Our Blog

As a business coach and life coach, my job is to listen to people. I listen to what they’re saying … and what they’re not saying.

I recently had a conversation I want to bring to your attention, because there’s a message we can glean from it that’s important to your business … especially if you’re looking to bring in new clients and business.

As a life coach and speaker coach, I’m a big fan of using stories and examples to illuminate and inspire. They make the abstract more tangible and personal … more relatable and real.

In last month’s newsletter, I talked in philosophical terms about how coming to the place where you wouldn’t change a thing about your life’s story can set you free. No more regrets. No more woulda, coulda, shoulda.

And no story illustrates this point better or is more inspirational than that of the great tenor, Andrea Bocelli. It teaches you and me how to face the tough times with courage, grace, and a life’s purpose that carries you through.

The Jones sisters, BBQ Pitmasters of Kansas City, have to be some of the hardest working folks this business coach has ever seen! I LOVE these ladies.

They start work at 2 am, smoking meat and prepping for the day ahead. They’re on their feet for 12-14 solid hours a day, working hard to maintain rigorous standards of quality, as they uphold the legacy passed down from their father.

And they’ve been doing it for 39 years … since they were little girls just tall enough to stand on a milk crate!

People start lining up at Jones BBQ at 9 am, and the sisters typically sell out of food every single day as lunchtime winds down!

They’re great people with a great little business. So, why would they need a Netflix Queer Eye makeover in the spring of 2019? And, how will what they learned help you in your business?

As a life coach and someone who writes a couple of newsletters a month, I stay open to receiving insights and revelations from every imaginable source … insights and revelations I hope will help guide and inspire.

I came to a revelation recently as the result of pondering the lyrics of the song, On My Way To You.

It’s a romantic song about finding love through it all … all the ups and downs … the pain and suffering … the wrong turns … the “mistakes.” But the message relates to life itself … your life … my life.

It can be done! Yes, you’re at home and no, you can’t connect with people in person. But, as a Speaker Coach and Business Coach with a lot of experience presenting online, I want you to know you can connect with your clients and prospects virtually and get it to work.

It can be effective. It’s just a bit more challenging.

The biggest challenge? You aren’t able to interact with people in the same kind of up-close and personal way. You can’t play off the energy of a live audience. And that makes it harder to truly connect.

To make the change-over from “live and in person” to presenting via the magic of streaming video a little easier, I’ve partnered with another virtual expert, Lyn Karnstedt, to present the keys to thriving in the world of online presentations.

Someone very wise once said, “Laughter is the best medicine.” As a life coach, I couldn’t agree more.

And when is laughter needed most?

When life turns tragic. When the world is in lockdown and people are getting sick, dying, losing their jobs, and going hungry.

Or when you’ve been told you have a terminal illness … let’s say, ankylosing spondylitis … a disease of the connective tissue … and there’s nothing they can do for you. You have maybe a 1 in 500 chance of surviving.

You Need to Reach Out. Don’t Withdraw!

Things are so uncertain right now. You may need to “stay home,” but that doesn’t mean you have to stop marketing your business.

I understand the tendency to pull back or slip into neutral when crises occur … to wait and see how things shake out before moving forward or at least looking forward.

It’s a good thing for all of us GE wasn’t thinking that way back during the panic of 1873 when they launched their business, or I might be writing this by candlelight.

HP got its start in 1939, during the Great Depression. Microsoft was founded in 1975, a year when the economy was deeply in the tank!

Don’t let worries about the pandemic and the economy stop you from marketing your services. Just adapt to the changing times and do it differently.

An insight from advertising man, Dave Chase:

“Those companies that not only survived but thrived during the Great Depression were those that continued to act as though there were nothing wrong and the public had money to spend.”

Said no one … ever!

Why? Because worrying doesn’t do any good.

That’s always crystal clear in hindsight.

If the things we were worried about ended up turning out okay, worrying clearly did no good. And if the worst happens, it’s not as if worrying helped change the outcome!

A client shared a quote by Keith Caserta recently, “Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe!” I love that.

But it’s human to worry, especially in the uncertain times we’re living in right now.

As a business coach, I see it all the time.

Business owners make a decision … and then they second guess themselves.

As a life coach, I rely pretty heavily on the wisdom and insights of those who are smarter and wiser than I.

In our October Life Lessons letter I invoked the wisdom of Albert Einstein, who said the most important question we can ask is … “Is the universe friendly or unfriendly?”

That question has stayed in my mind, and while we covered the obvious implications of the answer for your health, happiness, and peace of mind, I’ve had some further insights.