Your Identity Upgrade Is the Business Strategy You're Missing

We should have hit record five minutes earlier, because the conversation before the mic went on was too good to lose. So we jumped straight into it: identity upgrades. And yes, we got there by way of shampoo, Pepsi, and a can of Diet Coke on a nightstand.

🎧 Prefer to listen? This post began as Ep 640 of the My Aligned Purpose podcast. Listen on Apple Podcasts or listen on Spotify.

How Your Identity Changes Without You Noticing

Here is the silly version of the story. Kaila spent about a decade as the crunchy, read-every-label, yoga-world version of herself. Then she realized she could not take the guilt anymore, went back to Herbal Essences, and felt like herself again. Nicole did something similar with pop. Around thirty, her identity became "I don't drink pop." Then she got pregnant, craved root beer with a burger, and decided on the spot that she was a pop drinker now. A year later she is someone who loves water and coffee and also sips a mini Pepsi.

The point is not the soda. The point is that you get to change your identity, and you probably already have, many times. The question is whether you are doing it on purpose.

The "I Am" Statement and Your Subconscious

"I am" might be the most powerful two words you can string together for your subconscious. When you believe you are the business owner who can be, do, and have what you want, and the woman, mother, friend, or daughter who can have it too, everything shifts. When that belief becomes part of your core identity, your decisions, your habits, and your results start to line up with it.

It is also not a destination. We love so many pieces of who we are right now, and we know seasons will change. So we keep checking in: does this still fit the identity I say I want?

Find the Proof: Why the People Around You Matter for Your Income

Our first tool for an identity upgrade is putting ourselves in close proximity to proof. When Nicole wanted to be the woman with her first $10,000 month, she was a teacher, and she was not meeting teachers who made that. She started seeing people who worked for themselves, gathered proof, and then went all in on entrepreneurship and surrounded herself with entrepreneurs making $10,000 a month. It became normal. The thought shifted from "is that possible?" to "why not me?"

The same thing is true at our current level. Our business making at least half a million dollars a year is the floor, not the ceiling, and that is because we are surrounded by business owners who would never accept less. When you look for the identity you want, look for the people already living it. Study the habits, the behaviors, the self-talk, and the company they keep that lets them complete that "I am" sentence with confidence.

As Kaila put it, it is hard to go upstream. If you are only around the status quo, you will get status quo results. If that is your choice, no judgment. But if you feel the calling to want more, find the room where more is normal.

Stop Compromising on What You Want

Kaila shared one of her biggest identity upgrades, and it came through motherhood. When her kids started daycare, she had to learn to speak up, including after her daughter was bitten six times in six weeks. The old Kaila would compromise. Her kids taught her she does not have to. She said what she wanted, she stayed dug in, and she did not justify it.

What she has noticed is that when she is steady on something, the universe and the people around her rearrange to make it happen. When she is flip-floppy because she wants everyone's opinion, other people's opinions win. That applies to her kids' body image, and it applies to the business too. We are not willing to compromise on making an incredible profit every year, or on being the best coaching company in the world. We feel steady in that because we have done the mindset work to visualize what we want.

Carving New Neural Pathways: The Snow Shovel Method

Identity work is not "and so it is" and then you are done. It is carving new neural pathways. Picture shoveling a path to the car in the snow as a kid, red cheeks and sweat equity, and then being told tomorrow you have to shovel a brand new one. That is exactly what your mind is resisting. The old path is familiar and easier.

When you get to the place where you decide "that doesn't serve me anymore," you have to get to work. We have tens of thousands of thoughts a day, most of them unconscious, and you have to rewire that unconscious mind to think the new thing so you believe the new thing and act like the person who holds that belief. Affirmations, self-talk in the mirror, speaking out loud, and gratitude lists all help. It is a practice, not a one-time thought.

You Can Be Both: Shoes, Money, and Worthiness

Nicole has been reading Amanda Francis's new book, and one story hit her in the body. Amanda has generated over 40 million in her business, loves showing off her shoes, and was once a girl buying hers at Payless. It is not about Louboutins versus Payless. It is about believing you can shop wherever you want and that you are worthy of what you desire.

Kaila shared that someone once called her materialistic in university, and she is reclaiming that word on her terms. You can be generous, kind, and loving and also love a nice home, a closet that feels good, and a few more facial products. Being value-based is not a flaw. You can be both.

So here is our question for you: what is the identity upgrade you want to take on? Say it as an "I am" statement. I am the person who runs. I am the person who takes my family on quarterly trips. Let it inform your mind movie, your vision board, and your scripting, and feel it before the experience arrives so that when it does, it already feels like home. Who are you when you give yourself permission to want more? We say this with love: you are allowed, and you are worthy of your own upgrade.

Ready to take the next step? Take the free quiz at myalignedpurpose.com/quiz, join our newsletter at myalignedpurpose.com/newsletter, and if you want to create more money in your business, explore cash FLOW.