Meet Samanda Marshall-Sawyer | The EntrePRAYneur®-Business Strategist & Speaker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Samanda Marshall-Sawyer and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Samanda, we’d love to start by asking you about lessons learned. Is there a lesson you can share with us?
The most important lesson my business has taught me so far is to not despise small beginnings and to embrace every pivotal moment. When I started my business over 7 years ago I wasn’t fully prepared for the journey and I didn’t have all the resources I felt that I needed. However, I started my business anyway. I was blessed to have several mentors that helped me in different areas of my business. I will always remember what one of them said to me and that was, “Do not despise small beginnings”. Several years after starting my business I started to realize exactly what that really meant. Starting and maintaining a business is not for the faint at heart. It takes faith, determination, and a lot of action and patience. Being an entrepreneur is a blessing and a challenge. You have to show up when you don’t feel like it and make so many sacrifices that can help you rather than hinder your progress. What I have learned is that you have to start somewhere. It is imperative that you don’t focus so much on what other business owners are doing and do not allow what you see to make you lose focus on what you should be doing at any given time in your business. I have learned to pivot because the different seasons of my life required it. What do I mean? See, when I started my business I was single with no children and was working a 9-5 in a career that did not give me as much time freedom that I desired. I was comfortable with working that 9-5 to help me fund my business but I was uncomfortable being comfortable and so eager to grow my own business. Well, a few years later I became a wife, and shortly after I became a mother. I found myself trying to figure things out to the point that I was having to pivot from one season of my personal life and business to the next season. I had to learn how to balance wearing all the many hats that I wear and still grow my business. This year will be 8 years into my business and I am now embracing those small beginnings and every pivotal moment. In fact, I am ready to embrace this year of new beginnings as well. I am now a full-time entrepreneur and many doors have opened up for me to use my expertise, gifts, and talents to help other small business owners to start and grow their businesses. I am grateful that I did not give up and I am staying the course. I want to encourage and inspire other entrepreneurs to do the same.

What should our readers know about your business?
Motivus Momentum Agency (MMA) was founded in 2013 and is a growing small business consulting company primarily based in Mississippi. MMA was built on a solid foundation of over 15 years of combined experience in areas such as sales, marketing, customer service, entrepreneurship, healthcare consulting, leadership, and business coaching and consulting, and project management. MMA was formed to help individuals and businesses move forward with accomplishing their goals and achieve long-term success. I am most proud that Motivus Momentum Agency has helped various individuals, businesses, and organizations to develop their personal and professional image, develop their business plan, secure business funding, identify strategies for economic growth, create marketing ideas and concepts to promote their products and services to their ideal clients, and successfully manage and complete various projects. Today, MMA serves clients nationwide by providing expertise in areas such as business consulting & advisory services, marketing solutions, training, and outsourcing solutions. We are committed to working with clients who want to see and maintain positive results. Since 2013, we have assisted aspiring & established entrepreneurs nationwide with properly structuring their businesses to generate consistent cash flow by:- Helping our clients to develop and monetize their business plans for strategic alignment – Teaching our clients how to identify, understand, and attract their target market – Providing various tools to help our clients achieve productivity & sustain business growth. MMA is committed to providing our clients with exceptional service built upon our core values of integrity, professionalism, quality, and respect. Motivus Momentum Agency (MMA) is a business consulting company that was founded on the principles of building credible and long-term relationships with our clients while maintaining positive results. At Motivus Momentum Agency we listen to the needs and concerns of our clients. We help you to develop strategies and processes to meet your business goals. What sets us apart is that we understand the uniqueness of each client we serve. Therefore, we offer customized services that are tailored to the originality, flexibility, creativity, and artistic vision of each client. I am where I am today in my business because I learned the importance of networking and collaborating. Networking has always been a piece of cake because it comes naturally. However, collaborating took me stepping out of my comfort zone to connect with other entrepreneurs who had similar goals and who I felt I could trust, and who they could trust me. As a result, the outcomes have been a win-win for my company and theirs. Most importantly, we have been able to join forces to serve clients at a higher capacity versus if we were only offering them our individual services. I take pride in my brand. It is a major part of who I am, The EntrePRAYneur®. I believe in the power of prayer and I believe in the importance of aligning my goals with God’s will for me. It is my belief that I am able to serve my clients on a higher level to assist them in scaling their business and seeing the outcomes they want to see because I seek God for how to do so. I will continue to do so unapologetically. I have learned that if I am a good steward of the things that God has given me the favor and ability to manage then He will make the provisions and the success will show up.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
My favorite places to eat were Grand Luxe Cafe in the Galleria Mall and Ocean Prime. I am a laid-back Mississippi native so Babe’s Chicken Dinner House in Arlington is also one of my favorites.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I am grateful to my mother, Annette Johnson who taught me early in life to always put God first in everything that I do and He would crown my efforts with success. I am also grateful that I had mentors like Jim Harper with Hinds Comunity College’s Small Business Development Center, Katrina McLin, and my current business mentor and friend The Queen of Automation -Erika McMillon. My biggest supporters have been my husband, Christopher T. Sawyer, and my daughter Cailyn A. Sawyer who inspire me daily to push through every obstacle and challenge to accomplish my goals. They see firsthand the sacrifices I make, the tears I shed, and are always there to offer encouraging words, lots of smiles, and irresistible hugs!

Website: www.motivusmomentum.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/theentreprayneur

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/samanda-marshall-sawyer-mba-ccs-68b5b3160

Facebook: www.facebook.com/motivusmomentumagency

Other: www.facebook.com/theentreprayneur.com