Meet Dr. Eddie Connor: Best-Selling Author and Empowerment Speaker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dr. Eddie Connor and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dr. Eddie, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
The saying goes, “An entrepreneur is someone who jumps off a cliff and builds a plane on the way down without a parachute.” Undoubtedly, it’s a big risk to reap the rewards but you can’t reap the rewards without taking the risk. If you want to aspire higher and reach new levels, you have to take a leap of faith. Personally, for me to shift from full-time educator and professor to full-time entrepreneur was totally risky. Creating something from nothing, betting on myself, and beating the odds was undoubtedly risky but all the more rewarding. I did not allow my situation to shrink my vision. I realize that everything you’ve overcome in your history must be used as a bridge, to walk by faith into your destiny. I recalled times in my life that were risky but I persevered anyway. Times like finding the CAN in cancer to be an overcomer. Forgiving my absent father, years before receiving an apology from him. Being told by my guidance counselor that I would never go to college. Finding financial resources to stay in college when everything told me to drop out. Gaining the confidence to share my story, write 12 best-selling books, and share on major media outlets was quite risky. Embracing healing, wholeness, and interpersonal success despite imperfections. All of these moments of truth and transparency were risky but brought me to a place of clarity. The most dangerous place in life is not walking on water. It’s when you remain in the boat. You have to feel the fear and do it anyway. You have to feel the winds of fear and be brave enough to say to every storm, “Peace be still.” The winds of worry may howl. The tempestuous trials of life may sway your steps, but keep walking on the water. The pandemic of COVID-19 has made life riskier than ever before. We have shifted from brick and mortar to click and order. There is now a greater emphasis on high tech and high touch. We are no longer counting footprints, we are now counting fingertips. In order to affect your bottom line, your business must be online. Technology has provided a kind of online real estate where entrepreneurs can dominate their domain. Life has come to a screeching halt, drastically and painfully. Like any vehicle in order to make the shift, you have to pause and press the brake. If you can be patient enough in the pause, then you can hit the brake, shift, and accelerate into your breakthrough. According to small biz trends, 96 percent of new entrepreneurs affirmed that the pandemic gave them the motivation they needed to start their own business. Essentially, the risky times we live in has unveiled the fact that the real risk is in not taking a risk. So, we have to be uncomfortable with being comfortable and become comfortable with being uncomfortable. We must move from procrastinating to producing and creating. I firmly believe that challenges create champions and if you don’t evolve, you won’t be involved. Consequently, this is the most opportune time to transform your contacts into contracts. Ideas into income and leveraging income into an impact. Necessity is the mother of invention so seeing what people need and creating something from nothing can do everything for your business According to Black Enterprise, less than 40 percent of Black businesses are still operating due to COVID-19. It is the fastest and furthest decline of any race in America. Close to 50 million Americans filed for unemployment in 2020. We are living through a chapter that we thought we would only read in history books. At the dawn of this new decade we have already experienced the Spanish flu of 1918, the Great Depression of 1929, and the racial unrest of 1968. Normal is not behind us. Normal is ahead of us. Life as we once knew it will not be life as we now know it. This is not a return to normal, this is an exit from it to forsake the familiar. We are in a unique time of creativity, to cultivate what we would like the world to be. If you keep doing the same old things, you will get the same results. If you do something different, you will see something different. Tradition should not be your Achilles heel of tribulation, rather a gateway for inspiration. So, what will you do now to create, pivot, shift, and shape your new normal by taking rewarding risks?

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I am proud of the recent success in launching a virtual Relationship Academy coupled with my new book “Relationship Rules” which debuted #1 on Amazon. They are interwoven together empowering people to win at love, leadership, and leveraging their purpose. As emphasized in the book and in the Academy, our mission is to build healthy relationships and purposeful partnerships. Relationships is the most important issue whether you’re voting, dating, working, or intent on marrying someone. Members and readers are empowered with the insight to create connections through healthy boundaries and communication,

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.
Undoubtedly, Atlanta is a mecca for minorities to make major moves. The city provides a transformative bridge between strained history and the opportunity to step into the strength of one’s destiny. We’re even seeing a reverse migration, where people are moving from the North to the South. Atlanta has become an archetype and prototype for exemplary ventures, where people are shifting from competing to collaborating. If you’re a big thinker, business developer, or burgeoning influencer in any field, then this is a great city where you can aspire higher. As they’re visiting we would check out the sites and sounds of the city, such as The ZuCot Gallery which is the largest African-American owned fine art gallery in the Southeast. We would also go to The Civil Rights Museum and The Trap Music Museum. Then of course after that they would be hungry I suppose, so we have to make a stop at Pappadeaux. 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?
2021 marks 21 years of me being cancer free! It’s because of the grace of God and my praying mother that I’ve been able to come this far by faith. She definitely gets a super shoutout. Also, to all of the amazing community members in our Relationship Academy family, who have holistically decided to win at love, leadership, and leveraging their purpose. I appreciate them for believing in my vision to create a safe space for growth and personal greatness.

Website: www.DrEddieAcademy.com

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Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/eddieconnor

Other: Join our Relationship Academy and get my new book “Relationship Rules” on Amazon or www.DrEddieAcademy.com/book