Consistency & Commitment: The Keys to Success

It’s an amazing gift to see yourself through someone else’s eyes.

Recently, my mother visited, and we reminisced about the beginning of my career as a marketing professional.  I was a new mother with my oldest son, Leo. I worked out of the house, creating marketing campaigns, pitching clients, and hustling business for my new company, JJR Marketing.  I woke every day and dressed professionally, regardless of whether I was leaving the house. I reveled in my role as an entrepreneur and devoured resources that helped me in my quest to grow my business. My mom would watch Leo while I worked and was a witness to my work ethic.

“You were so very disciplined back then,” she told me. And I realized that I absolutely was.

Now, JJR Marketing is in its seventeenth year. Fig Factor Media, my publishing company, is nearing its tenth anniversary, as is the Fig Factor Foundation, my nonprofit whose mission is to unleash the amazing in young Latinas. Fig Factor Media has published 33 of my books. Sometimes, people who rarely see me will frame my success as sudden and out of the blue. The truth is my success was born over time, with two key ingredients that all successful people know well: commitment and consistency.

Success starts with commitment.

The great leadership expert Steven Covey identifies four “quadrants” that categorize the tasks we do every day:

• Quadrant 1: Urgent and important
• Quadrant 2: Not urgent but important
• Quadrant 3: Urgent but not important
• Quadrant 4: Not urgent and not important

For many people, starting a company falls within Quadrant One or Two. Tasks that fall into Quadrant Two take great commitment to bring to fruition because they are not urgent. Writing a book typically falls into Quadrant Two. Would-be authors think writing their book is important, but the task may drag on and on because it is not urgent. I must often motivate authors I work with to get started or complete their manuscripts.

Any large project takes commitment. You must persevere in a project over time, even when you don’t feel like it or don’t feel the urgency.  Personally, one of my big goals in that second quadrant was earning my private pilot’s license. I couldn’t do it all at once, but I moved myself from daydreaming to action by doing something small every day to get closer to my goal.

Commitment is also evident through your values, who you support, and how you do it. I continue to be honored with invitations to speak to audiences who value my work. They see my commitment to their causes in my work and that of my marketing company, publishing arm, and nonprofit organization.  Commitment creates the incredible times ten, or as I like to call it, MAGIX!

Success is reached through consistency.

My mother also reminded me that because I was committed to growing my business, I was consistent with my daily efforts.  She remembered how I would keep regular office hours and only emerge for lunch during the day. My consistency fortified my commitment to grow.

Consistency has always come naturally to me because my “why” for what I am doing is very clear. I have a mission to elevate others, and by living that commitment I find my way to different opportunities. Through the years, I have learned that consistency leads to deeper relationships and connections with my clients, which feeds my commitment to my mission.

I dwell in the world of public relations and communication, which is founded on consistency. We must communicate regularly with our clients to help them communicate consistently with their audiences to reach their marketing goals. For example, within JJR Marketing, we practice what we preach. We tell our customers to communicate regularly with a newsletter, and I remember launching Fig Factor Media’s first monthly newsletter. We are now working on our 177^th issue. We’ve never missed a month since the publication’s inception no matter what has been happening around us. I call that commitment!

Commitment + Consistency = Success

To some people, it looks like it has been easy for me to get where I am. The truth is few people have seen my struggles or know the amount of commitment and consistency that has gone into building my businesses. We always show our most positive face to the outside world. Yet, I have experienced all the ups and downs that naturally come with leading a budding business. The important thing is my secret weapon to getting back up when the world knocks me down– my consistency in my commitment to my team, my company, and myself. The dynamic duo of commitment and consistency will always propel us forward to our goals, regardless of our circumstances.

In my experience, consistency always brings rewards, if not immediately, then further down the road.  Consistency is the cornerstone of commitment.

We regularly tell people that if you do something consistently, it will pay off. The formula has worked for us at JJR Marketing, and my husband, my children, and my closest friends and colleagues have seen it manifest in countless blessings.

My mother now lives in Puerto Vallarta, where I own some properties. It has been so beautiful for her to see how her daughter’s simple commitment to grow a business so many years ago has blossomed so well, thanks to consistent efforts. Through her eyes, I realize how vital commitment and consistency are to reaching goals. And I also believe that if you are committed and consistent with your mission, anything is possible.