Keep Going: Enduring Trials & Finding Your Life Purpose with Elesha Storey

04/20/22 • 33 min

In this episode, you’ll also hear:

What inspired Elesha to create a movement to help people discover their life purpose
The importance of hiring the right person to help with your book – and what can happen if you don’t
How to balance patience and action in following God’s will
How trusting God with the outcome of your obedience can open doors you never would have thought possible
Elesha’s advice for those who feel discouraged and aren’t sure how to move forward into their life purpose

Be sure to read all the way to the end for important links and information!

For many of us, there have been seasons when it was really easy to see that God was moving in our lives, and there have been other times when it was more difficult. In those times, we find ourselves having to be very intentional about noticing His handiwork, because of the setbacks and trials we’re in the midst of.

It’s important for us to look for ways that God is moving, even in difficult times. When we do, we grow in our faith, and we learn to trust God even when times are tough. And as we learn to trust God, we move closer to fulfilling our life purpose.

Elesha Storey is no stranger to difficult times. Her story encourages and inspires us to see God moving, because God is always working for our good and His glory, even when things seem to be going wrong. Elesha challenges us to trust in Him – to have hope and peace, even in the midst of trial – and to make the most of the time God has given us, because we are here to make a difference.

What Does It Mean To DASH?

Elesha’s message came to her in a unique way in 2015. While placing flowers on the graves of her family members at her father’s funeral, something caught her attention. “I just looked at that small dash between their birthday and the day that they passed away and went home to be with the Lord,” Elesha recalls. “And I thought, ‘That is such a small representation of some grand, awesome people.’”

As Elesha thought about the impact these people had made in such a short time on earth, she asked herself what she was doing with her own “dash.” What was her life purpose that would make a lasting impact on people around her? Those questions led to another idea, which eventually became her central message: “DASHING” to Elesha means “Dying to Achieve Success and Happiness IN God.”

“A lot of people don't want to talk about it, but we're going to die one day,” Elesha explains. “So you’ve got to remember there's a life here, but there's another life on the other side of that. ASH, ‘Achieve Success and Happiness.’ That abundant life is promised by God, and it looks a little different for everyone, and it's best achieved when you're IN God – ING.”

Elesha defines DASHING as a call, not just to exist or to live, but to pursue a higher level and to chase after one’s true life purpose. At a time when she was experiencing great loss, Elesha realized that God was calling her to breathe life into something new.

That’s an important message for us all: when something leaves the scene – when one dream dies – there’s an opportunity for something new. While we shouldn’t downplay the importance or the value of what we’ve lost, we should also remember to look for what new thing God is creating instead.

A Movement Comes Through Action

Elesha’s initial vision for her DASHING idea was to use apparel to inspire people every time they looked in the mirror. But through the advice of coaches and mentors, and through prompting from God, she realized that it needed to be much more – it needed to become a lifestyle. It needed to become a movement that would help and encourage people to seek and live out their life purpose.

“We're going out there inspiring, equipping, and helping people to find their dash and live it,” Elesha says. “God has had a purpose and plan for your life – for your dash – from the beginning. And he's just waiting for you to add “ing,” which is now you're DASHING, and you're doing more than just existing and living. And it's not just about this life, but it's the life beyond.”

Think about it: words that end with the letters “ing” usually mean that an action is taking place. With DASHING, Elesha reminds us that it’s not enough just to understand that you have a finite amount of time on this earth to make an impact – you have to make a decision to do things differently. You have to act on the purpose and the plan that God has for you.

Choose the Right People

At first, Elesha had no intention of writing a book. Even after a consultant compiled a written version of things Elesha had said during their conversation and asked her to finish it and turn it into a book, Elesha didn’t feel those words captured what she really wanted to say, so she pushed the idea off for another year.

Then, having been laid off due to COVI...

In this episode, you’ll also hear:

What inspired Elesha to create a movement to help people discover their life purpose
The importance of hiring the right person to help with your book – and what can happen if you don’t
How to balance patience and action in following God’s will
How trusting God with the outcome of your obedience can open doors you never would have thought possible
Elesha’s advice for those who feel discouraged and aren’t sure how to move forward into their life purpose

Be sure to read all the way to the end for important links and information!

What Does It Mean To DASH?

A Movement Comes Through Action

Choose the Right People

Then, having been laid off due to COVI...

Previous Episode

Book Sales Success Secret #2: Build a Brand with YOU at the Center

In this episode, you’ll also hear:

Coach Tam’s personal story of launching a book and then realizing it wasn’t selling – and what was missing
How and why to build a brand with yourself as the face
What to do if you find yourself hesitating to post your content
Ideas for different ways to promote your brand

Be sure to read all the way to the end for important links and information!

When it comes to promoting your book, who is the face of your campaign? Is it you – the author – your publicist, or your Amazon ad? This is an important question to ask yourself, because for your book to sell successfully, you’ve got to set yourself up with the most impactful book promotion path.

Whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been promoting your book for a while, it’s time to examine your promotion strategy and ask yourself what changes need to be made. It’s time to build a brand.

The Book Launch Fantasy

Before we get into the advice on how to successfully build a brand, let me take you back to a few years ago, before I really knew what I was getting myself into. Back then, I had this image in my head of what I thought I had to do to be successful.

You see, no one really told me what it would take to make things happen. So there I was with my book published and feeling all proud. I thought to myself, “Tam, you did it! Now just watch the sales roll in.”

I fantasized all the time about the impact that my book would make and the lives that would be changed. I can remember being in the airport and talking with my mom about how excited I was that my book was going to be released, and I was fantasizing about how many people would tell me how their lives had been positively impacted by what they read.

But the truth looked very different. A day went by, then a week, then a month, then three months. I started to get in my feelings, because I had very little to show for my efforts outside of what I refer to as “support sales” from family and friends. You know – the sales that come through in the very beginning of your book launch, because everyone is proud of you and wants to support you and see you win.

That’s when it hit me: support sales would not be enough to sustain me. And truthfully, while it was amazing for family and friends to show their support, they weren't the audience that I was called to reach.

So I realized that something had to be missing. There was something more to selling books than I knew.

Build a Brand that Revolves Around You

Thankfully, I’ve been blessed with some amazing mentors in my life. They helped me realize that I was indeed missing something – something big. I needed a real marketing strategy. I needed to build a brand. But what really opened my eyes was when my mentor told me that I was the brand.

Now, make no mistake about it, there are some businesses that can be extremely successful without you being the center. A lot of e-commerce businesses work that way. For example, if it’s a car dealership, what matters is the brand of car that’s being sold and the reputation of that brand. So if you can get that right, and also get the right location and sales people, you can be successful, and it’s not so much about who owns the dealership.

But when we're talking about writing books that impact people's lives – whether it’s nonfiction that challenges them to learn and grow, or if it’s fiction, where they're being entertained and getting an escape – in the book space, the entire book platform actually revolves around the author.

I had never really processed that. And as I talk to people across the globe, I’ve realized that I am not the only one who struggled there. I thought that people would buy my book simply because it was a good book, because it was out on Amazon, or because it can be found on Barnes and Noble. I thought, initially, that would be enough.

But my mentor helped me see that I was ultimately responsible for ensuring that the message got out. I had to be clear on the impact that I wanted to make with my message, and I had to communicate that to my audience. So I needed to get more exposure, and I had to do it in a way that built trust.

Too Familiar with the Delete Button?

Now that I knew I needed to put myself and my message out there, the lightbulb started going off. Looking at the resources I had available, my big idea was to get on social media, because that was sure to get me in front of more people.

Have you had that thought before? “Okay, got it. I need to get more eyeballs on my book, so I'm just going to get out there on social media.” That was my plan. That's how I was going to let my audience know about the book. And that's how I was going to build a brand with that “know, like, trust” factor that I had heard so much about from my mentor.

It all sounded re...

Next Episode

Book Sales Success Secret #3: The Best Sales Strategy for Fast Results

In this episode, you’ll also hear:

Why typical book sales strategies aren’t very effective, especially for new authors
What authors can learn about sales strategy by following the example of Jesus and His ministry
How to skyrocket your results using strategic messenger multiplication – and a roadmap to guide you through the process
One simple first step to get you started

When your goal is to build something meaningful, something that will make an impact and leave a legacy, what will be the difference between success and failure?

Scripture points to the answer:

Wisdom is required to build a house; understanding is necessary to make it secure. Knowledge is needed to furnish all the rooms and fill them with beautiful treasures.

Proverbs 24:3-4 (The Voice)

So then, the key – or keys, rather – are wisdom, understanding and knowledge. What does that have to do with a winning sales strategy for your books, ministry, and business? Everything.

The Fastest Path to Results

Which would you rather choose:

Door #1: Waste a lot of time and energy, see zero results, and constantly feel like giving up on your dream.
Door #2: Invest the time and effort to learn the right sales strategy, see massive results, and know that it's only a matter of time before you can walk into your destiny.

If Door #2 sounds good to you – if you're here because what you really want is massive results, which really means maximum impact – then you are in the right place. You’re about to get the secret to doubling, tripling, or even quadrupling your results. But while this is the fastest path to breakthrough results, it’s not at all about doing so in the ways you might expect.

This sales strategy is not about paying for reviews, buying ads on social media platforms, giving away books for free, camping out at book signing events, or begging friends and family members to post reviews. And it’s going to fly in the face of everything you've been told.

There are lots of well-meaning people out there who want you to believe that writing and publishing a book is easy. And there are publishers and gurus who want you to believe that if you just publish it, people will come. It's misleading, and it’s often for their own benefit. Meanwhile, successful authors know the secret: books don't sell themselves – authors sell books.

Get Great Results by Following a Great Example

Let's be honest, writing a best-selling book to build a ministry or a business is 10 times easier to do when you have a writing coach or ghostwriter, an established brand, a great reputation, a big email list, and a large social media following. But what is an up-and-coming author to do? How do you put yourself on a level playing field?

You follow the greatest example of all time. You follow Jesus's example.

Let's think about what that means. Jesus started small, and He built from there. He started out as a total unknown, and now, over 2000 years later, we still know who He is.

We are still talking about His message.
Books written about Him sell better than most books on the planet.
People die for Him daily.
Christianity is growing faster than the population.

How did He do it? He was willing to start small and build. He interacted with the people that He was trying to reach, meeting them where they were and sharing a message of hope and healing. And He invested in a small inner circle – an inner circle that would go on to help spread His message and change the world.

That's it! We must make our message so powerful that people will want to spread it for us. Everyone out there is teaching the kind of sales strategy that works for people with an established brand and reputation. But no one has been teaching the simple ground-zero strategies that allow you to establish credibility, become an ethical authority, create a platform from nothing, and allow you to build a successful brand ministry and business.

Until now. Here’s a simple mindset shift that can change everything. It’s the fastest path to consistent book sales and the key to starting and scaling a successful business or ministry. And it comes down to three words: strategic messenger multiplication.

Strategic Messenger Multiplication

The fact is that if you are the only one talking about your book, your business, or your ministry, it’s going to be a struggle to get your God-given message out to the masses, your sales will be non-existent or inconsistent, and there will be constant temptation to quit. In fact, you might actually quit, because you’re not seeing results from your work, despite trying every sales strategy you can think of.

But once you learn strategic messenger multiplication and create a small group of evangelists, if you will – people that know, like, and...