One of our listeners wrote in this week with a desperate request:

The above excerpt is mild. But as I dove deeper into his story my heart broke. He has a wife and kids and he's burning through cash...fast.

He needs to stop the bleeding...fast.

I wanted to help. And after a few days, I thought of a way. He gave me permission to share his story...without using his real name. And so I dedicated an episode for him...and others like him. Although I'd never recommend launching a coaching business when you're up against the ropes, without a backup plan, sometimes you don't have a choice. Whether or not your back is against the wall, if you need strategies to kickstart your business, then tune in. I share the tactics I used to launch my own coaching business. These principles can be integrated into many different industries. Don't give in to your fears. There is hope.

Kick your business into high gear overnight.

(The Harvard Business Review Article I reference: What Coaches Can Do For You) ———————– QUESTION: Do you think it's easier to be successful when your back is up against the wall? (Please comment below. I’d love to hear your thoughts. And if you know someone who needs to read this, please encourage them by sharing this post)  I believe you have what it takes. You may just not have the tools…at least not yet. Click on the pic below to discover how to get busy living. See yourself through new eyes and begin creating the life you want.  

Time to ditch the drama.

Some clients aren't just worth it, even if they're willing to pay your full fee. Truth is, these toxic clients are impossible to please, highly critical, and a liability to your mental health. So, how can you spot them? Equally important, how do you fire them? I've been blessed with the most amazing clients on the planet. This isn't due to luck or chance. Rather, it's an intentional process my business partner and I implement. In this episode, I share how to find rock star clients. Isn't it time to ditch the drama? QUESTION: Do you think it's right to fire a toxic client? (Please comment below. I’d love to hear your thoughts. And if you know someone who needs to read this, please encourage them by sharing this post)  I believe you have what it takes. You may just not have the tools…at least not yet. Click on the pic below to discover how to get busy living. See yourself through new eyes and begin creating the life you want.  

Sales and marketing?

Those two words sound like cuss words to most of us creative folks. (BTW...you are a "creative folk" in my book, regardless how you feel on the topic.) But without effective sales and marketing the best product or service doesn't have a chance of survival. So what's an entrepreneur to do?

• Do we focus on sales and marketing and go against our gut?
• Do we ignore sales and marketing and die a slow death?

How about neither! I chose to redefine sales and marketing instead. For the past several years I've redefined sales as serving and marketing as storytelling.

Smart entrepreneurs view sales as serving and marketing as storytelling. (Click to Tweet)

So does it work? The results speak for themselves. Our business has doubled every year the past four years. I never focus on "selling" any client. Rather, I focus on serving them instead. In the process, many end up buying (remember Jonily's own testimony from episode 53?) Sadly, most businesses aren't using social media intelligently. Unfortunately, they're making some simple, but costly mistakes. In this week's episode of the Igniting Souls Podcast, I unpack why most marketing I see on social media ISN'T WORKING. I also share practical steps on how to make the switch effectively. I want you to maximize AND monetize your message to its fullest potential. (Click on the play button below to listen.)   If you want to change your marketing results you must change your marketing strategies. Listen to episode 61 and run circles around your competition. ----------------------- QUESTION: What do you think is more effective feeling sold or being served? (Please comment below. I’d love to hear your thoughts. And if you know someone who needs to read this, please encourage them by sharing this post)  I believe you have what it takes. You may just not have the tools…at least not yet. Click on the pic below to discover how to get busy living. See yourself through new eyes and begin creating the life you want.  

You've probably heard of passive income—right?

Passive Income is INCOME from a venture in which an individual does not directly participate. (Listen here, on iTunes, or via streaming audio by clicking play on the pic below.)  There are plenty of advantages to this type of income. In this structure customers and clients pay you repeatedly for work you only did once. This income is recurring because it’s not limited to your presence, your focus, or your schedule. Obviously, passive income factors scalability. You can serve five orders just as simply as five thousand. Although your product or service initially takes time to create, you’ll repeatedly get paid for the original time, effort, and energy you invested. Passive income works even when you don’t. It knows few limits because it’s not finite like you.

Passive income is cool, BUT HAVE YOU ALSO HEARD ABOUT PASSIVE IMPACT?

Passive Impact is IMPACT from a venture in which an individual does not directly participate. I think passive impact trumps passive income. I share why on this episode, but I'll tell a quick story that will fill in some blanks. My fourth book (Your Secret Name) released in September, 2010. In a matter of weeks we realized this book was special without much of our own doing. The book touched on an issue common to many adults and teens alike—identity. I blended my story overcoming self-injury with the reader’s journey of discovering who they were created to be. My friend Gabe created an interactive website that combined free tools with support from our growing community. My friend Josh produced a beautiful book trailer, and we began getting emails from people of various backgrounds and struggles. They told us about their newfound freedom and how they discovered a connection with their Creator, their community, and their core. Stories of victory over suicidal thoughts, depression, prostitution, workaholism, anorexia, and low self-esteem poured in. We continued sharing the message as best we could, but we’d clearly reached our capacity. My day job brought its own set of challenges and commitments. And although I entertained thoughts of jumping into my dream job full-time, book sales alone didn’t come close to paying the bills.

Then it happened.

I received an email from Desiree Arney, a stranger in New Jersey touched by the message. Long story short, after a couple chats David and I asked her to join our “team.” The word team was a bit presumptuous. Although we wanted to change the world, we didn’t have a plan, a platform, or a paycheck. We figured passion was enough so we kept moving forward. A few months later we decided to have a conference and over one hundred people showed up. Toward the end of the conference we blocked off an open mic time for participants to share their thoughts about the day. The stories of transformation people shared blew us away. Feeling momentum and divine favor, we created the Your Secret Name Team. Clearly we needed a way to multiply our impact and fund our efforts. I knew I couldn’t accept every gig, and although I felt a little guilty turning down some opportunities, my family and day job took precedence. We priced the Team at a modest $997 and in no time we added a dozen members from all over the world, including Europe and New Zealand. Additional team members trickled in, and our impact and income increased slowly but steadily. Because of our desire to alleviate suffering and pain in impoverished areas, we gifted a few slots to nonprofits in Uganda and Honduras. (We felt their lack of resources shouldn’t prevent them from helping those in need.)

Even better than the passive income was the passive impact.

I remember one chilly Ohio afternoon playing with my three children on the living room floor. I think Isabel won out with her game choice—sleeping giant. Our stomachs were full from a scrumptious Sunday lunch and the wood in the fireplace crackled and popped. Snowflakes fell softly outside and my wife and I smiled at each other as we tried to keep up with three active kids. Later that evening I checked our Secret Name Facebook group. Thrilled to read the posts, I learned how that weekend three separate team members had conducted Your Secret Name events in their own cities. I smiled. While I enjoyed my loved ones in the comfort of my home, our passive impact business was igniting. Our team was communicating this message of hope to people who needed healing. It hasn’t stopped since.

In episode 60, I teach you how to create your first product (for ZERO start-up costs). In the process you'll also create something else—passive income AND passive impact.

——————— QUESTION: What is one product you could create? (Please comment below. I’d love to hear your thoughts. And if you know someone who needs to read this, please encourage them by sharing this post)  I believe you have what it takes. You may just not have the tools…at least not yet. Click on the pic below to discover how to get busy living. See yourself through new eyes and begin creating the life you want.

ARE YOU BUSY LIVING OR BUSY DYING?  It's one or the other. And there is no in between. But what does it look like to get unstuck? These 10 tips put me on a path to overcome the Resistance. [video width="426" height="240" mp4="https://karyoberbrunner.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/11236456_10155619534930174_1302019454_n.mp4" autoplay="true"][/video] ——————— QUESTION: What does it look like for you to get "busy living" ? (Please comment below. I’d love to hear your thoughts. And if you know someone who needs to read this, please encourage them by sharing this post)  I believe you have what it takes. You may just not have the tools…at least not yet. Click on the pic below to discover how to get busy living. See yourself through new eyes and begin creating the life you want.

Dream or Die…Your Choice

It’s been said, "Most people are dead, they just haven’t made it official." (Tweet This)

I agree. So did Andy Dufresne. He told his friend “Red” in The Shawshank Redemption:

“I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really. Get busy living or get busy dying.”  

Stuck in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, Andy had the choice of dreaming or dying. Thankfully, he kept dreaming. As a result, he kept living. Those around him weren’t so fortunate. After serving 50 years in Shawshank, one convict named “Brooks” reentered society, quite unsuccessfully. Although free on the outside, he still suffered from a mental prison on the inside. Unable to perform the simplest jobs like bagging groceries at a local supermarket, Brooks tells himself it’s easier to end his life than try to create a new one. “Red” shared perspective about Brooks mental condition:

 …These walls are funny. First you hate ’em, then you get used to ’em. After long enough, you get so you depend on ’em. That’s “institutionalized.” …They send you here for life, and that’s just what they take. Part that counts, anyway.

Although as a child you started out as a dreamer, you’ve been beat down along the way:

• You’ve been told to play safe and play small.
• You’ve been told to grow up and be mature.
• You’ve been told to give up and be realistic.

These sound bytes are death to your soul and to your dream.  

Guard your Heart…and your Dream

My favorite book says: “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” This means it’s your responsibility to grow, nourish, and protect your heart and your dream.

• Expect failure.
• Expect criticism.
• Expect pain.

Along the way you’ll be tempted to kill your dream. If  you do you won’t have to feel anything. But remember, dreaming is what makes you human. When you kill it, you also kill your humanity. The opposite is true too. When you achieve it, you feel alive. Just ask Diana Nyad…the 64 year-old who reached her dream.

Dreaming is about Recovery not Discovery

Most people think Diana Nyad’s dream began when she was 28 years old, the first time she attempted to swim from Cuba to Florida. A closer look reveals a different story. Nyad remembers dreaming about swimming across the Florida Straits during her first visit to Cuba before the Communist takeover when she was 8 years old. Dreams grow and fade over time depending upon your focus. Often they hide in your subconscious, only to come raging back into your awareness.  Dreaming is more about recovery than discovery. Nyad knew this better than most. She said:

“You have a dream….that doesn’t come to fruition, but you move on with life. But it’s somewhere back there. Then you turn 60, and your mom just dies, and you’re looking for something. And the dream comes waking out of your imagination.”

It’s time for your dream to wake out of your imagination. It’s time because it’s a matter of life and death. Your own. ——————— QUESTION: What's your dream? I want to hear it. Big or small. Foolish or Brilliant.  (Please comment below. I’d love to hear your thoughts. And if you know someone who needs to read this, please encourage them by sharing this post)   

Let's be honest. You have an amazing product or service. And you know the value you can bring potential clients. BUT ARE YOU CHARGING WHAT YOU'RE WORTH? How do you even really know what to charge? Are there signs, rules, or indicators? Can you influence the outcome? Or are your rates set in stone due to factors outside your control? DISCOVER A FOOLPROOF FORMULA Most people ignorantly assume the lowest price wins the day. This is a losing battle and merely a short-term strategy. In this episode we'll show you a better way to win the long game.

This special 1 year anniversary features the top 10 learns I've discovered over the past 12 months. Forget pretense, in this episode I take you front and center to the raw truth of how we won and loss these past 12 months. (Examples include: *When to fire clients. *The true price of delaying decisions. *The Kill 15% Rule *Guard your Yes to guide your No & much more.)

They're called "weather watchers." They take inventory of conditions and predictions and then make their decisions based upon the forecast. But in the business world, this type of strategy often sabotages success. In this episode discover why "weather watching" tendencies (surveys, reports, data, comparisons, information) repel the best clients and set you up to fail. Better yet, discover a proven path that yields visible results. If you've got an entrepreneur bent, tune in. You might just avoid your next lightning strike. Better yet, you might learn how to catch that lightning in a bottle.

On January 1, 2015 most people will wake up, stumble out of bed and say, "DANG. Today is the day I'm supposed to make my New Year's resolutions. Today is the day I'm supposed to change my life.“ Sorry to douse the flame and the poor grammar, BUT...it ain't gonna happen! Join me for a FREE 1 hour workshop on Nov. 3rd where I show you how to take control and 10X your business and life. Each attendee will receive a downloadable workbook to serve as your guide for future transformation and a FREE gift ($200 value). For more details on this FREE event, click here: https://ignite10x.eventbrite.com