Tylar Phorever

I would have to bring it back around to my will. My will and the will of God, honestly, is what I would attribute my success to, because in everything that I have ever been a part of, whether it's been personally or professionally, I have always been able to tap back into my willingness to go forward, my willingness to even if it was something I did not want to do, did not want to face, did not want to have to learn about, I still tap into the version of myself that was willing, and that I would 100% attribute to my success. And like I said, the will of God, because God's will is the direction of my will. The other thing is my family. My family has been my anchor, especially my husband, but in all, my family has been my anchor, keeping me through, helping me, taking care of my bills sometimes when I couldn't work, making sure I'm not able to drive, so I have a family full of chauffeurs that are always eager and willing and helpful to make sure that I get what I need done, or that I'm able to keep my word and show up in opportunities and spaces that I said I would be. So, 100% also my family.

The best career advice I've ever received was to always be willing. As long as I have the will to keep going forward, I will never end my career. Basically what he told me was, as long as you have enough will to keep carrying on, you get to decide when you stop and when you start. And so when things get rough, and when things get hard, and when you start experiencing different trials and different challenges in the career field, there's a difference between your effort and your will. Your effort is the action of what you put in, but your will is your mindset. And so, as long as you keep your mindset that you can, you will. And that was the best advice I got. I actually went forward off of that and centered my whole professional mindset off of that.

To a young woman entering the industry as an author, I would say to take your time and to do your research. You can be creative, you may have creative ideas, you may be very good at storytelling, but you have to learn and understand the business of writing at the same time. Because there are thousands, hundreds, millions of other people who also have great ideas. But the thing that's going to set you aside from other people is also knowing the back end, the extension, which is the business side of things. Learning, okay, the type of story that you're telling, where does that niche fit? Where do these people buy these type of stories, these type of books? Understanding what type of payment is going to be taken out of your compensation for what platforms you're using, so that way you don't just sign up with anything that your book is able to perform at. You want to make sure that you're being compensated effectively and fairly. So you have to learn the business side of it as well. And for those entering into the public speaking or advocacy, my advice would be to stay true to yourself. There are so many distractions, and there's so many different ideas out here. It can get fun exploring, and it can also get dangerous exploring. So you want to make sure that you have a core message, and that you have a core audience that you're focusing on, so that way you don't get distracted, you don't get tumbled, you can stay on that path, and that you can work that path and fit in what fits according to who you're speaking to and what you're speaking on.

As a public speaker, as a keynote speaker, one of the biggest challenges is opportunity. There are so many other people in this same field, especially here in Atlanta. Starting as somebody who's only still fairly new to it, going up against or with other people who have been in the game for 10 years, for 15 years, is very, very congested with a lot of content with a lot of availability. So, it is very difficult trying to find the right event or the right platform to use your voice at. So there's a lot of times, that's why I create my own. I create my own, and I allow those who gravitate to it to gravitate to it, while keeping myself open for as much opportunity as possible. That's definitely a challenge in the field right now, is the amount of availability for new upcoming speakers, but that's not a challenge that I'm afraid to handle, or I'm afraid to face. Because I'm willing to go ahead and create my own lane, and that lane can open the doors for people just like me who need more opportunities. And as an author, I'd say one of the challenges in the field right now is really finding the right type of marketing. There are so many resources out here, and especially in this new AI world, in this new social world that we live in, that there are very creative ways to market. But you don't want to be too redundant, and I don't necessarily always want to follow the trends, because then I get confused, and then I might get left behind, or I might get just jumbled, or just flustered in what's going on, what all is going on, or what's the new thing right now, versus just staying comfortable in my space, and working my space, and growing my space. So my challenge right now is really just trying to find where I fit in this new, progressive social world, being such an old-school writer.

In my work and my personal life, one of them is integrity, and staying true to who you are and to what it is that you believe in. In your personal life and in your professional life, both of those things can be challenged, because you're gonna have times in different phases in your life when you're gonna experience different versions of yourselves. That's definitely one of the values that I hold for both professionally and personally, is your integrity, but also showing up for yourself is a value that I feel like is integral in any type of personal or professional development, because if you are halfway doing things, if you are not really sure about what it is that you are facing, or what it is that you're putting yourself into, then anybody ends up getting to tell your story. Anybody else gets to redirect yourself. I would say, I have a few, actually. There's one that's storytelling, or using your voice is more so a better way of putting that. Using your voice in both professional and personal paths is a value that I feel like is very important, because your voice is your power. It is your everything. When you hold back your voice, you hold back your narrative, you hold back your ideas, you hold back your growth, you hold back your tongue, your voice is your connection to other people. So, when you cut that off, you cut off your connection, so I definitely hold that as a value to always use my voice. Another thing is to honor your boundaries. I highly believe in honoring your boundaries. I believe that you honor yourself by honoring your boundaries. So, some things that may be interesting for you in a professional career, that you might be interested in, but you know that is outside of your boundary of what you have set for yourself, you will dishonor yourself by pushing yourself too far and too much, because then you'll fall out of alignment with what you already have been working on and God has been pointing you towards. So, I believe in honoring your boundaries. And I definitely believe in using your voice.