Do you ever feel like a back-up singer on the stage of life when you (and everyone else) knows you should be playing the lead, or do you feel like a little fish in a very, very big pond that deep down knows it is time to grow?
If so, read on and check out The Big Leap Program that is beginning on Thursday!
Several months ago I was watching a television show called “Shark Tank,” a reality show that provides a forum for small business and inventors to present their product ideas to a group of investors. Some of the “contestants” had developed money making ideas and that was their primary focus—money. Others presented ideas that clearly came from a deep soul calling, each of them longing to “matter,” make a difference in the lives of others, and earn a living doing so.
The passion was clear, the actual product, promise and methods, not so much. At one point, Daymond John, a self-made millionaire and founder of Fubu Clothing, took one of the inventors to task.
He essentially said, “There is a saying in the business world; Make it, Master it, Matter. The problem with you is that you want to matter before you make it!” Unfortunately, that day, the entrepreneur with big dreams went home empty handed but armed with very sound advice.
So often, I see this same phenomenon occurring with many soul based business owners, in particular with coaches, healers, spiritual teachers, intuitive and artists. The drive to serve is coupled with a desire, and sometimes a need, to matter. They want to feel like they matter. They want to make a difference.
The challenge is that they want to matter and make a difference before they have made something new, needed, and marketable and introduced it to the marketplace as something they were proud to “put their name on.” They were slow to take the leap, put feet to their prayers, release excuse and limitation, roll up their sleeves and create.
They are passionate, creative, amazing dreamers, often with grand visions and ideas, but the earliest steps in the business development phases regarding tangible product and service creation and marketing, may, at times, fall short. Clouding the desire to matter is an underlying need to be accepted and this can lead to playing it safe; a dynamic that outpictures in all sorts of different ways, including procrastination, getting caught up in “justifiable distractions,” or drowning in patterns of stagnated creativity.
And, as you well know, dreaming without doing leads to a lot of failure and disappointment.
They’ve taken steps but have yet to really, honestly and courageously take the big leap forward. Some simply lack the structure, positive accountability, encouragement, feedback and the support (on all levels, including physical creation). In today’s world, there is a higher demand on soul based entrepreneurs to CREATE tangible products, rich content, and well defined services, or at the very least, have what they offer understandable enough for a potential prospect, customer or client to at least be curious to investigate for a fit for their identified needs.
The digital age has opened new doors and opportunities to develop downloadable products, ebooks, audios and classes and there is less of a need for folks to have a physical product that typically would be sold in a brick and mortar business. The popularity of teleclasses, summits, joint ventures, social networking, etc. has made it possible for more and more talented people to step out in a bigger, bolder way. Even the trend towards content based coaching programs and offering a variety of ways (individual and groups) to provide services is making business expansion easier.
In some ways, with nearly universal access to internet based technologies, it has gotten much easier to reach markets out of your geographical regions, create a wildly wonderful set of services and products that fill the funnel, so to speak, and do what they love to do, in whatever form that evolves into.
Unfortunately, expectations and targets are often met with disappointment. This is largely due to big promises that should not have been made in the first place. This industry (let’s call it the helping and healing industry intermingled with internet marketing) is vast in opportunities…if you are willing to work at it. No matter how you see yourself being of service and living your purpose and passion in the world, odds are you will need to develop many different options for folks to connect, learn about you, and receive what you have to offer.
Ideally, to get involved in joint ventures you need a minimum of two tangible things to offer; one as a gift and one to market and you need to have a decent platform. A common mis-take many people make is not adequately filling the funnel to meet the needs of more than one market. Another, is ignoring the need to build rapport with people and begin to add value to their lives even before they enter into any formal relationship with you! Expecting someone to download an audio or pdf and then jump into a higher investment in energy and resources may be realistic for some and premature to others.
In The Big Leap Program, the focus will be on developing and completing one or more inter-related products and services and creating an audio product that people can download for free or for a fee. It includes five, two-hour group classes and “creative think tank” sessions with 4 one-on-one working sessions with me. I also am seeing a probable collaboration on an ebook that we’ll launch on kindle, have already been exploring many inspirations and ideas, and have secured a partner who will publish it on kindle.
Why work with me? I have been developing curriculum and content since I was 13 years old working in therapeutic recreation. Later I did so for inmates for 8 years and then ultimately for police and correctional staff across the state of Maryland. Later, I traveled to conferences and taught internationally in the law enforcement industry. Going out on my own in 2004, I worked on government training contracts and trained in private organizations, and later, in 2005, I began doing the work I do today. For me, product and service development is second nature and I love, love, love assisting others in their own birthing process.
I’ve been honored to have assisted many of my colleagues in developing their products, content, sales copy and marketing approaches. It is not uncommon to create several new resources every week, many of which will be shared in different forms for a variety of purposes and clients. This last year, when I temporarily lost my vision and ended up in bed, I had the comfort of knowing that what I had already created over the last decade was in place and ready to rock and roll. Even though I was confined to bed for 9 months because of the foundation laid, I was able to continue to work, stay connected to my passions, and earn a living.
Sometimes, to take the next Big Leap, we simply need the structure, process, resources, coaching, encouragement and accountability to move from thought into action, from passion to product, and from inspiration to elation…
Look, I know dozens of soul based entrepreneurs who are still talking about what they “are going to do” years later, with little to show for it. They just need a little bit of help to make it, master it and ultimately, matter. You want to begin on Thursday?
This is truly a once and a lifetime opportunity to work with me personally in this way for such a reasonable investment. You may be ready. If so, sign up today and don’t waste one more minute, week, month or year just dreaming about what you do. Do it.
Life is short…
Sign up today at www.powerofmyway.com/bigleap.html
And now I've written enough for someone on vacation. The lightning has passed, the pavement is dry, and the pool is open again!
Posted by: Do IT Yourself Business Homepage | December 29, 2012 at 07:50 AM