Common searches — authenticity, self-acceptance, feminine, resilience, mindful business, pricing, process, feasible schedules. What would inspire you today?
My blog and my books invite you to step more fully into who you truly are, to establish a lifestyle that is truly grounded. Focused on authenticity, self-acceptance, intuition and the feminine, all I create and share for you is meant to help you stay healthy — in mind, emotions, body and relationships — by discovering and staying true to you. Authenticity, Boundaries, Compatibility, Sovereignty.
I no longer share technical business insights, as I’ve shifted focus, but I have kept those I've shared in the past. There, I apply my professional and MBA insights through alternative, mindful entrepreneurship strategy — pricing, process, feasible schedules for true creativity and productivity. Quick tips and feasible practices to help you along the way. I hope these insights energize you.
Conversations with Crystal-Marie is no longer my monthly e-news update. Still, the conversation continues here on the blog (subscribe here), on Instagram, Patreon, Bitchute or YouTube. and occasionally on LinkedIn via profile and company. Welcome🌺
“Setting better rates—our own part in pay parity / pay equity—starts with looking inward at our own self-worth, so that we are unapologetic in setting our rates (among other things). I believe my role is to help women (or anyone doubting) start that inner dialogue from a place of, "yes! Why not me?!" — Crystal-Marie Sealy, MBA, Mom. Let's see if anything here moves you to be more comfortable with higher pricing. ❤️
Read MoreHere is why a clear pricing strategy matters for service professionals. Product industries have clearer, tangible lines in the sand about cost of production, salaries and overhead. It's why you won't dare go to a grocery and expect to get that head of lettuce if you're a penny short. Knowledge industries, however, are not so clear. Read on to see where well-being and the feminine come in.
Read MoreGifts. We remember them for others but often forget ourselves. Sometimes we remember them for others, but forget that, once given, it's theirs to use as they see fit. The Gift of Pricing, as I reference it here, is the same. Is it for you - the service or the invitation here, to awaken - or is there someone who'd love to receive this blog post or 5-week pricing strategy? For some, just what's written here is enough to inspire you to set the pricing you deserve, and to honour yourself in sticking with it.
Read MoreMindful Entrepreneurship. Serve better clients, better. Wait. What? Yip. I firmly believe we're all of equal value, here, but that we simply are not all compatible. When I say "better clients", I'm therefore referring to clients who aren't trying to change you - personality, pricing or practice - and vice versa. Who values you as you are?
Read MoreI used to say that entrepreneurship can be a lonely road for first-generation entrepreneurs. I mean, family keeps waiting for you to snap out of it, past colleagues think you're not around enough, even fellow entrepreneurs think you're doing it wrong. All of them often offer unwarranted, sometimes outdated or irrelevant, advice. Today, while I still acknowledge that entrepreneurship can be a lonely road, I'm clear that it doesn't have to be.
Read MoreWe all seem to want cheap and free, but our global economy cant sustain that. Can you see the disconnect? Someone has to keep the flow of wealth (and well-being) going to ensure the wheel keeps turning. We assume that angel investors, venture capitalists, the stock market (i.e. your investments) and the government (i.e. taxes you pay) should take care of any shortfalls, but if we all stopped paying, how would they find the funds to do that?
Read MoreToday my someone sent me a JPG:
"You are not a loan"
.
I laughed at first, as my mind raced with all the ways that that could have been interpreted, but then it hit me. Is that how I saw myself?
I don't know if you fell for the hype around education, but I
totally 'drank the Kool-Aid'.
Education is important and any amount of debt is worth having it.
When you graduate you will get a job in the $Xk bracket; the recession will be over by the time you graduate.
You have to invest in yourself (even above your means) to get there.
[
.
I couldn't help it. Even the Kool-Aid realized something was amiss.]
As with every exaggeration,
there's just enough truth here to make us buy-in, but it's not entirely true. I'm writing this as it pertains to education, but this may apply to other high-priced dreams.
If things like autonomy and financial freedom
matter to you, if you envision a life where 100% of the money you earn is yours to spend, share or save as you choose, then blindly applying the above philosophies will not get you there. I'd just like to share a few insights below.
On the first matter of
"Education is important and any amount of debt is worth having it",
no one's mentioned "life after debt". Here are a few alternatives to a Bank Loan or any kind of Student Loan.
Sponsors. These are people who fund your venture, idea or education in exchange for a non-monetary benefit. If there's an organization you have a great idea to help, and that degree, certificate, will hep you better support them, the value of your certified expertise may be worth it for them. What organizations can you truly help? What is your passion?
Crowdfunding. This is a public campaign to get funding for almost any reasonable cause. If your goal is to become an entrepreneur, and your resulting service/product will help a lot of people, it would be beneficial for them to fund your education to make that happen. If someone can get over $50k for potato salad, you can get your education funded. Who will you help?
Education-Exchange. This one I admit I haven't seen happen, but if professors can further their education while teaching a course, can't you? If you're more mature or you're changing fields, chances are you're carrying a lot of expertise that you may be able to trade with the right higher learning institution to get part (or all) of your education subsidized while you teach.
I do realize that some, or all, of these options may seem "ballsy", if they've never crossed your mind. I'm guessing, however, that if one of these opportunities fell into your lap, you'd take it any day over a huge loan from the bank.
These just require a bit more work and faith in yourself.
The beauty:
Your money's your own after your education (or the idea you're funding).
You'll be doing exactly what you wanted to do after, with your education (or the idea funded).
You're propelled by the need to actually live your dream, not paying off debt.
Doesn't this sound better than 15 years' repaying debt? Why not try it?
"When you graduate you will get a job in the $Xk bracket; the recession will be over."
Why not start earning now? Learn about business or your career path from those who've done it before. Still, learn on your own as well. Trust me, nothing sticks like the lessons you learn yourself. Honour that too.
Want to start a business? Start while you're at school. Do your trials there, so when you graduate, you have a sustainable business model.
Want to work for a specific company, or in a specific role? Create your own projects where you have to do exactly those tasks, excel at them and use those to build your portfolio. By the time you get to the interview, you'll know exactly what you're talking about.
Want to travel and see the world now? What organizations let groups travel where you want to? What can you offer to make it worth their while to take you? Deliver that.
I'm learning (better late than never) that getting creative is not just for generating art and beauty, but that
it's likely creativity that makes ordinary folks into heroes.
Get creative in learning how to love within you budget, even as you expand your budget.
Everything I've spoken about above is focused on going well beyond your won financial means without going beyond your budget. It looks at creative ways to give something very valuable for the very valuable things you would like to have. What it doesn't speak to is the money side of things.
"You have to invest in yourself (even above your means) to get there."
What do you think? I believe you have to invest in yourself, and increase the means by which to do so, but I believe what you bring in should always surpass what you put out. I believe there's always a way to do both - enter contests to
win prizes
you want,
volunteer
at events where your ideal clients are,
speak
where possible.
Successiory. Mindful Entrepreneurship business strategy for premium service professionals, introverts, women. Pricing. Process. Schedule (project management). Social media - Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and more. Earn more. Work less. Serve better clients, better. Good-bye rat race. Hello Blue Ocean. Your E.A.S.Y. Affluence Business Model™ by Successiory.
Focused on encouraging you to know and honour your individual sovereignty, best-sellers (authored and co-authored) explore authenticity, self-acceptance, intuition that, inevitably, overflow. I also explore the feminine, for women who thrive best here.
Business books not yet published but in progress, initially intended to be about mindful entrepreneurship — pricing, process, feasible schedules for true creativity and productivity — will show up differently as I evolve. Quick tips and feasible practices for a lifestyle of flow and ease, rather than about business.
Edmus and Ferdmus Leave Home: Mindfulness for Children
The Brave Little Puffer Fish: Authenticity for Children
