Monday Motivation: Don't Be Afraid To Be A Version 1...

Hi y'all! I hope you had an amazing and restful weekend. Here's some Monday motivation to get your week started off right!

So as I have been working in my field over the last few years, I’ve been lucky enough to be exposed to so many talented and inspiring entrepreneurs/visionaries. However, there is one woman’s story in particular that changed my life in ways that I never imagined.

Tiffany Pham is the visionary behind Mogul, a global knowledge/information sharing platform for women. If you browse the site today, you will see a chic, modern, well-composed website layout. But as I learned about the early days of Mogul from Tiffany, she confided in me that the first version of the website wasn’t as glamorous as the one you see today.

While we are lucky enough to live at a time in which designing your own website is as simple as opening up a Squarespace or a Weebly account, dragging and dropping some elements, and attaching a URL, in the early days of Mogul, such technology wasn’t as simple or available.

But with the passion of a true visionary, Tiffany did not let this minor set back stop her from bringing her vision to life.

Instead, she channeled her passion into teaching herself how to code, and coded the first version of Mogul all on her own.

She admits that it wasn’t the prettiest, or the best version of the site, but that she knew how important it was to get that first version of the site out to the world. She knew that by having a version 1, it would give her the foundation needed to set out, and imagine the possibilities of a version 2, and 3 and 5, and so on.

One of my favorite activities that I like to do when I’m feeling stressed out, or lost, or hella amounts of imposter syndrome is meditate. Everyone has their own way in which they like to meditate, but one of my favorite parts about the process is having a phrase or mantra that I repeat to myself as I take deep, and full breaths. It often feels as if I am filling myself up with the power of the words.

So if you find yourself having a hard time believing in yourself or your abilities this week, I would love to share with you the phrase that I have been repeating to myself to give me a little peace of mind as I keep it moving through the world.

Hopefully, this mantra re-affirms the power within you to be ok with being a version 1 this week; to go forth and be vulnerable, take risks, and dare to do something "ugly"; to reveal something that you keep saying is almost ready. Maybe it's finally putting that piece of writing out there you keep proofreading over and over. Or maybe it's going to the gym even though being around all those fit people intimidates you. Or it could even be as simple as finally admitting to yourself that you need help with something going on in your life.

It's uncomfortable. It's not fun. And often, we feel ugly for being imperfect. But we have to remember that if we are ever going to get to that best version of ourselves, we have to be brave enough to be at version 1. And of course, big sistah auntie queen Daysha can't wait to scream "YAAASS QUEEN" as you move through every step of the way!

So here's to all of us being out here on our version 1 status; holding out heads up high, and our crowns even higher!

We got this, Queens!