Hello Amazing People, 

  I hope this message finds you well no matter where you are in life we can all take steps daily to move in the direction of what we most want. For me, that is seeking to find purpose and clarity as I move forward.

Firstly,  Let me tell you a little about my story. If you told me when I was a child that I would be co-owner of a successful business and would open a second business. I would have laughed it off thinking that you must not know me at all. As a shy, awkward, anxious, and lonely child living in what felt like the middle of nowhere with almost no friends.  How could this little and fragile entity ever dream of being a "boss"? I could hardly stand being called on in class or knowing what to say if another kid so much as spoke to me about anything. Even the mundane. So how in the heck did this kid find a voice, find a purpose, and find the strength to open a business? 

Well, it happened in small steps.. a day at a time. For one, being the lonely and awkward kid has advantages I didn't realize back then. One of them is that if you already think you are "weird" then a lot of things that seem "weird" won't really bother you anymore. So when people thought an idea was nonsense I eventually learned to shrug it off. Another one is that when you don't have people to focus on you find things to focus on. I wanted to try lots of things and understand lots of things. I remember taking a psychology class in high school and suddenly I felt I was gaining a whole different understanding of things. My parents were not very self-aware or social so interactions with others seemed an utter mystery. That was the first time I gained insight into why people do what they do and I loved learning about it. Finally a sense of understanding of my world even just a little. 

Another experience comes to mind as I remember the moments in my youth that shaped my abilities as a business leader. I remember the only time I wasn't tongue-tied or shaking standing in front of the class was when I was given a project of my choosing to teach the other students about something. I chose art. I made a crossword and really studied it. I felt so great talking in front of the class about that. I knew the information and had a passion for it that I lacked in all the other assignments. It felt great. This experience would follow me and be something to look back on as a little "you can do it" voice.. I had to have passion to speak in front of others and without that, I would crumble. 

Some of the other classes that would shape me would be a web design class, a business class, and a creative writing class. The web design class would help spark this interest and later be invaluable for making a logo and website for my business, writing blog content, and expanding my personal business. The business class would become a basis from which I would learn more about investing and pay off my college debt and car much sooner than others in my position.  And the creative writing class would help me write quickly and succinctly though at the time it felt rather tedious to write one story per day. 

As I said to begin with.. It takes many small steps to make someone a successful leader, business owner, and entrepreneur and likely some of the important milestones in your life won't seem so important or vital until later in life looking back. And for this reason, staying present and open to learning as much as possible is an excellent start. I'm hoping to provide some more funny examples of this as I move forward with this blog. 

Thanks for reading. I hope you find the content in this blog useful, humourous or thought provoking and look forward to seeing you again real soon. 

Feel free to reach out to me via email at alandrascreations@gmail.com should you want to learn more about me, my businesses or have suggestions for future blog posts. Take Care and have a Fantastic Day!