Big Thinking
I hear you loud & clear: you don’t want to choose. You don’t want to focus on one passion over another. You’d rather celebrate the diversity of your interests that founder in homogeny.
I hear that you want to explore each of your passions separately, giving them each a name and a dollar sign.
My question to you is simple & honest: How’s that working out for ya?
I want you to be fulfilled & profitable, finding the truth of what you really have to offer while honoring the expansiveness of your gifts.
It’s not about focusing on what you do, but why you do it.
It’s not about limiting yourself, it’s about digging deeper.
And then owning – claiming – what you find down there.
I have always fashioned myself a Renaissance Woman. My interests & talents have been wide & varied. I’ve indulged myself here & there, always feeling guilty about moving on to something new, never knowing where I would turn next.
In my personal & academic life, I have been a musician, a scientist, a pastor, and a theologian. In my business, I’ve declared myself everything from a social media consultant to a copywriter to a web designer.
What I have realized is that my interests are a means, not an end.
My job title is not “Renaissance Woman.” Nor is it any of the titles I have mentioned above. My title is a representation of the result of digging deeper into these means. It’s an outward sign of much inward work.
That work wasn’t making a choice, it was realizing what I wanted my end to be. That “end” is the purpose behind my work. It’s the world-shaking change I need to make.
My purpose, the change I want to make in the world, is too big to be tucked neatly into my interests.
Interests grow & change. We chase new things like toddlers chase shiny objects. Your “end” might expand or evolve but you have a better idea of what you want than you give yourself credit for.
What expression of your gifts will best serve this great vision?
What method?
What work?
What product?
Which people need your work to help you realize this vision?
If you don’t know yet, that’s okay. Keeping looking. Keeping digging. Keep experimenting.
I’m working on a program to help with this – Really & truly! – for early fall. Think intimate, high-touch, high-concept group coaching. Think business as novel. Think the power of other brains plugged in to your brain (and biz). Want to learn more? Sign up here for backstage access.
Big Thinking
I released a new thang to the world this week. It’s been 2 & a half years in the making and just about 3 weeks in the doing. I’m crazy proud of it.
And it’s selling like hot cakes. Faster than anything I’ve put out before. People are saying lovely things and I’m tickled anew each time.
I caught myself thinking how in love I am with my own potential. ‘Cause you know I’m only just skimming the surface of what’s available to me – internally, externally, in community. I’m 28. And I’m whip smart. And oh-so-on-fire.
I’m biz-coaching MBAs, I’m speaking to people who care, I’m writing to amazing people, I’m chit chatting with rock stars. I’m in congregation with the coolest people this side of changing-the-world-via-crazy-ideas.
And I’m only just getting started.
My point is not to toot my own horn but to get you thinking about the song you’re playing.
It’s all too easy to fool ourselves into thinking that it’s too late. Whether you’re 18, 25, 35, or 85. The truth is that it’s never too late. Your potential is always available to you. Your potential is always evolving.
Your own capacity for greatness – whether in business, family, love, or money – isn’t something to fear or a stick against which to be measured. It’s a calling, a coaxing, an ever present coach. It’s not something you “live up to” but something you can embrace & caress with your actions today.
No, you haven’t achieved all that your capable of yet. If you had, you’d be dead! Don’t see the vastness of your own potential and fear the first step in a new direction. Look to your potential as a horizon for which you’re always reaching.
Meanwhile, that potential you see pouring out of others? That doesn’t make you or your capability smaller. You can be in love with others potential, too. You can play for the same team.
I’m in love with my own potential. There. I said it.
Are you?
Oh, that new thang? It’s called The Art of Earning. It’s a name-your-own-price guide to creating an honest, easy, and downright beautiful relationship with money. Afterall, why are you in business if you don’t like money? Click here to learn more.
In addictively readable prose that quivers and snaps with something like poetry, Tara Gentile calls out the overworked and underearning in the creative digital business realm. Enough, she says. If you’ve been wondering why you haven’t had your money breakthrough yet, or if you’re stuck in the ‘middle’ of your industry with no clue how to rise and terrified to fall, Tara’s here to set you straight.
– Abby Kerr |
abbykerrink.com | expert on
Ruling Your RealmAnnouncements, Big Thinking, events
I just came back from the World Domination Summit, a 2-day party with 500 of my closest friends.
Looking around the ballroom, everyone gathered & buzzing with excitement (and coffee, it is the Northwest after all!), it was clear to me that there were only 2 types of people in this room:
- Leaders
- And those on the cusp of becoming leaders.
That’s one exciting revelation for me. I really wanted to run on stage, grab the mic, and tell everyone what amazing leaders I saw sitting around me. I didn’t…. maybe next year, Chris?
Last week, I spoke with Sinclair about a lack of leadership in the entrepreneurs around me. They’re struggling to find their voice, struggling even more to be heard, and therefore struggling with cash flow. She agreed: a major stumbling block in making a business work is accepting your role as a leader to others. It’s less that entrepreneurs are not leaders and more that they haven’t owned their own leadership yet.
Becoming a leader can be frightening. It means your opinions are trusted, your ideas are given weight, your voice is heard. That’s a lot of responsibility! But offering a product for sale or guidance for hire carries the same weight. You can’t avoid the responsibility and, if you try, you end up feeling a bit trampled.
If you’ve abdicated your position of leadership as a business owner, you probably have a difficult time prioritizing your work, you feel like you have to shout to be heard, and what little communication you receive is generally in the form of polite encouragement instead of cash. When you don’t act out of leadership, you feel subject to the flow of the system instead of a driver on your own wide open road. When you haven’t accepted leadership, you use qualifiers like “I think,” “in my opinion,” and “maybe” instead of unequivocally owning your beliefs.
Do you want to be qualified or do you want to be amplified?
When you accept your own leadership, your voice is joined by those who trust you and by those who support you. You are no longer listened to – your word is acted upon.
Being a leader isn’t about how many customers/followers/friends you have, it’s about shining out of the dark.
Being a leader also isn’t dependent on what your business is about. You can lead from any industry at any level, it’s a mindset not set of qualifications.
Accepting your role as a leader allows for your art – your voice – your change-making to be witnessed.
You, my friend, are at the cusp of a new dawn and we need you as a leader in this new day. We need a jolt of your power and a taste of your juice. We need you to bring forward new, crazy ideas. We crave your voice & vision.
Will you step up? Will you show up?
I’ll be speaking more about this & a whole lot more at Profit Catalyst in Portland in a few weeks. This event – organized by Sinclair & also featuring the brilliant Charlie Gilkey – will be like no other and the good news is you don’t even have to catch a flight to attend. Sinclair is offering a simulcast version (watch with us live!!) of the full event so that you can get activated, catalyzed, and edified about doing business in the 21st century right from the comfort of your very own home.
To get all the details on Profit Catalyst – both the LIVE and SIMULCAST versions – click here.
PS The first 10 peeps to click the link above AND register for the Profit Catalyst simulcast will also receive a free 1 hour coaching session with me to be used between August and September 2011 (a $200 value). This is a great way to follow up on what you learned and grab one-on-one help where you need it most! So click here and get registered.
Announcements, Big Thinking, events
Oh boy! Do I have some big news for you?!
In a few short weeks, I’ll be speaking at a fab event hosted by the fab Ashley Sinclair, of Self-Activator. I’ve been watching Sinclair’s business explode for a while. If you dig my vision of a world led by passionate, creative entrepreneurs, her vision is going to rock your socks too.
You can find out more about the event – Profit Catalyst – and how to participate (including a sweet deal from me!) at the end of the post. But please take a minute to read through this brief interview with Sinclair where I dispense with the niceties and cut right to the quick.
You have experience working with large corporations & organizations. Why work with individual entrepreneurs?
Two very important reasons:
- I love business
- but I speak entrepreneur.
I come from a family of them. So I’ve been learning the ups and downs, the risks and rewards, of running your own business my whole life long. From tiny cottage businesses to multinational corporations, I’ve seen it all, but I’m most interested in the entrepreneur’s experience.
I want to be on the leading edge of culture and innovation, helping change agents push things forward. I may be biased, but I believe individual entrepreneurs are in this incredible, unique position to do just that – and I love to help them get there.
Well, we certainly have that in common!
You run a BIG business with a highly individual touch. Your tribe feels like they are connected to your personally (and I suspect that they are!). But in order to achieve this big business, you’ve got a team working behind you and supporting you.
Did you build your business with a team in mind? And how would your business be different if you didn’t have a team?
This is such a great question. I built my business with my personal strengths in mind – so yes, I planned on a team from the beginning, even though it was just me for the first 6 months. I know that I’m at my best when I’m leading a group of people, and helping each team member contribute what they are really best at.
I just don’t show up in the biggest way until I’ve got people to lead, so I make sure that I do. My own business would be much smaller in scope if I was still a solopreneur. I’d be much farther removed from my audience, since I’d be focusing solely on automated income streams to maximize my leverage on my own. And I think I’d simply be less creative, because I know that I build things best when working with a team.
You approach business creatively, holistically, and strategically. How do you envision business changing for creative entrepreneurs over the next 5 years? What strengths will be most valued?
I think we’ll continue to see a proliferation of boutique creative industries pop up, as the way we digest content and info matures in the marketplace. I would not be surprised if this proliferation required all entrepreneurs to become branding and positioning experts – I think we’ll see less hangups about that as people get more comfortable with the self-publishing model of sharing free content to attract business.
I believe Individualization will increase in perceived value, big time. Authenticity will be at a premium, because nothing else will get through the noise of the marketplace.
Many start-up entrepreneurs have major difficulty getting past the PROFIT part of business. Their heart & souls are invested in what they’re doing and that’s just hard to price. What is ONE thing you wish entrepreneurs knew about themselves & they’re inherent ability to command a good price for their work?
Oooh, this is so tough to share just one thing. I’m going to with what I think you need to know first:
Pricing has nothing to do with your worth as a person, or the worthiness of the client. It’s not the time to get squeamish, that’s for sure.
If you’re struggling to make a good living, you’re absolutely useless to those outside of yourself.
Price accordingly – the world needs your gifts, and needs you at your best, so you’ve gotta take great care of yourself to begin with by charging well for your work. I mean it – this is non-negotiable for passionate entrepreneurs who want to make a contribution.
Making this higher pricing understandable and desirable to your customers is the art of packaging and positioning. Don’t worry, it’s a skill set, and it can be learned. Hallelujah!
In my experience, coaching crafters and Fortune 500’s alike, I’ve found that if you give the customer the right info to make a great decision about your product, they are more than happy to pay a premium, every time.
How’s this sound?
: More play than you’ve had in the entire last year.
: More training than you thought a human could handle in 72 hours, at all levels of the entrepreneur.
: The neuro-rewiring stuff you guys always beg me for.
: The sales-conversion insider strategies that buck all soulless trends.
: PROFIT – leveraging what you’ve got to rake it in.
That’s what Profit Catalyst is all about. And since I’m all about producing the work of your heart & soul whilst making a keen profit, I’m speaking at this outrageous event. Join me, Sinclair (above!), and Charlie Gilkey, of Productive Flourishing, fame to get catalyzed.
Click here to learn more.
PS If you click through my link above and decide to meet up with me at the live event, I’ll gift you one of my Jumpstart packages, a $400 value, to be used between August & September.
Connect with Sinclair on her website or on Twitter.
Big Thinking, society & culture
And now for something completely different.
I have deep love for college students. And soon to be college students. And just graduated college students. And really anyone who feels like they are maybe sorta still a student and not quite a “grown up.”
Mostly because I still maybe sorta still feel like a student.
Stepping on a college campus is electrifying for me. The hum of the institution is pleasantly deafening.
I’ll make just about any excuse to go to a college. Note: if you happen to be a professor or administrator at an institution of higher education, let’s talk. I’d love to talk to your students about entrepreneurship, new media, and the value of creativity in the New Economy.
So when I heard that Sarah Von, of the blog Yes and Yes, had created a Post-College Survival Kit I wanted to get me some of that. I wanted to talk to her right away and find out if she loved college students as much as I do. She does.
Her course – which you can still get in on live, live, live – is geared towards recent grads or those in similar situations. But our interview is for everyone. The state of higher education and the preparation of the next generation is everyone’s concern.
Here’s what we talked about:
- What assets do does a recent college grad have that most students don’t think about or leverage?
- What did Sarah do right after graduating? What would she do differently?
- What is the number one thing most college students are missing from their experience of the world?
- What should college students concentrate on attaining for themselves? How should they be measuring their life-after-college experience?
- What’s Sarah’s vision for the world’s youth as they grow up?
Listen below:
[audio:http://taragentile.s3.amazonaws.com/sarahvon.mp3]
Or download here. (right click then save as…)
Big Thinking
While I was struggling with “stuck” in my dead end (officially now) job, I can remember saying to my mom, “Maybe I should get a life coach.”
It was around 2007 and life coaches were being featured everywhere in the media but, as of yet, I still didn’t know any. She told me I didn’t really need one (mom, you know I wouldn’t change anything… but I’m going to say you were probably wrong on this one!). And I left it at that.
Although it was about this same time when I also had a conversation with her about being a consultant. I had no idea what that meant other than forming strong opinions and telling others what to do. This sounded gooooooood.
Once I started working towards my own business, I realized that coaches & consultants were everywhere (and are not at all the same thing). Some offered to work with you in the short term, some in the long term. Some offered to coach your life, others your business. Some offered complete packages, others more nebulous outcomes. Some were accredited from various organizations, some were not.
As my business grew & evolved, some coaches became my very good awesome friends. And more & more, coaches became a part of my audience.
And then it happened… coaches wanted to be coached by me!
This. freaked. me. out.
How do you coach a coach? Honestly, I’m still not sure. I just do what I do – and I love every minute of it. But I’ve learned a lot through coaching coaches (and many other types of creative business owners!) and I thought it was time to share some of that learning.
Demystify this whole procedure a bit.
Note: for the purposes of this post, I’m using the word “coach” to describe anyone who offers a service that involves working one-on-one towards the purpose of making what you do better & more fully you and who doesn’t just tell you what to do.
My own brand of coaching is interrogative, right-brained business strategizing. Yes, I just made that up. You’ll see what I mean if you keep reading! I am not a life, career, wellness, marketing, or brand coach. I coach business owners to find a) their passion-driven purpose and b) the profit in that purpose. Other coaches do other things. And I love them for it!
Without further ado, observations on coaching & being coached from a coach with no credentials other than success (her own & others).
Third party perspective is one of the most important things you can invest in.
I know a lot about myself & my business. I know most of the things I should be doing, even if I don’t do them. I have a good idea of where I’m headed, where I’ve been, and all the steps in between.
However, what I don’t know about myself & my business is what it looks like to someone else. I’ve learned through being a 3rd party perspective and from hiring 3rd party perspectives, that there just is no way to objectively look at yourself or your business “outside your self.” Our assumptions, inner dialogue, expectations, and past experience will always get in the way of seeing things how others see them.
The job of a coach is to help you strip those things away.
For example, I did a one-on-one Firestarter Session with Danielle LaPorte in February. Through a series of questions & then sharing her observations, Danielle helped me understand a core belief of mine was no longer true. In this case, I believed that I was synonymous with my other website, Scoutie Girl.
At another time, with a different course of action, that might have been true. But it was true no longer. Scoutie Girl is a product of this business of “me.” All of my other goals (regular speaking gigs, book deal, more coaching clients, etc…) wouldn’t happen until I owned up to “me” as my brand, business, and full package.
Of course, once I had that realization, I saw that this was how others had been seeing me for a very long time. I was late to the party. My party!
The second half of this realization – lest you forget – is that 3rd party perspective is an investment. Good coaches cost good money. They will also give you much of their time & demand yours in return. You will also invest a good bit of emotional capital with them. If you’re not willing to invest, you’re not ready to be coached. And you probably aren’t really ready to reach that goal you have in mind.
It’s okay to not have the right answer. My client always has a better one.
When someone gives you their money, it’s easy to allow yourself to think it’s because you have the answers. Heck, I love to have the answers and I love to dole them out.
But the clients who get the most from me and scare the pants off of me are the ones for whom I have no answers. They’re the people who are already rocking what they do, who have a good idea of where they’re going, and know who are they are. But something isn’t clicking.
My job isn’t to “click it” for them. My job is to help them click themselves.
I ask questions they’ve been avoiding. Or questions they haven’t even thought of. I challenge their assumptions. Then all at once – or sometimes much much more slowly – they realize an answer for themselves. And I think to myself, “why didn’t I think of that?” Then I remember, it’s not the answer that’s my job, it’s the question.
There are few things more powerful than an unexpected question.
In a coaching relationship, your job as the client is not to ask questions but to provide true answers.
Of course, asking questions is good too! Just be prepared to get answered with another question!
Sure, I can strategize & tell you what to do with the best of ’em. As a business coach, we will come up with ideas & realizations that require me to set aside the coaches hat & put on a strategist or consultant hat. But that part of my job is really secondary to helping you discover the truth about your business for yourself.
Coaching isn’t fast.
Because so much of what I do as a coach is stripping away tired assumptions and helping you find your own best direction, it’s not a fast process.
Of course, I value my clients time & money very, very much so I never waste time. But it’s entirely possible to start with one outcome in mind and, several sessions later, have a whole new, invigorating outcome in mind.
It’s also possible that the true breakthrough from a session comes days or weeks after the fact. It took me weeks to really understand what was going on in my Firestarter Session. It’s taken me equal time to digest the Pitch Perfect session that I did with Dyana Valentine. I worked with Tara Mohr on some more general life coaching and I’m still feeling my way through the questions she asked me.
Yes, I try to give my clients something really meaty to take away from each session with me. But it’s the things that linger and ripen that end up having the most impact.
When you enter a coaching relationship, it’s important to be open to that fact.
My experience with coaching & being coached is my own. It’s also an ever-evolving experience. While I wholeheartedly believe these observations to be true, your experience may be different.
It’s also important for me to say that I wholeheartedly believe in accredited life coaches, like Michelle Ward. The purpose of this post isn’t to say I have all the answers (that was clear, wasn’t it?) even though I am self-taught & experience-driven, it was to share my observations.
Have you been coached? What are your observations?
Are you thinking about hiring a coach? What are your questions?
