We had the good fortune of connecting with To’ni Wheeler and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi To’ni, what is the most important factor behind your success?
I would say my faith and passion are the most important factors behind my success. My faith keeps my belief level high and my will strong to continue to keep going forward in every obstacle I have to overcome. This journey has not been easy nor smooth. There were numerous moments, where I wanted to throw in the towel and pretend that my organization never started. Not to get too religious, but I pray. I pray through the bad, the scary, the good, the unknown, and the unseen when it comes to my business. If I want God to work with me or for me, I have to show him that my faith is strong, and I am willing to put in the work to have my organization succeed. All things work together for the better and without faith the work is dead. Therefore, my passion shows within my work and keeps me wanting to continue to make a difference.

Passion gives you purpose. We all choose to do things because we enjoy doing them, because they make us feel good. Passion is the emotional drive to do these things. It’s the emotional spark that gets you moving forward with what you want to create for your life. If enthusiasm and passion are present, people tend to be more resilient when encountering obstacles. People who are passionate about what they do, rather than just “in it for the money,” tend to be people who have more positive outlooks and can overcome difficulty through problem-solving.

When you love WHAT you do, you love WHY you do it, you love the people you work with, you love the people you serve, and knowing that has great value. Having passion, as a leadership value, for what you do will make your life better in more ways than one!

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
What sets me apart from others is my fighter’s mentality. We all face adversity, but we all overcome it differently. Adversity helps you develop grit. Overcoming adversity is about taking an honest look at your own knowledge and skills, acknowledging your shortcomings and working to improve them, every day. In addition to the skills that tie directly to your profession or goal, work on other things that will benefit you no matter what your goal is. It is easier said than done, but mental toughness helps you keep that tunnel vision to focus to push forward. I will fight to the very end to ensure that my goals and dreams come to fruition.

Facing adversity, I have learned to fail takes courage, but to try again after failure takes even more. It’s OK if you fail (and then fail again) but have the courage to get up and try and try again. Failure gives us the opportunity to bounce back, to learn from our mistakes, and helps us appreciate success. You’ll learn how resilient you are, how you react to things not going your way, how you pick yourself up and come back stronger – and that’s more likely to set you up for a successful future. Although failure is not an option, it is necessary for personal growth.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I love spontaneous adventures, so I usually don’t create itineraries. My friends are the exact same way. We love going with the flow of things, so when we want to hang out we go online and search events and restaurants near us and go. We love adventures and exploring unknown places. So old historic places, museums, art shows, rodeos, trail rides, rock climbing, and etc. are things we would do together whenever we link up with one another.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Shoutout to my OBO team/family! These individuals are amazing and deserve all the flowers in the world. Truly without them One By One Mentoring would not be as successful as it is today. All that I am able to do is because of the members, mentees, and parents of One By One. They all took a chance on me in 2019 when I first started my organization and remained patient when I decided to transition into becoming a Nonprofit. The loyalty and support they have shown is overwhelming and keeps me wanting to succeed and be the best leader I can be for them. When I started this journey, I didn’t have anyone in my corner helping me start One By One Mentoring. As many say, I had to get it “out the mud” by myself, then show others why they needed to believe in me and why they should support my vision. After putting in the work, people started following and wanted to be part of the movement. Fast forward to today, from it just being myself, we have nearly 40 members in the organization, serving the community and making a difference in someone’s life daily.

Website: www.onebyonementoring.org

Instagram: @onebyonementoring

Facebook: One By One Mentoring

Other: face book – One By One Mentoring Donation – $OneByOneMentoring

Image Credits
One By One Mentoring

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