Archive for the ‘Life Purpose’ Category

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we walk the entrepreneurial path, we find that the old markers for “success” and “failure,” for “good” and “bad,” are no longer valid.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?

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.

Want some good news? Small business confidence is at its highest level in 16 months, according to a just-released study from the National Association of Independent Businesses.

Now that’s something to shout about! See full article here:  http://tinyurl.com/ycsy7bt

It use to be that to start a business, you simply decided on a name and a concept and hung out your shingle. Success was based on bottom-line revenues and numbers of items sold – period.

No more! Success in the new Entrepreneurial Renaissance requires that you look much more deeply at why you started (or want to start) your business, and who can benefit from what you are selling. Connecting with these ideal customers (what we call your “tribe”) is then the key that opens the door to long-term relationships, larger impact with your work, and ultimately more sales too.

In this series, we reveal the 12 factors that are required for a successful Purposeful Entrepreneur™ business, two each week.

1. Purpose: the Essence of Your Business

The first factor is Purpose. Every business has both an implicit and an explicit purpose, and ideally both need to be aligned and congruent. For example, if a business says it is committed to timely delivery of its programs, but every communication is late and deadlines are frequently missed, its implicit and explicit purposes are incongruent.

The foundation of a business that will succeed long-term is a commitment to center all of its decisions regarding which products or services to launch, which staff to hire, what policies to adopt, and which customers to serve around a cohesive business purpose, consistent with the owner’s life purpose. It is then clear to both internal staff and external customers what the essential benefit and purpose of the business is – and what values flow from it.

This factor answers the question “Who are we/what do we stand for?” for the new business.

2. Passion: Fueling Your Vision

Whether you are the only person working within your business or you have dozens of staff, how you each“feel” about the business, its products and services, and their role within it comes through on an energetic level in every business interaction. The level of passion in the business is indicated by such things as the “mood” of the owner and staff, how they communicate with customers, even facial expressions. Whether or not customers are valued and respected – or whether staff go the extra mile to ensure that the customer gets what he/she needs – are additional external indicators of the internal passion.

This factor answers the question, “How do we feel about what we do?” for the new business owner.

To assess your business on all 12 factors, take the Purposeful Entrepreneur Compass assessment here.

I have been reading Ken Dychtwald’s latest book With Purpose, exploring the shift in mindset from success to significance – getting off the “fast track” of what everyone says will lead to fulfillment, and going within to find out what means most to you as the ways to invest your life energy.

It is that very shift to which Shunryu Suzuki refers in his writings on quality of being:

“When you do something, if you fix your mind on the activity with some confidence, the quality of your state of mind is the activity itself. When you are concentrated on the quality of your being, you are prepared for the activity. Movement is nothing but the quality of our being.”

By January 14 each year, most people have virtually forgotten about their New Years resolutions. But there is another way to move toward our goals without strain or struggle.

In the Western culture, we are taught to focus on the activity, not the quality of who we are being while we are doing it. But this is exactly how we get overwhelmed: we get into our head (and out of out body) and get caught up in the tasks instead of what we bring to the task – or what its ultimate effect and outcome will be.

True freedom and peace come when we relax into our activity and live totally in the current moment (versus thinking about a past similar experience or worrying about the future).

Here are 3 tips for bringing a full quality of being into everything you do – even as you resume your activities after the holiday season:

1. Before you begin doing something, breathe, focus your mind, and become intentional about what you are doing and how – as well as “who you are being” as you do it.
2. If your mind begins to wander, simply notice it and bring your attention back to the task – but stay conscious and intentional.
3. Don’t multitask! Once you have completed one task, take a moment to acknowledge your success, then consciously choose what is next. A great question to ask is either “What would bring me the most joy now?” or “What am I feeling led to do next?

Enjoy celebrating your being this week!

We just wanted to take a moment today to thank the DOZENS of you who submitted your names and background summary to be on the planning committee for the upcoming First Annual Purposeful Entrepreneurs Conference April 8-10 in Phoenix, AZ. We were overwhelmed (but grateful)!

We will be reviewing the applications on Monday and choosing our committee of approximately 12 people to help plan and create this wonderful, industry-leading event. (If you still want to be considered, email coaching@purposefulentrepreneur.com and tell us why you would be perfect for this.)

Meanwhile, be sure you submit your name to be among the FIRST to find out the advance details about this unique experience here: http://www.purposefulentrepreneur.com/conference.html

And if you have ideas for us on what we (or who) we should include for program topics, speakers, etc., please comment below – and the committee will carefully consider them!

We expect to have more details for you by February 1 at latest… (this is going to be so exciting!!).

It is no accident that this series is beginning during what is for may the busiest time of the year: the holidays. Our time gets filled with holiday parties and shopping, and our tummies get filled with all the wonderful treats and food-related events that are customary for the season.

In the midst of this hustle and bustle, consider this wisdom from our guide for this journey, Shunryu Suzuki:
“We say true existence comes from emptiness and goes back again into emptiness. What appears from emptiness is true existence. We have to go through the gate of emptiness…As long as we have some definite idea about or some hope in the future, we cannot really be serious with the moment that exists right now…Each of us must make his own true way, and when we do, that way will express the universal way. This is the mystery.” (Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind)

There is an ancient story of a master offering to pour tea for his student. Once the cup was full, he kept pouring until the tea ran into the saucer and onto the floor. The lesson? You cannot keep pouring more and more into a full cup; there must come a time of emptying out.

This series continues in January 2010!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Marcia Bench is a Spiritual Business Strategist and Coach for conscious entrepreneurs in service-, information- and professional businesses. She is the CEO of Purposeful Entrepreneur.com, as well as the Founder/Director of Career Coach Institute and other coach training companies, with more than 23 years of experience in coaching and consulting. She has authored 23 books including The Tao of Entrepreneurship and has given hundreds of live and teleclass presentations.

Copyright © 2009 Marcia Bench; All Rights Reserved