We All Have a Season

Seasons.  Time.  I think about how great Julius Erving, Dr. J, was as a professional basketball player.  He had a marvelous basketball career.  And then there was Kareem, A.J. and Magic Johnson of the Los Angeles Lakers.  Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics.  Dominique Wilkins of the Atlanta Hawks, Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers, LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers and I could go on and on and I think I will….Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh of the Miami Heat and of course I can’t forget one of the best players in the NBA today and one of my favorite players, Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma Thunder.  They have and continue to have their seasons.

There are millions of people who have had seasons as we all do and will in this life.  Berry Gordy, founder of Motown Records, Michael Jackson, one of the greatest entertainers that has ever breathed.  Whitney Houston, Marvin Gaye, James Taylor, Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin and again, I could go on and on, but I will stop here and say, we all have a season, a time when we will do what we love or perhaps are called by God to do.  

What do you do when you hear someone say to you, maybe this is not the season for you to do this or that.  Maybe there is some truth to that, but what do you do when you have an ocean inside you wanting to pour, flow out of you with all the things that you desire to do.  Have you ever felt or experienced anything like this.  I do every day.

You See, Women Are Multi-Talented.  It’s Who We Are!  

There have been and I know there will still be times when I want to do ten million things.  I have gotten frustrated because I’ve been all over the map trying to accomplish a million things all at once until I devised and implemented a plan for myself.  

While I can understand and appreciate the fact that there is a season for everything, in everything there is a season.  If there is something in you stirring around in your heart and you know for a fact that it has been written, etched and set in stone, then all you have to do is write out a clear plan and get all the things that you want to do.  Of course we all have a season, but it doesn’t mean that we just have to do one thing during our season.  Write out your plan and stick to it, believe that you can do it and you will.

To God be all the glory as we work as Christian women entrepreneurs who love to do business God’s way!

Cynthia G. Boyer

When I started Cyndi’s Light Work Designs, my ultimate dream and my initial goal was to sell my designs on tee-shirts, mugs and tote bags. That was exactly what I envisioned.  When people visited my website, they emailed me asking if I could create custom designs for their ministries and businesses and because I have this deep passion for creating unique masterpieces, I was thrilled, elated and overjoyed to produce one-of-a-kind masterpieces for those customers who loved my work.  It was then that I started a new aspect of my design business making custom designs.

I found myself creating banners and logos for new clients.  Before I took on any new design jobs and before delving into the design process, I always went to the Lord to ask Him for His wisdom and guidance.  I then prayed that once the custom design had been created, my customer would love it.  The custom design aspect of Cyndi’s Light Work Designs was an enormous success, but unfortunately, the work wasn’t steady.  I received graphic design jobs here and there, every once in a blue moon.  It was then that I found myself all over the map trying to figure out what steps I should take in order to earn a weekly income.  

Here I was, an entrepreneur and still desperately trying to find my way as a self-taught graphic designer.  

I often became frustrated because things just weren’t happening for me the way that I had hoped and I quickly found out why.  When I realized the fact that there was so much more to graphic design, I lost my initial focus. I had no clue as to what I was doing. I began concentrating on custom designs and custom designs only.  There was nothing wrong with that, but I let all my other plans for my design business lay dormant and for far too long.  None of these things made any sense.  I didn’t realize that there were multiple streams of income waiting to be made and I was just lost, plain and simple.  

Light Bulb Seconds

Here I was going in ten million directions with no focus and no goals.  I was still holding on to my dreams, but I wasn’t working to my fullest potential. I knew that I had to do things differently in terms of running my graphic design business and if I wanted to experience and enjoy true success with and in my business, I had to take on a whole new approach.   

I sat down and wrote out a plan.  Not so much a marketing plan, but a wise plan.  A God-given plan that would help me to see that I have this amazing business and I need to revise it if I wanted to enjoy the prosperity and success I longed for.  My goal wasn’t to make money.  For me, the goal was getting the world to see the awe-inspiring, life-altering gifts that God had blessed me with through my amazing designs.  Prosperity and success defines my lifestyle, and money, well it just defines the business aspect of Cyndi’s Light Work Designs and for me it goes so much further than earning a dollar.  It is imperative that I share my gifts, talents, skills and great abilities with the world because all these components that help to make my business a business, is from God the Father which means I have to use all that He’s blessed me with to bring glory and honor to His Holy, Righteous and Just Name.  

I hand wrote a plan for myself and for Cyndi’s Light Work Designs.  Sometimes handwritten plans are better because for me, I feel like my heart speaks to me a lot more clearer when I hand write things if that makes any sense at all.  The words just seem to flow when I write them in a journal.  I wrote out a plan and I made up my mind that if I’m going to do have this graphic design business, I need to have things in decent and perfect order.  I also knew that if I was ever going to have the kind of business that I envision for my life and my family, I needed to really focus.  I need motivation along with a touch of inspiration.  Well, I found that on a prayer call with Divine Diamond Ministries.  

The ladies on the call that night gave me such a warm, uplifting and motivating message that I’ve been soaring ever since that evening.  Apostle Lougenia Trailblazer Rucker, founder of DDM, really spoke motivation into my heart which gave me the very thing that I needed to go to the next level and beyond in all my businesses and ministries.  I have not slowed up nor have I been on a roller-coaster.  My businesses have been sky-rocketing and with the new launch about to take place, I am excited! It has been the blessing that I was missing out on because of my own lack of certain things in my businesses.  

Cyndi’s Light Work Designs is about to take on a life of it’s own.  I dream, hope and pray that my design business will become the premiere of gifting with it’s beautiful designs.  

I know that we all have gifts that we can utilize and not necessarily for financial gain, but just to make others happy, to change lives and to be a blessing to someone who may be in dire need of a blessing.

Business Blessings

• If you have a business or if you’re thinking about starting your own business remember to work from your passion.  

• Use your God-gifted goals wisely, intelligently and always in a way that pleases the Lord.

• Don’t make your focus money; make God your focus, your family and then your business and watch your business soar.

• Always remember to give God thanks before you begin your work day because your faith in God will keep moving you higher and higher, not only in your business, but in your life as well.

• Demonstrate Godly manners and speak in a way that is pleasing to God and to your heart and your customers will learn to trust you.

• Demonstrate superior customer service skills with your potential customers and to all those you network and make connections with.  

All of these things make for a highly prosperous and phenomenal business. 

 Cynthia G. Boyer

Get Excited and With Good Reason!

It’s a Happy New You Going into a Happy New Year!

With another new year upon us, wouldn’t it be great to take your business to the next chapter in your book.  You’ve written all the pages of your book and now you are prepared to write a whole new chapter with new beginnings that start with a whole new you.  

What are your goals for 2015; business and personal? Do you know how your business goals, aspirations, endeavors and dream will fit into your personal life and vice versa?  How can your personal life help you to reach your business goals and how can your business goals impact your personal life?  This is a never-ending conversation and a great one at that. Have you devised a new and unique plan to do things completely differently than you did in 2014?  

If things worked out great for you and your business last year, then that is fantastic! If things didn’t go as you had hoped or planned, well, let’s just say that there were lessons that had to be learned.  Look at it as a blessing and move on equipped with these life-changing lessons that have the awesome ability to help you see things that you could not have seen if these lessons had not been learned.

The Time is Now!

It is time to design new strategies to ensure great success for your business.  It doesn’t have to be hard.  You have the skill set, and you have been blessed with the ability to create an unmatched marketing plan.  It’s time to move.

Go into 2015 cleaving unto the Lord.  Trust in Him with all your heart.  Do His will.  Work intelligently.  Take verses of Scriptures from the Bible and apply them to your life and business and watch you and your business go places you have never gone before. This will be the very thing that is going to motivate and to keep you determined to build your business until it takes on a whole new business of it’s own.  You are going to experience new and inviting things you have never encountered before in ways you never could imagine. 

God Bless You and Your Business!

Designs created by Cynthia G. Boyer of Cyndi’s Light Work Designs and are Copyright Protected.

Faith To Do Any and All Things

Dreams of Hope

When I was a child I remember looking through the Philadelphia Magazine that came out every month.  In the back of the magazine were fabulous mansion-like homes that were advertised for sale.  I used to tell my heart, “One day I am going to purchase one of these homes for my parents.”  I used to dream of living in a beautiful home with lots of space with my mother and father.

My Life, My Path

As I grew older, I lost those dreams to life and all the things I experienced.  In the back of my mind, those dreams lay dormant until I became an entrepreneur.

The path that has led me to the enormity of my success has been through the deepening of my faith.  I could write a book about not having an ounce of faith to believing all the things that have helped to shape my life, my happiness and my success.

The path to my ultimate success has been learning and applying God’s commandments as well as His principles, deepening my faith and belief in the Lord has led to great success, not only in my businesses, but in my life as well.  My faith has helped me to build the businesses of my dreams.

Now, I’m back to dreaming and believing that I am going to receive the home that I always knew that I would buy some day.

Happy Holidays!

The holidays are a special time of year, highlighted by the three F’s – family, food, and … fighting? I don’t mean fighting over who gets the last drumstick or whether Home Alone is better than A Christmas Story. I’m talking about retailers and brands fighting for consumer attention during the busiest shopping time of the year.

The month between Thanksgiving and Christmas is the biggest opportunity brands and retailers have each year, but it’s also incredibly competitive, so it’s crucial to reach and communicate with your customer audience in the correct way.

One way to do so is through social media. The holiday season is filled with social posts about gifts bought, deals found, and complaints of poor customer service. Now like never before, brands and retailers have the ability to connect directly with their customers and create a more personal shopping experience.

Here are four tips for how brands can get savvy with their social media marketing during this year’s holiday madness.

1. Drive that local cheer.
The holidays experience in New York is different than in San Francisco. Your messaging should reflect that. Leverage geo-targeting tools to know from where your customer is. Then you can create content they can relate to and messaging that resonates with a personalized brand experience.

2. All I want for Christmas is user-generated content.
How do you connect with audiences when they are already inundated with advertisements? You make them the hero. Businesses that can actively leverage user-generated content are the ones that will drive deeper connections with fans. Most people today are programmed to ignore ads. Showcasing authentic photos of your audience drives your intended message while encouraging a deeper, emotional interest from new and loyal fans alike. Relate to them with real people, in real moments, using your product and services.

Your featured fans get credit and interaction, audiences find trust in real people using your product or service, and your brand will better understand what motivates your audience. Everyone is jolly.

3. Deck the social walls.

The best way to harness a viral lift is to showcase your interactive experience. Remember, the more observable you make a campaign, the easier it is for your fans to imitate.

Create a social hub with aggregated content from multiple social channels on your website or microsite to capture audiences online. Your consumers can then share with their social community when you feature them, extending your reach. But don’t forget about in the store. Providing social displays, with easy calls to action at physical locations, are a simple, yet effective way to generate engagement.

4. Multiple chimneys equal multiple presents.
Facebook is still expected to be the channel of choice for holiday social spend, as 92 percent of marketers are planning extensive campaign efforts for this one platform. But 73 percent of marketing professionals think Instagram is going to be the breakout platform for this year’s holidays.

Don’t silo yourself to one social-media platform. Instead, create content on the appropriate channels for your audience, each with native content focused exclusively to that channel. Your Facebook posts, Instagrams and Tweets should drive the same idea, but the content should be customized to resonate best with each channel’s unique community.

Think of your various social media channels as your own little elves, and put them to work for you this holiday season. Utilize these tips and you’ll win the holiday retail battle while leaving your customers filled with joy.

Amir Zonozi