You have a unique purpose! And if God is calling you to it, he will provide all you need to accomplish it.
God has given you a unique purpose and unique gifts to use to serve others. People often lose sight of their unique purpose because of the chaos of life and the distractions of the online world. But as God’s children, we were born for a life of abundance in hope, grace, and love. Also, abundance financially if we follow our purpose and use the gifts God has given us.
When we accept God’s unique purpose for us, it can lead to an amazing life and legacy. If you sit on your purpose and don’t act on it, you are doing a disservice to the world.
When you don’t live in your purpose, you may have the money, but you won’t have the joy.
What is your intuition telling you about your unique purpose
We are all born with the gift of intuition. But what you do with it is up to you. Melissa stressed that when you hear or feel your intuition, you have to make a decision. Deciding is a powerful place to be.
However, sometimes we open the door to our purpose, and we don’t understand what we opened the door to. But you have to decide that you are ready to go – really to follow the purpose. Be unapologetic about your decision and don’t let others influence you to ignore it and stay put.
Take inventory of your gifts and talents. You have unique abilities. These are transferable skills that you can take with you from your corporate career to starting a business. Look at the contributions you can make to humanity, and to the world. Then, ask yourself how you can create a business around these unique gifts.
Lastly, make sure you are positioned in the marketplace. Corporations may not want all of you, but as an entrepreneur and business owner, you get to be all of who you are. Don’t dim your light because of others. Be all of you, not just what you do, but all of who you are.
Robyn’s purpose formula includes this exercise
Make a list of all the experiences you’ve had that brought you to where you are today. You will see what experiences and gifts you have led you to be able to do what you do to serve your clients. We often take for granted the things we’ve done and the skills we have because they weren’t in our title.
Robyn emphasized that God doesn’t call the equipped, he equips the called so that you can serve the way he’s intended for you to serve and for the people that need you.
Melissa shared that the “fall downs” are the fall forwards. Expect them and embrace them. Show up in all of it. Learning will give you your power position. Don’t lose the best version of yourself and don’t wait for the perfect day or time. No one else will do what you do the way you do it.
Sitting in your unique purpose versus standing in your unique purpose
When you are sitting in your purpose, you feel the tug in your heart, but you are not acting on it. You may be sitting at your current job working and you feel anxious, stifled, and frustrated.
When you stand in your unique purpose, you act. You don’t let anyone or anything stop you, you are committed. You share your values and gifts unapologetically. When you stand in your purpose, it is bigger than you, you aren’t there on accident, God is guiding you and you are accessing all of the options and things God created you to do.
More on Robyn’s purpose formula
The formula Robyn uses to help her clients identify their purpose is values + visions + passions = purpose. Make a list of your values, visions, and passions. Where they overlap, like in a Venn diagram, is where your purpose lies. Your purpose is at the root of your personal brand.
If you don’t feel fulfilled in your work, it is likely that the work isn’t aligned with your values. Don’t waiver on your values. Likewise, when building your personal brand, remember that your values and purpose are what make you unique and should be shared as part of your brand story-telling.
Ask the questions
What does it need to look like to revisit my unique purpose, or to be able to monetize my purpose and serve the world?
If you feel like the walls are closing in on you, what you know is limiting you. When you feel that way, ask a question to get a different result.
Abundance is your birthright
When you work for your unique purpose, abundance follows. Melissa used the example of thinking of God as your boss. Good bosses want to know what you need and how they can support you. God has access to everything and has no limitations so he will support you and give you what you need.
You should be profitable because when you are profitable, you can serve the world stronger and better and show your children how to be profitable.
Abundance is in so many areas of our lives, relationships, finances, and our health and well-being.
Be humble enough to ask questions because when you ask questions, more opportunities come to fruition. If you don’t feel grace and ease, ask a different question to get a different result.
Fingerprint
You are unique and when you are ready to stand in your unique purpose, there will always be a place at the table for you.
Freedom – be free to be who you are in your unique purpose – it is freeing
Intuition – you are always guided by God through your intuition – you are never alone
Never give up – the only way you lose is to give up
Growth – you get to expand in your unique purpose – no glass ceiling
Evolve – you will evolve as you walk in your unique purpose
Reciprocity – what you put out into the world will come back to you – make room to receive
Prosperity – you will prosper – be open to the abundance your purpose provides
Respect – your unique purpose – if you don’t respect it, you won’t thrive
Influence – you get to share your light when you live in your purpose – people are watching
Natural – your purpose is what comes naturally to you
Time – the time is now – it is never too late to embrace your unique purpose
About Melissa Hughes
Melissa Evans Hughes, MHA, PMP, is a successful entrepreneur who realized her dream of becoming a self-made millionaire by age 31. A seasoned business professional with 20 years of experience in a variety of fields, she holds a Master of Science degree in Health Care Policy and Administration from Mercer University’s Stetson School of Business and Economics in Atlanta.
Melissa is a master business coach and consultant whose international company, The Broshe Group, is changing the lives of businesspeople worldwide. Her practical, proven system for success is helping large companies like Microsoft, Motorola, and ESPN, as well as small start-ups and individuals, to accomplish their business goals. Known as The Guru of Implementation, Melissa is passionate about helping motivated business owners, executives, managers, and entrepreneurs become more effective, profitable, and successful while increasing their free time.
Melissa is a dynamic, no-nonsense speaker and the insightful author of three powerful books: Sole to Soul: How to Identify Your Soul Purpose and Monetize It, It’s Not Your Daddy’s Store: An Employees Guide to Empowerment, and Full Circle: A Book for Entrepreneurs thriving in Any Economy.
Are you ready to start a business? Or, have you been working on your business but feel stuck, overwhelmed, and like you are spinning in circles without reaching your long-term goals?
If you answered yes to any of those questions, Purpose to Results™ is a program that will help you transform your business, and therefore, your life.
Purpose to Results™ is my signature program to help Christian entrepreneurs start, grow, or scale their businesses.
The program is based on this formula – Mindset + Strategy + Action = Results.
Mindset – Situational Mind Modeling -for clarity, confidence, and connection with purpose and impact
Strategy – Simplified Sustainable Strategy – long-term strategies embodying SEO, systems, and processes for success.
Action – The Accountability Framework – to ensure consistent execution.
Purpose to Results™ – 3 part program broken into 5 modules
Clarity
Clarity is important so that you can identify your soulmate client, and the people you want to, and can, serve.
Likewise, it is important to have clarity around your God-led calling and purpose so that you can create content that will resonate with your soulmate clients.
Creating content that connects will help you build an emotional connection with your ideal clients.
Building an emotional connection will help build trust.
And once trust is built, you will begin to build relationships.
Relationships help you become memorable and sharable and convert contacts to clients.
In addition, you must have clarity around your purpose to build a personal brand.
It is important to note that a lack of clarity around your purpose or God-led calling will result in doubt.
If you are in a place of doubt, you will not build confidence and trust with your audience.
The result is confusion and confused people do not buy.
Some signs of a lack of clarity around your purpose include:
Doubt
Fear
Inability to create content
Feelings of overwhelm
Frustration
Lack of strategy
Inability to reach goals
Procrastination
Feeling stuck, or like you are spinning in circles and going nowhere
Inability to see your gifts, talents, and how you can help others based on your experiences and life journey
Your mind gets stuck in a place of negative thoughts that ultimately hold you back.
Mindset barriers present as doubt, hesitation to take action, lack of clarity, lack of confidence, feeling stuck, and procrastination.
Often times mindset barriers result in analysis paralysis or trying many different things to build your business with nothing working to help you achieve your goals.
Mindset barriers may trigger anxiety
You may feel like a failure because of mindset barriers.
Frequently, people are frustrated because nothing is working and they blame many other things for the reason they are being held back.
Mindset barriers often cause people to stay in a place of inaction.
When you have mindset barriers you are more likely to compare and despair instead of taking intentional effective action.
The good news is that you can change your mindset and the neuropathways in your brain and begin to think more positively thus producing more results and achieving your goals.
Your thoughts produce your results!
Brand Marketing Strategy
The first part of any brand marketing strategy is to create a personal brand.
Once your personal brand is established, it is time to communicate with your audience and tell them what makes you unique.
Personal branding is differentiating yourself so that you stand out as the expert that can help your soulmate clients.
Your brand marketing strategy is the strategy you create to market your brand and business to your soulmate clients.
Where can you reach them
What marketing tools and platforms should you use
Email marketing
Pinterest marketing
Social media marketing
YouTube channel creation
Podcasting
LinkedIn
Blogging
SEO
Is it one platform or is it multiple platforms that you should use?
How can you simplify the strategy so that you are consistent?
A brand marketing strategy also includes a sales process.
And no brand marketing strategy is complete without a PR strategy.
The key to a successful brand marketing strategy is to create messaging that resonates and connects with your soulmate clients, differentiates you from all others in your area of expertise, and builds trust with your ideal audience so that they know exactly how you will help them.
Tech, tools, systems, and processes
With every brand marketing strategy, you need to have technology and tools to automate your business and make life easier.
In addition, to have a successful business, you need to have systems and processes in place. But which systems and processes do you need and how can you automate them and ensure someone else can run your business if you aren’t available?
Tech, tools, systems, and processes go hand in hand but it can be very overwhelming to decipher which of each to invest in, which are easiest to use, and which will simplify your business and help you best implement your brand marketing strategy.
Automation is critical for maintaining sanity as you grow and scale your business.
Do you need a fancy funnel system? If yes, which one is best? If not, how do you automate?
How can you connect one platform or system to another using technology?
Action
Intentional effective action leads to results.
Results create motivation.
Motivation creates progress.
Progress creates momentum.
Momentum keeps you moving forward to achieve your goals.
The results of taking intentional action include:
Attracting your soulmate clients
Building relationships
Converting sales
Making money
Making an impact
Achieving goals
You can see how starting with clarity around your purpose is critical to taking intentional and effective action. Clarity cannot be achieved if you are sitting in a place of negative thoughts and doubt. Likewise, you will not be able to create an effective brand marketing strategy without clarity and a positive mindset. Similarly, it is necessary to understand tech, tools, systems, and processes to effectively implement a brand marketing strategy.
And lastly, without any clarity, a positive mindset, a brand marketing strategy, and the tech, tools, systems, and processes in place, you will not be able to take intentional effective action. The reverse is also true. If you aren’t taking intentional effective action to achieve clarity, a positive mindset, create a brand marketing strategy, and implement proper tech, tools, systems, and processes, you will not achieve your goals. You will feel stuck, overwhelmed, frustrated, and doubtful, and stay in a place of inaction or lack of growth.
There are three opportunities to work with me using Purpose to Results™. They include:
CEO Club – a 6-month 1:1 business and mindset coaching/mentorship program
VIP Day – a 1:1 business and mindset coaching/mentorship experience in a 4-hour power-packed session
Transformation hour – 1:1 session in which I help you discover what barriers are keeping you from being successful.
Click here to learn more about each option or to book a discovery call to learn more about coaching with me and which option is best for you.
What do you know about exploitation and human trafficking?
For many, these are topics that are only significant in other places, however, this is no longer true. And worse, they are the fastest-growing illegal industry.
Dawn Manske has set out to increase awareness of this tragedy and help victims find dignified employment to break the cycle of vulnerability and risk.
When traveling abroad in China, Dawn had the experience of seeing two major risks for exploitation and human trafficking, extreme poverty, and devaluation of the girl child. She spent time with orphans and loved on them. Many of them were girls because girls were often abandoned because of the cultural emphasis on male children. During her time in China, Dawn also discovered the risk of sex trafficking for the vulnerable poor population. Men and sometimes women would go into towns and find the families that were most vulnerable.
The 5 key components of exploitation and human trafficking
Vulnerabilities – situations such as poverty.
Procurers and perpetrators – people who are experts at identifying vulnerabilities.
Exploitation – taking someone by force, fraud, or coercion.
Rescue and restore
Return and reintegrate
While Dawn was living in China she met people and saw the effect and impact of extreme poverty and devaluation of the girl child.
When perpetrators go into poor villages and tell families that they will take their children to the city and they will make a lot of money to send back home to them, the families don’t realize that it is a lie. The children are brought to big cities and used for slave labor.
The sandals that started it all
As Dawn was struggling to discover how she could help save these children and increase awareness of exploitation, her husband gave her a wedding gift of sandals. The sandals had a story of integrating business and helping people. This was the first time Dawn understood social enterprise.
Another wedding gift came from a friend who came from Thailand, a few pairs of fisherman’s pants. While traveling, people asked Dawn where she got the pants. The pants are very unique and comfortable and people wanted them when they saw them.
The first step when creating a business is identifying the problem that you can solve.
People were asking Dawn about the pants and wanted the pants, but the pants were hard to find or purchase. This was the start of Dawn’s idea to sell pants. However, she didn’t think she wanted to spend her energy selling pants. She wanted to have an impact. But, she remembered the example of the sandals, doing business while doing good.
The pants were created to help victims of exploitation and human trafficking
Dawn started by partnering with an organization in Thailand. She resigned the pants so that they would be more flattering, not so baggy. The name was also changed from Fisherman’s Pants to Creabeli pants, which means creating a beautiful life. Young ladies who came from marginalized environments and had been victims of exploitation were taught how to sew and make Creabeli pants. After they made several orders for Dawn, Dawn received a message that the ladies were having great success with finding jobs, etc, and therefore, they were no longer sewing.
Dawn is now looking to partner with another organization to make the pants.
What causes people to fall into exploitation and what are the pieces to help them get out?
After exploitation is rescued and restored. These include a safe house, therapy, legal services, and counseling. But, then there is the next piece which is often forgotten, and that is returned and reintegrated. To be successful at this, women have to have a skill.
This is where Dawn and Made for Freedom come in. They provide dignified employment. Dignified employment is a job that is safe, provides encouragement, provides a good wage, and prevents or decreases vulnerabilities. Therefore, the women are able to support themselves and are no longer vulnerable.
Exploitation and human trafficking are global issues and that includes the U.S.
Globally, human trafficking is the fastest-growing illegal industry. It is an industry, it is supply and demand. Human trafficking looks different in different places, but anywhere you go, you have vulnerable populations and people who are greedy and willing to exploit others for their gain.
Who is at risk for exploitation and human trafficking?
Refugees and immigrants
Marginalized populations
People living in extreme poverty
Women in domestic violence situations
People living with low self-esteem and a lack of support from family and friends
Kids in the foster system – many kids, 80+%, who age out of foster care, typically at age 18, end up in jail, homeless, or as a prostitute.
It is important for all of us to be aware that this is happening so we can recognize what’s happening, and protect vulnerable populations.
The story of the starfish
There was a little boy walking on the beach and he was throwing starfish back in the ocean. An old man stopped him and asked why he was doing that. The boy responded, “I am saving the starfish.” The old man then said, “there are thousands of starfish and only one you, what difference can you make?” The boy picked up a starfish and threw it in the water and said, “I made a difference for that one.”
Even if we do only a small part, we are able to make a difference.
Another necklace she carries is a heart necklace that is two-toned and the center of the heart has been removed and put into another necklace. These necklaces are taken as a gift by outreach teams to people they know are working in red-light districts who whom they suspect have been exploited and they say “you are valuable and you have dignity, we don’t want anything in return but we want you to know that someone wearing the other part of this is standing for your freedom”. They receive this necklace, and many come back to the center and state that they want to leave that life and see that they are valuable.
Every purchase from Dawn’s store is the result of providing dignified employment. The more she sells, the more opportunities she creates for dignified employment.
About Dawn Manske
Dawn Manske is the founder of Made for Freedom. She is on a mission to fight human trafficking with style. Dawn started the social enterprise, Made for Freedom with an idea revolving around her favorite international clothing. The company has grown into a lifestyle brand carrying clothing, bath and body, jewelry, home goods, and more with retail space across the U.S. Dawn has partnered with over 20 re4storation centers/suppliers worldwide and provided over 25,000 hours of dignified employment for survivors of trafficking and those coming out of marginalized situations. In addition, she has been a guest speaker for conferences, news programs, and the US State Department to present the impact of dignified employment in the fight against human trafficking.
Learn more from and connect with Dawn Manske and human trafficking:
Your why is what will help build the emotional connection that will make people trust you and want to buy from you.
Knowing your why, and your purpose is a critical part of building a solid foundation for a successful business. Simon Sinek speaks about the importance of knowing your why and starting with why in his TED Talk.
About Chris Olson
Chris Olson is the master of knowing your why. After more than a decade working in broadcast media, Christ founded a communications consultancy and began leveraging her behind-the-scenes media expertise to benefit clients. Through that work, Christ realized her why – to support women-owned businesses in confidently communicating their purpose and impact, setting them up for entrepreneurial success. She is the founder of the My Founder Story platform. Chris is the author of Whyography, Building a Brand Fueled with Purpose.
Knowing your why is important for confidence and funding
Women get about 4% of venture capital. Similarly, only 25% of women who apply for business loans receive the loans. This is not because of bad credit or poor ideas. Most likely, it is a lack of confidence or inability to show the impact you will have through your business when pitching to investors. Knowing your why is critical for conveying confidence.
Getting clear on your personal brand is the foundation for your business. Clarity on your why, your purpose, and what is trigging the emotions inside of you to create your business. If struggling to find clarity around your why use Robyn’s purpose equation: values + visions + passions = purpose (knowing your why).
Likewise, when you have clarity and are focusing on your why, you will feel more fulfilled.
Values are a huge part of your why. Start with the values that resonate with you. Sometimes, people choose values that are aspirational but aren’t how you are showing up in the world. Choose values that you are actively living.
You can look at where and how you are spending your money. Most likely, you are purchasing from brands and companies that align with your values. Similarly, evaluate how your values show up in your everyday life.
The first step is getting clear on your values. Narrow your values down to five that show up in your life in action every day.
The tiny why statement
There are 20 power verbs: educates, empowers, and advances, the words that indicate a powerful action. What power verb would you choose for your business and connect that to the person you serve?
For example, Chris’s tiny why statement is: I empower women-owned businesses.
To grow confidence in your business, practice saying your tiny why statement.
The impact statement
Now, to make your tiny why statement your why statement, add the impact you have on your ideal customer. For example, Chris wants to help other women make an impact by confidently communicating how they serve others.
Shoppers want to purchase from purpose-driven businesses. Likewise, people want to work for purpose-driven businesses. Therefore, there are a lot of reasons to have clarity around knowing your why and your purpose.
Be sure that your why is about how you are making an impact in the world.
Leading with why instead of what
From a young age, we are taught to lead with what. But leading with your why is much more impactful for building connections and keeping the conversations moving forward.
Eventually, you get to your what, but it is best to lead with your why.
Likewise, starting with your why will hook people because of an emotional connection.
Similarly, your why is rooted in who you are so you don’t have to remember buzzwords or bullet points, you are speaking from your heart and with confidence.
What is whyography?
Whyography is writing about your why.
Your why is your natural differentiator. The concept of whyography is the art and science of telling your story. Think about how the human brain reacts to stories. Whyography touches on telling your story to really engage the senses of your audience.
Start with the big moment of wanting to start your business. Next, explain how you pursued the path to do this, and the climax is taking the leap and starting your business. Then, encapsulate what you are doing in your business and your why. The conclusion is your vision for the future, and what you hope your business is doing five years from now.
Whyography captures the principles of storytelling and the power of purpose.
Your why is your compass
When feeling stuck, pivoting, rebranding, or feeling confused, come back to your purpose to regain clarity. Your why may shift slightly, but if you think of it as a compass, you will be able to redirect yourself by regaining clarity. If you feel like you are floundering, or your business is floundering it is because you aren’t aligned with your purpose. Do the exercise of the tiny why statement to bring yourself back to a place of clarity.
Likewise, ask yourself if you are doing something to serve your clients. Ask yourself what impact you want to have.
When you look at your why think about the moments in your life that were big moments. Look at the moments good and bad, that have guided you to what you want to do. For example, does empathy drive you? And what did you do next? Your values will show up in what you did next.
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