Don’t Sell Dreams, Sell Reality!
By: Ciji Shippley
Tags: Trinidad And Tobago, Website, Focus, Branding, Entrepreneurship

“I believe I can fly”

I am not a fan of the “Prosperity Gospel” Brand; it takes a lot more than just the belief that you “deserve” $10,000 to actually make it. It also takes putting in focused work to get you there.

Making $21,000.00 within my first three months of business wasn’t easy. I had an unfocused brand that made connecting with the people who really needed me and simultaneously making money, burdensome. Eventually, I was introduced to a more constructive way to go about reaching the financial goals in my business, and it began with one simple but not easy to answer question…

“WHAT ARE YOU KNOWN FOR?”

That is where it truly starts, knowing where your value lies, then understanding how to use it to get you what you’re truly after.

Have you ever asked yourself, why is it so hard to actually say “I deserve $30,000.00” without silently cringing on the inside?

I mean, if there were some veracity to your belief, why aren’t you able to express that with conviction?

It’s because subconsciously, our mind keeps us in check when the things we claim is built on a hypothesis instead of a fact. So, once our belief is hypothesized, there will always be a feeling of double-mindedness attached to the things we say. Not even faith operates that way because our spiritual eyes must first take hold of the things our natural eyes don’t see before they’re manifested. So, there is an actual “seeing first” (spiritually speaking), involved in the belief process. Without that substance, where do you place your faith?

Consider The Parable Of The Wise And The Foolish Builders

Matthew 7:24–27

“the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.”

Just because you feel you “deserve” something doesn’t mean your purchasing public agrees with you. But if they do, then you’ve found a real foundation to build your expectations upon. That’s the difference between a small service business owner who has a brand vs one who doesn’t. The former build their business upon a brand their clients need so although they might encounter some trials in their journey as an entrepreneur, the brand keeps them steadfast in their business. The latter, bases their claim on an unvalidated theory, that along the way produces inconsistencies in their behavior, like, going back to the security of a 9 to 5 job because they aren’t in possession of the evidence that makes what they claim true.

Before I isolated my brand, I felt very insecure about my business because I knew in order to be a beneficiary of that “better way” I could be making money, I needed to find my voice. Until then, I didn’t know where I fitted in the world of local business and no amount of “mindset” talk could rub that out because spiritually, I was already in the right frame of mind. But that doesn’t mean I was able to stand at the top of Nicholas Tower and say “I believe I could fly” and jump off. None of that zeal would have ever cushioned my fall. That all changed when I finally started observing a definite line in the sand. I found the thing that made me fly. And that’s what we all need to find because that is what will get us to whatever financial goals we have set for ourselves.

I keep hearing people denouncing the benefits of doing so and it’s understandable. They are casualties of a language they don’t understand. But for small service businesses, if making money in your sleep is your goal, then you’ve got to FIND YOUR VOICE. Concentrate on doing that first, instead of allowing yourself to believe you don’t have to and struggle in your business. And I know the phrase may seem a bit mysterious but, focus on the meaning of what I’m saying instead of the technicality of my words…

Someone gave me this very advice when I first started, and what made me trust them, was seeing this very strategy working for them. They weren’t “selling me dreams” and I never regretted it since. After figuring out what the greatest asset in your business is, develop your online presence around that and watch the money come in. This is what it means to focus your voice or to have a brand.