10 Years of Business Lessons–Chapter 6: Scale or Integrity–That Was the Question

On February 27, 2017, I will celebrate the 10th-year anniversary of the launch of my second business, Inspired Leaders’ Academy. This is a series of excerpts that tells the story of these ten years to help you navigate these same waters more easily and faster! Read chapters one here, two, three, four, five here.

And be sure to take advantage of the free resources I provide at the bottom of this post.

When we last left our now-5-years-into-her-second-business protagonist, she was whipping into shape the strategic business plans, brand concepts, signature programs and marketing language of solopreneurs: coaches, consultants and speakers. And she was doing it in her second proprietary program, 12 Sentences, where participants in her online class answered the 12 most challenging questions prospects ask (or at least think)—and did so in single sentences.

The question none answered to Lizabeth’s high standard was, “How is your business different from everyone else’s in your field?” (She preferred, “…everyone else’s, period?” but no one came close to satisfying her criteria with that one, though she knew it was possible.)

So, one day, she sat down for a reckoning, pondering deeply an idea she calls, “consumption capacity.” It examines the capacity of a targeted client base to consume material and it’s an essential question for those wanting to do their best by their clients.

The questions are, What form of learning will my market realistically consume, given their lifestyle? What form of learning will yield them the best results? Do we even care that they consume? To what degree do we want them to consume?

For instance, a prospect once spoke with Lizabeth on a free consultation about the new 6-week online course she had created in Marie Forleo’s B-School. It was on “engaging employees” for C-suite level executives. Instantly, Lizabeth saw three glaring problems:

1. No C-suite level executive is going to watch videos and fill out PDF worksheets. (Consumption capacity failure)

2. There would be inadequate results from this format (Consumption capacity failure)

3. There was absolutely nothing original in what she was teaching. Employee engagement?? (Marketability failure)

She hired me (we’re returning to first person now :-)) and I cleaned up the mess made from the course with consumption capacity issues she took (which is generally what I do now, clean up those messes) and we created a truly one-of-a-kind brand and signature program for her that she is rocking right now. It is for executives in a form they will consume.

I am a teacher and transformation artist at my core, and so I absolutely cared that my clients consumed my material and got results. I had no issue with students consuming my public speaking material in a training because that was actually the best form for learning it: they could watch me do what I was teaching, and they could practice. I have, in fact, never disseminated that material any other way because it is not consumed best any other way.

But brand development? Crafting a truly one-of-a-kind signature program with a proprietary process? Articulating the message with influential wording? Eh…cannot be done in a class format. Not to my standards anyway, and they are exceptionally high; I’m about as exacting as they come.

And that was a defining moment for my business. I could become a Home Depot of Original Brand Development with online products and classes that I know No. One. Consumes—and if they miraculously did, would yield them mediocre results because the conceptualization phase of a business cannot be done right with do-it-yourself programs or masterminds.

Or I could be a fine, master-carpenter, working with meticulous detail on the carving of an original work of art.

There was no question: a client would consume this, and do so easily because I’m handling the expertise he doesn’t have, and a client would have get results, the most crucial result for success: an original, highly marketable business that sells.

“Your integrity is going to cost you in the long run,” a colleague told me, who was developing a Home Depot business model for herself.

I nodded and said, “It all depends on the yardstick you decide to use to measure your success.”

For me, it wasn’t a choice. I must do right by people or I fail. Period. No, I don’t have the fame and seven figures that others have in this field, but if I had, I wouldn’t have my integrity. That’s a cost I could not abide.

Instead, I have clients whose hands I never let go of, and the mama bear in me succeeds each day because of that. I give them results, and the entrepreneur in me succeeds each day because of that. I am at my creative best, and the artist in me succeeds every day because of that.

And I offer what I truly believe is the best fine craftsmanship available in branding and creative communication—and my soul succeeds every single day because of that.

I asked myself the question years ago, “What is my market’s consumption capacity?” And it gave me the business model best for me because it’s best for them.

It’s a question I offer to you.

I hope your story is as gratifying as mine.

**

Only one chapter left: How did I structure my boutique business, what was is its signature program, and how have I marketed it? That’s posting Saturday. Tune in then also for a once-in-my-business’s-lifetime opportunity to work in my carpenter’s shop with me.

Here are free resources for today! You’ll get a great deal out of each one:

Unleash the Brilliance of Your Next Big Thing Workbook 
http://inspiredleadersacademy.com/inspired/unleashnbtworkbooktoaudiofb/

One of a Kind 
http://inspiredleadersacademy.com/inspired/one-of-a-kind/

The Sequence Secret 
http://inspiredleadersacademy.com/inspired/sequence-secret-fb-2pg-swap/

Is There an Inspired Thought Leader Inside of You?

Sixteen years ago, as legend has it, I read a book in six days and everything in my life changed. Upon finishing it, I knew that I needed to leave my marriage and to change the course of my career–writing novels–which I had adored.  I woke up from that book knowing I needed to do something that was more real and substantial than creating fictional plots and characters had been for me. The words that I said–in the privacy of my own head—were, ” I want to change the world.”

For two years, all dressed up with no where to go, I searched for the venue that would help me to do that and finally came upon coaching. It was not what it is today: no one had heard of it, no one understood it (I think most still don’t) and so it was wide-open terrain. I was passionate about it because I knew its empowering methodology could indeed change the world.

accelerated learning mapFive years later, at a seminar, I was captivated by a method of working with audiences derived from education science called “accelerated learning.” It was another life-changing few days, as I decided to leave coaching and immerse myself in learning everything I could about accelerated learning and brain-based learning. Eighteen months later, passionate and convicted, I launched my second business—Inspired Leaders’ Academy—with a new kind of public speaking training just for entrepreneurs, using these technologies. I knew that when used properly, this “new paradigm of audience leadership” could change the world.

It’s been many years since that launch and many more since my realization that I wanted to change the world, but the drive is as real and fresh in me as it was when I closed the cover of that book.  I still believe coaching can change the world; I know that leading audiences with the technology of brain-based-learning will change the world—and now I work with coaches and other experts to help them change the world with a third element: Thought leadership.

Here’s my conviction: No business will make it now without leaving the pack and standing far apart from everyone else. And the way coaches, consultants and other experts will do that is with a fresh, provocative, even radical, message that shatters the status quo. A thought leader message. It’s essential for survival, and the only option for changing the world.

But a thought leader message isn’t enough. I named my business Inspired Leaders’ Academy years ago because I knew to stand out, and to change the world, you must lead with inspiration.  The fact is, inspiration sells as no data, evidence, or sound intellectual arguments ever will. My father was a minister and I adapted his natural ability to inspire, so when I began leading my public speaking trainings and free events, I saw that truth in action: inspiration is the ultimate call-to-action.ShieldHighResVersion

So, to be successful and change the world, you can’t just have a thought leader message that is intellectually satisfying; you need the fire and passion of inspiration to move an audience to truly “hear” that message and make it their own. On the other hand, you cannot just have an inspirational message—heat and heart—without a solid idea that confounds common understanding, fries brain circuits and destroys conformist thinking. You need them both.

I’ll be leading a virtual event in a couple of weeks: Is There an Inspired Thought Leader Inside of You?” It’s not an easy road; it requires rigorous thinking and a commitment to excellence beyond anything you’ll see around you–but if you are here to change the world, there will be only one answer for you, as there was for me sixteen years ago: Yes, and it’s ready to come out!

So…Is There an Inspired Thought Leader Inside of You?

Your Life Story: Blockbuster or Straight-to-DVD?

 What if life is a story?

You know, a tale with a setting, characters, plot, maybe even a moral—and where you’re the protagonist? The hero/heroine.

Right now, if screenwriters were to knock on your door and want to put your life on the big screen…would it be a blockbuster? Or would it be a straight-to-DVD yawner filling the at-check-out bin at Walmart?

I have just finished reading a book by New York Times bestseller, Donald Miller, who was himself approached by screenwriters after the success of his novel, Blue Like Jazz. They wanted to make a story of his life, but there was a problem. (Every good story needs one, after all.) After a long interview with Don, one of the screenwriters suggested making “alterations” to his life story to improve the screenplay. As he spoke, Don’s life was becoming fictionalized and so Don spoke up, questioning this course of action.

[Read more…]

Real Examples of Bad Business Communication–Corrected!

Years ago, I led a 5-week training class called, 12 Sentences. Coaches and consultants came to me to develop their business identity (and messaging) by having to answer 12 questions, in 12 concise, single-sentences. These were the questions that prospects always have in the backs of their minds. It was challenging for them, to say the least!

I am a professorial group leader (and private consultant), which means that I stay up into the wee hours to “correct papers”–and in the case of my 12 Sentences students, correct their sentences.

In this post, I am sharing a rare–and I mean never, ever, ever before seen–glimpse into how I shape clients’ and students’ language to be more effective. These are actual sentences students sent me, and my replies to them. Be ready to be fire-hosed with tips you’ve probably never heard before! Got a pen? You’ll want to take notes. (And you’ll also want to join my twice-monthly group, ILLUMINATE, focused *solely* on persuasive communications. I’ll do with you there, what you’ll see below.)

Student #1 wrote:

Whatever you do, you HAVE to find a way to stop twisting, denying, controlling and diverting the life force within you.

Lizabeth’s response:
I’d like to see you phrase it in words that people would identify with more. For instance, what does “diverting the life force” really mean? How would someone know they are doing that?

And then, instead of going to the negative word, “stop…”–tell us what TO DO.

I think you will discover that as you get crystal clear with words (that aren’t metaphorical, such as “life force”) and you get concrete, that you yourself will be even more inspired by what you’re trying to say.

Student #2 wrote:

“Live and enjoy those around you while you have them, since you never know when you may not have them with you any longer.”

Lizabeth’s response:
You want to get more concrete with your sentence. For instance, what does “enjoy those around you” equate to in terms of actions and behavior? And what does “live” mean? You’re telling us to “LIVE and enjoy…” So what does “live” look like? What should we actually DO that means “live”? and say that instead. For instance, “develop deep conversations,” “carve out intimate dinners,” “go on day trips,” etc. You want to “bring pictures to mind, and specific language does that.

Student #3 wrote:

I provide gentle heart-centered Chiropractic care to remove spinal distortions from newborns to 3 years old to ensure maximum function of their bodies.

Lizabeth’s response:
Nice.  I just want you to add in a phrase that explains the dangers of spinal distortions. So, it would go like this:
I provide gentle, heart-centered chiropractic care that removes spinal distortions that ______(do this kind of damage) to newborns up to 3 year-olds, to ensure maximum function of their bodies.

If you don’t include that, the reader won’t feel the danger, and it’s vital that they do.

Student #4 wrote:

My 1-day workshop, How to communicate with your spouse to deepen your relationship and increase your odds of staying together by 90% uses a 3 part communication strategy for taking your relationship to the next level that includes learning 1) effective conversation principles 2) communication tools for creating intimacy and 3) the 5 pt conversation formula for long-lasting marriage.

Lizabeth’s response:

Never use this term: “taking your _____to the next level.” It has no meaning. So, I ask you, “How would a couple know their relationship had gone to the next level”? That, or even some other answers you may come up with to that question, is what you should write here instead.

Student #5 wrote:

As a Personal Empowerment Coach, I teach EFT, a fast, simple technique that not only relieves stress but helps remove emotional blocks that prevent people from taking positive action in the lives

Lizabeth’s response:
NEW: As a Personal Empowerment Coach, I teach 45-55 year-old women, who are are stretched-thin from caring for kids and elderly parents, a fast, simple proven technique called EFT, that relieves the stress and emotional blocks that are unique to their situation.

We need to know the decade-range of your market and then *what problem* they have, so they can self-identify. Then, you want to say that it is “fast and simple,” since it is. And “relieves” is probably more accurate than “removes.”

Student #6 wrote:

I inspire, educate and challenge your sons to create a vision of who they want to be and to take responsibility for engaging the resources at their disposal to achieve the success that is possible for them when they are their authentic selves.

Lizabeth’s response: 
EDIT: I inspire, educate and challenge your sons to become powerful leaders and contributors of every community they’re in by enabling them to first understand and develop their own inner authority.

Rather than talk about the steps you use (creating a vision + taking responsibility for engaging the resources at their disposal) and rather than talk about their authentic selves, which is not common language–you want to speak of who they’ll be at the end, all in very simple language.

Student #7 wrote:

How What I Do is different from what everyone else does in my field: Where other teen coaching programs focus on general stereotypical issues, my personalized, in-depth training program focuses on your son’s core; the very heart of who he is—providing him with a radically new skill set to help him most effectively utilize his energy and put his faculties of mind, emotions and body to use in the service of his highest vision of who he is and wants to become.

Lizabeth’s response:

EDIT: Where other teen coaching programs focus on general stereotypical issues like _______--(and then tell us why this is a bad thing), my personalized, in-depth training program focuses on your son’s core; the very heart of who he is—providing him with a radically new skill set for making strong value-centered decisions that will powerfully shift the direction of his future.

I took out the phrasing around his energy and faculties of mind, emotions and body because they are irrelevant to the listening brain. I went straight for the benefit to both the son AND the parent. Always make sure that your language is THEIR language. NEVER use jargon, or spiritual wording–not in marketing. Save that for the private programs.

Student #8 wrote:

“…they’re still putting their dreams on hold.”

Lizabeth’s response
One can’t see that peering through a window. If you can’t bring a concrete picture to mind, the articulation is vague and useless. What would we see, if were were peering through a window at someone who’d put their dreams on hold?

Student #9 wrote:

WHAT PROCESS I USE TO CREATE RESULTS
I teach Christian leaders how to think strategically, make sound organizational decisions and build relationships that expand their sphere of influence and create wealth to advance the kingdom of God.

Lizabeth’s response:

“Leaders” in this context sounds like clergymen. You’re speaking about business owners. It is vitally important that you “call them out” very clearly. Additionally, they need to be able to picture “where they are in the world,” when you’re answering this process question. So, it could read:

In a ____-week/month, (group/solo) program, I take Christian-faith business executives, in $ ___ million businesses, through a __-part process: 1) how to think strategically about ___, 2) how to make sound organizational decisions that _____and 3) how to build relationships that expand their sphere of influence and create wealth that advances the kingdom of God.

Student #10 wrote:

What is so special about chiropractic is that it effectively restores your body’s in-born natural energy flow—in just a few minutes a week—and with those circuits flowing, the light you were born with can fully shine.

Lizabeth wrote:

“Light” is a metaphor, as is “shine.” Take those words out and you will start to understand what you REALLY do. In marketing, always replace metaphors with something tangible and concrete–in order to lend more credibility to what you’re saying. So, let’s go here:

What is so special about chiropractic is that it effectively restores your body’s in-born natural energy flow—in just a few minutes a week—and with those circuits flowing, you can exercise with endurance again, run up stairs, eat the foods you enjoy. (See? Get specific and concrete and use outcomes desired by the prospect.)

Student #11 wrote:

Why You Must Buy My Services Now: “If you continue to do what you’re doing, then no matter how much financial planning you’ve done, you will still be left anxious and unprepared, having reduced your worth merely to the value of material assets–rather than sharing what’s most important: your personal legacy—that which must live on beyond you and be gifted to those you love and admire.

Lizabeth’s response:

That is a good argument. Just refining it a bit: “If you choose to focus solely on your financial planning at this stage of your life, you will make a gross miscalculation: reducing your worth to the value of material assets, rather than sharing what is most valuable about you: your personal legacy—that which can and *must* live on beyond you!”

It’s worth noting that the better your argument (like a lawyer in court), the better your ability to “close the case.”

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

So, what did YOU learn?? Name one thing. Just say it to yourself out loud. (Or post it below!)

This September-on the 23rd–you could have this level of precision brought to your business communications. ILLUMINATE is my twice-monthly business group for coaches and consultants that focuses entirely on the #1 money-making and world-changing skill: persuasive communications. Imagine all of the small errors you’re making in what you say and write and all the money you’re losing because of those mistakes! And imagine how much more money, and what greater impact you will have when you say it right! Go read about it and register here! Don’t wait. This group is super-small, for microscopic attention on you.

Experts: How to Make Your Dent in the Universe

In a now-famous pitch to someone he wanted to bring on board Apple in the early days, Steve Jobs said, “We are inventing the future….Come down here and make a dent in the universe.”

A fairly gargantuan vision, but because he held it tenaciously and with his characteristic bravado, he did it.

Imagine holding yourself to the same standard. How would you make a dent in the Universe? What would it take?

When we look through history, it seems that these kinds of leaps happen only once or twice a century. But our history was set in categorically slower times. We are now spinning through space at accelerated speed and universe-denting originality is happening more and more frequently. Who were we before the internet just twenty years ago? Before Google just 10 years ago? Before Facebook just 7 years ago? We have all  been changed forever by these dents–in a very short period of time.

Is it possible that, because our globe is spinning through a time warp, such originality can happen every month?

How about for every person? Can we all make dents?

A Different Kind of Reality Check

Do you even want to, or are you content to change the world one person at a time? That’s cool. To each his own. However, Jobs would have snapped something nasty at you and sent you on your way for aiming too low; he only worked with those who wanted to bend time.  But I’m not the nasty sort—so I will just suggest that perhaps you’re selling yourself short, falling asleep at the wheel your Soul gave you once upon a time.

If you are in the business of imparting knowledge, shifting thinking, altering behavior, healing bodies—and you do not use the powers vested in you to the extent of their potential, you’re seriously messed up. (Sorry, was channeling Jobs there for a minute.) But it is definitely time for a reality-distortion check.

Steve (I’ll be writing more about this another day) was known to live inside what his employees dubbed a “reality distortion field,” where no laws of physics, or any other laws for that matter, applied. He believed everything was possible without exception, things that did not exist in the known universe yet, and ignored all signs of impossibility.

Personally, I attribute the dent he made to this one character trait. So, it stands to reason that you want to adapt it, too, in order to spin your wheel as it was designed to be spun.

Deciding (for that’s all Jobs did) that everything is possible, and knowing that your wisdom and knowledge is there to make a dent in the universe and not the cushions of your desk chair—or why else even be here–the question is, how to do it?

The Strategy for Making This Kind of Impact

So, you don’t sell a tangible product like Apple; you sell intangible ideas. Therefore, your one-of-a-kind art is not (primarily) found in design and usability as Jobs was so fastidious about perfecting. Your art is in what you say. And it must cut a path. It must be different. This world is saturated with content; saturated with coaches, consultants, healers and therapists. You will only survive if what you say rises above them all. 

And the design you must shape with meticulous care is a story. Stories captivate the imagination the way perfectly sculpted designs captivate the visual sense. But in your case, we’re not talking about your story, or the story of your company/business, or the story of your clientele—the kinds of stories you’re being told to develop.

As an expert, you must offer a Teaching Story. An artfully formed narrative that teaches what no one else is teaching. This is the ultimate in education-based marketing.

To do this, you must first know your market—really, really well.  When Jobs’ mentor, Mike Markkula, aligned with the original motley crew, he wrote a one-page paper entitled, “The Apple Marketing Philosophy,” that emphasized just three points that went on to define the company forever. The first was empathy—“an intimate connection with the feelings of the customer.” He wrote, “We will understand their needs better than any other company.”

What followed? A dent in the universe. Your teaching story will reflect your understanding of your market better than any one else. Even better than they understand themselves. (Channeling Steve again.)

And your teaching story will go one better. It will wrap your market into an emotionally tight tribal community, where powerful unity and affinity exists among like-minds.

Then, the drama of the story begins. It quietly discusses what they always believed to be true; what they have always accepted as true–in society, their industry, culture, or thinking. And just as they’re relaxing into the reminder of this natural order of things, your teaching story slams into suspense, surprising them with the fact that this truth is out-dated, decrepit, and ineffectual. It suspends them there, as any good chase scene does, detailing the problems with the prevailing paradigm, sinking them deeper and deeper into the dire outcome of staying in the reality they’ve adapted for so long.

Then, in gallops the knight in shining armor to save them: your vision of a “new paradigm,” with a brand new landscape, a brand new solution. (This is your one-of-a-kind brand identity.) And it includes a vision for them as a tribe—the legacy they, as like-minded peers, are here to unfold together.

This is when you peel away from the pack of ordinary experts; away from your “good enough” mentality and acceptable bank account—and become a bona fide Inspired Thought Leader, with content worthy of a TED talk; worthy of cutting a path in the publishing field…worthy of making a dent in the universe.

Why? Because in your Teaching Story, you are “inventing the future”!

Does that seem impossible?

Then press the button on your reality distortion field and step in–quickly!

Everything is possible.

And why else even be here if you–with something to teach–aren’t going to dent the universe?

All of this is especially possible if you reach out to me. This is what I do. I develop Inspired Thought Leaders who have one-of-a-kind Teaching Stories that cut a path through the nonsense and noise. Bold, creative, thought-provoking, paradigm-breaking stories so their market respects them, loves them and buys them.

It’s Time to Grab That Wheel, Look Out On the Future and Know You Can Invent It!

Read how I do this with experts by clicking here, and then reach out to me at the bottom of that page. We’ll get on a call and start inventing the future!

 

Rebuilding After Hurricane Sandy

I’ve walked this boardwalk *countless* times. Well, what was a boardwalk.

Every single board of this 2-mile NJ landmark was ripped from its foundation by the force of Sandy and tossed lie a rag doll into the ocean.

Of course, this is mild compared to what has happened in other areas of my beloved NJ…and my beloved NYC. I am grateful that I get to sit, right now, in Starbucks, siphoning wi-fi so that I can experience a taste of civilization. I have been without power for 7 days and am staying–if you can believe it–with my ex, in a house currently alive because of a generator. We have no phone, internet or cable, and yesterday, I sat for 2 hours in line for gasoline–much shorter due to the new “even/odd” license plate rules. [Read more…]

A 10-Step Pitch to Prospects to Buy Your Expert Service

A client and I were concluding my 7-session private process, The Powerhouse Method, and now armed with her one-of-a–kind differentiation and message, we had time to role-play the pitch she was going to make to decision makers at NYC media companies. We had developed a strategy where she would go to those whom she knew best first, so the “pitch arc” we created keeps in mind the warmth of her relationship to them.

I am sharing it here with my answers, rather than hers for confidentiality’s sake. The example should help you adapt it to your own situation and content.
[Read more…]

Determining Your Target Market: 6 Ways You’ve Probably Not Considered–Part 4

In this 6-part series, I’m offering tools to help you determine the market that is best for who you are, what you do, and that will actually buy you. I can’t possibly underestimate the importance of a niche-market or underestimate the difficulty in getting this right for most coaches, consultants, practitioners and speakers. This is Part 4 in the series. Be sure to read the previous posts for all of the tools, then blend them together for your Perfect Buyer mix.

#4. With Whom Do You Have the Most Credibility?

You must go where you are seen as valid and valuable. Many clients come to me and don’t consider this at all, let alone thoughtfully. Here are some questions to help you:

    1. Where do you have solid contacts? Do you have them from your previous career? From your PTA days? From your church? This is one of the very first questions I ask, in large part because you do not want to make business any harder than it needs to be! Go where you have contacts, but also, go there because where others know you, you have credibility.
    2. What have you experienced and conquered? Yesterday, my advice was, “be your market.” If you have gone through something that your market has gone through, as well, you have instant credibility. Downsizing; divorce; teen motherhood, etc. In determining your market, look for the experiences you’ve had because your success journey will be wanted by the market going through the same thing–and they will buy you because you are credible.
    3. Who would resonate most with your beliefs? Like-minds find each other credible. If you say something that causes others to fervently nod their head in agreement, you have credibility with them–even if you lack experience in what you do. Even if it is a market in which you have interest, but no contacts. If you believe in something they do, you are one of the tribe. I always delve deeply into my clients’ beliefs, and eventually have them include them in their marketing because inspirational marketing works for this very reason–you are powerfully credible with those who share your philosophies.

By now, you must be getting ideas. Who is a strong contender for your target market?

A Successful Expert But Still Not Feeling Your Big Purpose? Reason #2

I’d like to round-out this discussion with the other reason you may not be feeling a BIG
PURPOSE—though you’re successful. You may not be utilizing your skills and
talents
for a far-reach aspiration: both yours and your markets’.

When I launched my 2nd business,
Inspired Leadership Training, in 2006,
I was teaching an incredible public
speaking program, Secrets of Impact
and Influence
, based on the latest
brain research in learning. What was
I helping people do, initially? For a
long time, it was “get more clients” by
using public speaking as a marketing
tool. Then, for an equally long time, 
I was helping them to “be the best
presenter in their field”—because this program really delivers that. Then, I was helping
them be responsible experts, raising their standards so they were teaching with
unparalleled excellence—a requirement, in my book, for giving paid presentations,
seminars, trainings, etc. 

But the problem was, these skills and talent of mine, which were able to produce these
promises, were not connecting to a part of me that was alive and well outside of my
business: a part that was becoming aware of and studying global human potential.
I was watching the central institutions of our world collapse around us, and the rising
up of populations demanding freedom and human rights. I knew that this activity was
going to reach a climax—and that leaders with great wisdom would start coming out of
the woodwork, as if suddenly “activated” or called to their purpose. And I knew my
market—a subset of coaches, consultants, authors and speakers–were those up-and-
coming leaders.

Despite this, I was still promoting SII around more practical goals: getting more
business and being one of the best presenters/teachers. Yet, the fact was, this
particular public speaking model was tailor-made for the leaders
.
 For
those who would be called to serve in the global human potential movement. Indeed,
that’s why I had gravitated to learning neuroscience and applying it to public speaking
in the first place!! I had known it could move mountains and mount movements—but
I wasn’t talking about that in my promotion of the course, and not even in the course,
with those seated before me!

My skills and talents were not taking my market far enough, And they were
not taking me far enough into things that mattered most to me. Finally, just a few
months ago, I leapt off the cliff and made it clear that everything I do is specifically
designed for those who want to change the world—who want to be true, inspired leaders.
Not every coach, consultant, speaker or author wants my skills to take them there
they’re more attracted to my older, more pragmatic promises–but so many do! Many
are being “called” to bigger stages every single day and the higher calling of my
skills and talents
(that extend beyond public speaking, by the way) is reaching
out to them
.

So, if you’re not feeling your Big Purpose, look at how far you are taking your followers
with your skills and talents. Where could you take them that’s bigger, higher, grander,
more meaningful—more inspirational?

If you’re one of the called—if you know you are an inspired leader—Big
Purpose known or unknown—it is your time to lead. Be sure to experience
my call Thursday, Feb. 23: A Time to Lead: Do You Dare?

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