1.
Confidants
You have very few of them – these are people who welcome you unconditionally. They are into you whether you are up or down, right or wrong, they are in it for the long haul. You can share anything with them. Having a good confidant is one of the keys that unlock the Kingdom.
These are people who you can share your deepest and darkest inner thoughts with, who won’t judge you but will feed you instead of draining you.
Have you ever had relationships where the person was emotionally immature and consistently draining you? It’s okay to help others but you must have someone who feeds you so you can feed someone else. They will confront you; they’ll get in your business and get in your face and tell you when you are wrong BUT will also come back and be by your side no matter what. They will never leave.
2.
Constituents
They are not into you. They are into what you are for. They are for what you are for. They are your constituents. As long as you are for what they are for, they will walk with you, work with you and labor with you – but never think they are for you. They are for what you are for. You have to know that because if they meet someone else that will further their agenda, they will leave you and hook up with them because they were never for you. They were just for what you were for. They are your constituents.
Throughout your life, particularly if you are broken, you will mistake your constituents for your confidants. You’ll think they are for you when they are simply for what you are for and by the time you get through falling in love with them they will break your heart as they hook up with someone else who is for what you are for because it was never about you anyway. It was about the causes you represent. They are for what you are for, but they are not for you. They are your constituents.
3.
Comrades
These people are not for you, nor are they for what you are for – they are against what you are against. The comrades will make strange bedfellows. This will cause people to come together who are not for you, not for what you are for, but they are against what you are against. They will team up with you to help fight a greater enemy – but don’t be confused by their association. They will only be with you until the victory is accomplished. These people are like scaffoldings. They come into your life to fulfill a purpose, but when the purpose is completed, the scaffolding is removed. Don’t be upset when the scaffolding is removed because the building always remains.
Expect the constituents and comrades to leave you and desert you after a while. Don’t be upset when they don’t react to your dreams the way you expected them to because they were never really for you in the first place.
Be careful then who you tell your dream to because if you tell your dream to your constituents they will desert you and try to fulfill the dream without you. If you tell it to your comrades, they won’t support you because they were never for what you were for anyway. If you find a few people in your entire life with whom you can share your dreams with, you are a blessed somebody. I can tell you how to identify who are really for you.
If they are really for you, they will weep when you weep and they will rejoice when you rejoice. When you walk in the room and you tell someone good news, stop being happy for a minute and watch their reaction. If they are not happy for you, shut your mouth and walk back out of the door. When they are really connected to you, they will be happy when you share your dream.
I need someone that is going to be really happy for me. I don’t want just anyone praying for me. I don’t want any of those haters praying for me because you know you hate me and you don’t want me to succeed. I want someone praying for me who really wants me to be blessed. who wants me to be an overcomer. So you can put up your oil and stop speaking in tongues because you know you never did speak to me anyway. There’s no reason for you to come up into this hospital like you’re going to pray some cancer off of me. I’d rather have someone who really loves me lay across the bed and rebuke the devil. God is so faithful; He’ll always give you somebody.
Yesterday the “greatest of all time,” Muhammad Ali, celebrated his 71st birthday. He is one of the most loved men in the world. Why is he so loved? Sure it’s because he’s the former undisputed heavy weight champion of the world, but it’s so much more than that.
Sure, talent matters, but LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Terrell Owens, Dan O’Brien and others are undoubtedly super talented athletes, but there’s something about Jesse Owens, Emmitt Smith, Michael Jordan, Deion Sanders, even Lance Armstrong, in his now infamy, that draws us to want to believe everything they tell us.
Whatever “it” is, they believe it. The “it” factor is– they believe “it” themselves. If “it” is that they’re the greatest, they believe it, if it’s that they can fly, they believe it and they believe it so deeply, we believe it too.
and I find myself searching for clips of him on YouTube to catch a glimpse of the “greatest”. Muhammad Ali is the master of what John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing calls an astonishing guarantee. He made such astonishing guarantees that were more than catchy rhymes, they were promises, it became his brand.
“I’m not the greatest; I’m the double greatest. Not only do I knock ’em out, I pick the round.” –Muhammad Ali
Sure there are athletes who make astonishing statements, but without the strength of character to back up what they’ve said, it doesn’t matter if they are great because so much about who they are contradict the hero we want them to be, the astonishing guarantee isn’t there.
“Champions aren’t made in gyms, champions are made from something they have deep inside them–a desire, a dream, a vision” –Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali spoke like the champion he was and it encompasses the legend he is now. His personal brand, his message, is demonstrated in the way he carries himself. Just as in marketing, when your message is more than just an intelligently crafted positioning statement, when your message is developed out of the character of your business and the promises on which you continue to over-deliver, your message will literally pull people into you.
I’m drawn to Muhammad Ali because how he strives to live speaks to the essence of how I strive to be in all aspects of my life, including my business. We may have different views in certain areas, but his respect and love for humanity is a compelling and magnetic message that speaks to the core of what I too believe.
“Wouldn’t it be a beautiful world if just 10 percent of the people who believe in the power of love would compete with one another to see who could do the most food for the most people?” from The Soul of a Butterfly
When you choose to put the needs of others before your own everyday, when you strive to help others reach their goals and be better versions of themselves, when you’re at your happiest when you’re able to bring happiness to others and service is a way of life and not just a mission statement, in my eyes you are the greatest.
The unemployment rate for professional and business services continues to be at 9.2% which is higher than the national average by almost a full percentage point. At Louve Notes Media Group, instead of dwelling on the problem, we’ve decided to be the solution.
Introducing S.E.E.D. Startup Employment and Educational Development. 
S.E.E.D is a membership program that offers entrepreneurs and those who are out of work, under-employed or anyone seeking to better their current situations through continued education and interactive professional development. S.E.E.D. is a place to learn, collaborate and grow.
According to Forbes magazine, in an article titled 10 Things You Need To Do While You’re Unemployed, looking for ways to actively expand your knowledge is key to your finding work.
Having a worthwhile activity to place on your resume in lieu of a gaping unemployment hole, is by far more attractive to prospective employers. According to Forbes, hiring managers recommend several things you should do while you are unemployed:
- Take a class
- Start a business
- Take a temporary or contract assignment
- Volunteer
- Make connections
S.E.E.D. offers its members the opportunity to take advantage of all that and more, right in one virtual location.
Come take a look at what could be your professional growth waiting to happen.