How to Sell is A Variation on How To Get Anyone to Do AnyThing - A new approach for volunteer orgs as well as entrepreneurs

In entrepreneurship:

By now, you probably know that no one is going to purchase your high-value package or product “cold.”  People need to know, like and trust you.  You need to prove that you can do what they need, with strong social proof. 

Smart consultants like Ian Brodie (ianbrodie.com) and Meredith Eisenberg (mereditheisenberg.com & Time Traders) will tell you that you MUST begin your relationship with a prospective client by providing them with lots of real value.

Create a sales funnel by all means, just understand that people will be in various stages along the road, and make sure that you don’t give up on the people who just aren’t ready for your high-cost products yet.  Have something that they can use, now, and give them some easy, inexpensive entry ramp to the concept of spending money with you.

So you need to choose the enticement or gift that your prospects care about.  It's not just where they are at on the sales cycle, but the kind of Language that they prefer to hear most of the time.

In volunteer organizations, religious groups, other social situations where you want to encourage people to do something:

                You guessed it.  It’s the same situation, in different clothing.  You want the volunteers to want to volunteer more but they keep dropping out to attend to other needs or to join a different group.  The “reasons” are legion but they all come down to one thing: you haven’t convinced them to buy what you’re selling.  When YOU aren’t as committed to a group, you can be sure that they are not giving you what you need. 

                So how do you entice or reward your prospects or the other group you are trying to influence?  Don’t laugh: I have found great value in the Languages of Love concept.  Two decades ago, Gary Chapman outlined a framework to help people improve marriages, by getting people to understand what their partner really values.  I’ve been using this idea in business and social groups for about that long.  Chapman’s basic idea is that we humans tend to value 5 types of interactions, and some are more important to each of us than others.  They are Words of Appreciation; Physical Touch; Quality Time; Thoughtfully-Chosen Gifts; Acts of Service (doing something tangible to help me).

 

                Some people really just want to               be thanked, sincerely and regularly.  Other people want dedicated one-on-one time to discuss their concerns and be the center of your attention, regularly.  Other folks love the tangible swag.  And people like me love the people who use the sentence “Let me help you with that” regularly.  Acts of Service people value tangible help with problems and chores.

                This is how many volunteer-run groups run into trouble.  People will say that they have a lot of chores or they have to spend time with their kids, but the reality is that if the volunteering was something that they loved, they would do it with their kids and if they felt cherished and you were taking tasks off their list, they would take tasks off yours.  If people aren’t buying, it’s because what you’re offering is not what they need right now.  Cycle the offers to cover all the bases and Languages, or (if you’re clever) have people at different stages of the buy getting different offers. 

I remember spending years volunteer-teaching with a local organization.  The students were wonderful, engaged, funny, energizing people, and only a few other instructors taught as many classes – volunteered as many hours – as I did.  They appreciation events (Words of Appreciation) in which my name was honored, and they had food and appreciation events (maybe qualifies as Gifts), and the director was an incredible soul who gave you Quality Time when you needed it.  But an Acts of Service person like me never got what she really needed, which is an occasional exemption from the You Gotta Do This, You Can’t Do That that add stress, aggravation and problems to my day.  THAT is the only Language that means anything to me.  I don’t want to be thanked.  I don’t want pizza.  I want 10 less minutes of (to me, unnecessary) hassle.  I never got it.  When I found the same wonderful students in a less-inflexible world, I bailed.  Less dictation = Acts of Service.

When I was the Volunteer Director for a county government, I thanked the volunteers regularly (via email and events), I handed out high-quality swag (coffee-table books and bags were the hot “sellers”), I gave people my undivided attention when they needed it and I actively looked for ways to make life easier for them.  Most of the Languages were covered.

[Let’s dispose of the problematical one now.  The people who like Physical Touch, if they are appropriate, are the ones buffeting your shoulder, touching your arm when they want to emphasize a point or hugging you.  To deflect unwanted Touch, just say “Don’t hug me” or take the person aside and lay out a clear, courteous boundary, like “I’m uncomfortable when you .  Please respect my boundaries and don’t do that again.  I know you didn’t mean any harm, so I am sure that all will be well from now on.”  This is the one language that, because of the possibility of abuse, you might need to accept not being addressed.]

Applying this idea to my volunteers and to prospects is really helping me.  Hope it helps you too!

Visit me and my cool free stuff at www.soaringdragon.biz.  Links to free classes, You Tube, Learnitlive and more.....   You deserve to soar with dragons!

For Entrepreneurs: More Income + Life Satisfaction from Strategic Self-Care

Hey, I'M super-busy.  I barely stop on a daily basis.  

Except that I know that stopping for strategic self-care IS my road to income and to life satisfaction, which is why I started the business in the first place, right?

You don't need hours.  With 5 carefully chosen minutes a day - 5 MINUTES daily - you can have a tremendous impact on your income and your overall happiness.

I've researched and chosen the 5 elements with the most powerful and reliable ROI (return on investment) for your time.  Focus on them, make a commitment to every day - and watch your life blossom like all the spring flowers all around us.


https://blastthruthosebarriers.thinkific.com/courses/strategic-self-care-for-entrepreneurs-the-5-daily-tools-proven-to-lead-to-lots-more-income-and-life-satisfaction

Holding on My Passionately-Felt Goals - Lightly. And a creative brainstorm for business lights gently on my shoulders

Over the past 24 hours, a foot of snow has fallen. There were three waves and I cleared the car and the driveway each time. But the last wave went on heavily for 12 hours at the end of which, I am snowed in. Too much snow for little me and my hand-shovel to clear for a car, down my healing center's long, long driveway. And the street was scraped clear of topsnow, leaving only the ice layer. Not a smart idea to traverse with an ordinary vehicle with normal winter traction, unstudded tires. And the next two nights will be 12 degrees.

In the past, I would have fumed. This time, I cancelled everything, knocked snow off as much of the trees as I could reach, solemnly vowed to buy a 2nd pair of snow boots as soon as the weather clears (my Alaska-capable pair are at a relative's home in another state; it happens), and I am taking the day off from everything but wonder. Photographs. Videos. Painting, drawing and coloring.

Today will be a renewal day, and a creation day. An idea for a new online class came to me as I knocked and shoveled. Just like I tell you - it works. Exercise and wonder, appreciation and exhilarated motion yields divine rewards for my body, my heart - and my business!

All I had to do was stop saying "Dammit" and start saying "Thank you."

See my weight loss classes....

https://www.learnitlive.com/class/9879/Goddess-Connection-to-Drive-Weight-Loss-6-Weeks-to-Happy-and-Healthy

The Book-Creation Hacks Are Life Happiness Hacks, too

Creativity is a powerful guide to transformational change.  I’ve been writing for publication since way before the Berlin Wall fell, before Bill Clinton was elected President, even, and I blush to confess, the thrill never goes away.  My latest baby is just as much of a thrill as the second; 101 Stress-Busters for Energy, Joy and Healthy Longevity will hit Amazon and everywhere outside of Ashland, Oregon [we’ve got it already], at the end of January. Nothing is ever as soul-stirringly wonderful as seeing your name in big letters ON THE COVER OF A BOOK for the first time.  When the Library of Congress asked for a copy, I drove to D.C. so I could see how many Representatives and Senators had checked it out.  Answer: 12. Oh. My. God.

Lying collapsed in my usual post-creation heap, it occurred to me that the Best Practices for writing a quality book is strikingly similar to Best Practices for living your quality life. 

1.       Know what the end goal is: what outcome do you want for your readers; what outcome do you want for yourself, either on a business or personal level?  Keep these answers on a card or a sheet of paper whenever you sit down to work on your project.

Keeping an eye on the prize, a reminder of the ultimate goal, helps keep you from being swayed by the emotion of the moment, or someone who has “hooked” an unresolved childhood issue that you are not consciously aware of (needing attention; needing to show you’re best; needing to be appreciated; needing to have more income that anyone else in your social orbit, etc.).

2.       Have a project plan with checkpoints.  Have a chapter by chapter plan.

You know in your business life that checkpoints are vital to spurring effective action. They give you a clear idea of where the project is on the road to completion.  They give you accountability.  Don’t over-plan to avoid having to actually write, but do make sure that you have a step-by-step plan with specific checkpoints. 

In books, it’s a chapter or a page.  In other aspects of your life, what are the checkpoints?  When I bought my fixer-upper, I started with a list of serious problems.  I started checking them off and then I made a list of the remodels that I would need to have the floorplan work for a healing center, a family home and a separate pet area.  Not everything was clear from the start.  The amount of money and renovation I would need to turn the garage into the Hobby House, heated and cooled with moderate amounts of $$, was not clear to me when I started.  In fairness, I could have anticipated more of it, but the first two lists were so overwhelming, I very sensibly put the garage into the Much, Much Later category and didn’t give it another thought for two years. 

3.       Have a reward that you really want for completing every checkpoint, with extra rewards for completing on time.

You know this works.  You do it with your customers – reward the behavior you want.  Well, darling, your human brain works just like theirs.  So get those rewards prepared.  Want to lose weight?  Virtue ain’t its own reward, not in the first 30 days.  Have non-food rewards.  I, for example, will do nearly anything for a $100 Amazon gift card that I can use to bankroll my video habit.  I also salivate over, and will finish a chapter for or eat kale for, smaller rewards.  We all have things we want.  Don’t let yourself have them until you hit a checkpoint and see how your foot-dragging around clearing out the garage disappears. 

4.       You’re not writing a book; that’s a terrifying concept.  You are writing one chapter.  When you’re really tired and want to quit, but you’ve made the choice to push on to some checkpoint, then you are just writing this one page.  Just one page.  You can do that. 

You’re not losing 35 pounds.  You are cataloging all your calories for today, and doing a 10 minute intensive cardio routine on the DVD from the library.  Do both of those things and you can have a lavender tub soak (or Grantchester episode) tonight.  Do it for a week and you can go to a Sounders game.  Small steps get you to the finish line; grandiose plans flop in 6 weeks.

5.       If you get a brainstorm, something that really takes control of your brain and makes you want to shout “Yes! Yes! Yes!” to the uncaring walls or silent moon, write your brainstorm down in as much detail as you can, then take a deep breath and look at item #1.  Does this storm make the end goal or outcome work better?  Or does this storm point to a different outcome?  Take another 5 deep breaths [yes, it’s Tool #2-1 from my book; keep reading].  Perhaps meditate or do a card reading or ask Sarasvati or another incarnation of the great I AM for advice.  Do you really want this new outcome more than the old outcome?

I had an original chapter plan and I had a different title, because I had a different end goal.  Then I had a brainstorm that took my breath away and the book is entirely different.  When you are tempted away from a life goal, the same procedure keeps you on the best path for you.  Instead of following blindly when your limbic system gets hijacked by someone who touches an unhealed childhood wound or an unexamined childhood dream, you stop, get your pre-frontal cortex (your thinking, logical, clear-sighted brain) to give you a 2^nd opinion and let the two opinions become reconciled into a clear-headed decision, something that you will be proud to own for the rest of your life.  If everyone did this, the marketplace would be a very different place because most sales ploys rely on manipulating and amplifying the “I’m not good enough” beliefs hidden deep inside us.  If we had our PFC’s integrated with every limbic system business decision, we sellers couldn’t hid our lack of steak behind a smokescreen of sizzle.

Some of my changed life goals over the years have included dumping losing business ventures instead of “refusing to quit,” an emotional stance that caused several entrepreneurs that I know to lose house as well as business in the dot-com crash and then more in the Great Recession.  “I’m Not A Quitter” is a limbic system response, based on “quitter” shaming from childhood or adulthood, and not a clear-headed choice based on receivables, cash flow and the local and national economy. 

Every once in a while, I really, really want to do something, and no matter how hard I try, with all the skills of a transformation coach and healer, I cannot fathom why.  If it’s not dangerous to me, emotionally, physically or in any other way I can see, and it isn’t taking my life on a new and destructive path, I let myself do it.  I let myself say “Yes, I’m a spiritual healer,” when I didn’t consider myself one, just because someone I really respected asked me to – and stepped into a completely new income stream, and an additional self-definition.  It’s also why I climbed a mountain and then jumped – with the guy who actually knew how to fly the dang thing.  I knew the physical laws that allow lift and I had my will updated before the honeymoon trip, so there I was, for a millisecond, falling straight downward off a mountain.  And then lift kicked in and away we soared, high above Queenstown, New Zealand, soaring with dragons as I had always dreamed. 

6.       Self-care every day, no matter the deadlines, is your lifeline.  If you don’t eat healthy, exercise and take time to rest and recuperate, you will NOT create a quality product.  I know, Handel wrote the Messiah in six weeks, but let’s be real: He was a genius, he had been thinking about something like it for months, and he had a servant to make him healthy meals and remind him to take his daily constitutional.  This is the Magic Formula for a healthy life, too.

Let me connect you to a world of solutions.  While you’re waiting to buy your copy of 101 Stress Busters, take action to make 2017 the year when you knock some of your pain-points out of your life forever!  A free Getting Unstuck session (not a sales pitch, a real session) will give you tools that you can use to knock at least one of those “pains” out of the park – forever.   Do you like to Do It Yourself?  My blog and free classes are the place to start.  Are you ready for your major Pain Points to – poof! – be gone?  Sign up for a Getting Unstuck session (free, not a sales pitch), and watch one of them disappear.  Then sign up for a comprehensive program and ditch the big ones, too.  Do you like to learn from classes?  Comprehensive beta classes will be launching in January.  Sign up to be a beta-tester.  At www.soaringdragon.biz, it’s all about solutions, not hype!  You deserve more than quick-fixes that won’t last. Link to me and let me connect you to a world where problems get solved - forever!    

I can make your day 15 minutes longer - or more! Don't believe me? Read on.....

I'm a big fan of yoga (fun), walking with my dog (see photo) and yard work (not so much, but it gets me sweating).  

But who doesn't dream of making time for all that lovely exercise that our bodies crave, by lengthening the day?  Oh, please, please, please, great spirits of the astronomical, can't you slow down the Earth's rotation and give us a longer day?  

Not possible, thank goodness, or we'd all die for celestial mechanical reasons I'd be glad to bore you with [just ask], but isn't it a great fantasy??

Fortunately, we don't have to.  We don't really need more time, and in our saner moments we do know that.  What we need to clearer priorities and the strength to stick to them.  Kids and spouses can do more, if we are willing to draw on our ancestral courage and make that shift happen, and not be distracted by the hooting and hollering and "I hate you"s.  Many things just don't need to happen at all, which means courage again to face up to peers, family and the parental voices in our heads.  Courage is more valuable to your life than diamonds, or hours more in the day, and you know that, too, at the wise core of your soul, down below all the noise and rumpus of emotions and fears.

Priorities....

I like to try out new exercise options and so I picked up the Women's Health Big Book of 15 Minute Workouts.  Some of them are strictly for the 20-something crowd, but many of them look interesting, done straight or modified for my aged and decrepit body.  Before the workouts, the book features a list of time-wasters that you could eliminate, to get more time for your workouts - and for Reiki, meditation, tapping, art and the rest of the stress-elimination protocols I teach my clients.  

Here are my favorites:
* Turn off Facebook.  Set a timer, give yourself 10 minutes a day and then TURN IT OFF.

*  Say NO to what is not on your priority list.  If everything is critical, then your decision-making is seriously askew (a stress symptom), or you need additional help from your probably-not helpless family members.

*  Do one thing at a time.  Scientific studies have proven over and over again that you can rapidly-switch your attention from one thing to another if we are talking about mindless chores - laundry or vacuuming, or with my cooking style, cooking - but if you are doing something substantive, give it your undivided attention!  You actually spend less total time if you do something with all your attention and then move on to the next thing.  If you don't believe it, test it out - fairly - and see what happens, for three days minimum. 

*  Make cleanliness and order a priority, so you don't waste time trying to find things.  Put things in the same place all the time.  Put up a key hook and always put the keys there.  Put your glasses in the same place.  Keep your office or bill-paying area organized.  Do your bookkeeping and filing every month.  Clean the house once/month.

I have my fridge organized, and used to go ballistic if hubby puts things on the wrong shelf. Then I decided to do a test.  He did his usual higgledy-piggledy and got 3 seconds to glance in the fridge and list what was there.  I got an organized fridge and the same 3 seconds.  Then we switched.  He saw that HE was faster with an organized fridge too.  His cooking improved because he could tell at a glance what raw materials he had available. That's why he puts food on the right shelf just like I do.  Right, honey?  Honey?  

But don't be a neatnik.  Understand that too much cleanliness is like too much dieting - a desperate attempt to control SOMEthing.  Channel those urges into art or journaling.  Take one of my classes and get super-good at identifying your real needs before you start vacuuming under the bed.  [I put my beds directly on the floor.  Nothing to vacuum, whoopie!]

* Spend less time on cheap, unimportant purchases and decisions.  Some people are naturally decisive (Myers-Briggs J types).  My first husband and I went to purchase a new washer one day.  I scanned all the options, narrowed it down to two, then one, slapped my hand down and summoned a sales rep with a "This one."  While hubby was still thinking about the first model he came across.  I had a clear idea of my criteria before we got there, then I laser-focused on the criteria list, and done.  12.5 minutes, according to former hubby.  And that included the time spent asking "Where are the washers?"  Myers-Briggs P types need to consider this tip.  Some decisions are important enough to deserve protracted decision-making.  Darling hubby #2 and I spent two years meticulously researching and finding our ideal future retirement location.  For a P, making a commitment to one course of action, and leaving all the rest behind, is less than comfortable.  Practice zipping through unimportant decisions.  Become the cheetah, who focuses exclusively on the impalas, then one impala in particular, with laser intensity.  Enjoy the sunset some other time.

*  Put it in your calendar.  This is a gotta-have for anyone who wants to accomplish anything.  Your priorities are in your calendar.  If they aren't there, they don't really matter to you - whatever you say. 

*  Use that timer for other black holes, those astronomical phenomena that suck in every bit of matter and energy that comes close to them.  You know what you waste time on.  Use that time to rest!  Or exercise, which gives you more energy and burns up the cortisol that makes you feel tired.

*  Set out your exercise clothes, or always keep them in the same place, near the front door.  You set out your next-day clothes before you go to sleep, right?  I actually have two set of clothes - the stuff I'm going to sweat in and the stuff I am going to meet clients in.  No decisions to make the next day, just jump into one and then the other.  Or keep them in the dining room, like one of my clients does, because she works at home and seeing them during breakfast reminds her of her commitment to her health, her family, her income and everything else that first and foremost depends on her health.

Doesn't that all sound eminently logical?? Sure it does.  Now pick ONE item on that list and do it every day, every single day, for a week.  Then add another one.....

Contact Victoria Leo for a FREE Getting Unstuck session at victoria@soaringdragon.biz, or visit www.soaringdragon.biz. 

Creativity to Boost Your Sleep!

My regular readers know how enthusiastic I am about creativity.  My class on using Creativity to Cleanse and Clear Specific Chakras (on learnitlive.com) is a big hit.  I use specific creative exercises whose action is to clear blockages in a specific chakra.  It's been a happy all-day class and I recently experimented with dividing it into chunks of a chakra or two, for people who digest big changes slowly.  I also include specific creative activities in all my really powerful transformation programs. 

Why?  Do I just like the idea of the whole world painting, drawing, coloring, making things with wood and cardboard, building kits, making mosaics and collages, and on and on?  

No, I'm not really addicted to paint.  I'm addicted to alleviating suffering.  Getting into your unconscious mind is the fastest, most powerful route to ending problems.  [I also use thinking-oriented, cognitive-behavioral techniques, but they only work if you already have an accurate idea of what really is the problem, and that is NOT usually the case.  My entrepreneur friends, you don't just need a tutorial on the new magical marketing tool in order to instantly have a million-dollar business.  Nope.]  

And how do you get into your unconscious mind when you don't have me in person or via video to guide you?  One way is deep meditation.  Another is listening to a journey with Belleruth Naperstek.  And another is to get yourself engrossed in color, shapes and the feel of creation in your hands.  My friends, you will never feel so close to god-like powers as you do when you step back from a work you created and realize the spine-tingling awe of "I MADE that.  From nothingness."  When you look at something you did and you feel deep into your DNA that you LIKE it - and you love yourself.  When you look at something you made with your own two hands (or whatever you have), and you feel deep in your DNA, "OMG, NOW I understand why I have always had trouble with taking charge, swimming, speaking in public, being praised, failing to excel at anything I try, ."

THAT moment of either pure joy or transcendent enlightenment is the real purpose of a consistent creativity practice.

So what about sleep?

After you have taken warm milk and melatonin, you turn off your blue light electronics, you have a bed that is not too hot or too cold, and you have made sure that you weren't arguing about politics or other aggravating topics for the two hours prior to bedtime, if you still can't sleep, start reiki-ing yourself.  Don't know reiki?  How about tapping?  Meditation of the Ommm and breathe style.

And if you haven't learned any of that, after you made a note for tomorrow AM to go to www.soaringreiki.biz and sign up to learn, then it's time to get up and pull out the pencils.  [Painting at midnight requires you to wash your brushes.  If you live with people who will be disturbed, go the colored pencils on quality paper route.  Same effect!]  Breathe deeply.  Close your eyes, call on your spirit guides, your goddess guides and helpers [another class at learnitlive.com, very powerful and fun.], or your Wise Adult, take a walk at the beach, or along a forest trail, and tell them all about it.  Then start to draw, without waking up your conscious mind at all.  Just let your "feelings" guide you to colors, shapes, and effects.  I have glitter glue sticks, animal eyes and all kinds of magazines, for pictures.  Whatever hair-brained idea pops into my mind, I breathe deep to make sure I'm not thinking, and then I let myself do it.  The results can be quite extraordinary!

When the emotional energy is discharged in a good cry or some creative arts, you'll be able to sleep.  Sometimes I take a few minutes to write down the insights into my journal for later cogitating as well as feeling.  But with the emotional burden lifted, I drift away.  

Bliss.....

Thinking I Understand You.....

Thinking I understand you .... and I really, truly don't.

This quote is so important to keep in mind.

When I am most inclined to shoot off my mouth, full of certainty that I know what The Truth is - especially if I think I know the answer AND it's really quite simple, if you only...... - this quote flashes into my mind and I shut my mouth.  

How hard it is for this language-loving species of ours to get through to ourselves that sometimes the finest wordsmith on earth really, truly cannot convey an experience. You'll never know what war is like from watching movies, reading books or even listening to people.  You'll never know what a violent physical assault, especially a sexual assault, does to the depths of a soul from listening, reading or watching movies. [And watching movies can cause PTSD in empathetic people, so please don't.]  You'll also never know about parenting from having your nieces for a weekend or from reading, listening or watching.

You'll never know about the awe, the soul-shattering, body-shaking or very quiet transcendence that comes at the top of tall mountains that you climbed yourself.  You can't visit a forest or a waterfall in a video.  You can't imagine the near-extinction event our ancestors survived 60,000 years ago.

We call it humility.  Just an acknowledgement of the shouldn't-be-so-profound truth that we don't know everything, and we usually don't know better than the people who have had the experience.  It's just the human experience.  Until we actually have a Vulcan mind-meld, our experience-sharing ability will always be limited to what language can convey and some of the most important experiences are impossible to completely encapsulate in words.  



I work with entrepreneurs who want to blast through the internal barriers to success, stemming from events of their earlier life.  I also work with other serious professionals and people who aspire to being serious professionals, who are held back by traumas from childhood, previous spouse, military experience, traffic accidents, violence.  It may be formally-diagnosed PTSD or just "barriers" that need blasting away.  I don't pretend to be all-knowing.  I just have some very powerful tools for making the problem go away - permanently.  

You don't have to put up with less enjoyment than you could be having from life.  Contact me for a FREE Getting Unstuck session today.  A real session, not a sales pitch. Be impressed by all my academic degrees, specialty certifications, testimonials and special programs at www.soaringdragon.biz  Then contact me at  victoria.leo.reiki@gmail.com.

What is the #1 "Pain Point" people come to me to relieve? Go ahead and give it your best guess....

 What is the #1 quest people come to me for?  It’s not fame and entrepreneurial fortune, although many of them do, and I can definitely show people how to get more fortune.  It’s not a better career, although ditto.  It’s not freedom from physical pain and significant health problems, although many of them do.

Nope, the absolute #1 quest is – clarity.  If there were a tagline for this age it might very well be “I’m so confused and I don’t know what to do.”  What they mean is that what they really WANT is buried so deep under layers of “This knowledge is too scary – don’t, whatever I say, let me know this truth” that they couldn’t excavate it with a power-shovel.

Truth is so scary for so many of us because if we knew what we really needed and what we really wanted for ourselves we would have to initiate really, really scary conversations with people about the amount of relative power we have in our lives.  We might need to have conversations that threaten our financial survival or our definition of ourselves. 

When someone comes to me seeking clarity, it is nearly always true that clarity is being deliberately obscured as a self-protection mechanism by the person’s deep unconscious.

I particularly admire the clients who, when they start to realize what clarity would really mean, take a deep breath, strap on their Courage backpack, take their Courage vitamins, and plunge into the depths.  When that happens, the most glorious transformations become possible.  Sometimes, the reality isn’t as scary as the nightmares dreamed up by their (frequently mistreated or emotionally abandoned) child-selves.  Sometimes the reality is about right.  Sometimes the reality is much, much worse.

What is always true is that the courage to dive deep and face truth with deep breathing and slow steps and as many emotions as come up is a rare and glorious commodity.

The people who walk that path to their own and genuine truth, whether they are looking for clarity, more entrepreneurial success, a better career, better health or better something else, are my personal heroes.

God bless you all, every one!  You are the brave souls who bring light to human life.  Bless you all, every one.  

Get a FREE Getting Unstuck session!  Not a sales pitch, a real session.  Contact me at www.soaringdragon.biz or call 253-203-6676

Laugh for the Day.....

A client who loves cats and who knows that I love all three species of critters who live at my house, wondered why I have a lovely, spacious room in the house devoted to the critters, who are never allowed into the business part of the office/home. Well, two reasons:

1) I want to be able to work with clients who are allergic to cat dander, rabbit dander and/or are frightened of furry mammals.

2) there was this time.....

There was this time, many decades ago, when I was doing a consulting business in my home, and I would clear out the living room to a preternatural level of Clean before every client visit. Then one day, a particularly potentially-lucrative client came. I was in my best suit, my presentation was going very professionally, and my cat, who clearly was offended at being ignored, came trotting out of the bedroom with a pair of undies in her mouth. From the stinky To Be Laundered pile, natch. Which she dropped on my potential client's FOOT, double natch.

So, class, what do you think? Did that client sign a lucrative professional consulting deal with our heroine?

The furry mammals have their very own lovely, spacious room in the house, and never, ever are allowed anywhere NEAR a business visitor.

Now you know, grasshopper.....