April 8, 2015 by Jesse Koren

Behind-the-Scenes Lessons from our BIG Launch

The past month has been amazing, insane and fulfilling all at the same time.

Nearly 25,000 people opted in to see our video series and attend our webinars.

And we welcomed in new clients from 19 different countries and 5 continents. We are so grateful!

If you followed our launch, we hope the experience was valuable, inspiring and beneficial for you. The comments we received were heart-warming.

And Sharla and I (Jesse) feel so fulfilled by this launch, that we have decided to offer you a HUGE gift that we are preparing for you now... look for an email from us next Thursday about this gift. We think you’ll LOVE it!

Why was this launch so amazing, insane and fulfilling?
Sheesh! We knew this launch was going to be a ride, but we didn’t realize how much of a ride it would be.
Behind the scenes, we learned TONS!

Whether you’re planning to launch your business (someday, maybe) or on the verge of launching something REALLY BIG, we hope you can learn from our experience and not repeat our mistakes.

The Top 5 Lessons from our Launch

1) Plan Your Success and Celebrate (no matter what happens)

It’s embarrassing to admit that in our first years of business, we were so busy “working hard” that we never stopped to plan or celebrate. Can you relate?

We prided ourselves on “flying by the seat of our pants,” LOL! Not so funny for our team...
We used to drive them crazy with our last minute changes and never-ending work ethic.

This time, we knew the launch could get really ugly if we didn’t gather our amazing team together to plan our success and to make sure everyone was on the same page.

We met with our team many times throughout the launch, to stay on the same page.

It was so inspiring to feel that our team was genuinely excited for the Thrive Community to grow, even though the launch meant there would be some long days and late nights approaching for them. We are SO lucky to have such an amazing team.

Yesterday we gathered with our team again to celebrate and acknowledge the great work we did together! While it was our biggest launch ever, we were excited to report it was also our smoothest launch ever. And it was really sweet to see how fulfilled our team was to see our Thrive Community double in size, practically overnight...

One of our Thrive Coaches, Erin Delaney, said it was great to hear so many different accents from all over the world, on our teleseminar we led yesterday.

No matter whether you have a team or not, we encourage you to plan your success and then celebrate (even if it doesn’t feel like a success!) You do this enough times, and you’ll need a big team supporting you.

2) Make Your Commitment BIGGER than your circumstances

We set a launch schedule that was barely attainable under the best of conditions. 6 weeks to create 4 value-packed videos, a webinar, 22 emails, and all web pages, etc.

If you read our last blog post, we were on the brink of disaster, you know that our whole family got sick, including nannies, which threw everything off...

Our #1 commitment is to our boys, so Sharla or I stayed with the boys during the day, and we worked late at night to prepare our content for the videos.

Did you see the amazing videos Sharla released? She recorded them with a burning fever, stopping only to quell coughing fits. You might have been able to hear it in her voice. But Sharla’s spirit shines so brightly, that if you watched the videos, you would hardly know she was sick.

This is because Sharla lives what we teach:

When your commitment is BIGGER than your circumstances, you become magnetic.

The world is starving for people who kick the back door shut, and say “I’m in, no matter what happens and no matter how I feel. I’m in!!!” Nothing was going to stop us. “In sickness or in health, ‘til death do us part.”

Many Coaches and Holistic Practitioners are not magnetic because they never fully commit to their business. Or if they do commit, they are committed, unless X happens. Or, unless they feel Y. Then, they back out. Magic happens when your commitment is BIGGER than your circumstances.

3) Don’t Let One Part of You Sabotage Your Entire Effort

This month, I worked harder than I have in a long time. A part of me LOVED it. I felt like I was in my 20’s again, unstoppable, superhuman, and ready to change the world.

But another part of me was not having it. This part wanted to play and rest and roll around in bed with Sharla, and didn’t give a flying *$#@ about the launch. I shoved this part to the side for weeks... finally, during the last week of the launch, this part of me got super pissed off. And very whiney! And made my lower back ache like crazy.

So I took about 15 minutes to journal with this young part of myself. And it wasn’t until I promised him video games, and spaghetti dinners, and long cuddle sessions with Sharla that he finally backed off…and I felt “normal” again. But I’m telling you, had I not done the journaling, my little guy would have ended up sabotaging the whole launch.

So before launching anything, we recommend you gather your “inner team” together and literally get them all on the same page.

What this means is: journal with the various different parts of yourself. Chances are that you have a part of you that is EXCITED to expand. And another part of you that is scared to expand. And another part of you that wants to work really hard. And another part of you that just wants to rest or play. You can add more parts and invite them into the “part-y”. Name these different parts of you, and let them have a conversation on paper... because one part of you who is not on board, can sabotage the whole thing. And, it pays to get everyone on the same page.

4) Fail Gracefully

“The more you fail, the more you succeed.” You may have heard this before, but how do you let yourself fail? Especially if you’re a perfectionist and often beat yourself up for not being perfect. And how do you fail gracefully?

Well, one thing that’s helped many of our clients is a distinction we introduce at the beginning of the Client Attraction Summit. When you make a mistake (which is inevitable) instead of saying “I’m so stupid” you can just switch the words to “I’m so Sexy!”

Here’s how it works in real life:

During one of our webinars, the slides that we had spent thousands of dollars to design (and Sharla had personally spent at least ten hours working on) did not upload correctly.

With about 700 people on the webinar, it wasn’t a great time to have a big breakdown like this. And she couldn’t say, “Give us about 10 minutes to fix the slides.” So instead of freaking out, Sharla said “I’m so sexy,” (and then explained what “I’m so sexy” really means) and then did the webinar without slides.

During several of the other webinars, the slides continued to get messed up in the uploading process, but Sharla did not let that stop her from staying in her heart and delivering the content we had planned to deliver. Even if she was super sexy in the process.

5) Make Connection with Your People More Important Than Marketing Advice

Sharla got hundreds of beautiful, positive, inspiring comments on her videos... everything from her clothing selection, to her radiance and beauty, to how valuable the content was. But we also got a surprising number of negative comments about one thing: The timeline! People were frustrated they didn’t know how long the video was and couldn’t rewind if they wanted to hear something again.

Many marketing studies state that video engagement is higher when you don’t have timelines. So we initially defended our decision by saying that we didn’t want people to skip through the videos and consume them fast food style... but the frustrated comments kept coming.

So after releasing video 3, we emailed our launch list with a heartfelt letter, sharing that we finally got it... and we were adding the timelines to the videos.

We got MANY emails and comments thanking us. And funny enough, the engagement with our videos actually increased after we added the timelines!

If we had it to do over again, we would have put the timelines in much sooner.

Okay, that sums up five of our biggest lessons. If this was valuable for you, share it with friends. And, leave us a comment and tell us your thoughts.

Let us know what you think in the comment box below.

February 19, 2015 by Sharla Jacobs and Jesse Koren

How to Position Yourself (If You Don’t Feel Successful Yet)...

About seven years ago, I (Jesse) was at a party and my former life coach approached me and said, “I’ve heard that you and Sharla have become quite successful. Congratulations!”

I was speechless. Us? Successful? Really? Is that what people think about us?
Why was I so surprised and embarrassed?

Sure, we had made $732,000 that year (in our third year of business together), but it didn’t feel like we had arrived... not even close.

I knew our struggles so intimately. I knew how many people we wanted to reach.
We weren’t even close to where we wanted to be.

Four days after that party, I entertained the idea that we really were successful.

I realized that in comparison to some people we were successful and in comparison to others, we were failures.

I discovered that nobody had the power to determine whether we were successful or not.

So, if success isn’t an objective truth then what is it?

Success is a choice as to how you see yourself.

If you look for evidence that you’re successful, you will feel successful.

If you look for evidence that you haven’t “made it” yet, you will feel like a failure.

After that party, I CHOSE to start seeing Sharla and I as a success.
And we attracted more success to us.

Even if you just started your business, you can see yourself as a success.

Look back at your life and find tons of small successes that have made you the incredible human being that you are today.

No matter how unsuccessful you may think you are, you get to CHOOSE how you see yourself. And you get to choose how you describe yourself to other people.

No matter how unsuccessful you may think that you are, I guarantee that you are at least two steps ahead of many people on this planet who could use your help.

And two steps ahead of your people is ALL you need, if you want to be of service.

In last week’s blog post: How to Position Yourself as an Authority Without Sounding Arrogant, I wrote,

If you are trying to help someone get to the top of a mountain, would you rather get underneath them and push them up? Or stand above them and pull them up?
It’s a LOT easier to stand above them and pull them up to your level.

So as long as you are two steps ahead of the people you want to help, you are in a GREAT position to help them.

But how do you convey you are two steps ahead of them, without sounding arrogant, egotistical and full of yourself?

And what do you do if you’re just starting out or you’ve just been in business for a very short time? Or if you’ve been around for a while, but haven’t quite “made it” yet, then how do you position yourself?

As we shared in last week’s blog, if you just list your accomplishments or your expertise, with no humanity, you will sound arrogant.

So it’s important to share your humanity and your expertise.

Here are some true examples from our life that might spark ideas for how you can position yourself by sharing both your humanity AND expertise.

How many people we’ve helped:
(Humanity) We struggled a lot in the beginning, but we never gave up. And, because of our perseverance…
(Expertise) we’ve been fortunate enough to be able to help over 25,000 people.
The collective results of our clients:
(Humanity) While we have had some clients who have not gotten any results,
(Expertise) we do have a LOT of clients who are making six figures and attribute their success to what they learned from us. In fact, if you pooled all of our clients together, we could conservatively say that our clients have made tens of millions of dollars with what we have taught them.
Our personal results:
(Humanity)In our first two years of leading workshops, we gave our heart and soul to our participants, but never earned more than $1,000 for the workshop.
(Expertise) Recently, we led a live event that brought in over $500,000 in one weekend. We feel so blessed to have learned so much over the last 10 years.

If you’ve helped a lot of people, gotten great results for your clients, and had tremendous personal results, you can use the three ideas above to help you decide how to position yourself without being arrogant.

But how do you position yourself if you’re just starting out (or if you’ve been around for a while, but haven’t quite “made it” yet)?

Here are some ideas to get you started:

Use Your Personal Story.
Your personal story (we call it Your Hero’s Journey Story) is the story of how you faced something (and got through to the other side) that you now help your clients face. You can share how you walked through your own “dark night of the soul (humanity)” and are now living an amazing life (expertise). If you are someone who walks her/his talk, this also positions you in a way that has your Potential Clients believe that you can walk them through their dark night of the soul also.
Your Image.
We recommend you dress two notches higher than your potential clients. Many people make the mistake of continuing to dress how they do when they’re with friends when they’re doing business. We recommend you dress like you’re making 6 Figures. Dress in a way that is both elegant (expertise) and uniquely you (humanity).
How Long You Have Studied Your Profession (Personal Development PLUS Your Niche).
Here’s a great template that includes Humanity and Expertise:
“I’ve studied personal development and________ (your niche: health, money, beauty, or love) for many years. During this time, many people have been drawn to me, and asked for my support. Enough people have approached me that I decided quite some time ago, to dedicate my life to helping a LOT/hundreds/thousands of people overcome this problem.”

Here’s how to come up with your own Positioning Statements:

Step 1.
Make a list of all the different ways you can position yourself as an authority in your field (be truthful, of course). (If you are struggling with the six positioning strategies listed above, we are happy to give you 10 more in our Client Attraction Mastery Home Study Program (we’re launching on March 31^st, so stay tuned).

Step 2.
Write up phrases you can say in conversation, in your emails, or on your website that bring humanity and expertise to your communication.

Step 3.
Practice saying these phrases in a safe place. You can practice in front of the mirror or with a good friend. You can also come to the Client Attraction Summit, which is a very safe place to practice positioning yourself in a community of heart-based people.

We’d love to hear how you feel about this. Let us know in the comments below.

January 15, 2015 by Jesse Koren

The Question that Changes Everything

We’re busy getting ready to lead the Client Attraction Summit in San Francisco tomorrow.

We are expecting a room full of amazing people who are flying in from all over the US, Canada and the UK to be here…
And truthfully, our energy is pulled toward how to make this event life-changing, powerful and as awesome as possible.

When it was time for writing the weekly email and blog post, we realized we didn’t really have the time, and honestly didn’t want to with everything we have going on. (Please don't take that personally, LOL.)

“Should we skip the blog post this week,” I (Jesse) asked Sharla.

"Definitely," we both agreed. But we both knew how important it is that we keep our commitment to send you a valuable article or video every Thursday.

So we asked ourselves one question that makes this whole thing fun, easy and doable...

It is a life-changing, paradigm-shifting question that we've asked ourselves hundreds of times and really is at the heart of our success. This question allows us to stay consistent, when most people would give up.

This quote is one we took to heart many years ago:

“Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers.”

- Tony Robbins

“What is this life-changing question?” you ask…

"How can this be easy?"

We asked ourselves, “How can it be easy to both keep our commitment to providing value every Thursday, without draining ourselves or taking up too much time?”

So, when we asked ourselves the question, this short and hopefully highly valuable blog post idea came to us.

What would be possible for you if you asked the question “How can this be easy?” anytime you were overwhelmed, frustrated or just didn't want to do something and were thinking of breaking your commitment?

That's it! How's that for an easy article?

We'd love to hear from you in the comments below.

Let us know what you think!

January 8, 2015 by Sharla Jacobs

How to Tame the Most Intense Business Challenge

Most coaches and holistic practitioners start their business because they want to do meaningful work. Can you relate?

But they often don’t realize how challenging running their own business can be. When it gets challenging, especially so challenging that it shakes you at your core, who are you going to be in the face of adversity?

What if there were two questions you could ask yourself that would allow you to tame even your biggest challenge?

Question #1:

WHY are you doing this “business thing” in the first place?

For most coaches and holistic practitioners, you do what you do because you received tremendous (even life-changing support) from someone who did what you are now trained to do. This is a great why!

However, if you really want to tame your challenge, we suggest you look at a higher level. Ask yourself, “How will the world become a better place because of the work I’m doing?”

This allows you to come up with a “why” that is bigger than your own well-being.
When you come up with the answer, you’ve got a powerful mission to fulfill. The bigger your mission, the bigger you become. And when you energetically become bigger, your challenge pales in comparison to your strength.

A few years ago, we realized that what we do best is turn local coaches and holistic practitioners into extraordinary Transformational Leaders who are making $10,000+ per month and impacting hundreds and even thousands of people with their work. Through helping our clients, we get to positively impact the lives of millions of people. This is a BIG GAME that inspires us, so much that the many challenges that have come our way have seemed small in the face of who we’ve had to become to win this game.

And the great news is that our well-being increases by fulfilling on this mission.

Now it’s your turn: How will the world become a better place because of the work you do?

When you have an answer that inspires you and lights you up, write it down and place it on your wall. Look at this every morning before you start your work.

Question #2:

There is a second question to ask yourself. This one is an edgy question because it’s easy to think you’ll be able to answer this question AFTER you are making six or seven figures in your business.

The question is: “How can your business be a force for good for the entire planet?”

When things get tough, it’s important that you’re not just in business for something bigger than yourself... you’re also in business for something bigger than your clients.

In asking yourself how your business can be a force for good for the entire planet, ask yourself: “How can my business be a vehicle for philanthropy?”

When your business success means you’ll be contributing to something greater than to yourself and your clients, your tough times will feel small in comparison to the people you are supporting through philanthropy.

Several years ago I was at an event with our dear friend, Cynthia Kersey. She shared her vision to have every child in the world get an education. I was so moved by her photos of the mamas and babies. And disturbed by the conditions these families endure, just to get a drink of water, for example.

I was moved by the idea that every child would not only get an education, but also get access to clean water (where the mamas didn’t need to spend their entire day to get water) and desperately needed medical care.

She also shared that the parents would learn how to earn a sustainable income, and that the community would be taught organic farming, to make sure that everyone in the village would be clothed, fed and educated in a self-sustaining way.

The thought of children starving and having no hope to get out of their circumstances is heartbreaking to me. It’s an instant guarantee of tears and a pit in my throat. By the end of that event, I stood up and declared that we would sponsor an African Village before the end of the year. I had committed to donating $25,000 without even asking Jesse!

Jesse, of course, agreed and this commitment fueled us in ways we could have never imagined. And when the middle of December came, we sent Cynthia’s organization, the Unstoppable Foundation, a check for $25,000.

At the time, it was a HUGE stretch to send that check. But now, when we see pictures of the new school building they built and the well, it inspires us to keep doing our business at higher and higher levels.

When our boys are older, we plan to take them to this village in Kenya, so they can see the good that came from our commitment.

(If you’re interested in learning more about the Unstoppable Foundation, here is a link to the website.)

We also have built philanthropy into our business model at the Client Attraction Summit.

We recently passed the $100,000 mark in our contributions through Kiva.org. We’re just getting started.

We encourage you to include philanthropy as part of your business model. When you make a commitment to have an impact in an area that is bigger than yourself, you will walk differently and talk differently and your problems will seem small in comparison with your soul-filled commitment. And when you look in the mirror, you will love who you see.

Let us know what you think!

November 6, 2014 by Jesse Koren

How to Create Your Crystal Clear Vision

Do you ever feel bored with your business or you find yourself struggling to make ends meet? If your answer is Yes, then it’s likely you’re missing one of the most essential keys to attract clients without struggle. Today’s article will help you understand why you’re stuck and how to change it.

Now, if you are like us, you’ve had people laugh at your dreams and say things like: Get your head out of the clouds. Be realistic. Stop dreaming.

When I (Jesse) was around 9 years old, I was one of the best soccer players in my town, and I had a dream of playing professional soccer on the Chicago Sting. When I wasn’t playing soccer, I was daydreaming about it and even went to sleep at night holding a soccer ball.

One day, a boy who lived in my apartment complex said, “Did you know that there are millions of other boys who also want to be on the Chicago Sting? What makes you think you’re better than millions of other boys? You’ll never make the team.”

Then he punched me in the stomach...
The physical punch hurt for a minute.
The punch of his words stung for years.

I believe we all had a dream to become great...
and we all get the wind knocked out of us at some point...

Many Coaches and Holistic Practitioners have given up on their dreams so many times that they no longer have dreams. Some have vague dreams that they are slowly moving towards, but the dream still feels totally out of reach.

Only the most successful people hold on to their dreams, keep them close, vibrant, full color... so that when they think about their dreams, their heart starts pounding harder and they feel their body quiver with excitement.

Until you have a crystal clear vision for your business, you might wake up feeling a little groggy and aimless and spend the day doing a lot of busywork that gets you nowhere...

Until you discover that your money situation has hit rock bottom. And then suddenly you feel a rush of motivation to get clients. When this happens, your motivation is rooted in fear, which is okay because it gives you the firepower you have been missing. Unfortunately, your motivation disappears the moment your fear disappears... So, as soon as you get financially comfortable, you lose your juice.

This, in a nutshell, is the entrepreneur’s yo-yo life when they have no vision calling them forth.

One of our mentors, Rev. Michael Beckwith, says, “Pain pushes. Pause. Until Vision pulls.”

So, how do you create a crystal clear vision that pulls you out of bed? That is so compelling and exciting that it inspires you to take actions every day that turns your vision into your reality.

The first step is to imagine yourself at the peak of your success... what have you accomplished?

How many lives have you positively impacted through your work?

And did you touch these people through your private work with clients, or through a book or home study course, through a high end group program, or was it through workshops or speaking engagements?

How does your success enhance the rest of your life?

And don't forget this important part of your Vision: How much money are you making (many coaches and holistic practitioners leave this important part out)?

Would fulfilling this vision be worth the time , money, energy, and personal transformation you'll need to get there?

Here’s an example from our life:

About 10 years ago, we dared to imagine ourselves touching the lives of over 25,000 people and making millions in the process. We imagined ourselves having a few select, VIP clients, but impacting people mostly through our speaking engagements, live events, teleseminars and high end group programs. We imagined ourselves having a private chef and having a personal team of assistants who were dedicated to making our lives as easy as possible, as we lived this big dream.

This vision pulled us to take risks most people don’t take, to be steadfast in our quest for the best business strategies, and the most powerful personal transformation. This inspired us to invest deeply in ourselves and invest over $250,000 in our business education, and to stay “on the train” when most people would have given up.

Was it easy?
Not always.

Was it worth it?
Yes.

Our vision we dreamed up 10 years ago is NOW our “Pinch me, I’m living my dream life,” reality right now.

Of course, our life is not perfect, we still get bumps and bruises, but we feel so blessed to live the very exquisite life we dreamed up 10 years ago.

That’s why we’ve dedicated our lives to helping you fulfill on your deepest desires for your life, whatever that looks like for you. Because we feel that you should be well compensated while you’re changing the world.

This is why, on November 18, we will be opening up Full Scholarships to the Client Attraction Summit.

At this 3-day Live Event, we will not only help you get your Crystal Clear Vision, you’ll also create a one year game that takes you a GIANT step closer to your vision.

You’ll leave with the inspiration, skills and confidence to take your business to a whole new level!

So, look for an email from us on November 18th, inviting you to attend this 3-Day Live Event for FREE, as our gift to you.

You’ll hear more in future videos and articles about our new Vision, because the Vision we created 10 years ago is mostly fulfilled on (so we started dreaming up a new vision).

To give you a little glimpse, it involves more video, serving many more people, taking our boys to exotic destinations, building our dream home from the ground up (so we can have it exactly how we want it), donating millions to causes we believe in, and being an even greater force for good on this planet.

We hope you dream with us and join us at the Client Attraction Summit.

And, in the meantime, we’d love to hear about your vision in the comments below.