You Have To Believe It First

Over the weekend I was messaging with a friend of mine and we were discussing his newest venture. For most of his career he has been a financial advisor, but in the last year he has tapped into his inner creator and has started a nice side business as a designer.

We were discussing how much he should be charging for his projects and while he was waiting for my response he also messaged a designer friend of his who shared how he couldn’t believe how little my friend was charging and that he should charge no less than $5,000 for the project in front of him–$5,000 was also my recommended price.

My friend was severely underpricing himself because he didn’t see himself as a designer. He still saw himself as a financial advisor who happens to be able to do design work and since he wasn’t a true designer, he didn’t command the same prices as a designer.

I told him if he wants the world to see him as a designer, he needs to shift his perspective of himself–he is no longer a financial advisor who happens to be able to do design work. He has to see himself as a designer who happens to do some financial planning.

This shift in perspective may not seem like much and it could be dismissed as semantics, but once my friend fully embraces and believes he is a designer, the world will see him as such. And once the world knows he is a designer, not a financial advisor, more projects will find their way to him.

The world can’t see you for who you are if you don’t first see it yourself.

You have to believe it before it can be. 

It’s important that you don’t just see yourself as the version of yourself you are pursuing. You have to also believe you are THAT version of yourself.

Seeing is the beginning and believing is committing to being.

Once you are able to see the future version of you in your current version, begin talking to yourself as THAT version of yourself. Begin surrounding yourself with the people THAT version of yourself would be with. Begin charging the worth THAT version of yourself commands. Embody who you want to become because the world can never see you for the person you are becoming if YOU don’t see yourself as that first. 

This is not faking it until you make it…this is believing you are the version of your Self before the physical world catches up and can see it. 

It all starts with YOU…so go be THAT.

See you tomorrow and keep pursuing,

JC