We recently connected with Rahkal Shelton Roberson and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Rahkal, thanks for joining us today. What do you think it takes to be successful?

First and foremost, I believe success has to be defined individually by your level of fulfillment, not by the perceptions of others or external voices. What you may deem as success may be another person’s floor. Being successful takes a combination of resilience, creativity, faith, and hard work.

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

After releasing my first book, life came knocking hard and fast. Hitting me like a speeding train, full impact, and rendering me incapable of functioning at the capacity I was used to. In under 9 months, I lost four of the closest people in my life, including my best friend. At the same time, two-child relatives were being displaced due to one of the deaths. Stepping up to assist, I went from a book touring author to an instant single mother of two. As you can imagine, this sobering reality required some major pivoting (personally and professionally) to accommodate my new life.

Those rapid changes impinged a toll on my health and a clinical depression and anxiety diagnosis. But, because I had defined what success was for me before releasing my book, I didn’t see the abrupt cancellation of everything as a complete loss. I completed what I set out to do, and that was a success. However, it became challenging to thrive professionally when I wrestled with mental health privately. I learned firsthand that if you’re no good personally, you can’t be as effective professionally. I leaned into my resilience, creativity, hard work, and faith muscles to keep going. These were crucial parts to remaining successful. Exercising creativity encouraged a pivot into my current business and brand.

I decided to use my pain as motivation to support others, and so Be The Inspired You was born.

Be The Inspired You is a motivational lifestyle brand offering high-quality training, inspirational content, coaching, and consulting services to promote personal and professional development. We empower individuals and professionals to confidently leverage their unique skills and strengths to live a more purposeful and fulfilling life.

What sets us apart is our intentionality to serve what we call the hYOUman in and out of the workplace. I’ve learned how paramount it is to ensure individuals are healthy holistically. You can’t win professionally if you’re suffering privately. We help others identify and own their personal skills for professional success. This is also what I am most proud of. I want clients to know that there is an inspired version of them living on the inside and everything they dreamed of is on the other side of fear, discipline, and taking action. We offer life coaching, educational materials, workshops, training, and creative consulting services.

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

A crucial unlearning moment was getting rid of the notion that I didn’t need to make the “ask.” The “ask” is aligned with whatever your offering is. You’ve got to ask for the sale, support, or whatever you need. I assumed that people would seek you out if you’re dope or very talented. While this plays some bearing of truth, it doesn’t matter how talented or dope you are; a closed mouth won’t get fed if you do not ask or speak up. So, put your pride aside and ask people to support, buy your books, share your content, and provide feedback. There is also a ton of power in asking people how you can help them.

The backstory came through trial and error of showing up vs. the positive response that I got when showing up and asking. I once went live for 7 weeks straight, and because I asked, I was able to successfully crowdfund over 9k in under 8 weeks to publish my first book.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Developing the skill to pivot is so essential. I think it also takes an immense amount of humility to be able to see when it is time to pivot. As mentioned in my previous response, my definition of success includes resilience, creativity, faith, and hard work. You’ve got to know that everything doesn’t always go as planned. Consequently, it is crucial to keep going (resilience) and pivot (creativity/hard work) when needed. You’ll also need the faith to believe it will work. While I began my journey as an author, life changed drastically for me.

A battle with mental health caused me to create material that supports well-being and the merger of personal and professional development to support the hYOUman in you.

This was a significant pivot moment for me. As an author, my writing has always been inspiration-based. Still, the struggle with mental health evoked a more substantial need for inspiration. I realized others are struggling to show up professionally while navigating mental health. And so, my personal story highlighted a passion for supporting this.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.rahkalshelton.com
• Business Instagram: @betheinspiredyou
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahkalsheltonroberson/
• Other: Personal IG: @rcarladanielle