Where's the Money for YOUR Dream?

Do you have a vision for what you want to do in the world? The change you want to instigate?

And maybe you’re looking for a way to generate the money to support your vision. I had the opportunity to meet an amazingly talented and gifted man today with a huge gift to bring to the world. And realizing this process definitely needs some cash—not a ton, it’s a reasonable amount, and he also deserves to have a place to live, and his preferred quality of life.

For a long time he’s been working to create a business that would generate the cash to fund his business. He’s looked at lots of options. And I again want to compliment this gentleman for not moving forward with any of the ideas he’s investigated so far. He’s very clear that they are low-profit high-risk options. Risk he can’t afford.

The conventional wisdom in this type of venture is standard, and it’s not correct—the way it used to be done is NOT the way to do it now! Here’s the convention wisdom:

• Go work for someone who’s already doing what you want to do
• Create an organization to do the community service projects
• Create a completely un-related stream of income to support what you really love.

I’m here to shout loud and long this is NOT the way to get the service or program you dream of out into the world.

Why not?

Working for someone else can kill your passion and inspiration. When your dream and passion is fulfilling your mission, your dream, the employee thing will wear you down, suck you dry. Don’t work for someone else unless you can be 100% IN the job. In other words, if the job IS a match for your mission, that’s a win-win. If it’s just a make-do, it will actually be a make-don’t: it won’t work well for anyone involved.

Splitting your time and attention is equally deadly. Working for someone else and holding back part of yourself for what really matters is an inherently conflicted and unethical position. Yes, lots of people do it everyday, and most of us have done at one time or another. How many people do you know who look completely sad and unhappy to be at work? When you’re here to serve in your own unique way and you do a “have to have money” pattern for work, the resulting pattern is just about guaranteed to be toxic. And that’s anti-successful on every level!

Don’t run an organization before you’ve walked the path. If you want to DO something in the world, creating an organization to do it for you at the beginning may be a mis-match. You’ve got to be clear on where you want to go, what you want to accomplish AND what’s the best vehicle for doing this. Frequently, movements of change don’t start with an organization (Gandhi, Mother Theresa, etc.) they started with a person! Is there a time when this isn’t true? Of course—when you’ve already got all the money you need to make it happen, creating the group that will do your dream is a powerful thing.

Un-related is Un-realized. When you spend time and money creating an income stream that is not part of your central objective, you may not realize what can happen. Your time and attention will be split. The powerful focus of your love and loyalty are diluted. You’re obligated to have the “for money only” business perform, no matter how much you like or dislike the operation today, tomorrow, five years from now. In some way, you have to ensure this business does its thing. Meanwhile, your is somewhere else. You’ll get lots of opportunities to decide which child to shortchange. And that experience is not one I recommend to anyone.

So what’s the answer?

The answer is find the jewels you already have that relate to your passion & goals—and monetize them! When these elements work together, you widen the path of those who need you finding you. You get to transmit the things you’re passionate about to others who are your clients. And you get to discover the expertise and gifts that drive your passion that are also valuable products!

Want to learn more? This process is exactly what the first module in Create & Love Your Business teaches you to do. And even better, the tools and techniques you’ll learn you can use over and over again as you & what you offer grows!

I encourage you to remember that it’s less work to create things are close together. It’s easier to manage a 4-plex of rentals than 4 rentals scattered around the country! You’ll find it’s faster and less expensive to create related services and products. Even better, it will jump-start the other aspects of your dream!

Wishing you Success & Heart,

Heidi Sue