I found myself clicking through a new member's website and discovered that their business is NGLCC Certified LGBT Business Enterprise (LGBTBE) — which is a truly remarkable milestone. I’m currently in the middle of putting in my own application for LGBTBE certification through the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC), which has been an unexpected but awesome journey so far. (nglcc.org) I also wanted to highlight this for anyone here who might be interested in becoming certified as a queer-owned business and didn’t know this pathway existed — because I definitely didn’t until recently. I’ll be honest — there was a part of me that did hesitate about being openly LGBTQ-owned in a field like healthcare, especially as a newer business. But then I was like, “If someone is turned off by that, they’re probably not someone I’d enjoy working with anyway,” and honestly, it probably filters out the exact people I’d hate collaborating with… so win-win. I'm curious what other people's experiences are with this. For folks who are certified or further along in your journey: what else am I missing? Other certifications, networks, resources, or opportunities that actually made a difference for you? I’d love to hear what’s been useful in your experience.

Here we Grow Again Syndicate Fam. Give a warm welcome to our newest 3 members: @Sheilisa Brown , @Gia Cilento , and @Dominic Southam We are so pleased to have them. And Gia joins our Premium Tier members as well. Great Community Post for today. Tomorrow will be another Visibility Wednesday, where you will have a prompt to Toot Your Own Horn Again, and Thursday is Coffee Chat at 10am US Eastern Time. BIG NEWS!! Thanks to members suggestions our last Thursday Coffee Chat of Every Month will now be a THURSDAY HAPPY HOUR instead with a later time meet of 4pm US Eastern. First one will be January 29th and we'll ask our friend @Art Smith for a tasty Bar Beverage of the Month maybe??

Hopefully last week's challenge got you thinking about how you are visible to your customers/clients. Success rarely arrives because we were “ready.” It arrives because we were visible. Opportunities come to the people who are seen, heard, and remembered. Not the most talented. Not the most perfect. The ones who show up consistently. By The Way, I added the Visibility Challenge Steps in the "Classroom" Tab if you ever want a refresher or reminder of the 7 steps to growing your visibility. This week, your advantage isn’t working harder, it's letting the right people see you working. Visibility is not vanity. Visibility is strategy. Show up once today, and you set the tone for the entire week. You Don't Have To Share This With The Group. Do This For Yourself. 15-Minute Action Sprint: “One Visible Move” Goal: Make one intentional visibility move today. Step 1 — Choose Your Platform (1 minute) Pick one: - LinkedIn - Instagram - Facebook - Email list Step 2 — Pick Your Message (3 minutes) Choose one: - A quick insight from your work - A lesson you learned - A question for your audience - A behind-the-scenes moment Step 3 — Post It (5 minutes) Write 3–5 sentences, not perfection, just clarity. Post It. Step 4 — Engage (5 minutes) - Reply to any comments - Leave 2 thoughtful comments on other people’s posts Step 5 — Declare Completion (1 minute) Drop a quick comment here: “Visibility move done.” That’s it, 1 Visible Action. 1 Signal to the World. One to start your week.

Morning Syndicate Family, Michael and me have been off line for the past few days because we both have been sidelined with a nasty strain of Asian flu. Michael is literally a tank, who sufferers from service related liver and kidney complications and that has not affected him in degree as this flu has. I'm about three days behind him in the strains lifecycle but we will be back as soon as we are on our feet. See you soon!

As I find myself at home and under the weather I am reminded that most of us entrepreneurs and creatives are highly driven with a touch of perfectionism which serves us well....until it doesn't. In a life of deadlines and events, meetings and numbers, we can sometimes forget to include time for self-care. Then one morning you wake up and your body is no longer offering an option. There are ways this can be addressed sooner, if you have a team you can leverage and trust that crew to allow you some time. You can pivot some meetings to on-line or simply move them. I am instituting a new rule in my life, one day in my week is just mine. No meetings or even a laptop, just me. In my creative world this is the concept of an "Artist's Day." If we run ourselves into the ground we will lose the joy that our work gives us. Just my thoughts.