To Crush Your Goals be Olympian in Your Efforts

The Olympics have put me in a hopeful and inspired mood. After all, here’s an event that resonates with key qualities that also come with being self-made: determination, discipline, and drive. An Olympic athlete must focus, commit, persevere, push, dream, bounce back and hold strong, all characteristics by which a self-made woman must also live.

And look at how many multicultural women athletes are shattering glass ceilings this year! You have Ibtihaj Muhammad, the first Muslim woman wearing a hijab to qualify for the United States Olympic fencing team. Then there’s 16-year old Laurie Hernandez, the first U.S.-born Latina since 1984 to go to the Olympics with the U.S. gymnastic team, and one of the youngest U.S. athletes to go to Rio. And of course, Yusra Mardini, the Syrian refugee who once swam to save her life while fleeing across the Mediterranean Sea, and who on Saturday won the opening heat of the women’s 100-meter butterfly swimming competition.

Like every Olympic athlete, as a self-made woman, you must start by choosing yourself. Which of course helps when you have mentors such as my friend Nell Merlino, who will host our next webinar on August 25, “From Micro to Millions.” Nell has seen so many women go from zero to a million dollars in revenue, and shows us all how. Nell also created Take Our Daughters to Work Day, founded Count Me In for Women’s Economic Independence and launched Make Mine a Million-Dollar Business. She’s the author of “Stepping Out of Line: Lessons for Women Who Want it Their Way in Life, in Love, and at Work,” a book for women to speak up in their work and life to get ahead. You don’t want to miss this one – register now! Finally, don’t miss our SELF MADE STORIES web series, featuring Sherrijon Gaspard, the flight attendant who truly soared by launching her own brand of wines.