Month: September 2010

I once read that our personal financial situation is a reflection of the personal financial situation of the five people to whom we are the closest.  I don’t know if that’s true for everyone.  It has tended to be true for me.  And, I’ve noticed it to be true in other areas of my life as well – the people with whom I spend the most time have a huge impact on all areas of my life.

Me with two of my five closest people. On the left: my niece, Alisha. On the right: my sister and Alisha’s mother, Cathy.

Is that true for you, as well?

If so, it follows that it would serve us to have clarity about who we allow into our inner circle.  How does this person influence me day to day?

If we notice a particular person not only doesn’t add to our lives, but actually tends to drain us, how can we be more proactive about shifting the nature of our interaction or moving them out of our inner circle?

And, if a particular person tends to enrich us and our lives and we tend to enrich them and theirs, how can we deeply nurture and nourish that relationship?

The overall quality and nature of our closest relationships dramatically influences the overall quality of our lives and our businesses.  What one thing could you do today to better serve one of your primary relationships?  

Most coaches are making little or no money.

Because they are far too polite.

Busy trying to please potential clients, they fail to serve them.

All the while, potential clients are hungry for the truth.  Will they like it when they first hear it?  Most won’t.  Some may even get mad.

And, that’s one of the reasons most coaches are too polite.  They don’t want a bunch of potential clients mad at them.

What they fail to realize: the anger is temporary.  And, it certainly isn’t personal.  It often gives way to relief that someone has finally said out loud what the potential client sort of knew, but was afraid to admit.  Then, they become curious about what else the coach knows about their situation.

And, then, a truly amazing thing happens.  That coach signs up a new client.

And, helps the client bring a dream into reality that they haven’t before been able to achieve because no one would help them get real and get past their self-consciousness and self-delusion.

If you are willing to learn this skill of serving rather than pleasing, you will be one of the few coaches helping more people and making way more money!

“This instant we have everything we need, and within this instant we have everything. We can therefore trust what happens because there will never be a time when it will not be now.”
– Hugh Prather

Take a deep breath.  Can you, in this very moment, take in the fact that you do have all that you need?

What does it feel like to relax into trusting that all is well? Truly.  
Take seven deep breaths.  Feel your entire being relax into the coolness of the air, beat of the music, softness of the chair cushion, hint of autumn in the air, whir of the fan . . .

Spiritual growth: Can you catch a glimmer of the priceless gift this moment has to offer?

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.

One page, from one of many notebooks.  The words flow, without a single hesitation or cross-out.

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?