***The Pointless Business Building Mistake You’re Making

Over the last few months I’ve experienced several exciting breakthroughs in my business. Yet some of these breakthroughs were immediately followed by “breakdowns” where I found myself seriously doubting my ability to achieve a particular vision or goal that I had set for myself. Recently I committed to taking a bold stand to be not only “an entrepreneur who lives and loves richly – but to also be someone who is a stand for EVERY entrepreneur living and loving richly.” The idea behind taking a bold stand is that it’s meant to literally be a stand that you take on. It’s meant to be a vision that is so all encompassing and filled with possibility that you have to literally re-invent yourself and who you consider yourself to be to experience it. It’s not an actual place “to get to” - or an end result to achieve. Rather it’s meant to be a place “to come from” that informs all of your daily actions and decisions. “That’s not really possible,” my mind insisted. And before I was consciously aware I began buying into the skeptical conversations as they arose inside my head. These conversations were so subtle that I didn’t realize that I was believing them to be true. They seemed to be accurately describing “the truth” and reality as I knew it. Not only that but I had a particular bold income goal that I was committed to achieving and it seemed like I was certain to fall short of achieving it. This added fuel to the fire for my insatiable, skeptical mind. However, despite the incessant stories of doubt and fear I continued to ask myself, “As a business owner who is committed to living and loving richly and being a stand for ALL entrepreneurs living and loving richly – what would she do right now?” And here’s what occurred: For the first several hours of my day, even though I felt uninspired and doubtful about my ability to “be” and achieve my vision, and even though my critical mind chattered away in the background I continued to repeat my vision in the form of a question to myself… “As a business owner who is committed to living and loving richly and being a stand for every business owner to do this as well – what would she do right now?” I would pause to listen for the answer and then took action on the guidance that I received. In one moment in particular the insight that came to me was, “If I were a business owner who was a stand for all entrepreneurs living and loving richly I would be extremely present and attentive during the conversation that I’m having right now with this particular client.” And as I listened to my client an insight occurred to me on how she could increase her fees. I shared my inspiration with her and at the end of our session I could hear the deep gratitude in her voice. She immediately implemented the action and reported at our next session that she had already gone on to instantly increase her fees – a true victory! I became willing to continue living and staying committed to my vision moment by moment and take action - in spite of the fact that initially I felt skeptical and uninspired. What happened was startling. I began showing up for clients, prospects and myself in powerful new ways and having insights that I wouldn’t normally have conceived. Many of my clients now leave their sessions incredibly transformed with new and inspired actions. Not only that, but within a concentrated period of time I have experienced a new surge of prospects reaching out to connect and work with me. I have realized that I don’t always have to feel truly inspired, or even feel like committing to and “being” my vision – just as long as I’m willing to commit to creating my vision each moment throughout the day. I have learned that accessing my creativity and achieving a particular goal can only happen in the present moment. That’s really the only time for creative opportunity. There have been times in the past when I’ve set a particular goal. And even when I went so far as writing it down on paper. In fact I can recall many times in the beginning stages of my business when I set a certain goal to make a certain amount of money by the end of the year. But in truth, in order to achieve my income goal, the vision has to live inside of me moment by moment. I have to be willing to commit to creating it in spite of how I feel – and in spite of my inner commentary and self-doubts. Then miracles seem to occur in my business - easily and effortlessly right before my eyes.