Back to the Basics

Glory to God! For he is truly worthy to be praised!!!

For the past few days, I have been experiencing a battle within my mind. The enemy tried to use my thoughts to trap and defeat me but, because I serve a God who never leaves me or forsakes me, what the enemy meant for my evil has turned out to be God's plan for my victory!

Let me just pause for a moment to say "HALLELUJAH"

In the midst of the war that was going on inside of me, I began to wonder why the enemy kept bringing negative thoughts and moments from my past back to the surface of my head and I realized that because the enemy has no control over our futures, he has to hold us back with our past but I decided that I would not fall doomed to the traps of satan and I began to pray for renewal of my mind, and restoration.

As I began to pray for restoration, God began to show me something vital not only to me but to you reading this as well. He began to show me that in order to be restored, it was important that I got back to the basics.

Sometimes we veer off so far into temptation, sin, and on the wrong path that God has to pull us back to where we first began in order for us to experience true peace of mind.

So today I ask you, where were you where you first began your walk with chirst? What was it that gave you peace of mind and granted you an abundance of victorious thoughts?

As I began to take a deep look into myself and into my life I realized that though I thought I was operating in my gift of inspiring others and speaking positive words into their lives, I got so caught up in the hype of the world and in the hype of myself that I neglected the gift that I should have been operating in all along that would have made room for me to achieve all my other dreams later down the line.

Today, I stand before you ready to get back in the fight, ready to return back to the basics, and ready to give God all the praise, honor, and glory because in the midst of my storm, God comforted me, In the midst of my sin, God cleansed me, In the midst of my battles, God protected me, In the midst of sickness, God healed me, In the midst of darkness, God showed me the light, and in the midst of me veering in the wrong direction, God pulled me in and allowed me to return Back to the Basics.

I'm so excited to know that we serve a God of Grace and Mercy! He has given me a fresh start even though I don't deserve it and for that I shall praise him the rest of my days.

Life is Filled with Valuable Lessons

Life is filled with many lessons, decisions, and situations that alter and feverishly change not only the present but the future as well. In my life, I’ve been in many situations that have weighed me down and have caused me to lose myself and become wrapped up in negative thinking. Though I tend to appear to be a very positive, motivated, and outgoing individual, I too face obstacles that sometimes cause me to lose sight of my visions and dreams but, I consider those moments lessons to better myself, strengthen my faith, grow my confidence and another reason to continue to operate in my gift.

This week, I had to meet stress head on when things with my new business: Religious Expressions went wrong. For the past 11 months, I have been dealing with branding my company: creating an identity, developing and finding unique products and creating the overall experience of my company. Because, my vision was perceived the wrong way, through one of my contractors, I faced a major breakdown that caused me to lose faith in my dream, re-think my vision, and ultimately lose sight of what I should do next.
The Devil would have loved that! Me giving up on making my God-given dream a reality but, luckily through passion, my faith was restored and God directed me in the way I needed to go in order to take the next step in fulfilling my dream.

Sometimes, we are faced with obstacles and we immediately think of them as a sign that we should give up but I believe Success doesn’t come the first time around, It goes to the person who is willing to look beyond their failures and setbacks, and continue to move forward until their dream has been achieved.

I’m operating in my gift and though I’ve had a setback, I believe that the lessons I am being taught through this entire process are just preparation for what God has destined for me to do in this life, in this day, in this time, and in this year!

Next time you are setback, keep believing in your visions and dreams, Next time an obstacle comes in and destroys the very path you were walking, take heed to the lesson, trust God, and let your steps be ordered according to his divine purpose!

Until Next Time, Stay Driven, Motivated, and Inspired to Succeed

Jaylen LaGrande
Chief Executive Officer – J. LaGrande Enterprises
http://jaylenlagrande.com

Publisher – Motivation Magazine
http://motivationmagazine.net

Discover Your Gifts, Discover Your Destiny!

My Family Often reminds me of how at a young age I would always inspire, encourage, and motivate everyone I came in contact with. To me it came natural; speaking kind and uplifting words to others. It was one of the many natural gifts and talents I was born with but little did I know, my gift would be the difference between failure and success in my life.

As a young child I remember when everyone else wanted to play “house” I wanted to play “store” or any other type of business I could be the boss of. At the young age of seven, I had everything I needed within me to properly execute my purpose in life because I possessed the child-like imagination which made everything I ever dreamed possible. Little did I know, my imagination would become the fuel to ignite the passion deep within me to become an entrepreneur, find my other gifts and talents in the process, and realize one of the most important principles of life.

When I was eleven years old, I began my first business venture: Jay’s Card Designs – A print and Graphic Design company specializing in the print and design of business cards, flyers, invitations, personal greetings cards and many other unique print items. It all started with my drive to be my own boss. Read How I started Here

Through Starting my own business, I began to discover that I possesed other great gifts and talents and one day, as I surfed the internet at the young age of 11, I stumbled across a poetry contest, entered into the contest, got my first poem published in an anthology with several other poets and from seeing that, It motivated me and caused me to declare that I would one day write and publish my own book/ pursue a career in writing and motivational speaking.

The basis of this blog is not just to share my story, but to empower you to create your story by discovering your destiny, pursuing your gifts and talents and letting life open unimaginable doors for you.

Over the next few days, I will be sharing with you How I began my journey to success through entreprenuership, writing, and encouraging others with the hopes that it inspires you to operate in your gift and Live your best life. . .

Today, I want you to stand up and declare: THE REST OF YOUR LIFE WILL BE THE BEST OF YOUR LIFE.

Until next time, Stay Motivated, Inspired, and Driven to Succeed.

Jaylen LaGrande
Author.Motivational Speaker.Entreprenuer
http://jaylenlagrande.com

M O T I V A T I O N

I am truly excited to announce that one of my major dreams is finally transistioning into reality.

Since I could remember, I've always wanted to publish my own magazine and through faith, patience, and a wealth of support from my network, I am proud to announce that I will be publishing my own quaterly magazine: MOTIVATION. Motivation Magazine is not about the thousands of advertisements we see so regularly in most magazines, but It is prepared in a way to encourage, inspire, uplift, and motivate every reader who engages in the content of this amazing publication!

I am excited and I hope that you will join me in making Motivation Magazine the #1 source for Motivation, Inspiration, and the Keys to Business Success.

Encourage all your friends to join and remember you're not just subscribing, you're joining a movement!

For more information visit http://motivationmagazine.net

No More Games, Time For Change

Lately I've noticed that I'm not doing all I should be doing. I've noticed that I've become too comfortable again and I am not truly operating in my gift as I should so I wrote this poem as declaration to get me back on track.

Check it out. . . .

I'm trying to hide behind lies that are not right. . . .
Living my Life in vain, because I'm scared to put up a fight. . . .
I know what I am doing is wrong, because I toss and turn at night. . . .
I can't continue to live in darkness, I need the Lord's marvelous light. . . .

God told me:
I must live what I speak. . . If I wanted to be made whole and able to acquire all that I seek. . . .
but, I've been running from the truth and dealing in lies. . . .
but, I thank GOD for watching over me and never moving his eyes. . .

From this day foward;
I'm going to truly operate in my gift. . . .
By faith I declare the storms in my life are about to majorly shift
I must stay strong in my mind because the devil tries to be swift. . . .
but I'm going out to battle and I'm fighting full force. . . .I WONT DRIFT!

So If you dont want to encourage me
and you are scared to see my strong. . . .
To you my friend I have two words. . . "So long"

It's time for me to move mountains
and live what I speak. . . .
I've let go and let God
and now strength resides where I was once weak. . .

Haters: Go ahead and hate but still shall I rise
Naysayers: Go ahead and speak your lies
Enemeies, I declare that you shall stumble and fall
Because everything the devil stole
I'm getting it ALL!

Journey to Success Lesson #1

I’ve learned a very valuable lesson this past month. As I continue to embark upon my journey to success, I’ve learned that though you’ll want to take everyone along on your journey, it is merely impossible to do so because all it will do is set you back.
For the past 4 months, I have been working on publishing my magazine: “Motivation,” and I because I believed so much in my dream and I know deep down inside “Motivation” will be the next greatest publication, I decided for my first issue I wanted to feature some family, close friends, and people from the network I have been building with authors, motivational speakers, life coaches etc.
I informed many of my family, friends, and colleagues that I would be publishing a magazine and though everyone seemed excited, when I asked them to write stories, or create advertisements (free of charge), or I wanted to simply interview them for an article all I received from many of them were false promises, procrastinating spirits, or continuous talk: “I will send it tomorrow” “O yea, I forgot.” And I began to grow frustrated and weary because I really wanted to help those close to me succeed.
Today, I stand strong, with a valuable lesson learned, It’s great to want to take everyone on your journey, especially those close to you, but you can’t because everyone doesn’t see your vision the way you see it.
I am no longer letting anyone hold me back from doing the things I need to do to get where I want to get, I know once the magazine is published there will be people saying I’m wrong for not including them and blah blah blah but I’ll have to push past the talk and succeed for myself and maybe then I’ll be able to help everyone else but just like the flight attendant says on every flight; In case there is a change in cabin pressure (which we do not anticipate) please secure your oxygen mask first, then assist others.
No longer will I continue to be setback, Today I move forward and run towards the mark, Today I declare I will succeed with no self-made limitations!

Motivation

I am happy to announce that my new magazine will soon be launching. Motivation Magazine will include motivation, inspiration, and the keys to business success for everyday people in order to motivate, inspire, and hold people accountable to achieving their dreams.

Stay on the lookout for my magazine.

Motivation Magazine
http://www.motivationmagazine.net

Use what God has given you!

It's time for us all to stop letting things hurt us in ways that make us weak. We must move forward with a positive attitude, a new mindset, and move in the direction of operating in our gifts and changing the world through our gifts. If God blessed you with a gift, USE IT! He gave it to you for a reason. If you dont operate in your gift, you ultimately run from God and harm others because everything is done for a reason and when you neglect that reason, you dont know who's life is affected by you not operating in your gift.

Take the time to ponder on this, and truly ask yourself, "Are you operating in your gift to the fullest and the best of your ability or are you shy, doing just enough to get by?"

Until you operate in your gift you will never be truly fufilled, but once you begin to use the gifts and talents God blessed you with you will experience a life of meaning, purpose, and with no limitations to hold you back.

Stay Blessed, Operate in your Gift and this week focus on 1 Peter 4:10

FREEDOM

Clutter Free Enviornment, Clutter Free Mind, and a Clutter Free Life!!!

How does that sound?

Great!! As I thought you'd say. . . .

As I have mentioned several times in my speeches, newsletters, blogs, social networking updates (statuses) etc. I am currently working on what I believe will become a NY Times bestseller, my second book: "Life is a Mindset."

When we realize that life is a mindset and every thing that enters into our minds has an impact on our life, we will realize that in order to change our life, we must first change our mind.

Many people fail to realize that when your physical enviornment is cluttered and limited, your mind is cluttered and has a small capacity.

Though many believe that what is on the outside does not have an effect on what is on the inside, the truth is, IT DOES!!!

If you are ready to take on the challenge of changing your life, you have to change your mind and remove every limitation holding you back from achieving the ultimate life you want to live but, before you change your mind, you must first declutter your mind and the way to accomplish this is:

1. Letting go of all negative thoughts and energy in your mind.

2. Staying focused on your goals.

But most importantly:

3. Clean your enviornment so you can have the physical space to be in a relaxed state where you can take all the necessary actions needed in order to change your mind which will ultimately change your life!

Using Your Gifts

As children of God, we all come equipped with everything we need to gain success in this mortal life. God has equipped each of us with gifts that align with his purpose and his will for our lives. When we don’t utilize our gifts we minimize our chances of success and affect everyone around us but when we learn to express ourselves through our God given gifts and talents we experience an abundant life full of success and blessings. 1 Peter 4:10 teaches us that we each should use our gifts faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms and this is what we should do. Are you ready to go the next level in life? Are you prepared to experience a success that surpasses all understanding? Today I encourage you to use your gifts and talents and watch what doors life begins to open for you!

--Jaylen LaGrande

Fear and Faith are Mutually Exclusive

One thing about fear and faith, they cannot exist together, we must choose one. Many people fail to have faith because they are so caught up in their fears and focus so much attention on what they are afraid of that they don't have any room left in their minds for faith to exist.

I often see people are scared to step out on faith and live their dreams because they fear failing, falling, or simply fighting to make their dream a reality.

In my Junior year of high school, I took statistics and probability and one of the most important terms I learned was:

mutually exclusive 
–noun
of or pertaining to a situation involving two
or more events, possibilities, etc., in which the occurrence of one precludes
the occurrence of the other

In simple terms: mutually exclusive is when two things cannot occur or exist together at the same time because one will outweigh the other. So let me pose a question: In your own life what drives you? Fear or Faith?

Do you fear stepping out and making your dreams reality or Do you possess the faith that causes you to step out and operate in your gift and recieve the life you have always dreamed of. . . . .

Fear and Faith cannot exist together at the same time, so today I challenge you to choose one and live with the mindset you choose. Either you will let fear hold you back or let faith push you forth. . . . The choice is yours!

http://jaylenlagrande.com

From Procrastination to Prosperity

STOP PROCRASTINATING AND START PROSPERING
TURNING PROCRASTINATION INTO PROSPERITY

Procrastination: To defer action; to delay to put off till another day.

Prosper: To be successful and fortunate esp. in financial respect; to thrive; flourish.

Many of us are often a victim of the powerful word procrastination. For many of us, procrastination is the only thing holding us back from gaining success and living our life to the fullest without limitation. We often in life put things that can be done today off until tomorrow and we never get back to what we should have done yesterday. Edward Young once said: “Procrastination is the thief of time.” We often allow ourselves to procrastinate and miss out on valuable time. Many of us have the LAST MINUTE syndrome where we always want to put off things till the last minute and when the last minute approaches us we begin to stress and most of the time we don’t do our best because we under the stress of getting it done fast. We have all procrastinated in one form or another but some of us have made it a habit because we haven’t changed our mindset and seen the possibilities of life beyond procrastination.

Imagine you are assigned a paper for school two weeks before it is due, but you do it the night before and you get a “C,” you still got a passing grade by doing it the night before, but imagine what would have happened if you had doe the paper in advance: You got a “C” doing it the night before so if you would have taken advantage of all the time you had to complete the assignment, you surely could of got an “A” but since you let procrastination get in the way of your opportunity you missed out on maximizing the opportunity and using it to your full advantage. Because so many people believe they just have to do enough to get by, we often lose the opportunity to prosper at the cost of procrastination.

There are many ways you can move from procrastination to prosperity. First you have to make up in your mind that you will no longer be a victim of procrastination and second you have to follow the “Do It Now” Plan. When you are approached with anything no matter how much time o have, “DO IT NOW and you won’t have to worry about it later. If we stop being lazy and start doing things we never done before, we will get results we never got before. Many opportunities have been robbed by procrastination but it’s time we stand up and fight back for our prosperity and leave procrastination behind.

Someone reading this article is on the verge of success but procrastination is holding you back. Don’t let procrastination bind you anymore. Get up and make it happen. You’ve been holding off on writing that business plan long enough, you’ve been holding off on making that demo tape for far too long, you have been writing that book for years and now is the time to make it happen. Wayne Gretzky once said: “100% of the shots you don’t take don’t go in!” It’s time to take some shots and take your life to a new level. Success is waiting on you to take every opportunity and to stop holding back and putting things off. Time will not wait on you; it’s all up to you to make things happen. Do you want your success now or later? It’s all a matter of when you are ready to turn your procrastination into prosperity. If you are ready to prosper, you have to release that spirit of procrastination because success is not going to just fall into your arms voluntarily. There are some things you have to do to get where you want to be and today I encourage you to “Make it Happen” and take every step you can towards your goal. Right now change your mindset from Procrastination to Prosperity.
Go ahead!
Make it Happen!
Write your Book!
Record your Demo Tape!
Complete that Business Plan!
And watch where life takes you!

Written by: Jaylen LaGrande
*Definitions at the beginning taken from Webster Dictionary

http://www.jaylenlagrande.com

Why YOU should start YOUR BUSINESS as a TEEN!

In today's society, technology has truly increased our capacity in every area of life (i.e. Social, Personal, and Proffessional) and has made it possible for us to do so much more.

With a rise in social networking sites, eCommerce, and small businesses as a whole, we find that many teenprenuers are being birthed and taking over the business industry by storm.

From the little 6 year old selling lemonade on the corner, to the kid in high school selling candy to pay his senior dues, to the big name teen entreprenuers operating million dollar firms like Farrah Gray who became a millionaire at 14 or Sean Belnick who created a $30 million company at the age of 19 which later increased to over $50 million a year. There are many teen entreprenuers who are changing the business model daily.

There a 5 reasons why YOU should start YOUR BUSINESS as a TEEN!

1. Many resources are available to you!

-As a teen in today's society and the Internet Age, You are capable of finding all the resources you need to support your company.

2. Teens are easy to Market

-It's one thing to have a good brand but when you have a young face behind that good brand, more attention will be drawn to you, making it easier to market your business.

3. Your Start-up Cost can be low.

-Imagine you want to start a graphic design company or a desktop publishing company from home and you are 30 years old, that would require you pay roughly $800 for photoshop, $1000 for QuakXpress, and $500 for the mircorsoft office proffessional suite. Making your start-up cost close to: $2300 but as a student or teen, all this software is made available to you at a low cost. Somewhere around $100 for microsoft, $200 for QuarkXpress, and $200 for photoshop making your startup cost only $500 saving you close to 78% of your money. THATS A REAL PLUS!

4. As a youth you believe in unlimited possibility.

- As a teen you believe in unlimited possibilites because you still have an immagination. As people get older, their immagination seems to turn into impossible and they can't really see the possible things or even envision and dream like a youth.

5. The Youthful Mindset

-When you are young, your ideas flow freely. You are more innovative and you come up with great ideas and you have a drive to make your ideas possible and you wont give up until you make them happen.

I encourage any teen who has future plans of becoming an entreprenuer to start as a teen and let your innovative ideas take you to places that people thought was impossible.

I started my first business at 11 and it was successful to my standards because I was being paid to do something I like. If you are stuck on what type of business to start just look at your passion and start a business based around something you are very passionate about and essentially something you would do for free if money was no object. Dont just start a business to make money because it wont be successful. Follow your Dream and the Dollar will follow you, Follow your Passion and the Paycheck wont be far behind.

There are many resources available to helping teens start businesses.

Below I have listed my personal resources along with other resources and sites I found to be helpful.

If you are stuck on finances, call personal finance coach Dorethia Conner http://connercoaching.com/

If you need marketing materials or a website contact Graphic Designer Tim Miller http://millerdesignstudio.net/

If you need help or assistance with your business plan contact the SBA (small business administration) or SCORE

http://sba.gov/ and http://score.org/

Also I find these websites to be very helpful. . . . . . . . .

http://sba.gov/teens/

http://youthventure.org/

http://ceed.ca/

and Join Deca and BPA . . . . . They are truly helpful. . . . . http://deca.org/ and http://bpa.org/

I hope this article has been helpful to you!

I am always available to help you out! So contact me as well.

http://jaylenlagrande.com/ or email me at: jaylen@jaylenlagrande.com or call my office at 248.747.6888

Best Wishes,

Jaylen LaGrande
17 year old Author.Speaker.and.Entreprenuer