Sunday May 22, 2016 at the Los Angeles Convention Center I received the pleasure of attending the Ultimate Women’s Expo for the 2nd time. As disappointed as I was in this Ultimate Women’s Expo 2015  , this year it redeemed itself partially. I say partially because I still feel like an Ultimate Women’s Expo should provide women with more than just make-up, clothing , shoes and hair. But about empowerment, knowledge and support. I digress, the reason I do say it has partially redeemed itself is because I was able to see Ms. Phaedra Parks, Esq. as a keynote speaker share her story of success and she gave 3 tips to us in the audience to use in our own live when making a plan for a business or just in life general.

The 3 tips she offered were nothing new, many of us have heard them before. But hearing her say these 3 things makes it seem much more obtainable because she is sharing her story and being transparent about her success and lets be real we all want to take tips from someone who is successful. SHE IS A SUCCESS owning her own law firm, being a mortician, television personality on “Real Housewives of Atlanta”,a author, a mother , a wife, a woman of GOD and she makes it look darn good.

Ms. Phaedra Parks 3 tips ( In the order she delivered) 

1. Financial Plan: She said that if you want to be in real business you must have a financial plan in place that included saving and knowing your credit. I agree this is big because money , how you use it and how you can get it is important and when you are in business you cannot spend more than you have because you will always be in the red or negative and that in it self is bad for business
2. Circle of influence/support: She said everyone needs someone or a few people in their corner. She credits her mom and a few good friends to always keeping her uplifted in times of stress and in times of happiness. She suggest we all figure out who our village is and stick to them and ignore the haters. I agree with this we all need 1 to 4 or more people to support us and have our backs in the good times and bad. We all need people that will cheer for us when we are at our highs but be a shoulder to lean on when we are low.
3. Vision board/clear goals: She said to have a vision and know what you want. Write it down, make sure its what you want and not what others want for you. Again I agree that a goal is hard to accomplish when you don’t know what it is nor do you have one. You have to be able to see  your goals and know they can be accomplished just keep going after what you want.

All 3 of these tips resonate with me because I know finances plays a big part in our lives whether we choose to acknowledge it or not. We need good people around us and we have enough to opposition and barriers to fight in the world we don’t need negative friends or family bringing negative vibes. We all need a vision and a goal to go after. We have great purpose so we need to start using it.

Our take aways

• Do you have a financial plan? A budget? A savings account? A financial planner? If not please look into 1 . Go to your local finacnical institution or google some of these things online
• Do you have healthy relationships with family and friends (spouse) please review these things and if they don’t bring support and only grief its time for you to address it and if you see no change, you need to distance yourself  because you don’t need the negativity
• Get a journal, calendar, notebook and start writing you goals or cutting out pictures of the things and places or ways you want to feel, go or see. Assign due dates to everything even if its 5 to 10 years from now

Overall it was a honor to see Ms. Phaedra Parks . She was pleasant, funny and a southern bell .