Everybody Wants the Dream. Nobody Wants the Invoice

Everybody wants the dream.

Few people want the invoice.

In this powerful episode of the Black Sheep Leadership Podcast, Athena Renee breaks down the hidden cost of success, why most people stay stuck, and how being cheap with your own dreams quietly destroys your future.

You'll learn:

🔹 Why every dream comes with a price
 🔹 The difference between interest and commitment
 🔹 Why distractions get more investment than goals
 🔹 The Black Sheep Tax every leader must pay
 🔹 How to stop looking for shortcuts and start building

Because the truth is:

The life you want already has a price tag.

The question is...

Are you willing to pay it?

"INFORMATION IS EVERYWHERE EXECUTION IS RARE"

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:28

What's going on, everybody? I want to welcome you back to the Black Sheep Leadership Podcast. I'm your host, Athena Renee. This is where the underdogs, the misfits, and the black sheep come to turn pain into power, build a life by design so that they can leave a legacy behind. Now, if this is your first time tapping in, welcome, family. I'm so happy to have you. And if you're back again, what's up? What's up, family? You already know what time it is. But before we get into this good stuff, let's do this quick vibe check. If you're easily offended, sensitive, entitled, still waiting on somebody to come save you or allergic to accountability, get your ass up out of here. Because this is not your safe space. So go on and tap out. But if you're ready to think differently, move different so you can level up different, stay locked in. Because by the end, my friend, you're walking away with something that you can execute immediately. Okay, so let's get to work. Today, we're talking about how everybody wants the dream, but nobody wants the invoice. Why is it that some people want a million-dollar lifestyle? They want the baller, they want the boss man lifestyle or the boss lady lifestyle, and they got a minimum wage commitment level. So, you know, even in the Bible, it says that the poor you will always have with you. The poor you will always have with you. I want you to let that soak in because I want you to understand, as a black sheep, most people are not poor because of money. You hear what I say? They're not poor because of money, they're poor because they are simply unwilling to pay the true cost. I like to say, to be the boss, or they are simply unwilling to pay the true cost of success. Okay, it's not, it doesn't have anything to do with money now. For the Bible scholars and the religious uh Pharisees and Sadducees, I just look, I I verify that scripture because I've been involved with church pretty much my whole life, but when you venture off on your own, you get a deeper understanding. But I still go back to this book because it just has so many life principles that I mean it's just deep, okay, and you won't get away from them. Now, there's actually multiple places that you can find this particular scripture. However, today I'm talking about Matthew 26 and 11. And the reason why I'm drilling this in because as a black sheep, two things. Number one, I don't want you to turn into this ever-growing population of people that become rich people haters. They want to blame all their problems on the wealthy, all their problems on the rich, because they poor, because they broke, because they feel that they're unsuccessful. But if you really do your research for over 80% of the people that got substantial money, substantial wealth, they pay the heavy costs. If you want to be a doctor, I was looking at a young lady's Instagram post, and she is breaking a generational curse to be the first doctor in her family, but not only that, one of the first college graduates from her family, right? And they say, Well, how much time you had to spend in school? That woman literally has spent over 20 years in school, over 20 years in school. I'm talking about after high school. But guess what, guys? That was because she was willing to pay the cost. You know, she missed out on a lot of stuff, but she was willing to pay the cost. She said she wanted to buy what she wanted, she said what she said, she said she wanted to be a doctor, she looked at the price on an invoice and she decided to make the the commitment to become that thing to obtain it as well. But people want what you got with a minimum wage commitment. So when I talk about the black sheep, I don't want you to become a wealth hater because a lot of times, as a black sheep or someone that resonates with being the misfits or the underdog, a lot of times the reason that you have been through so much is because you were ordained before birth to have long wealth, generational wealth, and prosperity. You were ordained, you were created to break curses off your family, not only that, off of people, off a particular group of people. Okay, and so when you understand your position, you know that I can't hate the thing that I'm going to become one day. But here's the other key to it. I want you to understand the reason that I love, love, love talking about success. I'm talking about I can talk about success until my face is blue and yours is too. But the reason why I love talking about success is because success is relative. What does that mean? Success is relative, means success is measured upon depending on who is the person talking, it's dependent upon, let me say that clear, it's depending upon whose perspective, right? Because one person might say, I want to make a million dollars every year, that's success. Another person might say, Hey, if I could make 80k every year and work from home, somebody else might say, Well, you know what? At this point, if I can make 75k a year, work from home and make my own schedule so I can do homeschooling, that is successful to me. Okay, so with success, you have to determine your own lane, your own vision. This is why I always drill into my black sheep's head that competing and comparing is such an idiot sport. It is a sport for people that don't have their own vision, their own dream, and is suffering from low levels of self-esteem. Super low levels. Why? Because everybody, even if we wanted the same, we may not want the details of it the way we got it set up. See, you got millionaires that work for a company, but you got people that make millions that work for themselves. I'll never forget. So we were having a conversation, and a young lady was telling me about how her and some of her high school classmates was competing for a new house to see who bought their home first. But here's the thing everybody may not be ready to be a homeowner because a lot of people purchase homes, and then when they got down the road, they didn't have any, they didn't even know about the maintenance of it. It was so many different things about having a house that they didn't even realize, and unfortunately, many people got foreclothed on. Why? Because they did not count the cost of being a boss, they was competing and comparing with someone else. But the cool thing I want to make about the home purchasing, check this out now. On one end, one of my old homegirls I used to run with, her and her friends were competing to see who purchased their home first. But guess what? On the back end, when I was doing a lot of business in Miami, Florida, I met a couple, an older couple, right? And when I'm talking about older today, I'm talking about in their 60s and 70s. And um, they were just living up, having a great time. And I was standing at a resort in Pembroke Pines, matter of fact. And the lady said, Well, she said, What you doing here? You know, and she was just talking to me and everything. And one thing about me, guys, you know, I can go in any environment and really get to know people or talk to people, and I thank God for that. It's not a bragging thing, but a lot of times, guys, it's black shit. We've been we've been rejected so much, we know how to hustle and flow in all types of environments, and I want you to understand it's absolutely an advantage to you, okay? Because energy don't lie, but what she told me really it really changed my perspective on a lot of the different things, specifically. We're talking about success. She told me that her and her husband, they are empty nesters, okay, which pretty much means all of their children are grown. She said, We had a large home in North Florida, and she said we sold it. He said, We have a nice apartment now. I said, Really? She said, Yes. I said, What made you do that? She said, Well, all of our kids was grown, they had their own things going, and we didn't want to keep calling them over to cut our grass and keep everything up. So we decided to sell our home and get us an apartment. The apartment is nice and we don't have to worry about anything. She said, We put all our money up and you know, in different savings accounts, and she said they're living their best life ever. And I just had to look at her, I said, Wow. And I thanked her for that new paradigm shift. Why? Because as black sheep, a lot of times people are trying to put you in a mold, and depending on where you are in your black sheep journey, you are trying to fit in a mold that you never was able to fit. And so today I want to talk to you because, as a black sheep, I don't want you to shrink back on your vision and your dream. I just want you to understand that every dream comes with an invoice, and it doesn't matter what the dream is, it can be a better body, a better relationship, a better career, business, peace. You want better peace, leadership? Cool. The answer is have you paid for it? Have you researched? Have you looked at the invoice? Have you even got an estimation on it? And it's not about the money. Most of the time, the highest, the highest fees on your invoice to get the life you want, the dream you want, the highest fees is going to come in discipline, consistency, sacrifice, patience, and focus. Listen, everything has a price. In one of my teachings, I talk about paying the cost to be the boss. See, people are generous with distractions, but they're cheap with their dreams. Listen, as a black sheep, you got to understand this right here. People are generous with distractions, but cheat with dreams. See, let me tell you about this right now. People will spend time four hours scrolling, six hours binge watching movies, three hours gossiping. Have you ever had somebody to hold you up on the phone for two or three hours? Two or three hours just yapping away and talking, but these same people act like they can't focus or they just cannot spend consistently 30 minutes reading, 30 minutes exercising, or just building something they really want. And the main thing they're gonna say is, Oh, I just don't have time for that. I, you know, I don't have time for that. That's the first thing they say is they don't have time for it. Okay, but what you must understand is people make time for what they want, they make time for what they want, and that's just a cheapskate. That's a minimum wage mentality when they try to tell you, oh, I don't have time. No, you spent the time you had doing other things. As a black sheep, this is why I'm telling you, gotta watch these people that's cheap with their own dream and their own vision because they will be cheap with you, they will breadcrumb you. If you um if you were a president on about two episodes ago, we talked about the time wasters. People will waste your time because it's not theirs. That's why they distractors, they'll call you up because they not working on nothing and they want to waste somebody else's time. My black sheep family, don't let it be you. Now let's talk about as a black sheep about something that I've coined as the black sheep tax. Because as a black sheep, you pay a different tax, you pay a different fee. You often pay with isolation, misunderstanding, delayed validation, criticism, and rejection. Okay, and that's just a cost that is a tie that is tied with being a black sheep. But even if you don't uh resonate with being a black sheep, it's tied to being a dream chaser. It's tied with being a generational curse breaker. It's tied with that. Because when you let's say, for instance, if you're trying to if you come from an impoverished environment, you're gonna have a lot of misunderstandings because they want to blame their environment, even though your environment can stunt your growth, and more than likely it will. But see, the black sheep, what we'll do is we'll uproot ourselves and move somewhere else, right? So then we pay with isolation because now we moved away, and the people that we love and we want to support, they won't come visit you, right? And then sometimes you will be in a city, but you think so different, and your energy can't lie. A lot of people won't talk to you, they won't mess with you. Delay validation, first and foremost, I want you to understand as a black sheep, you were validated on the day you were created. Because if you were not validated, you would have never been created. The fact that you made it through the whole nine months, right? And you're here right now and you're listening, you've been validated. You don't need anybody else's validation, but here's the thing when you are a black sheep, sometimes you're ahead of your time, you think different, you move different, right? And your level of is going to be different. What does that mean? That means people's not gonna catch up to what you're doing and see it in their benefit. It'll be later on, it'll be later, you know. So don't wait around for people to validate you. But I'm just letting you know they will. They clap, people clap after you done did all the work. That's why a lot of people starting to spin the block on you. I know you picked up on it. As a black sheep, right now I need for you to do one thing if you're not doing anything else. Observe the patterns of people around you and observe your own patterns. Observe the energy. See, energy don't lie. Observe the energy and the timing. Okay? You're something like a sage. As a black sheep, you don't look like what you've been through. You didn't let the bitterness, you didn't let the hurt turn to bitterness, you continue to walk boldly and make moves and come with a good attitude. Right? So, what you need to do is, and this is going to help you always, not just in the long run, it'll help you right now. Observe the people that's in your energy. Observe how people act. Just observe them. Why? Because people are starting to spend a block. It's about that time. You gotta understand as a black sheep, people always know you was different, that's why they went left, but they can also sniff when you're coming up. Even if you don't talk, it's in the air. And see, a lot of people you used to deal with, they still remember you. They remember the impact you had. And truth being told, they knew you were built for something great, but they couldn't tell you that because it'll make them feel some type of way. Okay, so don't avoid that black sheep tax that you often pay, the criticism and rejection. I'm telling you, rejection is your protection. A lot of these folks you wanted to hang out with so bad, you would go see them now. You're glad you was rejected. Those people who you thought was the bomb.com, that man, that woman, they rejected you, you're glad they did it. You probably want to buy them a thank you card and a glass, a bottle of wine, and champagne. Why? Because you can literally see how their rejection was your protection. However, the question is with the black sheep tax, you must continue to ask yourself, whatever this thing is that I'm saying I want, am I willing to pay for it? And here's the next piece. We gotta stop looking for discounts. Now, as a black sheep, I'm this not even necessarily for you. This is really in relation to a lot of black sheep are creatives. Okay. What do I mean by that? We have so many cool ideas. We're we're content recreators, we're writing books. Um, some of you guys got a machine at home that do something cool, you got a process that you're doing, you got some great stuff going on. My point is do not allow people to come in your life and try to discount your work. See, as a black sheep, nobody gave us a break. Nobody gave us a hookup. And don't get me wrong, guys. Ladies and gentlemen, everybody wants a good deal. Okay, let's be clear. We're gonna keep it a buck. Everybody wants a good deal. Well, see, there comes a time in life where you say, you know what, it costs what it costs. I want to be a mother, I gotta go through nine months. It costs what it costs. They said Rolls Royce never go on sale. Why? Because it costs what it costs, and if you can't afford it, you don't need to be in here. See, as a black sheep, you gotta get stern with your prices, stern with your value, stern with your standards and boundaries. Why? Because so long we have just let people slide by. We gave them the benefit of the doubt, coupon. Well, guess what? That's expired now. We wanted to see everybody win, but then you see in the end they didn't even want you to win. You was a friend to them, they wasn't a friend to you. So guess what? Now it's you didn't pay your dues, you paid the price, you paid the cost to be the boss. Guess what? When they need your services, and not just people you know, because me personally, I don't do business with people that I've known from back in the day, specifically if you never supported me in the infancy. Okay, but sometimes people will come back around, sometimes everybody don't know about your business. What am I saying to you? Don't give them no discounts. Think about everything you sacrificed. Remember, I told you how the taxes and how the cost come in, it don't come, it ain't just about money. Think about everything you sacrifice, and then now you got people that want to come in your life and get a taste of your success without the sacrifice, they want a discount. It's just like people that want to be a leader, they want it for the title, they don't want it for the responsibility, right? Or people that want to try to talk about oh, the wealthy people this, the wealthy people that, but then you look at them and how they spend their money and they don't even have any discipline with the small amounts, right? Come on now. We can't listen. There is no million-dollar lifestyle, there is no successful lifestyle with minimum wage commitment. It's just like people that kept trying to come around you, and it was one-way friendships. How are you gonna say you want a good friendship and it's one way? It's one way, all roles lead back to you. Why? Because you're they're looking for discounts, they're looking for coupons on destiny, and what you need to understand is destiny does not take coupons, friends, real friends. Real friends is not a discounted thing. We down, or we not, we're going through the fire or not. Obviously, everybody has their boundaries, everybody has their standards, right? But friendship is not always peaches and cream, and you find out that people are not willing to pay that cost, they want a discount. And as long as you give them a discount, they ride with you. As long as you give them a discount, as long as you're being that yes man and thinking and helping them think that everything is cool, they're your friend because you have been giving them discounts. But let you pull back, you're gonna see. See, the cost of not paying is really the biggest cost, isn't failure, it's regret. See, a lot of people don't understand that. You can go around the bin and flex all you want. I meet so many people that talk big, and and the main thing is, guys, they talk big on the motivational level. Don't ever get this twisted. Motivationally is great, but can you do it without motivation? See, I always talk on this channel and on this podcast about purpose, and you're gonna figure out I've been my message has been about purpose for over a decade, and the reason why is because purpose inspires you. Inspire is inner inspiration, motivation is exterior. Oh, I'm motivated. I just seen that new car and I get motivated. That's cool. Like I tell people, if you can get a car that motivates you to get in there and go take care of business. When you look out the window or look in your garage, you're like, oh, that's my baby. It motivates you. Set up your home when you get home, set it up something that motivates you to be successful and feel luxurious. I don't care if it's a hotel room, get you a plug-in that makes it fit, it motivates you. That's exterior. But when you tap into your life purpose and your life destiny, what you're born for, what you came here to do, you are now inspired. You don't need motivation. And the thing about it is when you don't need motivation, you're willing to pay the cost. But see, the cheap folks, they don't even realize them trying to continue to get discounts and go in this circle because they don't want to pay the true cost, they hide behind motivation a lot. I had a client that I had to get rid of. That's all he wanted to do was motivate, motivate, motivate. But when it was time to build an email list, when it's time to send the pictures over for the website, when it was time to do all these things that we needed to move the pen forward to move the mark forward towards the goal, he was never following up. And I say, Oh, you're gonna make me look bad for my track record because I work above and beyond for my clients. I can't have you coming in and you're not taking your own dream serious. So I had to get rid of him. And here's the thing a lot of people think as a black sheep, you're gonna run behind them to get each and every client. It's not even about that. At the end of the day, guys, you must understand when you're dealing with people, whether you're client, customer, or friends and family, when they continue to avoid paying the cost to whatever they want, avoid paying the cost to be the boss. The biggest failure, or excuse me, the biggest cost is regret. It's not failure, it's going to be regret. Why? Because failure, we all fail, and you get back up again. That's what a winner is. A winner is somebody that fell down and got back up again multiple times, but regret is when you just didn't do nothing. I regret the day I didn't try this. I regret it. Why? Because you don't have any basis on that you ever did it, that you ever tried it, that you ever re-reimagined it. So you just regretting and you're living on shoulda, coulda, woulda, and you got a whole side piece of regret. Because one day you wake up and you realize here's the thing the regret, the regret comes in because you wake up and you realize you paid anyway. You was being cheap with the stuff you should have been doing, but guess what? You paid with anyway. You paid with wasted years, missed opportunities, and unrealized potential. So you're gonna pay, you're gonna pay either way. The question is what are you paying for? For see, nobody gets away free. Think about the people that kept playing in high school and didn't even want to learn the basis of learning how to read, right? So they got out, they paid the price then. They got out, and sometimes they still pay the price. But guess what? Forget about all that because you don't necessarily have to graduate high school to be successful. But what about the people that kept avoiding to get some type of basic computer skills? Oh, I'm not changing for nobody, right? Did they think life was gonna give them a coupon and say, okay, we're feeling sorry for you? Let's give you a discount. We'll still give you a job. No, if you want a job working somewhere and they got all computer database uh systems, you gotta pay the cost. You gotta pay the cost. That's what going to school to get a college degree, a certification, whatever. That's what it's all about is you looking at your life and saying, you know what, this is gonna position me better if I pay now. Because I'm gonna pay later no matter what. Let me pay now. Okay, because as I said, you must understand, it's not it was never about are you going to pay? We all pay. The question is, what are you paying for? Okay, so let's get to these three three black sheep action moves. Number one, identify the invoice, whatever your vision is, whatever your dream currently is, what is it asking you? What is all on that invoice? Is it more discipline, more courage, more consistency? Write it down, identify that invoice. Number two, audit where you're being cheap. This is not about your money. This is about where are you refusing to invest time, effort, focus, and commitment into your future self. That's what this is about. Audit where you're being cheap. Don't be cheap with yourself. You can be cheap when you go to the store. I get it. We're trying to cut back on consumerism, but don't ever, don't you ever be cheap with yourself. As a black sheep, we knew we didn't even know our value. Let me straighten that up. We didn't know our value. But if we knew, we wouldn't have never let people give us the crumbs they gave us. Okay, we would have never. But now that you look back and think about everything you went through, don't you dare. Don't you dare let anybody come back in your life being cheap. And don't you be cheap on yourself, don't be cheap on your standards, your boundaries, everything that you want. Don't settle. Don't settle. So you can say, Oh, I'm gonna bring it down a little bit. And guess what? It's always gonna be something. Go for gold. And here's another thing: if you shoot high enough, even if you miss it, you still gonna land better than if you didn't shoot it all. Let's get to number three. Pay something on that invoice today. Not tomorrow, today. One action, one investment, one sacrifice, one step. Pay the cost. Okay, so just like after this episode, I'm about to pay the cost and go see on my treadmill. Just do something. If it's a plan, if you're gonna print it out, if you're gonna reread it, take a step today. Don't do not let the sun go down or don't postpone something that you can do today for tomorrow. Okay, listen, black sheep. The life you want is very possible. It's not hiding from you, it's not being withheld from you. It don't matter who's in office and what's going on, but it does have a price. Every dream comes with an invoice, every level comes with a cost, every transformation requires an investment. The question was never can I afford it. The real question is, am I willing to pay? Because one way or another, you're gonna pay either way. You can play with discipline today or regret tomorrow. You can pay with consistency today or frustration tomorrow. You can pay with focus effort today or a lifetime of regret and wondering what I could have, shoulda, and could have, could have and should have been doing. The truth is, most people aren't poor because they lack opportunity. They're poor because they focus and they refuse to invest in their own future. Don't be cheap with your dreams, black sheep family. Don't be cheap on your purpose. Don't be cheap with the life you say you want. Pay the cost to be the boss. Then go build what you were sent here to build. Okay? Until next time, my friends, remember information is everywhere, but execution is rare.