I Didn't Manifest It. I Prepared for It.

The Challenge

A conversation about money. A lesson about freedom.

During my second year at BET, my executive gave me a challenge that would stay with me for years.

"Save $100,000."

Then he said something that caught me completely off guard.

"Once you have $100,000 saved, you'll be able to say, 'F you' to any job."

I laughed immediately while shaking my head, "Okay."

It sounded so far-fetched but also doable.

Besides, he wasn't talking about being rude.

He was talking about freedom.

Phenomenal cosmic freedom.

He explained that once I had $100,000 saved, I would never truly need a job again.

If I stayed somewhere, it would be because I wanted to be there.

If I left, it would be because I chose to leave.

My decisions would no longer be driven by the pressure of needing a paycheck to survive.

That conversation changed the way I thought about my savings plan.

At the time, I already had about $24,000 saved.

While I was proud of that accomplishment, $100,000 still felt like a huge number.

Nevertheless, I wrote it down in my journal and added it to my budget spreadsheet.

Then I got to work.

Write It Down

A pen, a journal, and a decision.

I've practiced something over the years.

There is power in writing things down, so be specific.

Not because writing is magical.

Not because putting words on paper guarantees they'll happen.

But because writing creates clarity.

When a goal stays in our head, it's easy to change it when life gets uncomfortable.

We tell ourselves we wanted one thing when we really wanted another.

We lower the bar.

We convince ourselves to settle.

We forget what we originally envisioned.

Writing forces us to be honest.

It gives us something to revisit when emotions start talking louder than logic.

For me, that $100,000 goal wasn't just a number.

You can't hit what you never define.

It became a target.

A reminder.

A pathway to the freedom my executive was talking about.

The ability to make decisions from a place of choice rather than necessity.

A vision for the kind of freedom I wanted to create for myself.

Six Years Later

This wasn't a dream. It was a line item.

The funny thing about preparation is that it rarely feels exciting while you're doing it.

No one celebrates the money you didn't spend.

No one applauds the budget you stuck to.

No one sees the small decisions that quietly compound over time.

They usually only notice the outcome.

Over the next six years, I saved aggressively and consistently.

There were no shortcuts.

No overnight success stories.

Just intentional choices and a commitment to a goal I had written down years earlier.

By the time I left BET, I had saved $70,000.

Then something unexpected happened.

Reached $100K Goal

Unknowingly, the Eliis family helped me complete a six-year goal.

The day I was leaving BET, I landed my first Executive Assistant training client through Crystal Marshall Certified.

The contract was worth $30,000.

I remember looking at that number and immediately thinking about the goal I had written down six years earlier.

There it was.

One hundred thousand dollars.

Not because I got lucky.

Not because I wished for it.

Because I prepared for it.

The vision had finally caught up with the work.

A New Vision

Believe it's possible despite what you see.

When I left BET, I focused on building Crystal Marshall Certified.

Somewhere along the way, I found myself writing down another vision.

This time, it wasn't a savings goal.

It was a career opportunity.

I knew I'd eventually seek another full-time role, so I got specific about what I wanted.

I wanted a remote position.

I wanted less stress than I had experienced before.

I wanted Chief of Staff-level responsibilities.

And I wanted compensation that matched the scope of the work.

That was the vision.

The challenge was that I had absolutely no idea how it was going to happen.

The Inevitable Part Nobody Sees

Everyone loves a success story.

What people don't often talk about is the space between the vision and the outcome.

The part where faith and panic briefly become roommates.

The waiting.

The uncertainty.

The frustration.

The moments when you're doing everything you know to do and still don't have the answer.

As the months passed, I watched my savings account do exactly what savings accounts are designed to do when you're living from them—they started going down.

Every month, the balance got a little smaller.

Every month, the questions got a little louder.

The panic started whispering.

Me checking the timeline God never gave me.

How long is this going to take?

Am I being too selective?

Should I lower my expectations?

Should I just take whatever comes first?

And the truth is, those questions weren't coming from a lack of faith.

They were coming from being human.

Those thoughts are real.

I had them.

If you've ever been in a season of transition, you've probably asked yourself some version of those same questions.

I know I did.

Don't Let Fear Shorten Your Vision

One of the biggest mistakes we make is allowing fear to rewrite the vision.

The moment things become uncomfortable, we start negotiating against ourselves.

Uncertainty will try to renegotiate the vision.

The dream gets smaller.

The standards get lower.

The goals become more "realistic."

Not because the vision was wrong.

Because uncertainty is uncomfortable.

There were moments when taking the first available opportunity felt like the safer choice.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't tempted.

But I also knew I hadn't spent years preparing myself just to panic when things got difficult.

So, I went back to the vision.

I reminded myself of what I had written down.

And I stayed committed to it.

Faith and Action

Every application was an act of faith.

I think faith is often misunderstood.

Some people talk about faith as if it means sitting still and waiting for something to happen.

That has never been my experience.

Faith and action have always been partners.

Faith was continuing to apply even when I hadn't received an offer.

Faith was preparing for interviews when I didn't know if they would lead anywhere.

Faith was refining my resume, researching companies, and showing up consistently when it would've been easier to become discouraged.

Faith wasn't passive.

Faith was movement.

It Only Takes One

Looking for the opportunity with my name on it.

Over the course of three months, I applied to 73 positions.

I received three interview opportunities.

And I landed one offer.

That's not a huge success rate on paper.

But it only takes one.

The Opportunity

Eventually, I found the role.

It checked every box I had written down.

Remote.

Stress-free.

Chief of Staff title and responsibilities.

Higher compensation.

Everything.

A written vision became a lived reality.

Not because I manifested it.

Because I prepared for it.

As grateful as I am for the opportunity, the job itself isn't the biggest lesson from this experience.

The lesson is that preparation creates freedom.

Saving created options.

Vision provided direction.

Action opened doors.

Together, they created freedom.

Plan. Prepare. Pivot.

What I wrote down. What I worked toward. What became reality.

If there's one thing I hope you take away from my experience, it's this:

Don't stop at the vision.

Write it down.

Then prepare for it.

Then take action toward it.

Then adjust when necessary.

Plan.

Prepare.

Pivot.

And keep going.

The vision can't come true if you quit on it.

I know some of you are in a season where things feel uncertain right now.

Maybe you've written down a goal, and it feels impossibly far away.

Maybe you're doing all the right things and still don't see the outcome.

Maybe you're wondering if your efforts are making any difference at all.

I understand that feeling.

But I've also learned that clouds can be deceptive.

The Sun Is Still There

The clouds never changed the truth.

Just because you can't see the sun doesn't mean it disappeared.

The blue sky is still there.

The sunshine is still there.

The opportunity you're hoping for may not be visible yet, but that doesn't mean it isn't making its way toward you.

Keep moving.

Keep believing.

Keep preparing.

Your vision isn't too big.

Your dream isn't unrealistic.

Sometimes the breakthrough arrives because you stayed committed long enough for preparation, timing, and opportunity to finally meet.

And when it does, you'll realize that every interview, every application, every sacrifice, every late-night prayer, every ounce of patience, and every step of preparation was building something long before you could see it.

The sun was there the entire time.