How Might We Identify and Focus on Our Natural Talents? (Ep. 142; 5/24/19)

After coming back from a short trip to Buffalo, NY on May 24, 2019, I thought about a chapter I read in a book entitled, “The Power of Focus.” In this chapter, “It’s Not Hocus-Pocus, It’s All About Focus”, legendary entrepreneur, author, and motivational speaker, Jim Rohn states, “Learn how to separate the majors and the minors. A lot of people don’t do well simply because they major in minor things.”

When we major in minor things, we often tend to lose focus when it comes to cultivating and developing our own natural talents. On the contrary, when we are able to eliminate distractions and hone in on what makes us tick, we are then able to identify and focus on our natural talents. For example, after a call I had with Tracy Francis and Kaustubh Ghadge of Indica Digital, I realized that one of my natural talents is helping people to identify and articulate their mission and vision with the world around them. Due to my desire to help further the work of Tracy and Kaustubh, I was able to gain insight about my natural talents and strengths. In essence, it’s important to keep in mind that helping others also enables us to help ourselves along our journey of finding what it is we do best!

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(Uh • Kway • Us) Aquaus Kelley is a forward-thinking brand strategist, curator, and educator. As the Founder of A Lovers Ambition Lifestyle Group, he specializes in identifying talent and creating opportunities for brand development and social impact. Aquaus has worked with companies and organizations such as Behind The Hustle, Cornerstone Agency, City Year Miami, and W Hotels. He is extremely passionate about bridging the gap and building value between brands, communities, and culture. His ultimate mission is to use his influence to project positivity across the globe and invest in the collective future of society through the arts, education, entertainment, and leadership.

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How Might Nostalgic Brands Thrive…Again?

Fila

Photo via We Are Basket.

…If you’re a nostalgic brand, now is your time to thrive! Two days ago, I came across my homegirl Wa‘s post on Twitter about Fila making a comeback. Earlier today, while I was on IG, I came across Kayci‘s post where she was fashionably sporting a pair of Jelly sandals. As I was looking at the photo, I was instantly reminded of what all of the girls use to wear in the summer when I was growing up as a child on Staten Island, NY.

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Screenshot via @Wa_Boogie

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Photo via @kebolade

A few years ago, I remember Gary Vaynerchuk talking about the rise of nostalgic brands. Hence, look at what he’s doing with Barney Waters and K-Swiss Global Brands. In addition, look at the rise of brands such as Champion, Calvin Klein, GUESS, and Tommy Hilfiger. Lastly, look at what Kanye and Pharrell did with Adidas.

If you’re a heritage or legacy brand, you may want to consider bringing in a dope team of creatives to reinvigorate your brand identity and story. Who knows, you may be the next big thing…AGAIN!!!

P.S. – Here’s the original post via LinkedIn.

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(Uh • Kway • Us) Aquaus Kelley is a forward-thinking brand strategist, curator, and educator. As the Founder of A Lovers Ambition Lifestyle Group, he specializes in identifying talent and creating opportunities for brand development and social impact. Aquaus has worked with companies and organizations such as Behind The Hustle, Cornerstone Agency, City Year Miami, and W Hotels. He is extremely passionate about bridging the gap and building value between brands, communities, and culture. His ultimate mission is to use his influence to project positivity across the globe and invest in the collective future of society through the arts, education, entertainment, and leadership.

Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Twitter | SoundCloud | YouTube

VEVO DSCVR Live: Kiah Victoria

Photo via Kiah Victoria. Styled by Mona B.

We are happy to have been following the career of Kiah Victoria for over 3 years now. Since we initially discovered her music courtesy of her “Look Up EP”, Kiah has gone on to make incremental leaps year after year. At the same time, Kiah continues to remain patient, poised, and determined to never compromise her artistry and authenticity in exchange for a quicker path to “Stardom.”

Photo via Kiah Victoria. Styled by Mona B.

On Thursday, January 19, 2017, Kiah was honored to perform as one of the headlining 2017 “Ones To Watch” artists for Vevo dscvr live at Greenpoint Terminal in Brooklyn, New York. Thanks to Vevo for capturing all of the live performances, we now have a solid piece of video content to both live with and share with everyone else. As a result, we highly encourage you to take some time out of your schedule, watch Kiah’s amazing performance, and enjoy the experience!

This video was directed by Matt Boyd and produced by Micah Bickham.

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A Lovers Ambition Lifestyle Group is a brand development agency that specializes in creating opportunities for brand development, exposure, and growth. With an emphasis on culture and lifestyle, the primary focus of A Lovers Ambition Lifestyle Group is to help companies adapt to culture and build value between brands and their consumers centered around love. Our social mission is to leverage the influence of popular culture to create social change and invest in the collective future of society through the arts, education, entertainment, and leadership. We are driven by AMBITION, fueled by PASSION, inspired by INNOVATION, and suckers for STRATEGY!

What Is Our Competitive Advantage?

“The sooner we figure out what our competitive advantage is, the more likely we are to be able to compete” says Tai Lopez. It seems quite simple, doesn’t it? Well…lets get started!

The first question that we may want to begin asking ourselves is, “What is our career destiny?” It’s important that we know ourselves and know where we need to go in an effort to showcase our competencies, skills, and talents. However, before we do this, we must conduct a pretty intense evaluation when it comes to running our own self-assessment. In reference to Friedrich Nietzsche, “As extraordinary individuals, we should all seek to rise above the crowd.”

Eulerian Destiny

Tai talks a lot about identifying what he calls our “Eulerian Destiny.” Our Eulerian Destiny gives us hints as to what our competitive advantages are as well as our potential career destiny. The Eulerian Destiny chart consists of 5 circles, each of which asks one of the following questions:

1. Who and what did we grow up around?

2. What did we want to be when we were 14 years old?

3. What have we been doing for the past 10 years?

4. What do strangers, or even people who don’t like us compliment us on?

5. What can we talk at length about with our friends?

As I mentioned in a previous post of mine, When I was a child, I was infatuated with architecture and construction. My siblings and I grew up in a working class family in the New Brighton section of Staten Island, NY. I was always amazed at how structures were built and developed. More than anything else, I loved playing with legos. The idea of connecting tiny little pieces of plastic together in an effort to form a finished product is what enamored me the most. As I had grown older, I eventually gravitated over to drawing, playing sports, and creating music.

When I was 16 years old, I made the decision to quit playing football. Deep down inside, I knew that continuing to play football was not going to be a suitable career path for me to follow. One thing that I have always possessed was a strong sense of following my intuition. I would find myself repeating this same scenario again when I attended Middlesex County College as a Freshman in 2005. This time, I decided that it was not in my best interest to continue pursuing a degree in Construction Engineering. Although it was something that as I child I believed I wanted to do when I got older, my interests at the time gravitated elsewhere. From here, I would continue on a path that would lead me to obtaining my Associate in Fine Arts Music degree from Middlesex County College. A few years later, I obtained my Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication from Rutgers University.

Today, my creative outlet is essentially a combination of all of my childhood endeavors. I may no longer build blocks, connect legos, create music, and play sports. However, I do build brands, connect people, identify talent, and create opportunities. Ultimately, I’m in the business of helping others to identify with the sense of their own “Lovers Ambition” in regards to achieving something of significance and value in their lives.

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(Uh • Kway • Us) Aquaus Kelley is a forward-thinking Brand Strategist, Educator, and Music Publisher. As the Founder of A Lovers Ambition Lifestyle Group, he specializes in identifying talent and creating opportunities for brand development, exposure, and growth. Aquaus has worked with companies and organizations such as Cornerstone Agency, City Year Miami, Universal Music Group, and W Hotels. He is extremely passionate about helping companies adapt to culture and building value between brands and their consumers centered around love. His ultimate mission is to use his influence to project positivity across the globe and invest in the collective future of society through the arts, education, entertainment, and leadership.

How Might We Discover Our Purpose?

Back in December of 2015, I listened to episode 263 of Lewis Howes’, “School of Greatness” podcast. In this particular episode, Lewis sits down with Brad Lomenick, author of “The Catalyst Leader” to discuss how to go about mastering confidence, humility, and leadership. A little less than halfway through the podcast (14:42), Lewis poses the following question to Brad, “How might we go about discovering our own unique purpose?”

Here is some very helpful insight in regards to helping us discover, identify, and pursue our own unique purpose in life:

1. Identity:

Our identity is who we are. It consists of all of the things which we cannot change. For example, we cannot change our ethnic background, our family structure, or when and where we were born.

(Ex: Hello, my name is Aquaus Kelley and I am of African-American descent. I am from Staten Island, NY and I graduated from Rutgers University with a degree in Communication).

2. Calling: 

Our calling is what we are meant to do. It is why we are here on this planet. It is our purpose or social mission. In Victor E. Frankl’s book, “A Man’s Search For Meaning” he calls this our “Will to Meaning” (Pg. 99). If we are unaware as to what our purpose may be, we may want to start with discovering our own interests and passions.

(Ex: My calling is to lead people towards becoming the best versions of themselves in an effort to set them up for personal success. Overall, my social mission is to use my influence to project positivity across the globe and invest in the collective future of society through the arts, education, entertainment, and leadership).

3. Assignment:

Our assignment is our current day to day role or vocation. Ideally, this should align with our calling. When our assignment does not align with our calling, it may cause Noögenic neuroses. According to Dr. Frankl, noögenic neuroses is the cause of frustration due to the misalignment of our calling (purpose) and our assignment (vocation). 

(Ex: My current assignment is that of a brand strategist, educator, and music publisher. I curate content and develop brand strategy through A Lovers Ambition Lifestyle Group, I work with middle school students in the field of education, and I specialize in identifying talent and creating opportunities for emerging artists as a music publisher).

Think about it. How do we feel when we are in a profession that does not allow our own purpose to flourish? Once we are able to discover, identify, and pursue our calling, we are then better equipped to select and manage which assignments are best for our own ultimate success!

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(Uh • Kway • Us) Aquaus Kelley is a forward-thinking Brand Strategist, Educator, and Music Publisher. As the Founder of A Lovers Ambition Lifestyle Group, he specializes in identifying talent and creating opportunities for brand development, exposure, and growth. Aquaus has worked with companies and organizations such as Cornerstone Agency, City Year Miami, Universal Music Group, and W Hotels. He is extremely passionate about helping companies adapt to culture and building value between brands and their consumers centered around love. His ultimate mission is to use his influence to project positivity across the globe and invest in the collective future of society through the arts, education, entertainment, and leadership.

7 Days of Wisdom (Episode 6)

7 Days of Wisdom is an original weekly video series presented by A Lovers Ambition Lifestyle Group and hosted by Aquaus Kelley. Our mission is to foster growth and create a community of success and significance. Through sharing meaningful advice, knowledge, and insight gathered throughout our daily experiences, we aim to empower, encourage, and inspire our community to achieve their most passionate aspirations.

In This Weeks Episode We Discuss:

  1. Synchronicity (1:13)
  2. Identity, Calling, and Assignment (8:00)
  3. Faith, Family, Friends (14:30)
  4. Quotes of The Week (17:09)

This Weeks Resources Include:

  1. Experiences We Love: Synchronicity
  2. Instant Wealth Wake Up Rich
  3. How Might We Discover Our Purpose

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(Uh • Kway • Us) Aquaus Kelley is a forward-thinking Brand Strategist, Educator, and Music Publisher. As the Founder of A Lovers Ambition Lifestyle Group, he specializes in identifying talent and creating opportunities for brand development, exposure, and growth. Aquaus has worked with companies such as Cornerstone Agency, Universal Music Group, and W Hotels. He is extremely passionate about helping companies adapt to culture and building value between brands and their consumers. His ultimate mission is to use his influence to project positivity across the globe and invest in the collective future of society through the arts, education, entertainment, and leadership.

Bob Safian – Catching Up With Fast Company

In 2008, I attended CUNY City College in New York, NY. At the time, one of my older sisters lived in Harlem. Her house was just a few blocks away from where I attended school. One afternoon, I was spending some time at her house in between a few classes of mine. As I was browsing through her magazine collection, I came across a title by the name of Fast Company. 7 years later, I’m still a fan of FastCo and all of the content that they offer on a daily basis. In fact, I just received the newest print issue yesterday in the mail.

In the latest installment of ‘Innovation Crush‘, Chris Denson interviews Fast Company’s Editor-In-Chief, Bob Safian. In the course of 50 minutes, they make time to discuss a plethora of topics pertaining to business, creativity, marketing, and innovation. If you’re a fan of what’s next to come in business, this one’s for you.

Enjoy!

Ian Grey // 5.21.13 // Lit Lounge // NYC

Soundz of The City Pt. 2

The Re-evolution of Ian Grey

Ian Grey makes his live performance debut in NYC

Witness the Re-evolution of the burgeoning Singer/Songwriter as he sets his eyes on taking his career to new heights

#SoundzOfTheCity Showcase // 5.21.13 // Lit Lounge // NYC

$10 w/RSVP (RichezzTOUCHRSVP@gmail.com)

Doors Open @8p

Open Bar @9p

Hosted by:

@HerNameisVanity + @NateRichezzVIII

Music by:

DJ E-Stylez (@djestyleznyc)

Performances by:

Elliott Monroe (@ElliottMonroe)

DotTheOne (@dottheone)

Ian Grey (@Iangreyone)

Dante (@CrownDante)

Mike Check (@check1212)

Zoo Beeze (@ZooBeezeNews)

Domo Briggs (@Dom_O_Briggs)

Paul Rivers Bailey (@riversbailey)

The Kick Back Feat. Bridget Kelly (5/18/13)

Ron Faison + Rodney Rikai present “The Kick Back” Feat. Bridget Kelly w/Music by Chuck Barrett

Saturday | 5.18.13 | 9p | Sterling Sound Studios | NYC

Show face + Shake hands + Have Fun!!!

Tori Kelly – Fill A Heart Tour (PART 1)

I love behind the scenes footage. Going from city to city…the grind, the hustle, airplanes, hotels, studios, stages. It’s such an adrenaline rush!!!