The health I have and the wise, genuine people around me, personal to professional! – Alan, D.

This year I am grateful for all of the opportunities I’ve had to give back to my community whether that be financially or through volunteering my time. I stepped out of my comfort zone this year to try new things and made so many new friends along the way. I am grateful for my career which has given me amazing opportunities to travel, positively impact others careers, and develop personally and professionally. I am forever grateful for my family who push me to grow and reach new heights every day. – Meghan M.

I am so thankful for the efforts everyone in our business puts in to make sure everyone around them succeeds whether they are newer or been in the business for a while, the people we are around on a day to day from the managers to the senior account managers are so genuine and positive I just adore that. I am also so thankful for the opportunity I have to grow and improve myself personally and professionally, how we are given the tools and support to be as successful as we want to be just blows my mind and i love how everyone who gets welcomed to this business has the same opportunity! – Alexis M.

I am grateful for the opportunities I’ve been given with this awesome company! I’ve gained so much knowledge from the people around me and that in turn has given me the chance to build so many new friendships. I’ve come out of my shell a lot this year with everything I’ve been presented with and I will forever be thankful for my family and friends for always supporting me in my new adventures! – Anita J.

I’m thankful to work with people who care just as much about my success as they do theirs. – Amani B.

I am grateful for my loved ones, my opportunity to grow and develop each and everyday, and the ability to help and influence others! – Niza C.

I am grateful for my family! I’m always excited to be with them especially on the holidays because we like to watch movies and look at old pictures. I am most grateful for life itself. I really try to get the most out of every day. I love waking up with a purpose of growth and development of my self and others; being blessed with a gift to impact lives in a positive way is the single most important thing that I am grateful for. – Raph R.

I’m thankful for my daughter for giving me the motivation to be greater each day, so I can lead by example and be a great role model for her. – Ernest J.

What have you gained working for J.W. Business Acquisitions?

Working For J.W has allowed me to grasp what being a leader is and acknowledging my goals and career path. From the hands on training, to the great work atmosphere, the daily motivational speeches, the different background, ethnicities, and positive influences. Not only have I grown as person I’ve become tailored in decision making and utilize those skills in and outside of work.

What is the best thing about J.W. Business Acquisitions?

The best thing about working with J.W. is that it made me self aware of my worth, the team helps me to hold myself accountable, and the hunger for growth everyone has.

Alan is originally from Dallas, TX and one of our top leaders here at J.W. Business Acquisitions.

Why did you start with J.W. Business Acquisitions?
The reason that I started with the company was because of the growth system and the skill sets you learn along the way. What drew me the most to the company is that it’s 100% merit based. 

What is your favorite part about working with the J.W.B.A. team?
My favorite part about working with the company are the mentors/managers. They’re here genuinely to help one another no matter what position you’re in. They have great information/knowledge to give out.

If you can travel anywhere in the world where would you go?
If I can travel anywhere in the world I would travel to the Bahamas. I enjoy warm waters with beautiful scenery.

Who would you want to have dinner with, dead/alive/real/fictional?
If I can have dinner with anybody I would have dinner with all of my grandparents. I never got the chance to meet one of my grandmas.

What are some of your favorite hobbies?
Some of my favorite hobbies is sports, soccer in specific I like to be very active. Also soccer runs in my family so I’ve been playing ever since I can remember.

How do you relax after a stressful work week?
One of my ways to relax after a work week, I like to watch movies and cook new food at home. And I go to the gym on a daily basis so that’s how I unwind after work each day.

What is your advice for new leaders on the team?
My advice for the new leaders on the team, I highly suggest to know exactly what you want out of the company. Whether it is just to learn a skill set, to earn some money, or to grow within the company. Knowing what you want helps because you know exactly what to ask and what help to look for.

What is your favorite book and why?
My favorite book is How to Win Friends and Influence People. It’s the first book I read when I started developing the entrepreneurial mindset.

Do you have a secret talent?
My secret talent is, reading people. I know how to read body language, tone of voice, facial expressions and emotional expressions.

If you could be any animal in the world what would you be and why?
If I can be any animal, I’ll be a silverback gorilla. The silverback is the leader of the pack. The strongest one, the one that protects the rest of the pack and is the one that leads the pack to the destination for the pack to be safe and fed. 

Leon has a Halloween joke for us! Can you guess the answer before the video is over?

1.    Make a List

First, write down everything you need to get done daily, both in your personal life and at work. Do yourself a favor and don’t worry about how you organize this list. This is not a to-do list it’s a task brain dump. Take 30 minutes with a notebook to jot down everything you have to do today; down to “brush my teeth.”

2. Structure your Day

Early birds do their best most productive work before lunchtime whereas night owls perform best in the evenings. Know yourself. Think about when you do your BEST work, have the most energy, and are the most creative. Group your tasks into that specific time frame when you know you’ll perform at your best.

Tweet us! What will you do better to schedule your day?

Mornings tend to be about getting out of the door and your day started. Make time to eat breakfast, let your pets out if you have pets, get your lunch packed for work, leave on time for work… once you’ve got all of that out of the way, take on the tasks the require the most critical thinking.

Midday is a tricky time of the day because this is where things start to slow down. You’ve had lunch and now all you want to do is take a nap. NOPE! Time to zap the energy levels. Be proactive and pack a snack, something to fuel your body for the afternoon. Do a recap of your task list and your schedule.

Ask yourself, “Am I on schedule for the day?”

Evenings are the most productive when you use them to proactively plan for the next day. Lay out your work clothes for tomorrow. Take a look at what you already have on the schedule for tomorrow. If you know you’re not going to want to make lunch in the morning pack what you can at night. Pre plan to plan.

3. Schedule in Time for Flexibility

In a perfect world, everything would all go to plan down to the second. Well this isn’t a perfect world and things AREN’T always going to go as planned. The point is to focus on what you can control and let go of the things that you can’t. Use your most productive times for your most challenging tasks and your least productive times for mundane tasks. There might be times when life gets in the way, but practicing the art of having a daily routine will help things to flow despite any “fires” that may pop up.

A schedule defends from chaos and whim. It is a net for catching days. It is a scaffolding on which a worker can stand and labor with both hands at sections of time.

Annie Dillard

4. Try it out!

Take it for a test drive. You wouldn’t buy a car without taking it for a ride first, right? Test drive your routine.. how does it feel? How is it working? How is it impacting your life? Do you like the way it feels? Do you need to adjust things? Tweak anything that ISN’T working one thing at a time. If you change too many things at once you won’t know what is and what isn’t working. Whenever you try something new you have to give it time to work.

Name: Matthew Swan 

School/Major: MBA Finance, Lincoln memorial university 

Hometown: Newport, Wales 

Why did you start with the company?

J.W. Business Acquisitions provided an opportunity like no other which is a management training program that will teach me the ins and outs of sales and marketing which can lead me to owning my own company.

What is your favorite part about working with the company?

The people I work with. It is all about connecting with fellow employees to create a fun environment.

If you can travel anywhere in the world where would you go?

I would love to go to Australia 

Who would you want to have dinner with, dead/alive/real/fictional? 

George Best, he’s simple the BEST!

What are some of your favorite hobbies?  

Soccer, gym, reading, socializing with friends

How did you get into these hobbies?

I started playing soccer from a young age and just being part of a team 

Do you play any sports?

soccer

How do you relax after a stressful work week?

Team night with the best crew around

What is your advice for new leaders on the team?

Stay focused and continuing to stick to the systems they will teach you everything you need to know.

What is your favorite book and why?

The power of positive thinking by: Norman Vincent Peale 

Who is your favorite sports team and why?

Manchester United because my grandad forced me too 

Do you have a secret talent?

I can speak welsh 

Do you have a favorite color and why?

Purple, not sure why.

If you could be any animal in the world what would you be and why?

An eagle because I would be able to fly anywhere i want when I want. 

Hope you enjoyed our interview with Matt, make sure to stop by our team page to learn more about the J.W. squad!

Name: Wade Tillery
School/Major: Hampton University/ Music Recording Technology
Hometown: Atlanta, Georgia

Why did you start with the company?

I recently exited the United States Marine Corps with the intent to enter entrepreneurship and be around other A type personalities who seek success at the highest level.

What is your favorite part about working with the company?

The challenge to stay committed. Lack of commitment comes from lack of information and perspective. Whether it’s the morning meetings, business trips or time in the field, I’m reminded why people believe in this company everyday. They see the end goal as only a matter of time rather than something plausible. These alpha personalities and their individual “why’s” make it worth it on the worst days.

If you can travel anywhere in the world where would you go?

South Korea. My mother is there.

What are some of your favorite hobbies? How did you get into these hobbies?

Anything KAIZEN. Kaizen is continuous self-improvement. So my Christian Faith, reading, physical fitness, motivational speaking and mentoring African American youth.

Do you play any sports?

I never played sports growing up but I’m always competitive. With everything.

What is your advice for new leaders on the team?

My advice for new leaders at J.W. Business Acquisitions is to try to keep your team as tight as possible. Don’t ever believe you’re too senior to learn from someone.

What is your favorite book and why?

Probably the Bible. Close seconds would be Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki, Start With Why by Simon Sinek, and The 4 hour Work Week by Timothy Ferris.

Who is your favorite sports team and why?

Dallas Cowboys and Atlanta Falcons

Do you have a secret talent?

Kaizen.

Do you have a favorite color and why?

Purple. One of the greatest musicians made it awesome.

If you could be any animal in the world what would you be and why?

Gorilla. Amazingly strong, pack mindset, and extremely intelligent.

If you liked this interview with Wade check out our team page to learn more about J.W. Business Acquisitions’s star studded team!

Read a little bit every day

Books are a concentrated source of wisdom. The more you read, the more you expose yourself to knowledge. In addition, experts have shown that 20 minutes of reading daily, collaborate with brain stimulation and stress reduction.

Learn a new language

Learning new languages without a particular need, develops and opens our minds. It is beneficial to our academic and work environment and allows you to get to know other cultures.

Have a new hobby

Consider if there is something new that you would like to try. You can learn a new sport or enroll in cooking, dancing or craft workshops. Learning something new requires you to grow in various areas, whether physical, mental or emotional.

The J.W. Team loves developing new hobbies and personal development check out our Instagram page so you can keep up!

 Take a new course

Courses are a good way to gain knowledge and learn skills. It doesn’t have to be a long course. The seminars and workshops fulfill the same function. They give you a knowledge and also, improve your resume. 

“Knowledge is power and you need power in this world. You need as many advantages as you can get.”-Ellen Degeneres

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Create a room that inspires you

The environment in which you are affects your mood and tone. If you live in a place that inspires you, you will be inspired every day. Order it and clean it frequently, and don’t let anyone do it for you. Caring about these details helps you to be organized in other areas as well.

 Improve your skills

Earn experience to improve your skills. If you play a sport, you can strive to be stronger or faster for example. If you write, you can aim to improve your writing skills, and so on. Growing up in this aspect will make you feel better in everything you set out to do, motivate you and make you more tolerant of frustration.

 Wake up early

It is known that early awakening improves our productivity and quality of life. When you wake up early, your mind is more proactive and that moves you during the day. It is also advisable to do everything possible to sleep for 8 hours a day. 

Have a weekly exercise routine

A better “you”, starts with a better physical state. Sport helps you to discipline yourself. Also, improve your character and your self-esteem. In addition, it collaborates in the prevention of diseases, reduces the levels of stress and anxiety, and improves the quality of the dream.

Get out of your comfort zone

Real growth comes with hard work and effort. Being very comfortable doesn’t help us grow, it makes us stanch. Recognize your comfort zone and evaluate if you stay there most of the time. Shuffle your routine a bit and do something different. Exposing yourself to a new environment or context makes you grow. Because you have to learn to act in new circumstances.

 Challenge someone

Competition is one of the best ways to grow up personally. Working together always makes tasks easier. Set a goal, such as losing weight, exercising, collecting money, etc., and challenge a friend to see who does it first. Throughout the process, the two will earn more than they would have earned if they had competed with themselves. 

Identify your blind spots

In terms of personal development, blind spots are things that we are not aware of. Discovering our blind spots helps us to discover areas in which we can improve and continue to develop. Identify all things, people, events, that make you feel annoyed, weird, angry or affected. These things represent your blind spots. It is always fun to do the exercise because you will discover new things about yourself.

 Ask for feedback

Even if we do our best, we will always have blind spots. If we ask for feedback, we will look at the situation from another perspective. You can ask friends, family, colleagues, your boss, or even anyone you know, who will have a more objective view.

 Make lists

Start your day with a to-do list, which will keep you organized, focused and with things to do. You will see that the days when you don’t make lists, will be much less productive compared to those when you do them.

Set very large goals

The larger the goal, the greater is your ability. The “impossible goals” make you go beyond your normal ability because they are very ambitious. If you meet one of these goals, which you never believed you would achieve, you will feel fulfilled and capable of anything.

Leave a bad habit

Are you not doing the exercises? Are you always late? Do you spend a lot of time in your armchair?  Eat your nails? Do you smoke? To leave a bad habit, the first thing to do is to recognize that we have it. Then identify how it affects you, look for a substitute and mostly avoid situations that motivate you to do those bad things. It is also important that you reward yourself as you progress.

 Write

Write about your personal growth and comment on what you have been learning to help others. Helping others to improve themselves will motivate you to keep improving yourself. You can also write a journal, as it is a great way to learn from yourself. As you write, you are clarifying your thinking. Then read what you wrote from the perspective of a third person, so you will learn more about yourself.

Find a mentor

There is no faster way to improve yourself than with someone working with you on your goals.

 Reduce the time you spend chatting

I realized that having an open chat program always entails a lot of time lost. This time you could spend better on other activities. When you really need to chat and have time for it, do it.

 Learn to play chess (or any strategy game)

Chess is an incredible game to learn from strategies and to improve the power of your brain. Playing chess, besides entertainment, you are exercising your analytical skills. You can also learn about strategies in other table or computer games.

Stop watching TV

Very few television programs are conscious and empowering. For this reason, you can use the time you spend watching television constructively for other purposes. Such as connecting with friends, doing the work you enjoy, exercising, and so on.

At J.W Business we strive on personal growth, and would love to contribute to your professional growth as well, we are hiring! Click here!

Start your growth by choosing one of the steps and work on them. The results will not be immediate, but as you work on them, you will begin to see positive changes in yourself and in your life.

What is Trust?

Trust is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as “assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something.”

Think about that for a second… let it sink in. Take driving for example. You’re on the highway with a thousand other cars. They’re racing past you, you’re racing past them. You’re trusting them and they’re trusting you to make good decisions – to not slam on the brakes and force you to crash into them or to not rapidly change lanes and cut you off so you swerve into the car next to you. That is utter and complete reliance on the ability of the OTHER person to do what they’re supposed to do. You rely on people to do the right thing. You believe in their strength to the extent that you’re able to put yourself out there on the line, with the potential of risk to yourself.

Why is Trust Important?

Trust is essential to building an effective and strong team because it provides a safety net.

Click to tweet!

Trust is essential to building an effective and strong team because it provides a safety net. When you feel safe and valued you feel comfortable enough to share your opinions and express your ideas. You’re able to take more risks and express new ideas or thoughts you’re unsure about than you would if you DIDN’T feel safe. Without that trust there is no innovation or team collaboration. People will spend their time worrying about what others think or whether or not what they’re saying is right or wrong. When, in a trusting environment, that time could be used to create, build, and grow.

How do we Build Trust?

• Lead by Example

Don’t expect people to do things you wouldn’t do. Set the Standard and Perform. Keep in mind that your team members are always watching and taking notes from you. Take that opportunity to show them how it’s done Every. Single. Day. Show them what real trust looks like.

• Get to Know Your Team Members Personally

Connect with your coworkers, share personal stories, get to know their hobbies and what they enjoy. Start by sharing something of your own and then let the conversation flow. Be careful not to pry. People trust people that they know so get to know your team and let them get to know you.

• Don’t Look Down on People

We’ve all been in that situation with a friend or a coworker who acts like a completely different person based on the social groups setting… plain and simple: don’t be that person.

Make sure your behavior matches who you are and what you believe in.

Click to tweet!

Looking down on others will get you nowhere and has the ability to crumble trust in an instant.

• Don’t Play the Blame Game

Naturally in all environments, personal and professional, mistakes are going to be made. Don’t play the blame game. It’s easy to point fingers to get the pressure off your back, but what that does is create an unpleasant environment where people feel judged. Encourage people to be solution oriented. Where did we go wrong? What could we have done better? How can we be proactive in making sure this mistake doesn’t happen again?

• Make Your Team Members Look Good

Typically, in order to obtain a position of leadership, you’ve shown in some way that you’re able to perform at a high level. While it’s great to share personal wins with your team, it’s important to showcase their wins and their achievements MORE than you do your own. You want people to feel proud of themselves and valued. You don’t want your people to feel like they’re always just trying to measure up to you. The more you can do that for your team the more they’ll trust you and in turn will achieve higher levels of performance.

Meet the J.W.B.A. team by clicking here!

Trust is essential to building strong productive teams. Without it, you’re unlikely to get very far, but with it you can accomplish anything. So set the example, create great relationships, build your team up, and show them what real trust looks like.

Name: Amani Béliveau

School/Major: Palm Beach Atlantic University, Corporate Finance

Hometown: Quebec City, Canada

Why did you start with J.W. Business Acquisitions? 

I wanted an opportunity for rapid growth and advancement that wasn’t based on seniority. 

What is your favorite part about working with J.W. Business Acquisitions? 

I love the energy that comes from working with young professionals that have an entrepreneurial mindset.

If you can travel anywhere in the world where would you go?

Ibiza, Spain!

What are some of your favorite hobbies? 

Watching Soccer, attending sporting and musical events. 

Do you play any sports? 

Soccer and Baseball

How do you relax after a stressful work week? 

A nice glass of bourbon and my piano!

What is your advice for new leaders on the team?

Be resilient, not everything will be easy. In fact, tougher situations form stronger individuals. 

What is your favorite book and why? 

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. It is the first book of its kind that really breaks down business/life tools for success.

Who is your favorite sports team and why? 

FC Barcelona because they have produced some of my favorite players from youth teams and have the most beautiful style of the game. 

Do you have a secret talent? 

I’m a snake charmer!

Do you have a favorite color and why? 

Purple, it reminds me of royalty

If you could be any animal in the world what would you be and why?

I would be an eagle, you can go anywhere you want and see anything and everything.

Thank you Amani for sharing more about yourself and your experience working at J.W. Business Acquisitions! We look forward to watching you grow even more within our company! We appreciate your values and the energy you bring to the team.

Check back next month for another J.W. Business Acquisitions’ Rising Star. Are you following us on Twitter yet? Go tweet us today!