Markets Are Not Mystical, they are Emotional. Here's how...
- Jun 21
- 7 min read
SHIFT Pillar: Save Your Money Series
🧭 Welcome to 📉 Lesson 2: Understanding Supply and Demand
Enterprisers, friends, supporters...welcome back.
In this lesson, we are peeling back the curtain on the “invisible hand” and revealing what’s actually moving the markets:
people’s emotions, patterns, timing, and pain points.
At SHIFT Enterprise Academy, we don't just teach economics from a chalkboard, we teach it from the roadside, the ride-share, the WhatsApp group, and the global diaspora.
So today, we decode supply and demand: from Kampala to Kisumu, from Kigali to Kansas City.
This is your invitation to understand the marketplace not as an enemy or mystery, but as a rhythm you can learn to dance with.
Listen to this as an audio lesson and follow along:
🎯 Let's be clear. These are our Lesson Objectives
By the end of this lesson, you should be on your way to:
Understanding the basic principles of supply and demand
Identifying your offer in relation to what your market needs right now
Applying dynamic pricing principles to your work
Developing awareness of timing and scarcity in value creation
Using examples from daily life to sharpen business instincts
Take your time. Things take time.
🧠 So BOOM, here are you Core Concepts & Teachingssss
1. Supply & Demand 101 (The SHIFT Way)
Let's keep it simple: Supply is What’s available and Demand is What people want
The more people want something and the less of it there is, the more valuable it becomes.
Basic? Yes. But here's what maybe we didn't learn in school:
Demand is not always logical. Demand is often emotional.
Here's SHIFT Insight: Price is what people pay. VALUE is what they feel.
In our material world, those two words are very powerful.
2. Learn from the Streets Before You Learn from the Suits
A boda boda driver in Kampala charges 4,000 UGX in the morning.
But at 6pm in the rain? That’s 8,000 minimum.
Why? Demand just doubled.
or
A fruit seller near a school sells bananas for 500 UGX. On market day? 1,000 UGX.
Why? Proximity and pulse.
This is not greed.
This is adaptation.
You must stop thinking pricing is static.
The way you price goods is strategic.
SHIFT Wisdom: If street vendors can understand microeconomics without a degree, what’s stopping you?
If you are in business for yourself right now, consider how you are currently pricing your goods or services. Rethink what principles you are applying to your pricing format. Is it based on how much someone values what you are producing?
3. Your Offer vs. Market Appetite
Your skills, products, or services are your supply.
The pain points, desires, and patterns of your ideal audience?
That’s the demand.
You must constantly ask:
Does my offer match the market’s timing?
Am I providing a “must-have” or a “nice-to-have”?
Who is actively looking for what I already do?
For example with SHIFT Enterprise Academy, the way we are revamping our lessons and programs, is in a way that matches the market's timing. From diaspora demand for visiting, doing business or investing in Africa to young adults anxiously seeking ways to find their niches and secure their bag. We are meeting people where they are. For some people this is a MUST HAVE, and as soon as they discover us rather through our market means or word of mouth, it becomes a win-win situation.
Use your intuition and your research.
4. Pricing with Humility + Confidence
Too low? You burn out.
Too high? You freeze out your own people.
Find the sweet spot.
Here’s the SHIFT pricing formula:
Cost of delivery (materials, time, energy)
Value to the user (what it helps them avoid or gain)
Perception (luxury, necessity, transformation)
For Example: An iPhone in Houston? That's Basic. An iPhone in Nairobi? That's a Status Symbol. Same supply...different demand.
The difference is in the perception.
Sit with that for a minute. Process your own pricing formula or revamp your supply to engage with the type of demand you need for growth. There are no wrong answers here. You hold the keys.
5. You’re Not Begging...You’re Building
When you don’t understand supply and demand, you:
Underprice yourself, Oversell to the wrong people, Overcommit your energy
But when you do:
You become a producer, not just a participant
You stop forcing sales and start attracting customers
You build offers that move at the speed of real need
Don't that sounds like a winning proposition for you?!
(That's Black American English, so just roll with it)
SHIFT Reframe: Markets reward resonance. Find your sound.
What is resonance with people?
Emotional resonance in personal life and business means understanding that it's not just about what you say or present but how you say or present it.
It's about empathizing, feeling, and truly connecting with others. When you resonate with someone emotionally, they feel seen, heard, and valued.
💬 Power Quote
“When you understand supply and demand, you stop begging, you start building.”
Let that sit. Your ancestors traded in cowry shells and cloth. You are the continuation of their enterprise. Don't shrink.
Don’t wait for permission.
"We are on Earth, we can just do things"
📝 Worksheets & Practice
Before you ask "Godfrey" or whatever you've named your Chat GPT friend, think of these answers on your own. Then allow "Godfrey GPT" to refine what you are already thinking. Do not be controlled by the machine. You must still sit in the driver's seat if you expect to reach your destination.
1. Market Mapping Exercise: Map out your current or planned offer.
Then Answer the following:
What problem does this solve?
Who urgently needs this?
Where do these people already go for solutions?
How are they currently underserved?
This is YOUR map. Remember in the SHIFTverse and the world you are creating, there are no wrong answers. You are becoming a scientist.
2. Dynamic Pricing Strategy Choose 2–3 pricing tiers for your service:
Base level (standard rate)
High-demand version (urgent, premium, VIP)
Discounted/promo (for strategic circulation)
3. Global Perspective Practice
Pick one item or service and compare pricing in
3 cities or markets:
For Example if your service is: Hair braiding, coaching session, water filter, solar panel, ebooks...
Analyze:
What makes the price rise or fall?
What emotional or logistical demand is influencing that?
This would be the time to engage "Godfrey GPT." Now that you have your own motion, put that rascal to work doing your market research!
🧘🏾♂️ Now, let's Reflect using this Prompt
“Where in your life are you underselling or oversupplying yourself?”
This isn’t just about pricing your products. It’s about how you show up in the marketplace of value.
Are you giving your energy to markets that can’t afford or don’t respect it?
Time to pivot.
Apply your new wisdom to a basic assessment
High Level Engagement
🧪 Enter the Lab: The Offer Alchemist's Ritual
Knowledge without application is just noise. It is time to step into the lab and become an alchemist with your own work. Take a sheet of paper or open a new document. We will transmute your offer from a simple product into a powerful solution.
Step 1: Deconstruct Your Current Offer (The Raw Material)
Look at what you currently sell or plan to sell.
Describe it in the most basic, logical terms.
I currently sell: [e.g., "handmade jewelry," "business coaching sessions," "website design services"]
Step 2: Listen for the Emotional Cry (The Hidden Demand)
Now, forget your product.
Think only of your ideal customer or community member.
What is the deep, emotional problem they are really facing?
What feeling are they desperately trying to move away from or toward?
My market's true cry is a need to escape from [e.g., "feeling invisible," "the anxiety of overwhelm," "the fear of being left behind"] and a desire to feel [e.g., "seen and beautiful," "in sovereign control," "confidently modern"].
Step 3: The Alchemical Reframing (Creating the Solution)
You do not sell the thing.
You sell the feeling of the problem solved.
Rewrite your offer, speaking directly to the emotional cry you just identified.
The "Before" (What I thought I sold): [e.g., "I sell handmade jewelry."]
The "After" (What I actually provide): [e.g., "I provide handcrafted talismans that make women feel seen, powerful, and connected to their heritage."]
Step 4: The Dynamic Pricing Test (The Boda Boda Principle)
Based on your new, reframed offer, design three pricing tiers based on emotional context, not just features.
The Standard Rate (The Foundation): [Your base price for your core offering]
The "Urgency" Rate (The Rainstorm): What premium would you charge for immediate, last-minute, or high-pressure delivery?
The "Transformation" Rate (The Royal Package): What is the highest-value, all-inclusive version of your offer that provides not just a solution, but a total identity shift for your client?
====
You have now moved from selling a product to providing a transformation.
This is the heart of strategic value creation.
How to Adapt This Activity for Any Group
For the Self-Paced Learner
This is a powerful, private business model canvas. They can use it to immediately clarify their marketing language and pricing strategy.
For a Workshop/Retreat ("The Market Insights Circle")
In small groups, have each Enterpriser share their "Raw Material" (Step 1). The rest of the group then brainstorms what they perceive as the "Emotional Cry" (Step 2) for that offer. This provides powerful, real-time market feedback.
For a Family Conversation
Frame it around a shared family goal or project. "What are we really trying to achieve with this family investment? What is the feeling we are aiming for—security, freedom, joy?" This aligns the family around emotional outcomes, not just financial ones.
For a Men's/Youth Group
Use a real-world local example. "Let's analyze the local Rolex stand. What is he really selling? (Convenience, comfort, a taste of home). How could he apply dynamic pricing? (Late-night 'after the club' pricing)." This makes the concepts tangible and fun.
Let us hear your feedback on this mini lesson
About the Organization
SHIFT Enterprise Academy is where purpose meets profit. We equip entrepreneurs, creatives, and leaders with practical tools and inner wisdom to build sustainable businesses and generational wealth.
From real estate to personal growth, SHIFT is more than a program—it’s a mindset, a movement, and a mission to create change from the inside out.
About the Teacher
Ethan Brisby is a visionary educator and entrepreneur who teaches from lived experience, not just theory. After building SHIFT from scratch and navigating real financial highs and lows, he now helps others unlock true wealth from within.
His approach blends business sense, ancestral wisdom, and spiritual clarity to guide purpose-driven leaders into alignment and legacy.
Part of our mission is to empower leaders with accessible wisdom. Your contribution fuels this work, keeping our lessons free and available for all Enterprisers. Thank you.
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