“It’s because when times get tough I can remember what got me into it in the first place and that’ll get me through”. She continued to talk about her particular business as I pondered whether this was really true or not.

For me, it’s only partly true. Sometimes when the going has been tough I have indeed remembered why I got into my business. But some of the time I have questioned that very decision, with mutterings to myself like ‘why did I ever start this?  What on earth possessed me to move somewhere where hardly anyone lives?  Why did I ever read that book, which was the beginning of my business challenges? Or even ‘I don’t care any more about making a difference to others, I just want to make enough money!’ and so on.  So I’m not totally convinced that this is the main reason why knowing your why is important.

Let me introduce the idea of the Golden Circle.

Imagine this scenario:  There’s 2 health clinics in your town, both offering a wide range of complementary therapies.  They each have a nice reception area, pleasant staff and you feel good about going there.  But one of them is more popular than the other. Consistently. Customers speak about ‘just liking this one better’ and ‘not knowing why I do, but I do’.  What is going on here?

Clinic A produces great quality service, has a lovely ambience when you walk in, and charges a similar amount to clinic B.  Clinic B has all these things too – and yet Clinic B has many more regular clients and the owners of Clinic A sometimes wonder where they are going wrong.

The answer is based on the Golden Circle.   Here it is:

Most businesses do business from the outside in (the conventional way). That’s what we’re taught about at school, college, university and so on.  You know what you’re doing, and you know how you’re doing it — and why you’re doing it is irrelevant really so long as you’re making enough sales.  Which is why many companies have not even needed to question whether working from the outside in works or not, because sales have been good enough.

But in harsher economic times, when buyers are more discerning as to where they spend their pennies, your why is really important. And for people who are not motivated primarily by money, it’s even more important to know what your  ‘why’ is.

Simon Sinek has shown that most really successful companies are ones that operate from the inside out. Now you may be miles away from the famous ones, but everything starts with a seed, and if you’re growing that seed from the inside out then you are absolutely on the right track.

With inside out growth, you are fired by your ‘why’. It’s likely to be something along the lines of ‘wanting to make a difference’ or ‘caring passionately about good design’ or ‘wanting to make a contribution to the world’.  If you don’t know why, then find out, because you need to know why you are doing what you are doing so that you can connect with that place and take conscious action from it.

Let’s take RichThinkers as an example.  I am in the middle of a process of refining the what that I offer.  But that process started with revisiting my purpose in life. It’s always been ‘to inspire and awaken others to live their lives in abundance, pleasure, joy; happiness, peace and contentment’. That’s a big purpose and translates through RichThinkers because I’ve always been fascinated how businesses work.  Put the two together and I’ve got my ‘why’.

In the Clinic example above, Clinic B which was so much more successful, had owners who were passionate about helping people to heal themselves. Clinic C’s owners weren’t able to answer the ‘why’ question other than to say ‘we need to make a good living and we saw a gap in the marketplace here’. Which seems fair enough, but it hasn’t translated into sales when faced with someone else offering similar things but from a different place.

After the ‘why’, the ‘what’ is born out of this place of passion and connection.  ‘What’ in my case is currently one-to-one work, but will evolve later this year into group work too (I hope), and from there, probably lots of other things (I’ll have to wait and see what my business partner says!)

You know when someone is in touch with their ‘why’. Passion shines out of their eyes when they talk about their work; they are brimming over with enthusiasm (enthusiasm, Latin meaning ‘having a God within’) and you find yourself just wanting to be around them.  And if they are offering something to you, you find yourself just naturally interested.

If you don’t know your ‘why’ pledge to discover it;  if you do know it, then please share it with everyone in the comment box below. Thank you!

Anything new is by definition going to be uncomfortable as you become familiar with new structures, a new environment, new people. And it’s before you take that leap that the uncomfortable mind chatter occurs – recognize this?

“Eeek!  Help!  Dare I?  Will I?  Should I?  Can I?  I know it will be good for me but… it’s so expensive; it’s such a commitment; it might not work; it might work;  it might just be another waste of my time and money; what if I end up disappointed again; what if I fail; why did I ever think I needed to move on?”

And on and on the mind goes.

All these thoughts and others came clashing into one another as I considered taking on a new coach.

I referred in Part 1 of this series to coming out of my burrow, and discovering  I’d grown out of my business. Well, somewhere along the way I’ve moved away from that safe burrow and got myself down to the waters edge, toying with the idea of leaving a safe  and familiar harbour  and sailing off into uncharted waters.

Scampering about outside the burrow, I had seen boats in the distance going off on sailing trips. I was attracted by those, and ready now to leave the neighbourhood of the burrow. I knew that harbour down there, I’d visited it before some years previously, and had been tempted sometimes to get on a boat and sail off somewhere.  But I’d never done it.

This time though, when I was at the harbour, I saw a boat with my name on it. Not just my name either, but RichThinkers name.  There was someone on it too, who was welcoming me on board.  She had a map with suggestions of the kind of places I’d always wanted to sail to; I wouldn’t be alone; and she was talking my language.  So on board I got.

For me, taking both feet off dry land and launching myself into the boat was a huge leap of faith – faith in my self.  Faith in my companion on board. Faith in sailing off into uncharted waters, with a chart, sure, but basically sailing off to have an adventure.

The thing is, when you know you’re struggling and need help; when you’re just plain bored of doing the same old thing and getting the same old results; when you’re so fed up with yourself for not taking a risk – that’s when you know deep down that you need to do something different – and that the something different is probably going to have to be quite radical.

If you can acknowledge and make room for the fear that tends to come up at this moment, then there’s likely to be room for excitement too, because that’s what happens when we make room to breathe more fully.  (Which is why I am pretty excited at the moment!)

I remembered that some time ago I’d made another leap of faith. This time it was about letting go of doing things in RichThinkers that someone else could do, freeing me up to spend more time doing the things only I could do.

The problem was I didn’t think I had enough money to do this.   But I knew that that mindset was the wrong way round – I knew deep down I had to do what seemed mad, which was employ someone even though the money might not be there for  them for very long. It was a risk, it was scary and it was definitely a leap of faith. That decision and resulting action manifested in Stacie starting. I told her I could give her enough work for a few hours a week, but I only had enough money to pay her for about 6 months max, and I didn’t know what would happen after that. That was 3 years ago.

But…

Before you go running off to take your leap of faith, remember the difference between a blind leap and one that is taken in faith. Blind leaps really are risky – they happen when you’ve not done your due diligence regarding what you are about to do. Or when are so desperate for something to change that you just plump for something, anything, so that change will happen.  Sometimes there is an element of somewhat mad hopefulness – and all of these tend to be coming from a desire to get away from your current situation as opposed to accepting it and being willing to move on.

Leaps of faith, on the other hand,  mean you’ve sussed out the other person or situation with whom you are about to have a relationship; you have a knowing you are on the right track even if you can’t see the exact next step; you’re trusting that when you leap you’ll be caught by someone whom you consider trustworthy themselves, and strong enough to hold you on the other side.

So, are you on the edge of needing to leap?  If so, what does it look and feel like to you?  By all means take time to really tune in to what you want and to whether it is going to be provided if you take that leap you are thinking about.   And then jump! 

Finally,  remember the famous saying of William Hutchinson Murray (1913–1996), from his 1951 book entitled The Scottish Himalayan Expedition, often attributed to Goethe:

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.”

My client was aghast. She just couldn’t believe that a steady stream of people coming through the centre where she rented a room were simply not interested in taking advantage of even a taste of her treatment, which she knew could help them.

‘It seems like they just want to stay the way they are’, she wailed.

And she was right. The particular people she was referring to were not interested in returning to full health using her method, even if they said they were. And she ended up feeling really frustrated and questioning what she was doing and why.

The problem was, she had not been targeting the kind of people who were an ideal match to what she was offering. This was because she knew her treatments could benefit all kinds of ailments, and so she naturally wanted to offer these to everyone.

The challenge with this is that by scattering your seed wide, so to speak, you lessen the chances of it falling in the exact place where the conditions are right for it to germinate.

That’s what you need to do if you want a healthy plant, and the same applies to attracting clients. You need to scatter the seed of your message in the area where you are most likely to find your clients.  In order to do that, you need to know who your clients are so you can then sow your seed.

I’ve been challenged myself with this, not surprising as I evaluate who I am and where RichThinkers is going. A couple of years ago, before Philip got ill, I was working a lot with holistic practitioners, and they were getting good results. But in these last years, as I lost focus on the business, I also lost focus on who were my ideal clients.

This was presented to me in a strategy session which I recently offered.  I had met the potential client locally and saw exactly what she was doing that was not working from a marketing point of view – and in full flow I pointed out a few things that she could do better. (Not ideal, as I was to discover).  I saw her eyes light up as I spoke of something she hadn’t thought of.  Because I was questioning who were my ideal clients, there was space for someone who wasn’t ideal to come through the door.

Oh dear. I was gifted in that session with the clarity that only comes when you finally take off a mask that’s been covering your eyes, and you suddenly exclaim at the brightness of the daylight.

As this person struggled with identifying what she wanted and why she wanted it, three things became crystal clear to me:

1. She had no concept of an inner world (it just wasn’t how she viewed or experienced things).
2. I found it impossible to make a real connection with her.
3. I finally fully realized and accepted that the people I can best help, and most enjoy helping,  are indeed spiritual entrepreneurs, conscious business owners, soul-centred personas who welcome the blend of spirit and business.

My ideal clients cannot be anyone else, because that is who I personally resonate with. No matter how lovely the person may be, if they don’t have an interest in this sphere, along with their business, then I cannot serve them to the best of my ability.   Needless to say I did not end up taking on this person as a client.  I couldn’t – I would be dishonouring myself and doing her no favours either.

So it’s really important that you get clear about your ideal clients. 

They need to meet these criteria: 

• they want what you have got to offer
• they are willing to pay for it
• you enjoy working with them
• they get great results

But it’s that first bit —  ‘who want what you have to offer’ that is so crucial.  Even if you find a client who is willing to pay you more than what you are asking, if they are not ideal then the results will be limited to some degree – and you will find yourself not really enjoying your work as much as you could.

So who are YOUR ideal clients? Who do you love working with that can also pay you (that bit is pretty important too, let’s face it!)? Who do you get great results with?  Discover these people and you’ll have the beginnings of a great match energetically and physically, which can only benefit you, your business, and of course, your clients.

Notice the lack of another ‘p’ word – profit. This is not because profit is not important, but profit without you:

• fulfilling your purpose in being alive
• feeling passionate about what you do
• shining who you are in the world

is empty profit, no matter how much actual money you are making.

It’s very likely that money is not your prime motivator for doing what you do. If you think it is, then think again because underneath the requirement and perhaps need for money, will be something else that is driving you. Something that made you choose to live your life the way you do, and express yourself through your business. And this is the first stage in stepping out into the world in a bigger way.

Without this foundation in place, you cannot step up and out. Or at least you can, but you’re much more likely to wobble and fall, or even to not be noticed. If you imagine the light of who you are has a dimmer switch, then in order to be fully seen (which means people recognizing what you have to offer, wanting it, and paying for it regularly and consistently), that switch needs to be turned right up. In order to be turned right up, the plug at the other end needs to be in, and switched on. In other words, you need to be fully plugged into your source of energy.

As you know, I was not fully plugged in until very recently. And this is how it showed up:

A few weeks ago, I noticed an advert for ‘The Best Of…’ a franchise opportunity. I was flirting with this idea because I was feeling so lost regarding RichThinkers. And this was after the success of that first talk I gave in February!

The more I looked at the advert, the more tempting it appeared to be – buy a franchise, get loads of support, sell the services and ‘Bob’s your uncle’. Or so I thought. I fantasized about how much easier it would be than RichThinkers; the franchisers were even guaranteeing a certain level of income, so how difficult could it be? I couldn’t imagine anyone saying no to me, ever.

Fortunately I had some friends check this opportunity out, and although it might be right for some people, with their feedback to me, and talking to one or two franchisees, it became clear that this was definitely not the right way forward.

And yet I had been so excited! It would bring in more money! I would still be helping people! What could be wrong with that?

What was wrong was it was not in line with my purpose or passion. Therefore, I would not be meeting the kind of people who were my ideal clients. At the time I was dithering about who my ideal clients should be. I had gotten off track in the last year as I’d been focusing more on local businesses than on online business, as I had been doing before Philip began to get very ill.

I’d lost sight of where I was going, what my business was, and who I was as well. Not surprising maybe, given the circumstances, but no wonder I was feeling lost and lonely.

However, flirting with The Best Of…was a bit of a wake-up call. I went from tremendously excited about a new opportunity one minute to utterly depressed the next because I couldn’t see anything changing.

At that point, I had given four of the new Strategy Sessions that had been lined up, and I’d not offered my services to any of them. Why? A mixture of fear of rejection, believing them when they said they had no money, and a sneaking suspicion they weren’t my ideal client anyway. And yet I wanted to take on more clients, what a conundrum.

But as I began to investigate what was really going on underneath the surface in those sessions, for me, as well as for the potential clients, I realized I had to take a step back and re-connect with what is the essence of life for me, let alone my business. I had to plug myself in properly, which is what I’ve been doing.

But how does it express itself in your business, if you’re not fully plugged in, switched on and with the dimmer switch turned fully up?

Check if any of these are relevant to you:

1. You’ve got some clients, but there’s not really a steady flow of them
2. You’re making only just enough money, and fed up with that
3. You feel an aversion to ‘making things happen’ in the way you used to
4. You’ve got enough clients, but not really enough of those that really make your heart sing
5. You find yourself feeling bored, doing the same old thing
6. You have a sense that you’ve lost your mojo, your passion for what you do
7. You know deep down that you are being required to step up and out more
8. You cannot think what else to do to make your business work, because you’re surely doing everything right, but it just isn’t working in the way you know it can
9. You are attracting customers or clients, but they just aren’t buying enough
10. You feel constantly frustrated, knowing you are on the edge of success, but just not able to step into it fully
11. You wonder if you should just pack it all in and get a job
12. You wonder why on earth you ever started your business in the first place.

So how many did you tick? Even if it’s only one, this is a sign that your plug needs to be checked, re-plugged in, switched on and that dimmer switch turned up full!

In other words, align yourself with your purpose and allow that to shine out through what you do, to the people you most want to work with.
Which will be the subject of next week’s article!

What?

Yes, The RichThinkers I set up over 5 years ago got stunted in its growth when I entered that burrow, which of course I didn’t realise as I was head down, being a carer, then feeling full of grief and finally doing my best to cope with learning to live alone after 20 years of marriage.

But I’ve moved on a bit now, and I’m poking my head out of the burrow, having a good look around, and I’m seeing the landscape with new eyes. The air smells different; what I see, although it appears to be the same, is perceived differently.

In fact, everything around me just feels different.

Clearly I’ve outgrown RichThinkers in some way. But when you’ve outgrown your business, what do you do?

For me it was a particular set of circumstances that occurred that spurred this growth, but for you it might be presenting itself as:

• feeling frustrated because you know you can offer more, but the clients simply aren’t coming in.
• feeling restless because your passion seems to be demanding more of you, and yet you’re scared because you don’t know the next step to take.
• you’re fed up of playing small, and want to shine your light more into the world.

As you grow and develop within yourself, your business has to grow with you, otherwise you begin to feel hampered by what you are doing even if you love it, or the skin you are in starts to feel too tight, or else you just have a knowing, deep down, that something has to change. It’s happened to me, and maybe it’s been happening to you too.

Let me share with you what I’ve been doing over this past period of time which has led me to taking a giant leap of faith up and out into the world. It’s not very sexy though, I’m warning you! In fact, it’s not even cool, or tempting.

I’ve been waiting.

Feeling frustrated, knowing something had to happen differently, but not knowing what. But trusting that as I waited, at the entrance to the burrow, that I would know when to come fully out and begin to play and dance with life once again.

And finally here I am, out and playing in the grass just by the burrow! I can see far horizons, miles of fields, woods, rivers and a mountain range – a landscape that is begging to be walked through.

A destination that looks tempting, a journey to be made.

I’ve been practicing my mantra of Stop, Be Still, Listen and only then Act – and now is the time for the action.

I’ve become clear about what has been happening because about 3 weeks ago I started working with a new coach for myself, in a very different way to any other coaches I’ve worked with.  Through this new and very supportive relationship, I could see that the emerging from the burrow began with giving a talk in February. No big deal you might think, but this was the first time I’d ventured to do anything like this since Philip had been diagnosed with cancer, 2 years previously.

I’d responded to an invitation some 6 months earlier, thinking at the time that surely I would be able to do some public speaking by then.

Entitled Your Mind in Your Business – Friend or Foe? I‘d picked a topic I knew lots about and thought it would be fine. Of course, by the time I realised it was coming up and I had to prepare, I didn’t feel in the least ready! But I prepared anyway, committed to doing what I’d said I would do.

That very black night, the snowfall while I was driving to the venue was so blinding that I could only crawl along at 30mph – the white lines in the middle and sides of the roads had disappeared completely. It was freaky, made me feel very alone and tearful without Philip, and I seriously thought of turning back home – except that I knew there was nowhere to turn on this road, so I had no option but to continue.

“Oh God this is awful, why did I say I would do this, I will just have to let them down, it’ll never work, I’ll have done all this and only a handful of people will be there, what a waste.”

The negative thoughts chattered on in my head and I began to feel a bit guilty because (according to others anyway) I am not supposed to have them. Ha!

Anyway, I got there. I did my talk successfully (there were 17 people, hurray!) and 11 of them signed up for my free Strategy Session offer, wow! I got home safely (the snow had stopped). Suddenly, work felt like it was beginning to flow again, and sure enough in the next month, several other enquiries popped out of the woodwork.

Looking back now, I realise this was the beginning of the end of the waiting. Because suddenly a burst of energy had been released. I surprised myself by loving doing the talk, got right back in touch with why I do my work in the first place, and it had been received well. I hadn’t been attached to any outcome, and I had drawn successfully on years of experience but in a fresh way. And (a very big and) I had done it on my own.

All on my own, without the support of Philip.

This was huge for me, and although I was in tears again when I arrived home to an empty house with no-one to share it with who knew exactly how significant it all was, it still felt all right.

But it was out of the space created with the stopping, being still and listening (whole body listening, I mean) that an action could happen. OK, I had set it up months previously, but even so I could have pulled out. That talk was definitely an action born from the stillness of Source.

For me, the action was a talk; for you, an action might be:

• clarity about the next step you need to take.
• an insight about how you have been sabotaging yourself, thereby leading to an action.
• simply a knowing that you need to take a much bigger leap than you have ever done.

Which then will translate into action – I knew for instance, that I needed help to take another step on the journey after I had done that talk, hence getting a coach.

So, where are you in your business right now? Do you feel ripe and ready for a step up? Do you feel you’re wearing an old suit of clothes that just doesn’t fit properly any more? Or do you just feel plain old frustrated with doing things the same old way, knowing you want to move forward, but not sure how to get to where you want to go?

Sometimes these things show up in lack of clients, or lack of ideal clients; other times it shows up in doing lots of things but not really achieving anything much, which then feels like you haven’t got enough time. Maybe money pressures are meaning you know you have to take some different action – but despite learning a bit about marketing it isn’t really working.

In next week’s article, I’ll share more about what steps I’ve been taking and the process I’ve been going through recently (and am still going through), in order to take action that results in getting you and your business nearer where you want to be.  Come join me on the journey!