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It’s happened to me a couple of times lately. Must be a message from the Universe.

I’ve been on the phone with prospective clients doing a complimentary coaching call and I made the decision for them that they wouldn’t be hiring me.

Say what?

Well, not me exactly. More like the little voice in my head.

Both of the ladies in question are wonderful people and it isn’t as if I wasn’t delighted with the thought of working with them. But with one, I could hear she had pretty limited means and it’d be a stretch for her to afford my services. And with the other, her business is more like a sideline in terms of scope and it didn’t seem as if the expense of a coach was warranted.

And then I caught myself. I have no right to decide what makes sense for other people! My job is to stay in possibility and to serve them anyway I can, and I wasn’t doing that when I was foreclosing options for them in my head.

As strange as it sounds, their decision to hire me or not is actually none of my business.

In the case of the lady with the business that seemed like a sideline, I had no idea what that business really meant to her! A fierce determination to have something of her own … something that provided her with freedom and independence … lay just below the surface.

But when I got out of my own way, set aside my own assumptions, and gave her the option of letting me help her with her business, she jumped at it. I mean she leapt at the idea! That’s when I got the full story of what this meant to her.

So, here’s what I want to leave you with. It’s easy to get to thinking we know what’s right for someone else. We do it all the time, but we can’t get inside another person’s head and heart and know what’s really important to them. That’s what I was trying to do. And I know I’m not alone in going down that particular road.

But consider this. What if you’re the one person they really need right now. What if you’re the one who could make all the difference? What if they’ve been attracted to you for reasons far beyond your comprehension? I think it’s up to you to create an opening for your clients to get something really special out of working with you … just what they need … right when they need it. There’s energy in that. There’s no energy in thinking it probably isn’t gonna work out.

Whenever you’re working with people, especially prospective clients, don’t pre-judge and don’t close any doors. Stay in possibility and assist them in making good decisions, but don’t try to make those decisions for them.

Let the client decide.

Best Wishes,
Denise

Meet Denise: Denise Hedges is a Business Development Coach and Speaker Coach for small business owners who want to be more comfortable, confident, and successful with their sales and marketing efforts. She specializes in helping them use speaking as a way to dramatically improve their results!

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