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When you build a house, one of the first things you do is create a blueprint showing all the rooms, doorways, electrical outlets and the like. But have you ever considered that both you and your business have an energetic blueprint too?

Everyone who comes into contact with you senses the underlying energetic pathways and vibration you are emitting. And it is all done on an unconscious level!

It will greatly benefit you to better understand your energetic blueprint if you are to feel well at all levels (physical, mental, emotional and spiritual) and for your business and personal life to prosper. Following are three ways you can begin to do this right now:

1. List the 5 to 10 people you spend the most time with, and their predominant traits.

Then ask yourself: which of these traits to I possess too? (It’s the old “birds of a feather” phenomenon.) These are part of your energetic blueprint – your energy personality.

2. Make a timeline by decade of your life and list your key experiences and accomplishments in each decade.

What do these accomplishments have in common? Those too are part of your energetic blueprint – your life lesson and gifts.

3. Sit quietly, close your eyes, breathe softly, and envision your future self 5 years from now.

How is that self different from who you are now? What are they doing? What traits are they demonstrating? This is another aspect of your blueprint called your inspired self.

These three components, together with others, are as unique as your fingerprints and as important as your very breath. Becoming clear about what these aspects are and how they express in your life and business will allow you to become deliberate about how you spend your time, whom you attract and work with, and how your spiritual growth is unfolding.

One of the keys to the phenomenal growth in both my businesses and my life over the past 18 months has been being part of a mastermind group, with a paid leader and a limited number of like-minded peers. So why would I invest a significant portion of my education budget on a mentoring experience like this – not once but twice?

1. Individualized Focus on MY Business Needs and Goals

I am an avid learner – always have been. But you can only go so far learning from someone, whether it is through books, teleclasses, or their live events. To really apply what they teach, you need to have the leader’s personal eye on your business, get their input on your ideas (and how to improve them or avoid mistakes) and to support you through the ups and downs of creating something big. Just one piece of advice or insight has saved me thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours I would have spent going down the “wrong” road.

2. Connection with Like-Minded, Big-Thinking Peers

When I go to the first live meeting of the mastermind, I know there will be other people there, and I know that I will have stretched to be there. But to share our goals and dreams with our peers – who have also stretched to be there – and have them accept and applaud you, that’s magical. And we also end up doing business with each other, partnering, and being friends for long past the length of the mastermind itself.

3. To Expand My Already-Big Vision Even More

Another benefit of the Mastermind is that my partners and the leader add more dimensions and resources to the vision that I could not see, making the ultimate result even better! We are each only as perceptive as our experiences allow us to be – and inevitably there is more to be achieved, an easier way to do it, or another way to leverage that the Mastermind experience can provide.

4. For Perspective and Insights to Remove Roadblocks and Self-Sabotaging Beliefs

Whether I think I am “stuck” or not, we all have areas in which we unconsciously limit our success. They may stem from childhood, or they may just be incomplete knowledge about something. But being in front of a group of colleagues and a mentor coach is one place you can’t hide your “stuff”! It can be identified, processed and transformed in the blink of an eye in this focused setting. This too has shaved years off my business growth – not to mention made me a happier person!

I highly recommend that you invest in a mastermind experience if you have not done so to date. My mastermind groups are filled ONLY through our intensives and live events – so to be among the first to be invited to participate in the first 2010 mentoring group, join Purposeful Branding Secrets June 3-5 www.purposefulbrandingsecrets.com and we’ll get you more information during the event!

Copyright © 2009-10 Marcia Bench; All Rights Reserved

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include the following with it: “Marketing and success strategist Marcia Bench publishes the widely circulated ‘Transform!’ ezine weekly to over 5,500 subscribers. If you’re ready to start or grow a profitable business based on your life purpose and passion, get your F_REE tips now at www.purposefulentrepreneur.com”

Have you ever thought of the process of starting and growing your business as a “hero’s journey”?

When we are called to entrepreneurship (and I believe it is every bit as much a calling as the one a minister receives!), it becomes so compelling we cannot ignore it. It is the “call to adventure” in the classic hero’s journey cycle.

It may come through an apparent “accident” – an employee embezzles funds and the company closes, you or a close family member is diagnosed with a serious illness requiring time off, or you are offered a position by a competing firm and begin to question your future. Or it may be a deliberate choice – but even then, the decision to become an entrepreneur often comes after years of restlessness, feeling like you don’t “fit” in a corporate environment, or sensing that you have a deeper mission to fulfill.

Once we say “yes” and cross the threshold to being a business owner instead of an employee, it truly is as though we have entered a new land. No more bosses, no more taking the office and its furnishings and equipment for granted, no more support staff (unless we hire them!).

And as we surrender to this calling – which feels bigger than us, irresistibly drawing us forward – and we walk the entrepreneurial path, we find that the old markers for “success” and “failure,” for “good” and “bad,” are no longer valid. We feel like we have lost our way…and then we notice the challenges and temptations along the way.

We attract the mentors and helpers we need…but ultimately, if we are to succeed, the journey inevitably leads to an abyss in which we die to our old ways. We may lose friends – or relate to them in a different way. We will lose the sense of security that came from having a paycheck – and we will even lose the excitement that we had when we started the business. It must give way to an even deeper sense of service and sharing our message that was planted in us from the beginning of time…a calling that must be fulfilled. But its fulfillment – and the accompanying rebirth – requires us to become a new version of ourselves…and therein lies the pain, the fear, and the difficulty.

Now, in 2010 as I write this, the death of the old way of doing business is right on time with the hero’s journey in the world of business. Even mainstream media and the nightly news speak of the “new economy” – and acknowledge that we do not yet know the rules of this new economy, but that it is clearly emerging. This is not a comfortable phase of the process – but a necessary one nonetheless!

If you are feeling uncomfortable – like you are wearing “clothes” that are too small as you continue to market, deliver services and sell in the way you always have…you are not alone. The new consciousness of your customers and the planet at large requires that you also evolve. What are you being called to become now? What call to growth are the challenges in your being beckoning you to?

Thankfully, our hero’s journey continues with a transformation, unexpected gifts, and often, a whole new life – for us, the business we run, and the people we serve. We traverse the dangerous territory of the abyss, learn the important lessons, and return to our staff, our customers and ourselves with a new perspective. Somehow we can now bridge the two worlds of the known and the unknown, the material and the spiritual, with ease. We know that entrepreneurship is, at its roots, a path for discovering who we are…and for offering our gifts to the world. It is a transformational journey, and in the end, we realize that we are one with our clients or customers. We do not have to “market to” them, “close” them, or “find” them – they are us.

See other entrepreneurs’ stories – including Lisa Sasevich, James Roche, Alexis Neely and more – and find out how following their purpose works in real life!

Danger #3: Going for the quick sale instead of building a long-term relationship.

If you have been concerned about sluggish sales or decreasing market share, you may have fallen into the trap of just getting more people to buy – and lost your true sense of self and building a tribe or community around your passionate, purposeful message. Don’t fall into that trap!

Remember, each person who enters your business pipeline has a tremendous potential value to you – first, as someone who can benefit from your message (and create a great success story or testimonial), and second, the lifetime value of all of the purchases they make from you – coupled with those they refer to you and their purchases over their lifetime. That next call you take could be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Does that change how you interact with them?

With this perspective, it is critical that you turn your core expertise into a repeatable, reliable Signature System that you can present easily and effortlessly – and with which you can get consistent results. That system can then be delivered in a wide range of products, programs and services – from books to individual coaching to year-long group mentoring programs – that will keep your customers engaged and the relationship deepening.

What this means for you is that you have less turnover in your business/clientele – you have to do less marketing outreach – and you have more freedom to work the hours you want, making more money in doing so, and having more fun too!

Question to ask yourself: Have I been shortsighted in my marketing and sales conversations with prospective clients? If so, how can I leverage my services to build long-term client relationships?

If you want to explore your entrepreneurial journey more – and get my formula for moving your business to the next level, click here!

Danger #2: Underestimating the importance of meaning and purpose in today’s marketplace.

In 1980, John Naisbitt predicted in his blockbuster best seller Megatrends that the more technology became part of our lives, the more we would seek connection. He called this “high tech, high touch.” And was he ever right! People today are starving for meaning and purpose. Dan Pink also touched on this phenomenon as one of the 3 biggest factors in the new Conceptual Age today. Are you addressing it in your business?

One way of course is to offer services or products that directly help someone feel connected, discover their purpose, etc. But have you built your business mission and values around your own individual life purpose? If not, chances are that you will struggle to grow it in the new Entrepreneurial Renaissance – or perhaps not survive at all!

People want to hear your story – how did you come to be doing the work you do? If you can get them to be asking “how can I do what she’s done?” – then you have a purpose-based business!

But beware: you may need to be willing to discuss the “s” word (spirituality) – instead of holding back from fear that others will be offended! Part of meaning and purpose, for most people, is spirituality…and if it is part of your journey, don’t hesitate to mention it.

Question to ask yourself: Have I been afraid to share my purpose with my clients because of fear of rejection? If so, how can I begin to be even more authentic with them?

If you own a coaching, consulting, speaking, healing or other service business, no doubt you have been challenged by the upheaval of the last 2 years. But what if the events that contributed to that upheaval were the very ones that will also catapult your business to the next level?

They are.

I have worked with heart-centered and spiritually oriented service entrepreneurs for more than two decades, and there has never been a more exciting – nor fearful, for many – time than right now. But where too many business owners are finding themselves caught now is “holding back,” waiting until something shifts or changes outside them until they take the steps they want to take to build their business.

It’s time to stop waiting.

You see, waiting to move forward also holds at arms-length the very clients you want to attract. So you become part of the problem, not the solution, by hesitating! Consider these three dangers which I see as monumental – yet very much surmountable – as you envision your future.

Danger #1: Blaming the economy for not moving forward.

Certainly these have been “interesting” economic times of late. But did you know that the vast majority of the companies now in the Fortune 500 were begun during a recession or depression? This is where the opportunities lie! If you are willing to see things differently than the masses – and find opportunity in the midst of chaos and change – you can literally open up a gold mine for your business.

People are investing their money in what they value – and in what they see as the bridge to help them obtain their important goals. But they have to want your services, not just need them. Have you made an emotional, soul-based connection with your prospective clients? If not, they will keep shopping until someone does.

It is also dangerous to believe that once the economic indicators start to uptick, business will be “back to normal.” A whole new definition of normal is emerging! This is not just another economic downturn; it is the emergence of a new way of doing business – what I call the Entrepreneurial Renaissance.™ And it has a whole new set of rules that govern it. Small, virtual, home-based, and entrepreneurial is “in” (much like the emergence of the guilds in medieval times) – and large, red-tape laden, corporate structures are on their way “out.” Anything that is not authentic and aligned with integrity will be brought into the open and eliminated now. But here is exactly where the opportunities lie: in capitalizing on the needs and wants people have now for the personal touch, for meaningful services, and for opportunities to connect with people who share common interests and values.

Question to ask yourself: Am I making business decisions based on a pessimistic attitude or fear about the economy? If so, how can I make a decision based on my vision, with faith, instead?

Stay tuned for danger 2 next week!

A quick question for you – Do you know the secret behind the 4 successful businesses generating as much as $400,000 I’ve built over the last few years?

The answer is simple: honing in on personal purpose and LEVERAGING it into multiple in_come streams!

It’s the heart of success in today’s information economy, and a CRUCIAL step if you want to get out of the trap of one-to-one, “dollars for hours” services. And yet, much of what we’ve been taught about how to do it is WRONG!

Now I’m ready to pull back the curtain and show you EXACTLY how I’ve managed to leverage my purpose into 23 books, more than 15 info products and certification programs, hundreds of teleclasses and presentations and tons of profits with my BRAND-NEW, F*R*E*E teleclass “Purposeful Branding Secrets: How to Quickly and Easily Turn Your Purpose into Multiple In_come Streams While Increasing Your Cash Flow, Clients and Consciousness” on May 6th.

On this ground-breaking call you’ll learn:

• The #1 thing you need to focus on to grow your business to the next level in TODAY’s climate (Most business owners over look this!)
• 4 simple steps to finding the essence of your brand so your clients will flock to you! (This is the EXACT same formula I have used to build my successful 6-figure businesses!)
• My secrets to creating dozens of programs and products from  a SINGLE idea (This is how I have managed to author so many books  and create dozens of programs – including coach certifications – using one simple tool.)
• Exactly how to structure your Product Funnel so that your clients become customers for life and keep on buying – so you can spend less time marketing.
• Why traditional marketing no longer works – and what you need to be doing instead (This is why so many solopreneurs are struggling now – they haven’t made this critical shift!)
• How I have created a freedom-based lifestyle that allows me  to work from anywhere while continuing to grow my business – and you can too!

Reserve your spot in this complimentary teleclass here:

http://www.PurposefulBranding.com

Blessed Mother, Sacred One
We celebrate you for the job you have done
Supporting us, nurturing us,
Providing for all of our needs.

Blessed Mother, Sacred One,
Forgive us for the things that we have done
Polluting you, trampling you
All in the name of human greed.

We feel your rhythm,
We hear your sounds,
We see your beauty
And it truly abounds.

Help us to heal you
Help us to see
That by caring for you
I’m really caring for me.

Blessed Mother, Sacred One,
Look at the potential in all we have done:
Technology, ceremony,
Restoring the wholeness – for now we can see.

While I’m not an accountant or an attorney (any more!), it is tax time and I am paying my taxes along with the rest of us.  So I thought it would be helpful to provide a few basic guidelines for tax deductions for the small business owner and be sure you’ve taken advantage of these legal benefits of having your own business.

Business Operating Expenses

Many expenses are deductible against your business revenues.   These reduce your taxable income from your business activities.  Whether or not an expense can be deductible depends on several factors:

1.  Was the expense “ordinary and necessary” for your business?  The IRS defines ordinary as “common and accepted in a field of business,” and necessary as “helpful and appropriate to your business.”

2.  Did it relate to a business (as opposed to personal) activity?  A mere hobby does not qualify for the business deduction.

Adequate records will be required for all expenses as well as items that are amortized (where a portion is depreciated each year) over a period of years.

Some examples (not a complete list) of common expenses that are deductible to a business include things like advertising, bank service charges on business accounts, commissions paid, costs related to the sale of goods, dues, business gifts, office expenses, office rental, travel expenses, independent contractor services and more.

Other business-related costs and investments may not be directly deductible but may be eligible for other favorable tax treatment.  For example, certain start-up costs are amortized over a longer period of time.  Capital expenditures in equipment and furnishings can be deducted up to a certain annual limit; above that limit, amortization and depreciation are required.  There are other exceptions to the deductibility rule, such as home office deduction, and business use of an automobile.

And the list of expenses that are neither deductible nor amortizable is even longer!  Representative expenses that do not qualify for deduction (not a complete list) include bar or professional examination fees, charitable contributions or gifts by non-corporation, country club dues, commuting expenses (with some exceptions), job search expenses and more.

Retirement For The Self-Employed

As a self-employed business owner, you can deduct up to 25 percent of your net income to a Self-Employed Pension or SEP.  Other retirement options include IRA, Simple IRA and others.  Don’t forget to put some of your hard-earned money away for the future – and get a deduction too!

Your Coach Training And Other Education

Up to $4000 in tuition is deductible if you are below the adjusted gross income ceiling of $65,000 single, $130,000 couple (and if you have higher AGI, you can still deduct $2000).  IRS Topic 302 addresses this.  Check with your tax professional as to whether a coaching school qualifies as a “post-secondary institution.”

Home Office Deduction

If you work from home, you can deduct, for your home office, the percentage of mortgage, utilities, insurance, taxes, repairs and related homeowner expenses allocable to the number of square footage your home office is divided by total square footage of the home. 

Business Entertainment

If you take clients to lunch, buy them tickets to an event or conference, travel on business or otherwise enjoy meals or other listed entertainment expenses, you can deduct a percentage of it on your taxes (often 50%).

Health Insurance

Any medical insurance you pay for yourself can also be deducted against your business income.  Certain other uninsured medical expenses, including nonprescription medications, acupuncture, and eyeglasses, are also normally deductible.

Business Assets

Did you buy a computer, printer, projector, software, or other items for your business this year?  If so, you can usually write off the cost of those items (up to an ever-increasing ceiling) under Section 179 of the Internal Revenue Code.

Business Mileage

Since many coaches work from home, any transportation to see a client, attend a meeting, pick up mail or do other business errands is usually deductible as business mileage.  Commuting to and from one’s office is always excluded, but with a home-based business there would be no commuting to eliminate. 

For further details and the current requirements, please consult your tax advisor or see online resources such as CCH’s Business Owner’s Toolkit at http://www.toolkit.cch.com/text/P07_2510.asp or the Internal Revenue Service’s Tax Guide for Small Business, available on their web site at www.irs.gov.  The IRS offers streaming video classes as well as Power Point presentations on its web site regarding deductible business expenses.

And for a full course on your start-up – including legal, accounting, and helpful logistical issues such as phone systems, software, where to get funding and more, get our Jump-Start Your Purposeful Business e-course (or join our class in progress) today!  www.purposefulentrepreneur.com/jumpstartbiz.html

Should you be incorporating your business?  What should you put in your business plan?  How to you calculate what to charge?

These and similar questions face every new business owner.  And when your goal is to establish a purpose-based business, you also need to learn to manage your mindset, explore your relationship with mon_ey, find ways to streamline from the start, and more.

If you are starting (or restarting) a business – or about to – and don’t know the step-by-step process to navigate establishing your business name, legal issues such as incorporating, contracts and more, bookkeeping, fee setting, the logistics of your shopping cart and how to take credit cards, as well as clarifying you vision and implementing it – then won’t you allow me to mentor you?

Successful people seek out help when they know they need it – and startup is an area fraught with minefields!  Starting tomorrow, Wed., March 24, I’ll be sharing ALL my sec_rets with you in a 5-week teleseries, “Jump-Start Your Purposeful Business.”

Don’t struggle and wonder if you forgot something – let me walk you through it all!  Just visit www.purposefulentrepreneur.com/jumpstartbiz.html for details! (Convenient payment plan available too.)