Now that my own mom is gone, Mother’s Day is spent doing something deliberate with my daughter (as opposed to reading in a hammock in solitary bliss), such as going to see Hair on Broadway, bicycling at the shore, watching our favorite mother-daughter movie, Tumbleweeds. This year, I had the brilliant idea that we should experience a ropes course at the Turtleback Zoo nearby. I think because my (rather ancient) memory of this zoo was that it was little more than a petting zoo for children, I assumed its sister adventure course would offer the same level of challenge.

LOL.

Now, for those of you who have charged your way through high ropes courses, I suspect you would consider this child’s play—and my own confident enthusiasm was evident as they strapped me into the harness, telling us that refunds past that point weren’t allowed, with my smile to my girl that said, “I guess some young children get scared…” Up I went the first ladder and stood happily on the first platform.

And then glanced down at my first action-step: to close the giant gap between me and an innocent-looking board. I couldn’t move. I was done before I’d even begun. Thankfully, they knew enough to post a guide right on the platform with you for this first lethal act and he was quite confident that I could make it. I looked across the chasm to my daughter, who had, indeed, succeeded to the other side and she called back, “The first step is the hardest! But then it gets easier.”

I don’t know how long I stood there, contemplating the inches across and the ability of my body to take a giant leap that was clearly not meant for human beings. I was told then, as I was told a thousand more times, to pull down hard on my lifeline and it would support me as I jumped. Absolutely nothing in my consciousness grasped that fact—then, or ever–but finally, somehow, I took that first life-defying step—and I was off!

I told my daughter on the next platform, “I’m getting off as soon as I can!” She nodded in soothing understanding. “We don’t have to go on to the second course; but we do have to make it through this one.”

I figured a panic attack was an effective exit strategy for getting out sooner, but my pride did get the better of me, so I gingerly turned to face the second challenge—and encountered my next searing lesson, then my next and my next. Indeed, the only thing that kept me from losing my mind entirely suspended in mid-air was this blog post; knowing that this ignorantly arranged Mothers’ Day adventure was a perfect metaphor for entrepreneurial leadership that I would share. So, you could say that thoughts of you saved me as I gripped my lifeline, fingers nearly bleeding, over the next ninety minutes. Let me share with you what I learned about fear and the requirement to get through it in order to arrive at a passionately desired destination ahead.

1. Don’t think. Thinking did me absolutely no good. The only way I ever successfully made it across was when I “just did it”—just plowed through the fear (it genuinely felt like plowing through). When I stood still, examining the length of the board and the distance from it to the next one, and the possibility of stepping onto the wire instead…the board shook like crazy. My true life-lines were the guides, and they’d call up to me to tell me this. “Keep moving. When you stand still, it gets really shaky.” Of course, what did they know? But eventually, I listened, and when I just stopped thinking and kept moving, it was swift; it was easy; and for some reason, it just wasn’t scary. I suspect because it’s hard to move and think at the same time.
   
   
   
2. You’re it. At one point, I was seriously the most afraid I’ve ever been, and by that point, I’d taken to talking to myself. One of my dear guides was busy talking another mother off the ledge, and I realized I was alone. I had no idea how I was going to take my next step. I was absolutely emotionally paralyzed. And then I pulled myself up by my bootstraps and said out loud, “No one can get you through this but you. No one.” It wasn’t some quaint affirmation you might say to yourself from the safety of the ground. This was an irrefutably true statement. Short of their getting some ladder and rescuing me, in that moment, there was nothing they could have done for me. Their soothing encouragement couldn’t have helped me with this. And they weren’t coming with any ladder. It was a defining moment for me, realizing that only I was going to save me.  There was no other resource except the one between my ears. I heard myself saying, firmly, “You just have to take the step. You just have to do it. There is no other option.” A fierce pragmatist if nothing else, I got how true that was and just stepped over my fear. It felt very much like that—a barrier I couldn’t dissolve or mitigate, but could step over. And did.
   
   
3. Find your own way. I heard myself chatting to myself, “Just find the way that works for you,” as I walked across these ropes and boards. Sometimes I would do what was plainly expected, other times, I would walk on the outside wires only or walk sideways. Whatever worked. There was no right way.

4. That said, there were undeniably easier ways to go that I didn’t always take—and when I did, I learned that there is absolutely no shame in taking the easy route!

5. It gets easier. I got used to being in a constant state of peril and soon it stopped feeling fatal. In fact, in time, I rather deftly made it to the other sides! It got easier.

6. Victim thinking escalates with witnesses. This one is a hard one to admit, but being highly self-reflective, I caught myself expressing more fear when the guides were paying attention to me. When they were busying saving the soul of another, I just got down to the business at hand and was efficient and dutiful. Interesting, yes?

7. Just leap. The zip-line portion of the courses was by far the most fun—but first, I had to leave the safety of the platform, and the only way to do that was with a determination to “just leap!” I stood there at the first one, contemplating things, but then I just leapt. It was nothing more than a decision. Nothing.

8. Let yourself fly. During the first zip line, I was still focused on the fear of having let go, so I was at the other side before the rather delicious sensation of freedom caught up to me. So, on the second one, I made a promise to myself to relish the fun of the easy ride and celebrate the end of the hard work!

9. Excuses are the only things that paralyze. I came to the end of the first course and took a bathroom break. Remember, my daughter had suggested at the first platform that we could rap it up at this point, but I saw that she had gone on through. I knew, as soon as I stepped out of my harness for my break that I would be getting back in. No way was I going to let any fear stop me from finishing! I tripped a little on the way to the porta-potty and looked down to find a flap at the toe of my sneaker; my tread was peeling away—and I knew if they saw it, they wouldn’t let me continue. So, I reached down and pulled it off—the entire tread—because I was not going to let so insignificant of an excuse let me off. I’m proud of myself for that one!

10. Hold on to—and remember—what supports you. My daughter’s own pragmatism showed in the car ride back, as we talked about this. Apparently, she’d experienced next-to-no fear. “How is that possible?” I asked her. “Mom, there’s no way you can actually fall. That lifeline supports you the entire time.” I found it incredible—truly—that I had never once given that thought. I chose (and it was entirely a choice) to completely forget that I was fully supported all the way and I could not fall. I actually chose to think I was unsupported—and that’s why there was any fear at all. Big, big, big life lesson there, wouldn’t you say?

I went home and took a luxurious thirty-minute nap, a delicious hot shower, and had a glass of wine at dinner to celebrate my victory. I recalled, as I fell into bed at midnight, dead-exhausted and aching, how I’d called down to one of the guides: “Why on God’s green earth did I decide to do this for Mother’s Day????”

He said, “Because it’s a gift to yourself.”

He knew then what I couldn’t—and was so right. Never again can I feel fear about taking any step–in business and leadership or otherwise–and not remember every single one of the lessons I learned forty feet in the air. The biggest one? Remember what supports me and remember when it comes to fear, only I can get myself out.

I am talking a lot these days about Leadership Self-Mastery. One cannot lead until one leads himself. One cannot influence until he influences himself. That’s what I did this Mother’s Day.

Whether you have always gravitated toward leadership roles or you were thrust into a leadership role because of a cause or mission you are passionate about, effective leadership takes courage, patience, empathy, confidence, likability, and trust. But most of all, it takes courage.

Courage to step up where others wouldn’t, to put yourself in front of people and declare yourself a leader, and to motivate others to take action based on your direction. Leadership is not for the weak-minded.

But even the most promising or best-intentioned leaders can get trapped by the gremlins of negative internal dialog. Fear and limiting beliefs can cause one to doubt himself, his direction, his mission. This can lead to hesitation on decision-making, confusing or conflicting direction for action, or worst of all, ego-maniacal behavior.

As a student and teacher of the mind and behavior, I understand what causes people to fall short of their goals no matter how strong the motivation is to succeed. It has been my work for over 16 years to help others (and myself) to neutralize these inner gremlins and achieve far greater potential.

Whatever results you are getting in your life or your business, your mission is a direct result of your thoughts. I use the TEAR formula to explain this.

Your Thoughts create Emotions (based on the judgment or meaning we give to something—positive or negative). Your Emotions in turn influence your Action (what you do). And your Action in turn produces a Result (cause and effect).

As humans, we are always seeking to give “meaning” to events and that is what causes us trouble. Yet, events have no inherent meaning. Different people can assign differing meanings to the same event. For example, rain is neither good nor bad; it just “is.” However, a bride with an outdoor wedding planned can judge the rain as “bad” and a farmer in a drought can judge the rain as “good.” Neither is true—it’s just a judgment or perception.

When we’re growing up, we create beliefs (“rules” we take on as “absolutes” and “truths”) about ourselves, the world, others, money, relationships, food, etc. We then function off of those beliefs, which are a large part of our thought process. If we have limiting beliefs (beliefs that limit our or anothers’ ability), our perception and thought process is skewed and will create negative emotions (the greatest of which is FEAR), creating less-than-optimal (and often destructive) action, which will lead to results in kind.

For many leaders, limiting beliefs that cause inertia or self-sabotage can be, “I’m not good enough,” “I’m not important,” “What I have to say isn’t important,” “If I say/do this, I’ll be rejected,” “If I make a mistake I’ll be rejected,” among, of course, others.

Which of these do you recognize saying to yourself from time to time (or even often)? If you need to be confident and motivational with your “flock,” can you see how having one or more of these limiting beliefs can cause problems for you?

Limiting beliefs can be insidious in their destruction of great leaders and the people they are meant to help. Finding ways to identify and eliminate them–and their habits–is one of the best investments leaders can make to ensure their ability to carry out the mission and effect the change they are dedicated to create.

************************

Lisa Smith, the Marketing, Mindset & Manifesting Coach for service-based business owners helps themget more clients, serve more people, and make more money through tools such as hypnosis, NLP, EFT and other techniques that expose and clear the inner gremlins that most don’t even realize are playing the major role in keeping them stuck, stressed, and broke. You can learn more about these concepts and how she helps people by downloading her free audio, “The 3 Keys you MUST Master to Attract Your Ideal Clients and Make More Money With Less Effort” at www.mmmcoach.com.

INTRODUCTION

If you are on this planet to serve the people on it through your business, you must succeed. You were not graced with the calling, talent and skill that you have just to fade into the background, unrecognized.

Yet, as you’ve heard countless times, talent and skill do not equate to business success. So many follow their passions only to end up sharing the very best of themselves with only a tiny circle of friends and family. They end up giving up and packing up because they cannot support themselves.

But then something far, far, far worse ensues. They end up living a life “unused.”

“This is the true joy in life: the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature…I want to be thoroughly used up when I die…” --George Bernard Shaw

To be used up, I believe, is what every one of us wants. Not being so may be the only cause of our depression, the only thing that truly ages us.

You must be thoroughly used up when you die. And if your purpose is linked to your business, you must get your business right. But so many don’t take the time to understand all that is involved. This book isn’t designed to give an overview of all of the elements essential in building a successful business—there are plenty of those out there. This book is here to impress upon you one single thing:if you are not different in the marketplace, you will die with your song still in you.

The pain of blending in is a primal one, and will affect you on deep levels.

How does it feel when you get a blank stare or a look of confusion when you talk about your business? Or when only a few people sign up for your tele-call or seminar? How does it feel when people unsubscribe, or you go days and weeks without a single opt-in? What happens in you when, one after another, prospects slip out of your net?

I’ve seen it. A part of you is thrust back to high school, to the popular guy who never so much as sent you a glance; to the day you were passed over for the team; to all the parties where you hung back against the wall, unnoticed…and to all the times since, when friends, colleagues and even your own family haven’t recognized your value.

IT HURTS.

When your business isn’t special, it’s much too easy to start to think that you aren’t, and your confidence suffers a mighty blow that can too often be fatal to your business and your mission.

There is nothing more painful than not being worthy of someone’s attention. And in business, nothing more deadly than not being worthy of someone’s money.

When you can fill in this sentence, everything will change for you: “My business is the only one you will ever find that ____.”

When you can master this, the pain you’ve felt every time a prospect has rejected you will be replaced by a confidence that surpasses all understanding.

Being the “only one”–not just in your field, but period–is the game-changer.

Being “the only one who____” changes you from the inside out.

It heals the primal pain of going unseen.

It removes the pain of not fulfilling your life’s mission.

It assures you that you will be “used up.”

And it is the answer to most of your business problems:

• Your vague and fuzzy articulation about what you do
• Disinterested prospects in your 1-to-1 sales conversations
• Poor attendance on tele-calls and other speaking events
• The uphill battle to get clients
• Low opt-ins on your website

Being provocatively unlike everyone else is the direct route to making money and to bending ears so that you change the world (which you’re here to do, by the way.)

So decide right now that you will put your attention on this. Very few other business efforts will matter if this isn’t right. To thrive–in business and in your own heart–you cannot spend one more minute in oblivion.

You would think this was obvious, but just take a look around at most service-based businesses: you could line them up and not one would stand out. You may notice shades of differences here and there, but overall, nothing would raise your brow in intrigue. Almost instantly, your brain would check out.

Why is this?

…The Establishment

I can’t speak definitively, of course, but  after ten years of experience, I believe one answer is that there isn’t a clear enough definition of “what is different enough,” and so service entrepreneurs delude themselves into thinking they’re somehow making the grade….

You can read the rest next week when the book will be available.  Do listen in to my call with Therese, too, on May 5th. We’re bestest friends and it’s going to be a great interview! Check it out here.

I am very excited to be introducing my new ebook next week! One of a Kind: The Powerhouse Strategy for Standing Out and Leading the Way With Your Business.

I will be doing an interview call with Therese Skelly on Thursday May 3rd, so if you want an early bird copy of the book, go check out what I’ll be sharing with her!

Until then, here is the preface of the book…

PREFACE:

In fifth grade, we were given, “antiestablishmentarian,” as a spelling word. Now, I don’t know how it was defined for us—what eleven year-old understands the “establishment”? But I instantly knew how to spell it and I instantly understood (and felt affinity for) its meaning. Its official definition is: “viewing a nation’s or society’s power structure as corrupt, repressive, exploitive or unjust,” but its common use definition is, “The practice of being anti or against most everything that was established as the norm (marriage, government and laws, and most obviously war).”

 The year before, I had lopped off the “E” from the front of my given name, despite having been named after my father’s favorite sister who had been killed in a car accident—so perhaps I raised my hand in class and asked my fifth grade teacher if I was an antiestablishmentarian—and perhaps she nodded. The moment of dawning.

Or perhaps I spoke up and told Mrs. Patterson that when I was in my mother’s belly, my father had left his congregation and family to march for civil rights in Mississippi with Martin Luther King. “Is my father an antiestablishmentarian?” I may have asked. Or, I may have waved my hand again, even then eager to ruffle feathers in that post-Vietnam War world, and told the class how one of my brothers had dropped his weight dramatically to avoid the draft and that another had taken to the road at fifteen for a three-month solo bike-riding odyssey. “Are my brothers antiestablishmentarians, too?” If so, I can picture Mrs. Patterson smiling tightly and even nervously and acknowledging, yes, your family is antiestablishmentarian.

So, I come by the practice of going against—if not being against–established norms honestly, and have a long track record of living my life that way. In high school, Shakespeare moved me when I first heard, “This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.” Indeed, I named my first business, a coaching business, Living True. And in college, I first read Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Self-Reliance essay and fell in love with his quote that sums up all I believe, “Do not go where the path may lead. Go instead, where there is no path and leave a trail.”

You cannot separate this life-long practice of going against the established norm from anything I think, say, or do—including, most especially, how I have shaped my business and how I conduct it. Every single program I have created from the inception of my entrepreneurial career over ten years ago with a coaching business–is different from anything else you’ll find out there. And today, I help my clients shape programs that are different from anything else out there.

I know that to be successful in business and life, we must pull away from external authorities–the established norm—and plug into our internal authority…no matter how unpopular we may be for it. That is our place of freedom, and I stand for every human being living in that freedom—and I cannot help but help my clients get there as one-of-a-kind, stand-apart leaders who lead the way.

And so I write this book for you. To help you claim that freedom that is your birthright and to give you some direction in making your business one-of-a-kind. It must be, you know. Not just because every business must be differentiated, but because you are here on a special mission—to lead the way–and you cannot do it by being like everyone else. You must leave the pack to fulfill your purpose!

In this book, I am going to guide you through the steps to leaving behind the established norm, to going where there is no path so you leave a trail.

I welcome you to the land of the antiestablishmentarians!

To the land of the free, the brave, and the successful.

You are shooting yourself in the foot and setting yourself up for a business of fits and starts; erratic client income…and invisibility. Furthermore, you won’t be recognized as an expert if you’re talking to “everyone.” Experts are experts because they help a particular group.

So, here are 6 reasons you MUST narrow your market to a slim population and why you’ll FAIL if you don’t:

1. Your target market IS your business when you’re a service entrepreneur. Every program you offer and information product you develop must be directed and composed specifically for them. If you are targeting “everyone” or straddling a few markets, your program offerings can’t solve the very unique and specific needs and desires of that market and will fly under their radar; they’ll never even “see” what you have to offer because it’s too general.

2. It’s the fastest (and, most likely only,) way to become an expert. When you have a solution for, say, teen-age girls at risk, you will be noticed and sought out because it is assumed that you have very specialized knowledge and experience with that group. When you stay broad, you will never, ever become an expert.

3. It clarifies your thinking. Your brain cannot picture “everyone” and so your thinking stays unfocused and broad. When you can see a specific population in your mind’s eye, you are able to form the specific wording that gets noticed by your prospects’ brains—which are always looking for one thing: how does this apply to me, specifically? I always say, “You write only as well as you think.” That goes with anything you’re producing, really. It all starts with a clear image. If you cannot SEE the careers and lifestyles of your market, your thinking is fuzzy and so will be your business identity.

4. Your promotions get heard and noticed. When you speak to the laser-focused specific needs of your market, you leave them feeling something that is priceless for a business: heard and understood. If you convey your value in vague and general language, it won’t hit your prospect’s heart. EVERYONE wants to feel that they are fully and completely understood. When you have a sliver-population-target-market, you will tailor your message to them; they will feel embraced and understood and valued by you—and compelled to work with you. It is the most powerful, psychological gift you give to people who haven’t worked with you: I know you. I get you. And I can help YOU, specifically.
   

When a business speaks to everyone, it gets heard by no one.

5. Your excitement will increase. When your communication about your value is specific to a specific group’s needs, you get excited because suddenly you really know who you’re helping!  You are here to alleviate pain, solve problems—when you are doing that for a narrow population who needs you, the very best of you will spring forth and you will love sharing what you do! Trust me on this. If you are feeling flat about your business–it’s probably because you don’t really know who needs you most. If you’re uninspired, your business will fall away.

6. Your marketing efforts explode in effectiveness because you know precisely where to put them. You find where your target population congregates, and your articles, website links, advertising, newsletters, etc. go directly to them. The time and effort you put into marketing drops dramatically—something every business owner must appreciate!

I’ve got a 24-page workbook for you that will help you determine your narrow market FAST–AND it also gets really deep into their heads. Part 2 takes you into the “inner psyche” of your market’s minds. You will know exactly what they need so you can build the most marketable programs and write the most compelling copy. And there’s a 2-hour workshop that goes along with it next Thursday, April 19th, when I will coach you to have your perfect buyer AND teach you how to use their psyche to sell. Jump on this asap!!!

Here’s what they were drawn to: There is a single formula that explains your lagging business success—and it’s the same (and only) formula you will ever need to get all the clients, sales, buzz and love you want!

That was the hook–and the essence of her “Teaching Story”—the story she unfolded on the call.

They may have been drawn to the title, too, but we didn’t measure that: Off-the-Charts: The Only Formula You Need for Breaking the Ceiling on Business and Life Success.

They stayed because—as one woman near the end of the call said, when asked how one of the exercises affected her, “I can’t even express it, it was so profound.”

This is Teresa’s “Portal Program,” as I call it–#3 on the diagram. It is the pre-event to her star-money-maker, Signature Program.

This diagram illustrates the strategic line-up of offerings I help my clients create. But it doesn’t just magically happen. Here’s how Teresa and I got to her “Teaching Story” hook above.

She came to me, knowing that her specialty was “mindset work.” First order of business is always determining target market.

 We went back and forth on that for a few sessions and finally she decided on “mom-preneurs” with kids under eight years of age. (I always have my clients, working with mothers, determine the age of their kids; it reveals yet another dimension of their problems/needs/desires that need to be addressed.)

The next order of business is determining that market’s “urgent problem.” I always say, “You must be urgently wanted (b/c you solve an urgent problem) or you will be an elective…and you can’t afford to be an elective.” So, we quickly determined that her market’s urgent problem (even though Teresa didn’t feel qualified at first to address it) was, “poor sales.”

“I don’t teach sales,” she said to me repeatedly, as she was trying to grasp that as her business future. She felt she wasn’t credible to solve that urgent need. (Can you relate? Then read on.)

“There are many solutions for someone, for example, who needs to lose weight,” I told her. “Someone can help nutritionally. Someone else can provide hypnosis treatment. Someone else, liposuction. Someone else, self-mastery techniques. The problem is the same, with many solutions. You can help that problem, as one of the solutions.”

That accomplished, we began to drill down into what she believed mom-preneurs needed to do to succeed. It wouldn’t be a sales technique, or strategy for attracting leads; it would be her answer, based on what she does well. After days of thrashing about in deep reflection (my questions tend to do that to people), she determined that above all, (that’s what I look for) her market needed to know their own self-worth to succeed. Without it, there can be no success.

And that began the very mysterious process that happens between me and a client in developing their Teaching Story. We sit on a see-saw, the two of us, and as she pushes off the ground in answer to a question of mine, it rolls down to me, and stimulates an idea, and back and forth we go, as my brain—always scanning for a Brain-Sticky concept—begins to think of what to teach to the market.

It’s completely non-linear and a process I cannot teach or I would make it a group program, but in no-time on that see-saw, keeping in mind a) her market; 2) what they most want; 3) what they need to know; 4) what she does best and 5) what they don’t know, I knew the hook: your sales are directly proportionate to your self perceived value. They will be low if your value of yourself (in any or all areas of life) is low; they will be high, if your self-perceived value is high. Teresa loved it because it was true. She said, “Yep. There is no exception. It can’t be any other way.”

I always test and test my clients’ convictions, and so I asked (as I’d asked it multiple ways before), “If they try any of the other solutions to boost their sales, will it work?” She was an emphatic, “No! This is THE answer!”

And so, I whipped the concept into a formula (which I don’t want to reveal here, for proprietary reasons, but you can go find out yourself!)

From there, I began to design the “arc” of the Teaching Story—how she would teach this to an audience. As you know, she gave it last night to a live audience, but even if she was never going to “be on stage” with it—having a Teaching Story Arc is a sweet, key way of developing an “idea” that no one else in the world has. No one else has the formula of her Teaching Story—and no one else has the teaching content we developed that teaches the formula, what do with it, and then presents a natural new problem to the audience.

Her Teaching Story was “urgently wanted” because it: addressed a nagging problem (low sales) with a irrefutably true concept (your sales are proportionate to your self-perceived value), spun in a unique way with a hook, (the formula), built with unique content (provocative exercises and data that taught the formula and the science behind it, in her case), delivered, using the unique curriculum design I’ve been teaching for years, which “teaches to the brain”—then resurrecting a new problem (how to effectively change self-perceived value forever to achieve off-the-charts sales and other business success), which is solved by the next event, the Signature Program.

And that is how 350 people came to register for the “only formula you need for breaking the ceiling on business and life success.” Congratulations, girl!! If you want to find out more about Teresa’s event, click here.

To do this work with me, email info (at) inspiredleadersacademy.com with “I want lots of people on my telecall, too!” in the subject line or go read more at: www.inspiredleadersacademy.com/powerhousemethod2.

Here are some contributing factors:

1. I am really in touch with my emotions; always have been, and I don’t like anything
that feels bad. That’s why I could never work for anyone else, because I hated it. I
couldn’t stay in a marriage that felt wrong, and am 10 years into a relationship that
feels  great.  There are downsides to only wanting what feels good: I tend to
procrastinate on anything that doesn’t feel good and am rather moody when
doing something I hate.

However, all of this fine-tuned awareness of my feelings has repelled career paths
that felt bad, and drawn me to those that feel good, and 25+ years of that kind of
intuitive “tacking” has brought me to a spot in my life where I’m doing what I love
and am good at because I only cultivated the skills that I really enjoyed. After all of
these years, sorting out good-feelings from bad-feelings, my intuition is a finely
honed and powerful tool in my arsenal and it has led to “I KNOW.”  That kind of
certainty. I work with clients whose feelings aren’t that keenly felt, and so making
decisions can be very hard. And decisions are “certainties.” There is a great deal of
neuroscientific research that proves that if we can’t feel, we can’t decide. Read this
USA Today article  here.

2. Honestly, another answer that comes to mind is that I’ve done my own work–
meaning, the work I take others through. I know so well my own convictions because
of those deep, penetrating questions. For instance, in The Powerhouse Method(TM),
clients must assert their *single* contention for their market–and this is a very large
step in revealing their purpose. Then, I have them excavate their “mountain top
message”–their leadership message, that is their message for humanity. It’s really a
big message. When they get this clear, they’re almost home to certainty. Then, we
craft their mission statement and determine their one-of-a-kind solution and after
all of this, they are convicted about their reason for being here. I did all of this for
myself, of course, and no one can walk out of that not KNOWING.

3. I also have the certainty I have because of my career history. I have spent years
developing  my expertise–skills, again, that I am good. My conviction comes from
knowing my value to my market.

4. Additionally, I am madly in love with my market of service entrepreneurs here
to do big things in the world. Certainy comes from that and from knowing I’m a
perfect match for them.

5. And lastly (I guess, though I’m sure I’ll go to bed, thinking of more)…I bring my 
beliefs into it all (part of what I do in the PHMethod for others), so I’m clear that I
believe this is a special time in history, and *the* time for service entrepreneurs to
move into roles of leadership during this historic transition. I am DEEPLY convicted
about that…and that reinfoces my certainty of my role to ensure they succeed.

So, in summary: I am so certain of my purpose because I know how to feel what is
wrong from right for me, by years of sorting out what feels good from bad. If you are
not sure of how you feel, this will be a problem. You will stay stuck in analysis
paralysis and waffle for years. I encourage everyone to start small and notice their
” body’s speak.” Notice what your body says when you’re looking at a menu filled
with choices. It is what tells you if you want chicken or fish. Pay attention to those
cues. Then, start to notice how it feels when you’re reaching for the phone to call
someone: does it *really* want to talk to that person, or are you just doing it from
habit? I am also so certain about my purpose because I know my message to my
market and my message to humanity; I know what my unique offering is; I am
passionate about a certain population and have beliefs about their purpose that fuel
my certainty about my own. I encourage everyone to find a population they’re in
love with, and to look into their beliefs about what that population is here for; doing
so will help cement their own purpose.

I am thankful for this client asking me this question, and I hope my answer was
helpful for all.  Here’s to changing the world with your message!

• Pricing. Lower pricing establishes you as a easy-grab option; higher-end pricing cultivates an image of prestige or quality.
• Convenience/Efficiency: You position yourself as being able to get customers results faster than anywhere else.
• Personality. You separate yourself by what you wear; a particular way of speaking; an attitude, etc.
• Past Career/Adventures: You separate yourself by branding your business on a past career (Kenny the Monk was a monk, and now he teaches leadership in corporatations), or adventures (a mountain climber now helps leaders scale the highest peaks in their own lives.)
• Uncommon Credentials: You have a PhD in psychology but are teaching/ consulting business owners on business growth.
• Target Market: You stand apart by having a very tiny niche. Freed Gleek built his business fortune by helping the self-storage industry sell information products.

• Is highly relevant to your narrow-market—something they have high interest  in learning about.
• Tells prospects something new, that they didn’t know about that subject; it widens their intellectual horizons.
• Stirs the emotions—often inciting disbelief or outrage, sometimes sadness, and always hope and excitement.
• Has a provocative, even controversial, premise.
• Provides satisfying support for that promise. 
• Peels back veils, exposes untruths, and excites possibilities 
• Creates a significant shift in perspective. Participants say, “I will never look at this subject the same way again.”
• Dynamically unfolds to build suspense, alleviate tension and provide a satisfying and viable solution.