When I first started this blog in the fall of 2009, I had been running businesses online for 14 years. But this was the FIRST time I had put myself out there to teach others what I was doing. I still remember the struggle of, “How on earth do I break this down? I mean…. how DO I do this anyways?”
So many people were asking me every single day to teach them how I had grown my first email list in the 1990’s to over 35,000 clients in under 2 years. They wanted to know HOW did I make over $1 million dollars 100% SELF TAUGHT with my kitchenware business? HOW did I get my blog to show up on the first page of Google in just a few days after it was launched?! The questions kept coming in over and over again. Then God spoke to my heart and said these words, “If you will teach others what you’ve been doing all of these years you will not lack one good thing.”
It’s an interesting story really, my business history. My first $4.5 million in business were completely self taught. Then I got real sick, sold everything, nearly lost my life (literally!) and gave up. I thought God was mad at me, punishing me and that going into business like this, making all this money, was a sinful thing for me to do as a Christian. Never mind all the money we had poured into charitable causes, things were a mess, I was dying, it would be best to swallow this hard pill and just let it go. Surely, God was mad.
But I didn’t die. God literally did a miraculous thing and healed me, in so many ways. Including showing me that He was NOT mad. Actually, He had called me to business. My PURPOSE, calling and authority in the kingdom of heaven were all tied to business. Wow… no wonder I had so many attacks! HA!
I’ve done everything from eCommerce to life coaching to direct sales. My career has led me into mastering copywriting, marketing, consulting, speaking, videos, writing, and the list goes on. And every single time I went into the million dollar realm in sales. It wasn’t until I started this company though, in 2009, that I had different goals for my business and where I wanted to be 10 years from the start. Yes, I wanted to make a lot of money. God has anointed me to do so. But my PURPOSE was finally found.
This company, A Real Change International, Inc was driven by one very specific focus: Help others to do what I did and continue to get more masterful at whatever I do, every single year. And here we are. 1.8 MILLION people following me on social media and over 2 million in our client base. I’ve been rated as the TOP voice for Facebook marketing in many magazines, top social media influencer, online marketer and more. But at the heart of it all, a total transformation has taken place in me. Not just my business, but in me, personally. That’s where I want to go today.
Many of you, my amazing small business friends, start your business out with big dreams and big goals. That is fantastic! But the pressure you put on yourself to be perfect, be where I am in 120 days and other unrealistic expectations is really damaging your chances for success. This morning as I was drinking my coffee and praying over our business, my day and all of you, I began to look through old photos of what this website used to look like.
You can see from above, polished was not necessarily my middle name, but PASSION was deep in my heart from day one. Regardless of how my website looked originally, it generated 7 FIGURES in our first 7 months. The biggest thing I did different this time? I made a firm commitment to be myself to serve others, work hard and to evolve WITH my business.
This time I didn’t set out to create an ‘image’ or a ‘name’ for myself, but rather, to just share my heart, the things I’ve been doing all of these years successfully online and to connect with as many people as I possibly could. The rest is history! From our first WordPress class that sold out in record time to now having one of the top pages on Facebook, it’s plain to see, that being YOURSELF is an excellent marketing plan.
What can you take away from this? Three very important tips:
- BE yourself. You’re going to need to get good mentoring on marketing, branding, pricing and the like, but when all is said and done. #BEMORE and be yourself
- Accept the fact that your brand and you will change as you go. My ‘tag line’ and my copy has changed many times. As you can see, so have I! But my purpose never changed. Ever.
- Learn as you go. Every single day I am still learning. I devote many hours every single week to studying social media marketing, pay per click ads, analytics, data mining and more. I’m a nut, I know. But I’m NOT studying just to study. I am NOT a research addict. I study to bring more value to my customers every single day. DO THE SAME. Improve every day. Go farther, push yourself. Invest into YOU and your education. Get masterful and never settle. Bring value to the world!
I hope this encourages some of you who can’t seem to see into your future. You’re doing a great job! Jump into one of my mentorships! Let’s work for a year together, or even two. If you do, this one thing I can say: If you put all you’ve got into it, make a commitment to never quit and never give up and you get the help you need along the way? You will NOT recognize your life!
With love,
Sandi Krakowski
