Is your vision really yours?

At my last retreat with my coach, she took us through a very specific, very powerful visioning exercise to create our upcoming year. I’m not going to recount it here, because, well… trust me, it’s not the kind of thing that will have the same impact if you just read the instructions. But let’s just say it was grueling. Indeed, at times I really had to push myself to complete it.

Surprised? Me too. When I think of traditional visioning exercises, such as those I’ve shared with my clients & students in the past, “grueling” is not the word that comes to mind. I’ve often said that a potent vision is exciting… energizing… and a little scary. (You know, in that “can I really do this?” sort of way.) But during this particular exercise, I found myself saying…

“Do I really want this?”

That, my coach assured me, was indeed the point.

It sucks to admit it, but the truth is, for many of my thirtysomething years, I’ve lived my life according to something else’s vision – and a limited, fear-based vision at that. Parents, teachers, politicians, employers, friends, relatives, my pet cat Mittens… the list goes on and on. (Okay, so I’ve never had a cat named Mittens, but y’know.)

Can you relate? Unless you grew up in, say, a cave on the top of a mountain somewhere, I’m guessing that the answer is yes. We carry layers of meaning on our back like excess clothing – thoughts, feelings, opinions, and yes, visions that are not our own. A great deal of the time, we don’t even realize that they are not our own. As I worked my way through the grueling visualization exercise, I realized, “Hey, wait a minute. That’s not mine, and that’s not mine… this vision isn’t mine.”

As you craft your vision for 2010, make sure it’s really your vision, not someone else’s wild and crazy plan for you – be it a parent, teacher, voice from long gone by, or (dare I say it?) a guru. I invite you to use your 2010 visioning as a practice in letting go of what no longer holds meaning for you… so you can create a life that does. Bright blessings and massive success to you…

10 Simple New Year’s Habits For Soul-Inspired Business Owners

So the tree is taken down, the Yule log burned out, the eggnog all gone and the lights put away.  The new year is here!  It’s a time of reflection, looking forward, and making positive changes. Perhaps you’ve made a few New Year’s Resolutions for your life and business.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve never had much luck with New Year’s Resolutions. I think it’s because the overall vibe of resolutions feels negative to me, not positive.  Resolutions have always felt like an admission that there’s something wrong, and now I’m going to have to work to change it.  While there’s always room for improvement, I’d much rather make those changes in a way that feels positive and do-able, not like I’m climbing a mountain, or even worse, because it feels like I “should.” (Can you relate?)

That’s when I hit upon the idea of creating New Year’s habits. Unlike the makeover-style overhauls, habits are small, simple shifts that are supportive, not punishing.  They’re manageable, so you’re much more likely to succeed (especially if you take them one at a time).  Best of all, they can add up to BIG results over the long haul.

Wildly successful people have long known and understood that the key to success is habit and consistency. Think And Grow Rich, one of the most widely read personal development books of all time, came about when Andrew Carnegie challenged Napoleon Hill to study the characteristics of successful people, including their habits.  Million-dollar marketing coach Dan Kennedy has said, “If you look at successful people, look at the things they do without fail every single day. That’s what makes them successful.”

Below are 10 tried-and-true business-boosting success habits for the new year. Use this list as a checklist to see where your marketing could use a tune-up.  If you’re not doing any of them yet, don’t stress out – just pick one or two and get them going.

As you read the 10 ideas below, notice how simple most of them are.  Turn even 2 or 3 of them into new habits and you’ll be amazed at how quickly you make positive shifts in your life and business.

1. Reconnect with your passion. If you’re a soul-inspired business owner, chances are you’re driven to do what you do – that is, you have a reason why.  Maybe you’ve lived what you teach and now you want to help others. Maybe want to spend more time with your family.  Write down your why and read it often. Your passion is the fuel that makes your business go.  Passion is also absolutely magnetic to potential clients.

2. Reconnect with your vision. Where would you like to be 1, 3 or 5 years from now?  If you’ve never created a vision for yourself, now is a wonderful time to make one.  Be sure to write in the present tense.  “I am so happy and grateful that…”  Keep your vision close to you and read it on a regular basis (once a day is ideal).  Reading your vision should light a fire in your belly.  If you’re not excited after reading your vision, it’s time to change it.

3. Track everything. We all know that what you focus on expands, right?  Simple, elegant, and it works.  Ideas:

• Your income (track your income and you’ll get more)
• Clients (track clients and you’ll get more)
• Signs from the Universe that you’re moving forward (track your progress and you’ll get more)
• Things you’re grateful for (give thanks for what you have and you’ll get more)

One thing you’ll definitely want to track is where your clients come from. That way, you can keep your focus on what’s working and release what is not.  Your time and money are precious, so keep your marketing accountable!

4. Go for the relationship, not the sale. The key to success in a recession economy is better relationships.  It can be hard to focus on creating a relationship when you need clients and income now.  But the more you do, the faster both will come (and the better you’ll feel, too).  Better still, by building relationships, you’ll create a business that sustains you long after the crisis point is over.

5. Follow up with potential clients. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve met someone whose service I really needed, told them I needed them, and never heard from them again.  Lack of follow-up is a money leak, plain and simple.  Potential clients want you to follow up because it’s one less thing they need to remember.  Make service your top priority and follow up consistently, especially when that little voice inside is saying one thing (“They’re not really interested,” “they must have hired someone else”) and your rational mind knows it’s follow-up time.  (I’ve made this mistake myself and always kick myself later!)

6. Reconnect with current and past clients. It’s well known that it’s much easier to get repeat business than new business.  Your best clients are one of your most precious assets: emotionally, spiritually, and of course, financially.  They deserve a little love!  Make a new habit of checking in from time to time.  They’ll appreciate it, and you’ll both get the benefit of working with each other more often.  (Proof: one of my recent check-ins with a favorite client turned into another project, authentically and gracefully.)

7. Be ruthlessly positive. Being positive isn’t just about making you feel good – it’s good business.  Good news is like acknowledgment and approval: people long for it.   I don’t know about you, but personally, I’m sick of hearing that the sky is falling!  So are your clients.  Turn the experience of working with you into a blissful, healthy alternative by shifting your attitude.

8. Reject excuses, embrace solutions. Excuses keep you stuck.  Solutions move you forward.  Time to replace the old habit of slipping into excuses mode (“That won’t work”, “Nobody will pay for it”) for a habit that supports you.  When you catch your mind feeding you excuses, give it something else to do: find a solution to the problem.  Ask, “How can I make this work?” or “What would make it worth it to them?”  (Want the answer to the latter question?  Ask your best clients!  They’ll tell you!)

Your left brain is thrilled when you give it problems to solve.  Better yet, when you give your brain a problem to solve and a little bit of time, it will help you!  Instead of roadblocks, you get a clear path to whatever you want.

9. Commit to “just one thing” daily. To keep marketing simple, stick to basic, tried-and-true strategies and adopt a truly magical practice that I like to call “just one thing”: every day, do just one thing to build your business, no matter how small.  “Just one thing” uses the Japanese principle of kaizen: big results come in continuous small increments over time.  Commit to just one thing daily and you’ll never have to worry about where your clients are coming from ever again.

10. Gratitude. You know it feels good.  You know it works!  Now all that’s left is to make it a habit.  If you haven’t been giving thanks DAILY for all the money, business, and success you DO have, now is the perfect time to start.

Want more tips on spiritual, profitable planning for 2010?  Check out this article by my colleague and fellow Platinum coach Alicia Forest, and this one by my Platinum client Joanna Powell Colbert.  (And don’t forget to sign up for my fr’e'e 2010 Marketing & Manifestation call series!  Register here: http://www.6figuresoulbasedbusiness.com)

© 2009 Elizabeth Genco Purvis.  All Rights Reserved.

Elizabeth Genco Purvis, “The Marketing Goddess” teaches spirited solo business owners and conscious entrepreneurs how to attract an abundance of clients, income, freedom and satisfaction in their business while staying true to their values.  Visit MarketingGoddess.com to claim your copy of “Grow Your Business With Spirit And Soul,” a 7-part audio workshop with everything you need to begin attracting more clients right away.

Next FREE Training Call: 7 Marketing & Mindset Shifts for 2010

If you’re ready to grow your business (and yourself!) by LEAPS instead of tiny steps, transform your 1ncome and step FULLY into your purpose & power in 2010… then you’ll do whatever it takes to be on this call!

“The 7 Marketing & Mindset Shifts I Made To Take My Soul-Based Business From Struggling To 6-Figures+ In Just 10 Months… And How You Can Too!”

Date: January 5, 2009
Time: 7:30pm EST
Registration: http://www.6figuresoulbasedbusiness.com

In this content-rich call, I’ll openly share the 7 big shifts I made in my marketing and mindset that allowed me to nearly quadruple (yes, quadruple) my income in 2009.  You’ll learn:

• The 1 critical mindset shift you MUST make to stop struggling and finally create the income you truly desire and deserve

• Why the traditional “marketing funnel” business model sets you up for frustration, exhaustion, and failure – and what to do about it

• The 1 marketing step that effortlessly attracts high-profile attention, lucrative opportunities and a stready stream of your ideal, high-paying clients  (I resisted this piece for years, but once I took the plunge, my business took off)

• What 3 activities you must STOP doing – right now – and what to do instead to create the soul-based business breakthrough you want

• 2 powerful actions that send a “no nonsense” signal to the Universe that you’re ready to receive more money in your life and business

You’ll also be automatically registered for the next 2 calls in this special series, bonus video tips and whatever other special surprises I can dream up!

This call series is a special fr’e'e preview for my ALL-NEW coaching program, The 2010 Abundant Business Marketing & Manifestation Mastermind (affectionately known as the MMM).

The MMM kicks off in mid-February and I will ONLY offer it ONCE this year.  (It runs for a prosperous 8 full months!)  It is also the ONLY opportunity in 2010 to receive ongoing coaching from me WITHOUT having to pay my Platinum fees.

So if you’ve been looking for a way to get my ongoing personal support without the Platinum investment, I highly, HIGHLY encourage you to get on these calls.  You can nab your spot here:

http://www.6figuresoulbasedbusiness.com

Don’t blame the guru

Lately I’ve noticed an abundance of what I’ll call “guru backlash”: a glut of negativity directed towards very visible mentors in the marketing coaching space – on Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and forums.

The comments run the gamut from simple frustration to potshots to name-calling to total slamming. I’ve also seen marketers and coaches I like and truly respect using this conversation to help them sell their latest product or offering.

Obviously, there is nothing wrong with stating an opinion or sharing your experience. One of the things I love most about social media is the open dialogue. And criticism, both constructive and not, comes with the territory when you become a leader, especially one who is making a lot of money.

But here’s the deal…

There’s this little thing called personal responsibility. As in, each and every one of us is responsible for our own results. Many of those participating in the guru backlash conversation seem to have forgotten this, if they even knew it in the first place.

Here’s the deal. The guru you invested in is not responsible when you the results you want don’t materialize. You are. Yep, even when you’re sitting there going, “I’ve done all that and it’s still not working.”

I know that’s tough to swallow. Please stick with me, because personal responsibility is a really important concept, perhaps the most important one of all.

I am not immune to forgetting about personal responsibility, by the way. At one point at my recent mastermind, I found myself bellyaching about some big name marketer in my Twitter feed and how they “annoyed” me. (“Annoyed” is my catch-all term for various disgruntlements, from envy to mild sorrow to rage to, well, annoyance.)

“So why are they in your Twitter feed?” my coach asked.

“Oh yeah,” I said.

As business owners, we’re all going to make poor choices from time to time. It happens. Some of these involve money. When it happens to you, blaming the guru isn’t going to change the fact that it was your choice. The buck (such as it is) begins and ends with you.

When I lay my mo-ney down for a service or a program, it’s my choice, my free will, my money, my energy. Sure, sometimes I wish I’d made a different choice. But I didn’t. It was my choice.

The really great news? Accepting responsibility for your outcomes is the key to freedom. Because when you accept responsibility, your power stays with you.

Let’s say that for whatever reason, a particular choice didn’t work out. So you make a new choice. A new decision. You move on. (And take the mentor out of your Twitter feed.) And your personal power builds.

My coach’s request to you is to watch for where you’re blaming the guru (or anyone else) for your less-than-desirable outcomes, and where you’re not taking credit for the amazing results that YOU created. (This personal responsibility thing goes both ways – no more dismissing your accomplishments.)

When you catch yourself, simply acknowledge that by saying, My freedom lies in accepting responsibility for this outcome I have created. Course-correct, as appropriate. And in either case, celebrate yourself for your awareness, and your deliberate creation of your life. Bright blessings and massive success to you…

Do You Need To Get Off The Guru Train?

You may have heard the saying that you have to have a breakdown before you make a breakthrough. Such was the case when less than 18 months ago, I was completely at the end of my rope with my business (and, truthfully, myself).  I’d been self-employed for about 18 months at that point, and I didn’t have anything to show for it but a lot of debt and terror.

I thought, will I have to ask my parents for mo-ney?  Or get a J-O-B? I’ll admit that both options were completely abhorrent to me – especially the J-O-B thing.  (Asking my parents for cash would have been tough, but they are wonderful, so I would have managed.  But needless to say, I didn’t want to.)

As it turns out, I didn’t have to do either one of those things.  But I did have to make a shift, and fast.  I had to get off the guru train.

What is the guru train? Quite simply, it’s the condition of hopping from one mentor to another, spending mo-ney with all but never really making a commitment to any of them.  (I also like to call it “doing the guru dance.”)

The problem with the guru train, of course, is that you’re perpetually stuck.  Worst of all, while you think you’re taking yourself seriously (after all, you’re spending all this money, right?) the truth is just the opposite.  (Ouch!)

Here are some signs that you may be riding the guru train:

• You make buying decisions from a place of fear and lack instead of standing in your power
• You’re racking up debt faster than you’re making money, with no end in sight (in other words, no signs that the situation will turn around any time soon)
• You have a shelf full of information products you’ve never used
• You’re extremely frustrated that you’ve “tried everything” and “nothing works”
• You’re resentful of others’ success and grumble that you’re “sick of being sold to”

Now if any of this is sounding familiar, please take heart and don’t beat yourself up!  I was there. Indeed, I don’t know a single successful entrepreneur in this Internet marketing world who has not been there.  (I’m sure they exist… in some parallel universe.)

If you’ve been riding the guru train, it’s time to get off the train, get serious, and fully invest in one system, program or mentor. That means you pick a system and work it – all of it.  Even when you think you’ve done it all already.  Instead of leading with your ego when something doesn’t work out, ask, “What went wrong here?” Or, “How can I make this work for me?” (Because I’m guessing that you like to do things your own way – so do I.)

So once you’ve decided to make a commitment to a mentor, how do you choose? The answer is, “It depends.”  What’s important to one person, you may care less about.  Bottom line is you’ll want to make a clear set of criteria that makes sense for you.  That said, here are some factors to consider:

1. Are they walking their talk? Not just in their business, but in their life.  Otherwise known as having integrity.

2. Have they created the success (that they claim they can help you create) for themselves? Be suspicious of the abilities of anyone who says they can help you achieve something when they clearly aren’t living it yet.   (This doesn’t mean that they have to be perfect, or they have to be a multi-millionaire.  Remember, we’re talking about a path here – a long one, with significant milestones marking the entire journey.)

3. Do they have a system for creating the results that you want? When followed correctly, a system gives predictable results.  A system also saves you time and mental energy because the steps are organized and you’re only taking the actions required to get your desired outcome.

4. Do you resonate with them personally? I believe that in order for mentorship to be effective, you have to at least enjoy a person enough to invest the required time – after all, you’re sharing space with them, whether it’s live and in person, on the telephone, or even a recording.  Luckily, thanks to today’s technology, it’s easier than ever to get a sense of someone’s energy.  (To that end, a mentor should be open and genuine, in part to help give you that sense.)

5. What does your intuition tell you? Successful people gather all the information they need (and by that I mean what Napoleon Hill called “wise counsel,” not opinions), then confidently and powerfully decide – without second-guessing.  Often that decision is based all or in part on intuition.  What is your “inner business woman” telling you?  She knows best.

Creating success in your business means taking a stand on who you will and will not learn from.  It means respecting your own time as your most valuable asset and taking yourself seriously.  My coach’s request: make an all-or-nothing decision to get the results you want, then make a decision to work with the right mentor for you.

© 2009 Elizabeth Genco Purvis.  All Rights Reserved.

Elizabeth Genco Purvis, “The Marketing Goddess” teaches spirited solo business owners and conscious entrepreneurs how to attract an abundance of clients, income, freedom and satisfaction in their business while staying true to their values.  Visit MarketingGoddess.com to claim your copy of “Grow Your Business With Spirit And Soul,” a 7-part audio workshop with everything you need to begin attracting more clients right away.

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