I was recently lucky enough to be sent a story which – well if it doesn’t inspire you, you need to crawl under a stone and hibernate til winter 2040!!

This story is a true story about a truly amazing woman who took, probably without even knowing it, the exact steps that it takes to become a true entrepreneur.

• Find a problem
• Find a solution to the problem
• Find a hungry market that has the problem and market to them
• Keep going without waning, allowing nothing to dissuade you…

That woman was Sarah Breedlove.

Why, I hear you ask, is she SO different from any other woman in the world who becomes an emtrepreneur?

Well, if I tell you Sarah was born in 1867 on a Louisiana plantation and was an African American, the daughter of former slaves, can you begin to see why she IS SO inspirational?

Sarah was orphaned at the age of 7 and only survived by working in the cotton fields with her older sister. She got married at the tender age of 14 to escape the abuse of her brother in law.

She had a daughter at the age of 18 and was widowed at the age of 20. She then moved to St Louis to be near her 4 brothers who had become barbers. She worked her butt off for $1.50 a DAY and saved enough to educate her daughter. It was during this time that she began to view the world differently (although I would say that her tenacity and obvious mindset enabled her to do so!).

In her mid twenties she began to suffer from what I would say was alopecia (balding of the scalp). Imagine suffering that as a woman in your mid twenties?

She researched the ailment and tried a ton of home made remedies, one of which was by a lady called Annie Malone – an entrepreneur of the time.

In 1905 Sarah moved to Denver as a sales rep for Annie Malone, and met and married Charles Joseph Walker, a newspaperman. She changed her name to Madam CJ Walker, found a miracle cure for the scalp condition which contained sulphur, had a dream and started her own business.

Now, I am sure she could have mad a nice little business locally with her idea.

NOT Madam CJ Walker

She travelled the deep South and South East of the US for a year and a half KNOCKING DOORS!  giving demonstrations and growing her business. People have never liked door to door salesman let alone the fact that she was a woman in a time when men ruled the home.

• How many times do you think she had the door slammed in her face?
• How many times do you think she suffered rejection?
• How many times you you think she ran the risk of physical abuse ?

What A Woman!

She then moved to Pittsburgh where she opened a college to train people to do what she did.

By 1910 she had settled in Indianapolis and opened a factory. She began to travel the whole of the US telling all about her products.

When she died in 1919 at the age of 51 she had become the first self made woman American millionaire.

NOW !

If Madam CJ Walker did not have a millionaire mindset, then I dont know who has!

If you have your own Business or have thought about starting your own Business or maybe you are just starting out?

How much more inspiration do you need than what you have just read? Let me know your thoughts

(If you would like more info on Madam CJ Walker go to http://madamcjwalker.com/ )

I must admit, until fairly recently, I never used to think that the media were purposely spouting garbage in an attempt to brainwash people into a negative way of thinking.

Well, I am now left in no doubt that this is definitely the case!!

The other day I read an article which graced the front page of the Yahoo Home Page entitled “Are you REALLY worth it?”

I wont bore you with the whole article but suffice to say that it suggested that todays society was making people have to high a level of self esteem when they did not deserve it?!

Can you believe that?

The article went on to state that very high self esteem was as big a problem as low self esteem! It goes on to say that these contestants on TV talent shows like X Factor and Britains Got Talent, in the main, are talentless and deluded. God bless em! Are the media really that intent on brow beating us into believing that it is an offence to have ambition? Yes, I admit there are many who make us laugh they are so awful but I ask myself, “Would I get up on stage and sing, or lark about?”

The answer is No!

The article, whilst advocating that people thinking too much of themselves was making society very needy, also suggested that people should NOT drive themselves with ambition and desire.

This kind of leads you to think that maybe, just maybe, a lot of the problems in this world are actually made worse by the media style of reporting. It has been mooted that good news is not newsworthy, and that bad news and disaster gets an audience?

Well, I am here to tell you that the media are wrong.

Over the next few days and weeks, I will be writing more on why I believe this and what you need to do to move yourself towards a positive, driven way of thinking…

I would love to hear your comments so please take a moment to add your thoughts on the blog. Also, if you click the Orange Icon on the top of the blog, you can automatically find out the next instalment…