you do, it’s how you do it and it’s your approach to solving problems. Which brings me back to college for just a moment…

After months of sitting around and analyzing the worlds problems I had a pretty massive realization. I realized that talking about problems while doing nothing to fix them is futile. Yes, my friends were knowledgeable and they had all the answers but what were they doing about them? Sitting around and thinking you have all the answers while not doing anything about it is as good as having a key to a door that you never chose to unlock. What good is that? It’s not.

I might not have been a philosophy major, and I might not have been working on a scientific breakthrough, but I was someone who understood the meaning of hard work. One day I came over to my friend’s house, which we called ” The Rez” and they were all complaining about one of the world’s many catastrophes and I just about lost it. ” How can you sit around all day and complain?” I continued with, ” You know, maybe if you spent half the time you spent complaining on actually doing something about it, the world would not be such a catastrophe!?”

As much as I was yelling at my friend, I was also yelling at myself. I realized then how much I talked, and how little I actually did and I knew that I wanted to change that. Forget about what everyone else thought; I wanted to no longer lie to myself and so I had a realization and have not forgotten it. In the world that we live in today, I feel that the realization I had is more pertinent than ever.

And here it is:

Yes, talking about things is the first step, but once you become aware then it’s time to move, and moving means you have to actually do something. Even if you are not sure about the direction, I’d say the most important part if that you simply keep moving. I often feel like I am moving through darkness and uncertainty but I keep moving forward with a smile and that is my choice.  This is not always easy, but I work very hard on remaining positive and moving forward even when I am not sure of the outcome. If you can keep moving with a smile, then brownie points for you and everyone lucky enough to be around you.

I am proud to say that all of my friends who used to sit around and talk about the world’s problems are all out there in the world doing something about them. They are building schools, changing the educational system, helping people live better lives and the best part is that they are doing so with integrity and with big smiles. And when they forget to smile, I try and remind them, and when I forget to smile, I hope they will remind me to take my own advice. In my opinion, nothing is more inspiring than moving along this journey of life with a smile on your face and an arsenal of words that you’ve not only learned to spell, but have learned the true meaning of.

March 2013 Issue