One Small Yes: Small Decisions that Lead to Big Results
By Misty Lown
()
About this ebook
It’s the small decisions that lead to big results. People were born to live a life of significance. But busyness and fear of failure can overwhelm and get in the way.
Now Misty Lown—founder of More Than Just Great Dancing® and MoreThanDancers.com—shares her secrets for following your passion toward success.
One Small Yes was written for people who want to make an impact, but are not sure where to start. One Small Yes is for you if you have ever wondered:
*What am I here for?
*What is my calling?
*Can I follow my calling without losing my family or my sanity?
*If what I see in my mind is possible, how on earth can I get it all done?
Forget about complicated calendars or excessive goal setting exercises. Following your calling is about moving forward, one small yes decision at a time. No matter the size of your dream or the difference you feel called to make, your journey starts with One Small Yes.
“If you want to build a life and a business that makes a difference, Misty Lown will show you the way. What she has accomplished one ‘yes’ at time is an inspiration to entrepreneurs everywhere.” —Darren Hardy, New York Times–bestselling author of The Compound Effect
“Misty Lown is a leader of consequence. She knows how to build a winning business through authenticity, grit and determination. Is her book a must-read? YES!” —Bill McDermott, bestselling author of Winners Dream
Related to One Small Yes
Related ebooks
The Passion Belief Method: Own Your Value & Earn Your Worth in Business Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBrand With Purpose: Find Your Passion, Stay True to Your Story, and Accelerate Your Career Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Integrated Entrepreneur: Achieving Happiness in Relationships, Business & Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBeyond Resilient: The Coach's Guide to Ecstatic Growth Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFinding Your Passion: The Easy Guide to Your Dream Career Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Path To Profits: An Entrepreneur's Guide To Having It All... And Still Having A Life! Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCareer Clarity: Finally Find the Work That Fits Your Values and Your Lifestyle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Selling with Presence: Use Your Personal Power to Close More Deals Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrom Purpose to Prosperity: Creating a Profitable Soul-Based Business Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDream Big Step Small Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWIN ALL DAY: WIN ALL DAY PERSONAL BRANDING - HOW TO CREATE YOUR PURPOSE DRIVEN, HIGHLY PROFITABLE PERSONAL BRAND Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTriple Your Revenue as a Coach in 18 Months or Less: My Coaching "System" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMoneyfulness: Learning to Live with Money Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFast Track Networking: Turning Conversations into Contacts Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Open Table Participant's Guide, Vol. 1: An Invitation to Know God Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Self-Reliant Entrepreneur: 366 Daily Meditations to Feed Your Soul and Grow Your Business Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThrive in Your Healing Business: Do the Work You Love Without Sacrificing Yourself Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLove More: Lessons on the Art of Self-Love and Love for Others Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5From Essence to Expression: How to Create a Brand from Nothing Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDo It! Speaking: 77 Instant-Action Ideas to Market, Monetize, and Maximize Your Expertise Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBuild From Now: How to Know Your Power, See Your Abundance & Nourish the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pricing with Confidence: Ten Rules for Increasing Profits and Staying Ahead of Inflation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Ki to Success: A Woman's Inspiring Guide to Having It All: A Woman's Inspiring Guide to Having It All Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsClarity Quest: How to Take a Sabbatical Without Taking More Than a Week Off Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Power To Thrive: When Surviving Is No Longer Enough Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNail Your Niche Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLittle Failures: Learning to Build Resilience Through Everyday Setbacks, Challenges, and Obstacles Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Art of Risk: The New Science of Courage, Caution, and Chance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Small Business & Entrepreneurs For You
The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Your Next Five Moves: Master the Art of Business Strategy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Company Rules: Or Everything I Know About Business I Learned from the CIA Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Real Artists Don't Starve: Timeless Strategies for Thriving in the New Creative Age Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Millionaire Fastlane: Crack the Code to Wealth and Live Rich for a Lifetime Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Grow Your Small Business: A 6-Step Plan to Help Your Business Take Off Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Lead It Like Lasso Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Side Hustle: How to Turn Your Spare Time into $1000 a Month or More Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Capital Gaines: Smart Things I Learned Doing Stupid Stuff Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Dream Big: Know What You Want, Why You Want It, and What You’re Going to Do About It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Overcoming Impossible: Learn to Lead, Build a Team, and Catapult Your Business to Success Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Starting a Business All-In-One For Dummies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Work: A Proven Path to Discovering What You Were Meant to Do Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Never Get a "Real" Job: How to Dump Your Boss, Build a Business and Not Go Broke Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Small Business For Dummies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Robert's Rules of Order: The Original Manual for Assembly Rules, Business Etiquette, and Conduct Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What Your CPA Isn't Telling You: Life-Changing Tax Strategies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nine-Figure Mindset: How to Go from Zero to Over $100 Million in Net Worth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ultimate Side Hustle Book: 450 Moneymaking Ideas for the Gig Economy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Everything Nonprofit Toolkit: The all-in-one resource for establishing a nonprofit that will grow, thrive, and succeed Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDon't Start a Side Hustle!: Work Less, Earn More, and Live Free Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The SBA Loan Book: The Complete Guide to Getting Financial Help Through the Small Business Administration Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Without a Doubt: How to Go from Underrated to Unbeatable Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bending Reality: How to Make the Impossible Probable Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Feck Perfuction: Dangerous Ideas on the Business of Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for One Small Yes
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
One Small Yes - Misty Lown
Introduction
Every great story begins with one small yes. I love to watch documentaries and read biographies of thought leaders and entrepreneurs. The backstory of a person’s career lends insight into his or her motivations and sheds light on the challenges encountered while building brands, businesses and bold missions. Regardless of a person’s eventual claim to fame, or even starting point, one theme runs steady through my fascination with a change maker’s journey…and that is the theme of one small yes.
Every hero you’ve seen on the screen of a docudrama or have read about in the pages of a book has had to make one small yes choice of some kind–probably many. It could have been a yes to start a business despite a lack of resources or ability, a yes to keep going against incredible odds or a yes to get up after falling down. Sometimes, it was the tiniest of all yeses–simply showing up one more time–that made the difference between going the distance with an idea–or going home empty handed. My favorite yes moments of a person’s story have always been the unconventional ones–the times when people zigged when you expected them to zag and they not only landed on their feet, they landed ahead of the pack!
My fascination with one small yes stories comes naturally to me. Some of my earliest memories involved watching my parents raise their hands first to say yes to help someone in need. Someone sick? Mom’s goulash was on their doorstep. House fire? No problem, you can have some of our things. And when a family friend was seriously burned in a gas range explosion, my mom said yes to turning our living room into a recovery unit for four months to span the time between hospital care and when our friend could function on his own.
My dad was no different in his yes disposition; he just had different ways of going about it. Fixing things, lending tools and climbing ladders was my dad’s strong suit. I’ve always joked that the TV character MacGyver had nothing on my dad’s ability to figure things out. If a strong arm or a smart eye on a project was what you needed, my dad was your guy. Remember the farm crisis of the 1980s? Dad was saying yes to organize semi-loads of hay for farm aid before Willie Nelson made it a concert series. The word yes was in his blood.
My parents’ natural inclination to say yes to the good stuff was important in my development, but their willingness to keep saying yes to the game of life when things were not good was crucial. In the face of job loss, financial challenges, divorce and even personal struggles, giving up was never an option. They just kept doing what they always did: showing my sister and me how to figure out life one small yes at a time.
Looking back, one memory rises above the rest. I was a middle school student hiding in the living room in order to listen to a conversation my parents were having around the kitchen table.
My dad, age 40 at the time, had lost his job as a top driver at the trucking company where he had worked for most of my childhood. Although this was a life-altering circumstance for our family, there was no drama about the situation. My dad simply stated in a matter-of-fact voice that he would go dig ditches for the railroad to provide for the family.
And he did. After he said yes
to the ditches, he said yes to going to signal school and learning a new trade. When that wasn’t enough to keep things going, my mom said yes to a night job as a bartender to make ends meet. Then she said yes to cleaning houses. And when their divorce was final, they said yes to working together to raise my sister and me despite their differences.
My parents’ ability to say yes to the daily challenges they faced hard-wired a default to the small yes in my own DNA. And their willingness to say yes to the unconventional–like letting me take the city bus to dance class across town and a taxi home when we didn’t have a car–developed in me a perseverance in life and dance that still serves me today.
My dad’s figure-it-out attitude combined with my mom’s faith had a profound impact on my view of what is possible in life. How else could it be that a kid born with a clubfoot, who spent part of her teen years making poor choices, would end up owning a dance studio and positively influencing tens of thousands of kids, if not for the grace of God and a pile of perseverance?
The path I took to owning a business that makes a difference in the lives of many has been an unlikely and winding thread of unusual yeses to say the least:
•Saying yes to the challenge of dancing with a recovered clubfoot and markedly unequal leg lengths.
•Saying yes to teaching daily dance classes in my hometown during high school, instead of taking a traditional high school job, in order to pay for more lessons.
•Saying the tiniest yes, despite being scared out of my mind, to audition for a training program at the world famous Alvin Ailey American Dance Center in New York City.
•Saying an unconventional yes to opening a dance studio instead of taking a place in the Alvin Ailey training program after college.
As I write this book, one leg is still shorter than the other and my feet still turn out unequally. Even so, I am running a dance studio that serves more than 750 students per year and a licensed affiliation program of 164 dance studios in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Aruba and Dubai that serves more than 60,000 students each week. I’ve launched an online dance magazine that receives hundreds of thousands of visits a month from teenagers, along with a dance competition and a dancewear store. My husband and I also own self-storage units and a property development company. When you add five amazing, energetic children into the mix it’s easy to understand why the question I am asked most often as I travel the world speaking and teaching is "How do you do