Reimagining Montserrat – Why Now?

Transcript from a video presentation by Editor, Nerissa Golden.

Hello Beautiful People. For those who don’t know me. I am Nerissa Golden, the Editor of Discover Montserrat. I am an author and entrepreneur passionate about Montserrat and Caribbean development.

Let me say thank you to so many of you who commented online, sent me WhatsApp messages, emails and shared your feedback on the Reimagining Montserrat blogs I’ve released on discovermni.com and on LinkedIn.

Before I drop a new article in the Reimagining Montserrat series, I wanted to offer a few thoughts on why I think now is the right time for us to look at new ways of showing up. Not only in the marketplace of tourism, but as people of promise and purpose.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve found myself repeating the scripture in 1 Corinthians 13:11-12 – New King James Version
11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

Adulting as the young people say, will require you to reframe a lot of what you’ve always believed. Believed about the experience you had, what you thought your parents did or didn’t do, how others wronged you and what you believe about Montserrat, your place in it, your place in the world.

It is necessary for any kind of growth to happen that you shed the old ideas and actions and learn new ways of being, thinking, living. The success you are after. The dreams you want fulfilled for and by your children requires you to think differently and act differently. You will not get the same results doing what you have always done.

This season also requires that some of you let go of old dreams as the season for them has passed. But it is not a failure because you held on and did your best. Now God wants to give you new and expanded dreams but you’ve got to release the old so you can get the new.
Thank you to those who left and to those who stayed.

To our friends and family in the Diaspora….Thank you.
While it was not an easy decision for many of you who left almost 30 years ago, your leaving provided space for the ones who remained to build and grow.

The largeness of our capacity, which are the people of Montserrat could not be contained in these 40+ square miles and I want you to consider that. There is often bitterness about those who left as if they intentionally abandoned us.
I want you to see that what was meant for bad turned into good.

Many people were able to go to university, offer their families more opportunities and be in a position to give back to Montserrat. Our festivals are directly impacted by our own people returning and bringing their new friends and expanded families with them.
Those of you who remained have created new spaces and new experiences for our families and friends to return to.

You have held space for those who live abroad to remember where home is. Thank you.

As I mentioned in my 30th anniversary post, we’ve held on and now it’s time to let go.

Very often we see comments in our Facebook communities calling for Montserrat to return to the old ways and whatever their interpretation of what our culture should be.

But culture evolves and creativity expands. We adapted our construction style to withstand storms; we figured out systems to alert our people of impending danger, we have found ways of staying connected and sharing what is happening despite the distance. It required moving beyond the old ways of doing things. We must acknowledge that the old allowed us to live and survive in that time. But many of the old things cannot survive in this new reality. Mourn it. Honour it. Release it. Open your heart to the possibility of more for yourself, for your neighbours, for Montserrat, for the Caribbean.

This is your right. This is your privilege. This is your blessing. Receive it.

We’ve seen since the pandemic the rapid escalation of prices for everything from flights, fuel, shipping, hotel rooms, basic food items and so on. It is not a Montserrat problem. It is a global issue and what people are grappling with everywhere. We see the additional tariffs being imposed, visa restrictions and other policies which will have a ripple effect in our island.

Let’s consider for the moment that prices aren’t going down. Suppose we were to stop asking or expecting that. Is that it? Are we all doomed?

No. We’re not. The alternative is that we all earn more so we can comfortably meet the increased costs of living.

Most of the costs are put on before they get to Montserrat so to keep expecting businesspeople to absorb it is not how the world works or business works. They are not charities.

There’s a lot of noise and the blame game continues no matter what party is in power.

The deception in that is – that as long as we blame the government for why you aren’t succeeding then it releases you of the obligation to do anything. Cause after all you are not in power.

Do not allow anyone to take away your right to advocate for yourself and to transform your life and make it the way you want it to be.

I want you to get used to the idea of having more money. I want you to get excited to see your neighbour have more money. I want you to get excited to see a young Montserratian start a business and see it expand and flourish. If you can’t get excited for others then you won’t be able to attract that wealth building energy to yourself. We all rise together. If someone gets to the goal before you, that’s not a failure. Get excited because it means your turn is next.

No matter what you see or hear on the news or even the evidence in your bank account that there’s not enough. There is more than enough for all of us to succeed. Your win doesn’t take away the opportunity for me to win as well.

Who do we want to invite to visit Montserrat? Sometimes I wish we could lock it away and not let anyone into one of the best kept secrets in the world. But we need people to visit and share in what we’ve created.
But anyone and everyone is not our market.

We are a friendly people but not a budget friendly destination. We need to lean into that and see how we can bring our product up to meet the value expected from the prices people pay.

We love the latest devices and gadgets but we don’t deploy them so we can meet our visitors where they are. Just about every Montserratian has a Facebook page but I don’t know every business in Montserrat. Stop assuming everybody knows where to find you and what you sell. Even if all you sell are brake pads, I want you to get on Facebook and Instagram and tell us you sell brake pads. If you have a one-bedroom, tell us. This doesn’t mean only showing us photos of the bedroom. What’s outside? What fruit trees are in your garden. What’s the nearest beach? What’s happening on the island that can entice people to book your spot? If you want to be in business then you must sell what you have to offer. That is your responsibility and no one else’s.

Improving Our Accommodations

In my first article I jumped right into a major eye sore for Montserrat – our accommodations and it was very intentional. We have some big problems to fix.

I encourage you to read the piece and add your thoughts in the comments as many have already.

In every article I add a what you can do now section. Yes, I make recommendations for the government or other bodies but I am most concerned that you take action. You don’t need permission to think differently and work differently in your business. You can raise the standard and watch the impact ripple across the island.

So download the cheatsheet or workbook and see which items on the list you can implement now.

It may be simply doing the assessment so you are really aware of what are the issues that make your product not be the best it can be.
For example in the accommodation article, there’s a list of quick wins you can do. Assess the quality of your sheets and curtains. Which of your furnishings need some new varnish? Can you paint the dressing tables and wardrobes so they are a nice cool color. Maybe you need to update the dishes, paint the apartment.

Go to Pinterest and Instagram and get inspiration. I like to pick far flung places in the world to see what they are doing to get ideas. You don’t have to do what other people in Montserrat or even the Caribbean are doing. Get ideas from Bali, Ghana, or Australia. Open your mind to new possibilities for improving your product.

Opportunities for Improvement on a Budget

Search amazon or wherever you shop online and dream a bit. Fill the shopping cart with items and just check out the costs. Which of those items can you budget to purchase in a month or two or six. Make a plan. Consider the import costs. You can use mail forwarding companies like Montserrat Shipping and the post office to help reduce direct shipping costs.

Some of you have never applied for reduced customs duties through the micro and small business committee. You can apply through the department of trade. These are ways that you can currently use to get some breathing room to invest in your business. The government will be introducing a micro loans scheme soon. Look out for that when it launches and get your paperwork in order so you can apply.
And NO. You don’t need a grant. You need a loan. You are a business and activating that energy of transactions requires that you be transactional as well. You get a loan to invest in your business so you can see growth. Grants encourage you to mark time and not have any ownership of what it takes to grow. Remember we are letting go of the old to embrace new growth and expansion.

Marketing Your Property

While you’re updating your apartment, tell us about it. A good example is what Jerely Browne is doing walking us through how he’s creating AirBnbs in the UK and also in Montserrat. We’re not expecting you to hire a production crew but I bet you’ve got a phone and it has a camera and you’ve got a Facebook page. If you’ve got a young person in your life, child, grandchild, someone in your church…ask them to help you with this.

Post before and after photos.

A big part of social media is storytelling. Make up a story. Tell us how you are practicing sustainability by refurbishing rather than buying everything brand new. If the dining table is from your great grandmother by all means give it a facelift and use it as an opportunity to tell your audience about your amazing grandmother and the journey to the table coming to your home.

Closed mouth don’t catch fly they say. It is your responsibility to grow your business. That means you’ve got to have an attractive product. Someone told me recently that most of our accommodations give hostel vibes, not even budget hotel. That hurt to hear. Yes, we’ve got a few hidden gems but we need those to become the basics from which we all start from.

And for all our sakes get rid of the floral bedspreads and curtains eh. Brighten up your space.

Download the cheat sheets.

Get Support

Reach out to me at nerissa@trulycaribbean.net if you would like to book a consultation. I will be adding some free and paid courses to help you with some of the ideas I’ve suggested here. It isn’t something we will fix overnight but for now let’s make the decision to let go and embrace all the good things that God and life has for us. Talk soon.

Complete our Accommodations Audit to get feedback from an interior design expert.