This week I have had numerous conversations with coaches, healers and health and wellness professionals who are ready to expand their businesses. As I probe into their work and their blocks, one thing is quite clear. Its time for, small business owners to embrace spiritual leadership. Its time for these purposeful entrepreneurs to say “YES!” to the greatness they are here to express. As a business breakthrough coach I witness first hand the effects of a business owner who decides to really let loose and share their true potential and gifts. The first things that happens is… all hell breaks loose. Why? When you go after your dream, full on, expose the deepest beliefs you hold and put them out for the world to see, it’s SCARY! It’s the real deal and if you mess this up, it hits home hard! Most people settle for a mediocre life as a safety mechanism against being seen so clearly. If you fail at something that isn’t the truth of who you are, it really didn’t matter as much, but to go full out after your BIG game, wow, now that will bring up your limiting beliefs about yourself and put them smack dab in your face. So what to do about this?  How can I put this gently? GET OVER IT! It’s not about YOU! There are people who need what you have to offer, they are waiting, some banging their heads against the wall wishing for exactly what you can give them.  Could you please, for heavens sake share that talent? It’s okay to  be real. In fact what else is there? It’s okay to be real and fail! Its okay to be real and succeed! No one is keeping score (except maybe you) The time has come for self employed professionals, small business owners and entrepreneurs to embrace their spiritual gifts, step into leadership and stand out as the unique, gifted person you are!

What are your thoughts? What keeps you small and hidden? What will support your exposure to the world? Please share…

One of the quickest ways to get new clients into your practice  is to become very attractive to your prospective clients. How do you become attractive? One of Thomas Leonard’s Attraction Principle is to “Unhook Yourself From The Future.” Be present with your prospect and detach from the outcome. Make your conversations all about what your prospect wants. From your initial introduction at a networking event, online, or person to person, your language must be completely focused on the prospect and the specific and tangible solutions you offer to solve their problems. Meet them where they are and offer them solutions. This requires sharp listening skills. Tune into the message behind their words. Listen for clues that identify the deeper problem they are experiencing. Ask probing questions about what you hear. Stay curious and solution focused, ask them what the solution is from their perspective. This type of communication will help build a collaborative, solution focused relationship and your soon to be client will want to have more time with you. Write out exactly what you do for your IDEAL clients and reinforce your message in all of your conversations. The consistency of your message will sink in over time, and you will have clients hoping you will say yes to working with them!

* Learn to embrace everything and everyone as a reflection of you. This is challenging because it involves recognizing the owned and the disowned characteristics of your personality. You greatest lessons lie in the disowned parts. Learn to embrace them!

* Enjoy and honor the beauty of the moment. There is ALWAYS a golden nugget. Look for the gold in EVERY encounter and interaction. Then, you will find it.

* Filter your business decisions through your core values, unique personality, and life purpose. When you use these 3 tools as your business foundation, all decisions become simple and your results naturally multiply. Practice these 5 steps for the next 21 days and watch your life and business transform.

I’ve been pondering what holds people back from their greatness. What I noticed in my coaching practices is that it is not one BIG thing that stops people, it is a series of small actions not taken. Either they let their mind over complicate it, allow procrastination to creep in, or have perfection standards that are unrealistic. When you take action and complete one or two small items every day over time you will accomplish more than you might imagine. We tend to overestimate what we can accomplish in a short period of time, say one year, and underestimate what we can accomplish in a longer period of time, perhaps a decade. What hearts might be filled with love because of a morning and evening hug (teenager or not!) What shape would your body be in if over the course of 10 years you did intense yoga for 15 minutes a day, EVERY day? What books might be written with 20 minutes of focused writing each evening? What will you add to your calendar that will take no more that 3o minutes total, 15 in the morning and 15 in the evening that will result in the creation of a project on your life list? This blog is my example. I committed to blogging 2 times a week and creating a video blog weekly. 15 minutes ago I sat down to complete today’s commitment, knowing at 3:25 it is time to go pick up my son. The blog is done and I am walking out the door with a feeling of completion and satisfaction. It is the small things done consistently over time that create results. What will you create?

Out with the old and in with the new! As we say good bye to 2009 and hello to 2010, we have an opportunity to create space for our most cherished desires. Here is my process for reflecting, releasing, and receiving.

1. What would I most like to release from my life that no longer serves me. I look for patterns, beliefs and habits. Either I have outgrown them, become aware of a limitation, or simply choose to make space for something new. It is similar to cleaning my closet. I have become especially picky about what stays. Neutral no longer cuts the mustard! If I don’t love it, it’s out.

2. Once I identify what I will release, I look for it in other areas of my life. Let’s use procrastination as an example. If I have put off creating a program for my business and I am finally ready to let that behavior go, I check out the other areas procrastination may be showing up in my life. Do I see it in housecleaning? My workout? Filing? Where else do I procrastinate? Next, I dig a little deeper. How has this behavior served me? What do I RECEIVE by procrastinating. There has to be a benefit or it would not be a behavior. Perhaps I keep myself small and don’t risk rejection, maybe I keep myself unorganized and protect my fear of success. I don’t get too carried away with this, I just ask the question and see what answer comes up.

3. I ask myself to feel the fear and ALLOW it to dissipate. I give myself permission to let it go. As it goes, I reclaim my energy. I was fueling it, and I am choosing to let it go.

4. I ask myself what new behavior I would like to allow in, to replace the one I am releasing. Maybe it is inspired action, or completion, to replace procrastination.

5. I create a theme from this new chosen behavior. If my entire year embraced this new behavior, what would the theme be?

6. When faced with decisions I ask myself a powerful question, based on my theme. Lets use the inspired action theme for an example (my actual 2009 theme) “What would an inspired woman, who was committed to action, do now?” Whatever comes up is my clue to ACT.

7. Once I have my theme, I create my goals and infuse them with the essence of my theme. As I create my programs I remain mindful of the intention with which I am creating. I begin to look for my theme, or the possibility of it everywhere. Before long the old behavior seems to have simply vanished, and the new one gains strength and momentum daily. Never underestimate the power of small, intentional steps repeated over time.

Happy 2010!

Deciding where you are going is the single most important component to designing a successful year. Here are 7 simple steps to help you get clarity on your direction.

1. Know your Vision for your business. Why are you in biz? What is the BIG picture you see for the world that has called you into this line of work?

2. Choose your mission. Now that you see your vision for the world, what is your special piece? What claim will you stake in contributing to your bigger vision?

3. Verbalize your “Why.” Dig deep. WHY are you claiming this stake? WHY is your vision important?

4. Decide on the portion of you mission you will bring into form this year. What piece would you like to create in the next 12 months?

5. Define your “Key Performance Indicators” (KPI’s). How will you measure your progress? At the end of the year how will you know you made progress toward the vision you have for the world and your mission, the part you are contributing? Choose your programs, products, and services. Pick the ones that most strongly connect with your mission.

6. Chunk your KPI’s into quarters. What will you do to accomplish the first quarter of your work? Chunk your quarters into 3 parts. Assign each part a month. Write it in your dayplanner or schedule it in your task manager.

7. Each week choose one forth of your monthly goal to complete. Make time on your calendar to create your goal. Each day take inspired action to move toward your monthly goal.

When you connect your daily actions to your life vision you will be inspired to follow through and your results will have a deeper and more fulfilling effect on your life.

Do you trust your inner voice? The one that nudges you to be bold, take action, even when you feel unprepared? When you learn to live life from the inside out, you will experience a different reality. A reality that requires less intellect and more trust. In this reality your heart is the navigator and your mind follows its prompts. As you learn to trust yourself the world will bring you more opportunity to grow. It is this inner wisdom that will guide you to the perfect customers, steer you toward an otherwise invisible opportunity, and support you in the moments of uncertainty you may feel. It is when you learn to feel comfortable in the discomfort of the known, that you enter the magic of the flow. This energetic experience eliminates the need for time. You are simply being in alignment with the truth that is always available to you.

Start with one or two small tasks. Simply trust your inner awareness to help you complete them. As you see the results from the small tasks, use your new references to apply your growing trust to bigger decisions. You will find the more you consciously call on your intuition, the stronger it becomes. Soon the need for stressful indecisiveness and concern for making the “right” decision will subside and an sense of ease and well being will become your strongest decision making tool. Go ahead give it a test and let me know what you discover!

As I process the death of another James Ray participant I ponder a very important lesson. How can I take the incredible teachings and transformation I have personally experienced over the past 5 years of studying with James and continue to apply them to my life without tainting them with the deep sadness, immense disappointment and outright anger I feel for the lose of lives involved? How does a man so committed to global transformation walk away and stay away from the suffering created by his teachings? We live in a dualistic world, my JRI friends would say, as our expansion increases so does the vastness of dualism. James erred on the side of over-assertive masculine energy, taking on more than his share of responsibility (“ability to respond”) for the future, and now less than his share of responsibility (“ability to respond”) for the present.

Liz Neuman was my friend, a beautiful woman who wanted everyone to understand the depths of their own power and glorious soul. She volunteered endlessly to assist participants in self-realization and awareness. She is a “consciousness rising” angel. There are hundreds of stories of transformed lives because of her. My heart goes out to her family.

As I questioned my beliefs about this experience, I began to separate the lessons I learned, from the teacher who taught them. The lessons have molded my life in ways I never could have imagined since the first “Power To Win” event I attended. Many people I met along the way have become my closest friends. I’m very grateful. Understanding the teacher was not so clear to me, so I did a little checking to see what common personality traits are displayed by “gurus.”  As I poked around the Internet I came across “narcissistic spiritual gurus.” I was surprised by the article. The traits Dr. Linda Martinez-Lewi refers to are the very traits I witnessed in my experiences with James.

We have come to a time where excess is the Hollywood poster child. “Let that not be you.” With so much information available to us we must learn to take the knowledge and apply it through our own belief system. Sure we all have limiting beliefs and areas we can improve but giving our journey away to a guru is very dangerous indeed. We must create self-devotion, self-discipline and self-dedication to our growth. We must form a strong community of like-minded people who will join us on our journey. However the journey is our own.

Our spiritual growth will not be found in event packages or home study courses. It comes from our ability to integrate the lessons in our life, good and bad. As I integrate this powerful lesson, one message is very clear. It is time for us to stop spending our money and time on external solutions and begin investing our precious assets in becoming our own guru.