Feeding myself with “empire” Instagram accounts is my new addiction.

You know the ones I’m talking about? A quick search will bring you right up to speed. The account holder usually has a name comprised of two or more of the following:

· Millionaire

· Billionaire

· Empire

· Motivation

· Hustle

· Mafia

· Success

· Mentor

There’s a lot of arrogance in the names they choose, and it gets worse when you see the images posted. But, take my opinion with a grain of salt. I’m not the 20-something, six-pack abs, giant watch wearing, Lamborghini drooling demographic being catered to. I am 41 year-old mom and wife. I make gift and wine baskets. I have a subscription box that “delivers the beach to your door every month” from my beachy life in Florida. My demographic is the 40-something, crossover-driving, right-hand-ring-dreaming, family loving, God fearing business owner.

Even though I am the exact opposite of the desired demographic, I’m not going anywhere. Why? Because reading these kick-ass business quotes about the climb and the view from the top gets my head out of the minutia and back to my larger plan.

Here are some that are directly from my Instagram feed. Great words, yes. The images are not always on point.

· The struggle only makes success sweeter (giant Lion in background, ok, I like the lion enough)

· I don’t do 9 to 5. I do open my eyes to close my eyes (Leonardo DiCaprio in the background, I like him enough, too)

· In the end we only regret the chances we didn’t take (naked girl covered in sand on the beach…I’ve yet to be this distraught.)

· Use your blessing to bless others, not yourself (shiny, black Ferrari driving in traffic…so do I dole out blessings from my Ferrari or bless someone with this Ferrari?)

· Never underestimate a woman (girl with butt cheeks hanging out of cut off shorts, bent over the open hood of a car…????)

My question:

Where’re my girls at?! Where’s my demographic on the “empire” scene? The real business WOMEN who are doing it all. The ones who get the urgency of the hustle, who will fight to stay awake to do one more order, write one more response to an email, to acknowledge to every single comment on social media, who make one more gift basket, get one more lead, go to one more event. The same women who then come home and clean the kitchen (that they didn’t even cook in that day, but that’s another story), throw one more load in the laundry, take the dogs out one more time before bed, and still have quality time with two teenage kids and husband. I want them on my Instagram!

Oh wait. I know where we are. We’re getting stuff done.

When the girls and I make it, and have 2 seconds to breathe, we’ll post our own quotes and images about the view from the top. We’ll flood your feeds with beach house furniture and dinner party table-scapes and more right hand rings than you knew existed.

Until then, the sea of hustler-motivator male gurus who’ve made it (I assume) and are now telling me, “Come on in, the water’s great! Just jump in like this, no wait-like this…or like this,” is actually what is inspiring me, motivating me. Fast cars, fancy watches and trophy wives aside, the words on the images are ringing true.

How can I relate and feed off of these? Because I take what I can get. No one can deliver 100% of what I need, all the time. So while the images are lacking, the words sink in. I am thankful for those very (sometimes trashy) feeds. They encourage and maintain a running dialogue of my vision of hustle in my mind. My reality is this:

· Adrift Gifts HAS to work, period.

· Drink another cup of coffee.

· Just. Keep. Moving.

· Do my idea now, or someone else will.

· This business is not rocket science, just elbow grease.

Look, I haven’t made it big yet, but I will. Along the way, some people will be vocal about how much they don’t like the gift box I made them. I’ll be upset, but I will keep on going. The person who didn’t like the gift box may be loud, but also isn’t the only person in the room. What will I do? I’ll take a minute, pull up Instagram on my phone and surely see an image of a lion or watch or car that tells me “it’s better to show them than tell them,” and carry on knowing that this race is mine!

To the account holders: Thank you. Keep filling my feed, you’re awesome.