Okay it wasn’t a miracle as much as a breakthrough, but the results of the work are the stuff of miracles.

For me, it was magical confirmation of the power of doing of my Work with clients – allowing them to step into their greatness.  It’s kind of like turning a light on not only in their business, but inside themselves.  That was the case with Kim.

During a recently group coaching call for my Extraordinary Results Coaching Community, Kim called in for some laser coaching.

When I asked what she wanted, she was clear – “I want more belief in myself.”

You see, Kim has had tons of coaching and mentoring, and is truly brilliant.  Except that sometimes she can’t see it for herself, much like most of us.  I think it’s the curse of talented entrepreneurs.  We focus on growing our businesses, but sometimes don’t see just how amazing of results we get.  Or if we see it, we don’t OWN it.

I asked her where she was on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being fully owning her gifts and believing in what she had to offer.  She was a 7.

Here’s where it gets cool!  I asked her to find a spot on the floor in front of her where the “10″ lived.  No, not Bo Derek, but the Kim that is in the future and solidly embracing who she is and has the business that she loves.  She was instructed to slowly walk into the 8, the 9, and finally stand on the spot where the 10 of her belief in herself resided.

She stood there on the phone in her home, as I ‘called in’ for her that level of belief.  I asked her to open her arms wide and just say YES to life, YES to more money, YES to new clients, YES to abundance, and YES to belief.  In fact, everyone on the call was saying YES with her.  She totally got the integration and realized that she does have all she needs, and now had the tools to affirm that for herself.

I asked Kim to write about this experience and two days later, I got this email:

In a group coaching call, I said I wanted to walk away with 100% confidence. During that 15 minutes, not only did Therese boost my belief that I can accomplish my goals, she helped me identify that a missing piece was a willingness to receive what I was asking for.

She gave me the tools to solve that challenge and within 48 hours I received messages from a woman who wants me to teach a class for her online academy (which is filled with members of my target market), a business owner who wants to promote my upcoming teleclass to her entire network, and a multi-millionaire business woman who wants to set up a meeting to learn more about me and what I do.

Coincidence? C’mon! I think it’s simply amazing.

See what happens when we say YES to the Universe?

As a coaching question for yourself, ask what level of belief you have and how much you are allowing yourself to receive.  Bump it up!  See what happens when you do.

And if you want to see what Kim is up to – check this out cuz it’s gonna be good.

“Tweeting for Dollars (For Clueless Entrepreneurs Only)”.

http://readytoevolve.com/trainings/tweeting4dollars.html

Loving My ‘Hate’ Mail

There it was.  Right on my Facebook wall.  Not in a private message to me.  No…on the wall.  The snarkiest comment I’ve ever gotten, just sitting there for the entire FB world to see.

Earlier in the day I had written a status feed asking for some support in picking a title for a new opt in piece, and had ten wonderful folks giving their ideas.  They were kind and friendly and encouraging…all the things I know to be true about my Facebook community.

Then his message came in.  It went like this:

“I wonder, have you ever noticed how incredibly self-absorbed you are?  Everything seems to be about you, even when it appears to be about “helping” others.”

YIKES!!!!!!

In that moment, I had three thoughts running all together.

The first – “Ouch!”

The second – “What a jerk!”  (Ok, I am human and was offended)

The third – “Woo Hoo!…This means my marketing is working”

Thoughts one and two are pretty self explanatory, but this article really is about the third concept – the one that you may not have heard much about, so let me break through some of the myths of marketing here.  We all know that we want our marketing to attract our target clients, right?  But here’s the flip side…

Good marketing serves to REPEL the wrong client.

Most of us spend so much time trying to be all things to all people, hoping not to ruffle feathers, and ‘win’ clients over, that in reality, it serves only to make us invisible.

So when “G” decided to blast me, I took great comfort in that fact because he’s SO CLEARLY not my market that the fact that I pissed him off, means that who I am being is working.  See, I have made the commitment to play very full out.  That means being a bit edgy, singing karaoke, and showing who I am.  It’s all about authenticity.  And I know the “risk” of that.  When you are operating to be safe and not ruffle feathers, you fly under the radar, so would likely never get this kind of blasting.

But…you also never connect deeply with the folks that resonate with your message and appreciate your work.  The ones who need what you have to offer.

In fact, here’s a cool “God-thing.”

One minute after “G” sent this to me; I got this post on my wall:

“Hi Therese,

Just wanted to wish you a wonderful weekend! You are such an inspiration to truly live our dreams – I appreciate all your reminders – you consistently keep us motivated – and in the ‘mindset’. So glad to know you and work with you!”

This person is clearly MY TARGET MARKET so appreciates how I express myself in the world.  That’s what I want for you.  To have your ‘tribe’ clearly find you, connect with you,  and value the work you do.  Oh, then hire you as well!

Now I’m going to challenge you.

Do you have the courage to stop being bland?  Are you willing to take a position?  Trying to ‘play nice’ and get along are the rules we learned in kindergarten.  No great movement can come about when there are not courageous leaders willing to take the hits and speak up from the place of passion inside them.

Here’s my request.

Look at your website, brochures, 30 second commercial, and any other marketing material.  If someone got a hold of it, is it very clear who you serve, who you DON’T, and what you stand for?  What has to shift in you to get out from under the cloud of obscurity?  Trust me….the more you step up and play big, the more we all win.

In fact, I’m so inspired by “G’s” snarky comment that I’d love to help you in any way I can to be able to step up and stand out…and repel the folks you need to repel!  Feel free to send me your website and I’ll be happy to give it a quick scan and give you’re a mini-consult (no fee!) to tell you how you can tighten up your message.

Now go shine your light!

This is an oldie but a goodie!  I’m reprinting it because there are times when we get stuck and have trouble ‘keepin on keeping on.”  You’ll find some inspiration for how to stay focused and moving forward.

Shut up and run!

February 7th, 2007

There are times in your life when you need to keep going, but things get hard.  You know the times.  Maybe your assistant quits, or you are shifting away from your existing model of running your business, so are feeling overwhelmed? You aren’t alone…we’ve all been through it.

How do you keep going when all you want to do is go back to bed and pull the covers over your head?

I was working with a client the other day who was in a similar situation.  She was ready to give up on herself and her dream business because things were hard in the moment.

You want to know what I did that totally shifted her out of that, in about 2 minutes?  (That’s my speciality, by the way…finding where you are blocked.  Guess you could call me a roto rooter for your mind!)

My solution was that I had her remember a time when she felt exactly the same way.  After searching in her past, she told me of a time when she was running a marathon.  As the race wore on, she hit the wall.  She was tired, frustrated, and didn’t think she could keep going,  and at about the 13th mile had her cell phone out and was going to call a taxi.  She was ready to give up on herself.

After she remembered this time in her life, I had her go back to that place, and discover what it was in her that shifted and allowed her to keep running.  Where did the perseverance come from?  How did she move from being in a place of pain, to just giving herself permission to take the next few steps?  She remember that it was a shift in her self talk and that she could come into a place of power JUST FROM DECIDING to make it so! Once she decided, she could persevere, regardless of the pain.  She then had the sweet, sweet knowledge of victory as she crossed the finish line.

I call this your Mount Everest Moment.  Or you can use your Rocky Balboa moment if you are into that.  The moment when you have reached the top of the mountain or run up the stairs, fists pumping in the air, singing the victory song.  We’ve all had them.  I’ll ask you now to think of a time in your life when you had to dig in and pull out strength you didn’t know you had.  The trick is to replicate that.  For my client, her new mantra is, “Shut up and keep running.”  For reals…she’s posted it all over the place, so she’s got an anchor to that time when she was strong and invincible.

What is it for you?  If you could watch the movie of your life and find that frame where you stopped time, blasted through your fear or doubt, and became invincible…what happened?  You can do that in any moment you choose.

I dare you to keep going!!!!!!

Focus on the good,

Therese

OK, here’s the deal…

You are going to spend at least one third to one half of YOUR LIFE working. So why not make it something that gives you joy?

Today’s article is about looking at your business not just as a ‘cash machine’ or a form of revenue generation, but more of something that becomes an extension of you…and your life’s mission. Deep stuff I know, but since we are gonna be putting in all those hours, at the end of the day, let’s find a way to make it matter.

Since this article is not your basic Marketing 101 type of article, I want to set up in the beginning who I’m writing to.

If you are the kind of business owner who understands that in some ways your business is like your ministry, I’m talking to you. If you feel called to fully express your gifts through your business, I’m talking to you. If it’s important to you to serve as many people as you can, I’m talking to you. And if you are passionate about leaving a legacy – then you are my people…So let’s get going…

Business as Your Ministry –

I’m not referencing here the traditional or religious sense of the word ministry. To me it means that you know that your soul’s purpose is being expressed through your business and the services that you provide. One of the definitions of ministry is “the act of serving.” You may be a coach or speaker or own a store. Your work can be done consciously or unconsciously. You can look for ways where you can show up more fully and be of greater service, or it can just be a way to collect a paycheck. You get to decide.

That’s the absolute first step. If you have the sense that your business is like your personal ministry, you stand in the knowing that you are here to serve and are committed to that. From that level of commitment and decision, everything else falls into place.

Fully Expressing Your Gifts –

We are here to make a difference in people’s lives. (OK, that may be my belief, but I like it and am keeping it!) Your business becomes effortless when you express your gifts in the world, instead of trying to be what other people want you to be. This is where fulfillment lives, where passion lives, and its cute little down the street neighbor, Fun, lives!

First you have to know what your gifts are. And a big hint…what you think is easy and comes naturally and likely gets overlooked as “Doesn’t everyone have that?” – That’s YOUR gift. Take an inventory of what you do easily that your clients are really blown away by. Notice your passion-meter. What gets you juiced to talk about or do? Show up more fully in your business and you’ll not only enjoy it more, but you’ll also attract the RIGHT kind of clients who will resonate with your unique energy, AND you’ll also make more money doing it.

Stuck on what your gifts are? Ask! Survey your clients or close friends/mastermind partners and ask what they see that you are gifted at. You will probably be surprised at what they see that you have overlooked. Next – assign a value to what they say that your gifts are. You have to really own how much impact you have, so discovering what your gifts are worth is a huge step in gaining entrepreneurial confidence! When you really get clear about how much value you bring, raising your rates and being paid what you are worth will be easy.

Leaving a Legacy –

What will your footprint be? When you are gone, how will you be remembered? By the lives you touched? For the contributions you made? From the children you so tenderly raised?

Is legacy something that you strive for, or a thing that just happens when you show up and do your work in the world?

It’s my belief that sometimes we get so bogged down with the daily ‘to-do’ list that it’s easy to forget that we are here to make a difference. What would change in your business if you regularly tapped into that place in you that could hold the longer vision of what’s possible.

This legacy stuff on one hand feels a bit big and scary. But on the other hand, it can be energizing when you tap into the knowledge that your ideas and contributions will outlive you. I remember years ago meeting a copywriter and her big dream was “to be an influence.” It hadn’t occurred to me at the time that my scope was any broader that the local folks I was working with, but her soul knew that her purpose here was to influence how people thought and to help them open up to new possibilities.

What will it be for you? It’s not something I want you to ‘work’ at or stress over, but do give it some thought. If you create that new product, can you see the ripple effect? Imagine that 100 people work with you, and that work effects 10 of their friends, and five more down the road, in their networks. Can you see the endless possibilities?

So my wish for you, my dear reader, is to really do some thinking about the meaning of your business and the difference you make in the world because of it. Own your vision in a big way! We need that from you.

I can see it now…..

A room full of grizzly looking, sleep deprived entrepreneurs sitting around wondering what happened to their dreams of success.

One by one they start to share their stories:

“Hi, I’m Amy.  I am an email addict.”  I sit down to work on the projects that would make me money, but every time that email alert pops in, I’m bouncing to check on who could have possibly contacted me.  So by the end of the day, I’m drained, overwhelmed, and have accomplished nothing!.”

Next is Dave, who has the tell tale dark circles under his eyes.  “Hi I’m Dave, and my life has become unmanageable as a result of the distraction of email.  My problem is that I can’t sleep until I know every email is done, sent, or responded to.  Its freaky…in fact, if I get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, or can’t sleep, I will head straight to my computer to finish off the email that came in when I was away.  And can I share my biggest shame?  I secretly get a little bummed when it’s about one in the morning and I hit the send/receive button and nothing comes.  I’m a mess.”

But the saddest one of all is Ray, who sits in the corner, barely able to hold his head up.  “Hi, my story is sort of similar but it’s not just email that’s causing me to get off track and waste hours and hours and hours.  Mine is that damn Facebook and Twitter.  In the old days I’d give myself about thirty minutes to ’surf the web’ as we used to call it back then, but with the inventions like Tweetdeck, I’m screwed!  Now it takes all the energy I can muster to get anything done.  And you want to know the worst part of it?  As a coach, when I’m supposed to be listening to my clients on the phone, I secretly pop in and check on the tweets while I should be listening to them.  They are paying me good money, and I can’t even be present because I’m so addicted to distractions.  What they heck should I do?”

Now obviously this is a fictitious “12-Step meeting for email addicts” but many of you will read your own story in the three characters above.

The fist thing I want you to know is that you are probably (unfortunately) among the norm.  We love distractions!  Our cell phones have alarms, our Outlook tasks pop in to alert us, we get reminders of teleclasses, and all sorts of things that intrude on our space.  So what’s a ‘focus challenged’ entrepreneur to do about all this?  I have a few suggestions below.

1.  Turn off the email alert -yes….in Outlook you can stop the function that tells you every time an email pops in.  You may notice a huge void, but that’s the goal!

2.  Discover the cost of being interrupted constantly – I recently got ’spanked’ by my VA.  OK, not literally, but she scolded me because I haven’t yet contacted all the affiliates I need to promote my upcoming Happy in Business Mastermind program.  See I can tell myself the story that I’m so busy, but the reality is that the distraction of email/social media probably cost me at least a weeks worth of work in connecting with people that I need to.

3.  Schedule chunks of time for distractions – Give yourself certain hours where you’ll be on Facebook, certain times you’ll tweet, and certain times you will check your email.  It really is about discipline.   Have you planned your time?  Do you set up a schedule the night before of what needs to be accomplished, or do you just jump on the computer and just start responding to emails?  That is the kiss of death for any hope of productivity, so START NOW.  The deal is that you control your time, and not other people’s calls, requests, or emails.  Think like a singulary focused million dollar business owner.  Would they ‘twitter’ their time away?  Probably not.

4.  Purge, purge, purge -  Do you really need 67 ezine subscriptions?  Take one whole week and everything that you would be tempted to say, “I’ll get to this later” GET RID OF!!!! You can always re-subscribe, but the enormity of getting hundred and hundred of emails a day leads to overwhelm.  (Don’t want to hurt someones feelings by unsubscribing?  Here’s a trick – set up a message rule in Outlook to send their email directly to the delete folder.  That way you don’t have to see it, and they don’t have to know you left their list.)

5. Have an assistant handle your email -This is where I am.  And truthfully, I am FIGHTING this one!  Because I admit that I’m like a crazy email junkie- the more the better in my book.  But I know what it costs me in terms of productivity.  So next week my inbox will be managed by Renee, my ass-kicking VA.  Actually the email won’t even come in to my Inbox.  It may take a few weeks to sort out, but she’ll only send me the high priority items, and the rest will be handled.  Out of sight, out of mind is the key.  Why did I finally surrender here?  Because I know that I will be so much better of a business owner when I’m not distracted and hitting that send/receive button every five minutes.  I’ll be able to do my weekly newsletter, write more articles, and gosh…maybe even have a life.  What a beautiful thing!

Those are my five tips.  Shoot me an email and let me know if you have any other ideas.  (And yeah, I’ll tell Renee to deliver that one to me!)

Blessings,

I was fried.  Seriously.  Last week I hit the wall of exhaustion and overwhelm.

Why?  Was this caused by sleepless nights, and stressed out days?  No, it was actually too much of a good thing!  It’s called the “curse of opportunity” in my book.

I got thrown out of balance by recently becoming a member of two different coaching programs, rolling out a new marketing info product, launching my new Happy In Business Mastermind  groups, and oh yeah…..trying to be a mom in the middle of all of that!

What makes it challenging is that being in the creative flow is soooo energizing to me, that it’s easy to not notice that I was working many more hours and letting slip some of my self care activities.

If you are like me and you love the work you do, you may not even be aware that burn out is quickly approaching.

Here are some signs –

• You work all day and forget to eat.  (And no…coffee doesn’t count as a meal!)
• Even though you really need to make that video for Facebook, you haven’t washed your hair or put make up on for the last few days and look pretty scary!
• If you have managed to pull yourself away from the laptop to exercise, you are now stinky from not showering (but you tolerate it because you want to keep banging away at your computer and don’t have time to clean up)
• Your kids are begging you to make time for them and tell you that they hate your business.
• The only conversations you have are the 140 character tweets with your virtual friends.
• You start getting cranky with your team when they ask more of you.

Do you see yourself in any of the above?  (Sure, they may be a bit exaggerated, but I know of at least two of those that are real world examples.)

You need to realize that there is never perfect balance in business. Life will throw you curve balls, computers will crash, you’ll fall in love, company will come, kids get sick, and opportunities will come your way. Meaning – you can’t count on the flow always being smooth and perfect!

This is my process of the things you can do when you are feeling overwhelmed.

Give up all non-essential activities:
For two weeks put off anything extra.  That could mean you stop going to networking meetings, don’t listen to those teleclasses, and only focus on the revenue generating activities.  I know this seems harsh, but if overwhelm is lurking, you need to get some more time back and this is the quickest way to do it.

Practice increased self care:
Sometimes doing all the mental work can make you even more tired than doing physical activity.  So get outside more often, get a massage, take a bath, read for awhile, snuggle with your sweetie, and eat food you love and feel nourished by.  For most of us, when work/client opportunity presents itself, we give up our self care and trust me – it will bite you in the butt if you neglect yourself in this area. (We don’t want you getting sick now.)

Delegate more:
Do you have a team in place? (If not that’s the number one task to do RIGHT NOW!)  Look for even more ways you can clear your plate.  This could be work related like having someone do writing for you, check your email, or do your books.  Or it could be in your personal life.  Do you know that you can have groceries delivered?  Dry cleaning picked up and delivered?  Bills paid automatically?  Look for three to five things you can let go of and you’ll get some time back.  (Mine = I’m going to have one of my assistants manage my calendar and email.  Those are huge time ‘suckers’!)

Change deadlines:
Yes, it’s ok to say that you need to move things back.  Most of us tend to over-promise and not take into account that things can go wrong.  For example, I was going to roll out my Happy in Business Mastermind program in June.  What I didn’t take into account was that my key tech-team member would be travelling for about a week, and then upon return have almost a week of no internet services!  I also didn’t factor in that the new coaching programs I was in would take about 8 hours a week in the beginning, which exhausted me and so I got way behind in my tasks.  Between those factors, the ‘launch’ got really overwhelming and wasn’t going to be done the right way.  So I decided to move it back to July.  Whew!  I can’t tell you the relief I experienced when I finally said “UNCLE” and saw realistically where things were.

Give yourself permission to have it easy for you.  If you communicate, people will accept that you have to push things back a bit.  It’s far better to ask for more time than it is to produce a half baked product that almost kills you!

Nappy time:Get some sleep!  More sleep.  If you are in the crazy entrepreneur tribe, you are probably running on adrenaline.  (I know because we are all tweeting/emailing at midnight)

Give yourself permission to sleep in, rest in the afternoon, or go to bed earlier.  Those toddlers don’t know how lucky they have it to get a daily nap.

Remember to have fun:
When was the last time you just let loose?  It’s almost counter-intuitive that when you are slammed with work that the BEST thing you could do is to go out and do something where you forget yourself.  For me it was singing karaoke and dancing at a friend’s birthday.  It was awesome to pretend I was Melissa Etheridge and rock the house for awhile.  I came home so energized and refreshed that I actually got much more done than if I would have stayed home working on my projects.

So what will it be for you?  I recommend that it’s more than just watching a movie.  Use your body, and get some adrenaline flowing!  It will go a long way to getting you back on top of your game again.

And guess what?  This overwhelm cycle will always be present.  You will level out, and then your business will grow so you’ll be pushed back into opportunity overload again.  Make sure you print this out and keep it handy so you have to tools to stay on track.

It came.  The “Divine” Download.  I asked to be shown what was next for me as I was entering a new coaching program called “Mastering The Impossible.”

Help 100,000 entrepreneurs become half million dollar earners so that you can influence the economy in a hugely positive way, make a massive difference in people’s lives, and show business owners how to becomes leaders in their families and communities.

My first thought was, “HOW?”  I have no idea how to do that!!!  But I also know that once we say yes to the ‘what’ the ‘how’ will be revealed.

So I endeavored to become the person who could create this seemingly impossible mission.  I became all about that.

But the truth is, I got exhausted.  It occurred to me that my own house wasn’t in order, so how could I go about being the Pied Piper of Entrepreneurs?

When our coaching group met after three months, I reworked my goal and end game.  It now became:

I create a lifestyle and business that works in harmony – my boys, my business, and a life partner all work together.

Initially I felt like that was a really wimpy goal, but knew that I needed to own that before the next big honkin one could happen.

Have you ever had this experience?  Where you see the big thing you are supposed to do, but for whatever reason, the time may not be right?  Most people don’t listen to the deep knowing inside that guides them.  Sometimes you are on one path, fully committed – and then the next week you have jumped ship.

How do you know if it’s a sabotaging mechanism, or really in  line with what’s in your highest good?

For me, it was listening to the level of exhaustion in my body and noticing that I was not living in alignment with my values of prioritizing family and relationships.  I’m all for a big challenge and playing a huge game in the world, but the cost of not being as good of a mom to my boys, or missing out on some connections, was a bit too high.

The solution?  Trust that stepping down from my huge entrepreneur goal was in the highest and best.

Now, six months into my coaching program, I am loving how I am showing up for my boys!  We are having more fun, and they are much happier kids.  AND, the really cool thing is that now that my house is in order, I am now in the place to start really ramping up my work with my tribe of freedom-loving entrepreneurs.

Does any of this ring true for you?  If you are in the place where there seems to be two conflicting or competing drives, you have to ask yourself which one is the most important.  Next, ask what it will cost you in time, energy and money if you choose one over the other.  We very often look at how we’ll benefit, but fail to look at what we’ll have to give up to achieve our goal.  Then if you only got to choose one and be happy with that, which could you live with?

More than likely you’ll be better back on track and working more with what’s really true for you, so like me, you will get to do both.  The most important thing – is to find THE THING you are to be about right now.

I’d love to hear what your juicy goals are!

Five words -

That’s all it took to turn her around.  One sentence.  Five well chosen words.  Here’s the story.

I was doing a group coaching call the other night when one of the women asked a question.  Now truthfully, this woman is amazing at what she does, but tends to ’spin around’ in her head a lot, so gets herself overwhelmed.

She’s a consultant and she asked me about how she should handle a proposal.  Now normally, I’d jump in and coach her on the how…but not today.

See, my intuition told me to go in a different direction.  So instead of answering her, I simply said:

“You know what to do.”

She missed it at first, so tried to get me again to tell her how to handle the proposal, but I wouldn’t budge.

“You know what to do.”

What happened next was amazing.  She stopped, got back into remember who she was, and immediately had a solution.

The reason I share this, my dear readers, is that the breakthrough for her occurred when someone who knew and respected her, “called her out” to be more in the strong, brilliant and resourceful person she was.

My coaching challenge for you this time is to make sure you have the people in your life who can give you this kind of feedback.  The folks who don’t let you spin around in confusion or overwhelm, but stop and remind you of your magnificence.

It’s all good!

And by the way, in June I’ll be opening up my Happy In Business Mastermind Coaching groups.  Stay tuned….

You gotta love the power of coaching.  Particularly if you are working with a coach who GETS you.  A coach who stands with you in creating your dreams – and loves you right where you are.

That was my experience today.  If I can be quite honest, I’m smack dab, right in the middle of some reinvention.  Meaning….’doing the work’ to break through the old patterns, beliefs, untruths, etc.  Why?  Because to play at the level I am shooting to play at, the old strategies don’t work.  It requires transformation to make the quantum changes. Is it worth it?  Absolutely!  Is it easy?  Nope.

Looking at years of old stuff and ways of being takes courage – but then, so does being an entrepreneur.  I think on some level, we are all warriors of sorts…and I love that.

Today my coach gave me the most unusual assignment I’ve ever been given.  I am to check in with myself every morning, and if I don’t feel like I’m at least a “7” on the feeling loved scale, I gotta go get me some!

What?

Most of us start our days with coffee, the paper, or even a task list.  But starting with getting your cup filled with love?  Madness!

Think about what would be different if you approached each task feeling full.  Feeling that you belong right where you are and that your presence makes a difference in those lives around you.  Imaging the ease and peace and gratitude you’d feel if your ‘love tank’ was full.  And don’t you think your clients would notice it as well?

I’ll give you the same challenge that my coach gave me.  Get filled up.  There is no shame in reaching out to grab some love, just as there is no shame in the fact that you have to stop for fuel in your car to reach your destination.

Now why as an entrepreneur are you invited to do this?  Because you ARE your business.  You are the heart and soul of your business.  There is no coaching the business without coaching the business owners, as they are one.  The more you are content, happy, nourished, and feeling like you are contributing at a high level, the more your business becomes a reflection of that.  Isn’t that worth it?  It sure is for me, as I know that the more I do the inner work, the more people notice the difference in who I’m being and what I’m offering.

Your task now is to begin to fill your life with those folks who can be like petrol for your soul.  Who is in your life that you can connect with to be reminded of your brilliance?  Where are the folks who call you out and ask you to step up and play bigger?  Finding that is really where the gold is.

Here’s to the journey…..
Blessings,

Kailee did.  But she didn’t used to.  Why?  Because she never learned how.

Lest you think I have gone off the deep end, Kailee is my dog, and “poodle” is the first toy she’s ever played with.  She was a rescue dog and for whatever reason, never knew how to play.

Recently when I was going through a closet and came across a small stuffed animal that an ex boyfriend gave me, it seemed somehow deliciously appropriate to ’send it to the dogs.’    So it became Kailee’s chew toy.

Sometimes as I have found myself being an entrepreneur and sitting in front of my computer most of the day – I see Kaillee and her new toy, and I realize that very often as a business owner – I too forget to play!

She reminds me to get up, get moving, and get playing!  Since I have a home office, in between my work with clients, she and I play tug-of-war with ‘poodle’ and I find myself laughing with the deep, belly laugh that is sometimes missing in my crazy-driven days

Why is play so important?  Because it keeps us in touch with that creative, youthful, innocent, expressive part of ourselves.  Too often we think pushing and driving and “more is better” is the way, but actually you will find that taking a ten minute break every couple of hours and doing something like play will give you more juice.  You’ll feel refreshed, your clients will be served better, and if you have a dog…they’ll love you even more!

My request to you – play!!!!  Whatever that would look like to you.  Make sure you take time and give your brain, your heart, and your soul a break and let it play.  Now, go chew your own poodle….