If you want to do and be paid for your greatest, most impactful work, you have to transcend your transactional perspective

If you want to do and be paid for your greatest work, it's essential to move beyond a purely transactional mindset. Many of us venture into business and entrepreneurship with the goal of achieving financial success on our own terms. While this initial self-focus might seem self-centered, it's not necessarily a bad thing. It sets us on a unique journey where we eventually discover the deeper meaning of serving others.

Based on my experiences, I've learned the importance of shifting away from a transactional approach in business, especially in my role as a personal brand entrepreneur. This transformation has allowed me to grasp the true essence of service, become a more valuable contributor, and embrace unconventional success principles. Let me outline four key practices that you should abandon if you aim to excel and reap the rewards of your greatest work.

#1. Watering down your message and not saying what you really want to say.

At the start of my personal branding journey, I began a blog where I shared profound insights across a range of topics. It served as an outlet for creativity, a path of intellectual exploration, and a means of self-expression. However, during those early days, I had yet to pinpoint my niche, refine my messaging, or formulate a clear strategy for monetization.

It was a phase characterized by exploration, driven by a deep desire to capture the profound thoughts and life epiphanies I had gathered. Despite lacking the strategic precision advocated by many experts, it felt intuitively right.

As I delved further into this journey, I avidly consumed content from diverse sources, each offering their own recipe for success in the realm of personal branding. One of the earliest pieces of advice that I came across was the commonly heard recommendation to 'niche down.' I was advised that without a distinct niche, financial success would remain elusive. Consequently, I made the decision to narrow my focus to 'love and relationships.'

This marked the beginning of a deeper dive into the sea of “expert” advice. I heeded the call to shape my messaging in specific ways, following trends and suggestions that appeared promising for financial rewards. I experimented with 'listicles,' articles that listed the 'Top 5 Ways to...' or '10 Things to Avoid if You Want...' This approach persisted for several weeks until I encountered more advice suggesting that 'How to' content was the key to sales. So, I adapted once more and began crafting concise 'How to' guides.

Yet, the ever-shifting landscape of personal branding had more lessons to impart. Soon, I found myself inundated with advice that 'How to' content was considered too basic and that I needed to delve into the pain points of my ideal clients. In response, I created content centered around the struggles and challenges I had faced in my own love life.

However, the guidance continued to evolve, and I was instructed to shift away from addressing pain points, as it allegedly attracted disempowered, victimized clients. Instead, new advice insisted I should focus on the desires of my audience.

I absorbed all this advice and strove to mold my content accordingly. It became an exhausting cycle of adaptation, with each pivot in response to expert counsel pushing me further from my authentic voice and message. I felt like a reluctant chameleon, donning various personas in pursuit of elusive success.

Amidst this cacophony of external voices, I grew increasingly frustrated and stifled by the untold stories and unspoken truths I held within.

The sheer volume of information and the urgency with which I felt compelled to follow each new directive left me overwhelmed. All of the external advice grew so loud that my own inner voice, the compass that had initially guided me on this journey, became nearly inaudible. It took me a considerable amount of time and self-reflection to find the inner strength to tune out the noise and create a space of silence where I could hear my own wisdom, my own unique message.

Over time, as I learned to drown out the voices of countless experts and influencers, a clear stream of thought began to flow from within me.

A steady, authoritative tone emerged, imbued with wisdom that had long remained dormant. I began to write in this voice, to draw upon the wellspring of insights that were uniquely mine. Finally, the message I had always known I held deep within began to unravel itself and make itself known to me.

My writing began to satisfy not just my own creative yearnings but also the cravings of my readers. I began to write freely, without the constant filter of external advice, and I held nothing back. It was a transformational journey that required not only a willingness to experiment and adapt but also the courage to trust in my own voice and wisdom, regardless of the noisy chorus of external guidance.

Had I continued to generate my messaging solely based on what would be most profitable, I would have found myself sounding generic, frustrated, and ultimately failing to connect with the people I am meant to serve.

#2. Selling what you're told will make money instead of what you are being called to offer.

As I searched for the right messaging for myself and my audience, I also grappled with figuring out what to sell. I absorbed advice on crafting the perfect offer. At the time, coaching, courses, and group programs were all everyone talked about. I launched headfirst into these offerings.

Initially, I offered four coaching sessions tailored to each client. Then, I delved into more specific programs promising distinct outcomes—Valentine's Day-themed classes, a healing course, a 5-step program, a 12-week intensive, along with various mini-courses and digital products. Just listing these exhausts me.

While some of these efforts did generate income, they fell short of representing the true value I believed I could offer. Each offering felt rigid and lifeless, unable to capture the dynamic essence of the value I wanted to provide my audience. I was simply chasing profits, not creating offerings that aligned with my passion and purpose. Honestly, I felt like I was being manipulated like a piece on a chessboard; chasing the allure of money.

It was only when I broke free from the spell of profit-centric thinking that I discovered how I genuinely wished to serve my audience. I found my passion lay in filling gaps where people had missing pieces, not traditional coaching.

Writing became my preferred means of expression over creating structured modules. I thrived in creating a flexible, adaptable approach for my clients rather than creating a rigid methodology for them to follow. I wanted to empower individuals to embark on their unique journeys, using my ideas as tools, rather than forcing them onto a predefined path.

Lastly, I realized that I gravitated toward serving many at once, rather than one-on-one interactions.

Of course, this journey involved its share of trial and error, but through it all, I learned a fundamental truth: I must serve in a way that aligns with my strengths and desires, not just for the pursuit of money. This realization led me to create an offer rooted in writing, where I could freely share my ideas, bridge critical gaps, and serve on a one-to-many scale.

Approaching my offer with a transactional mindset, solely focusing on what would make the most money, would have trapped me in a cycle where I despised what I sold and delivering it, draining me regardless of the level of success achieved.

#3. Not being consistent with your content creation and sharing through major pivots.

During my entrepreneurial journey, one significant challenge I faced was maintaining consistency, especially when it came to refining my messaging and offerings. As I mentioned earlier, I often found myself pivoting in these areas, which resulted in a cycle of gaining and then losing momentum.

With each pivot, I would stop creating content and promoting my brand, thinking it was logical to do so because I wasn't satisfied with my messaging or offerings. I viewed everything from a transactional perspective, believing that if I couldn't immediately make money from my messaging and offerings, there was no point in engaging with my audience.

Looking back, I can see that this mindset was limited. I didn't realize that even during pivots, I could still provide value to my audience by sharing my imperfect messaging. Additionally, I learned that I didn't have to sell something if I wasn't confident in the offer; I could nurture my audience by offering valuable content, thus helping my brand grow and maintaining momentum.

It was only when I let go of this transactional mindset that I understood how I had been hindering my own personal brand by repeatedly interrupting its growth and momentum. This serves as a reminder of the drawbacks of approaching branding and marketing solely from a transactional perspective, as it can stifle growth, momentum, and overall brand development.

#4. Adopting other people’s systems and overriding what has always worked and come natural to you.

This last, over-arching lesson connects the dots in my previous points but deserves further explanation to fully grasp its importance. Writing has always been a passion of mine. When I was just 16, I wrote a novel under a pen name that nearly reached a million readers.

I share this not to brag but to emphasize that I had a knack for expressing my ideas through writing and connecting with an audience. Back then, attracting readers felt almost effortless; I didn't need to research extensively or get bogged down in how to craft my message. I simply shared what was in my heart and consistently pursued my deepest work, and readers naturally came to me.

During my teenage years, I didn't think much about it; I considered myself lucky to have an engaged audience. Little did I know that I was witnessing a fundamental principle of success unfolding right before my eyes. I now understand that this principle revolves around the idea that we already carry the blueprint for our success within us.

The real journey involves discovering our deepest and most meaningful work, continually engaging in it while striving for improvement, and consistently sharing this profound work with the world. By following these principles, success naturally finds its way to us.

This perspective contradicts much of the advice from experts. They often advocate for market research, encourage us to let the public shape our work, suggest we seek external validation before believing in our greatness, and promote strategies for maximizing financial gain.

Embracing the belief systems and methodologies of others led me astray, drowning out my own inner voice and the success principles that had always guided me. Believing that following others' systems would bring in more money and adopting a purely transactional mindset prevented me from discovering what truly resonated with me.

Ultimately, success in doing your greatest work isn't solely about profit or following popular trends. It's about staying true to your message, serving your calling, maintaining consistency, and trusting your unique path. By transcending a transactional perspective, you pave the way for meaningful and impactful work that resonates with both you and your audience.

I hope this served you.

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