A Year Ago I Was About to Give Up on My Business

A year ago, I had just reentered my business after 4 months of maternity leave. A year ago, I was making almost no money.

A year ago, I was feeling stuck, unclear, and out of alignment.

A year ago, I was about to give up on my business.

I remember thinking to myself…

If this is all it will ever be, it’s not worth it! I should just give up and be a full-time mom.

The BIG vision I had for my business felt so far away. So unrealistic. So unachievable.

But, one thing I’ve come to realize again and again (I guess it’s a lesson I need to keep on learning!) is the more I get tied down by HOW things NEED to happen, the less likely they are to occur at all.

Fast forward to today, a mere 12 months later, and EVERYTHING is different. Everything is better. Everything is working...or should I saying flowing.

If I told you that 12 months from now you will be working only 20 hours a week with amazing clients you adore and making 5-figures in a month, what would you say?

If you had run that scenario by me a year ago, I would have said, Seriously? How?

But you see the HOW isn’t what’s important. The belief that it is possible is. That’s where we need to start.

Too many of us start with the “hows”. We get obsessed with them.

Should I be on Twitter or Facebook?

Should I work 1x1 or run a group program?

Should I host a podcast or write a blog?

But, that’s not where our journey begins. That’s not where success starts.

Our journey to true success begins with a belief that it’s possible, and then the hows naturally fall into place as they reveal themselves along the way.

All we need is a glimmer of possibility. A glimmer that cracks our limiting mindset wide open and opens our eyes (or should I say our hearts) to the idea that anything is possible and things can change FAST.

When we get tied down by the hows, we get completely overwhelmed because we think we need to micromanage every aspect of the enormous big picture. We don’t.

We only need to move forward in devotion to our vision.

We need to seek out what feels good, what feels aligned, what inspires us, speaks to us, elevates us, brings us joy, and move in that direction. That’s the trick.

[Tweet "We design our roadmap to success one good feeling at a time."]

Celebrate every win, no matter how seemingly small, and tap into that deep-down knowing that you are meant for something big, bold and beautiful. (I know you are!)

Most importantly, know that you are deserving of it, too.

12 months from now EVERYTHING will be different.

With love,

P.S. Would this message brighten someone’s day? Why not forward it to a lady in your life who could use a little pep talk?!

I Stopped Weighing Myself & My Business Quadrupled

February 2016 was my best business month to date. I brought in nearly $23K in business while working just 3 days a week.

The whole month felt great and, to be the completely truthful, it felt like the least amount of work I’ve ever done to make money! It felt in flow, nearly effortless, and totally grounded and aligned. So good.

On the other hand, the logic-based thinker in me wants a strategic way to replicate this for myself and also teach my clients how to do the same, so I started looking at all the things that made this month different.

And something very interesting came to light…

I stopped weighing myself this month.

Hmmm….

That got me thinking. Was this related? Or unrelated?

An answer quickly came. As a woman who tends to think EVERYTHING is connected, I believe 100% that there is a correlation here. (I’ll dive into my theory about this below.)

I’m not saying that not stepping on the scale contributed to every single dollar that found its way to me this past month, but I think...no, I know...it’s a key player.

I’ll speak for myself here, but I believe most women can relate: my relationship with my body is always in need of more loving kindness. Always.

As women, even when we’re feeling great about ourselves, our businesses, or our lives, a few pounds on the scale, an overindulgent night out, or a pair of jeans that no longer fit “just right” can totally shift the way we’re thinking and feeling about every single aspect of our lives.

Throughout my pre-teen and teen years, especially, I had a tumultuous relationship with my body and food and too often allowed my happiness and self-worth to be determined by the numbers on the scale.

Lower numbers = Yay! I’m allowed to feel good.

Higher numbers = I hate myself.

I felt I was always battling against my body, instead of working with it.

Luckily, over the last decade a lot has changed for me, for the better. Through heaps of personal development, yoga, meditation, and surrounding myself with positive role models, I’ve come to love, appreciate and honor my body (most of the time, which is all I think any of us can ask for).

But...I was still weighing myself. Every week. A few pounds up, ugh. A few pounds down, yay!

Over the last 10 years my weight hasn’t fluctuated more than 8 to 10 pounds - except when I was pregnant of course! - but I felt I had to have that weekly check-in to keep me “on track.”

I realized that I was still in fear mode around my weight. Yes, after all these years -- the fear was still there! I thought I needed the scale to tell me if I should eat a little more or a little less. Fit in some extra movement or give myself permission to indulge.

So, I decided to do a short-term experiment. No weighing myself for the month of February. If it totally derailed my healthy-ish lifestyle, and I felt like I was ballooning up, out of control, I told myself that I could always go back to my weekly weigh-ins.

Well, I’m here to report that not only are my jeans still fitting just right and my entire relationship with my body and food is feeling even more loving and kind, but I also had my BEST month ever! Making $23K in just over 3 weeks.

Here’s my theory behind no weigh-ins = 4x business.

:1: I was focusing on smaller (or at least unchanging) numbers. Every single week I’d reinforce that smaller is better. Smaller numbers are what I want. Do you see how this might hurt your bank account?

:2: It put my happiness in someone...or should I say something...else’s control. I’d have a great week and then step on the scale and be a couple pounds up, and inside my head I’d hear “ugh”. I want to feel good, not crappy. Stepping on the scale was making me feel crappy, so why keep doing it? Or, it was giving me a momentary “yay!” because of my smaller number (see #1).

:3: I was in total fear mode. I felt that I had to keep my body in-check otherwise my health, weight, sanity would “get away from me”. Fear constricts us, it keeps us (and our potential) small. I don’t want to be small -- I want to be BIG (energetically speaking ;-))! Again, can you see how this would affect your income?

:4: It forced me to trust more. Trust my body, trust my hunger, trust my intuition, trust that I wouldn’t go off the rails if I loosened my perfectionist grip just a tad. And, I’m here on the other side of it still in one piece, still in the same pants and with $23K in new business! Brilliant.

:5: That weekly weigh-in bled over into others areas of my life, and made me think about food/my body/weight at times that I didn’t want to be thinking about those things. It even, at times, would lead to totally unnecessary negative self-talk. Essentially, it took up too much valuable mental real estate. Without that weekly reminder of my “goodness” or “badness”, I freed up space for creativity, joy, inspiration, mindfulness and guilt-free celebration!!!

When you’re constantly sending out signals of fear, saying to yourself “I want small numbers”, and letting negativity chirp in your ear, it’s going to have an effect. It has to. There is no other option. The thoughts we think, the things we do, the words we say become our lives.

I wholeheartedly believe in the connectedness of all things, but somehow I didn’t realize that I was sending out beacons that were totally misaligned with what I truly was after. Ahh...the clarity of hindsight.

I was stuck in a deep groove that I’d been digging most of my life up until now, and finally (after 10 years of reading Geneen Roth books) I was ready -- I am ready -- to opt for trust instead of fear. Growth instead of shrinking. Abundance instead of restriction.

Join me. It’s so much lighter on the other side ::wink wink::

With love,

P.S. Want to read more about how I made $23K in 23 days? I wrote an entire post about what it took to reach those numbers here. 

There is No "Magic" in Wealth Consciousness

There’s a new age of business upon us.

I’m sure you’ve felt it. There’s been a shift -- and you are a part of it.

It’s no longer about scare tactics and hard-selling to make a buck.

It’s about giving, being of service and offering value.

Trust me, I’m all about this evolution. I am this evolution. It completely resonates with me.

But, it can feel a little woo-woo. A tad hard to grasp. And, dare I say it, how will this approach affect my bottom line?

I find myself saying YES to expanding my wealth consciousness, YES to studying the law of attraction, YES when Danielle LaPorte says life is about feeling the way you want to feel, and then I’m hit with....

BUT

...how do I find clients, make money, get the work done, market myself effectively?

How does all this feel-good belief move me forward with some organization and strategy? How do I build my empire without some tangible plans?

Here’s what I’ve come to realize: There is no magic in wealth consciousness. [click to tweet this Truth]

It’s a simple formula. It is strategic.

Your beliefs become your thoughts, and your thoughts become your actions.

Or, to put it even more simply…

Beliefs → Thoughts → Actions

Our core beliefs around money, finances, abundance (or lack thereof) inform our thoughts. And, since about 98% of our daily thoughts are on auto-pilot and the same ones appear again and again, when our beliefs center on lack, scarcity, worry and “not enough” our thought playlist is mighty grim.

Then the actions we take reflect that anxiety. We pinch pennies, stress about bills, don’t take the chance, don’t make the call, don’t put ourselves “out there”.

On the other hand, if we start planting new beliefs about money and abundance in our fertile minds, we can begin to incrementally expand our wealth consciousness and open ourselves up to new opportunities.

We feel more open, full of potential. We make the pitch, make the call, start the business, ask for what we’re worth and believe we are worth it.

Wealth consciousness isn’t magic. It’s cause and effect.

Your beliefs and thoughts result in corresponding actions (or inaction) that deliver certain results. Plain and simple.

If you want to receive new/different/transformed/bigger/happier/better results, you need to start planting new beliefs.

Our beliefs have an ever-expanding ripple effect, like when you drop a small stone in a calm body of water. That one small action has repercussions that travel outward exponentially.

Drop the small stone. It’s time. You are ready.

As a jumping off point, I’ll leave you with this...

What do you believe about money/wealth/being rich/rich people/abundance? What are you saying to yourself on a daily basis because of those beliefs? What actions are you taking because of those beliefs and thoughts?

And…

What is a NEW money belief that you’re ready to live starting now?

With love,

Clarity Confession with Kristen Domingue

Confession: "I pulled the plug on a 9-month long program that was about to launch in 30 days. I was about to have no cash flow, and the one thing that would bring in money was the one thing I didn't want to do. It felt heavy. Misaligned. It felt like a lie." - Kristen Domingue, Branding Expert

That's just a little taste of ONE of the many confessions that Kristen openly shares during our interview together, which leads me to ask you...

Do you ever wonder if the business you're building is really and truly aligned with what you're supposed to be doing with you life?

That's the ultimate question that we purpose-driven entrepreneurs face, right?

Is what I'm doing "on track" with my life's purpose?

And, it's a big, overwhelming question.

Sure, we all have rough days or even weeks when we're feeling down-in-the-dumps about our businesses, that's NORMAL. But if you're questioning if you need to pivot your path in order to more fully align with your true purpose, I've got someone I want to introduce you to.

My friend, Kristen Domingue, is a personal brand expert and helps entrepreneurs build a brand that is 100% authentic. No B.S., no unnecessary elements, no "shoulds", just brilliantly YOU.

Kristen's journey to where she is in her life and business today was anything but direct. And she's totally transparent about that. So refreshing!

She admits there was a lot of questioning, course correction and do-overs over the years, but ultimately she persevered and found her calling. Confessing that it was only when she allowed herself to be the most unabashed expression of herself that she found her groove -- and her happiness.

In this month's Clarity Confession, Kristen is revealing all and sharing her story, wisdom and advice with us.

This girl is awesome. Passionate. Focused. Business-minded. Open and honest. And, when you watch her Clarity Confession, you'll learn...

• What her first year in business really looked like

• The BEST WAY to find your positioning or niche, and how Kristen’s was “handed to her on a silver platter”

• Why you need outside input to achieve BIG insights and make big leaps

• The single best thing she’s done for her business...EVER

• How to easily and effectively determine if you should say “yes” to any opportunity

Oh, and be sure to watch until the very end to learn how you can land a super-sweet complimentary coaching session with Kristen to put more YOU in your brand. You're gonna want in on this. Believe me!

Watch Kristen's Clarity Confession below.

Tweetworthy: For business decisions, if it's not a F@$K YES! It's a NO. - @KristenIgnites via @CailenAscher #ClarityConfession

xo,

P.S. You can find Kristen + all her brilliance HERE. You want this girl in your corner.