Why New Businesses Often Fail for First Time Entrepreneurs?

By Cynthia Kocialski



Have you ever dreamed of becoming a business owner or entrepreneur? Can you feel how refreshing it would be to do what you love and have a passion for? Maybe you are no longer employable and entrepreneurship seems the way to control your own destiny? Or perhaps you don’t seem to fit in with the corporate world and you need to create your own world? Everyone has their own motivation, and many will try and fail. But why and how can an entrepreneur improve their chances of success?
Many fail because they are looking at entrepreneurship from an outsider’s perspective. It’s much like the difference between being a football fan and being a professional football player. It’s not just a matter stepping onto the field and playing the game. The player knows the training, the pressure to perform, the contractual obligations and the business of the game. It’s a different world for the player than the spectator.
Likewise, first time entrepreneurs don’t often understand the business of the creating a new company and a new product. While they may have spent years working in the business world, they are fans of entrepreneurship. This is the root cause of many shortcomings and failures. Because they are inexperienced, they make common mistakes that are disastrous, yet avoidable.
One mistake is to believe the product is everything, to focus all their energy and attention on the product. A new business is exactly that, it’s a “business”, not a product. The first time entrepreneur needs to spend as much time creating the business and with as much intention as the product itself. The business should not be an afterthought or secondary consideration. Most believe they need to write a business plan. Not true. While it’ll be needed at some point, it’s not always the best way to get started. If the business plan is a work of fiction or it’s based upon hope and wishful thinking, then it’s not the right starting point.
“Startup From The Ground Up” explores why an entrepreneur can only go so far with just an idea. It provides practical advice for how to get an entrepreneur moving down the right path and thinking in the right direction with practical tips, strategies, techniques and stories on how to transform an idea into a company.


About the Author

Cynthia Kocialski is the founder of three tech start-ups companies. In the past 15 years, she has been involved in dozens of start-ups. Cynthia writes the Start-up Entrepreneurs’ Blog (www.cynthiakocialski.com) and has written the book, “Startup From The Ground Up - Practical Insights for Entrepreneurs, How to Go from an Idea to New Business”

IN DEPTH INTERVIEW: The Heart of Marketing

Questions for Judith and Jim from Philip Harris – All Things That Matter Blog and Press

Q. ARE THERE ANY BUSINESSES TO WHICH YOUR SOFT SELL/ROE DOES NOT APPLY?

Yes, any business or business intention that seeks to dominate and control, because that leads to a need to control not just competition but the buying public as well.

We are all interdependent in this life. We co-create it together, consciously or not. So any business that operates from a top-down, only-number-one-wins mindset must be intolerant, at the least, to the idea of mutual need, and must find repulsive the idea that a successful business is a co-creation of seller and buyer.

Q. IS THIS MORE OF A SERVICE INDUSTRY APPROACH, OR DOES IT ALSO APPLY TO MANUFACTURING?

Understanding the ROI-ROE distinction illuminates the fact that even automotive manufacturers, as an example, engage, for the most part, in ROE transactions. Only a rarified few buy a car with a genuine, thought-through premise of turning that purchase into an ROI outcome.

The manufacturers operate, as a business, on an ROI premise, but the transactions they are ultimately engaged in (an individual’s or couple’s purchase of a new car) are almost exclusively ROE. There are very few transactions that any of us engage in that are strict dollar-for-dollar exchanges. That’s why our new book The Heart of Marketing: Love Your Customers and They Will Love You Back (Morgan James Publishing) will appeal to most everyone who wants to grow their business with integrity and with joy.

Q. WHAT MOTTO WOULD YOU USE INSTEAD OF “LET THE BUYER BEWARE’?

Caveat Emptor (Buyer Beware) emerges out of a dog-eat-dog mindset which, de facto, shreds the fact and experience of our interdependence. Using the Lone Ranger as a metaphor, he didn’t reside in a community, except for his horse and his Indian companion, Tonto. When anyone internalizes that model of identity they are dangerous because they become pathologically narcissistic, with only self-centered awareness and rarely any conscience.

So instead of ‘Buyer Beware” to take our lead from the sub-title of our book – The Heart of Marketing: Love Your Customers and They Will Love You Back – we propose the best new motto is “Buyer Be Loved or Take Your Business Someplace Else.”


Q. RELIGIOUS DOGMA WOULD LEAD PEOPLE TO BELIEVE THAT SERVICES OF A SPIRITUAL NATURE, E.G., HEALING, COACHING, SELF-HELP ASSISTANCE, SEMINARS, BOOKS ON SELF-IMPROVEMENT, ETC., SHOULD BE FREE. AND YET, ALL ARE ASKED TO PUT THE MONEY IN THE PLATE ON SUNDAY. WHY DO YOU THINK SERVICE PROVIDERS HAVE SUCH AN AVERSION TO ASKING FOR MONEY?

Basically, care-givers are we-oriented. When placed in a me-first environment they experience a discomfort that leads to, at the extreme, a renunciation of the self.

Also, their sense of achievement and well-being are tied to the results they inspire and foster in their clients, and asking for money creates discomfort because it returns the focus back to them. Whatever reason they give—filthy lucre, it’s beneath me, it breaks my connection with the person I’m helping, whatever—psychologically it creates an internal tension, a conflict of intentions, and a disturbing dissonance that often they do not understand. We address this in several sections of our book The Heart of Marketing: Love Your Customers and They Will Love You Back (Morgan James Publising, May 2009).

Re: asking for money to be put in the Sunday plate—that’s just a down-to-earth need for funding spun into a spiritual principle of giving and therefore relegated to a hypocrisy.

Q. DO YOU FEEL PROFIT MARGINS SHOULD BE LESS FOR THOSE WHO FOLLOW THE IDEAS OF ROE/SOFT SELL?

Quite the contrary. While there is no need for gouging, the products and services soft sell marketers bring to the marketplace are sorely needed by the peoples of the world.

Devising and selling another series of mortgage-backed derivatives hardly creates real value, and whatever monetary value it conjures has no more purpose than to conjure more and more profit in an unending circle of purposelessness. Such concoctions are deeply incestuous, severely limited, and, unfortunately, have a wide and destructive reach when such merely cognitive, sleights-of-accounting go bad.

And yet, in the face of what we all know to be true, that many strictly ROI transactions generate no real value—except as a good poker hand “creates value” for the winner—what ROE providers provide in their life-enhancing, experience-changing roles are still characterized as “soft” (in the sense of weak) and therefore do not warrant substantial incomes based on substantial pricing and certainly not high margins.

We repudiate that notion unambiguously.


Q. THE LARGE CORPORATIONS THAT HAVE BEEN IN THE NEWS LATELY HAVE OBVIOUSLY BEEN HARD SELL/ROI ORIENTED. DESPITE ALL OF THE NEGATIVE PUBLICITY, THEY STILL SEEM UNWILLING TO CHANGE THEIR USUROUS WAYS. DO YOU FEEL THAT THE OLD ECONOMIC DINOSAURS ARE SOON TO BE CAUGHT IN THE TAR PITS AND BECOME EXTINCT?

Yes. We believe humanity is undergoing a significant shift in consciousness. This shift has been largely supported by instant worldwide communication which has pulled the shroud from what has, in the past, been the ability to manipulate in the dark. Light is now shown into the darkness and unconscious impulses, which have historically been buttressed by the brutality of the so-called ruling class, are being exposed and come up wanting.

Even without enlightenment as a goal, transparency and serious scrutiny are now not only possible, they have engendered in the public a respect and even gratitude such that there’s no going back. That’s not to say that a different kind of concealment is not possible. But that which has in the past been veiled is now revealed.


Q. CAN THE IDEAS YOU ADVOCATE EVEN WORK ON A CORPORATE/INTERNATIONAL LEVEL?

The notions of “corporate” and”international” represent structures. Soft Sell marketing is not yet a structure (although it can be turned into one). Instead, at this point, it is an attitude, an intention, a commitment grounded in the interconnectedness of all life on this planet. Is that intention applicable and efficacious in corporations? Certainly, but only in as much as those who are involved accept it as such and then practice it. Can this approach work internationally? Except for the limitation that consciousness and conscience are distributed across the globe in various degrees and qualities, the answer is the same—dependent only on how much we all want more human-to-human respectful exchanges and how deep our desire to make that happen.

BTW, we are already talking with several corporations about providing trainings based on our book The Heart of Marketing.

Q. IN A WAY, SMALL TOWN BANKS OPERATED MORE ON THE ROE MODEL. CAN BANKING MONOLITHS DO THE SAME? DO YOU FEEL THAT THIS COULD HAPPEN VOLUNTARILY OR WOULD IT HAVE TO BE FORCED?

ROE can’t be forced in the same way that we cannot compel your love. But we also believe that we must grow into a consciousness that advances past the idea of “enlightened self-interest” without abandoning the idea of the self. We must evolve into a sense of self that is deeply and palpably grounded in community—an I within the We. Then we take care of ourselves as well as one another and live from a purpose that extends beyond the rabid individuality that has been exalted in our culture. Our new book The Heart of Marketing: Love Your Customers and They Will Love You Back is dedicated to create that change.

To live without a sense that self is only a true Self as it understand itself within a community and community is only community when it realizes itself as a mosaic of individuals is what leads to the social madness that we are experiencing today.


Q. FOR A PERSON TO OPERATE ON THE SOFT SELL LEVEL, IT SEEMS THAT A LOT OF TIME WOULD HAVE TO BE SPENT NURTURING POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS. THIS WOULD MEAN A LOT OF TIME ON THE COMPUTER. WILL THIS BE THE MODEL FOR THE NEW ENTREPRENEUR?

First, long-term customers are always nurtured. A proven marketing rule is—it takes between 3 to 9 contacts before a prospective customer becomes a paying customer. So time is and has always been an element the computer notwithstanding.

The computer and the commerce it has spawned will be the centerpiece for many many new entrepreneurs because an online business has the lowest start-up cost and the highest profit margins. It also works 24/7 unlike a brick and mortar store that usually closes for some part of the 24 hour cycle. That’s why several of the answers in our new book The Heart of Marketing: Love Your Customers and They Will Love You Back (Morgan James Publishing, May 2009) are in response to questions that come from marketers on the Internet.

The key here is not the computer itself but the entrepreneurial mindset which thrives on extending oneself and also tolerating risk. Nurturing customers is a particular marketing mindset which is also a particular way of being in the world. The computer is just the medium through which these necessary personal traits have vast opportunity to be expressed.

Q. THIS ALL REMINDS ME OF THE SLOGAN, ‘SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL.’ DO YOU SEE A NEW ECONOMIC PARADIGM AS THE WAVE OF THE FUTURE AND WHAT WOULD THIS PARADIGM LOOK LIKE?

The notion of “small” is quantitative, and no fundamentally quantitative metaphor will serve as a paradigm sufficient to inject into the global commercial system the necessary and essential changes required for transformation. Instead there must be a paradigm shift that assists humanity in overcoming the dominant and dominating, value free, largely mathematical world view that underpins current understanding and beliefs about what commerce should be.

Our book, The Heart of Marketing: Love Your Customers and They Will Love You Back, is composed of answers to 45 questions we received during a survey we took promoting our second Bridging Heart and Marketing conference, the only marketing conference for the online or offline soft sell marketer. What follows is the 45th answer in the book and it addresses your question.

#45 Do you see soft sell marketing as the future trend in developing customer relationships?

Soft sell marketing shows every indication that it is the future trend in developing good, long lasting customer relations.

In fact we recently received a promotional email sent out by internationally recognized copywriter, Bob Bly. He’s been writing for years and is very well known in the direct marketing as well as Internet marketing industries.

His many clients include: AARP, CBS Market Watch, Forbes, Harvard Business School, Kiplinger, McGraw-Hill, Nature, Nightingale-Conant, New York Times Syndicate, Prentice Hall, and Scientific American.

Here’s what he wrote:

“The teaching of how to make money marketing information on the Internet has gone from an honorable, honest profession to a hype-filled, slime-infested jungle. Each day, the claims get more and more outrageous.

‘I made $1 million in 17 seconds on the Internet!’ one promoter screams.

‘Join my Delta Mega Force Team today and get a Rolls Royce with your first affiliate commission check,’ another shouts even more loudly.

“Does brag-and-boast advertising like this - especially from so-called marketing gurus you never heard of before make you skeptical?

“To me, these outrageous promotions … sorely lacking in credibility … make me want to toss my cookies!”

It’s the kind of over-the-top hype Bly writes about that prompted us to start speaking out about soft sell marketing, because traditional hard sell Internet marketing has become, in many cases, ever more outrageous. Hype-filled. Not credible.

When genuine, heartfelt emotion is absent, copywriters are compelled to use hype which pushes their sales message over the top. They’re forced to try to generate a feeling response from their readers, but they only have their own brain-space to work with.

We welcome Bly’s acknowledgment of the problem for which soft sell marketing is the solution.



The Future of Marketing

And as for the future of marketing, Jim came across an article about a new book The Way We’ll Be, written by conservative pollster John Zogby. He’s a political right of center opinion taker and we point that out, not for political reasons, but to highlight the fact that what he writes about in his book would not automatically be expected from a man of his political leanings.

Zogby is a very credible and honest pollster and that’s what makes his findings so remarkable—and so relevant to the continued rise of soft sell marketing, online and off.

The generation now coming of age Zogby calls the “New Globals.” Quoting Zogby, he defines them as “that group of Americans, between ages 18 and 29, who:

● Focus on relationships;
● Are the first color-blind Americans;
● Possess a global perspective;
● Want honesty and fairness;
● Appeal to the best in humanity, not the worst;
● Consider themselves citizens of the planet;
and
● Demand authenticity and not spin. They yearn for authenticity like no generation before. They’ve had it up to here with marketing, whether political or commercial, that’s all hype and a payoff that falls far short.”

The Promise of Soft Sell Marketing

Soft sell marketing is all about authenticity. The seller has authentic care and passion for the product or service being sold. And the buyer sincerely values being cared for through the solution to their need. It is much like a beautiful dance.

When done well, soft sell marketing is the dance of life lived out on the stage of commercial exchange. The giving and the taking are equally fine expressions of all that it means to be human. And the needs on both sides of the exchange never end. They remain with us, each and every day. Year after year.

So as we continue to open our relationship with you, dear committed reader, we thank you for your authentic interest in what we’ve had to say. Because it is true that soft sell marketing is the future trend in marketing and sales, and in developing long lasting customer relations.

By reading this book, you are our customer. And we look forward to when we may meet again, and developing a very long lasting relationship with you.

As we say: Soft Sell Is Not a Revolution. It’s an Evolution.

Ah, what a lovely dance!

THE HEART OF MARKETING-A NEW BUSINESS PARADIGM

SL - This Book Can Change the World...

PLEASE READ MY IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHORS ON MY BLOG TOMORROW!!

As you know I’m very careful about what I recommend to you.

But this book . . .

The Heart of Marketing Love Your Customers and They Will Love You Back
(Morgan James Publishing)

. . . is a MUST read for the future of your marketing and the growth of your business.

And no surprise it’s already a best-seller at Amazon - so if you already know you want to get the book and maybe some extras to give to friends since there is a serious discount at Amazon - just go to:

http://theheartofmarketing.com

The authors, husband and wife psychology team and Internet marketers Judith Sherven and Jim Sniechowski are respected friends of mine — and they are the voice for what is known as Soft Sell Marketing.

Now an international movement, Soft Sell Marketing is creating a heart-based change in commerce — to one of consciousness and conscience, caring and community.

And their latest book The Heart of Marketing is now the published voice for this change!

http://theheartofmarketing.com

Answering 45 questions out of 772 that they received during an Ask Campaign for their “Bridging Heart and Marketing II” conference this book is a soul-inspiring, heart-warming turn-around in how you’ll approach your business from now on.

AND when you purchase the book today you receive Judith & Jim’s invitation to get thousands of dollars in Bonus Gifts from their Gift Sponsors — including David Riklan, Mark Joyner, Christine Kloser, Gregg Braden, Hay House, and of course Yours Truly!

You’ll even have the possibility to win 2 Tickets to Judith & Jim’s October 9-11 “Bridging Heart and Marketing III” conference (a $997 Value).

So get The Heart of Marketing today!

http://theheartofmarketing.com

AND please pass this message on to all your friends inviting them to get The Most Important
Marketing Book of 2009.

Judith & Jim received 43 incredible endorsements including Mark Joyner and David Riklan

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This title may sound a little ‘hoofy-poofy’ but don’t let it fool you. Even if you’re a hard-nosed skeptic who shudders at words like ‘love’ and ‘heart’ this book will radically boost your sales. Feeling good about yourself afterwards will just be a nice side effect.
Mark Joyner - #1 Bestselling Author of “Simpleology” www.SIMPLEology.com

I really like the message embodied in "The Heart of Marketing." Part marketing, part self growth, part spiritual expansion, this book opens the way for your much larger future while changing the way we've all thought about business and making money.
David Riklan - Founder, SelfGrowth.com

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That’s how important this book is to the future of commerce!

So get your copy today - and copies for friends you care about -

http://theheartofmarketing.com

By the way, a percentage of book sales will always be donated to Habitat for Humanity!

Because, as Judith & Jim say,

It’s ALL in the Connection,

SOUL IN YOUR BUSINESS, MONEY IN THE BANK!

Tough times do not mean tough business. Constant complaints about failing business have created an atmosphere of fear. Fear is now driving our economic woes. But, this does not have to be the way things are. A strong and committed mindset, coupled with the principles of the Law of Attraction, create a new freedom that is not bound by the dictates of fear. Want to know how to do this? Read the information about Christine Kloser's new book and discover how you, too, can shed the "slings and arrows" of the climate of fear! Perhaps this is the time to create a new business paradigm.

Article Interview Questionnaire
by Ann B. Sloan
Women’s Networking Editor
The National Networker
http://www.thenationalnetworker.com
with
Christine Kloser
How would you briefly describe what you do? (e.g., your “elevator speech”)
I help conscious entrepreneurs integrate their spiritual wisdom with tangible business strategies so they experience a business (and life) filled with purpose, passion and profit.
What makes you / your company unique? ─ your so-called Unique Selling Proposition (USP)?
Tagline: Put Soul in Your Business.... And Money in Your Bank
What is the primary goal / mission of what you do: i.e.
• your work / profession
• My mission is to transform the lives of conscious entrepreneurs. In helping them transform their own lives and businesses, they can use their success as a vehicle for positive change in the world.
AND/OR

• your artistic/humanitarian/philanthropic activities
(as applicable)
• I ongoingly support several causes including Trees for the Future, Free the Slaves and Donors Choose. (Ann – you can www.thefreedomformula.com and click on “about us” to find out more about why I’ve chosen these organizations.)
Please describe briefly how you got started in all this, and how you arrived where you are currently.
My entrepreneurial journey began in 1991 when I literally fell into a career in the fitness industry as a personal fitness trainer. Out of that I also became certified as a Yoga instructor and ended up opening my own yoga studio in Los Angeles. Opening that studio in 1998 was the beginning of the most challenging time of my life. I had gone from working only 20 hours a week, enjoying lots of time off and making great money doing something I loved.... To working 60-70 hours per week, teaching up to 40 yoga classes a week and not able to pay my bills. This challenge lead me to invite some women friends to dinner who could give me the moral support and encouragement I desperately needed. This small group of friends that began in 2000, grew into a large networking organization for women in Los Angeles that was the first networking group to integrate spiritual principles into a business networking environment. During the time this group was growing, I had moved to a larger yoga studio. Unfortunately, this second yoga studio forced me to the edge of bankruptcy and sent me to into several years of financial struggle. Thankfully the Network for Empowering Women Entrepreneurs gave me the inspiration and motivation I needed to keep pursing my dream of entrepreneurial freedom. I experienced a lot of personal fulfillment and success through NEW, as did it’s hundreds of members, but sadly the organization was not something I planned on (I just thought I’d meet with a few friends for dinner once a month, not host meeting for early 100 women in a hotel ballroom), so it wasn’t intentionally built on a profitable financial model. Again, I was faced with having to shut down this business because it just didn’t make financial sense anymore. Around the time I was coming to this realization, I was also on a deep personal quest to figure out what it really took to make a business success in making a difference and making money. This is what set me on the path of identifying what it meant to be a conscious entrepreneurs, what the elements for success were for this new and growing business model, and how I could experience this in my own life. After several years on this quest of personal, spiritual and professional development, I was inspired to put my understandings down on paper and wrote the best-selling book, The Freedom Formula: How to Put Soul in Your Business and Money in Your Bank. The process of writing this book, pursuing my purpose and clarifying my message has opened so many doors of opportunity for me, it has been a miracle to experience. Now, The Freedom Formula has been turned into a 4-day live event, The Freedom Formula Experience (January 2009) featuring such visionaries as Neale Donald Walsch, author of Conversations with God, James Twyman director/producer of The Moses Code and Marianne Williamson, author of A Return to Love. The doors keep opening as I continue to create products, services and events that help entrepreneurs put soul in their business and money in their bank.
Which of your projects are you currently most excited / passionate about?
The Freedom Formula Experience! www.FreedomFormulaExperience.com. This event is going to set the stage for a whole new movement for conscious entrepreneurs... my intention is that this event has a tangible, positive impact on our world.
How much of your work is focused specifically toward women? Please explain.
While I don’t exclusively market to women, 90% of my clients are women. I think, in general, the type of work I do that incorporates business and spirit naturally attracts women. I find that women are often more conscious of their spiritual connection and are seeking more meaning and purpose in their business.
What are some of the ways / places in which you promote your enterprise?
I published a bi-weekly award-winning ezine, Conscious Business Connection.
I distribute media releases at least twice per month.
I do a lot of joint venture marketing with like-minded entrepreneurs in which they’ll host a teleclass for their database with me as the guest speakers.
I place advertisements on the internet through Google Adwords.
I submit articles online to several article distribution services.
I network and speak at live events.
Social networking primarily on Facebook and Ning.
Whom / what does your network currently include? How far does your network extend? (AND / OR: What is the size of your list / your outreach?)
My ezine reaches more than 6,000 entrepreneurs world-wide with the majority of readership in the United States. My network is the most valuable asset I have in my business.
What has been the best about building a network: Positive experiences?
Benefits, expected and unexpected?
The best thing about building my network is the tremendous amount of resources I have at my fingertips every single day. Resources in terms of trusted colleagues and collaborators, vendors for any need I may have and... and an abundance of financial resources.
What challenges (if any) have you found in your networking experiences? Unexpected events? Any benefits emerging from challenges in the long run?
My greatest challenge has been following up with people I meet in person. It’s so easy to meet wonderful people everywhere I go, but it’s not easy to always follow through with all of those contacts to the degree that I’d like to. The emerging benefit has been creating some great free resources for my target audience. Now, when I meet people I want to stay connected with, I ask for their permission to send them my free Conscious Business Success Kit which includes a subscription to my award-winning ezine. This allows me to ethically opt them into my database and be able to maintain communication with them.
Bottom line – What do you feel is really working well for you / your company at this time?
Hands down, what’s working for me is my network! Most recently, as soon as my network found out about The Freedom Formula Experience coming up in January, they are coming out of the woodwork to ask me how they can help me promote the event. The other thing that’s really working well is having my book The Freedom Formula done. Readers are having great results from reading the book and sharing it with their friends. The buzz is spreading because of the pass-along value of the book. This is working really well right now and I am so grateful for everyone who is connecting with my book.
What’s the achievement / accomplishment you’re most proud of at this time?
Not quitting on my dream. I’ve faced some very challenging times... and keep hearing from others that I should just give up and get a job. And, I never did. I knew I had something to contribute through my own business, and I kept pursuing that purpose no matter what.
What are your plans and goals for the future (organizational / personal), especially regarding networking activities?
My goal for the future is to continue publishing books and developing new products and services that help entrepreneurs grow their business based on spiritual principles. As far as my networking activities go, right now they seem to be taking o a whole new level. I think the future of my networking activities will be more focused on networking with centers of influence in related fields and leveraging those connections to impact more people.
Anything else you would like to add for our readers? Perhaps words of encouragement and / or inspiration?
If you have the desire in your heart to succeed as a woman entrepreneur, you can. Don’t ever give up on yourself or your dream. Keep yourself surrounded by supportive people who believe in you. Ask for help and know that everything that happens to you in your life and your business is happening for a reason... to serve your highest good, and the highest good of the people you’re meant to serve.

How to Shift into Abundance
In times like these, when the external world is absorbed in "lack, lack, lack", it's more important than ever for you to shift into abundance... and stay there. Yet, when I analyzed the responses to my recent survey (on the challenges you face in your business), the majority said they were having trouble getting out of fear and living in abundance.
So, in this article I'll be sharing one of the most powerful tools I use to shift into abundance... no matter what's happening around me. This is a process I use practically every single day to keep myself in the energy of abundance. Not only is this process simple, energizing and fun; it works!
Energize Your Vision
Step 1: Find a vision partner. In order for your vision to have the biggest impact on your life, it's best to energetically speak your vision out loud to a vision partner. Your partner needs to be someone who "gets" you and who believes in an abundant world. Create a partnership with someone who support you in your dreams, doesn't call you "crazy" for thinking BIG, and understands the power of a held intention.
Step 2: Set up a time to talk with your partner. Once you've found a visioning partner, make an appointment to talk on the phone for at least fifteen minutes every week. The first time you have your call, you may want to schedule a bit longer so you can talk about the process after you're done and check-in with each other to see if you have any suggestions or feedback for future sessions.
Step 3: Create a sacred space. When it's time for your vision call, you'll want to do a brief centering exercise that aligns you with each other and establishes the sacred space in which you'll share together. Just taking a few deep breaths together can easily get you centered. (That's the yoga instructor in me speaking.)
Step 4: Speak your vision. After you've taken a few deep breaths and created a scared space together, the first person to go simply begins to speak their vision to their partner... as if you were experiencing it right now! Allows yourself to transcend any current situation in your life right now and truly shift into the energy of your vision ALREADY being realized. When you do this, you connect at the highest level of the Infinite Abundant Supply, to God, the Universe (or whatever you call that Source of all that is). And, your resonance with this "field" is what causes things to shift in your life.
Step 5: Listen to your partner. As important as it is for the person speaking their vision to step into the energy of having ALREADY realized their dreams, the partner (listener) also has an important responsibility. The listener must hear his/her partner's vision as if it IS already done. They must hold the vision, and see it as vividly as their partner does. Then, once the partner is complete, the listener says, "I see that vision for you." The listener can also contribute any additional words of support or any insights they received that would benefit their partner in realizing their vision.
The experience of having another person listen to you with the intention of your vision being realized is deeply powerful. It's been one of the best tools I've ever used in manifesting all that has come to me in recent years from the birth of my daughter and the purchase of a brand-new custom home, to the release of one business and the rapid expansion of another. I urge you to find a partner and get started with this today because remember.... it's not only fun, it works!
NOTE: If you cannot find a vision partner for this process, then you can simply do it on your own. Be sure to SPEAK your vision out loud, even if only to yourself. The spoken word, (and the energy) it carries is a key piece for this to work.
Believe in Your Power to Transform the World
What would it take for you to BELIEVE you can truly transform the world?
No matter what business you're in, no matter where you live, no matter what challenge you may be facing right now... you absolutely stand in a place of power to positively transform the world. And, if you're saying to yourself, "Yeah, that's easy for you to say, Christine, but you don't know what I'm going through." I assure you, I understand because I've been there. I know what it's like to believe in your ability to transform yourself (and others) when it appears that nothing is going your way.
Remind yourself of the fact that being alive right now, as the unique being that you are, is a miracle in and of itself! The moment you were conceived you were a miracle, and you continue to be... no matter what may be going on in the world around you.
The reality you live in depends heavily on the conversations that occur in your mind. Your level of belief in yourself (and the power you possess to make a real difference in the world) exists in your mind as well. So, here are some ways you can increase your belief in your ability to transform the world. Keep in mind, when you think of "the world" remember you don't have to transform every single person on the planet, but you do need to impact those in YOUR world.
1) Remember Your Accomplishments
One of the best things you can do to establish deeper belief in yourself, and your abilities, is to remember your past accomplishments. Take out a piece of paper, grab a pen and begin to list your accomplishments right now. What success have you experienced in your business, your relationships, your education, your friendships, your family, with your clients, your mindset, your personal goals, your partnerships, your masterminds, etc. Everything counts! So, start your list now and keep adding to it. This exercise will help you stay in a higher vibration so you can continue to do what you're here to do... and continue to impact lives.
2) Remember The Difference You've Already Made
This is another terrific "list" exercise that connects you with the difference you've already made in the lives of others. Whenever you doubt the power you have to create positive change, recall those moments in which you KNEW, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that you made a difference.
Right now, think about those experiences you've had with a client where you knew you made a difference. Perhaps you saw it in their eyes, heard it in their voice, or read it in their words. Then, keep this list handy and read it often. For me, when I need a reminder, I read my Amazon.com book reviews for The Freedom Formula. It's an instant connection right back to the impact my book is having on readers worldwide. For you, it may be going to your "brag file," or reading a note from a client or testimonials on your own website. Whatever it is for you, anytime you feel your doubt waiver... remember the difference you've already made and it will help you make a bigger difference in the days, months and years to come.
3) Remember Your Higher Purpose
This strategy invites you to elevate your perspective of why you're here, living on the planet at this critical point in time. You are here to wake up and help others wake up to the new world that is emerging right now. You chose to be here at this important time because you have a unique purpose to fulfill in helping others to heal, grow, transform, evolve, and become all that they were meant to be. Your purpose may be showing up as a gentle whisper or a booming voice... but it is clear that you are here to be a force for positive change in the world. So, remember your purpose (even if it's not crystal clear yet) and let that carry you into deeper and deeper belief in the role you have to play in transforming the world.
These three strategies are essential for staying on track with your dreams and being a CAUSE for positive change in the world. Doubt and fear will likely surface as you take bigger and bolder steps in your business to create more transformation for others. But, not to worry... when you come back to these strategies, you'll realize that nothing can keep you from doing what you're here to do. And so it is...

Copyright (c) 2008 Christine Kloser
Christine Kloser, author of The Freedom Formula, helps small businesses put soul in their business and money in the bank. If you want to enjoy a purpose-driven business and a soulful life, send for my free Conscious Business Success Kit, which includes my report, How to Avoid the 3 Massive Mistakes Made by Conscious Entrepreneurs and audio, 7 Strategies Entrepreneurial Authors Need to Know Before Writing a Word, at www.loveyourlife.com. Be sure to check out Christine's upcoming event The Freedom Formula Experience at www.freedomformulaexperience.com

HOW TO ALTER THE AMERICAN ECONOMY!

Despite the economic slowdown, layoffs, mortgage foreclosures and a generally depressed economy, the American consumer is still the most powerful economic force on the planet. With selected use of its holiday spending, the consumer can forever alter the American and world economy. Solace should be taken in the fact that billions of dollars are still being spent to get you to buy, buy and buy this holiday season. How you spend your money and what you spend your money on can forever alter what and how products are produced.

With great sadness I heard the story of the death at a Wal-Mart store where hoards of consumers trampled a person to death just to get a shot at holiday bargains. Those that did this represent all that has been wrong with our economy and the consumer. With the promise of ‘big savings,’ throngs of frenzied shoppers did just what large corporations want the consumer to do; spend their money mindlessly! If we are to come out this emerging depression and if we are to save the planet from increasing risks of environmental collapse, the consumer must use its spending power to alter the way business does business.

Image this as headline news on December 26th. “While holiday retail spending was the worst in recent memory, the American consumer sent a clear message to businesses; they want change and will use their hard earned dollars to get it. Americans abandoned their traditional habit of buying anything that carried a ‘sale tag’ and sought out products that were natural, eco-friendly, lasting and American made. While almost all retail sectors were down, there were sharp rises in natural health and beauty products, small scale solar products, items made with glass and steel instead of plastic, crafted toys, natural fiber clothing and durable goods that have a sound history of actually being durable. Store owners, dismayed with all of the products still left on the shelves said that next year, they will abide by consumer wishes and stock those items that that meet changing consumer preferences.”

This type of story does not have to be a fairytale. It can happen and it can happen now. As a consumer, you can buy non-plastic item. Stainless steel water bottles, glass baby bottles, and toys made from safe materials can be found. Yes, these may cost a little more but once this type of spending habit is developed, costs will come down. If need be, look on the internet and shop on-line for natural products and stop trampling people to death. If internet sales of such companies sky rocket, businesses will get the hint. Find clothing that is made of natural fibers. If it costs a lot, buy fewer items. At least you know that the gift will not give people skin disease from petro-chemicals in the fibers. There are all types of natural health and beauty aids. Buying these products will tell companies to stop putting carcinogens in make-up. There are hundreds of solar and other alternative energy products that you can buy on the internet. From outdoor solar lights, wind-up radios and flash lights, to solar powered chargers for laptops, cell phones and IPods, spending on these items will let industry know that you are serious about alternative energy products. It is said that form follows thought. Know also that products follow dollars. Instead of cheep particle board furniture, but those made of solid wood. If it costs too much, get one piece at a time rather than buying a whole set. At least what you get will last and will not contain chemicals used to make pressboard.

And you know, you can always buy books! Instead of just the big names from the big chain stores, visit the smaller independent bookstores and buy some unknown authors. Buy books from small presses instead of the Big Six publishers that have controlled 90% of what they offer you to read. Save some trees and buy a Kindle reader from Amazon and download books in seconds. Find books that not just entertain but that also inspire others to help create a new way of life and a new way of doing business. Check out authors like Jack canfield, Juna Jinsei, Susan Shumsky, Marvin Wilson, Linda Walker, Joyce Moore, Brian Doe and yours truly, Philip F. Harris.

The point of all of this is that you, the consumer, stand at a crossroad. You can continue to spend money on poorly designed sometimes dangerous and useless non-lasting items. These items will all end up in the overflowing landfills in weeks and will add to climate degradation. Alternatively, you can choose the path that creates a more sustainable world and buy products that have meaning and durability. You can choose to trample or you can choose to alter out economic system. Tell businesses what you want and do it with your dollars. You have the power. Don’t continue to put that power in the hands of others.