This is a true story about the impact of being empowered versus division and shutting people down. It happened to me 2 weeks ago. I belonged to a business, marketing school (I wont mention the name here but it is a large school for female entrepreneurs).
In the contract we had with them we have LIFETIME access to the modules and to the community. In my feedback form I said the information was basic but I loved the group.
It was in the group that I got my information to grow my business and I made contacts with some AMAZING business women who will remain friends for years to come.
I wouldn’t expect to buy something in a shop and pay $2,000 and then 6 months down the track, get recalled into the shop and say I’m so sorry, we are making improvements please pay more each month (It will only cost you the same price as a cup of tea???)
That is what I don’t like!!! A promise has been broken! It is not about the money.
This is not a computer that we know we need to upgrade. When I buy a computer, car, dishwasher WHEN/IF I want to upgrade NOT because I’m told to. To me the contract is a contract and you don’t change midway.
The reason I bought into the course is because I was sold on the COMMUNITY it is valued at worth $10,000 in the sales brochure. THEY stated the value and now they are making us pay for it AGAIN.
I believe this is bad business and I have learned a valuable lesson about not changing the rules for your existing clients. To be honest this school taught me so much about how NOT to treat your customers. They even denied that the community belonged to them!
So a month ago in the group there was some cyber bullying, nothing was done or said in the group by the business who was running the group. The lady who was bullied was given a full refund, an apology and she left.
The whole situation was shut down, nothing said to the community members, it just went away.
Then 2 weeks ago we all got an email saying that they are changing their business model to make it better for us but if we want to stay in the community we have to PAY for it. Now one of my highest values is integrity.
To me this is not the contract I made with them and they are changing the rules and breaking the contract we made with each other. So I wrote to them and told them how I feel.
I also posed a question in the group to find out how the group was feeling. The question I posed is this… “I’m wondering what do you love about the school? I want to know because I have not found the model useful for my business.
I find that one way to run a business does not work for everyone. We are all unique and we need to find things that fit with what are wants and needs are. What this school teaches will not work well for everyone.
I know people who joined this school years before me, (I joined this year) and they have still not got their business up and running and they are left believing they are a failure because the school did not work for them.
I loved the group and saw value in it until recently and now they are changing it, I no longer see any value. What do you think?”
Then I had lots of people opening up in the group saying how they FEEL.
MANY of them felt the same as me. Now anyone who knows me, knows I believe this is a good thing because when we hold on to emotions they stay in our body at a cellular level and cause disease or dis-ease so saying how you feel is empowering, releasing, and in a community it creates change.
Now if you want to grow a community you cant shut down people who have a different belief system to you. (That is called dictatorship).
Sometimes when people speak up and say something different it opens your eyes and you can see life from a different perspective and that can create change.
I had people private messaging me telling me how they felt and how others have been treated the same way. The thing is the world is not the same for everyone.
One course will not suit everyone and we are allowed free speech. In no way were my comments aggressive I did not violate any policies, I was only trying to understand what others were feeling and I am happy to be the voice that many did not feel they could have.
I was saying that the course was basic and I liked the community and it was the community that was keeping me happy.
Without the community I am no longer happy and I don’t see why we should be paying extra for something that we have already paid for. My opinion, I know others feel differently but I am still allowed it!
Anyway I was kicked out of the main group by the moderators and not allowed to have a voice. The thing is you cannot suppress or control someone if their voice is loud enough.
There are other ways to get your message out there and that is what happened. I got my message out to many others and they started understanding my perspective and started to support me.
Others in the group started speaking up for themselves too. To make a long story short, the business did listen to what we had to say and they did what they should have done in the first place because our voices got so loud they HAD to.
They did the honourable thing and stuck to their word. They did say they would welcome me back into the group if I “stuck to their rules” the thing is I didn’t break a rule in the first place, I only had an opinion.
I choose to not go back into the group as I always want to feel empowered and will never let anyone shut me down or take away my freedom of speech.
I stand against people controlling others and stand for empowering others. This is another lesson I will take away from this experience and I will always empower my community members.
Now this situation reminds me how we have been brought up to think one way. We as a society are lead to believe we have to be sheep.
The government and pharmaceutical companies are great examples of this and it works on many levels, as well as in business. We have to be ‘good’ and not speak up. We are lead to believe that we cant have voice and we get shut down.
When we get shut down we get suppressed, we feel weak and then we are more easily controlled. Censorship is based on fear and it is the way of the old world. The way of the new world is coming from a place of love rather than fear.
Of knowing we are safe to voice our opinions. Knowing that when we share our opinions we gain a different perspective, we grow, we learn and make a change.
Knowing that there are others who feel the same way as you, and when you find your tribe you can feel safe in having your voice.
This is the reason I started Global Healing Exchange. I want us to start thinking for ourselves. I want us to start empowering ourselves and stop being sheep to what society tells us we should be.
I want us to start looking up, to start thinking outside of the box, to be change makers. There are always other possibilities when we look for them. When we suppress our emotions we get sick, when we release them we feel empowered.
It is time for us to EMPOWER ourselves, stand together, use our voice and speak up to create change. Where in your life do you want to create change?
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Sharon White
If you would like to learn more and work with me one on one I would love to work with you. I am passionate about people having a voice, being heard and creating the change you want in your life.
You can contact me at sharon@globalhealingexchange.com to see how I can help you. Sharon is the founder of Global Healing Exchange. You can work with her on her Emotional Freedom Program here.
