Are you worth $10/hour or a 10 million dollar net worth?
This inquiry makes no sense.
It's like asking if a sunflower is worthy of sun to help it grow and thrive.
How much sun? How hot? How many days of the week? Which days? More or less than neighboring sunflowers? Are you kidding?!?
Your coaching business: lessons from a sunflower!
If you'd like to enroll more clients, more consistently, then drop this connection between your fee and your worth. Now.
Commit in this moment to knowing your intrinsic value and priceless worth.
Commit to doing the numbers for your business to set your fee. Make your fee an investment that calls your client to commit to themselves.
If you'd like support in living your commitment, we are calling a few courageous coaches to joining us in the small-group Thriving Coaches, Client Enrollment Immersion Program.
All the details and to apply . . .
Choose:
To select from a number of possibilities.
Commit:
To promise or engage oneself.
Consecrate:
To declare sacred.
We create our own lives when we choose, commit and consecrate, no longer the victim of whatever or whomever comes our way.
My 18-year-old nephew, Jared, is staying with me for awhile as he gets started in his first job. When he isn't working, or sleeping, he's writing rap lyrics. For hours every day.
He could be playing basketball, running the streets, playing video games, attending college, chasing girls or choosing from all the possibilities presented to a high school graduate. He's chosen to write rap lyrics. Page after page, notebook after notebook.
He engages himself every day. He is committed and devoted.
He has declared this work sacred. He is mowing lawns to earn the money to buy recording equipment.
Before he came to stay with me in Colorado, he lived in southern California with his parents, where he grew up. When I visited, he seemed a bit aimless. Watching him today, I am humbled by his creator/owner mindset. He is charting his course and working toward his dream every day.
What about you?
In what area of your life, are you feeling called to choose, commit and consecrate?
"You wake up in the morning, and lo! Your purse is magically filled with twenty-four hours of the magic tissue of the universe of your life. No one can take it from you. No one receives either more or less than you receive. Waste your infinitely precious commodity as much as you will, and the supply will never be withheld from you. Moreover, you cannot draw on the future. Impossible to get into debt. You can only waste the passing moment. You cannot waste tomorrow. It is kept for you."
- Arnold Bennett
From the book, "How to Live on 24 Hours a Day"
Spiritual growth gems in the book "How to Live on 24 Hours a Day" by Arnold Bennett
After hearing myself say one too many times, "I would love to, but I don't have the time," I decided there must be a better way. So, I am in the process of applying powerful spiritual growth gems from this little book written a century ago and still completely applicable to our spiritual growth today.
Here's a couple of his spiritual growth gems I'd like to share with you now.
Get Out of Bed EarlyWake up a bit earlier than has been your habit and capture the quiet, creative, clear-mind energy. Through the summer, I've been getting up an hour to two hours early. I am often more inspired and get more done in that time than I do the rest of the day!
Concentrate Your MindWhat would you like more of in your life? Love? Wealth? Happiness? Great work? Fun? Vibrant health? Then bring your mind to bear on that one thing more frequently.
Strengthen your focus on love. Think about love. Behave lovingly. Notice and express gratitude for love. Be love. Write love. Live love. Eat, sleep, drink love. Love what you're drinking. Love what you don't love. See only love. Be only love.
Same with wealth, happiness, great work, fun, vibrant health or anything else you'd like to engage in with your precious 24 hours! Allow this concentrated spiritual growth to transform any area of your life.
Here's to living opulently on your precious 24 hours a day . . .
This weekend I attended a one-day event in Boulder with one of my mentors, David Neagle, and one of his clients, Suzanne Evans.
They are calling it the More Life Tour. Boulder was city number two of eight. I highly recommend you attend one of the remaining.
The whole day is about helping coaches and other service professionals exponentially grow their businesses.
I was a little concerned that the low ticket price of $57 would mean a day-long, back-of-the-room sales fest. They did sell at the back of the room AND they delivered fantastic, usable content. And, I met some wonderful people - including David and Suzanne!
Ann Strong with David Neagle and Suzanne Evans at the More Life event in Boulder, Colorado. July 31, 2010.
How fun to meet my online mentor in person . . .
Do something great for yourself, your business and those incoming clients just waiting for you and get yourself to one of these events.
Sign up today to be one of the first 25. I did and the VIP reception was a fantastic Q & A with David and Suzanne - more than worth the price of admission . . .
Step out from behind the computer, dear one!
A question to ponder:
Who would you need to be to exponentially increase my coaching business income? Ask yourself each morning upon waking and each evening as you fall asleep and listen for guidance.
Take that new awareness to the More Life event that you attend. I'd love to hear your experience . . .
Recently, I've had no patience for conversations about authentic marketing, authenticity in social media or authenticity as a value. This seemed strange to me since I deeply value living and working authentically.
So, I got curious about finding the disconnect.
And, I am thrilled to have been richly rewarded.
At the beginning of my recent mid-summer trip to Phoenix, I complained bitterly to all who would listen about the oppressive wall of heat. Then, I met one of my clients,
Doug Hecker, for lunch. He politely and firmly told me, "We don't talk about the heat. There's nothing we can do about it, so we ignore it and focus on what we like.”
Eureka!
And, how great to have clients who teach me so much!
Let me explain: The authenticity of my personality required me to complain about the heat because I am a person who hates heat.
The authenticity of my Self, the part of me who's made in the image and likeness of God, involves focusing on the good and a positive mental attitude.
My main purpose for going to Phoenix: to meet my coach,
Stephen McGhee’s, coach
Steve Hardison – one of the most remarkably authentic people I’ve ever met – more than worth all my heat discomfort. And, oh, the delicious chilled cilantro-lime crab dip at
The Herb Box and the yummy sweet potato and zucchini fries at
ZinBurger. And the amazing people I got to spend time with - including two married couples who have been married more than three decades and still adore each other and love spending time together! And, oh, the gorgeous desert views from my friend,
Judy Flynn’s rooftop – which I enjoyed each morning at sunrise when it was only a cool 90 degrees!
What a powerful spiritual awareness to realize that the most authentic me comes from my Higher Self, not my personality! How freeing to enjoy this stupendous view from Judy's rooftop deck in Scottsdale even though I think I feel too hot! Wow! Did I get a visceral experience of choosing my authenticity from a higher place! Who knew there even was such a thing?
I’d love to hear your experiences. In what specific situation might you have noticed yourself living authentically from your personality rather than your Higher Self? In that kind of situation in the future, how can you shift to living authentically from your Self?
When you feel overwhelmed, with too many options, how do you choose? Try following your excitement. When you look at all of your choices, which one excites you the most? Which one makes you feel the most alive, the most energized?
Deep inside, you know what is best for you. One of the ways our intuition communicates with us involves the energy of our excitement. Pay attention to what things energize you and what things drain you. Notice when you are thriving and when you are wilting. Then, move toward what energizes you, causes you to thrive and away from what drains you, causes you to wilt. It really is that simple.
You naturally increase your self acceptance
as you make choices most true to you.
Now, at first it may not seem easy. You may feel concerned about hurting someone’s feelings or you may not want to renegotiate a commitment. Give yourself permission to take care of yourself before you take care of others. As you take better care of yourself, you’ll increase your capacity to spend time with others in meaningful ways, rather than out of obligation.
As you more consistently follow your excitement, you’ll have more energy, you’ll feel more peaceful and you’ll experience greater happiness because you have chosen to honor your true path.
Would you willingly risk not satisfying the perceived expectations of others to gain the deep contentment that comes from living life in the best way for you?
Recently, I had a conversation with a potential client who told me that she wanted to "just get rid of my laziness and procrastination." Shortly after that I heard myself telling my own coach that I was "sick of going back and forth in my romantic relationship." In exasperation, I exclaimed, "Can't I just get rid of HER?!?" As if SHE is not me.
Fortunately, I heard myself. And, I realized that as I quit trying to get rid of HER and actually take the time to listen to her, I not only learn something valuable about me, but I also quit fighting me. And, as I let go of the internal struggle, I create space to be a better me.
I'm just beginning to get it that as I serve as a sacred witness to all of me, then I naturally evoke more of the best of me! And, it tends to be so much easier to offer that unconditional compassion and acceptance to my clients rather than to myself. Luckily, I have this great job in which a big part of my job description involves walking my talk!
What about you? Which parts of yourself do you tend to wish you could get rid of? Would you be willing to practice more
self-compassion, self-acceptance, self-love?
Can you imagine what a different world we would live in if every person on the planet were willing to let go of their own internal war? That’s a world worth moving toward!
During my personal spiritual retreat last week, I took a day to drive the three hours to Glenwood Springs to meet with my new coach, Jeff Patterson. We spent most of our time sitting on rocks at the confluence of the Roaring Fork and Colorado Rivers. Later that day, I spent several hours upstream on the Roaring Fork, taking in her gifts.
I did not consciously know it before sitting there on that beautiful summer day, but I had been starving for the river.
As a child and teenager, I spent a couple weeks of most of my summers playing on the banks of the Crystal, Roaring Fork and Frying Pan Rivers while my dad fished. I loved wading in the freezing cold water, building forts out of sticks and smashing rocks to smithereens.
The Crystal River near Redstone, Colorado
These Colorado rivers flow swift and powerful with clear water. My dad taught me to respect their pull and never under estimate how quickly I could be taken down river without my consent. When I first visited the east coast as a young adult, I was appalled by how lazy the rivers there seemed to me.
And, then I fell in love with the New Mexico desert and only occasionally noticed the Rio Grande River, even though I have spent hundreds of hours within a mile or two of her. I’ve devoted all my retreat time to the desert and have only ventured to the mountains to ski – again without paying attention to the rivers.
What nourishment had I craved from the river without even knowing?
As a very grounded Taurus, I love being on the land. Often slow to change, I can sometimes resist flow, preferring to plan. The steady roar of the Roaring Fork called me to embrace flow and change with a bit more trust. I could feel my body relax into the flow of the river, feeling the constancy of change – even feeling excited by it!
For the past few months, I have been in the middle of a tremendous personal and professional growth spurt. The mighty flow of the river offered me courage to more fully allow myself to grow and flourish, even as I often feel like a baby beginner . . .
I give Love this moment,
I give Love this day.
I give Love my mind,
I give Love my heart,
I give Love my soul.
I surrender to
the greatest good in me,
allowing lesser ideas
and preoccupations
to drop away.
I serve as an
ambassador of Love,
as Love.
I included this short teaching story from Michael Neill in the last blog post and then had several conversations about the concept. So, I decided that I’d like to dive a bit deeper into its richness and brilliance.
Give yourself the gift of five whole minutes to read or re-read this and allow it to soak into your bones.
"Imagine that everyone you speak to is a multi-millionaire, and that if you can just say and do the right things around them, they will share some of their money with you.
When you've done that for a few moments or even a few minutes, stop and clear your mind before going on to part two . . .
Now, imagine that you are secretly a multi-millionaire, and when you meet people, you are deciding whether or not to share some of your fortune with them.
When I (Michael) first tried that out for myself, I recognized that in the first instance, they had something I wanted and I became increasingly more needy (and creepy) in my attempts to get it from them.
In the second instance, I was the one with something valuable to give - and in choosing who to offer it to, I was not looking for the most pathetic, hopeless victim in the room. I was looking for the person who would be able and willing to take what I have to offer and create something beautiful with it."
When I (Ann) was deciding whether or not to offer my “riches” to someone, I became very interested in who they were and what they were up to. I became curious as to whether they could truly receive the value I had to offer.
Instead of feeling needy and creepy because I was trying to get something, I shifted my focus to learning about the other person to see if or how I might be of service to them.
Wow! That feels so much better in my body and in my psyche.
What did you notice shifted for you?
Feel free to post your own experience in the Comments.
