Ahhhhh!  I’m bumping into my ’stuff’ these days.  Why?  Because I have said YES to playing a much bigger game.  That means that I’m in massive growth mode.  Which means that I am having new experiences and am having some learning curve moments if you get my drift.    Here’s my story……

The guy could sell ice to Eskimos as they say.  I’m talking about Daniel Hall of www.SpeakersCruiseFree.com. I was at the recent “Speak Your Way To Wealth Seminar” and he was one of the speakers.  I was DETERMINED not to purchase any products, but after 20 minutes of him sharing how easy it was to get approved to speak for FREE on cruise lines, I was definitely on board.  (Pardon the pun there!)

What Daniel really sold me into was my dream.  That’s what good selling is.  I have always had a dream to be a cruise speaker, and Daniel just showed me the way……..

The dream I had was that I’d be on the high seas with an eager audience as I share all my pearls of wisdom, inspiration, business building, and lead them to personal and professional transformations.    However, through my coaching with Daniel, I learned that cruise ship passengers are not interested in my life changing message.  What they really want is to know what to do  when they arrive in Cabo San Lucas !

Mindtrap #1 – Having Unrealistic Expectations - Truthfully, I was not happy that I couldn’t do my best Wayne Dyer talk!  I EXPECTED to do things how I always do things.  Not a happy camper (or should I say cruiser) at this point.

My first coaching call with Daniel was illuminating.  I was overwhelmed at having to now pick topics.  To get booked on cruise ships, you need to have a destination driven talk, possibly a general interest talk, and/or an arts and crafts project.

OMG!  If I tell the truth, I was feeling a bit incredulous here as I began thinking about all the work I’ve done to invest in my personal and professional development, the thousands of dollars I spend a year on coaching and mentoring, and I’m supposed to teach my fellow passengers how to do a craft project?  Ahhhh…

Mindtrap #2 – Letting the Ego Go Wild – It’s not pretty, but it’s the truth.  I fancy myself as an excellent speaker/coach/motivator, and to be playing with Play Doh seemed a bit beneath me.  My ‘cockiness’ here really isn’t from arrogance as much as it’s that I’m SO committed to transforming people’s lives that I bumped into some mind chatter here that wouldn’t let me rest.

Thankfully, Daniel is an excellent coach and hung with me.  Like any good coach, he asked all the right questions designed to get me to find things in me that I couldn’t see in the moment.  As we were working to find my topics, I was stuck.  This great dream of being a cruise ship speaker was beginning to fade.  I could not see how where I was with my current focus/passion, that could translate into what the Cruise Lines would want.  I was feeling pretty discouraged because I could see the dream – to be able to cruise as often as I want, anywhere I want, with a guest…ALL FOR FREE – begin to fade.

Mindtrap #3 – Living Inside a Box – Guilty!  This is such a metaphor for where people are when they come to me with their business.  They know what they want, but can’t get outside of what they have tried, what’s familiar, or what’s even possible for them.  Thank God for Daniel cuz I was about ready to get my $$ back and give up at this point.  He started the process by asking about what I love to do.  (Singing, of course!)  He then asked me if I were to be dropped into a library and had tons of time, where would I gravitate to.  (Spirituality and Business/Marketing)  From these little nuggets he was able to suggest some talks that had the ‘destination driven’ piece the cruise lines want and match them with my passions.  Since my first cruise will be in Mexico, I may research “Crooners of Mexico” and maybe even sing some of their songs.  I can also give a talk on different spiritual practices in Mexico which energizes me to study and present.

After we hung up, and I had my coaching assignments, a little voice in my head said, “Oh my God….your dream is coming true!” I can’t tell you how amazing that feeling is because so many times we get used to accepting the loss of dreams or just learn to tolerate a life with half-lived expectations.  I know I have in the past, and I imaging that you have experienced this as well.  So let my story be an inspiration to you.  Don’t let anything get in the way of your dream!  Even arts and crafts projects……

Dream big gang!