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.
