Sustain A Profitable Business

Whether we’re a new coach or an experienced coach, we understand the importance of dedicating time to build our business. What happens to you when you hear those words? Most of us hear the siren call to marketing and sales…and many of us pull off the path and stop right there as soon as we hear the siren. We’ve all been there.

We all have a story we tell ourselves based on our personal history and experience with “marketing” and “sales.” Some of us say, “Yippee! Here’s a chance to show people the unique me that will offer the unique them exactly what they’ve been looking for”. The rest of us have some reluctance, ranging from “I don’t know what to do” to “I’m not ready” to “I couldn’t possibly”. Been there, done that?

What’s really going on? Are we feeling exposed and vulnerable because we’re “supposed” to present ourselves in a certain way and we don’t know the rules?
Have we heard all the rules and we’re paralyzed by what’s expected? Do we not know who to ask for help? Do we even know the help to ask for? Are we challenged by how much help might cost us financially?

Are we resistant to the commitment we might create through our language and materials and what we might we have to live up to once it’s out there? Are we afraid of promising what we might not be able to deliver? Are we afraid we’re not really as good as we want to be? Are we worried that coaching might not be as good as we represent it to be? Are we embarrassed by the notion of “selling ourselves?”

What assumptions are we making about what our prospective clients want? Are we wondering if we’re special enough or skilled enough to be chosen from the masses of coaches? Do we believe that the market is saturated and it’s not worth the effort? Are we secretly discouraged, knowing we haven’t tried our hardest or done our best?

How we answer these questions risks creating stories that lead us to focus our attention on outer evidence to prove our value. We write and re-write copy for brochures and websites. We agonize to create the perfect logo, brand and image of who we are as coach. We design events, workshops, classes…all backdoor invitations to enter into coaching.

Despite our best intentions, efforts and creativity ~ the phone doesn’t ring and we don’t make calls. We find ourselves at home, alone, separated from what we long for, puzzled by the conundrum – we built it and they didn’t come. On the advice of our coach we look back over our calendar to see how we invested our time, only to discover we are:
• Separated from the life we loven • Separated from the people who enliven usn • Separated from the environments that stimulate our best self
We are choosing instead to work harder and longer on exactly the opposite. We wonder whether it’s time to get “a real job”.

So what is the other side of the Great-Business-Building-Dilemma? What is the front door invitation to coaching? What transcends our stories to allow us to build our business with ease and joy? What reminds us that coaching is our choice and it is a real job? Relationships
When we’re out in the world with the people we love, the incoming tide washes over us creating experience from the relationships that infuses our passion. Those relationships remind us of what we make important to enliven our offer to the world. Authentic relationship generates strong tides and that emanates from the inside-out, from the essence, center or core of who we are.
And, now you are wondering, what do I do next?
1. Place important relationships on the front burner. na. Use your inner knowing to identify the relationships that enliven, empower and energize you. nb. Examine your allocation of time and commit space to these important relationships. nc. Set intention for how those relationships support your choice in being a coach!
2. Explore a deepening inquiry about what you make important.na. What choices drain you, what choices enliven you?nb. What limiting beliefs stop you from choosing what feeds your passion?nc. What breakthrough will energize your invitation to others?
3. Feed your own longing.na. Quiet enough to hear your own voice of passion and how it wishes to express ~ improvisation, singing in a choir, alpine hiking, book club…nb. Craft a personal vision statement that expresses your essence, names what your center is and activates your inner light; speak it often.nc. Nurture, nourish and appreciate your physical self in ways that are special and sacred for you.
How do you sustain authentic relationships that are central to sustaining your business in the ebb and flow tides of life?
Use Flow to Inform Your Ebb
Moment to moment and over time coaches partner with clients to discover and explore cycles, generate awareness through metaphors of what’s reflected in nature, embrace breakdown as a precursor to breakthrough and facilitate access to capacity, acceptance and allowing. It’s so easy to notice these cycles and resources in our clients’ relationships, emotional lives and patterns of growth!
How do we apply the same noticing in our business building? What is our relationship with a flow tide and how can it support us during an ebb tide? What do we believe about flow and ebb tides that generates habits full of dread and struggle? What new belief generates ease and joy?
When we’re in flow, we’re connected to our essential self, our core, center and inner awareness, sometimes called our personal vision. Riding the flow tide wave is joyous, exciting and fills us with enthusiasm. From this perspective we see the world we are committed to create with an attitude of unlimited possibility, creativity and resourcefulness. We are whole and unstoppable.
What do we know when we’re full and in the flow, that could be available to us when we’re more challenged? When we get quiet enough to listen what emerges? What are the stories we listen to and the meaning we create from them about ourselves, our business, our security, our well-being when the ebb tide recedes? How do we use this?
When business ebbs it’s a call to be out in the world!
What helps us to remember it’s up to us? How do we embody the inspired experience we desire, the intention that aligns us with the dynamic tide? What enlivens us? What role does imagination play in manifesting what enlivens us? What feelings and sensations alert us that the chemistry with another person is oh- so-fine?
Envisioning our inspired experience is a moment-to-moment happening. The view into the world from our essential self helps us open, anticipate and recognize what we desire as we move about our lives. To be resilient in our capacity, we allow spaciousness in our choices and experiment with discovering the experience we desire in new environments.
What helps us embrace a different story that restores our sense of joy, excitement and enthusiasm regardless of the tide dynamic? What activates our clarity and alignment with personal vision in the face of old stories that threaten to swamp our surf board? How do we choose to break our old patterns of dread of struggle and choose instead to embody our natural rhythm? Essence
Breathe essence alive daily!
Express essence in every moment awareness notices.
1. Make opportunities for essence.na. Be essence; speak it, write it, sing it, chant it, dance it, draw it.
2. Develop or strengthen the habit to LIVE from the inside of personal vision! na. Practice pausing to ask, is this choice aligned with your personal vision? Are you showing up from essence? Strengthen your pause muscle so that you listen more attentively to your personal vision.nb. Strengthen habits in the same way you do muscles, with exercise and consistent activation. How do you build your habit for activating your essence muscle?
3. Express, choose and act from your core, your center, your essence.na. From this place there’s nothing to rehearse or remember. nb. Now that’s ease! … Be an early adopter!
And, the best benefit of all, you tap into an artesian well of joy, excitement and enthusiasm that is generative, in both flow and ebb tides simultaneously.
How do you sustain essence expression that is central to sustaining your business in the ebb and flow tide of life?
Want Successful Business Expression? - Be Essence (562 words)
What’s essence got to do with it? Living from essence naturally ignites passion and inherently demonstrates integrity, trust, intimacy and authenticity in our relationships. What becomes possible when we employ the lens of essence for choosing our business expression? What is innately present in our lives that others will appreciate? What evokes inspiration, partnership and commitment in our relationships?
Life experience and history are unique to us. The process of living reveals rhythms and patterns that are recognizable by others. Choosing to live from essence, telegraphs a powerful, invisible invitation to those who align with us. Connecting with them further infuses our passion and attraction.
When we’re disconnected from our essence, we look outside for guidance, to the rules, the experts and the way things have always been or are supposed to be done - the one-size-fits-all techniques that end up feeling uncomfortable and phony.
What situations, environments and types of people ignite us in ways that feel unlimited and effortless? How can they be in service to building our business? What experiences set us up to be transparently ourselves rather than acting from any role?
Where might we experiment? What activities leave us feeling most alive and satisfied from being engaged, connected and contributing? What associations and organizations share our values and points of view about meaningful living? What groups and individuals are seeking to make the difference we want in the world? Who do we love to be with? Where do we find people participating in our version of fun and relaxation?
What revives and recharges our essence expression? It’s a whole new level of self care. How do we know our tank is getting low, our light is getting dim or our well is drying up? What are our unique early warning signs? What helps us see escalation in time to stop and redirect?
Everyone knows our bodies need rest, personal fitness, spiritual well-being and mental inspiration. These are also essential to sustaining essence. How do fatigue, irritability, reactivity, listlessness, impatience, apathy, hypersensitivity, self-doubt, anxiety and hopelessness inform our ability to revive, recharge and renew? When do we typically notice? How might we use these and other signals to change patterns? Attentio

Harness attention! If we surf ourselves into the undertow of old habits, celebrate noticing. Choose anew from the inside-out. If dread and struggle show up, be curious about limiting beliefs; celebrate what serves and choose new beliefs that empower ease. Reflect, write, dance, artistically express from our inner sanctum to reconnect to source energy.
If we think we are too alone, choose to share our commitment with another, giving attention to the expression of our essence and allowing another to witness and celebrate. When we choose to partner with peers and people we love, in the same way we do with clients, we create our own champions who reflect our essence back generatively! When we reward and celebrate our choices we harvest the valuable wisdom of the process which we also can share with others.
What sustains your essence expression? Your focus of attention upon connecting to yourself and, responding to your calling sustains your essence expression. Experiment with these action steps and experience your attention being more focused.
1. Ask your coach to be direct and completely honest about what they are observing about your attention. na. Invite your coach to be respectfully challenging.nb. Check inside, what is true for you and how will that influence your next choice?
2. When your body hurts discover its message as a clue to what you need.na. Take the time to respond to its call; walk, massage, swim, rest, stretch.
3. Create periods of stillness in which your attention can wander and surprise you with new possibilities.na. That means, find some times to be by yourself.
What supports your successful business expression? Responding to your calling and getting paid for it!
Presence is the Heart of Enrollment Ease
What are our conditions of satisfaction as coach, business professional, entrepreneur, significant other/spouse, sibling, friend and individual? How do those conditions influence our choice for giving attention to something or someone? How often do we give ourselves permission to even consider this question? How does our level of satisfaction impact our ability to enroll clients? What supports us in remembering our front door invitation to coaching through essence expression in every relationship in our lives?
When we notice ease and joy as the defining qualities of our experience with self and others we feel bold, adventurous and ignited. We are stimulated through our presence and engagement to discover, activate, encourage and acknowledge that same boldness in others, especially in partnership with clients.
The highly satisfying relationships in our lives spark our essential presence, discipline our attention and strengthen our experience of ease and joy. A reinforcing pattern emerges that sustains us and attracts others.
Clarity brings out the best in us. What is available to us from the way we are being with our clients? Clarity about our values-based drivers of satisfaction calibrates our lens of perception into the world so that we engage others from our hearts. Pursuing clarity increases the quantity of relationships we love, respect, admire and desire, the ones that bring out the best of us. It is this described state of being that powerfully inducts others that will sustain us!
When we dare to be different, unique in our essence and fearlessly authentic, present in clarity with self and others, we come to trust our attraction to those who seek their own authenticity and those who value our way of being.
Once we’re walking our walk, all that’s left is talking the talk. Authentic Presence
What infuses our ordinary lives with a quality of satisfaction that is contagious with others? Clarity refines our commitments and balances our presence when we align with our central values that sustain our essence-based choices. Feeling familiar? What about the core coaching competencies supports us? How are we applying coaching presence, building trust and intimacy and creating awareness as we engage others in our lives? Oh that!
What helps us to consciously choose our presence with the confidence that who we are being is what telegraphs and inducts others to be with us? How do we build trust and intimacy in our relationships that inspires others to accept our invitation? What triggers discovery of our client’s dreams, aspirations and personal and professional visions so that our invitation for coaching is natural, organic and compelling?
How do you strengthen your authentic presence for sustaining profitable business?
1. Dare to be different, unique in your essence expression, fearlessly authentic; this is contagious.
2. Identify the intersection of a client’s conditions of satisfaction and the authentic you; create awareness for the possibility through a coaching relationship!
3. Express a clear request. In every relationship you choose, extend an invitation that makes it easy for others to say “yes” because they see themselves served and satisfied through the relationship with you as coach. n