“I don’t want to come off as too salesy.”  

My client was struggling with what a lot of solopreneurs struggle with - how much is too much selling? How do you balance messaging and adding value with selling? 

Let me ask you this…

“When you go into a coffee shop, do you get mad or upset at the barista for trying to sell you coffee?”

“No…” my client looked at me quizzically.

“Have you ever had a barista say, ‘I’m sorry, I’m not feeling worthy today of selling you a coffee?’”

“No,” she said with a laugh.

I persist, “And even if, let’s say, that did happen, and you were standing in the coffee shop, even just considering purchasing a coffee, even if you weren’t sure what you wanted, and that barista said that to you, you’d possibly even feel a little offended, right? Like, why are you saying you’re “OPEN” then if you’re not...

“Who is this person?” I thought. Fifteen minutes had flown by, my thumb was pulsating as my soul was shrinking into Facebook oblivion. I caught myself in a moment of lightening awareness, with the thunderous rumble of creation roaring through my veins.

“What am I even doing?”

I’d spent the past fifteen minutes scrolling, sensing, feeling, consuming messages of hope, despair, light, darkness, facts, conspiracy, quotes, and images of lunch and COVID tests. What I’d accomplished...nothing. What I’d felt...everything. 

It’s easy to get enthralled into the black hole of consuming on social media. It gives our brains the dopamine rushes like a heroin addict as our thumbs repetitively shove the scrolling into our eyeballs, heightening our senses while simultaneously numbing them.

I put the phone down on the table and walked outside for a breath of fresh air.

Even as high performers, it’s easy to get lost in the addiction to...

Are you ever so freaking scared of doing the wrong thing? Making the wrong move? Being the “wrong” person for the job? 

I cannot tell you how many times I used to listen to what everyone told me what  I “should” be, “should” do, how I “should” feel. How much money I was “supposed” to make before I could call myself successful. How much struggle I was “supposed” to experience before I could experience fulfillment in the work that I do. How I was “supposed” to feel jaded about my industry, about my business, about life. How business was “supposed” to be done, and how if I didn’t do it to their f*ing blueprint that I was incapable, incompetent, and wrong. 

Well, pardon my French, but Fuck that merd.

No, you know what, in fact, don’t pardon my French. I curse. I let appropriately placed f*bombs rip through the sky and shower down the light of truth when necessary....

As a Type A, perfectionist, A+ student, I looooooved getting extra credit. Only 100? Why not 110%? Or 115%? Or...screw it...150%!! Yaaaaaas, teacher, please give me the extra work, the extra tasks, the extra assignments.

Easy to see how that could easily program one to associate MORE work, MORE suffering, MORE struggle with MORE results, right?

Here’s the thing...

MORE WORK JUST EQUALS MORE WORK. 

And what I’ve seen working with high achievers for the past 3 years, and being one for the last...well, ALL the years of my life...is that so often we make it an even trade:

WORK X AMOUNT HARD = X AMOUNT OF RESULTS

Where are the miracles, the fun, the joy in that?

Where does that leave room for the Universe/God/ Source to show up in more powerful ways than you could have ever imagined?

YOU DON’T GET EXTRA POINTS FOR SUFFERING. 

Yes, there will be struggles. 

Yes, with every dream there will be challenges - challenges that are shaping you...

Who says you HAVE to feel fear right now? (And, BTW, why are you listening to them?)

This isn't about the realness COVID as a disease, or that many people are losing their jobs, have lost their businesses, or that we’re in the middle of the greatest economic recession of all time, or the new hardships we’re all facing to varying degrees with #quarantinelife.

THIS IS ABOUT QUESTIONING WHAT YOU'RE BEING TOLD TO FEEL IN THE MIDST OF HARDSHIP.

Who says you're "SUPPOSED" to feel panic?

Who says you "SHOULD" feel fear?

YOU FEEL WHAT YOU FREAKING FEEL.

Why can’t you feel joy, love, and a deeper connection to your family right now?

Who says you can’t be excited about the transformation going on both in your life and in the lives of everyone around the world?

Why can’t you feel gratitude for this time of hibernation from the busy and allow yourself to create??

Who says you can't feel excited for this time of innovation and pivoting in your...

“My business isn’t essential for survival.”

Ummmm, excuse me? I thought as I stared at my client last week, my mouth agape. Now, look, I know a lot of people are labeling certain businesses as essential and non-essential, so I had to dive deeper.

“Essential for the survival of whom, specifically?” I asked, “For you. For it? For the people you serve?”

“Of course it’s essential for me,” she replied, “But for humanity when people are in crisis, it’s not like I’m in healthcare or selling food.”

“What are humans starving for more than food right now?”

She paused. 

I held the space for the appropriate cinematic moment before the #micdrop came out of my mouth.

“Connection.”

IT IS ONE OF OUR ESSENTIAL HUMAN NEEDS...WE’VE GOT SIX OF THEM.

When people are isolated, quarantined, unable to talk to others unable to escape their own home, if you have a product or a service that...

“You wanna grab coffee, sometime? I’d love to pick your brain.”

Would you ever say that to a doctor? Or a therapist? Or a lawyer? 

“Hey, doc! I’ve got this thing going on in my stomach? You wanna grab coffee, sometimes? I’d love to pick your brain about what it could be.”

No! You’d make an appointment, pay the bill, and go have the freaking doctor check out your issue. 

Yet, so often, I’ve seen service-based entrepreneurs, especially when we first start out and are hungry for clients, we allow ourselves to be deluded by the “pick your brain” verbal opt-in thinking that it’s going to lead to that person becoming a client.

More often than not, I’ve seen the “pick your brain over coffee” really be - you doing the coaching, pouring your heart and soul out, and divulging your years of information and experience onto the table...for the price of a $5 cup of coffee. Ouch.

If...

One of my favorite bands of all time is Queen. When we temporarily relocated to Australia, Spike bought me a Freddy Mercury Funko doll (you know those tiny-body, giant-headed, fits in the palm of your hand toys) for my “office” area. 

Maybe it was the sunny-still vibe of another day in Queensland, or the butterflies flying past my windows, or my run past the building named “Rhapsody” in Surfer’s Paradise that morning, but in a moment of deep introspection, I spoke to my Freddy Funko. 

Look, I owned my crazy a long time ago, so this is not too out of the ordinary. I was looking for a connection. I believe everything happens FOR a reason, for our greater learning, growth, and evolution. So all of these things, all of these signs, I just could not ignore.

“What is it about Freddy Mercury? About Queen? About Rhapsody?” I mused. 

An official word-nerd, I looked up the definition.

Rhapsody /ˈrapsədi/

1. ...

One of my favorite things about being a mom - okay, #letsbehonest, there are LOTS of favorite things - but one of them is children’s books. Being a obsessed with the mind and knowing what I know about subconscious programming, I keep a watchful eye on what lessons, learnings, books, and knowledge Declan is consuming right now. 

After we decided to hunker down in Australia for the next few months, I knew that we needed more books than What do You Do with an Idea and the rainbow book. Both great books...but this mama needed some variety. 

We were in Big W, and I saw this one book - The Lion Inside. It’s about how a little mouse who is ignored and feels small and forgotten, admires this Lion...and his ROAR. The mouse decides that if he had a ROAR like a lion, he could have a voice. So even though he was scared, even though he acknowledges that this might mean he becomes Lion’s dinner, he musters up the courage and he seeks out the Lion to...

“I don’t know how you do it with a kid.”

Eight months ago one of my clients, a dedicated corporate career woman who thrived off of routine, structure, and spreadsheets, asked me this. She had spent the past decade in the same routine within the ”safety” of a job. She’d known me through two businesses - first as a Pilates client, then as a leadership coaching client. 

Fast forward to now, everyone is working from home, if they’re able to, and every kid is staying home and every parent has also become the teacher. No babysitters. No school. No playdates.  No nannies (unless you have the fancy luxury of a live-in nanny...and if so, rock on, Queen!!)

So how do you literally DO IT ALL? 

I‘ve built my business with my baby by my side, sometimes even on my chest, working from home with my husband. With three years of training, this shizzle is simple and effortless for me.

NO.1 - PUT THE MASK ON YOURSELF FIRST

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