Create Your Own Economy
I just got the news that Amazon and Meta (Facebook) is collectively laying off thousands of employees. Couple this with Twitter and we are talking about 20,000 people being let go. This definitely made my heart sink because I am thinking about all of the families that are impacted by this decision. Some of these people will succumb to the stress of the unknown, marriages will go into disarray, some families won't be able to celebrate Christmas, or go on their planned vacations for 2023. Some will even contemplate suicide. Maybe you have experienced being laid off from a job or maybe you are living paycheck to paycheck and is one disaster away from financial ruin. I have come to encourage you.
As a believer in Jesus Christ, we have many precious promises about God's people having MORE THAN ENOUGH. I know many times the "prosperity message" in Christian circles has been tainted and people believe that having money is the root of all evil. But the Bible did not say that having money was the root of all evil, it says the LOVE OF MONEY is the root of all evil. This means, it is not about the paper dollar you have stashed under your mattress, the plastic you have in your wallet, or the digital bank you have on your phone. It is about your heart posture towards the resource you have. How do you feel about money? This could be hindering you from tapping into your creative ability to get more money.
Check this out...here are some of my favorite scriptures:
Proverbs 21:20 The wise have wealth and luxury, but fools spend whatever they get.
Luke 6:38 Give and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full - pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.
Philippians 4:19 And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.
Proverbs 10:22 The blessing of the Lord makes a person rich, and he adds no sorrow with it.
Isaiah 1:19 If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land.
Deuteronomy 8:18 But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms His covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.
With all of these scriptures and to sum it all up:
You must be wise and not foolish with what you have, understand the power of giving when led by God, fully convinced that He will supply all of your needs, that His blessing is to make you rich and it will not come with sorrow, but you must be willing and obedient to see the good of the land, and never forget who He is and that He has given you the ability to PRODUCE WEALTH for his covenant sake.
How do you feel about that run on sentence? LOL
It seems as if God is saying that it is not about how much you have but what you do with what you have. It also looks like God has given us this creative ability to produce and/or obtain wealth.
One of the ways to ensure you don't have all of your eggs in one basket is to create multiple baskets. When God placed Adam in the garden, there were 4 "streams" attached to the garden. God wanted to make sure that if one dried up, the other three could still supply. Symbolically, we should use this as a spiritual lesson to do something natural and create some additional streams to flow into our garden (our life).
So, how will you produce another stream? What can you do to produce more income?
Well, here are some options:
Real Estate Investments which could be buying and flipping properties OR buying property & renting it out long term or short term (think airbnb)
Purchasing Stocks, Bonds, Gold, etc.
Putting money into your retirement accounts especially if your employer is matching what you put in
Or BRAND YOURSELF aka launch a business online using your expertise, talent, skill, or education.
I think about all of the women I have encountered that took the leap of faith to take their expertise, education, skills, and creative ability and transformed it into a service, program, or product and set themselves up to make some additional income aside from their 9 to 5. Many of these women are full blown wives, have kids, and major positions in their workplace and they found a way to make it happen.
I have a brand bestie that is a VP of Human Resources at a major company. She is top tier executive leader at her job but she branded herself and is now providing HR Solutions for Small Businesses, Leadership Development Coaching, Career Coaching, and Life Coaching. She has a lot of clients that she has scattered around her calendar. She is renting out her office just for her business. She is married with a teenage boy and she is embarking on her second venture for the plus size lingerie industry. If she can do it, so can you.
I have another brand bestie that is married with two young boys. She works remotely from home, is an active leader at her church, and launched her brand selling custom earrings and teaching transformational messages that would rock your socks off. She ships from her house. If she can do it, so can you.
I have one current client who is in my BrandAtelier Experience. She is a full blown professor at an HBCU, a wife, a mother to two kids, an active leader and prophetess at her church, and her life is hectic. She has found the time to go through all of my inner healing and brand development sessions, work my in-house Personal Stylist to get her 2-3 looks so she can meet up with my brand photographer to truly elevate her brand with excellent visuals that will tell her audience that she is serious about her brand. She branded herself and is providing leadership development coaching, purpose coaching, and relationship coaching. She just took what she knew and packaged it. If she can do it, so can you.
I have another bestie who I have strategized with about her budding brand. She has the gift to dance before the Lord, she has the gift to make dance apparel, and she has been called by other leaders in the US to teach their dance teams about worship. I even paid her to come to my church and do workshops for my dance and flag teams. So I told her to simply BRAND HERSELF. I told her to develop a dance curriculum and let that be her signature offer. She can create unique and anointed dance pieces, and she can get booked to dance and/or speak. She got the goods and she is already doing it, she just need to make it official. If she can do it, so can you.
What is in your house? What are you already doing for FREE that you really need to be charging for? BRAND YOURSELF!
I hope this blog blessed your life.
- Quiana J. Speaks
Are you ready to brand your brilliance? I offer comprehensive brand strategy and development services for Kingdom women who are serious about building a Kingdom brand. This is for you ONLY if you are ready to do the INNER WORK and the BRAND WORK! Through strategy, style, and the systems you need to run your brand, I will walk you step by step using my signature brand-building framework. I will train you, empower you, mentor you, push you, make you confront those limiting beliefs, and give you the tools you need to successfully build your brand and release your jars of oil with presence, power, and profits to match.
Interested? Click HERE to learn more about the BrandAtelier™️ Experience.
