I’m laying it all out.

Getting honest.

Kicking the crazy to the curb and letting the world know where I stand.

I’m weary of the hustle.

Tired of the noise and the blaring horns shouting offer after offer.

Bored of the carrot stick leading my donkey brain in circles.

I don’t want to be pushed by psychological tactics to press buttons and take actions contrary to my conscience and intelligence. The dumb thing is I still fall for it far too often.

I’m already yawning with jaded anticipation for the next $7 bait that will soon transform into a $1000 never-to-be-repeated-get-it-now-or-you’ll-regret-it-forever ‘opportunity’.

And no joke, I’m in the mix here. I’m deep in the jungle trying to navigate my way through this mess, trying to figure out how to turn up in an authentic way that values myself and my customer. 

I believe in commerce. I’m a capitalist. I believe in creativity, freedom of expression, and wealth creation. I believe in value exchange.

I believe you should not undervalue or underestimate what you bring (although I do it myself all the time). 

But, and I’ll say this a plainly as I can.

I’m sick of the lies.

All the promises of wealth and money and honey-dripping prosperity are so yesterday. They speak to a craving. A desire to be noticed, to be lauded, to be admired. Usually underlying the thinking behind the sale is a clear intention to turn the knife hard on your insecurities and exploit your sense of failure. To leverage your seeming insignificance and amplify the painful longing to finally ‘be’ someone. 

All the while you already are someone.

All the while your value is intrinsic. 

You are loved.

You are admired.

You are significant.

You are important. 

Your worth is far more than the ruby encrusted crown on the other side of that flashing button or one-time-offer.

Dear friends…

The sales pages slapped on the web, at least the ones that do their job, are usually crafted by someone 15000 steps down the line, sharing their reality to people who are still trying to take step one. The grand promises and high expectations that are blazed in red letters and with such convincing urgency are in actuality very unrealistic for most people. 

That person who “did a ‘six-figure’ launch using my system…”

Did they do it? Absolutely. Is it fact? 100%. Is it typical? Far, far from it!

But typical doesn’t sell.

The testimonials and curated sound bites are the highlight real. 

95% of people get average results. 

But average doesn’t sell. 

When was the last time you read an offer promising decidedly average results?

Attention! You too can be slightly more mediocre than the next guy. Buy this and get so-so results as you grapple with the mindsets required to actually make it all work.

How many actually tell the homely truth that the journey for the most part can be arduous, and filled with challenges you could never have anticipated?

Do marketers lay it bare and confess that the breaks they have enjoyed were often unintentional? 

How many tell you that most people who purchase their products do little or nothing with it, or that even when they do that their results are relatively unimpressive.

And it’s not just the marketing. Not just the seller whose to blame, if blame were being dished out. It’s the buyer.

The majority of people who dream of change and freedom don’t even have the courage to take the first action required to begin making a dent. The only action taken was the purchase of another product or course, and that, for a brief moment, feels like a win.

But buying something else is not a win. The action you need to take is not another shiny object to hoard on your hard drive.

Doing something right where you are at, and celebrating your small, is a win.

Understanding that joy is your strength, and God is your friend is a win.

Knowing that the world is filled with everyday heroes who will most likely never end up being the ‘case study’ is the win.

Ordinary is downplayed, but awesome.

Doing life online is not easy. But it is worth it.

Don’t fall for the lie. It is not just a matter of pushing a button, taking massive action, or slapping up a funnel of compelling copy on a series of webpages.

Those things might be part of the recipe, but it’s far from the whole picture.

The paradox is that it’s both far easier than you believe, and a great deal harder than you know, to really build a lifestyle business in the online space.

But thank God, we are dreamers. We are doers.

Thank God for the channels that have been opened to us to share our worth.

Thank God that He has not left us as orphans to find our own way. 

Thank God He’s provided all that we need to begin, and all that’s required to continue and to take the next step in our own personal quest.

Don’t be diverted.

It’s not the next exciting offer you are looking for.

Where you will find your amazing is not round the next corner, or behind the next Buy Now button.

It is in you right now. 

The most valuable, most ground-breaking, most life-changing, product on the planet was crafted by divinity.

It is you, brother.

It is you, sister.

And you are enough!

From that place, you can begin to share, and the world will be a far richer place because you do.