Drinking the Kool-Aid - What Really Happens When You Decide to Invest at a Whole New Level

I have been having lots of interesting conversations lately with people - people who have made some powerful choices for themselves - people who have invested highly in their businesses and their dreams and desires - people who have sought the advice, guidance and wisdom of a variety of "experts" to help them in learning new skills, bringing in new technologies or otherwise expanding and growing their businesses.

I've discovered that there are two different "camps" out there - those who are making the recommended changes and those who aren't. Let me tell you about what I've learned.

The one's that didn't make the necessary changes are desperate - they are stuck in their old ways - entrenched so deeply that in spite of making this big investment they simply can not get out of their own way - and they are dying - perhaps their business is dying - perhaps their faith in themselves is dying - perhaps their relationships are dying as a result of this choice. Maybe all of the above and more.

The one's the did make the changes - actually died!!! They died to their old patterns of behavior, they died to the relationships that didn't serve them or their vision anymore and they died to having to do things "their way" for sure. As a result - they got to be reborn - into a whole new level of service, a whole new level of expertise, a whole new level of value added to their own work and to serving a whole new level of clients with upgraded, refined, polished and professional products, services and packages.

Either way if you "drink the Kool-Aid" you are going to die - you can go the easy way - willingly surrendering into the higher vision that your mentor, coach, trainer or counsel might have for you and your business (because truth is if you are investing with them they must have said or did something somewhere along the line that showed to you that they have some kind of understanding of your particular stuck point and that they themselves went through it and discovered a solution which they are now inviting you to invest in to get it without having to go through the days, months or years of it that they did yourself! Oh and another truth is - somewhere in you there was the recognition that this particular person is ahead of you on the path in that particular area!).

Or you can go the hard way - making the investment but not showing up on calls, not doing the homework or only doing it half assed, not showing up in the forums to give and receive support, not asking for help on the Q & A calls, maybe doing the work but bitching, moaning and complaining about how hard it is or how little time or attention you and your business are getting or about how "others" are so far ahead of you, or about how crazy you must have been when you made this choice, or how outrageous and unrealistic the pricing of the program was or how you are not getting the results that you wanted to get or whatever. This creates a huge field of energetic muck around you, around your business and around your relationships with your mentor and with everyone else in the program. This muck is like Quicksand for your business - because here's another truth - if you are in any kind of business at all then you are asking other people to invest in their own business or personal work through you! So when you are in muckville, what happens? Well either your potential investors all disappear completely because they "kinda liked what you had to say... but 'something' didn't feel quite right" or you'll spend a lot of time and energy talking to folks who then become clients but they themselves then start to play mirror mirror with you - bitching, moaning, complaining, etc. about how hard it is - maybe wanting their money back - whatever - Get the picture? You get back what you give out. Pretty Simple!

Here's the deal - when you enter into the path of entrepreneurship - especially if you are "Called" to be an agent of change or a messenger of some sort - you are going to be guided by the business itself to learn, grow, expand and take risks! If you aren't comfortable taking risks you are going to get a graduate course in that little subject! The work on the inside is to get really open and clear around receiving guidance about the options for investing and growing that will best serve you and your evolving entrepreneurship. The work on the outside is to make the guided choice to take inspired action and get moving in those areas where you most need the support in your business right now!

I myself of course am partial to seeing people invest in doing the inner work first - because it's way less messy to clear out all those old beliefs, thought forms, behavior patterns or maybe even familial or ancestral "curses" that might be waiting in the depths of your being to sabotage your dreams and your success. It's way cooler to get all that stuff clear by choosing to consciously go in there in my humble opinion than it is to "Play it Out" with other people - mentors, colleagues or clients or even organizations like banks, the IRS, landlords, etc. - who end up taking on these funky roles in your personal drama to help you to finally stop doing what you are doing and go in to shift that old junk up to the surface and get some clarity for a change.

Clarity is divinity!