Understanding these more subtle dimensions of why I get the results I do – whether desirable or less-than-desirable – has helped me tremendously over the past few years. So if you have not explored the “invisible resources” or worked with anyone that can help you explore past lives, your chakras, the Akashic Records, or other deep causes of your current life experiences, it’s worth doing!

Here are three ways these issues can affect your tangible business results and experience:

1. Your level of confidence in delivering your message: Do you find yourself unable to speak your truth, even though from your heart you know you want to build a successful business? In many cases your past life history will literally show that you were persecuted severely for speaking your beliefs…and that you paid a huge price (perhaps even gave your life) for them. If that imprint is still active in your subconscious, it may be holding you back from putting yourself in a similar situation again.

2. Your ability to generate income: Do you feel like you are committed – at a deep soul level – to serving and helping others, but don’t seem to be able to collect money for it? This can reflect a vow of poverty taken in a prior life that is still affecting you today. Oh, you are not aware of it – but your subconscious will continue to do everything in its power to keep you from attracting excess cash since that would be a violation of this vow.

3. Your level of harmony or conflict with certain people: Do you notice that you instantly connect with some people (husband, client, colleague) as though you have known them for decades…but that with others you have ongoing conflict? Sometimes this reflects the playing out of issues set up in a prior life that are now ripe for resolution.

This may seem a bit “woo-woo” or “out-there” for you, but let’s face it: if studying marketing, business basics and mindset haven’t resolved your challenges, what could it hurt to look deeper? Contact me for practitioners I recommend – and join me at our fall Marketing, Mindset and Manifesting Intensive to ponder these issues further too!

Milana is a friend and colleague I highly respect, and to have her acknowledgement among all the great women listed there is a deep honor.

And YOU are part of it too – here are the criteria:

**Content-rich blog
**High quality web site
**Clear strong personal brand
**Prominent free giveaway
**Book or signature product
**Information products
**Coaching programs
**Live events
**Membership programs
**Use of audio and video
**Active community (that’s YOU!)

I will be sharing soooo many of my secrets on how I have grown my businesses to this status in my upcoming Marketing, Mindset and Manifesting Intensive – if you haven’t yet reviewed the details, it’s at www.marketingmindsetandmanifesting.com

Enjoy your week!

Their premise is that business start-ups can revitalize not only our dreams but create thousands of new companies and millions of new jobs.  I have been saying for months now that the job market we used to have is NOT coming back…the entire foundation of how we make a living is changing with the Entrepreneurial Renaissance. That is why we need to focus on creating our own businesses – even those who are “temporarily” unemployed – rather than waiting passively by for another j.o.b.

The report points out that we need capital, interface with graduates, tax breaks for angel funding, and other legislative support from the Obama administration for the economy to be more financially friendly to entrepreneurs…and also suggests such radical measures as ceasing the enforcement of  noncompete agreements too.  I HIGHLY recommend that you buy this issue and read it – or go to the main article here:   http://www.inc.com/magazine/20100701/revitalizing-the-american-dream.html

What do you think of the authors’ ideas?  Submit your comments below and let’s start a discussion!

Chances are that you were tired of being boxed in by your corporate job, or you wanted to travel more, have more time for yourself or your family, or just remove the cap on your income.

Are you experiencing more of these things – or less? The entrepreneurs I talk to every day are frustrated because it seems like they have LESS spare time now than they did before they became business owners.

There are 3 key principles that you MUST embrace if you are to experience TRUE freedom from your business:

1. Be clear on what you want to create, and calibrate your daily activities and results to that end.

You truly do have creative freedom in deciding what you will create in your business. So define it! What do you want your business to look like: by year’s end? by 2012? by 2020? Dream big!

Then, as you set your daily priorities and transition from one task to the next – as well as review your results at regular intervals – you will see definite progress toward your desired outcome. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself in the trap of doing a lot – but feeling like your dreams get further and further away.

2. Be sure technology serves you, not the other way around!

Have you ever tracked how much time you spend on email? It can consume you if you let it!

Successful entrepreneurs set specific times to handle their correspondence – whether snail mail, email or phone – and focus on revenue-generating activities the majority of the time.

If you spend too much time on email, ask yourself “why” do I do that? Is it a reflection of my insecurity, fear I will miss something, or just being a bit of a “control freak”? Left unresolved, these deeper issues can put you on an auto-pilot mode that keeps you from accomplishing your life’s work.

3. Establish clear boundaries between work and play – including time to replenish your creative stores!

Remember that ideal life you wanted when you started out? Chances are it didn’t involve working weekends or evenings, giving up vacations, or missing your kids’ school plays or camp, did it?

Yet it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking you are “indispensible” – that if you just get that one more client, that one new project, THEN you will take time off.

But it doesn’t work that way. You need to plan your work around your life, not the other way around. I first learned this from authors and speakers Ken and Marjorie Blanchard, who plan their annual calendar – and a full one it is – around their leisure time, travel and time with each other. The work commitments get scheduled around that.

If you don’t take care of yourself, no one else will – especially as an entrepreneur. Take a spa day every week or two, plan your vacations for the rest of 2010 now so you make sure to take them. This will renew you in ways no amount of work can – so you can be prepared for the new directions your work is taking you.

Want to learn more about how your beliefs and mental outlook affect your business? Join our Summer Training Series today.

Then reality sets in (sometimes) and “the thrill is gone,” to quote the old country song.

If you were employed in a j.o.b., you would just slough off for a while and hope your motivation returns. But as a business owner, your business doesn’t move forward (or not very quickly) unless you do!

So here are some keys to reviving your motivation when it lags due to setbacks – of whatever kind:

1. Revisit your vision statement. (You have one, don’t you?)

When you “can’t see the forest for the trees,” it’s time to get some distance from the daily flow of emails, phone calls and tasks to do – and remember why you are in business in the first place. If you don’t already have a vision statement to use at such times, it’s time to write one! Tom Watson, Founder of IBM, talks frequently about how they used their vision of what the company would be like “when it was complete” to gauge their daily results. And it is also a great tool to bring your groove (or motivation) back too!

2. Take a break.

Seriously! We are human beings, not human doings…and as such we are designed to move in and out of concentrated work through the day. If you’re feeling stale – or that computer screen is getting out of focus (and it isn’t your glasses!) then it may be time to take a walk, pet the cat or dog, enjoy a cup of tea on the patio, or call a friend. Stand up, breathe, stretch, and change your environment. (Oh, and don’t forget to eat lunch too!) You’ll be amazed what a difference it will make.

3. Do a 3-minute brainstorming session.

Take out a clean piece of paper (NOT the computer screen – your creativity works best with pen to paper), set your timer, and “go!” Write down all the ideas you can think of that could possibly solve the problem you feel stuck on – or all the new ways you could approach your marketing – or all the possible new product or program ideas you could implement in the next 6 months.

Cash flow a problem? Brainstorm 25 ways you could raise money in the next 30 days. Then DO as many of the items on the list as you can – and STAY in action. This will create energetic momentum toward your desired goal. (And you’ll feel better too!)

For more tips on motivation, mindset and more, join us for our FREE teleseminar July 15.

What about your business? Do you have a similar attitude about it?

Too many entrepreneurs take a “bargain hunting” approach to their business. They try to learn all the critical strategies they need to know through fr_ee teleseminars alone, reading a handbook, or copying what someone else has done. And if this is you, you will continue to struggle in your business!

One of my clients has experienced a HUGE breakthrough recently, and has her practice booked out several weeks after struggling in the past. When I asked her what made the difference, she said, “I stopped bargain hunting and started quality hunting. I became willing to pay for what I wanted instead of getting ‘a deal.’”

In The Millionaire Maker, Loral Langemeier describes this as the difference between the “lifestyle cycle” – in which as money comes in you pay expenses and incur liabilities, and never get ahead – and the “wealth cycle,” in which you apply your income to create assets – which will generate cash flow and create wealth.

Throughout my business life, I have invested in mentoring programs, live workshops, and the legal, financial and business advice I needed to learn quickly instead of slowly – and to experience quantum leaps on a regular basis.

If you are not getting the results you want in your business, it may because you are continuing to look for a bargain on the advice you need – instead of identifying the person, program or event that has the content and quality you know will serve you – and taking a leap of faith to make the investment.

As Price Pritchett says in You2, “Quantum leaps are merely the process of using yourself and your world differently, thus allowing other possibilities that exist to actually materialize. Your willingness to make a quantum leap is the enabler.”

Which will you choose?

Copyright © 2010 Marcia Bench; All Rights Reserved

But something has changed in the past few years: my goals have gotten higher – and so has my investment in learning!

I took a deep breath and committed to a 2-week educational cruise to Hawaii and back in January 2007, a high-level book marketing workshop in March, and a $2000 self-study kit from a leading marketing expert – all within the first quarter of 2007! And I’ve continued to invest in myself…close to 6 figures each year – and it pays off every month as my results improve!

Why? Because I need to stay ahead of all of you – but also, because I want to be the best coach, leader, writer, marketer and speaker that I can…and there’s nothing like live learning to help.

Here are 6 reasons I recommend that you seek out live events to enhance YOUR learning and develop yourself professionally too:

1. To stimulate new ideas. Sure, the speakers say things that are insightful — “aha’s” in how they do things. But raw creativity somehow emerges — and breakthroughs happen — when you leave your day-to-day environment.I can’t explain it…but something happens once I leave the office and get in the limo or other airport transportation…fly to the event, and set my mind free to create and absorb. The speaker will be speaking, but another track will be going in my mind that is free-flowing – and it’s those ideas that I often bring back and put into action. I believe they wouldn’t have happened unless I was in the live learning environment!

2. To immerse yourself in the content. For the past 8-plus years, I have taught virtually 90 percent of the time. And it was a huge relief after being a “road warrior” and speaking only live prior to that. (Don’t worry, I’ll continue to do teleseminars too!) But in the live learning environment, you are completely enveloped, surrounded, and immersed in the subject matter you came to learn…it’s a multi-dimensional experience and – if you have a process to capture your insights and follow through on them – can be an absolutely pivotal event.

3. To make critical in-person, high-level contacts for your business. If there is someone whose work, business or life you admire, get face-to-face with them! By having the full experience of the person – on and off the stage – you will get even more value from what you have read, heard, or seen of them prior to the live learning. Those who present or sponsor live events are “gurus” in their area…and getting to learn from them in person – and hopefully also getting your photo taken with them to use in your marketing! – is an invaluable opportunity.

I’m still so glad that I went to see the late Thomas Leonard speak at one of the early Coachville conferences – even though I was going through chemotherapy and very weak at the time – because he died an untimely death later that year. I would have missed out on the opportunity altogether if I hadn’t made the effort to go to Las Vegas to see him!

Not only do you get to meet the speakers, but you also get to meet prospective strategic partners, customers, and vendors/resources for your business by attending these events. You can search on Google or make a referral-based phone call, but there’s nothing that parallels the energy of a live connection with someone that could turn into a mutually beneficial business partner for you. You might even make some on-the-spot sales of your products, programs or services!

4. To prove that you can leave your business and not have it fall apart! If you can’t leave your business for 2, 3, or 4 days without being on your cell phone at every break and the internet until midnight, you need a new business model! Successful coaches have systems and staff in place that do client care, administration, bookkeeping, marketing, web site update, blog posting and more.

So if you feel like you can’t leave…just that knowledge is a good reason to seek out a seminar or workshop on creating more freedom in your business! Not being able to leave for continuing education probably also means you can’t leave for vacation or to exhibit or speak at a trade show…so you’re in the trap of owning a job, not a business…and something must change.

5. To update and improve your knowledge and skills – and increase your income. Of course, one of the big reasons to pay big bucks for learning is to bring your expertise up to date. There are few fields today that don’t change quickly…and coaching and career development (not to mention marketing and business building, also areas you need to know) are some of the quickest changing there are!

Likely you know that the more specialized your knowledge is, the higher fees you can charge – for products AND for services. So as you add to your knowledge base, and create your own success stories with what you learn, you will be able to raise your fees, create more high-end products, and increase your income indefinitely!

Yes, it costs to travel to a venue, stay in a hotel, pay the workshop fee, etc. But if you think like a business person, you’ll be analyzing ROI (return on investment) – how much will the ideas and principles you learn yield to you in long-term, lifetime income? It’s not always easy to quantify, but I can share that I am teaching and modeling principles now that I have ONLY learned through ongoing continuing education…not through my advanced degrees or just through reading books.

6. To visit new places – on Uncle Sam – and sample the new lifestyle you are creating. Finally, as a savvy purposeful entrepreneur you should be taking full advantage of every legal tax benefit of being self-employed that you can…so why not choose the events that teach what you want to learn AND are held in places you’d love to visit! In most cases, both your workshop fee and your travel will be tax deductible…so you can learn in the Caribbean or Arizona in the winter, the Northwest in the summer, and even see what it would be like to live there…or own a second home there. Inevitably this is what my husband and I do when we visit a new place, whether on business or for pleasure.

In short, my goal with this article is to challenge your thinking…and to expand your paradigm about learning. “What was old is new” is a phenomenon now…print newsletters are coming back (watch for mine later this year!), live learning and Mastermind groups are back…and all of these simply augment the virtual learning and marketing methods to connect you with the people that you wish to serve. I hope to see you at a live event soon!

Copyright © 2010 Marcia Bench; All Rights Reserved

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.

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!