The Black Enterprise Women of Power Summit is the ultimate business and empowerment getaway for professional women of color. Vernice “Fly Girl” Armour, a woman who has served in the Marines and become a successful entrepreneur, was one of the speakers who shared her journey and concept behind going from “Zero to Breakthrough.”
Black Enterprise caught up with Armour to talk life since the March event and the life-changing, gutsy move that has dramatically impacted her future.
What was the concept behind “Zero to Breakthrough” during Women of Power?
The concept for ‘Zero to Breakthrough’ is that you can go from exactly where you are to creating a breakthrough and it doesn’t take forever. In order to move fast you need to be clear on what you want—not how to get there, but what exactly do you want? Then, we’ll create the plan to accomplish the dream.
What are the three major steps towards a breakthrough mindset?
First step is understanding the breakthrough mentality. The definition of breakthrough mentality is refusing to settle—even in the smallest of moments—and demanding a breakthrough career, life or organization. Whatever the goal is, the key, is refusing to settle.
I also emphasized it’s not about the big breakthroughs, but about the small breakthroughs we make every day utilizing a Breakthrough Mentality.
Finally, last link is making your Gutsy Move. In your gut you know it’s right and it takes guts to do it. Everyone’s gutsy move is different depending on where you are in life. Ask yourself the question, “What do you really want?†The hard part is actually taking inventory, answering the question and being willing to execute.
Has anything changed since giving this talk at the Woman of Power Summit? What’s been your latest gutsy move?
My latest gutsy move? Going through in vitro. I’m single, I’m black, I’m gay, I’m feisty, I’m an entrepreneur, I’m a mom-to-be, and I’m excited.
In January, I made a huge decision to go through the in vitro process and have a child. It was a success the first time and the due date for FlyBaby is Oct 9. Obviously, this is going to dramatically impact my business and a lot of thought went into how I was going to restructure my business model. Initially, I’ll be taking off the last four months of 2015 to have my little one. I have already started booking  more elite senior executive women as coaching clients, helping them get promoted inside their organization or finally making their gutsy move into something more meaningful and fulfilling. I’ll also be doing much more in the way of corporate seminars and online corporate training.