DREAM IT AND YOU CAN ACHIEVE IT
Walt Disney
Hands up who has heard, read or mantra’d the 👆🏼 headline by the legendary Walt Disney (apparently he quoted this)?
Did we achieve all that we dreamed of?
Visionaries strive and work hard at wanting to create ANYTHING that is DIFFERENT and STANDS OUT from the crowds. They seek content and ways and means that will set them apart from everyone else. The reality though, is that despite the desire to stand out, what often happens is that a lot of gorgeous notebooks containing great mind maps are left as just that, mind maps. The hardest part for a Visionary isn’t the ‘idea’, but HOW to make it happen the way they see it in their mind’s eye, without the idea sounding gibberish to their audience.
One of THE best marketing tools to bring communities together and work on a big idea is your very own event!
It’s a way to communicate face-to-face (or online personally) to many. It brings and builds communities together. It sparks ideas and creates space to brainstorm. Holding your own event enables you to market your message, vision and purpose to a wider audience with a buzz that sends goosebumps through your body and it makes your heart sing!
Getting the idea is super easy, what makes it hard is the actual making of that idea into a reality. There are so many components involved, both marketing and emotional.
Today’s article is to offer you a Checklist to download immediately, as well as the truth about running and organising your event emotionally.
In all honesty, you could LITERALLY run and organise your event within 2-3 months easily.
That is, IF you have an engaged community, you know yourself inside out, you BELIEVE in yourself and your Vision and Purpose and you have a strong brand foundation and team.
The reality though is that most Visionaries don’t have all-of-the-above, and so to make your event a reality, you need at least 8-12 months of planning and actual marketing (advertising and selling) to ensure your event is happening. There is a certain amount of work that needs to be done in those 8-12 months, in particular, building the community to attend the event.
If your event were a mindmap it would look something like this (compressed):
For starters, Google ‘running an event’, ‘organising an event’ or even ‘how to market my event’ and you’ll be inundated with BRILLIANT articles and checklists on what is needed to run your event (isn’t technology amazing?) The tech-specs for running or organising an event is pretty basic and easy-to-follow. However, what isn’t shown is what running and organising that event is going to do to you emotionally.
This is the crux of the success of your event, because your emotions are what drives the energy of an event. Because people-buy-from-people and if they cannot sense you emotionally and energetically in your event, you can be guaranteed that the tickets won’t sell. And this will cause disappointment and disbelief in yourself.
So let’s work on that today shall we?
Think BIG, start SMALL.
One of the first things Visionaries love to do is think BIG and this is GOOD! Mindmap your BIG IDEAS! Get it out of your head and onto paper. Visualise how you see and feel your event running. Visualise what you’ll be wearing, to the layout of the room and all the banners etc. Visualise it all. Now jot down next to all those ideas the costs for everything. Does your budget allow for these costs? If not, start narrowing things down, so that you DON’T COMPROMISE ON YOUR VISION and PURPOSE, and still able to achieve the big idea.
For the things that cannot be budgeted for now, what are alternatives that can be implemented? THINK-OUT-OF-THE-BOX!
For example, you cannot afford the branding? Does your event allow for a collaboration with a branding expert that would serve as a Speaker and be able to receive great exposure, and ROI on their investment in branding your event? This isn’t a guarantee as Branding is on a whole a big investment, but remember this isn’t a once-off investment. It’s for many events and for your future brand.
Something to think about: Tony Robbins, one of THE most successful personal development event organisers with over 5.000 attendees at EACH of his events which are run multiple times during the year, started off with 10 people in his living room. TEN!
He has since then grown not by DIY’ing everything but setting systems and processes in place and hiring teams, outsourcing ticket sales and more. But the BIG idea only happens when you can be trusted with the humble beginnings to make that happen first!
Think BIG, start SMALL.
SOME PEOPLE SAY THAT I HAVE AN ATTITUDE – MAYBE I DO.
BUT I THINK THAT YOU HAVE TO. YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE IN YOURSELF WHEN NO ONE ELSE DOES – THAT MAKES YOU A WINNER RIGHT THERE.
Venus Williams
You will be knocked down. You will be tested. You will have doubt yourself a LOT. You will cry and belittle yourself a LOT.
Which is why it is so so so important that you know your LIFE VISION and PURPOSE.
That you KNOW your audience inside out and WHY you are wanting to make this event happen (and please don’t let it be about the money and fame).
And most importantly, by knowing the latter, you will without a shadow of doubt BELIEVE in yourself, BELIEVE that ONLY you were chosen to make this event happen, because it’s your calling!
Ok… sounds motivating enough.
So HOW do you believe in yourself?
Step One: Acknowledging where it is you’ve been conditioned to DOUBT yourself. Be AWARE of this. Journal on this. Note the people and occurrences in your life that have made you doubt yourself. For example, whenever I made a decision about something, say for example, to eat a slice of delicious fresh white bread with dripping yummy peanut butter and syrup. I had to WEIGH my choices. If I were to eat that piece of yumminess, I would be putting on weight – weight which I have been trying to lose. I would feel guilty eating that yumminess.
Let’s break this down, shall we?
- Was I eating that yumminess for emotional comfort or because I really wanted to eat it?
- Why was I doubting what my body wanted to eat? Was it because of outside influences or my own?
- Who would be happy for me making a choice NOT to eat that yumminess? Would I be happy believing in myself and what my body needs or what others believe is best for me?
Step Two: There is no ‘should’s’ in this process. YOU have a CHOICE. Only YOUR choice, based on what YOU want to achieve and for whom.
Step Three: Why do you believe that you’re not good enough to believe in yourself? Who do you believe or have been told is ‘better than you’? Are they really? Do they really have what YOU have to make what you’ve been given a reality?
Step Four: DONE is BETTER THAN PERFECT. Only practice makes perfect (whatever perfect is). In order to attain a level of mastery you need to put in the hours of practice, and you need to know that. You need to BELIEVE that you will fail in the beginning but that you HAVE to START somewhere. You need to go through the fire and know that you’ll be ok on the other side.
Step Five: Spend time analyzing: what is the WORST that could happen? Journal this. You’ll be amazed at how many reasons come up that were never your fears to start with but ‘borrowed fears’ from loved ones and the media. When you face the ‘worst’ that could happen, you’re prepared for it and doubt yourself less.
There are more steps that I could list here – but let’s start with these for now.
So often we see the mountain ahead of us and forget that each small, teeny-tiny-step towards that mountain is already a success and those small steps are ones that are taken in faith by believing in yourself. There is no right or wrong. Only choices.
MAKE A CUSTOMER, NOT A SALE.
Katherine Barchetti
People buy from people.
Why do you think that is?
Well, we as consumers want to connect with the brand that we’re buying from, whether we’re buying toilet paper or a Rolls Royce. We connect through our personality, values, beliefs, information, passion, talents and gifts and emotions. The more you distance yourself from your audience by just marketing yourself through the ‘mechanics’ of marketing, the less of a community you’ll build.
That is why I’m not a HUGE fan of everything ‘automated’ in the marketing world. Don’t get me wrong, automation is a GREAT invention but it has its place and time. I’ve had a whale of time engaging with chatbots but after a while it all got stale. I need human connection. It’s important to me and I know to my audience as well.
And I know it’s the same for you too reading this.
Visionaries are also strong Empaths and Highly Sensitive souls. We FEEL things and we really don’t like to be left in the lurch with chatbots.
So as fun as they are, there is a limit.
Making sales needs to be with the right audience, your audience – not just any audience!
It’s also important to understand that sales are a reflection of how you value money, and how you value your worth.
Selling is a form of love.
That means, when you speak or engage with your audience through any form of communication, be it Messenger, Chatbots, Email, Video, Blogs, Social Media Feeds or whatever, be sure to connect with a human being that has a heart and soul. And above all else, to build relationships. Should the audience feel connected with you, the sales will happen effortlessly and on purpose, as it should be.
The big question here is ‘HOW do you sell with confidence and worth without feeling sleazy?’
This is a BIG question and it does include a big chunk of loving yourself for who you are. I know that this is easier said than done, especially if you’re not 100% sure of WHO you are, your Purpose and Vision in life.
So I’d like to offer you three steps to START.
Step One: Work on your money stories. There are some phenomenal money coaches who can assist you on this journey. This is such a big one, and deserves your time and energy. But for now, what I would like for you, is for you to be AWARE that money is a reflection of your self-worth and confidence. That your worth is not found in how much do you, how hard you work or how much money you make. Your worth is a reflection of how much you love and believe in yourself. What I’d love for you to start working on today, is what you’ve conditioned yourself to believe about money over these past years which you have internalised as your money-dialogue or your worth. For example, money is evil, money doesn’t grow on trees, money is only for the rich, the money will make me a bad person, etc. Just start journaling on those money beliefs – just become AWARE of them for now.
Step Two: Know yourself. See the steps above about believing in yourself.
Step Three: Mindmap your ideas or journal – this is a GREAT tool for getting out of your head and into your self-worth. Sometimes the ideas we have are BIG ideas, that can be overwhelming and we may not have all the tools to make these ideas happen. As a result, we break ourselves down that we’re not good enough to make the idea happen. When in fact it has nothing to do with that. You just need to master your craft a little more rather than blame yourself for not making things work.
If you light a lamp for somebody, it will also brighten your path.”
Buddha
You are going to doubt yourself every millisecond of the day and night. You are going to be very hard on yourself. You are going to want to give up and quit — all the time.
This is why I urge you to have your support circle ready for you, because you cannot do this on your own.
Your support circle won’t always tell you to keep going. Somedays they’ll get annoyed with you and tell you “Well then quit! Why put yourself through this agony?”
They will push your buttons.
And you will at times feel alone, betrayed and a burden to yourself and mankind.
This is why you need your support circle.
#werisetogether
You are going to learn that you need to trust your intuition and stop people-pleasing (a trait that most Visionaries have).
You are going to learn that you are never to settle for anything less than what your Life Purpose and Vision have called for you to fulfil.
You are going to learn how to listen to your intuition and see the small signs everywhere giving you directions for your next move.
Sure it would be easy to hand everything over to big shot managers and have them manage everything for you.
This is the illusion we believe in ‘how it’s done’ in the big-entrepreneurial-world. But it’s a facade.
Look at ANY well-known speaker or artist, and for every big shot manager that took charge of their ‘dream’, they always turned it into ‘their’ baby and didn’t mirror the soul’s work of that entrepreneur or artist (for example Christina Aguilera, Lady Gaga, Heath Ledger, Jim Carrey, Kelly Clarkson and so many more).
This is why we need to listen to our intuition to create our circle of support, with the ones who will stand by our side day-in-and-day-out and ensure we’re supported.
How to find your circle?
For myself, it has been the ones who are aligned with my Vision and Purpose, who share similar experiences as I have, who aren’t scaredy-cats or reactive but pro-active, problem-solvers, both grounded but also a little bit of energy-woo-woo.
Family and friends aren’t always the supporters, they are often the ones who will tell you the opposite of what you’re looking for in your support circle, which isn’t a bad thing as long as you’re aware of this. In fact, this is a good place to start journaling on who you do want in your circle by knowing who you don’t want.
SUMMARY:
Building a brand through your BIG VISIONARY EVENTS (or Workshops) that is going to influence generations and create generational wealth, is not a quick-fix, it’s a process as you can see. You’re either in it for the long-haul or just doing a hobby. When you build a business and a brand, these are the FIVE most important steps you HAVE to have figured out – and this without a shadow of doubt because this is what keeps you in the run on the long-haul.
Belief in what you were born to lead
Your PURPOSE (not your profession) and Life Vision
Who your Soul Tribe is – these are the group that you are leading and who mutually benefit from one another. You cannot rise alone.
Action: Everything on paper is nice but without action, you’re just accumulating knowledge.
Momentum: When the ball starts rolling, you can keep up with the pace without being overwhelmed because you know what you are here for and how you’ll be making things work – planned and spontaneous.
