We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Courtney S. Jenkins a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Courtney, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?
Success is what you make it. You can be successful without certain things, it’s really all about your attitude on life. I am a firm believer in trusting your struggle. Success takes patience, hard work, dedication, consistency, and most importantly believing in yourself. Everyone’s definition of success is different. Just like everyone’s success story is different. It’s one of the many things that defines who we are. I know for me I’ve failed countless times, but I always try to find a lesson in those failed moments. So, it isn’t necessarily failing, it’s more so what did I learn from this and how can I take that to improve moving forward. Failing is inevitable and people shouldn’t be afraid to fail. If anything, people should be afraid of those “what if” moments. I feel like so many people are afraid to fail because it can be discouraging, especially if you fail over and over again. The key is to fail forward and not backwards because when you fail backwards it can lead to overthinking and second guessing, thus diminishing the faith within yourself where you could just ultimately give up. Hence why it’s important to evaluate your situation and take a break if you need to. Maybe it isn’t right for you now or maybe it’s just not your calling right now but remember you can always come back to it when it does feel right. It takes a lot to overcome the hardships to become your definition of successful. I made investments that I didn’t get a single return on. I had businesses that failed. I had business ideas that others considered useless, so they didn’t want to partner with me. From jobs that weren’t fulfilling and having multiple career changes. From me dealing with people that didn’t support my goals or my vision because they didn’t want me to continue to thrive rather than be stagnant with them. From me losing friendships after friendships and failing out with close family members that had hidden agendas. From me dating certain individuals that used me for their own personal gain whether it had been mentally or financially. From me changing my habits consistently to where I finally developed a routine that works for me. From me changing my mindset for the better so now I’m able to be more at peace with a lot of things rather than questioning it. From me learning to set boundaries and figuring out what my needs are rather than my wants. All of this contributes to my “success” because if I didn’t learn certain lessons, if I didn’t try certain things, if I didn’t continuously challenge myself to get out my comfort zone, if I didn’t take risks, if I didn’t find motivation within myself, I would not be as successful as I am today. For all those moments, especially the hard moments that I thought I’d never get through, I am grateful. I now know what it takes to be successful in my own way and not compare myself to others’ success.
Courtney, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
A little bit about myself, I just turned 30 at the beginning of February so I’m a ’93 baby. I took a cabin trip up to Catskills, New York and brought in my 30th by myself. If you had asked me early last year what I planned on doing for my 30th I would have told you “I’ll be out of the country somewhere hot” but life is full of surprises, and I embrace them so regardless it was a great birthday. I am from Plainfield, New Jersey but I grew up in Franklin, New Jersey. I went to Kean University and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management. Not my first choice university by the way. I got accepted to Morgan State University which was my first choice, but I realized I wasn’t mentally ready to make the move out of state plus the tuition was much higher. About midway through college, I actually wanted to drop out because college was not for me, nor did I feel prepared or have the support I needed. I seriously almost dropped out and enlisted in the Navy. After evaluating my life, I decided to stay in college and just work through it. I had been placed on academic probation and was literally failing all of my classes so I ended up attending college all year round. That means winter, summer I, and summer II classes so you can only imagine how mentally exhausted I was by the time I graduated. I pushed through though and graduated about a year later than I was originally supposed to. I enjoyed the last years of college though because I became more active around campus, made great friends, and joined clubs such as the Pan African Student Union.
I have always had an entrepreneur spirit and knew in my early 20’s that I was meant to work for myself. Ever since I was child, I always drew houses, over and over, like it was literally the only thing I would draw. As I got into my mid 20’s I realized real estate was something that I had a true passion for. I got my foot in the door by being an assistant property manager and literally dived into every aspect of real estate. Besides property management, I became a real estate investor, a realtor, a notary signing agent, and formed my very own real estate business. As I got into my late 20’s I wanted to dive deeper and really understand what my purpose in life was because I wasn’t necessarily feeling fulfilled by real estate. I honestly changed my whole mindset which means I worked on my mental health, my physical health, and my spirituality. I became a lot closer with God and it suddenly hit me that my path was to help others. I am a giver by nature and genuinely care about people even if I don’t know you. I can honestly talk to anyone, and I have a keen way of making people feel very comfortable telling me their story or their struggles even if they just met me. To me that right there is powerful especially when people are naturally drawn to you. I’ll never forget the day my friend sent me a podcast episode because that’s what we do to remind each other to stay motivated. The podcast episode is called Intentional Self Control Ft. Tony Gaskins. I’ve listened to it countless times almost every morning. From the first time I listened to it I realized my purpose and decided then that I was going to be a Personal Development Coach. The following week I enrolled in his program called the Tony Gaskins Academy where I became a certified Life Coach. I am grateful for her sending me that because that honestly changed my perspective on a lot of things.
Once I became certified, I made a promise to myself that I would be an example for others, which means being accountable, being dedicated to my purpose, and operating with integrity in everything that I do. I started a business called Living In Abundance Academy where I can share my purpose with others. There are a lot of coaches and influencers out there, but I do not compare myself to them. I just know that my coaching style is different and the upcoming projects I’m working on will set the tone for me. I prefer not to speak on those upcoming projects because I prefer to let my actions speak for themselves so stay tuned! I am very excited about what’s to come and just know that when you are booking with me you are booking with someone that genuinely cares about making a difference in people’s lives. The connections that I develop with people are unmatched, I promise you that.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
Three lessons I had to unlearn are 1. Living up to other people’s standards 2. Thinking problems are bad 3. Being a perfectionist. I feel like I didn’t unlearn these lessons until I got into my mid 20’s and late 20’s. Reality has a way of teaching us things the hard way. I’ve always been a realist and have a logical way of thinking. Once I started tapping into my inner self and understanding why do I certain things and where exactly are my emotions coming from, I recognized that I had to unlearn certain habits that were holding me back. That alone is a whole process, but you have to be willing to do the work and by doing the work it sometimes requires you to do it alone. Just being alone many days in your thoughts, very uncomfortable thoughts I might add to really understand yourself to your core. There were times where I was depressed, where I was confused about life, where I was angry on how my life was going, where I was broke and could barely afford to pay my bills, where I was jobless, where I could have been homeless during a certain period, etc. I say all of that to say go through your struggles. Do not try to run from your problems. Do not try to ignore your problems. Do not try to take the easy way out. Face your problems head on. The tough times don’t last so don’t let those tough times break you. We all have lessons to unlearn as I am still a working progress. No one is perfect. I don’t consider myself perfect nor do I carry myself as such. Those lessons you unlearn can improve your life beyond measures so embrace them.
Have you ever had to pivot?
Before I realized real estate was my passion, I was working in the higher education field. I was an admissions coordinator for a medical/veterinary university. I never necessarily considered it so it wasn’t something that I could see myself doing in 10 years or more. I have always been the type of person to want more for myself and I just knew that wasn’t it, so I decided to change that after 4 years of being an admissions coordinator. The advice I received from others when I made that decision was to remain in the higher education field because I had the experience so why change it up, so I applied to other universities. Only one university out of I’d say 30 to 40 other universities gave me a shot. After multiple interviews with that university, I eventually turned them down. After a year and a half of doing their interview process, I turned them down. It was that day that I placed a higher importance on my happiness and decided that I was going to jump headfirst into real estate. I literally put in my resignation from being an admissions coordinator without a stable job because I am a firm believer in taking risks. Sometimes it’s best to bet on yourself even when you have nothing and not everyone can do it. I promise you though, you won’t regret taking those risks for the sake of your happiness. I started at the bottom with real estate and have continuously worked my way up because I was willing to bet on myself. I live life without any regrets and that’s something I can say proudly.
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