Author: Henry Murphy

It was this guy who was a street performer. He had dreams to do big things in life. He submitted his artistry to God and trusted him to provide. The more he showed up the more people came out to see him. His talent was something to be admired.

As his popularity grew, his influence grew and so did his team. Promoters started booking him across the country, and he was selling out shows. He use to seek God about every decision, but that behavior started to fade. He started taking opinions from the experts in the industry.

He started to talk about his big plans. He would say” I’m going to do this and do that and we will run the numbers up””! He was immediately convicted and remembered this scripture. If God’s will, we would do this or do that. He remembered
his life was a vapor and every breath is the grace of God.

He repented! Humility is not natural for us and we have to be intentional about being humble.

No one owes you anything. The mindset that someone owes you something stops you from executing at a level in which you are capable of. Our mindset should be that we have 24 hours in a day just like everyone else. 

I believe it all starts with goalsetting. We also must ask ourselves, why? Why are we doing what we are doing? The reason the “why” is so important is because you have to believe it before you even get started. You have to see the end before you begin. People around you will think that you are out of your mind but that’s okay. Everyone will not see your vision at first. 

Now that you have the vision, and you recognize the “why,” now it’s time to go in. There will be days that you miss your goals, but the point is to be relentless in your pursuit. Once you begin to hit your goals, you’ll set your next set of goals a little higher. 

Kanye West said a line that I love to this day, “I was doing five beats every day for three summers; I deserve to do these numbers.” 

He was saying that he put the work in, and it must produce results. The reason he could say that is because he knew he was respecting every day that came along. He knew, in order to get to his goals, it would take constant dedication. 

This is what is called The Compound Effect or The Slight Edge. I don’t care who the competition is, if you are relentless, then you are a force to be reckoned with.

There is a lot more that I can write on this subject and honestly, it deserves to be put in a book as a chapter. The last thing I will say is this: get people around you who are like-minded.

It’s been over 10 years as an entrepreneur, and I hesitated to write this blog. The reason being is because I have so many goals that I have yet to accomplish. God has put so much in me that it gets overwhelming at times, and I am learning how to move with God and distinguish the seasons as I abide in Him more.

I am the happiest when I am creating. When I see an idea come to life from my head to graphics, and then on a T-shirt, then on to a model and then seeing it shipped out to a customer, it’s an amazing feeling. I honestly can get lost in that world and I think I did for quite a while. I could truly say that I was fulfilled with the things that I was doing. I ultimately knew the key to the fulfillment was that I was doing things that God wanted me to do with my life. 

I project things with my mind often. Let me explain; I can see us grow and move from building to building with more sales than ever before. I will say to myself, “If I was in a place 10 times bigger than this, would it fulfill me?” The answer is no. That, alone, could not fulfill me. It made me realize more and more that we need a why. 

Why am I doing this? The “why” is the answer to our fulfillment because achievement alone can never satisfy. Purpose must be at the forefront.

thought about titling this “something borrowed.” God gives us gifts to steward, and our job is to multiply those gifts. 

The danger of talents is that they tend to lift us up. Let’s face it; we love people’s gifts. Most of us have a favorite something, whether it be an author, actor, actress, sports figure, speaker, or entrepreneur–you name it. 

Now, we can’t help who lifts us up and exalts us, but we can submit the gift to the Gift Giver. This is hard to do and it’s continual. 

I thought about titling this “something borrowed.” God gives us gifts to steward, and our job is to multiply those gifts. 

The danger of talents is that they tend to lift us up. Let’s face it; we love people’s gifts. Most of us have a favorite something, whether it be an author, actor, actress, sports figure, speaker, or entrepreneur–you name it. 

Now, we can’t help who lifts us up and exalts us, but we can submit the gift to the Gift Giver. This is hard to do and it’s continual. 

I remember when God gave me the idea for Unapologetic Urban Gear; I was so excited. Soon after, I had this unction to kill it. I said to myself, “This makes no sense.”

I began to learn that the seed has to die first and then it produces. This was weird to hear for me, but I got it and did it. A year later, God did some amazing things for years to come. I feel that I am personally here again with the brand. It’s not mine; it’s His, and I have to surrender the gift to the Gift Giver. 

Olson helped revolutionized my thinking. My dad was always challenging me to think. He introduced me to this book many years ago in hopes that I would apply the principles. 

Let’s talk about the heart of the slight edge through my eyes. I love creating content and I know the more content you have, the better chance there is for someone to see what you do. That’s just the world we live in, and I was ready to adapt, create, and excel. 

I knew that I couldn’t afford a budget like the big boys but I COULD outwork them. I knew that I could produce more content with the right systems. So, I started recruiting models, photographers, and videographers. I knew if I could do content week in and week out that it would give me the slight edge 

We did photoshoot after photoshoot until we had enough content to post a different video everyday for six months and enough pictures to show for years. 

The compound effect of this principle is life changing. I am working on adding this amazing principle to more areas of my life. I recently started writing more blogs and recording more organic content for social media. My hope is that you would do the same.  

For quite sometime, doing things incrementally eluded me. Now, I have grown and embodied this concept in my life.

For instance, I have used this concept for writing a book and losing weight. They both were huge tasks, so I broke them down to make them manageable.

The incremental concepts I applied to writing my book was formatting it. First, I layered out the concept of the book. Secondly, I outlined the chapters. Next, I filled that up with content to each chapter until I finished the book. Lastly, I proceeded the cover layout, foreword and acknowledgments. Once the project was completed, it felt good to look at the finish work.

I did a similar incremental concept with losing weight. I started walking 10 minutes a day, then 20 minutes, and then 30 minutes. I replace fried chicken with baked chicken. I replace a bag of Doritos with almonds. I replace more veggies than carbs. I incrementally changed my eating habits to become the person that I wanted to be. I am healthier, and I am still working on small incremental things to become better.

My hope is to take the same concept to the financial world. I will use this to put $100 in the stock market until it is $100,000. This concept can be used in all areas of life. My hope is that someone can take this incremental concept, and put it to work in your life.

#godblesstheentrepreneur

I am not educated in the school system of America but I always acquired the necessary specialized knowledge in my businesses.

I have come to understand that I don’t have to know everything, you hire people for what you don’t know or not that good at. Why should you clutter your mind with everything.

Most people miss this, I too missed it on my journey. I’m not a cpa, I have Dan for that. I’m not a copy writer, I have John’s for that. I’m not a trademark lawyer, I have Jalissa for that. I’m not a videographer, I have Avery for that. . I think you get the picture.

PLEASE know and understand your business and bring in the necessary people to make it run like an oiled machine. #godblesstheentrepreneur