As I set out on my sort-of-when-I-feel-like-it daily wag(a combination of running, walking and general complaining) through the neighborhood, I stumbled upon two entrepreneurs. I heard their sweet, young voices call to me as I passed.  They sat at the edge of their driveway, busy at their trade in a shop similar in style to a lemonade stand.  The same card table and chairs and cardboard sign in elementary scrawl announced their wares, but instead of lemonade, the table was filled with bright colored string. I couldn’t help but stop to take a look. Besides, shopping beats running any day.
“Bracelets for sale!” The pony-tailed youngster said as I peeked into the colored compartments.
“Would you like a bracelet?” asked the older one, glancing up, then quickly back down as she deftly twirled three different colored strings together.
“Yes, I would, but I don’t have any money on me right now.”
“That’s okay,” the confident saleswoman replied. “You can pick your colors and come back and get it later.” 
We had a deal. 
As I ran through the neighborhood, I thought about those ambitious young women, who decided to spend a lazy summer day turning their passion into profit. By the time I was rounding my way back to their shop, I was losing steam, as I always did on the final lap of my sorta-sometimes three-mile run. But those girls had inspired me.  Little did they know, they were setting an example for me and I wanted to do the same for them.  I wanted to show them that a goal, a dream, or a business can be started at any age, and with a combination of perseverance, determination and passion, you can achieve that dream.  So I kept running, even though I wanted to walk and jogged right up to their booth where they presented me with my bracelet expertly entwined with bright orange, purple and lime-green string. 
The cost 50 cents.
The inspiration, priceless.

Ask my kids and they’ll tell you it’s not easy having a mom who claims to be a motivational speaker. I’m sure they’d tell you she doesn’t know when to turn it off. Not only will she create a cheer to encourage you to eat your vegetables, but to clean toilets too. And if you even whisper that you have a dream, look out! She won’t let up until you start pursuing it and make it come true.

My youngest daughter discovered this at age seven, when she took first place singing, “Break Away” by Kelly Clarkson at a county fair. There was that moment right before Jenna was to perform when she froze. She looked at me and said, “Mom, I can’t do it!”

After some encouraging words, I pushed my little duckling out of the nest and onto that huge stage, praying all the while that I had made the right decision. When Jenna came offstage beaming, and happy with her success, I felt good about the pushing.

I thought it would be easy after that, with Jenna begging to audition every chance she could get. Instead, she seemed more reluctant. She sang confidently in her children’s choir, but when solo opportunities came her way, she resisted. Even though she was told time and again that she sang beautifully, she passed on my many requests to take her to auditions.

Although I shared all of the Super C and Kick “But” methods that had helped many of my clients run races, write books and meet goals, it didn’t seem to help the person I wanted most to motivate. At 13, the same age my son begged to quit piano, it seemed time to stop pushing.

I knew only too well what she was going through when she finally whispered to me one day, “I don’t think I’m good enough.”

I could only whisper back, “I’ve been there too, Jenna and if I had only known, at 13, that everyone felt that way, I would’ve made different choices.”

It was time to let go and trust that Jenna would find her own motivation when she was ready. And she did, only a couple days later. What I had failed to do in six years, Oprah did in one hour! She interviewed Taylor Swift, the 17-year-old country music sensation and Jenna watched enthralled. Now, she is so determined to pursue her dream that she begged to go downtown to audition for American’s Got Talent!

Of course this wasn’t the time to tell her that the odds of winning were as good as winning the lottery and that we’d be standing outside in long lines in the rain and then inside in more lines for the entire day! And so, I kept quiet. Instead, we went. And stood in line. All day. In the rain. And into the evening.

It was magical and Jenna felt like a winner.
And her mother was inspired.