GAP SWEATER | RIPPED JEANS | JIMMY CHOO HEELS | HAT | RINGS (1,2)

It’s funny when we are young we want to grow up fast, but when we get older we don’t want to look our age. One lesson that’s for sure is: don’t let people judge you on your age. And don’t ever let anyone tell you you’re too young or too old to ever achieve what you want. Age perception may give off an impression, but it should never dictate how people treat you.

I’ve been in the middle of renovations over the course of the last month. My house was a contractor’s heaven. Bathrooms were being flipped, walls were being fixed because of unexpected water leaks and dust was everywhere. It was a stressful time, but things got done. Thankfully while dealing with the contractors I never got judged by my age and was treated with respect. But this morning I was thinking so much about how time flies and how I’ve gone through situations where people have taken advantage of me because of how young I looked. Below I’m sharing some helpful tips on how to overcome this and come out swinging strong:

TAKE OWNERSHIP

Just because you look young doesn’t mean people can walk all over you. Ever. Over the last 6 months I went through many trials and errors with flipping our home. I’ve met with real estate agents who were either too surprised I owned a home because of how young I looked or the one I currently let go took advantage of that fact and felt they didn’t need to do their job properly. Paperwork wasn’t filled out correctly and had to be redone or the job was pawned off to other agents. Lessons learned. Switched real estate agents and I have one that now respects and does her the job the way it should have been. It was definitely an eye opener because when I put my foot down it came as unexpected. Oh she has an opinion, she’s not this young, naive girl selling a home? Nope. I never was. I just learned that being taken advantage of when the stakes are high with home equity is time wasted. Ain’t nobody got time for that. And I did my research. Since I was stuck in a contract with this agent for a couple of months I did the best I could to get the results I was looking for, aka. the sold sign. Which didn’t happen because she wasn’t doing her job properly.

GAIN TRUST

You shouldn’t ever have to try so hard to gain anyone’s respect especially when it comes to business relationships or closing a deal. Oh you’re so young how do you know so much? When you want something show what you can do. Own it, gain their respect and do the job. Don’t let people’s perceptions stop you. And don’t ever let anyone put you on the back burner if they’re supposed to work for you. Again this year was a year of growth for me and as I take my personal life and work life to the next level I’ve seen a couple of these happen first hand to me. It stung, but I no longer accept less than what I deserve. If you’re ever in a situation where you get a vibe that a person doesn’t want to work for you or they’re judging you based on your age impress them with what you’ve got and give 1000%. If it doesn’t work out, I like to use the one word that just makes sense: NEXT.
MOVING FORWARD
Like I said age ain’t nothing but a number. It’s about where you are in life and what you’re doing about it. What do you want? Even if you’re so called too young, too old – too whatever…. who cares what they say? What do you want to achieve? I may be a young home owner, but I hustled to save for that down payment. I spent countless of nights commuting to work hustling at a night job serving until I switched to working full-time days. Now I’m onto owning a second home, moving back to city and taking my dreams to the next level. The work never ends and I won’t let anyone tell me because of my age that I can’t achieve something. It’s their own limiting beliefs, not mine and they’re not yours either. Always remember people are either for you or not. And that’s okay if they’re not. Surround yourself with people who support you and feed your mind with strength and vision. You can achieve and do anything at any age.
Unfiltered is something new I wanted to share here on Sweet As Fiction once a month. Lessons I’ve learned to help you guys because I am sure we all know it’s hard enough to be a boss on your own, let alone take over the world. Until next time….thanks for reading. xoxo