I hope you like it, and any feedback or contributions are always welcome!  Meanwhile, this month here’s what I have to offer you:

Contents:

1. Last chance for the coaching circle!

2.  Amazing new programme: The RichThinking Way

3. Article:   Getting Out Of Your Own way

4. Special deal on face to face amazing workshop!

1. Last chance to join Develop Your Business Coaching Circle
at the amazing price of only £97.  Because of the changes I’m making, this is the last time I’ll be offering this particular Circle at this price. Next year it’ll be more of an interactive coaching-style content, and more expensive too. Visit www.richthinkers.co.uk/coachingcircles for more info or email me direct. Only 3 places left!

2.  New programme:  The RichThinking Way (very exciting!)

Yes — I emailed you earlier about this, as I’m running a pilot programme initially, and inviting you to co-create this 12 week teleclass with me. If you missed the earlier email, and want to know more about how your thoughts, feelings and actions either contribute to your business or detract from it, then contact me.

3. Article: Getting Out of Your Own Way: letting go of struggle and effort

It’s very common to see business people, especially these days, putting in the hours, working hard and generally not enjoying
themselves very much.  Especially if you have a belief that good things only come to those who work hard, then that’s the
experience you’ll have. If you knew there was an easier way to get what you wanted, wouldn’t you want to know?  Well there is.  But first of all it’s important to understand why we stand in our own way of getting what we want.

Firstly, it’s because we’re taught to do exactly that. It doesn’t look like that – what it looks like is being told this is the way it is; you have to work long and hard to make it in the world; you mustn’t get above your station; riches are not for you – any number of beliefs.  If you come from a background where there was anything less than spectacular encouragement for you to be, do or have anything you wanted, then you will be standing in your own way at some level.

So we stand in our own way because we’ve learnt to. And just like we learnt to, we can unlearn to. And we do that by turning
our heads and swivelling round to focus on something apparently completely different.  Instead of focusing on what you think you want, you focus instead on being the feeling you think the thing you want will bring you.

Let’s unpack that a bit with an example. Let’s say you want to grow your business, having 10 more clients.  Normally, everyone
would probably encourage you to spend more money on advertising and marketing your product or service, so that these ten clients
will be attracted to you.  You might think of doing an extra mailshot or two; or networking even more – whatever it is, it is likely to take up more of your time.  If you’re already working long hours, then this is not going to be appealing at all.  But this is what you have to do to get more clients, isn’t it?

No.  Because it only may, or may not, bring results.  And even if it does bring the results, ie ten more clients and the resulting increase in income,  it will also likely bring more hours of work, more costs, and even possibly more hassle.  And you weren’t even sure that your efforts would pay off in the first place!  Seems to me to be quite a gamble.

Getting out of your own way and creating what you want from the inside out means you start to focus on something else entirely.   Think of the feeling you will have when you have the ten clients. What might that be?  Satisfaction, secure, proud, more confident, busy, happy, fulfilled – whatever comes to mind, you name it.  You’ll also notice that one (or possibly two) of these feelings will ring true more than the others.  This is the essence of what you say you want.  This is what is behind you being in your own way.
Test it out now – if you already had that feeling, let’s say it’s confidence, even without the ten clients, you’d be at least half
way there, wouldn’t you?

Sounds simple, doesn’t it?  And it is.  But it’s not quite so easy to put into practice, because practice is the third part of the process
involved in getting out of your own way.  Practice feeling the feeling you say you want, as if it were already happening right now. So you
get to feel confident, by invoking those feelings in you, on a daily basis. And you do this by imagining, daily, that you already havewhat you said you wanted, ie the ten clients, and the feeling that this brings.

Because you have turned upside down the common belief of HAVE, DO, BE (ie get the thing you want, then you can do what you want to do, and be the way you want to be – and it’s a belief that is running Western society, if not the world), then you are already BE-ing what you want, and this then provides you with the inspiration to DO some actions that are in line with what you say you are wanting.  And finally, these actions are more than likely to end up in you HAV-ing the actual thing you said you wanted in it’s practical form, ie the ten
clients.

Now, when this happens, what really is amazing is that often the person finds they don’t really want ten more clients any more.  Perhaps 5 would have done just fine.  This is because they have already got what they really, deep down, truly wanted, which was more confidence.  And when you have what you really wanted all the time, what you previously couldn’t see because you were getting in your own way, why would you want anything else?   This doesn’t mean to say you don’t have to have your ten clients but that if you do want them, they then become a bonus on top of everything else.

4.  Special Workshop in the Lake District
I’m delighted to tell you about a great one dayface to face workshop happening in the Lake District with a colleague of mine.  If you’d like to  connect experientially with the answers to questions such as Where  am I now, and where do I want to be? in relation to your business, then I strongly encourage you to find out more.

Tony Ingleby, my colleague and leader for the day, has had over 35 years of experience in the business sector, and this is just one of many quotes about him and his work:

‘the best development day we have experienced, bar none’

spoken by 32 managers on a day very similar to the ones he is offering now.  AND — although the day costs £175, you, as my guest, get to go for just £125! Dates are 1st, 8th, 15th and 17th December, and I encourage you to ring Tony to get a taste of him for yourself.
Do let me know if you will be there — I am attending the one this week on 5th November. Tony’s no. is
Or alternatively, contact me.

1) What’s Jane doing on top of a Scottish hill in the dark?

2) The 4 W’s That Interfere with Success

3) Business by Results: an opportunity for you

4) Scottish Success Secret

1. A note from Jane

It’s the top of a little hill in south west Scotland.  It’s dark (8.15pm on a Wednesday night). I’m sitting in my car with my laptop on my knees and speaking into a mobile phone. What was I doing? Learning how not to go away from home without checking your internet connection first!  Yes, I was away in a fairly remote part of Scotland, where I had previously been able to go online in the comfort of the tiny beach cottage we were staying in. But this

time, the connection wasn’t working and that’s how I ended up conducting one of my teleclasses from inside my car in the middle of the dark. Not my favourite way of doing so, but there you go, you live and learn.

Unless you want to copy what I’ve done, and I don’t recommend it (!), the learning for you is if you’re going to be away and still want to be online for work purposes, check your connection works properly before setting up, or continuing with, anything you need that connection for!

Anyway, I am back now in the comfort of my own office, having chalked it all up to experience.

I hope you enjoy this issue and all that’s in it.

Warm wishes

Jane

2. The 4 W’s That Interfere with Success

What things are normally thought of that get in the way of success?  Not taking action, giving up too soon, letting expenditure get out of control, not working out profit margins properly, mismanagement, unclear vision, lack of ruthlessness, lack of capital, lack of resources — lots of things in fact, but none beginning with W.  So what are these 4 W’s?

Wishing

To wish means to have a desire, to long for something. There’s nothing wrong with having a desire, indeed, one element of having a vision is the desire to see it happen. But when it becomes a wish, ie something that is out of your control and may or may not happen, then it often takes on the feeling of longing. And with this feeling comes the focus on what’s not happening in your business, rather than what is happening. It’s very common to hear people wishing for all sorts of things

‘I wish I was more successful’,

‘I wish I had more clients’,

‘I wish I was more like her/him over there’.

What you focus on expands, so when you are focusing on wishing you were being more successful or had more clients, as opposed to already being more successful and having more clients, and then taking action in line with that, then you are in fact pushing away what you say you are wishing for!  It’s a fine line, but pay attention next time you catch yourself wishing for something, see how you feel, and whether or not you truly are supporting yourself in the best way possible.

Wanting

This is another tricky one, as often you’re told to focus on what you want, and then you’ll get there eventually. But want is another word that actually focuses on lack.  It’s defined as ‘the state or fact of being without or of having an insufficient quantity; an absence or deficiency of necessities’. So again, it has that feeling of yearning, a noticing of what you don’t have, and a wanting it to be different. So it’s OK to specify a want, as a direction you are pointing in, as in

‘I want to have 5 more clients by the end of the month’,

or

‘I want my turnover to reach £10,000 this quarter’,

but if you then focus on why that isn’t or hasn’t been happening, or keep thinking about the fact that you only have 3 clients and it’s nearly the end of the month, or you can’t see how you’re going to reach £10,000 in that quarter, then again, you’re focusing on what you don’t want, as opposed to what you do. Once more, a very fine line — and it takes practice to realise what you truly are focusing on. Start paying attention today to what your thoughts are really focused on; and if you discover you’re more often thinking of what you don’t have, rather than what you do, then change those thoughts!

Wondering

Wondering how you might be more successful in your business is also another apparently innocuous state. The definition of wonder is ‘to speculate, ask oneself, to feel doubt’.  So speculating, or asking yourself could be acceptable when you are focusing on your business, because you will have bypassed all the negative thoughts that keep you stuck, like, “It’ll never happen”, or, “I can’t see how that could happen”, etc, and moved to a place of thinking your goal will happen, but you’re just wondering how.  However, this in itself could be interfering with where you want to go!  Instead of trusting you will reach where you’re going, keeping your mindset in line with that, and taking appropriate actions, wondering about it can easily slip into ‘feeling doubt’. This is what I was doing in the midde of the night last night, so when I realised what was going on I decided I was going to write an article about the process of wondering, instead of letting my negative thoughts interfere with the process of my business!  The real challenge with wondering is that it is incredibly easy for it to slip over into the next ‘w’.

Worrying

Worrying about your business is definitely not going to help. It’s just another name for imagining with fear, and perhaps you already know this, but find it hard to actually stop the worrying. One way to work with the worry though, is to regard it as a warning bell that you’ve gone off course, in which case it can become a friend to you. That’s so long as you stop doing the worrying as soon as you notice it happening, and that is a lot easier said than done! How I make friends with worry is very practical. Here’s what to do: Spend five minutes really going into the worry, but no more than five minutes maximum. Focus on your worries as determinedly as you’d like to be able to focus on your successful business. Really let go into how dreadful everything would be if all your worries came true. When the five minutes is up, deliberately change to focus for at least five minutes on your vision, or the success of your business. You do that by deciding to think something different, thoughts that make you feel better, and then actively thinking them. I know someone who regularly does this exercise while taking his daughter to school — on the way there, he does the worrying; on the way back he focuses on the successes, and therefore arrives at work in a great space to start the day.  And that’s another hint — moving physically from the place you’ve been worrying, to another place where you focus on the good things happening helps with this process.

So, start today to notice when any of the 4 W’s are taking over your life, and direct your thoughts down a different path. At the very least, you are going to feel much better!

If you’d like to use this article in your newsletter or website, please do, but make sure you include this complete info below:

Jane Duncan Rogers of RichThinkers helps self-employed professionals and small business owners to conduct their business with heart and soul, using the power of their thoughts, feelings and energy to do so. To discover more about the 7 Steps to Thinking Rich, sign up for this complimentary report and her newsletter at www.richthinkers.co.uk.

3. Business By Results — great complimentary offer for you

Do you have a great product or service but need more sales?

Are you passionate about what you do and want more people to know about it – and pay you well?

If you answered “yes” to either question don’t miss out on this opportunity from my friend and colleague Melina Abbott. Melina is offering all my subscribers an obligation free marketing audit consultation worth £197. She will look at how you currently market your business and show you some simple but powerful techniques to dramatically increase the results you are getting.

You will get advice on:

How to make sure customers buy from you and not your competitors
How to make powerful offers to instantly attract new customers
7 easy steps to identify, find and win new customers (yes it really can be that simple)
How to stay in touch and keep your name in front of prospective customers without being pushy
How to write an advert or sales letter which sells
To book your free Marketing Audit Consultation visit: www.businessbyresults.com/richthinkers

Go on, do it, I’ve just signed up because I know Melina is really great at what she does, and really cares about her customers too.

4. Scottish Success Secret

Andy Murray, the Scottish tennis player who is currently ranked No.3 in the world, recently said ‘Focus on being the best you can be’. This is not new, but it is very definitely true, and I invite you to focus on the best you can be, by listening to your intuition about what is the next best step for your business, and then taking that step. Remember, taking action is the commitment you make to yourself and the world, and that is part and parcel of being the very best you can be.

Someone told me recently he had 553 emails in his email box. And then for some reason that week I kept hearing about the huge numbers of emails people have in their in boxes — 339, 743, even over 800!  I was amazed, and that led to a conversation about energy blocks.  Think about it — if your desk had over 800 pieces of paper on it, there wouldn’t be much room for anything else — and that’s what it’s like if you have more than a screen full of emails in your inbox.  It constricts and blocks energy in every area of your life, not just your business. And it comes from an attitude of fear and lack, eg thoughts like ‘I can’t delete that, I might need it sometime’, ‘What if I miss that one vital piece of information?’ ‘Oh dear, I don’t know what to do with this, I’ll just leave it’.  Does this sound like you? If so, this is the kind of thing I am discussing on my Success Coaching Circles, see below for more details.

Other things for you in this issue is a great offer for a retreat (read the article first though!), and also an introduction to a free webinar where I am being interviewed about pricing and the mindset required for that. And I’m off on holiday to our little beach cottage in the south of Scotland, and hoping for good weather, never guaranteed in this part of the world.

Enjoy your September, and keep your inbox empty-ish!

Warm wishes

Jane

September Issue Contents:

1. Develop Your Business Success Circle

2. Featured Article: Radiance requires Retreat

3. Launch of New Business Success Circle

4. Pricing — how on earth do you get it right?

1. Develop Your Business Success Circle (for those with existing businesses).

You’ll know already that your business tends to grow in fits and starts, with some uncertainty in the process!  If you’d like to see it all moving forward more smoothly, with ease and grace, then consider joining my next Circle starting 11am Wed 9th September. I asked a past participant what they would say to someone thinking about joining, and she said ‘sign up now it’s really good value for money!’. And it is — £97 for 6 hourly classes over 6 weeks.  Click

here for more info: www.richthinkers.co.uk/coachingcircles.html

or email me now to reserve your space — only 5 places left as of today!

2. Featured Article and Invitation: Radiance Requires Retreat

When you are around someone whom you describe as radiant, you’re basking in their apparent light.  You are in the presence of someone who is ‘beaming with hope or joy or love’ (Concise Oxford Dictionary).  It is often very nourishing, and you may findyourself wanting to rub up against that person, perhaps hoping some of their radiance will spill over onto you.  So how do you become radiant yourself, and what effect does it have on your business?

Radiance – I’ve defined it above, although another meaning in this context is ‘emitting rays of light’.  And that is what someone who is being radiant appears to be doing, shining light everywhere they go. When light is shone, areas of darkness are shown to us. So anything that has been hidden in the darkness can come to the forefront of our attention and become healed, or wither away and die. And if you think about light, that is what happens to all living things – they either grow in it or die in it, depending on whether they have the other necessary things for life such as food and water. As humans we are naturally drawn to light; it is a symbol of hope, of new beginnings, of life. In business terms, shining light will show up areas of neglect, systems not working very well, unhappy people.  A successful business needs these areas attended to, so shining the light, while being uncomfortable, is often necessary.

Requires – also known as ‘needs’, meaning something ‘depended on for success or fulfillment’ (Concise Oxford Dictionary).  So the joining word between radiance and retreat tells us that if we want radiance, we need retreat.  If we want a successful business, we need to find what it is that makes us feel successful and fulfilled, and translate that into business terms.

Retreat —  meaning ‘go back, retire, relinquish’; or ‘a place of shelter or seclusion’ or ‘a period of seclusion for prayer or meditation’.  All of which imply a returning to a period of time, a place, or a knowledge of another dimension, or the source of who we are.  Normally in our society we think of a retreat as a few days away somewhere, not just a holiday, but perhaps alone, and/or focusing on our connection with our spiritual self. It can however be simply a few moments of sitting still and turning within. It can be taking time out of yournormal routine. It can be your daily meditation. Whatever you decide that retreating is for you (and for me today it was spending time in nature at 9.30am on a Monday morning on a beautifully sunny day, rather than at my desk), it is completely necessary for radiance to shine through you. That is what happened to me before I wrote this article; and it only came to me to write this article while I was on my walk,  ‘retreating’from my normal self, and therefore able to allow the connection between my soul and the soul of nature to be present in my body.  Result – heavenly.  I was without doubt radiating light for most of my walk, and felt then inspired to come here and write this article. Not only that, a new idea for a business product came to mind, plus clarity about how to progress with it. So retreating regularly becomes essential for business development, personal fulfilment and consequently the happiness of your customers or clients.  If you want these things, invite radiance through retreat into your life now.

INVITATION! Would you like to retreat and radiate?

Having written this article above, I was then invited by a colleague of mine to tell you about a great retreat she is offering — please visit here for an enticing offer  http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?af=1043612

Gertrude Lawler is an experienced healthcare professional and is doing some free teleclasses on this subject, so click the link now and sign up for some free tips about how exactly to benefit most from ‘retreating’.

4. New Business Success Circle — starts October 1st, 8.15pm

When one of my clients told me they hadn’t got a mailing list yet, had no idea how to set up a database and the very thought of it was rather alarming, I realised there was a need for a different kind of service. Hence this month my launch of the New Business Success Circle — for those of you who have just recently started in business, or are still holding down a full-time or part-time job, and for those still contemplating the leap from employed to self-employed status. I’m really excited about this programme, as it will include a lot of essential information if you want to start as you mean to go on. Cost is £97, and only £87 if you book by 17th September.

See www.richthinkers.co.uk/coachingcircles.html for more info or email me now to ask questions or reserve your space.

5. Pricing!  How on earth do you get that right?

How indeed! This topic can be a bit of a minefield, so if you know that this is one of your challenges, then consider joining this series of webinars, and benefit not only from me being interviewed by Siobhan Guthrie of ClientAttractingSecrets, but also from the other webinars in that series.  I will be talking about ‘Feeling Great About Your Fee’ — how to do that from the inside and then translate that into practical action. Again, Siobhan is a colleague and focuses specifically on marketing in the therapists and practitioners field.  Visit here for more details:

http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?af=1047910

If you live in or near to London, I really recommend coming to the wonderful free Open Day I am hosting with my friend and colleague, Theolyn Cortens. The emphasis of the day is on the balance between linking in with your soul and running a great business, and I’d love to meet you. I’m also giving 15 minute laser sessions so if you want a taste of how I work, come along and meet me there.

Warm wishes for a great August

Jane

Contents:

1.      FREE day event in London: Angels don’t need money, but humans do!

2.      Featured article: Putting First Things First: inviting your soul to prioritise with you

3.      RT Monthly Momentum Series: yes it’s finally here!

4.      Mind Matters — article in Today’s Therapist magazine

5.      Energy of Money event in Findhorn, Scotland.

1.       FREE Day Event in Central London:

ANGELS DON’T NEED MONEY, BUT HUMANS DO! Come and meet me on Saturday 5th September, learnabout marketing with soul and how to create income from something you love with my colleague Theolyn Cortens of SoulSchool fame.  Click here for full details: FreeOpenDay

2. RT Monthly Momentum Series

You will already have received an email from me about this — I’m very excited about it as in my own work I know how important this kind of thing is — the whole series is all about providing momentum to keep going, to keep focused and to bring into the light the stuff that holds us back from being as successful as we might be.

Visit www.richthinkers.co.uk/momentum.html

3. Featured Article:  Putting First Things First: inviting your soul to

prioritise with you.

Have you heard about The PlaceMat Prioritisation Process? It’s an exercise from the book Ask and It Is Given, by Estherand Jerry Hicks, and it’s about how you organise your day. So if you’re someone who easily gets overwhelmed, or finds it hard to complete tasks, or to get started, or can’t sort out your priorities, then give this way a try.

The PlaceMat Process is so-called because it was first devised on the back of  placemat in a restaurant.  Here’s what you do:

1)     Make a long list of what has to be done

2)     Take another piece of paper and divide it in two.

Head up the left hand side Things I Will Do Today, and the right hand side Things I Would Like the Universe To Do

3)     Looking at your long list of all that has to be done, select 6/7 things from that list that you know you are definitely

going to do that day. Only put on this list things you know you really are going to do (this requires a considerable degree of honesty if you are someone who tends to think you can always do masses of things in 5 minutes!). This side of the paper will include appointments and other pre-arranged meetings; and anything else that you really need to do that day.

4)      Everything else from your original list goes on the side marked Things I Would Like The Universe To Do.

Bear with me here — try it out, because it is amazing what happens. What is really going on is that it helps you to focus on what is really important in that moment, and to also let go of some things that may feel like a burden. Those are the ones you are giving to the Universe. Now here’s the really amazing thing; for some reason it often happens that things on the Universe’s side get done without you doing anything. Maybe someone contacts you, whom you’d been meaning to contact. Maybe you realise that a task that you put on that side is irrelevant in the light of some further information. Maybe someone else does one of those tasks; or they have been resolved in some other way. Or maybe it’s because when you do this process, you’re coming from a place of inspiration, not being burdened with jobs; you’re feeling lighter in your energy because you only have a few things to be accomplished that day; and you will probably find that you have more energy as a result of this allocation of tasks. (All these have happened to me).

So The PlaceMat Process is not a to-do list, it’s more a not-to-do list! And is  process of letting go and trusting. For me, this takes practice, and it might mean that for you too.  It doesn’t mean you don’t have a to-be-done list or a reminder list elsewhere for practical reasons; but rather, as one of my colleagues said

“This process is about aligning your energy with what you want and letting go of what overwhelms you and then facing into your day from a place of alignment instead of being scattered or overwhelmed”.

The difference in the quality of your day when you are clear about what you want to achieve; when your energy is aligned with that; and when you have let go of being overwhelmed is amazing. Try it and see!

4. Mind Matters

Yay! Im celebrating the start of a whole new column in Today’s Therapist magazine (see www.todaystherapist.com).  The first article is entitled Mind Matters in Business (or Get Your Mind Working FOR You Not Against You) and it’s always great to see one’s writing published, it’s different from the Internet. Also, I feel proud to be associated with a quality magazine like this and I invite you to take a look and subscribe, as there’s lots of other stuff they have to offer. They are relaunching next issue and going to a much wider audience, to include people who are in the health field but might not describe themselves as therapists, such as nurses, chiropractors, yoga teachers.

Subscribe here http://www.todaystherapist.com

5. The Energy of Money — weekend event in Findhorn, Scotland.

A great opportunity to work with Maria Nemeth, author of The Energy of Money. Click here for more info re the weekend event.

http://www.richthinkers.co.uk/events.html

Welcome to the July issue of RT Times, and how wonderful it is here in Scotland to be basking in hot sunshine, day after day!
This morning I decorated my office with balloons and streamers. Why?  Because I wanted to bring the spirit of play more into my working environment. Just think about it, if you said everyday ‘I’m off to play now’, you’d have a different kind of experience wouldn’t you?  The energy associated with the word ‘play’ is so different from ‘work’.  I’m going to add in a few other touches too, like a china horse to remind me of my huge passion for horses when I was a child.  What could you do in your work environment to bring in the spirit of play?

This month’s featured article is by Bernadette Doyle of Client Magnets. She usually focuses much more on practical marketing strategies, but this topic was one that had my ears pricking up. I liked it so much I wanted to share it with you.

Featured Article:  Letting the Universe Provide
’I don’t want to force or manipulate anyone into becoming a client, so I am going to let my business grow organically by word of mouth.’

On the face of it, this statement looks like the words of a trusting, evolved soul, willing to ‘go with the flow’ and let the universe provide. Is this not the most ethical way of developing a business?
Yet in my experience, when I hear clients say this, more often than not it’s a cop out to avoid actively engaging in the process of marketing. If you have ever found yourself uttering, or even just thinking, anything like this, you need to get very honest with yourself, and determine whether this really is putting your trust in the universe or simply an excuse for remaining passive, and refusing to put yourself ‘out there’.
I am reminded of the joke about a man who suddenly found himself in the middle of a flood warning. His neighbours were hurriedly evacuating their homes and urged him to join them. He refused their offer of assistance, saying simply, ‘The Lord will provide’. As the water levels grew higher, he retreated to the upper floors of his home.

Soon enough a rescue boat came by. ‘Get in quick!’ called the rescuers. But the man refused, simply repeating, ‘The Lord will provide’. Soon enough the water levels were so high that the only safe place was the roof of his house. Suddenly a helicopter full of marines appeared. ‘Grab hold of the rope ladder!’ they called, but the man refused, saying ‘The Lord will provide’. Before too long, this man found himself in heaven face to face with God. ‘God! I put my faith in you and you let me down. Why didn’t you save me?’ he asked. To which God replied, ‘Well I sent your neighbours, I sent the rescue boat, I sent the marines.…‘
It’s all well and good saying that we will let the universe provide, but we need to be willing to act upon the opportunities that are being offered to us several times each and every day.
Time and time again I have discovered that people who claim that this is their preferred method of developing business are actually masking a deeper reluctance to market themselves, which can manifest as failing to respond to phone enquiries, avoiding following up leads or simply maximising opportunities that are presented to them on a plate.
Bob was a client of mine who wanted to grow his training business organically. He explained to me that he simply wanted to inform prospective clients of what he had to offer, and let them make up their own minds. On the surface this appeared a very ethical and respectful way of doing business, but I sensed Bob was avoiding something, so we delved deeper. Years previously he had worked in a ‘hard sell’ environment, where manipulative and coercive sales techniques were commonplace and actively encouraged. Whilst he was financially successful, Bob hated having to be dishonest with clients. Choosing integrity over money, Bob eventually resigned from his job vowing never to sacrifice his values in the pursuit of success.
Bob knew he had the ability to persuade and influence, yet his fear of pressurizing his prospective clients as he had in the past was holding him back. With my help, Bob came to recognize that his desire to ‘let the universe provide’ was simply a form of marketing reluctance masquerading as faith in the universe. With encouragement, he came to realize that he could market himself actively and ethically and did not have to choose between success and integrity.
Like Bob, you may have been reluctant to market yourself because ‘selling’ and ‘ethically’ aren’t words you usually put in the same sentence. Perhaps you feel that if you became ‘too commercial’ you would somehow lose the heart and spirit of what you offer. Just about all of us have had the experience of being on the receiving end of pushy sales or advertising techniques and the last thing we want is for people to see us like that.
The trouble is, in our eagerness to avoid coming across as too ‘salesy’, many of us go to the other extreme and find it difficult to describe the genuine value we bring. Or we avoid selling and marketing activity altogether, telling ourselves that we would prefer to have our business grow by word of mouth and recommendation, even if it takes years.
Yes it’s true that there is a lot of manipulative marketing in the world, but that doesn’t mean that you have to market yourself that way. You can market yourself with integrity. The fact that there is manipulative marketing out there at the moment is precisely the reason why more of us need to get into the marketplace and be examples of integrity. But avoiding the marketplace, or considering yourself superior to it, does nobody any favours.
To succeed as a client magnet you need faith backed up by inspired action. In my experience, as we take steps to bring our unique contribution to the marketplace, the universe WILL back us up in the form of co-incidence, luck, and perfect timing. It is exciting and delightful to start recognizing and responding to these small signs that surprise and encourage us along the way. But we need to take the action, and we need to be willing to get into the marketplace. You have a choice. You can sit at home and nurse your fears, or you can start taking small, simple steps. As Marianne Williamson says, ‘it’s easier to act our way into a new way of thinking, than it is to think our way into a new way of acting.’ Start now.

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