I came across a meme some time ago while casually scrolling through my Instagram feed, it read “Learning how to lose is just as important as winning”; or something similar to that effect, but it resonated and rightly so; because it was true. Losing has a negative connotation and leaves us with a bitter taste in our mouths. From the moment we entered the school system as children, our parents and educators requested nothing less and anything other was sinful failure; that or we just became addicted to the feeling of winning; both intrinsic and extrinsically. In business, you will lose. Let that sink in… you will lose more that business related issues. It is true that elevation will require separation. You will have to separate yourself from habits that doesn’t transition into successful practices, you will have to separate yourself somewhat from the world to focus on building your brand, and will have to separate yourself from persons you wanted so much to go all the way with you. You will learn that the more your grow, the more persons will fall behind. Not everyone will understand your drive, they wont see the potential, the dream, the vision; in some cases they will hold you back as a means to keep you where they are and try to make you believe that you have changed because you want more, because you dream a different and bigger dream, but eyes on the prize, not everyone will cross that finish line with you. To be honest, no one wants to lose, if I sat here and said that losing is fun, I would be the biggest liar of 2020. Losing makes you feel like crap, but there are lessons to be learnt in taking a loss. It is a growth period, knowing what you did wrong and how to improve on it to come back better than the last time. Understanding the weaknesses that you will have to work on mitigating or eliminating completely. Losing people makes room for the right persons to enter your life; people who will be integral in your success story. When we started this business, I started out with plenty “friends”, individuals who often sort me out for advice and creative brainstorming; that which I offered for free. The moment I introduced my services as a consultant; as a paid service, I got the cold shoulder from those same people. I had to learn to accept that not everyone who is a friend will support your ideas and your dream if they feel that it puts a damper on the dreams and plans, they have for themselves. What I have come to learn and indeed accept, is that people will say you pretend to be better than they are but it is really them that assume that you are, and in not supporting you believe that it will dim your light, but we are here to let you know that losing people on your way up is normal, it is an everyday occurrence, the important thing is that on your way to accomplishment, to success, to crossing the bridge of mediocrity, that you do not lose yourself.