Sherrell D. Mims

I attribute my success to, number one, God, number two, myself, and then my family. I follow what God wanted me to do, step-by-step process. It's God, myself, then family, in that order. Everything I have accomplished has been through the Holy Spirit's guidance and anointing. People don't understand how I was doing it all - working 36 to 48 hours a week as a psychiatric nurse while building two organizations and a magazine. It was the Holy Spirit that was doing it. It was the anointing that was doing it. I always tell people, don't try to figure out what I am doing, because you're not going to be able to do it, because I'm being orchestrated differently from how you're being orchestrated. I was on fumes, baby, but it happened.

The best career advice I received was from my counselor when I was back in college in the 80s. She told me to go into a profession that's going to be here for 10 years or longer. I had wanted to be a dental hygienist, but she said that's good, however, nursing's going to be here even longer than that, and they pay better. That's what I ended up doing. Looking at the outlook, and that was way back in the 80s, so you can see now, she gave me godly guidance and godly wisdom. She even had a list of careers and helped me see the long-term perspective.

My advice to women today is to seek out what you want to do in life. Discover what you need to do in life, and do it. And not just do it, but do it and go above and beyond. People don't really care about what you have to say, they want to know what you're doing, right? We can always say things and not come through. But when people know that you love them, and you're taking the time out with them, they remember that more than what you said. As Maya Angelou said, people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but will never forget how you made them feel. People will remember what you did, and not what you said.

I don't really see a challenge right now, because the people are coming on to do what needs to be done. But the real challenge I'd probably see in the future is with everything that's going on with the economy. Eventually I have to start charging for my services. I have been doing this pretty much kind of free, or complimentary, if you will, for the virtual events. But once I go out into the community, I will have to start putting a price tag on it. Because, number one, you're going to have to pay for my time. Time is something that you will never get back. So the time that is put in for the labor to bring these events forward, that's what they're paying me for. It's not just what they see on my stage when people speak. You're paying me for my time, my labor, behind the scenes. And that's what I need to explain to people. There's more than what you see to the eye. All you see is everything is glam and glory. But behind the scenes, I have to get people to put these things together - video, promoting videos, promoting things on livestream, promoting things on YouTube, on IG, on LinkedIn, wherever I'm at. I have to have people to do that, and that's time and money.

My values in the workplace and my personal life go across the board. Number one is integrity. You have to be honest. I have to do the right thing even when someone is not watching you, right? Number two is to always educate yourself, because you can only go as far as you are educated. In other words, always seek out advanced training, advanced education. And then number three, you know, let the Holy Spirit lead you, let God lead you, which should be number one. Let God lead you in everything that you do. Then number two, integrity, and be honest. Then number three, always seek to advance in education. I'm sure there's more, but that's pretty much across the board for me.