I Am Not A Girl Boss, I Am The Creole Weed Whench, And That Makes Me The Loud Mouth Brown Girl

I have thought a lot about this and I hate the term “Girl Boss”, in fact, it makes me cringe every single time I hear it. Largely because “Girl Boss” isn’t exactly what I am. I am a Lady, usually, and by that I mean I am an adult.

Girls are children, beyond being prepubescent, they aren’t fully prepared to take on the world of business, they are still just discovering who they are. I know who I am.

Community Activist – Networker – Author – Blogger – Influencer – Certified Cannabis Coach – Mental Health Advocate – Digital Brand Ambassador – Marketing Student -Educator –entrepreneur

These are the titles that I get to use next to my name, and the more that I look at that list, the more that I realize that I actually know what the fuck I am doing, which is insane when you put my entire life story down on paper and look at it like a map.

I didn’t get here by accident, I got here through work, the study of the world around me, and careful planning that took a lifetime to understand, so that I could take those plans and turn them into reality.

I didn’t go to school for any of these things. I learned them through trial and error, by actually DOING the things other people go to school to learn how to do, from people like me. WHAT?!

“Okay but have you made any money yet?” in ten years you are going to regret asking me that question, because like every entrepreneur on this planet, I have economically suffered from the 2020/2021 pandemic that took over the world. However.

Like many people around the world, I had the privilege and the luck, to take this time and use it intentionally.

In 2020 I wrote an unedited book of essays designed to give people a mere glimpse of my life, by writing essays designed to inspire and challenge people not to give up on themselves. I also included more than four pages of phone numbers for helplines.
In 2021 I launched the Six Oh Four North Clothing Brand
In 2021 I also studied for and qualified for my Cannabis Coaching Certification making me the 1st Mixed Race, BIPOC Woman in Surrey, British Columbia qualified to call themselves a Certified Cannabis Coach
I am in the process of launching the Stay Lifted Sis podcast for iTunes, Spotify and other podcasting platforms – designed to teach women that they really can do the things that matter to them, in spite of the struggles.
Every single day I am overcoming the challenges that come with severe mental health issues after trauma due to extreme childhood sexual abuse.

I am kicking ass at this stuff and if I am being honest, I am terrified, because I am not used to succeeding at anything in my life. So to that end, I came up with some tips to help you push forward in your future endeavours.

Decide what it is that YOU want, by understanding what it is that YOU need.

I will say this until the end of time. Loud Mouth Brown Girl Dot Com exists because I was arrested by a racist white cop who thought I was a terrorist on a plane, while I was having a panic attack while being Brown.

From the moment the words “you are a loud mouth brown bitch, aren’t you?” came out of his mouth, from the moment I saw his white female partner preparing to punch me as I curled up against a window crying in fear and in shame that I couldn’t control myself, I DECIDED to make that phrase mean something.

I had been hearing it my whole life, always finished with the word “bitch,” I was not, and I am not now, a female dog. I am a woman, and four years ago I was still very much a girl who needed to be heard. This is MY brand now, and while I am most certainly a woman, I will always be the Loud Mouth Brown Girl, BECAUSE I need ALL girls to know, that NO man has the right to demean them by calling them a bitch.

Make A List Of All The Things That Make You Happy

Painting, drawing, dancing, educating others, making videos, creating digital art, connecting with others and writing.

These are the things that make me happy, if I could find a way to get paid for doing them, I would be the happiest person on the planet. With my writing, my focus is on mental health because in a variety of ways I have experienced severe mental health issues, first because I worked with people that had them, and then because I was, and continue to be forced, to deal with my own. Sharing that experience with the world helps me to:

Capitalize intellectually on what I am learning
Share my experience with others so that we all feel less alone
Creates a record of public accountability so that I can protect myself from sliding backwards
Proves that I can build a brand on mental health while tickling my need for attention, and mixing it with my knowledge of marketing skills.
Forces me to go out of the house so that I can deliver handmade love letters which allows me to meet with others, promote my website, and get used to being around lots of people, breaking down issues that come with isolation, and adds to my mental health toolbox on days when I am not feeling so hot.

Using my mental health as my “brand” keeps me healthy for all the reasons I’ve listed and more, and because of that, I am able to do the things that I want to do while simultaneously building an economically stable foundation for my future.

Make A List Of The Things You KNOW How To Do

Don’t worry about whether or not you can prove what you know. The world is moving into a phase in human history where standard education is not always the requirement for every job out there. There are a lot of jobs that require more hands-on experience than standardized testing can provide.

Show me a University professor who can get you access to a million views on Tik Tok, I’ll wait.

Exactly. It’s not easy, but it’s also not rocket science either, and while those 1 million views might not translate to $420,000,000 dollars, they will translate to at least a few followers, and possible community engagement. You can do this. Write down all the things you KNOW you can do, and then compare it to the list of things that make you happy, figure out where they intersect and move accordingly.

HAVE NOTEBOOKS!!!!!!

I cannot stress this enough. For the first 20+ years that I used the internet, all my stuff was kept online, and while it helped me to stay organized, it didn’t make it easier for me to be productive.

I have more than a dozen notebooks scattered around me at all times.

One for LMBG Branding which includes: Future Topics and Event ideas, cost projections etc
One for Six Oh Four North which includes everything about the business, future, projections, etc.
My Certification notebooks include hours upon hours of notetaking so that I always have the information nearby for when I need it
Business notes: I am taking webinars and phone calls about business information from advisors and mentors across BC, and so all their info goes into a separate notebook so I always have info nearby.

This allows me to feel like it’s there, so that means that I HAVE to use it. Otherwise what the hell did I waste all that time making all those notes for?

If you want to manifest that future of yours, then you have to be thinking about it ALL the time. Yes, market research is essential, but that’s only half the battle. If you don’t know what your dreams are about, if you don’t know the Who, What, Where, and Why YOUR dream exists, then what the hell are you doing market research for?

My “stuff” my computer, my phone, my clothes, my journals, the things that are physical objects that matter to me are not shit. They are gold to me. Carefully collected items that have brought me laughter, joy, and happiness. If they matter to you, then they should matter to those around you. When you talk about the people, places, and things, in your life, then you need to remind others around you that they don’t have to like what you like, but they have to respect you like them.

Or they can leave.

YOU DO NOT NEED TO HIRE A MARKETING COMPANY AND YES THEY ARE GOING TO TRY TO KILL ME FOR SAYING THIS.

Look, if you’re just starting out with your dream, hiring a marketing consultant or firm is fucking stupid. What the fuck for, what are you marketing? The only people who are buying our dreams, are the people who can find a way or a reason to CAPITALIZE on our dreams, so until you know what you’re doing, set that goal aside for when you need it. Research the firms out there, and INTERVIEW them before you hire them because they work FOR YOU.

When you’re ACTUALLY ready to hire one, you’ll have done enough research on what each firm is capable of, that you’ll hire the one that is the right fit for you, instead of the fit you can afford.

Your Dreams Are Not Impossible

When you finally decide to find ways to feed your soul, and your heart, and your mind, and your body, when you throw away your inhibitions when you finally decide that YOU deserve to put YOU first, everything else falls into place. And it’s fucking terrifying.

Move past the terror and do it anyway because it feels good, and after everything you have been through, you deserve to be happy.

Sending all my love,

Devon J Hall