Erica Grant

I definitely attribute my success to my coaches and keeping God first in everything I do. My coaches are basically like mentors - they're not only just coaches on the track or on the field, they're like our little parents or godparents. They teach us more than just sports, they teach us about life and how sports contribute into the real world. We don't just learn from them coaching us, we learn from them teaching us leadership skills, how to grow in our sport and outside our sport. I'll definitely give my props to them for helping me become who I am today.

One of the best pieces of career advice I ever received came from Earl, who was an executive at my marketing job. During a team networking night, he told me that when you put your mind to something or you have something that you're set on and want to accomplish, you should never give up on it. Always believe in yourself. You're gonna go through trials and tribulations, and the road's not gonna always be easy, but don't ever give up. There are gonna be times where things are gonna try to knock you down, but you can't let that affect you in the things that you want to do or accomplish. He also said to never be scared to ask for help or network, because nobody knows everything. We can always learn from each other and bounce off each other's ideas.

My advice would be to be patient, because it's not easy. You have to have the patience, the time, and the confidence to do anything that you want to do or put your mind to. I would also say never give up, because you're capable of doing whatever you want to do, as long as you stay focused on it, stay determined, and stay disciplined. Once you slack off, it may take you a while to get back up and do what you want to do. Especially in digital marketing, you have to stay consistent, you have to be disciplined, you have to promote your business to get out there. Even if you're only getting one buy or two likes a day, it may seem like you're not going anywhere, but if you just keep trusting the process and keep promoting, you'll succeed. Sometimes promoting isn't just posting on TikTok or Instagram - you might have to step outside your comfort zone, go outside and network with other people, and let them know about your business and how it could benefit them in their everyday life.

I'd say some of the biggest challenges in digital marketing are creating digital products and getting sales. When creating digital products, you have to think outside of the box because there are other people doing the same thing, and they're gonna buy the best product. If somebody's product is better than yours or if the price is cheaper, they might buy that instead. You have to really think carefully about the product you're about to create - is it going to be beneficial to the people who are using it? Is the price gonna be viable for your customers? Is this something you're gonna be able to promote on a daily basis to try to get the sales out there? You have to be very smart about what you price your product, because some people may think your product is overly priced. Like, it's only a journal, I can get a journal from the Dollar Tree. You have to think about how others will think, not just as a business owner but as a customer who's gonna buy your product. What would I think about this product? Could I get this elsewhere? Is it worth the price? What are the details in this journal that are gonna be helpful for me that I can't use another journal for?

The values most important to me are balance and growth. There has to be a balance between work and personal life, because everything just can't be about work, work, work. You have to have some type of time for yourself. Sometimes, as humans, as people, we need time for ourselves because sometimes we may have rough days. Everyone may need a mental day - life isn't perfect. Sometimes work can be a lot of stress on us, and sometimes we need to take days to ourselves to just recoup and rebalance. As for growth, I think everyone wants to grow in life. I'm pretty sure we all wouldn't want to stay in the same position for the rest of our lives. I would like to see growth in other things, whether it's outside of work or in personal life. I would like to see growth in my leadership skills and how to manage under stress or work under pressure. I'm building myself up into maybe a businesswoman, not just working under someone else, but building my way up where I can create my own generational wealth.