I remember the days before I started Fetola, I was working in town and really struggling to make ends meet. There was only one option available to me and it was to cut down on spending. Reduce expenses and eliminate waste. I was amazed what was possible when we eliminated unnecessary costs and became really strict about spending, using simple strategies such as only buying what was written on my shopping list.
No more going to the shops for milk and bread and coming back with hundreds of Rands of extras. I cut up my credit cards and started to use cash – making me far more aware of the value of the money in notes than a mindless swipe of the credit card. These and other belt-tightening strategies reduced our family living expenses by a third and made me feel more in control of our money, which in turn reduced anxiety and improved the family’s overall appreciation for what we had.
But it was in that same period that I realised cutting back wasn’t going to get me very far in the long run and that I needed to expand my horizons and look for ways to increase my income. For this I needed to cultivate a mindset of abundance, not one of scarcity.
I needed to change my belief system to one in which I deserved to succeed and at the time found great comfort in the Breakthrough Experience by Dr John Demartini. His simple but powerful techniques take one from a belief in good and bad, to a belief where all is good and it’s your attitude that shapes your life.
It was hard at first because I needed to move beyond my lack of self-worth that resulted from previous business failures to a new way and a new strength.
To begin with I had little strategies to fool myself into believing I was working for others, specifically for my children and then for my staff and the entrepreneurs we served.
Eventually over time I came around to the understanding that success is the natural consequence of serving others. When you serve others you earn the right to serve yourself too. Not in the greedy way of robbing people like those in the VBS Bank, but in a respectful, fair and honest way.
With this stronger sense of self-deserving, I scouted around for business ideas that would work, testing them with friends and trying a few things here and there. Once I came across the idea for Fetola I knew in my bones it was the right one. There was a genuine need in the market, it matched my skill set, it required very little investment and made me feel really good serving others.
So, if you are struggling to make ends meet, I thought this story might help to remind you that change is possible. Taking control of your finances is step one, reading inspiring books that change your self-belief is step two and taking action to create abundance is step three.
Everyone has abundance in them. Once you plant the seeds of belief and keep them watered and cared for, abundance will be your harvest.
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About the Author
Catherine Wijnberg is the CEO of Fetola and author of Sheep Will Never Rule The World.
