Zen and the Art of Life Maintenance

Why do we, women in particular, lie to ourselves about the time we actually have to do things? And why do we put off the maintenance of life? Now by "lie" I don't mean consciously so. I meet many women who are driven to achieve something but the foundations of their life are not strong enough for their dreams to take root. The maintenance of their life and work isn't there to sustain any of their ideas.

I know when things get messy or I put things off in my life, I begin to feel a baseline anxiety and pressure that I feel I carry around. I start to hurry, rush, and make irrational decisions that promise a quick fix. I crave sweets too - LOL!

I think this can also show up in taking way too much on, not knowing how much time you have to work on your biz (after the real maintenance of life is peacefully tended too), to debt, clutter, putting self-care on the back burner and so on. (I’ve done this all by the way and more!)

The maintenance of life are things like: filing, getting ready for taxes, paying taxes, restoring order in our office, in our kitchen, setting up simple systems to handle the stuff of our practice and of our life, taking care of the home and all that entails, setting rules of what’s okay and what’s not okay with clients and other people in our life, setting boundaries around our time, shoveling the driveway, even daily exercise (some of you have exercise thing down, and if so, it might be worthwhile to see what works for you there and how you could leverage it into the behind the scenes of your practice),... and so on.

This is the stuff of daily habits, routines, personal/professional rules, and boundaries.

My husband once said to me… "you either pay for this on the front end or pay in interest on the back end." You don’t care for your body now, you’ll pay for it, with interest, later on as you get older. You don’t handle your incoming mail, you pay for it with missed bills, late fees, and all manner of little dramas. We all know this intellectually, but yet, we put life maintenance off.

Yet I can think of many reasons why women in particular, seem to put this stuff off...

• Were you taught to care and maintain your wellbeing in this way outside of beauty and appearance?

• Were you taught this in school? School teaches stuff of books, not stuff of life.

• Women are often taught to please, caretake and play a role that assigns value to making sure everyone’s needs are cared for before they care for themselves (of course, not always, but it’s pretty normal).

• Culturally, American life applauds being busy, fabulous and reaching extreme levels of success. And maintenance is not at all sexy and somehow feels less important that pursuing all of that.

• We're encouraged to be more, do more, learn more, especially in the entrepreneurial circles and end up chasing the next thing because that’s what’s considered valuable (heck, even my beloved PBS has "be more" as their tagline.)

• The word “maintenance” isn’t sexy and much of what we’re talking about isn’t sexy, but it is the stuff that tends to create peace, a sense of readiness and projects a professional “I have my stuff together” vibe.

All of this makes it so easy to put off the maintenance of life.

I’m not making excuses, but sometimes it's good to see how you might have got here in order to consciously choose how you wish to be in life, going forward.

The foundations, the maintenance of your life is like a garden; when it’s not tended to, it causes lots of drama. And it’s simply hard to have a happy practice, or build an empire or delicious feeling lifestyle biz without tending to this. I dare say it simply won't work.

I know this shows up for me too. The iffy maintenance of my physical fitness, often shows up in my iffy maintenance of scheduling me-time (and then getting resentful when hubby does it regularly and without a hitch).  I'm so ready to make 2015 the year of letting that go!

So what about you? If you were to take a cup of tea’s time to sit, breathe and reflect about this, what’s your best guess as to why life maintenance (in any form) gets put off?

Is it a way of thinking? Is it a sneaking suspicion about what you might believe to be true or valued? Could there be a way to reframe whatever's there to naturally call your best self forward?

For me, when I paused to check in on this, it seems it was about "everyone else’s needs is more important than me." So I would put this stuff off because “oh it’s just me, that can wait.” Now I playing with “everyones needs are important and so are mine!” Corny, but hey, it seems to be working. :)

I’m curious how this lands for you. Share what you like, if you feel inclined to of course, and what you might want to move towards to. Thanks for reading!

How to Stop Saying Yes to Everything, and Start Saying Yes to the Right Things for YOU

What do you do when asked to "participate" in something but you're unsure if it will work for you? A client in my coaching Studio asked how to respond to an opportunity, that she felt might be a bit too much work, but she didn't want to turn it down either.

My rule of thumb is this: People are always going to ask you to "participate" (aka offer your services in some way) in the way that works for them. But you get to decide how you'll ultimately deliver your services.

I call this "the pivot." You respond with "yes energy" and appreciation for the invitation. Then you pivot and offer an idea of how you COULD participate (in a way that would work for them, but most importantly, that works for you too, because if it doesn't, you won't be in biz for long. It helps to see taking care of your biz like caring for a living breathing person, and it gives you courage to do things like this).

IE Someone asks me to present on X topic at a networking group. I don't want to talk about X topic. But I'd LOVE to talk about writing and self-publishing a book (because that's what Drew and I are currently focusing on - see how that works?).

So I respond with "Yes, thank you so much for inviting me to speak. I'd love to.... However, here's a topic I have found to be really relevant to XYZ folks, and I'd love to present on that topic or something similar to that. Might that work for you?" Something like that.

Sure, they may say no, but as long as it's a win-win for you and them, they mostly say yes.

Solopreneurs like us tend to say yes to most anything (hey, we love to share what we know!) but it's important to have some standards as to how you spend your energy in your biz so that it actually supports and nurtures you and your biz too, not just everyone else.

Hope this helps!

Karin

These private practice stories are embarrassing, but YOU can prevent them from happening

Hey there! Watch the video version of this message here:http://bit.ly/embarrasingpracticestories

When I started my career as a coach, I believed you had to go all out.

I worked all day and all night.

Sometimes I would get up late, and work until 2pm and then take a break, and then work again well into the night.

That's what you do when you start a business or private practice, right?

You hustle, say yes to any and all opportunities that come your way, including taking on clients that you know aren't the best fit for you. You need experience and cash, right?

Unfortunately, this often led to some pretty miserable situations in private practice.

Things like...

The local business owner who had his secretary call and cancel at the last minute, for nearly every appointment.

I called him on it and he confessed he wanted to change and begged me to keep him on as a client.

But when he did show up, and I asked him if he really wanted to be here, he would cross his arms and say "Well, I'm here, aren't I?"

Then he fired me after I needed to reschedule ONE appointment.

I know now, that the poor guy didn't want to change, but felt he should, and these types of clients are pretty normal to run into. Now I know how to keep these folks out of my practice.

Or the obese client who desperately wanted to lose weight, DESPERATELY, and I took her on because, well, I really needed the money. (Even though I didn't have experience with weight issues). And she seemed nice.

Until she yelled at me when I asked her why she was working an 80 hour work-week as an assistant to a chiropractor, which I gently suggested had her body stuck in high stress mode and unable to lose weight.

She hung up on me when I said that, then begged me to keep her on, which I did because I wanted, no NEEDED to help, and then two years after working with me (yes, TWO YEARS LATER) she started a blog bashing me and turned my name into the Better Business Bureau for not refunding her money. (She never asked for it).

It turns out she had an old email address that I never maintained. (Another behind-the-scenes issue to iron out!)

Getting a call from the Better Business Bureau was no fun either. I turned to my school for help and they didn't have much to offer.

But deep down, I knew I should have cut my loses and refunded her money at the first sign of trouble, and got her out of my world, but I was desperate. And I really wanted to help!

Lesson learned #1: The willingness to help is healthy, the need to help is not.

Lesson learned #2: Desperate coaches attract desperate clients who need a scapegoat.

These days, I can tell by the very first contact with a client, even in an email, whether I want to work with them or not.

I've attuned myself to FEEL everything that's unsaid.

There are patterns I notice right away; things that people say and write, that tip me off to whether they are a good fit or not.

For example... when I receive an email like this:

"Karin, I want to work with you. Send me your rates and details of working together. "

You would think that would be a good email. They're ready to invest, right?

But oh no, I know better.

All of that info is available on my website for those who do their homework.

The tone of that email was a red flag suggesting someone who's looking to give me a job, a job of making over their practice, rather than someone looking for a mentor to partner in a deep and meaningful way.

And it's a sign that if they're not doing their homework now, they aren't going to do it when they coach with me.

All of this has led to creating some healthy, empowering boundaries (for myself and my clients), including simple rules, policies and procedures around EVERYTHING in my practice.

From how I use my time (clients only on 2 days per week, that's it! And there's a reason for it.)

From how I organize my work space, how I do email, set up my business home base on my computer... (It's gotta be streamlined or you'll be frazzled and scattered!)

From how I deal with clients testing me before they hire me... (this is totally normal, but how you deal with it makes or breaks their success with your services.)

From how I welcome clients into my practice (it's all about the policies baby!)

And more fun stuff that makes my life and work so much easier, happier and sustainable.

On Monday, Feb 2nd, I'm hosting a 10-day "Get in, Get it Done and Get Out There" training on getting all this "stuff behind the stuff" handled so that you don't have to go through the painful, keep you up at night situations I went through.

You're probably not desperate like I was, but maybe you're ready to organize and upgrade the way you work for 2015 and attract clients in a way that feels more flowing, freeing and fun.

This one thing helped me breakthrough a self-imposed money barrier

A dear friend of ours visited from overseas this past week.

He was there when Drew and I first met at a coaching conference nearly 20 years ago, he came to our wedding and gave a memorable toast, and we even named our son after him.

We were catching up, and he was telling me about his business.

He's a totally self-made dude and has a successful cabinetry design business.

I told him about what I was up to in my coaching biz these days, and how I was putting together a program about "the stuff behind the stuff" that we all need to get handled to succeed in a service-based business.

You know, things like healthy boundaries, policies, procedures, using your time wisely, organizing yourself and your office, hiring people and having your money receiving systems in order.

He said he knew exactly what I was talking about, and went on to tell us a story that I bet you can probably relate to...

In the early days of his business and doing it all himself, he knew he had to get his accounting, billing and payment systems more organized.

So he bought a DIY accounting software program.

He was dismayed at how hard it seemed to understand. (Did I mention this guy has a PhD? He's no dummy.)

So he tried another one, and well, he couldn't figure that out either.

To be honest, it just wasn't his forte. He wasn't particularly good at it, and he wasn't that interested in it either.

He's brilliant at designing kitchens and custom cabinetry, but not bookkeeping.

But he thought that's what you're supposed to do as a biz owner.

Uh, by the way, I will confess that not only did I buy Quickbooks TWICE, I also bought Microsoft Money, signed up for Mint online money management, tried working with Excel, and sure enough I also couldn't figure out how to use any of them with any kind of consistency.

In fact, this made me feel pretty bad about myself for quite a long time and led to so much tax time stress because I never had my stuff together, no matter how much I tried.

Next he attended a fancy money management course for small businesses (the kind advertised in the business magazines) and he was overwhelmed with all the highfalutin advice that seemed "just too much."

As a last resort, and because he kept feeling he should get this handled, he hired the best, most prominent accounting firm he could find in town and handed his books to them.

He said they would charge him an "arm and a leg" and constantly tell him how he "should be doing more "XYZ" for "ABC" reasons. He couldn't stand these guys! It felt like he was being constantly admonished. Yuck.

He tried another firm, but they were only slightly better.

Finally, he found a little mom and pop place, that charges a fraction of the amount and saves him even more in taxes.

And they are now working happily ever after together. :)

Drew laughed when he heard this, because he could relate too in his own coaching business.

When we first started living together, every month, usually the first Friday of the month, I would hear all kinds of F-bombs flying out of his office.

Naturally, I would go see what was the matter and sure enough, he was balancing his books.

And when I gently suggested that he shouldn't be doing this himself, and that it's very affordable to hire a bookkeeper and accountant, all I got was a series of dirty looks.

It was a few months later (yeah, it takes time for people to change their minds) when he finally decided to hire the same people I was working with.

Now he says it's the best $50 he spends each month. (I agree! No more F-bombs! And tax time is a breeze around here.)

I've heard the same stories from so many well-intentioned service professionals.

They're either trying to do their books on their own (spending hours on it because they think that's what's you're supposed to do) instead of doing the things they're best at.

Or they're waiting to "make more money" before they hire help.

Another confession: when I hired my accounting team, I was certain they would laugh at the pitifully small numbers in my bank account.

In fact, I secretly feared they would turn me away because I was too "small potatoes" for them. And because I was always close to running out of money.

But I had a KNOWING that in order to let more money come into my practice, I had to create peace of mind that "things were in order".

Deep in my bones, I knew that if I didn't find an easier way to manage the little money I had, I was never going to let myself make more than the scraps I was making.

So when I hired my accounting team, I handed them my big piles of messy papers (I was embarrassed, for sure!), confessed my worries and then held my breath.

This was of course, after spending a week trying to "clean things up" for them, and making very little progress, I might add.

As it turns out, they don't care how much money is in my account.

Get this: They just like doing this work!

Yes! They actually LIKE doing this work. (This confounds me to this day!)

God bless accountants and bookkeepers!

Because this Mama does not understand the language of the IRS, at all. (When I meet with my accountant each quarter, she has to explain things to me like, 10 times, no joke.)

And the greater truth is, accounting, bookkeeping and getting your stuff together for the IRS is it's own language.

People go through lots of training to understand this stuff!

These days, I really appreciate that they keep an eye on things, each and every month, so my biz is always on the "up and up" and I'm ready for tax season and I'm not hit with any surprises.

It was only a few short months after hiring them, and outsourcing this royal pain, that I was able to finally break through this self-imposed money barrier and hit the 6-figure mark.

I could go on about about the power of setting this up in your practice! :)

And I will in my new 10-day, "Get In, Get It Done and Get Out There" program called The Happy Practice Rules to Live By.

It's all about setting yourself up with some simple rules, policies and procedures, including simple money systems like the one me, my husband and our friend set up in our respective businesses - an affordable, professional accounting team we really like.

In fact I'll be talking about 6 different areas to pay attention to in your biz and lesson 5 of the 6 will go deep in all the money systems to set up that help you attract only ideal clients.

Please come take a look at the info page, and see if it's for you. I'd to have you join us.

Here's the link: http://wellpronet.com/rulestoliveby

If you have questions, post them in the comments of that page and I'll jump right in to help.

All the best to you in 2015 and hope this was helpful!

A Biz That's Custom Fit to You

A client disappears from your practice. A client emails you a small novella of an email that leaves you drained and feeling like you're doing way too much work in-between sessions.

A client keeps rescheduling, and what started out as a 3-month program is now an 8-month program and with no end in sight.

What's all this about, you might wonder?

Boundaries, policies, procedures.

Got any in your practice?

If you're anything like me, when I first started as a health coach back in 1999, I had no idea about the potentially awkward, keep-you-up-at-night situations that working with clients might lead to.

I mean, I just hung up my shingle as a young twenty-something and off I went.

As if the marketing wasn't hard enough to figure out, you want to know what really made me doubt I had what it took to make it?

All those unspoken dynamics of turning pro and managing a practice in a way that worked for ME.

From how to manage myself, my energy and time (who knew this was a skill set I needed to master!)

From implementing boundaries, policies and procedures...

From knowing how to organize my home office desk, files and computer (oh yeah, that was a hot mess for quite awhile!)

And more.

I'd like to help you organize the way you work and make all this "behind-the-scenes" stuff much easier, more flowing and FUN.

And all I need is about 10 days to turn this around and radically upgrade your practice to one that feels happy and custom fit to YOU.

Please come check out what I'm getting ready to share in about two weeks at the following link...

http://wellpronet.com/rulestoliveby

Got questions? Please post it in the comments of that page and I'll do my best to get back to you, okay?

Here's to an incredible 2015, Karin

Have you been surprised by any of these when starting your biz?

Now, more than ever, being in biz for myself since 1999, first as a health coach, working at Integrative Nutrition, and becoming a biz mentor in 2005, I'm finding more and more folks are actually quite surprised by the following....

1) The unlearning required (personally and/or professionally) to take an idea and turn it into something that's real practice

IE “I see others offering XYZ programs, isn’t that what I should do too?” or “Shouldn’t I be doing MORE” or “I hear video is hot now, shouldn’t I be doing that?”

I wonder if it's because there are so many good ideas available now, and it all sounds so easy, simple and FAST.

I liken this a lot to the plethora of diets available that promise "just do this and you'll lose weight." It works for some people, but not everyone.

2) The simple everyday focus, determination and actions required to get to the 6 figure or multi-six figure level. 

“I’ve been at it for X years? Why isn’t it working? I want to make an impact! I want my 6-figure biz.”

When I look closely in this situation, I often find that the person FEELS like they're doing so much, but they aren't actually doing the work that makes them feel vulnerable and visible. Or they're way off in their message.

Now I'm not talking bustin' your hump work or crazy loud bold messaging, but just doing next right thing to engage in that’s right in front of you.

This is about doing the "practice" of having a "private practice." Honing your craft, creating proof that your ideas work, building confidence, showing up and so on.

3) The importance around testing, creating proof, and the amount of time/patience required to turn an idea/passion into something real 

IE "Can't I just create a program and sell it? That's what I see everyone else doing."

4) The importance of setting up your biz to make you happy now (that’s instant wealth baby!) vs someday, one day when you hit some financial number 

Why should I hire you if you’re promising life transformation when your behind the scenes kinda sucks?

5) The importance of knowing how to do the basics before you hit "the big time” (however you define that)

IE how to invite people to work with you, how to set feel good pricing, give a presentation, or write an engaging article, how to organize your practice, and so on.

You don’t have to be an expert in all this, nor do you have to do it all (in my opinion) but you have to have some competency here. We all learn this. We all start here.

6) There is no “secret” formula 

There are some rock-solid biz principles to guide you, but there isn’t a formula, blueprint, map, etc…

More and more than ever before, I find people are surprised by these things. It's fascinating, frustrating and I totally understand too.

The good news is, with patience, a little guidance and gumption, you can create a business that fits you.

If you'd like some help with this, consider taking a look at my Biz YOUR Way Studio.

Here's to you,

Karin

Decluttering for Cash Flow, Clarity and Confidence in About 10 Minutes a Day

One of my favorite things to do as I enter a NewYear, is setting aside about 10 minutes each day to declutter.

In my experience, this creates clarity, cash flow and confidence FAST.

Seriously, this will make you feel SO together and ready to receive more good things in 2015.

The mindset behind this is simple: One action, done excellently and with intention has a huge ripple effect.

After all, you can be a neat person, but life and running your own show creates disorder and keeps a steady flow of “stuff” coming into your office and home.

Decluttering little areas of your office or home life, one section at a time, for about 10 minutes at a time (with a handy kitchen timer to keep you focused), perhaps at the end of the work day or right after lunch does wonders for your entrepreneurial psyche.

Think small, like a corner of your desk. A drawer. A shelf. With each action and clearing, momentum and energy raises. Clarity increases. Confidence beings to rise.

If you’re anything like me, you’ll go back to the areas you’ve cleared, again and again, and admire your work. Be it in your kitchen, your office or your car.

And 10 minutes a day is way more doable than setting aside a weekend, or a large block of time that never seems to happen.

Here are some other ways to do this in your business:

- getting rid of any 2014 files you no longer need (client, programs, etc)

- blocking off your personal time in 2015 BEFORE you plug in your promotions and plans for your business (thus designing your biz to fit around your life)

- setting aside “spoken for” dates for existing programs that are running in your biz now for 2015 (this helps you see how much time you really have left to do new things)

- pruning services/programs that are running okay, but taking too much of your time or you new longer enjoy delivering and creating a plan to end them or transition into a new way of working

- planning for NEW YEAR cards or letters of connection to go out (I skip holiday cards and enjoy sending pressure free Happy New Year notes in January)

- letting go of services and/or systems that you have outgrown or don’t use (essentially plugging those $ leaky holes!)- upgrading services that you need in order to keep growing your biz (Hiring an accountant and bookkeeper, choosing a business coach for the year ahead, hiring a virtual assistant to save you time, etc)

- planning your first quarter special promotion (and if you’re not sure, just keep decluttering with intention to get clear what that is, promise that works like a charm!)

- handling some of those nitty gritty life things like (updating info at the bank, changing passwords, getting a new passport photo, adjusting childcare support for a new way of working in the year ahead)

- upgrading organizing systems to be more efficient and secure (like moving password storage to to LastPass.com, moving your key files to DropBox.com and so on)

- updating website to reflect 2014 testimonials and service changes

A little bit each day during the first few weeks of the New Year (and hey, this works pretty much anytime of the year!) does wonders for your clarity, cash flow and confidence.

Happy New Year!

Karin

PS – Need a mentor for your coaching, consulting biz or private practice in 2015? Come check out my Biz YOUR Way Studio and see if my intimate, affordable and accessible program is right for you. http://wellpronet.com/studio

How to Choose the Right Coach for You

How do you choose a coach that's right for you? I'll share what's important to me and maybe this will help you make a decision too.

In my experience, most people don't think about this stuff.

So I bet it will get you thinking and help you choose the right mentor for you in the year ahead.

1. Access

I value access to the people I coach with.

I don't like being in a large group of people, somewhere in a large hotel room and being one of many in a program.

Sometimes that's totally fun, inspiring and is great.

But the day in and day out of being in business for yourself requires something else.

I want personalized attention.

I want to be seen, heard and to be on my coach's radar during the time of our working relationship.

I'm willing to pay for that.

2. How-To

I've had many clients and colleagues who have come to me, having already invested thousands, even tens of thousands of dollars and sometimes even much more, and they still do not know how to do the foundational pieces of their life transformation business.

They were never taught how to run a business, they don't know their message, how to do their marketing, ask for money, receive money and do it all without working all the time.

Part of that is hiring the wrong coach.

Part of that is you as the client, didn't know what you needed to master.

I want grounded, practical coaching with the how-to steps spelled out.

I know I'm smart enough to find the answers.

But it's so much faster to work with someone who already knows what you're learning to do.

That's a big piece of what I'm investing in my coach.

3. Alignment

I saw a message the other day about a long-time life coach who was quitting the business.

She said she had invested tens of thousands of dollars over the years and it wasn't working.

She was never my client, but I could tell, years ago, that her ideas were not marketable and weren't ever going to work.

Something was out of alignment.

Like she was doing what she thought would work or she was doing what she wanted without an eye on what the marketplace is willing to invest in.

Did her coach tell her that?

Were they willing to get real with her and say "stop the madness, you're taking the 'long, hard road' and there's an easier way."

Who knows, maybe they did and she didn't listen.

(My clients don't always listen to me either.)

Maybe she got lost in one large program of people after another and did the best she could.

If you go about creating something that isn't aligned with who you are and what you really, really want to be talking about, then it won't work.

And if you go about creating something that you think is great but it hasn't been translated into what consumers want, then that won't work either.

That actually makes you into the person you don't want to be: The person who is trying to sell something to you that you don't want.

It's important to me to have a coach who can sniff this out fast and prevent me from making costly mistakes.

I want to know if I'm off message, something's off with my marketing or I'm heading in the wrong direction, even if I don't want to hear it.

I want to create from alignment.

Alignment with who I really am...

Alignment with what I want for my future... IE  a family life, a love life, travel, time off, summers off, etc...

And alignment with the marketplace... so that people actually invest in what I offer.

This is about being tapped into mind-set, intuition, trends and the energy of things.

And I value having a coach who gets this too and can coach me to stay true to myself.

4. Success on My Own Terms

In America, there is only one version of success that is applauded.

Fame, fortune and being fabulously busy.

I used to buy that too.

Now I know better.

What is so great about being so damn busy?

Nothing.

I want a coach who encourages me to define success on my own terms.

Right now, my version of success is having plenty of time off to be with my family, making fabulous money while making a difference and using my talents, being healthy and having a great, sexy marriage and high quality family life.

I like having a coach who isn't afraid to go off in her own direction too.

5. Feminine Energy in Business

Divine Feminine.

Your inner goddess.

Celebrity and Hollywood.

Hotness and Sex appeal.

All different versions of the feminine in business.

It's great that we have so many ways of doing business.

I celebrate that.

Here's what I think.

The more extreme the feminine message, the more masculine energy is underneath all of the flowers, pretty outfits and feminine language.

That's what's required to balance strong masculine energy in a woman.

I should know, that was me at one time.

Don't get me wrong, I like all that stuff too.

I'm sharing this because that's what I take into account when I hire someone.

These days, I don't need extreme versions of feminine energy from my coach.

I am pretty balanced between my feminine and masculine.

I am very well connected to my femininty and what it means to be a woman in a happy marriage (with a man who's very much a MAN), as a mom balancing raising kids and running a business, as a friend, as a daughter and more.

I have tamed my masculine energy that used to drive, drive, drive me, push me, made me ignore my friends, family and lovers, and turned me into a workaholic that was going all the time.

Working all the time is for the birds.

What was I thinking!?

I know, I thought that was the only way to build a business.

That's what our culture says success is.

Thus you won't see any extremes of feminine or masculine energy in my coaching, my marketing energy and approach.

This is an energy thing.

I like having a coach who gets this too.

6. A Life

I've worked with top coaches.

I've been to their homes.

I know the behind the scenes.

When you look behind the marketing materials and promotions, who are they really and do I want that life?

Is there something about how their live, day in and day out, that appeals to me and that I wish to be influenced by?

Is there an unconscious message that says, in order to achieve this, you have to work like me?

While we all wouldn't mind Oprah's success, do you really want her life day in and day out?

Beyond the fame, fortune and awesome parties, it looks grueling.

Not me.

I value having a life outside of work, even though I'm crazy passionate about what I do.

I value having plenty of time off, being hands on with my kid, having financial freedom and also time freedom.

And let me tell you, you don't need a million dollar business to experience this.

I don't work all the time. I don't want to be mentored by someone who does either.

I want to work with a coach who has a life, not a lifestyle, mostly, because that's what I'm interested in right now.

7. Enjoyment

In the wellness field, the message is find your purpose, serve others and thus begins the martydom.

I think if you're in the wellness field, it's a given that you want to make a difference and express your calling.

But it shouldn't come at the cost of your well-being, happiness, love life, finances and time to just be.

I teach clients to build their business around the life they really want RIGHT NOW.

Even if what you want isn't here yet - IE a baby, a family, a husband, money to travel, etc...

If you build your business around working all the time, it's really, really, really difficult to break that habit later on.

And then burnout is inevitable.

And then you can't stay in this business in any dedicated way.

This is about boundaries.

They don't teach you this in wellness school.

I hope these insights, in how I choose my own coaches, helps you decide if I'm the coach for you in the New Year.

If this resonates with you, we might be a great match too.

Get all the details here and learn more: http://wellpronet.com/studio

Here's to doing biz your way,

Karin

What does "juicy in business" really mean?

Someone in my coaching group asked me what I meant by "feeling juicy in biz." Let's unpack this a bit, shall we?

What does feeling juicy in biz mean to YOU? Any ideas?

There really are no wrong answers.

It's worthy to inquire into your own meaning of this, if you're at all interested in enjoying the path of entrepreneurship.

To me, Juicy in Biz is a state of being where you're inspired, turned on, and can't wait to "get to work."

It's not a "flying high" thing, but a grounded, in your body experience of feeling alive and in touch with your knowing.

It's kinda sexy too. Your magnetism goes way up, and if you're in the biz of inspiring people to invest in themselves, that's super important.

But in the wellness/life transformation field, this can be confused for trying to feel really inspired and being inspiring at all times.

And that can lead to chasing the next inspiration kick that you can get at a conference or in a marketing program that makes bold "instant business" promises, and leaves you trying way too hard at everything you do.

But like any high, what goes up, must come down. (Yin and Yang 101, right?)

At some point you have to get back to real life.

And that's where this kind of "inspiration high," if you will, is fleeting and can't be sustained.

I find this a lot in people who "like the idea of having a biz" more than the reality.

Juicy on the other hand is more sustainable.

It's more in the midpoint of Yin and Yang.

It's something you can cultivate in your everyday being-ness; your marketing, in your client work, in your admin stuff, in your personal life and more because it is essentially grounding AND inspiring.

It's way more sensual too... and by that I mean, it has you slowing down a bit, feeling more playful, not taking things to seriously, aware of your senses (and spidey-senses!) and just being more awake.

Your knowing, your wisdom, doesn't come from your mind, but from your Source/Soul/Universe or whatever you want to call it.

And that's a body thing. Not a mental processing thing.

The non-juicy way of doing business is all head and mental processing. It's like you become a machine instead of feeling like a glorious woman.

That's all well and fine, but you can get that kind of business mentoring anywhere.

Paying attention to what makes you come ALIVE, feel turned ON or just connected to your self, specifically in regards to your business and your marketing, quickens your path to true success, and in just the right way for you.

The magic happens when you find the right "juicy in biz" recipe that works for you, and you add a dash of focus too.

Karin

P.S. This is something we talk about a lot in my Biz YOUR Way Studio. Come check out the details here and see if it's for you: http://wellpronet.com/studio

P.P. S. Happy Holidays! Save $97 off a 6-mo or 12-mo membership until Jan 1st, 2015. ENTER CODE "97OFFSTUDIO" when registering. http://wellpronet.com/studio

How to Feel Focused AND Juicy in Biz (Even During the Holidays!)