The ONE SECRET to Indigenous Success!

So I probably should apologize because I'm going to get passionate on your butt today. Not a rant, but this is definitely something I believe in. Today we're talking about Indigenous success. What is the secret to Indigenous success? And it may not be what you think, but this is something I believe with everything in me. Let's talk about it. Bonjour, Mishko Paganan, Kwei Nadishnikas, Mung Dodem. Hi everybody. My name is Sandy Boucher. I'm Red Thunderbolt, woman of the Loon clan, a proud member of Seine River first nation in Treaty 3 territory in Northern Ontario. Before I say anything else, I should apologize for the fact that I woke up this morning with a cold, tried to put on some makeup to hide my big red Rudolph nose. Definitely took my medication. Although breathing is challenging. Not to any extent. Don't go calling 911 here. I'm fine. It's just a cold. It's just annoying. You know what? It's probably not a cold. It's probably seasonal allergies. Who cares? That's not what this video is about. Focus, Andy, focus. If there's one thing I believe, and you've heard me talk about internalized oppression before, you've heard me say how everything you see in First Nation communities is a reaction to the environment. We are reacting to the oppression and the discrimination, the violence, the acquiescence and the non violent resistance are all natural reactions to oppression. You have heard me say that Indigenous people in Canada are flowers trying to grow in soil doused in gasoline. It is imperative for us to find good soil. And if there's one thing I know to be true, because remember, I now successfully run a business. I have for 15 years. But I was the domestic abuse survivor. I am a 10 year domestic abuse survivor. I have sold, I know poverty. I have sold furniture to feed my kids. It been there, done that. I. I can't even count how many times alcohol blew my family apart. But if there's one thing I know for sure, to be successful, you need to change the tapes. You need to look at what you believe because of the environment and change your environment by changing what you believe. I see so many Indigenous people putting tons of energy into trying to get other people to look at us differently. But we never look at how we look at us and what we believe. We will not respect ourselves more because other people respect ourselves more. That's not how it works. As my mom would say, teach other people how to treat us. When we start looking at ourselves with respect, other people will I honestly could care 2 beans if someone else respects me or believes I deserve respect. I know I do. And the people in my world will respect me. They do. Or else they're not in my world. It is simply that simple. But it starts with me. It's the unpacking. It's the decolonizing. It's looking at. There are. For example, one of the things if someone had told me that the biggest challenge I would face with being successful in business was learning how to have money, I would have told them they were nuts. Like, I'm good, give me money. I'm certain I could figure it out. You don't. Because if you're used to poverty, all you do is spend the money as fast as you can to return yourself back to your comfort zone of being broken. You got to learn to keep the money in the bank. You got to learn to build your own safety net. You gotta focus on what you think of you, not what other people think of you. And you gotta unpack those stereotypes. I used to. I bought the stereotype that successful people were successful because they ripped other people off. Guess what? If you think every successful person is a bad person, you're never going to become a successful person because your own internal dialogue and your own internal settings are going to stop you be from being successful because you don't want to be a bad person. Guess what I discovered? It has nothing to do with money. I have met poor people that are jerks. I have met rich people that are jerks. I have met rich people that are kind. I have met poor people that are kind. I honestly believe money is a magnifier. Whatever you're doing, money will just allow you to do more of it. So you're if you're helping people, more money is going to help you help more people. If you're self destructing and it's going to be dangerous for you to have more money. So bottom line, stop. Start looking at how you what you believe about yourself. I have no idea what's wrong with my cat, but I'm going to throw her out a window soon. No, I'm not, James. Meowing like crazy. She wants some tlc. She'll get it after the video, don't worry. But you seriously gotta look at what are the stories you're telling yourself. Why are you not going to school because you honestly believe it's not going to help you. That's a story you're telling yourself. Are you not starting your own business because you don't believe you could figure it out. That's a story you're telling yourself. If another person could do it, so can you. What's that phrase? Ed or quote at Mylet says all the time, if you want to learn the path to the future, ask the people coming back. Or how. What your future is. Ask the people coming back. I totally murdered that quote. Maybe I'll put it in the text underneath. But there are so many successful people out there you can learn from. And if you don't know them, there's this thing called YouTube. You can just go on there. So why am I so pumped about this today? Because I started reading this book, we should all be millionaires. And this is written by a black woman. She's acknowledging the racism. She's acknowledging there's one thing she was talking about. What does she call it? The thought. Thought process or something. Rewiring your. Your. The stories you tell, your thought work. That's what it's called. And so she said, I recognize that the fears in my head are just stories that I tell myself. They are a prison that I've created to keep me from experiencing the disappointment of failure. She's talking about if you try to become successful and fail. So I can choose to believe something entirely different. I am literally going to put this on a post it note over my. My computer because thought work and reprocessing, reprogramming, decolonizing, ongoing process for me. Listen to this. I can choose to believe in my ability to make money and provide financial security for my family. I can choose to believe in my ability to make smart financial decisions. I can choose to believe in my ability. Oh, I can choose to believe that even if I make a big money mistake or some outside force causes me to lose everything, that I have the skill and the ability to make it all back faster than I've ever made it before. The one thing I always say is when you've been knocked down as many times as I have. Yes. Stop questioning the. Your ability to get back up. You know you will. Now listen to this. So she's acknowledging racism. She's acknowledging systemic racism. She's acknowledging how systems. Hang on a sec. Sorry about that. I literally had to close the door so I could finish this video. Then I'm gonna have to go find out what the heck's wrong with my cat. Anyways. She's acknowledging the racism, the systemic racism that, that in her case, the world is set up against. And black woman being financially successful. An indigenous woman or indigenous person could say the exact same thing. So this is what she repeats to herself to reframe her thoughts. Are you ready? This is on page 19, by the way. Once again, because of racism, I must build wealth. My people are systemically discriminated against and racist practices are built into our banking and other economic policy. Therefore, I will make it a priority to get ahead and build wealth so I can show my people that it's possible for them too. Welcome to my life. I got so sick of people looking down on me. So sick of people telling me what I wouldn't. Wouldn't be able to do because I'm indigenous. I decided, you know what? You're wrong. And I listened instead to the elders who believed in me. I ignored their own stories that were limiting and I created new stories where I believed in myself. There is nothing you can't do as far as success is concerned. It's up to you. And playing small only allows the oppressor to win. So stop basing your self worth on what other people think of you. Their vision problem is not your value problem. No more excuses. No more waiting for Canada to respect us. It starts with us. It starts with us. We do not need them to save us. Remember in the missing facts videos way back when, when the settlers first got here, we were teaching them how to survive. We know how to teach others. We got to teach ourselves how to respect ourselves. And then we get to teach others how to respect us. The time is now. And that is the secret to Indigenous success. Do you honestly think when I stand on a stage I'm begging people to. To save the poor indigenous people? No. I'm telling them that their opinion of us is wrong. That those stereotypes they believe about us are wrong. And that they need an education so that we can finally start working together. That's decolonizing. That's teaching others how to treat you. That's Indigenous success. And if you need any more advice, I am always just an email away. I love you. Until tomorrow. Bye Bye. I almost forgot. I have two amazing surprises for you. For one, you may not know this, but if you type in sandybouchet.com which now takes you to Mishkway Ca, which is the name of my company. Or you just go to Mishkway Ca. I have my shop there and that's where you can buy books and video courses and prints. Prints that are most often poems out of my books that I've put. I haven't done it. My graphic designer has put a killer background on it and you can purchase these prints. Well, going forward from this point on. They are all downloadable and they are 99 cents. So if you want to give someone a gift and your money is tight, you download one of these, you get it printed for three $4 onto cardstock paper at your local print shop, you throw it in a frame from the dollar store and it's an amazing gift. Or you just printed and hang it over your computer or near your mirror in the morning so that you are inspired. So all of my prints from now on downloadable 99 cents. And the second piece of news Honorary Indian Decolonized. My first book went through a decolonization process kind of like I was talking about in this video or in the video I did on September 23, depending on when you're watching this. And great news. Honorary Indian Decolonized. The second version of that book will be available for purchase on September 30th. That seems fitting to me. That's the way to honor the survivors. That's the way to honor our endurance and resilience by re putting out into the world the book that has helped so many people through their grief and their struggles. This is my first book reworked with my wisdom added in. All of the powerful entries are still still in there, the ones that have resonated with people over the years. And once again, it's available for you on my shop and on Amazon. I just couldn't wait to tell you. So yay. I love you. Talk to you tomorrow. Bye bye.