Sometimes the Leap Takes a Push

As we travel through this journey called life. Each new challenge brings with it new knowledge, new confidence and new self worth. 

So why is it that we resist them each at first? I've been sharing lately about the amazing results I'm experiencing with my new business coach Chris Suva. As I have found in my experience with working with a coach, I am pushed to do or create something bigger than I have before. I am pushed to step into a version of myself that perhaps others see, but I don't completely believe yet. 

As I am working on bringing my first full day event to fruition, I find myself alternating between excitement and terror, anticipation and self-doubt. Luckily for me, based on my very first session with Chris, I can look back and see how that exact feeling in the past has led me to some of my very best moments and finest achievements. 

Sometimes, in order to take that leap of faith, we need a little push. 

  

Crossing the Line

One of those "catch phrases" I've grown tired of hearing is "get out of your comfort zone", so I find it strange that this is where this week's Nourish your Business Nugget comes from. For the past almost 2 years, I have been growing a women's networking organization in the Chicago area.

We have an amazing group of women who are truly supportive of one another, who are doing TONS of business together, and really collaborating and helping each other grow.

As the director of the chapter, I've always been very careful not to push my other business at events, for fear of looking inappropriate. I have said, I never want to give the impression that I think it's "The Shannon Show".

Sometimes members will ask me about what else I do, and I'm happy to share it with them, but kind of on the DL, so to speak. 

When I started the group in the beginning, with the advice of the coach I was working with, it was expressly so that I would get in front of the right people for my business. I've sent a few offers through a newsletter or a mass email and since I didn't get an overwhelming response, I chose to believe that no one was interested. 

The truth of the matter is, these women love me. I have a beautiful jar full of hand written notes sharing how much they think of me and appreciate me. I know, given the chance, they would love to support me. And, are in my exact target demographic. So, why am I so afraid to ask? 

In an ongoing effort to grow my network marketing business, I have made a commitment to reach out to my chapter members and sit down with each one one on one. 

What close contacts do you have in your life that you haven't discussed your business with out of discomfort? Out of a sense of crossing some imaginary boundary? 

I'll share the formula of my ask in the hopes that you will make a call this week yourself to get share what you're up to. 

1. Make the invitation personal, suggest a time and place that will be mutually convenient. 
2. Start with offering some times and days you are available that you would like to meet. 
3. Be specific with the time you plan to meet, in my case 45 minutes, so they know clearly how much time to schedule.
4. First, offer to hear what they are working on, and how you can support them in their goals.
5. Second, ask for their feedback in an area that you share interest or the connection that you have with one another, or an area where you feel they have expertise and would be willing to help you with research.
6. Third, let them know what you are looking forward to sharing with them, maybe it's your business in general, or maybe it's a program or event you're looking to promote.

I bet you'll find at least 3 warm market prospects you didn't even know you had! 

3 Secrets to Grow your Business when you Connect

We crave connection. Real person to person connection. We get so bombarded each day with commercials and ads.

All expecting us to hand over our hard earned money without ever actually connecting with us. 

Women, especially, do business based on emotion, rather than logic. Touch her heart and she will practically throw money at you. OK, not literally, but pretty close. More importantly, she will want to support you and help you and can become a fantastic source for lead generation without you ever having to ask.

1. If someone has made an impact on you, personally or professionally, tell them! 
Last week, I felt compelled to drop a short note to my business coach who has profoundly impacted my life. I don't know why, but I'm glad I did. You don't know when what seems to you to be a tiny gesture could mean the world to the person standing next to you or waiting by the phone or sitting at their computer.This was her response:

We are all connected, we are all one community. When that tiny voice tugs at your heart, listen.

2. Be authentic! 

People can sense a phony. Know who you are and what you stand for, and don't compromise because you think your customer or partner will view you more favorably as a result. There are things about you that make you, YOU. Love those things! They make people remember you. Me? I love wine and shoes! People I've met at just a few networking events post to my facebook wall funny sayings about wine or great shoes all the time. That means they are thinking about me. Top of mind is GREAT for business. 

3. When you are making a person to person connection, CONNECT! 

One of the greatest compliments I ever received was from a friend that told me she never feels so truly heard as when she speaks with me.

Have you ever been talking to someone and you can see them looking over your shoulder? Have you ever found yourself formulating your response before that other person completes their thought? 

This includes when you are on social media. Complete your thought, your whole thought with the other person in mind, leaving your agenda at the door.

Remember, touch her heart and she will practically throw money at you.

Feed that craving with our supportive live and online networking community.

Situationally Specific Confidence

As people, particularly people on a journey of personal development, we are growing and improving continually. As Tony Robbins, and many others have stated, if you're not growing, you're dying. 

I started my entrepreneurial journey in January 2006. As I grew my first business, my confidence grew. My personal confidence, my professional confidence, my confidence in my future self, my public speaking confidence, my training confidence. I found myself in one situation after another that was scary, but once I worked through it, became rewarding and even fun. 

But life isn't linear, and the road we are on is seldom straight. In that same business, I experienced challenges with my business growth and more impactfully, with leaders I had viewed as mentors and colleagues I had viewed as friends. Feeling like the unpopular girl in high school once again, I began my retreat. At first, it was so slow, I almost didn't notice. I certainly denied it was happening, to those around me and most importantly to myself. 

Here's the funny thing, at this same time, as my professional confidence was eroding, my athletic confidence was exploding. I ran my first marathon, then my second. I completed my first triathlon, at the Olympic distance. I entered the dirty and physically challenging world of mud and obstacle racing and advanced from the Warrior Dash to the Super Spartan race. 

I also built amazing friendships in a circle that I hold great passion, esteem and love for. A group of people that I respect and enjoy. I get to be one of the cool kids when I'm with them. I advanced to the "in crowd".

I observe, in hindsight as we often do, that I didn't lose my confidence, though I thought so at the time, rather I shifted it to another aspect of my life. We often view people from a distance that seem confidant in one way or another and we assume that they are fully, 100% confidant and competent in all aspects of their life. I wager they are not. How often have you heard an interview with a celebrity who shares something they are really bad at, something maybe even close to what they are known for. Like an athlete who is a terrible dancer, or a public speaker who can't sing in key. 

Working with an amazing coach, she saw my loss of professional confidence and the effect it was going to continue to have on my business and worked with me to take a huge leap in a totally new direction and start Chicago Over 40 Females. WOW has that been amazing. Over the past year my confidence has grown exponentially. I feel loved and respected and recognize those are very important things to me. 

And last fall, I took the leap to resign my leadership position with my direct sales company and shift into a new company. Totally new in every way. It has been amazing, uplifting, and successful. But, this week, I've observed another strange phenomenon in my confidence. I lack the confidence in my role and my connections in this business in an insidious way. Where I have no qualms about talking to anyone about Over 40 Females, in any profession, at any level, asking them for any level of sponsorship or involvement, I find I have some silo'd areas where I have that same confidence in my new business. 

If we're not growing, we're dying, right? 

As I move into the 2nd half of 2014, I embark on yet another facet of building my self-confidence, and learn to accept and embrace that it doesn't always apply in all situations.

How about you? Do you find there are areas of your life where you are confident, and others where you wish you were? I'd love to hear about it!