#53 – Mind The Gap

Warning - This post is going to a mish mash of happenings and insights from the past 6 months. It's basically a gap filler to explain where I've been and how I've been growing.

Firstly, if you've read the entirety of my blog and notice that I keep stating "what I'm going to do now" but then change direction a short time later, that's just the result of me experiencing the impulse or idea. To the annoyance of others, I also have the habit of completely forgetting new resolutions within a short space of time.

Since the last post, I've contemplated and unraveled a few more patterns. ChatGPT continues to play a starring role in helping me to correlate observed patterns with the Gene Keys shadows. I also do the reverse by asking ChatGPT to show me examples of how each shadow could be showing up for me. This significantly reduces my contemplation time.

The Right Business Coach For Me

Do you have a ton of ideas but struggle to synthesize them into clear and concise statements of what you have to offer? In November I had so many ideas swirling around my head that I was stuck. I needed a process to help me consolidate and communicate what was coming through. 

Fortunately, two months ago I had met a Canadian business coach named Drew Donaldson of GroHaus.org who hosts a weekly Marketing live video group chat in the Heartbeat.chat community. I really resonated with him and the copy on his website. So, I booked a free 30min 1 on 1 conversation to see if he could help me.

We hit it off and I was blown away by his insights and that he didn't come across as having the usual one-size-fits-all approach. He appeared to tailor the solution to the individual while at the same time not hesitating to call me out and speak his truth. He offered the right balance of respect for the individual's strengths and preferences while telling you what you needed to hear. He had never heard of Human Design and yet he seemed to already embody an understanding that we are all wired differently.

Long story short, I signed up for the only plan I could afford and began working through Drew's "Growth Guides" process. Within a short amount of time, the magic of Drew's Growth Guides helped me to get clear and explain the impact I dream of having and how I intend to do that. I've just entered into the Market Research phase to check my intended solution and gather deeper insights to co-create the finest solution for my audience.

What's Coming Through For Me

In my experience, a traditional "Business Coach" for small business owners tends to focus on how to most effectively market, sell, and organize the value you have to offer.

But they rarely can or will help you with isolating the correct idea for you, support you in practicing and refining it until confident to charge for it, and help you to overcome self-defeating patterns along the way.

So, the previous paragraph is what I feel called to create a solution for. At first it might be that I start 1 on 1 to build confidence in my own process but I envision that I will be facilitating groups both online and offline in the future. 

As it happens for most people, I am my own client. I am building a solution for what I need or what the younger version of me would have needed. In particular, it will serve those who struggle to recognize their self-worth.

I'm drawn to create a community experience where you are supported to playfully experiment with your visions in a safe space. Here you will be encouraged to taste test everything your heart is calling you to do, so that you can experience it quickly, cheaply and easily (QuiChE) with each other, completely free of ridicule for constantly changing direction. 

Fittingly, I'm calling it the "Purpose Playground." 

While I have mapped out a process for future members of the Purpose Playground to work through, it is very important that I speak to others in the same predicament such that the solution is shaped to meet their needs too.

So, if you fancy swapping your insights for a free Purpose Of Work session by answering a few of my market research questions, please book a time here. Within the first 30 minutes I'll ask you some very deep questions to pinpoint the work you are destined for. If successful, we'll then dive into my market research questions. If not, you're free to go (unless you're happy to answer the market research questions anyway). If the link is still active when you read this post then you can safely assume that I'm still taking bookings for market research.

The Migration Towards Subscription Models

Ever paid thousands of dollars upfront for a high ticket course only to regret it?

I've made this mistake 3x times and it still hurts to this day. The problem with the High Ticket model is that it puts all the risk on the customer and so many have been burned by it that it's no longer sustainable.

What's now emerging globally and across all industries is the migration towards subscription models. I feel this is a sign that we are entering into a era where humanity is putting the heart back into business. Regardless of what industry you are in I highly recommend having a read of Subscribed by Tien Tzuo, which you can listen to on Spotify (for those with a paid subscription) or get it from Amazon. The author provides examples of businesses who completely overhauled their business model to offer a subscription service and the results, profits, and impact are very impressive!

Why are they impressive? Because embodying a subscription model changes the focus of a business. Instead of focusing on selling as many products and services as possible, they are now focused squarely on the eternal question of "How can we help our customers achieve the outcome they desire?"

For subscription model businesses, once the customer has subscribed, their job is to continually find ways to deliver more value to the customer so that the customer stays subscribed. This requires building stronger relationships with customers to discover their deeper pains, needs, desires, outcomes, what's working well and what isn't so that the business can keep refining their products and services to increase their value.

There are others benefits for businesses and its customers too... and I think I'll write a separate post for this.

The reason for sharing this trend with you is simply because I love the idea of charging a low risk subscription model and I wish to open people's eyes to the benefits of doing the same. While business models are not my specialty, I do find them fascinating so I think I would thoroughly ideation sessions for how to convert your business to a subscription model.

My Strong Need For Discipline

For quite some time now I've been struggling with the discipline to focus on just the tasks that will bring the Purpose Playground to reality. I've been doing 'busy' work instead of effective work. 

I knew that part of the struggle was because my fear of the unknown was leading me to distraction. After all "The bigger the dream, the bigger the shadow." I was also confused as to why I didn't have the energy or inspiration to smash my To Do list each day.

With each passing day, it was becoming clearer and clearer that my lack of focus was holding me hostage.

As this frustration with myself grew stronger and stronger, I began listening to the 5am Club by Robin Sharma during my commutes to visit my day job clients. This book's many quotes and insights have started to inspire me. 

Getting out of bed at 5am is currently easy for me as I'm in the middle of summer in the Gold Coast of Australia and as long as I go to bed by 10pm, waking at 5am happens naturally. But until yesterday that's as far as my discipline went.

I knew that I needed to "Eat The Frog" immediately at 5am each morning. This concept is based on the premise that if you start your day by completing a task you might be inclined to avoid or delay, you'll experience a sense of accomplishment and gain the motivation to tackle other tasks more efficiently. By facing challenges head-on, you prevent them from lingering in your mind throughout the day, reducing stress and improving overall productivity.

The benefits of a 5am start is that my mind is clear, fully rested, and not yet scattered by the temptation of digital distraction. It is literally the best time to work on the most important task of the day. And completing that task before breakfast feels amazing! 

So as of yesterday, I began 'eating the frog' at 5am and now I'm on Day 2 of forging this new habit. As long as I move one step closer each day towards my goal, then I am satisfied.... because progress feels satisfying.

Quite some time ago I listened to a talk by Vishen Lakhiani from MindValley about how very successful business people don't use To Do lists, they use calendars instead. While it made logical sense to me to time block my tasks, I just couldn't get myself to commit to this new practice.

However, two nights ago while discussing my focus issues with my friend Jenna, she informed me that she uses the calendar time blocking method and that it has exponentially increased her effectiveness each day.

After our conversation I remembered a quote "Successful people do what unsuccessfully people are unwilling to do." I think Jim Rohn said it. And with that I committed to manage my time via my calendar instead of a To Do list from now on.

The other thing I've started doing is setting myself small rewards for completing each task such as food breaks, exercise, learning something new, or buying something I need. Basically, all the things that I was prioritizing in the past, are now what I use to reward myself. Except this one, it's just one reward at a time.

So for the past two days that's what I've been doing and I have to say that it's working! I'm now working to a deadline which is how I'm designed to operate (I have defined Head and Root centers).

Practicing Intuitive Tarot

I've always been envious of people who can read tarot cards. In the past just the thought of having to memorize the meaning of every card felt overwhelming and I ditched that goal pretty quickly. 

Fortunately, I stumbled on a cute little book called "A little bit of Tarot" by Cassandra Eason which introduced something called "Intuitive Tarot" which my sacral responded "Yes" to.