We were lucky to catch up with Nikisha Grinstead recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Nikisha thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

Success looks different for everyone. First and foremost, we fail at being successful when we measure our success to that of someone else’s. The world says success looks like, respect, money, accolades, freedom, happiness, health, but success should be defined by you. I believe wholeheartedly that everyday can be made to be a day of success. There’s a quote that “success is never owned, it is rented and the rent is due everyday.” Success takes discipline, consistency, hard work and God Discipline is crucial because no matter what you encounter, discipline will help you stay the course. This becomes essential to reaching your goals. Consistency is key. When you refuse to give up and push past feelings, rejection, failure and whatever else you may face, you are already successful. And God above all. The Word tells us ““Commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed.”” ‭‭(Proverbs‬ ‭16:3‬ ‭NLT‬‬) Consult with, Partner with, and Work for God. When working as if you are working for God, the feeling of success consumes you. No one can define success for you once you tap into that heart posture of working for God. Success is just a 7 letter word that each one of us dream of reaching, when when have the power and authority to live a life of it daily.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Nikisha Grinstead, I’m from the cultural city of New Orleans which plays a major role in the person I am. I’m a wife and a mother of two kings. I’m a graduate of Prairie View A&M . I obtained a BA in Business Admin as well as a Masters in Leadership from Belhaven University. I’m a Veteran of the United States Air Force where I was an Air Traffic Controller. Collectively, all of these pieces have shaped me into the woman/business owner/ speaker/ coach/ author/ leader I am today. I have multiple Kingdom businesses from a cheer and dance studio, to a publishing company, and I am the founder of non profit ShePurposed which really allows me to focus on what God has called me to do in the earth while here. In each and every one of my businesses I strive to empower and enforce elevation. There is a huge problem in the world-a lack of confidence and motivation- which causes stagnation that’s disrupting the destiny that God has ordained for His people. God had placed gifts and talents on the inside of each one of us and so many have died without delivering their gift into this world and I believe God allows me to be a midwife for dreams, purpose and destiny. My non profit allows me to help others live in their purpose while I also live in mine. Making an impact is priceless, you can’t put an amount of money on that and that’s what I love to do. One of my proudest moments recently was connecting with a shelter in Pasadena and being able to go in and cater the women and their kids a meal, while also giving them a full mommy make over from makeup, hair, brand new clothes and shoes. To see the smiles on their faces, some with tears in their eyes as they embrace me, I knew I had done something well and not for myself but for someone else. To hear weeks down the line how those ladies felt was an indication that an lasting impact had been made. The give back is the motivation, being able to be a blessing is the goal for us. Every business I have is a ministry and an opportunity for someone to be empowered and to grow.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

All entrepreneurs have to have some degree of resilience because with success comes adversity and how you respond to that adversity will dictate your success. You can call me the bounce back queen, because I have faced so much that I should’ve threw in the towel long ago but I’m not built like that. I’ve always been a fighter and I’ve always had faith so that’s the fire I use to push through. But to answer the question there was this one particular story was when I had to host my first virtual event I put a beautiful production in place where our videographer had to leave before 10% of the production was done, I didn’t stress or fold but found another videographer to record that nights session. Another videographer refused to release our footage but as a team we tracked that individual down and found someone else to edit and put that footage together. There were so many things in the virtual world that were fighting this event from taking place but we pushed through, made it happen, and it reached people in other countries. I know that when you don’t grow weary, and you refuse to give up, the reward is great.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

There are so many things that I have to unlearn as I grow in business. One of the most valuable things is understanding that the work and load can’t be carried on my own. Where I come from and how I raised forced a sense of independency on me. Also the ignorance of thinking “you don’t need to ask no one for anything”, was a huge stumbling block. Education, however, taught me differently. Even with that it was still a struggle. Initially I had to unlearn the one man’s army, miss independent, I can do good all by myself mentality. As I was learning and growing in business I learned how give and trust people to carry the vision of my businesses. In this some people were proficient in certain areas I wasn’t so to be more effective and productive I learned to spread the workload. With that I had to unlearn what I thought micro managing was. I was so afraid to put my baby in the hands of other individuals but when I realized I needed help to carry and help grow the vision I had to trust and let go. The only thing was when I let go, I was trying to not mess up so in reading what micro management does to relationships in business I was determined not to do it. Unlearning that micro management doesn’t mean take your hands off and not being in the knowing was a huge lesson for me. When it comes to business yes some are proficient in certain areas but as a CEO I needed to be educated in those areas as well and knowing what was really going on. There are many reason why learning all moving parts of your business is important.

All in all, I’ve learned that being educated and always open to learn and re-learn while unlearning everyday is essential, because things are changing and innovation is happening daily.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.shepurposed.org/meet-she
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shepurposed/
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/search/top/?q=shepurposed&tsid=0.3859693261252958&source=result
• Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/Shepurposed

Image Credits
In House Photographer Humbleness Beginnings Prints Studio 7even