There is an innate capacity among born leaders to always put others before themselves. These leaders empower, inspire, and impact others with their value-driven leadership.
Moneeka Sawyer is an example of one such born leader. This empowering woman has impacted the lives of thousands of women by integrating bliss into their lives.
Persevering through her own set of challenges, Moneeka has created a successful pathway in her real estate journey. Today, she is paving the way for other women in real estate to reach the heights of success.
Moneeka Sawyer is the best-selling author of the book, Choose Bliss. Thanks to her highly spirited nature, she is the creator of Blissfulinvestor.com, and has also appeared on many TV shows including CBS SF Bay Area, ABC TV-Portland and more.
Moreover, Moneeka has learned the fine balance of real-estate investing and now teaches women to be empowered with their money so they can retire rich and live blissfully. She believes, “an empowered woman is someone who inspires other women to stand in their strength, trust themselves, and live a life based on their own values, goals, and desires.”
“Born Leader”
Talking about her childhood, Moneeka recalls “I remember in pre-school standing on a chair and all the kids would gather around me. As I stood there raising something up high with my right hand (usually an umbrella) I would announce to the other children that I had POWERS.”
She adds, “One day when my dad came to pick me up from school one of the kids whispered to him “Did you know Moneeka has POWERS? She told us all about it today!” My Dad smiled and said, “Well yes, I did know she has POWERS,” and the little boy gave him a big hug. “Thank you for letting her come to our school!” he exclaimed.”
When asked about these powers by her father, Moneeka mentioned “I told him that my POWER was to make the other children smile. Whenever I would point at one of them, they would smile or giggle. And everyone in the room felt good.”
Seeing how Moneeka used her imagination to make other children smile, made her dad proud and refer to his daughter as a “Born Leader.”
Since then, this powerful statement has been a big part of Moneeka’s life. It has given her the belief she is a leader and strength when she has doubted herself the most.
Meeting her Real Fortune
Moneeka’s journey with real estate began even before she was born. Soon after her parents moved from India to the US, they started saving their nickels and dimes. Years of hardwork paid off when they bought their first rental property — and their real estate journey began.
As a young impressionable girl, Moneeka learnt many real-estate investing lessons from her parents. But she could also see an uptick in the levels of stress it brought to her dad. “He dealt with all those things you hear about from landlords —late rents, broken leases, late-night phone calls, and the many mortgages they sometimes had to struggle to pay,” she recalls.
Based on all of that she realized that a successful career in real estate was a consequence of patience for a long-time. She didn’t want something in her life for that long that sucked the life out of her, as it did for her dad. So, she decided very young that it wasn’t for her.
A few years down the line, when Moneeka graduated from college, her chances of getting a job dwindled as the entire country struggled in recession. When she finally got a job, it paid very little, and she felt really stressed. However, a simple yet life-changing statement by Moneeka’s father was enough to convince her about her direction.
He said “Moneeka, everyone has stress, everyone has fear, and everyone has money problems. Do you want poor-people money problems, or do you want rich-people money problems?”
She was stunned into silence, and it really got her thinking. “If I’m going to have money problems anyways, they might as well be rich-people money problems!” This led her to take his advice seriously and finally buy some real estate.
To find out what happened next you can get the rest of the story in her free ebook “Blueprint to Building Your Multi-Million Dollar Real Estate Portfolio” at Blissfulinvestor.com.
Integrating Bliss with Money
Moneeka had seen all the struggles her dad had gone through as a real estate investor.
Simultaneously, she also knew that investing in real estate was a long-term strategy for building wealth. “I decided early on that I was going to build my business differently from my dad,” she says.
Her focus was to build a business that enhanced the joy in her life, rather than suck the life out of her. “I built systems and processes to make running the business easier. Quickly, I found that having the right tenant was the key to having a blissful business, so I put a lot of time and energy into that selection process,” she adds.
Even with all of this, there have always been challenges. Moneeka understands that it’s impossible to have a problem-free business.
For those times when she did have issues, she developed and practiced her bliss strategies to keep her in a balanced emotional state. This helped her make good and rational business decisions. Her most successful strategies are all described in her book Choose Bliss: The Power and Practice of Joy and Contentment.
Moving and Rising Together
Moneeka believes that each one of us has the capacity to be a leader in our own lives. It’s a skill we can develop and doing so is very empowering. She emphasizes the need to build your own financial independence to supercharge your confidence.
“It really is possible for everyone, as long as they are willing to learn, focus, and most importantly, take mindful action,” she shares. “I have a top-rated podcast and radio show where I talk about mindset, heart-set, strategies, money smarts, and all those things a woman needs to feel empowered to build the real estate business that will satisfy her goals,” she adds candidly
For those women who prefer to read, she has taken these strategies that blend bliss, success, and real estate and compiled them into a fun-to-read book called Real Estate Investing for Women.
Leading Through the Labyrinth of Purpose
For several years, Moneeka Sawyer has continued to don several hats gracefully — whether it be as an entrepreneur, investor, coach, podcast host, or as a best-selling author.
Amidst the maze of her responsibilities, when quizzed about her work-life balance, she says, “I don’t believe in work-life balance, rather I believe in passion balance. Life is an ever-changing adventure and at different times in life, different areas pull more of my focus. “
In her current phase of life, her biggest passions include travel, giving back to the world, and building a passive income to give her husband the job-optional freedom he is looking for.
Moneeka realizes that the things she is balancing in her life today are very different than they were even five years ago. “That’s what I mean by passion balance. I don’t necessarily focus on work-life balance. Instead, I focus on balancing my time and energy with my passions,” she adds.
When talking about her normal day, she begins her day with a consistent morning routine which includes doing her gratitude practice, taking a nice long walk with her husband and puppy, enjoying some inspirational media, and then starting her workday at about 10 am.
After her morning routine, each day is different. She has a day completely dedicated to recording her shows, a day dedicated to doing all the back-office business stuff that must get done, and then the rest of the week she sets aside her time for meetings and clients.
She also makes sure to spend an hour everyday writing. “I don’t have a daily schedule as much as I have a weekly schedule. This wouldn’t work for everyone, but it is exactly what I need to be my most blissful and productive self,” she mentions.
Choosing the Right Responses
Moneeka believes that making choices truly matter. “We can’t always control what happens to us and around us, but we can always control how we choose to respond,” she says.
In fact, her book is the perfect guide to build your bliss muscles, so you can choose to respond in ways that will give you more bliss in your life. You will get the strategies that have worked consistently well for her and for her many clients over decades of coaching very successful executives, creatives, and professionals. She believes with all her heart that, “You deserve to be blissful in your life.”
Stepping Towards your Dreams
As a self-made successful businesswoman, Moneeka is certain that confidence is built by taking successful action.
Her advice for women entrepreneurs struggling to take that leap of faith in themselves is, “Start taking small consistent steps toward your goal. With each step that you complete and succeed you build trust in your ability and confidence to take that next step. Each step also allows you to become a little more comfortable with getting out of your comfort zone. Success breeds more success, so you will naturally want to reach for the next step.”
At the same time Moneeka mentions, “There will be times when you have a setback. That’s natural and expected.”
She believes that if you never have a setback, your goals aren’t getting you out of your comfort zone. A setback is indeed a very good sign. “When it happens, it doesn’t feel good and may shake your confidence,” she clarifies.
Moneeka suggests taking the time to examine and learn from your journey. Then take another small step toward your goal. “Don’t stop! You must keep moving. Every small step forward is a necessary step to building your dreams,” she concludes.
Quick Reads
One Book Entrepreneurs must read: Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
One Quote that Motivates you the most: “If you can’t control your emotions, you can’t control your money” by Warren Buffet
One Investment Advice that you follow: Don’t try to time the market. Do your research and select a good investment, and then invest. Don’t wait and invest. Instead, invest and wait.
Visit Blissful Investor Website.
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