Finding the One(s) You Need to Succeed!

Hello, you absolutely amazing person, you. It's not even 6am on Friday morning when I'm recording this because I'm actually going to be in seminar on Monday. When you see this, I wanted to get this recorded and mastered for you because I am most definitely thinking of you today. This video goes out to those people trying to overcome adversity, trying to overcome challenges. And I understand that probably describes absolutely every single person on this planet. Of course I have a special interest in the indigenous peoples living within Canadian borders. But this goes out to everyone because I know what that journey is like. And today I really want to highlight how important it is for your success, for your peace, for your comfort, to find the one or actually the ones. Let's talk about it. Hi everybody. My name is Sandy Boucher. I'm Red Thunderbolt, woman of the Loon clan, a proud member of Seine River First Nation in Treaty 3 Territory in Northern Ontario. And yes, as an Indigenous woman being raised within Canadian borders, I have definitely known adversity. I could no doubt traumatize listeners if I started listing off the horrors I have survived. And that is not the intent of this video, actually what happened. Because as you know and every one of these videos, I'm inspired by something in my life to shoot each video. I was watching Vice President Harris give her speech at the dnc and she started off by thanking all of the people that supported and encouraged her and believed in her, that allowed her to get to this place in her life, to this opportunity to become the President of the United States. States. And it got me thinking, as things always do, what would I say if I stood on stage, if I had an opportunity not to be President of the United States? Obviously that's not happening. I'm Canadian. But if I had a chance to stand on stage and thank all the people that believed in me, who would come to mind, who would be the one or the ones? So I wanted to share that with you today because I believe, especially if you're bipoc, black, Indigenous or a person of color, you need a team, you need a community of people who believe in you, especially on the days you don't. And I had that from the get go in the beginning. It kind of got handed to me and. And then as the years went by, those were the people I added to my world. So let's go through this list. First and foremost, everyone who follows my channel and if you're subscribed to my channel, thank you so much. You have no idea how much it helps to YouTube to help me reach new people that need support and guidance. So please, if you have not subscribed, please do like the video. Follow. You know the drill. Anyone who follows my work would think the first person I'm going to name is my mom. And of course, especially in later years, of course she was the one that believed in me. But honestly, in my younger years, when I was small or coming into my teen years, truth be told, I think my mom would have been a lot happier if I would have been happy being a lot smaller. My mom knew what life was like as Anishna be Quay, as an indigenous female in Canada, she, rather than encourage me, she focused more on protecting me, guiding me, giving me coping mechanisms, actually arming me against what was to come. So did she believe in me? Absolutely. She also knew how hard the, the journey was going to be. So she was not the raw, raw person. Later years, absolutely. But in the beginning it was more preparation. Do you really need to do this? And that's okay. It came from a loving place. My dad, on the other hand, was my biggest cheerleader. He constantly told me, and I have said this a million times, I would not have this career if it was not for my father. He constantly said, you can be whatever you want to be if and only if you are willing to work hard enough to get it. My dad warned me on a regular basis that there were going to be people who were going to try to stop me. There were going to be people that would tell me, you were never going to be able to do this, that, or the other thing. And that I must never forget. I can. My dad celebrated every one of my A's in school like I had just found the secret to world peace or solved world hunger. My dad encouraged every little creative project I did and, and just was my internal cheerleader. He is most definitely one of the ones. And yes, I have a handy dandy index card. Unfortunately, I lost dad when I was 17. And we know that was the beginning of the dark years of my life. But looking back now from this place, happiness and joy and comfort and peace, I can see that there were so many ones along the way. And one of my favorites that always comes to mind and puts a smile on my face is Mr. David MacKenzie, who I knew was Mr. MacKenzie, who was my grade four teacher. And one of the things he asked us to do was read. And every single time we read a book, there was. I don't remember what day of the week it was, but we would line up in a line going up to his Desk holding the book we read. When we got to his desk, we would hand him the book and he would ask us questions about the book to see, you know, prove, for one, we read it, but to ask us what we thought of the book. And I remember with great pride that I would show up at his desk with either three or four books in my arms. And the first couple of times, it kind of looked at me like, really? And not. Not doubting, but not sure. And, well, I guess that's doubting, right? But what he was concerned about was, did I remember anything from these books? Was I just speed reading through them and consuming them without really taking them in. And he would proceed to question me about every single book, and every single time I was able to answer his questions. Getting straight A's in school, a lot of that was to do with my love of reading. So, Mr. McKenzie, I owe you the world. Another one was, I knew her as Ms. Pinkish for Ms. Pincus. For later grades, she was Mrs. Bernier. She was my grade one teacher. And I wrote stories in grade one, a little fictional stories. And she would patiently correct my spelling and help me with sentence structure. These were extra things. These were not assignments. These are just things I wanted to write. Do you see the ambition already coming up? I'm not going to do just the bare minimum. I'm going to do what I love. And in grade one, I already realized that was. Excuse me, that was writing. So thank you to Ms. Pincus and Mr. McKenzie for encouraging me in my younger years. Now, we're gonna fast forward to my adult years now, and I gotta honor the women on my arm that make up this eagle feather, that make up me. It starts with my mom, of course. The first strong, amazing, phenomenal woman I ever knew then, Josephine Mandamin, who was just honored with a stamp here in Canada. Jo was the epitome of love and humility and respect and hard work. And her example taught me that you don't ask other people to do things that you're not willing to do yourself. And just because you asked them to do it doesn't mean you stop being willing. Every single person who knew Joe or had the chance to work for her worked harder than we ever have, because Joe still worked harder than all of us. Next, Elsie Quandman, A woman I knew was Nana, my amazing elder, who taught me to be did, who taught me how to heal, who helped me through so many hard times, including the demise of my marriage. And we lost her just a couple years ago. And her. Her presence is missed every single day. But I know she is still so incredibly proud of me. The other two women on my arm are still here, still encouraging me, still supporting me. And I think of them every single day. And that's Marjorie and Sharon. Marjorie Lee and Sharon Desmolen. Thank you. Thank you for your love. Thank you for your example, thank you for your light because you are both incredibly bright lights, often in dark places. Miigwech Next, My older brother Ernie, who as people know is now the general manager of my company. Have I almost known my brother was in my corner? Absolutely. But now that I get to work with him now, I know that for a fact and it is an absolute source of joy for me to know I make him proud. So thank you Ernie. It is a pure joy to work with you. Best decision I ever made. So welcome on board. Next Anita, my amazing assistant. If you you gotta watch her podcast on September 1, Millie brings up my assistant and describes her as an angel. And yeah, she is. She's got the patience of job because she works with me and can handle it. She is a joy. We have crying together, we have laughed together, deep Nishnaabe belly laughs on a regular basis and her community is struggling and so is she. And I send out prayers to my good friend Anita. Next on my list, my graphic designer, Miranda. Now, Miranda has worked with me for probably 10 years of my 15 year career. She's been off several times on maternity leave as she grows her family, but she always comes back. She comes back strong and she comes back believing in me. Every single one of my seminar posters you see is Miranda's work. She makes it easy for me to excel and I absolutely love the relationship we've built. Even though we've only been in the same room together once in our entire working relationship. Our emails are a pure joy to me. Thank you Miranda for being you. Next. Oh well, special mention going out to Millie Gorm who I do the podcast with. Like I said, next episode comes out September 1st. She is my financial advisor. Her belief in me is pure fuel. And Aaron Cisco, who runs the Alliance Network for business women. She is such a driving force and she's going to do epic things and she believes in what I do. Thank you. As you can see, there are many I can list and I'm certain there's a whole bunch that didn't come to mind right away, but they will during the course of this day after I turn off this camera. It is just so much easier to know success and peace and comfort and joy when you're surrounded by people who believe in you. And that's what I want to encourage you to do today. Find the one and then find another one. And another one. You don't need the critics there. You can throw a rock and hit five. Critics just throwing up in the air. Those people. It's just too easy to criticize. And how many of those people have ever done what you're trying to do? Most of the time they haven't. Find the people who believe in you. Find your fuel, Then get out of your way. Because peace, comfort, joy, success are waiting for you. The people you find know it to be true. Until tomorrow. I love you. Take care. Bye. Bye.