Never Give Up

Never Give Up and Never Stop Doing What You Are Doing!

When I started Cyndi’s Light Work Designs my goal was to have my own line of t-shirts and other various items that people love to buy and use; coffee mugs, tote bags, key chains and more.

Pressing For the Mark

Having done what I thought was all my homework on how to make this happen, I found it to be extremely difficult because I was traveling all alone on a road leading nowhere or so I thought. I was ready to give up more times than I care to admit. I tried every avenue, every platform searching for that star that had my name on it. I deeply became discouraged and was ready to give up on my dreams and on ever accomplishing all my goals. I didn’t realize how easy it was. I made it much more difficult than it had to be which was why I was ready to give up. My husband kept saying you have to keep plugging away; somebody, the right person is going to see your designs. I believed it and continued pressing on.

I, Woman, Aspire

With each new day I was making more and more designs; Scriptures on the Table, Praise Him, Personalized Keepsakes and more. I was amazed at the unique beauty in each one of my one-of-a-kind masterpieces even if I say so myself. My girlfriend told me that I had enough designs and that I needed to take the next step. For some reason I could not stop designing. Every time the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart I was in my studio creating more and more masterpieces. This, for me, was the peace in my day. Designing was the hope that would inspire me. It was the joy that encompassed every inch of Cynthia G. Boyer. I love to design. It is, I do believe, one of my callings. Every week I was coming up with a new topic for my designs. I was making things that I thought would bless women, children and people in general.

The Great MindShift

In addition to designing a new collection of light work designs every week, I was writing; writing to accompany my new portfolio of designs. To give them more of a purpose; to give them life and to give them meaning. God has truly and deeply blessed me to build this business and I was determined to help it to bless people, to serve a need and I finally realized that this could only happen if I did things differently, but more importantly I had to shift my mind to thinking and speaking greatness over my business. I didn’t have to stop doing what I was doing. I didn’t have to give up. I just needed to think positive thoughts and be grateful to God for giving me this amazing business in the first place. Just because I thought people weren’t seeing my designs didn’t mean that I had to give up. No, I had to shift my mind into thinking positive thoughts about my business.

Making Plans To Prosper My Business

I also knew I had to come with a plan to grow my business and growing my business meant marketing my business which would in turn help me to explode my business. After many years of researching and researching it was time to stop messing around and just do it!

Starting Over

I revamped my entire design business. I kept my name, Cyndi’s Light Work Designs, because I love the name and all my customers liked it as well as did my family. My name was out there in the world wide web. My name had been established and I didn’t think it was necessary to change it. I just needed to grow my business. I needed to be more serious than I had ever been before. If I was going to be an entrepreneur I knew I had to get moving and stop the feeling of wanting to throw in the towel.

Writing, Speaking and Believing in Positive Affirmations

Now, there were days when I still felt a little discouraged, but when I shifted my mind once and for all, which wasn’t an easy process, everything changed. I decided to write my own affirmations. I knew that if I was going to soar in my design business I had to encourage myself first and then speak encouragement over every goal, over every aspiration, over every desire, over every dream, over every endeavor along with having mountain moving faith in God in addition to trusting and believing that things in my business would change. The very second that I began speaking affirmations into my life every day, can you believe that I was getting design work the same day that I shifted my mind. I was elated and could not believe that it was just that simple to prosper my business. Cyndi’s Light Work Designs is a real and breathing business that is alive and well because I never gave up. I never stopped doing what I love to do.

Be Encouraged!

I encourage you to never give up and to keep doing what you’re doing even if you don’t see any progress, please keep pressing on and moving forward in your business especially if you are operating from the gifts you’ve been given.

Cynthia G. Boyer

Why You Need to Focus on Focus in Your Marketing Plan

Focus — it’s something I’ve tried to instill into my kids through the years. It’s something I teach in my class at New York University. It’s something I try to place into every client assignment.

Focus is a key tenant of any marketing plan.

Without focus, a marketing plan is all over the map. It lacks a mission and a purpose. It lacks a central objective that guides its every move. It lacks clarity and a specific call to action for the team.

Without focus, you don’t have an actionable marketing plan.

Truth be told, focus isn’t something you suddenly think about when you’ve completed your plan. It would be a lot of work to go back in and add focus at the end of your planning.

But hopefully what you’ve been noticing as this series has progressed is that the process we’ve been following to build your marketing plan has had focus built right into it. If you’ve been following it step by step, then your plan couldn’t be anything but focused.

It all started with a clearly defined objective to kick off the process and a single-minded question: What do you want to accomplish this year?

The plan got rooted in some fundamentals of the brand and then we kicked into gear with some data about the target customer, the competition and your own past marketing initiatives.

The plan then followed a somewhat regimented approach to map out strategies and tactics as well as a measurement protocol to make sure that you were accomplishing your objective along the way.

There was focus the entire time!

But don’t take focus for granted. We could have easily strayed and added in a litany of tactics that could have put us in a spin. We could have decided on strategies that wouldn’t really accomplish the objectives. We could have mishandled the budget and tried to do too much with too little.

We could have easily lost our focus. It happens every single day.

Which is why I have to say that while focus is built into the process, it’s not automatic. Focus is not an innate talent for most of us. We have to learn it along the way.

As human beings, we are enticed by shiny objects, and as marketers we are constantly bombarded with new ways of doing things. We are constantly sidelined with new problems that have to be fixed and fires that have to be put out.

It’s so easy to lose focus at any given moment in the process.

So as you write your marketing plan and begin to execute it throughout the year, keep your focus sharp. Challenge yourself to bring even more clarity to your tactics and even more acuity to your marketing spending.

It’ll not only make for a closer adherence to your plan and to your goals. It’ll also set you up for even greater success next year.

Good luck to you!

JIM JOSEPH
CONTRIBUTOR
Agency President, Author, Blogger, Professor

Something Different

As an entrepreneur, I realize that those who have started their own entrepreneurial journey, are looking for success spelled money. Money is their number one reason for starting a business and it is their main priority for growing a business. I just want to say that if you’re doing what you love to do and you are sincerely passionate about your work, then the money will come.

Looking around on Facebook I see that making money is all that I read about. Our entrepreneurial journey should be about doing what we love, using the gifts that God has presented to us. With all the amazing tools that God has equipped His children with, we should be focusing on using those tools to build thriving businesses that will honor Him.

How do you spend your day? Do you start out in prayer of thanksgiving and then asking God for guidance and direction in and for your business? Are you on every social media platform promoting your business? What are your main goals? Is it that you just want to make enough money to care for your family; to make ends meet or do you sincerely want to help others with a need they may have? Are your entrepreneurial goals in line with God’s plan for your business?

I know for me working from home as a graphic designer, I have a deep love for graphic design. It is my passion. It is everything I dream about in terms of being a Christian women business owner. It is everything I dream about in terms of working from home. It is everything I dream about when I think about all the masterpieces that I have created when I hear people say, “Your designs are spectacular”! Behind every creation, the various hues, the vibrant purples, blues and reds, there is love. Love for God and then for my business. There is thanksgiving. I thank God for the amazing skill set that He has bestowed upon me and the ability to use the tools found in the software program that allows me to create such beauty that is truly timeless and traditional. Behind every design there is hope. Hope that my business will go to an even a higher level than it has ever gone before. I am hoping to continue building my design business, Cyndi’s Light Work Designs, to help others learn to do what I do so that they too, can enjoy a thriving home based business that is both fulfilling and successful.

I hope you are enjoying your entrepreneurial journey with each new glorious day that the Lord creates and with you in it, life just doesn’t get any sweeter. So come and join me and let’s take our entrepreneurial journey together without fear, without doubt, without worry and just be who we are meant to be; Great Christian women entrepreneurs who look out into the universe and recognize that our prosperity is abundant because we have something special indwelling on the inside of us; God’s Holy Spirit. Business just doesn’t get any better than this.

Written by

Cynthia G. Boyer

Dare to be different and watch your business soar!

Higher Standard

High Standard of Business Which Leads to An Amazing Life

I remember watching the Temptations movie and the one thing that spoke to my heart was when Paul said to Berry Gordy, founder and owner of Motown Records, “What’s wrong with being the biggest group in America and Berry said, “You’re the biggest black group in America, but I want you to be the biggest group in the world period!” Berry had a great plan for the Tall, Talented and Tan group and when he set his amazing plan in motion, the Temptations soared to newer and greater heights.

Converting with My Son

I had what I think was a very important conversation with my son, B.J. this morning as I was driving him to school. My B.J. is a sophomore in college and is enjoying all the lessons he has been blessed to receive last year as well as this semester.

My family and I have conversations often about being business owners and one of the things that my oldest son, Todd, always tells me is that in order to be highly successful in business you have to be a shrewd business owner. He tells me stories about Steve Jobs and Bill Gates and how they built, ran/run their businesses. He says, “Mom, you cannot take any mess from people” because people will walk all over you.” While I do believe that there is some truth to this, it is not what I believe in or how I run my businesses.

Getting back to the conversation that I had in the car while driving B.J. to school. I told B.J. that if he were ever going to start his own business that it would be wise for him to set his standards at a much higher and superior level so that his business will soar and thrive in such a way that he will enjoy long lasting success for as long as he’s in business. Now, I’m not saying that people don’t have high standards when it comes to business. No, I’m not saying that at all, but what I mean by this is that just because everyone else runs their businesses the way most of corporate America runs business doesn’t mean that his business can’t be successful.

Starting a business should be exciting especially if you’re operating from your gifts, talents, great skills and remarkable abilities. Your business should be a welcome mat for your customers. Your brand should be comprised of greatness, kindness, consideration, wisdom, patience, knowledge, understanding, passion, brilliance and intelligence. Your brand should tell the world that you are an endless ocean of greatness; yes you are special and while you may think that “special” should not apply to your brand and business, I think being special can give you the advantage over your competition. I think that branding your business to be spectacular, brilliant, sensational and phenomenal by doing things your way, by being that special, creative, giving, understanding, patient, confident and spectacular boss can make your business a magnificent one. I believe this makes an enormous difference in every aspect of your business that pour over into your life. Being special means that a conversation about you and your services will endure for years to come and your customer base never stops growing. Branding should not just be the look, feel and the message of your logo, but it should be who you are and how you run your business.

As Christian women in business, I want you to take your God-given gifts and use them to always bring glory to His Holy name. Remember, your gifts are exclusive. God wrapped them and presented them to you in love. They are yours and yours alone which simply means that you can build a business from scratch, from the ground up, laying a foundation that will allow you to help change the world of business, standing firm and true to God, yourself and your employees, taking your journey to go new and higher heights, setting amazing standards at a level that is higher than the norm and where prosperity and abundance daily embraces your business.

Be blessed.

Written by Cynthia G. Boyer

Where Is My Success

I Am Success

As a Christian woman business owner, I love doing business God’s way. God has designed a pathway exclusively for me that has led my great and abundance success in every aspect of all my businesses.

As a self-taught graphic designer and owner of Cyndi’s Light Work Designs, my passion fuels my design business allowing me to create all kinds of unique masterpieces that my customers appreciate, love and some need because of the power that can be found in the wording that usually accompanies my designs. I love to design. For those who know me, knows that it gives me a sense of peace and comfort because it is by the prompting of the Holy Spirit that I work. When I design, it is the Holy Spirit speaking to me and as He speaks, He warms my spirit and pours love, comfort, wisdom, knowledge and understanding of how the design process works for me. I am special, as are you. I love using my talents and all the gifts God has given and with the ability that He has bestowed on me, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Thank You, Holy Spirit.

And here lately I ask myself

Where is My Success?

At first I didn’t know how to answer this question, but after deep and careful thought I told myself that my success could be found deep within my soul. My success is not in how many customers I have or how much money I make.

If you could look and delve deep within my heart you’ll quickly find that my success can be found a multitude of places.

My success can be found in my character. It’s in the way I carry myself. It’s the way I speak. It’s the life I live. It’s the path on which I travel. It’s the peace that encompasses, comforts and warms my spirit. It is my righteousness. It is my joy, my hope, it is my mind, my happiness, it is my strength, my courage and my boldness. My success can be found in the seeds of faith that God has planted in my soul, watered for growth with roots deeper than the deepest sea, sprouting and equipping me with all the tools that I need to run my business. My success can be found in the way I encourage and help others. My success is my faith in Jesus, along with the wisdom, knowledge, patience and understanding that guides me on my journey. It is my goal, always more than one, my dreams, and all that I envision, my endeavors and all that I aspire to be. My success can be found in my daily things to do list.

Where is my success? My success, like your success, can be found in God’s majestic and wondrous creation called the universe.