An entrepreneurial friend of mine who practices authentic living and ‘The Presence Process’ as taught by Michael Brown in his book of the same name, recently summed up her life during a phone conversation.

“I can be here, or I can be in hell,” she told me. 

Here meaning being in the presence and power of NOW.  Hell meaning hounded by fear in any of its forms when our mind focuses on past or future worries.  We laughed loud and long as our hearts took in the deep truth in her statement.

In the ups and downs of daily entrepreneurship, authentic living can be a challenge.  We find ourselves here and in hell on a regular basis.  One isn’t good or bad.  They are the ‘what is’ as the moments of the day unfold.

• A new client unexpectedly decides to postpone working with us.
• A unexpected referral shows up and can’t wait to start working with us.
• A payment is long overdue.
• A long-term client sends us a thank-you gift for our excellent customer service.
• Our web site contact form stops working for no apparent reason.
• The new software we need to learn turns out to be easy to learn.

Whether the events of our day APPEAR good or bad, we can be here or in hell with them.  For example (click image to enlarge):

Postscript:  Shortly after the phone conversation, I learned of an ancient Norse Goddess of the Underworld named Hel.  She was (among other roles) a goddess of transformation.  She welcomed the dead, but also assisted those who were stuck, troubled, or in transition, who traveled to visit her in her underworld home.  They came for messages and signs related to what they needed to release, take in, or claim to move on to their next role back in the reality of life on earth. Lends new meaning to the pejorative, ‘Go to Hel.” (smile)

Until next time,

You’re one of a relatively small group of people heading into uncharted territory.  Each day is an unknown, but your intentions are set.  You’re pretty sure you can count on setbacks, detours and delays…the usual challenges of the trail.  Maybe even a shortage of food.  You stay mindful of releasing stress and enjoy the amazing, ever-changing scenery.  For the most part, those you travel with have your back, but when resources get scarce or you get scared … it can get rocky.

You’re one of a relatively small group of people heading into uncharted territory.  Each day is an unknown, but your intentions are set.  You’re pretty sure you can count on setbacks, detours and delays…the usual challenges of the trail.  Maybe even a shortage of food.  You stay mindful of releasing stress and enjoy the amazing, ever-changing scenery.  For the most part, those you travel with have your back, but when resources get scarce or you get scared … it can get rocky.

1. Give Thanks – for all you have and feel and are and know right here, right now.  Be in a state of gratitude for all your blessings (if you feel like you can’t connect with your blessings because you’re on a rough patch of road, write them down on paper).
2. Prepare a Delicious Meal – whatever you have on hand or can get at the General Store, bless the ingredients and see what you can stir up in big pot and share it with friends.
3. Play Music and Dance – if you play an instrument, get it out and play, especially play for someone you love (this includes your horse, dog, pet coyote, etc.).  Put on some music and dance!  Move your body.  Grab your partner and sashay left and right!  To gain awareness, move the body.
4. Re-Choose the Journey – It was fun contemplating the adventure that lay ahead when you first signed up.  Then came the day-to-day dusty trail, unpredictable weather, and broken wagon wheels.  It’s okay, pioneer.  You are brave, courageous and can go the distance.  Why?  You have a steady entrepreneurial spirit, a heart-centered authenticity and LOTS of companions.  See them?  They’re sitting over by the campfire grinning at you right now.

Until next time,

Last weekend, I attended a 3-day event for spiritual entrepreneurs.  Great energy and very grounded.  Outstanding key note speaker (Colin Tipping, author of Radical Forgiveness – what’s not to love?), well planned break-out sessions with presenters who were generous with their information.

There was an excellent session called ‘Successful Introvert Entrepreneur.’  At the appointed time, the room at first had maybe a dozen attendees seated in the large ring of chairs.  In the next fifteen minutes or so, in they came in ones and twos until the room was packed.  Then more came in and they had to go out and get extra chairs.  A very attentive room of introverts listened as the speaker revealed some validating information about the power and strengths of introverts.

The question that came up for me following that session was this:

Do introvert entrepreneurs need a business coach that’s also an introvert or just someone who understands and appreciates the strengths and needs of the introverted business owner? 

Do you find the often intensely driven approaches to building a successful entrepreneurial business simply not a match for you?  If a prospective business coach were to take the test in Susan Cain’s best seller, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking, and score as a definite extrovert, could they coach introverts successfully?  I don’t have an answer to this.  What do you think?  Post a comment if you’re so inclined.

And … if you’d like to learn more about (1) how to nurture yourself in your day-to-day work life, or (2) feel like you’re stalled or stuck in your work-with-passion business, or (3) want to bring more of who you know yourself to be to your business by leveraging your authenticity, consider a 3-session ‘Imagination Works’ coaching package with me for your spring tonic.  See the details here.

Until next time …

Have you been seized yet by the unstoppable urge to clean, clear out, rearrange, and make-over?  I went into my guest room to dust and polish a neglected bed frame.  This required standing the mattress and box spring up against the wall.  That done, I found my eyes roaming around the room at all the places I knew dust was likely to be enjoying a nice, undisturbed rest.  Uh-oh.  Three hours later, everything was not only clean and sparkling, but rearranged and invitingly fresh.  Oh, the satisfaction!

If you’d like to experience a similar satisfaction this spring in your business, let me introduce you to the ‘Dare Something New’ Product Assessment Package:

• Select one of your products (e.g. special report, e-book, teleclass, article) that has been sitting on your offering shelf for a while with not as much purchasing action as you’d like, or one you’d like to make over.
• Pass it to me for a detailed assessment (with help from my crew of spring cleaning elves!).
• Your product comes back to you with a written candid appraisal, savvy advice, and step-by-step recommendations to improve its effectiveness in relation to its purpose, your audience, and the delivery venue (see a list of report components here).
• If you’re interested, we can plan a follow-on project to collaboratively implement the improvements, or you’ll have a roadmap to guide you if you’re a Do-It-Yourselfer.

Whatever way suits you best, create some spring freshness in your business and in your entrepreneurial work-with-passion heart!

Springtime not only has its own magical, unfurling pace, but it has a specific purpose in the lives of heart-centered solopreneurs.  With its energy of growing, opening, and illuminating, it’s time for planting new seeds for our business.  What would you like to see grow, flourish, expand, and become more illuminated in your entrepreneurial business?  Maybe you want to illuminate blockages to your well-being.  Perhaps you need to expand your bookkeeping system.  Is it time to create a new product or service?

• Make a list of the first half dozen or so ideas that come to mind.
• Narrow that list to one to three that resonate with you the most.
• Write these down with as much clarity as possible, revising if necessary.  You might want to let them sit for a day or two.
• On small strips of light-weight paper, write your intentions.
• Fill a small clay pot or biodegradable seed-starter pot, one-third full of soil.
• Fold up your intentions and place them on the soil.  Add more soil.
• Place some flower seeds on top and cover with a little more soil.  Water gently.

The soil represents the element of EARTH, then gentle WATER, breathing over your planted “seeds” represents the element of AIR, holding your pot up to the warmth sun or over a candle brings in the element of FIRE, and saying a prayer or poem over your container invites SPIRIT to bless your intentions.

Take good care of your seeds of intention and may they, and your flowers, unfold in beauty!

How do you get heart-centered with spring?  Here in the southeastern United States, we’re seeing signs of the arrival of springtime.  Daffodils, hyacinths, and crocus are blooming as are cherry, pear, and tulip poplar trees.  If none of these are in your line of sight, however, you could imagine you were in the heart of winter as bare branches and chill winds are still present.  Getting connected with this late winter/early spring transition is a matter of timing.

Seasons come gradually into fullness.  I love to savor the transition of one season giving way to the next.  They move at the only pace they can – their own natural pace.  We, on the other hand, seldom move or live at our own natural pace.  Living too much from the neck up, too much at the mercy of exterior demands, and out of touch with our own bodies and rhythms, we often move at an unnatural pace.

Following the last post’s free book mark giveaway, I’m attaching another one for our further experimentation.  This time, in addition to writing words on the book mark that describe how you want to feel for the day, select words related to the pace of an emerging season as it begins to reveal itself.  For example:

Today I want to feel:  at ease, slow, calm, unfurling, gently emerging, and welcomed

If you missed last week’s post on this process of pre-setting your feeling tone for the day ahead, you can read it here (and pick up the book mark, too!).

Peace and ease,

Do you do any morning stretches before you get out of bed?  Kind of wake up your body gently and get any night-time kinks out before moving into a sitting position?  This came highly recommended to me by an Alexander Technique teacher and my chiropractor.  It’s now a habit and I do it almost without thinking (some mornings without being fully awake!).

Then I read about another kind of morning stretch, one that could wake up my heart gently and set my vibrational tone for the day.  Some people call this pre-paving, but I like thinking of it as calling in my daily vibe.

All it takes is a piece of paper and pen or pencil.  You can write lying down or sitting up, but what’s important is doing it first thing or as close as possible to when you first wake up.  Answer the question,

“How do I want to feel today?” 

It may be single words, or a phrase about how you want to feel in relation to a particular event that’s coming up that day.  To get you started experimenting with WHAT A DIFFERENCE this can make to the whole day:

• here’s a post by the incomparable Andrea Conway, Law of Attraction coach for small business success, that describes the process, and …

• (tah-dah!) a link to a free downloadable bookmark created by yours truly that you can use for this activity.

Make it a good day!

In ‘The Merchant of Venice,’ Shakespeare wrote: ‘All that glitters is not gold.’  This message often comes into play for heart-centered entrepreneurs seeking to take their business to the next level.  For example … there is every kind of online class to help you grow your business including learning (please allow me to be a bit facetious):

• how to become your own genius web master overnight,
• how to give a super-duper teleclass that everyone and their mother will sign up for,
• how to blog effortlessly and win world-wide followers,
• how to drive throngs of people to your web site, and
• how to, how to, how to.

Here are a few clues on discerning whether or not there’s GOLD under the glitter:

• BODY AWARENESS.  What was your body’s first reaction to the words and/or visuals on the web site or from the source making the offer?  Our body is like a magic dowsing rod.  Whether your reaction stems from an old emotional pattern that you haven’t cleaned up yet, or it’s from a current-time, genuine reaction of avoidance, listen.  Listen carefully.  Even if the opportunity comes recommended by your BFF (best friend forever).  Check in with your body and see what it has to say.

• GIVING VOICE.  Can you put your reaction into words?  Listen to what you say when you talk to your friends/colleagues about the opportunity.  Even if it’s something you truly need to learn to take your next business step, even if the instructor/expert is highly regarded in their field, listen.  Listen to yourself carefully.

Now, with the information you’ve gathered from listening and voicing, tell yourself the truth.  Then, trust the wisdom that’s in your heart and let it be okay to either step back or move forward.

Be willing to hear the answer without your own filters of what you think is spiritually, politically, ecologically, business-wise, or otherwise correct.  Listen.  Trust.  Oh, and for goodness sakes (I tell myself) lighten up!

Until next time …

One of the most challenging dilemmas for experts is evaluating their own products and classes from the viewpoint of their audience.  It’s hard to remember what it’s like to not know something when you’re an expert.  I find this is no less true for work-with-passion solopreneurs than it is for the experts I use to interview for corporate training projects.  It’s easy to write or speak about what you know well, but are you reaching your audience?  Are they getting what they need from your words?

First

To reach your audience and meet their needs, you first have to know who they are.  This sounds simple, but not knowing your audience is probably the #1 mistake experts make in designing materials or presentations for their audience/clients.

SECOND

You have to know the purpose of your product or tele-class.  For example, are you using it to:

• teach a skill?
• impart knowledge/information?
• prompt a specific action?
• persuade?
• entertain?

Is your product, presentation, or class designed in such a way that you are sure you are accomplishing the intended purpose?

THIRD

How is the product going to be used?  What’s the setting in which the participant will be interacting with your content?  Does your material maximize the use of your selected delivery venue or medium?

The most popular of my Done-for-You services is a detailed evaluation of your product with step-by-step recommendations to improve the effectiveness of the content in relation to its purpose, your audience, and the delivery venue.  I call this a “Dare Something New” assessment.  Perhaps you have a product that you’ve been offering for a while or a tele-class that you’ve given several times.  Your customers/participants have given you some feedback, you know it could be better, and now you’re ready to kick it up a notch in quality and effectiveness.

Assessing existing materials from the viewpoint of the intended end user is also one of my most enjoyable tasks.  Why?  I’m taking your expertise and making it shine even brighter and I’m helping you to ensure that you’re giving your audience a meaningful and valuable experience.  Triple win!

Here’s feedback from one of my “Dare Something New” report recipients:

“This is wonderful stuff.  I’m working on digesting all of this and my thoughts on products and teleseminars I’m planning.  Your input is fantastic.”

You can find out more about this service here.  Until next time … may your expertise shine bright!

Are you wondering what your next step should be in your entrepreneurial business?  Do you struggle with how to help potential clients find you and your products and services?  Do you get tongue tied talking about what differentiates you from other providers?  Do you seem to have great ideas for teleclasses or workshops, but never seem to find time to pull them together?

These are a few of the states of mind and heart my clients and potential clients are in when first we meet.  And they are as adamant about their passion to serve as they are about the overwhelm and angst.  Most of the time, as I listen, things begin to loosen up.  There’s something easeful about a listening ear and heart.  Most of the time, I know I can help them with whatever the dilemma is if they’re ready.  And often, they find themselves answering their own questions.

This is what I love about being the “behind the curtain” support person for my clients whose work centers on making the world a better place.  As a life coach and instructional designer, and myself an entrepreneur, I have a big bag of know-how and tips to help you get from A to B and on to wherever you’re heading.  I call these my “Done-for-You” services.  I love being able to say, “I can do that for you.”

As this brand new, sparkling fresh, adventurous and alluring year kicks off, I want you to know I’m ambitious for you.  I want to help you shine your light.  I want to help you see your light.  And I wish you an enjoyable, playful, and amazing year.  I’d love to be a part of making that so.  Take a look at my list of “Done-for-You” services and see if there’s a collaboration calling.

A Healthy and Happy New Year to you!