Psst… Powerhouse. Wake up from those dreams.

Your Work

is Complex and Deep.

Generating wealth from it doesn’t have to be.

There’s a deep inner richness to your message…

and the transformation that you have to share. (/resources that you provide)

How much of that inner richness is actually visible

to your ideal customer right now?

It’s so easy for us to treat our brands’ most precious gifts like this…

As if your core ideas, and the way that you deliver them, are not quite tangible.

As if your inner knowing is simply to ethereal to communicate in that clear way that inspires intense devotion.

To brand it.

So, you’ve let the most incredible aspects of your brand stay under the surface…

And paid the price for it.

Reinventing and refining your voice each time, struggling to stand out with each other, and you haven’t arrived at the scope of impact that you KNOW you’re truly ready for.

Even though it’s all here, waiting under the surface.

You’re allowed to be a rebel. Basic, soulless brand tactics may not work for you.

You know that your offer is one-of-a-kind, and you don’t want to look like anyone else.

But if you haven’t reached the scope of impact, the level of devotion, and height of profit that you want, you’re still doing it the hard way, babe.

Time to get real. Burn the generic biz-dev and branding stuff that isn’t getting you what you want.

You need serious strategy.

Take the plunge into your real message.

Reconnect to what drives you, and what makes your brand a truly singular offering.

BRING IT FORTH.

Because people want to do this for your brand, your business.

Devotion isn’t something that happens accidentally. When you meet just a few criteria and tease out your singular message, devotion can finally unfold.

The repeat YES can finally be the anthem of your audience.

The transformation that you provide is deep and complex, but building your wealth doesn’t have to be.

Luminary Rules: Activate Your World Class Business

We’re gifting a seat on the Luminary Rules Express – your own edition of the archetype test, reports, books and activation series… Access to the calls and personal question features, as well as:

+ a strategy session with yours truly

+ an implementation spotlight call with you, Reese, and me.
To throw your hat in the ring, simply post your answer on the Self Activator fb page:

What is your favorite part of sharing your gifts through your business?

Your truth. Come share with us!

Luminary Rules is available for just two more days. If you haven’t checked it out yet, go see what all that fuss is about.

Big love,

Boy, do I have butterflies this morning. I’ve been working on something for for over 8 years now. Can’t believe it’s actually here.

This is an experience for catalyst entrepreneurs who aren’t satisfied with taking a journey.

You plan to arrive.

To ramp up your vision-driven business with Luminary brand strategy, and deeply respectful, powerhouse selling.

Do you remember the last time when you were actually seen by a business?

When your heart caught in your throat, and your pulse surged, saying:

“I want this. They know me, I’ve been looking for what they’re offering,  this is MY time.”

Luminary Rule teaches you how to do that for your people.

In just a few hours, the first 1,000 guest registrants will receive their very own gift edition chapter from the Luminary Rule experience.

Luminary Direction

A gift-edition chapter out of Luminary Rule: Activate your world class business.

It contains…

+ The Meaning in your Message
What the world’s ruling brands know about archetypes

+ Your Vision, Their Purchase

“I love it, I need it, I’ll buy it.” The buyer’s reverse experience of your offer.

I chose these two pieces, because we’re living in a time where catalyst entrepreneurs can’t afford to ignore these pieces. You’ve got embrace them to do well, and the world needs you to master them for it to thrive. No time to waste.

A love letter 8 years in the making…

It’s not something you’ll let languish in your download graveyard.
If you receive one of the 1,000 gift edition copies, then I’m guessing your inner Luminary is ready for it.

Can’t wait to share it with you.

Go see!

Oh! And to compliment the series, today I’m releasing a long-awaited new present – if you’re in a hurry, pop your name and email in the box to the right. That way you won’t miss the kick-off gift for the first 200.

Face it.

If you’re a Luminary, you have big work to do. An impact to make, a message to share, a virtual nation to build and lead.

We don’t have time to debate whether or not you qualify to be one. The world is kinda in desperate need of the Luminaries to claim their power and use it for good. So if you identify with the L-word, we’re moving on. We’re about results, and wishy washy just ain’t our style when we riff together.

Embrace it.

You already know this and you’re here to own it, so it won’t be a hard truth to face:

When your message is powerful, abundant, and visionary, there’s no room for brand poverty.

Luminaries and poverty don’t mix well. Talk about off-message, oy.

Luminaries, time to stop acting like you’re broke.

To truly lead people, large and small Luminary brands at every stage of growth need to play big. Leaky-looking brands are not gonna cut it.

If online brands were ships, most would be rafts with a ton of styrofoam duct taped to the sides to appear bigger than they are, and attempt to stay afloat. Like a secret prayer to Neptune, the brand owners ignore their leaking hulls while they scramble around atop the decks. “Ahoy! Shifting direction again! What, another leak? Bail us out with the bucket, I have to steer!”

Most luminaries, talented though they are, know brand-bailing all too well:

• - Over explaining what you do, only to have people sort-of get it.
• - Having to spend precious time wooing and -ack- persuading them to buy your product/service, even though you know that they’d come flocking if they really understood what was waiting.
• - Keeping the conversation surface, because you don’t want to alienate anyone.
• - Making a true effort to write your own story, and still sounding generic. (Drives you insane, doesn’t it?)

I could go on, but it’s depressing. Suffice it to say…

When you hang out solely on the surface, the conversation looks very shallow indeed.

But you don’t have to walk on water to create an incredible brand experience for your people.

As in any good story, the best treasure is beneath the surface. The weighty gold of your message sunk beneath the waves at some point, and it’s high time that we unearthed it. An expedition below can bring back just the right resources to locate and fill those leaks, and occasionally, trade up for a more sea-worthy rig.

Become a diver.

Time to access the depth of your message, and care how it’s disseminated throughout your brand.

Growing your biz identity, AND executing it in your brand. No brand is above or beyond this. I’ve coached Fortune 100′s through this process, and some of them had already been around for decades.

Luminaries, be they up and coming or established, need this more than anyone. It’s tough for every brand. To talk about what you care about the most, and somehow help your people understand why your solution is different.

Leak #1   Aiming for different.

Screw “different.”

“Different” is not enough for Luminaries or their customers. We’re going for world class, because our markets are maturing and they expect a premiere brand to match a gorgeous message. When you’re aiming that high, you treasure-hunt for what makes you the “only,” not what makes you different.

I spent last weekend with a lovely, savvy client who’s gotten the green light on her first TV show. Her online biz is big by any standard, but she’s still scrambling to brand her message in a way that’s meaningful and devotion-worthy in the now. We had to hammer out a wholly updated brand. We started with this question:

Treasure quest: What is singular about what you do? What’s the result that, for a variety of reasons, only you can provide your market?

Leak #2   Smothering them with your passion.

Because have “passion” for your topic isn’t clear enough for them. Not even close.

“Passion” is not a differentiating characteristic, and yours doesn’t incite people to buy your thing.

When you provide all that passion, there’s no room for your customers to join you. You’re like a lover that’s taking up both sides of the bed. Your person could stand at your bedside, happy that you’re so happy all a-sprawl, but in the end they’d just prefer to be under the covers with you.

Treasure quest: Tie your excitement to the real world, turn the convo focus around. What frustrations are your clients passionate about leaving behind? What is it that keeps them going, because they want it so much?

When you take the time to deliberately dive under the surface now, you won’t end up thrashing around in the sheets by yourself later.
It’s about doing the work to translate why you’re the best at the result that only you can provide, and who needs it.

That’s what your people need to give you a lasting “Yes.”

…

Your turn:

1. How have you felt as a consumer when a leaky brand has asked for your buy-in?

How is that different from a fully realized brand inviting you into their conversation?

2. Weigh in – any of these leaks sound familiar? Share your thoughts on bail outs vs. deep diving below.

Big love,

Hot off the presses – a new companion prezzie for this series: Jumpstart Your Impact, Accelerate Your Profit Grab your copy by popping your email in the box on the upper right.

It covers: helping the perfect peeps say “yes” to your brand way before asking them to buy, inspiring brand champions, and more, of course. Hope you’re one of the first 200, they get a secret kick-off gift. And it’s REALLY juicy.

Tune in Friday morning for the next installment. Want to lead the next revolution, or  finally claim your spot on the TED stage? We’ll be prepping you to do just that: how to focus your brand to hold all that soul, and go the distance.

The Expert Era is dead. Make way for the Luminary.

Watching wanna-be experts position themselves like warlords is a little… silly. Time to stop selling information in the dark ages.

Whether it’s acknowledged or not, we’re moving out of our medieval expert fiefdoms, and into a dialogue across brands. Instead of navigating by fences along adolescent territories, consumers are finding their way by the Luminary businesses that light up the landscape. (Not satellites masquerading as stars, but brands grounded firm in their foundations. That’s a distinction worth making, don’t ya think?)

We haven’t actually sold “information” for a long time, and no crash cart is going to resuscitate that style of business. We may as well call time-of-death for the expert brand, and move on to Luminary territory:

Instead of selling the right info, teaching the right questions to ask. Instead of hawking a heap of benefits, marketing the ultimate impact of an investment.

This shift requires different style of leadership, altogether. An expert has cultivated information on a narrow topic, and is able to regurgitate it at will. A Luminary is a leader of people and progress. An expert sells info, a Luminary provides inspiration and resources for their community.

An expert can’t wait to talk. A Luminary listens deep, and starts a dialogue.

When it’s made, the shift from expert to Luminary is immediately apparent. It feels expansive… Customer-centric, yet more respectful of your own gifts. Generous, yet more independent.

But there’s a problem.

When you soften your fake warlord stance, drop the pirate flag, and dump the crap trappings of an expert, things get mushy. As you embrace your inner Luminary, two issues instantly reveal themselves:

1. Your incomplete branding is immediately obvious, because your hard work looks generic.
2. Your audience doesn’t get what the hell you’re talking about, much less want to BUY it, until you finish branding it.

So your natural authority doesn’t carry. The richness of your inner work doesn’t translate. It may even look beautiful, but it’s still unclear… People are thinking, “It looks so nice, but what the hell is it?”

Unless you win them over one by one, people aren’t getting “it” the way they should. At all. So not only is your message not scalable yet, your incomplete branding means you’re missing out on profits, too.

To be the Luminary you were meant to be, you’ve gotta light up the landscape with a world-class brand to match.

Change-makers, messengers, expert entrepreneurs, I’m calling your name. Babe, they can’t see the big picture you’ve captured, until you bring it into sharper focus for them. Simply put, they need it branded to get it.

The Luminary’s time has come. Let’s leave behind expert-warlord-dress up, take your biz beyond the basics, and build a branded conversation.

For the next few weeks, we’re going to do just that: 1. get real about how to develop and share the Luminary within, and 2. build your world-class brand.

I hope you’ll join the conversation, and spread it far and wide. Can’t wait to share the first piece.

Big love,

Your turn… what’s your take?
Take a good look at your biz conversation, and share:  What about your message is clear, and what about your message has yet to translate?

I’m back from taking a couple of weeks to care for my family, and I’ve got 3 q’s in my inbox about burnout. Something has been in the air, hm? So let’s get real about the big bad B.

Visionary entrepreneurs are the worst – I’ve seen hundreds of ‘em treat their internal resources like rechargeable devices that they’ve lost the plugin for. But burnout is bigger than that, so let us define our terms:

little burnout – exhaustion of momentum because of a pattern interrupt, re-frame, or disconnect. Easy to have happen, easy to fix too.
big burnout – not caring for your own resources, implementing your vision at the expense of, well, you. Until your intention is finally played out, exhausted. This one doesn’t come with a hidden bounce-back button.

Let’s take a look at how we get there, before we jump to the good parts.

4 little shortcuts to Destination Burnout:

1. Expecting to run on fumes – and doing nothing to change that experience in the moment.

Want deep advice for this? Get your cranky ass into the bathtub, or into bed for a nap. We can’t receive your visionary pearls if the delivery truck sputters to a stop on the info super highway. Call your cosmic Triple A before you run outta gas.

2. Holding yourself to unrealistic standards.

Perfect means finished – and ya won’t be that until you’re dead. Flogging yourself speeds up your inevitable demise, but not the actual results you were aiming for. ’nuff said.

3. A very-real-life interruption.

Tragedy happens. So does the ice cream truck route. Become an expert at gracefully reentering the flow after you’ve stepped out of it, because you’ll never stop needing that skill. It means nothing that you had to step out momentarily, it means a lot if you don’t let yourself back in.

4. Expecting non-stop productivity.

Hey look!  It’s the Myth we all think we’ve busted: “Real productivity is churning out ‘best work’ like a machine would.”

We’re not designed to move forward at top speed unwaveringly. Creativity is cyclical, you have your power times and your down times. You’re savvy, you get that. But to live it, you’d have to love your slow, aimless, dull, and foggy moments. How ya doing with that one?

5 ways to tap in and inspire your inner visionary before you overtax your circuits.

1. Change the scope of your lens. Oh baby, you may have forgotten, but you’re a pro cinematographer. You can zoom in-or-out on the Big Picture, any time you like. Go macro if you’ve bogged yourself down in the every day. Then focus in on the part that thrills you.

2. Keep that inner visionary juiced so that you don’t hit burnout. Visions have to be fed by the outside, and strengthened from the inside, too. Build your inner vision muscles so that you become ever-better at shaping your ideas. You’re more capable than you were a year ago, guaranteed. Mature your ideas to match that.

3. Community – you are not an island, and your ideas don’t live on one either. Genius happens in groups, so start seeing people and get seen. Not in the fake-fame way – in the deeply met manner of co-creation and connection.

4. Get a little wild. Sometimes we get bored at the soul level, and we don’t want to admit it. The Russian word for it is “tosca” – grief in the spirit, without reason. When we’re feeling dull and inspiration-less, the antidote is audacity. Catch my drift? If I get a call from a mall cop who says that one of you got naked in the food court fountain in the name of vision work, I’ll take the rap. Promise.

5. Know that, no matter what…

…a fresh power supply is always at the ready.

Sometimes we pretend like we can’t find it, so that we don’t have to move forward. (‘sokay, I see you but I ain’t callin’ you on it.) For those who DO want to tap into their own grid…

Breathe deep. You don’t need to buy, do, or say anything to feel different. In truth, your every step is a miracle.

Let every action (or non-action) refresh you: drinking pure water… telling the truth… pitching that dream client.

Run straight for the waves and smack into them. Just TRY to be burned out when your knees are being kissed by salt water.

Then tell me all about it.

Big love,

Your turn:

Spread the love and the burnout antidotes, and tell us… what do you do to avoid burnout? How have you recovered from a major interrupt in your own momentum in the past?

First – a very, very deep thank-you. Because this could have been the year from hell, growing a baby business in fast-forward, and moving on from a life-shaping love. It could have sucked hard, but because of you, it has been the most rewarding and sweet year of my career. And hey, only a few moments were mildly terrifying. Gotta love that.

The end of the parade march.

For the past year, I’ve been mother-fucking driven. Driven to prove that this business could thrive and that people wanted deep strategy and leadership to build their businesses. Driven to bring in the dollars for my own health, and to prove that leaving rarefied corporate air was in fact a good idea, and not a really stupid one.

I have to laugh because I’m feeling so damn shy now. (It worked! Not just pretty well, but really well. Ack!) I’m surprised by how much I want to hide good fortune, as if it could suck the sunlight away from someone else’s unfurling leaves. My publicist has lovingly told me to shout this shit, and instead I hightailed it out of town to travel for 2 months, then immediate dove into a frenzy of projects. Behind the scenes, it’s a madhouse – team expansion (a new event manager, hallelujah!), a Fall of workshops, the book in overdrive. My clients will say that I’m a broken record – abundance begets abundance. But here I am, a little shy that I’m done proving myself. Oh, hell.

What to do when the struggle is over.

I know how to take up a rallying cry out of nothing. That doesn’t apply anymore. I’m stunned at the embarrassment of riches from all of this striving. 18 months in, I now run a $.5M/year company. It’s still frustrating that it’s not even farther along, but we’re aiming for a 2012 that almost doubles that. The only reason I’m sharing this with you, is that I know my people need to see that it’s ok to share their own success…

Authentic leadership requires more than revealing the struggle, it’s about having the courage to share the blush of achievement, too.

I’m letting in some incredible clients whom I admire and respect, squeezing them in because of how much I want to see their work shared with the even more of the world.  I’ve got a gorgeous love, clients I adore, a suite of tools I’m proud to have designed, an accomplished team, cherished friends and colleagues. I am seriously thinking about getting abnormally large cats, but more on that another time.

I’m not gonna lie – I am tired, and things are not glossy or perfect. This is a huge moment of changing intentions – with nothing to prove to myself, I’ve had to search out a new motivator. The bigger vision is the same, but I’m now propelled forward by a different tune. The quiet hum of an everything-possible torch song, instead of a brassy MAKE-it-happen parade march.

Time to give, time to receive.

Some things stay the same. I’m still a bit of the runaway who ran an anarchy house, an upstart who negotiated mergers between CEO’s. I’m just feeling a little softer these days. A little less sharply on fire. A little more resonant with the deeper undercurrents of a global well-being that I want to foster.

Some things are coming. Now that we’re this far along, I’ll be sharing more generously the material that has built my business. I’m supporting more projects in the community, advocating for deep, productive conversations. And preparing the way for the book. (Yay!)

So here’s my primer: what to do when things are working, and you’re proud of what you’ve built.

1. Get unshy about it. Share more than (the drama of) your struggle – your supporters want to see you succeed, too. There’s plenty of that accomplishment to go around, you’re not hurting anyone by having achieved your goals. Your success is just as lovable and welcome as your struggle. (Though it may attract very, very different people.)

2. Say THANK YOU to everyone who helped to get it going. (For every tweet, every testimonial, every referral, and thank-you note, I love and appreciate you more than I can express. See the end of this post for your thank-you birthday present!)

3. Spread the wealth of love and profit that you’ve created.

So let’s do just that.

Your turn – share, because it’s my birthday! For every blog comment today, I’m giving $10 to Women for Women. It’s an incredible organization fostering partnership between developed and developing nations, helping women survivors of war rebuild their lives. I’d love for you to join me for a little birthday party in this way.

:: What are you ready to stop proving, to yourself and others?

:: What are you ready to receive more of, from yourself and others?

:: What are you ready to give?

Answer one or more of these q’s to join me in supporting Women for Women.

* Aaand your present – I created an Activation Meditation just for you – you’ll see it explained on the right in the sidebar, or go here to join our FB community to get it.

As always, thanks for being a part of the conversation. It’s a pleasure to help you activate your growing biz and visionary leadership in the world.

Big love,

Your talent might be stratospheric, and your vision may be outta sight…
And. You’ve gotta be of this world, to have a say in how it works.

Profit isn’t something to touch softly like the delicate maturing of ideas, it’s something to grasp hold of and build.

Business building is simply better with a beautiful focus on that bottom line.

Selling is not seeking approval, and getting a “no” is not experiencing rejection.

Thinking Profit is bigger than generating cash – if you’re thinking about money project by project, launch to launch, it’s time to think bigger than that – zoom out to building profits, beyond cashflow.

Get real about the leadership opportunity that comes with money. Like it or not, we’re in a vote-with-your-dollar paradigm. If you’re ignoring it, holding yourself above or below it, then you’re missing out on a chance to lead.

I know we’re on the same page about this, in a passive way. It’s time to unpack profit, in order to activate it.

Many powerhouses will say “Oh babe, right there with ya. I’m on board, I’ve got the abundance concept in the bag.”
Uh-hunh.

Is that reflecting in your bottom line? In the way that you sell? As you grow your bank account balance?
And are you truly reveling in the many forms that abundance comes in?
The signs that you’re not are your friends. Don’t shut ‘em out – they’re your inside connection to the best table in the house of abundance, once you get the courage to ring them up.

Your profit is not at someone else’s expense. It can be for the good of your whole world.

You’re allowed to care for your self and your people first.

Time to practice receiving.

If you’re anything like the entrepreneurs I work with, you were pegged as special, early on. You gave more, because you had more to give. It’s now time to practice the other side of exchange.

Money has no opinion, no preference. It responds entirely to your bidding.
You are training cash how to flow into and out of your world all day long.

I see visionaries of two minds about money – they want to claim the rugged birthright of the individualist’s riches, and still be generous beyond their means. You are allowed to earn the standard of living that you desire, and maintain a proud profit margin. And then care for everyone else.

5 Ways to Power Up Your Profits:

Financial success is not some far off destination, it’s a result to build, today. To cultivate maintenant.

1. Stop selling to a market that can’t afford your best work. Opt out of the vicious cheap-out cycle: you give out just a bit of what you do, they give back just a of their cash, no one is satisfied.
Target a market that can afford you. Increase your empathy for this new demographic – understand this market’s problems, and speak clearly to them.

2. Stop hedging your bets. Cut out the crap that you sort of offer, in case no one likes the work you really want to do. They’re confused by it, and so are you. Free up your focus to zoom in on what you really do, and really sell.

3. Lovingly add a late charge. If clients are paying you late, total what that costs your team to track, and hand at least a portion of that cost back. Be an advocate for yourself. No one’s going to do it for you. We have a 10% late fee in place for payments of over $1,000. Do you?

4. Write out an up-to-the-minute report of the very best results you’ve been able to accomplish with your favorite clients. Figure out how to how to hit that consistently, and raise your rates.

5. Clarify your offer. Bring into high-def the vision of where they’ll land at the end of their experience with you. It’s not your market’s job to mind-read your marvelousness. Be explicit in your positioning and back up every claim you make by over-delivering.

Extra credit: Remember why you’re making money. I don’t get up in the morning for survival’s sake. We’re aiming for extraordinary, aren’t we? I bound out of bed at 5 am to share my love for my work with the world. To see the impact of my teaching, and know that my people’s deepest desires are being fed, as well as their families. To take pleasure in the creative process, and spread the wealth far and wide.

My invitation:

If you’re not experiencing the bottom line you love yet, put more focus here. Now. Don’t stop developing it until you can take care of yourself, your loved ones, and exercise an advocacy in this world that you’re truly proud of.

Don’t worry – we talk a lot about strategies to do just that: activate your gifts, invigorate your vision, and power up your profits. That’s the Powerhouse Arc.

Your turn:
How are you already embracing profit? What piece of this will you power up next?

Put your Vision in your feet. Stop looking at the horizon, and start heading there.

To create the biggest results in your powerhouse business, you’ve gotta go for the high-def version of that vision, and get moving towards it. Let’s tackle the traps first, so that we can move on to the good stuff, shall we?

Top Three Vision Traps: Get outta these to get on with it.

Trap #1  Letting your tomorrow be so huge, that you don’t do jack today.

If you’re stuck on BIG and aren’t moving forward, forget the best-selling author version of the vision. Temporarily chuck it.
You’re extraordinary, but you’ve still gotta put your panties on one leg at a time.
Practice defining your vision in a way that is understandable, today. You can have big dreams, but a vision is much more valuable. A vision articulates where you want to be – a landing point for you to aim for with all of your heart and soul.
“Best-selling author” may very well be a landing point for you, but it may not be the next or even the most relevant version of your vision.

Trap #2   Choosing a vision that’s unspecific to your own desire.

Because it’s what everyone else wants. Because that’s what the greater thinkers of our time did. Because you said it when you were eleven. Because it’s the opposite of your parents’ lives. Because everyone publishes a book when they’re worldchangers, don’t they?
This happens much more easily than you’d think, and is closely related to the first trap.

Claim your own scary-good, sweetly sacred vision that’s specific to YOU. Update it often.
We want to know what it is, trust me. And we’d all benefit tremendously from you wholeheartedly pursuing it.

Trap #3  Waiting for outside forces to roll out the red carpet.

Let go of approval, and embrace your own permission.

Others may not get on board until there’s evidence of you achieving your vision – yep, that’s right – when most of the rodeo has already happened.
It doesn’t say anything about you, or them. How can they possibly board a ship while it’s still invisible to them? Unless they’re directly involved in the creative process, don’t expect others to thrill over your creation in the early stages.  Let the early stages of any vision implementation be a private, quiet joy. You can shout from the rooftops later.

Your vision must incite an up-to-date implementation of your business.

This is what our work together is all about.

1. Honor your self first, so that you have more and more to contribute to everyone else.

2. Develop your vision like it matters. Ask…

What’s the result that your gifts generate, that only you can provide?
What’s the impact you want to make on the world, specifically?

3. When you feel uncertain, remember what you’re actually looking for from the outside world:

You don’t need reassurance, you need strategy. You don’t need permission, just a vaulting “Yes!” to boost you even higher.

4. Admit that the doors that are always open to you. Remember that you are never deprived when someone else gains, because your ability to create abundant results expands proportionally to match your own clarity of desire. (In plain English: when you feel envy, you’re more willing to get unshy about what you want, and make it happen.)

5. Listen to the dreamer within, then activate your inner visionary immediatement, because…

Dreamers soften the world, but visionaries?  Visionaries transform it.

Your turn: Would love to hear your responses to this vision stuff. What do you think?

Be sure to grab your free copy of Passion to Profit: 7 Opportunities Powerhouses miss in biz-building, if you haven’t already!

What’s new:
Passion to Profit: a brand-spanking-new strategy class is here… if you haven’t grabbed your free ticket yet, hop to it.
Powerhouse TV is coming… I’ve got goosebumps just typing about it.

To celebrate the redesign, I’ll be sharing The Powerhouse Arc with you.
Part call to arms, part torch for trailblazing… a primer for powerhouses in business. This is the first of three. Would love to hear your thoughts on the articles, and the redesign itself. I feel incredibly blessed to share this conversation with you, and look forward to expanding it.
Big love,
Sinclair

The Powerhouse Arc

What it takes to blaze your own trail, and be a luminous torch for others.

Part I: Activate Your Genius

When it comes to your talents, specificity is more than sexy. It’s necessary.

Admit it – you are multi-talented like-whoa.When your talents overlap with your values, BAM. Fireworks.

A gift is a talent on a mission.
If you’re not actively cultivating your gifts, and implementing them in service to your vision, you are wasting some precious talent, my friend.
Know your gifts inside and out. Generalizations don’t cut it.

You have instant access to your most precious resources. When you cultivate them, nothing can stop you.
When your gifts are in action, you’re a natural phenomenon. (The aurora borealis would love to ask you out on a date, but is too shy to.)

If you’ve been letting your moments of genius happen to you, instead of cultivating them, it’s time to up your game. If you have a fuzzy idea of what you’re good at, I invite you to get much, much more detailed in your internal descriptions.

As we develop more sophisticated internal and external conversations about our gifts, we grow what we’re capable of accomplishing. We become worthy of the challenges we have set for ourselves. I don’t have to tell you what a big deal that is for your big vision, much less your bottom line. I know you get it.

Let’s talk about how to do it.
I’ve now coached thousands of people across industries, professions, and pay grades, with wildly differing skill sets and strengths. When my clients develop their own understanding of the gifts they’ve got – how their resources work, what their gifts feel like in action, what they want to use them for – that’s when business starts rockin’. That’s when life starts speeding up.

Check for this sneaky stallout:
Having a fuzzy understanding of your incredible gifts is one way for you to avoid the responsibility of sharing them with the world. If you don’t know what they are, you can coast through the current consuming struggle, and not have to play a bigger game. Many a luminary slips into this stallout – have you?

Clarity isn’t FOUND—it’s CREATED.

If you’re waiting for it to hit you, you may be waiting for a while. And who wants to do that?

Get real about your gifts, by redirecting the drama away from your weaknesses. Get over the grief of not being all things to all people. You have a specific beauty to your strengths, and we wanna know what it is.

This world wants more from you. There’s a segment that is searching for you and what you’ve got to give, right this minute.

Your best work doesn’t fall into your lap like an avalanche of inspiration without this important prework. It’s cultivated, moment to moment.

I say this with huge, huge love:
If you’ve been having sneaky internal chats about your limitations while playing big on the outside, knock it off.
Spending your day zig-zagging between harping on your limitations, and then expecting your gorgeous work to come through you is crazy-making. Worse, it’s unnecessary.

Light a candle, go to therapy, paint a series of abstracts to create closure, and start building a different conversation with yourself. A deep ongoing chat, the kind you’ll kill to have with a friend, about your very best qualities and gifts in action.

Don’t blame your lack of clarity or limiting behaviors on the past. Everyone has been the recipient of crap tapes. You’re the dj, you decide what plays today. The past is how you got clear on what you want now. That’s a gift in and of itself.
You brain may be used to the groovy tracks of old tunes, but it’s also incredibly elastic.
You can start changing those tracks in this moment. Don’t sell yourself short.

Update your understanding often.

Powerhouses naturally get what they’re good at. The beauty is in the specificity of your understanding, and in cultivating the sweet spot for you to share these gifts with the world. Keep up with you – you evolve constantly, and your gifts may look different today than they did last month.

If you get stuck, remember that a certain aurora borealis has a crush on you, and loves the way you light up. Then do it.

Part II hits oh so soon – the Powerhouse keys to invigorating your vision. Can’t wait to share.

Big love,

Your turn:

Share your thoughts - what’s next for you and your gifts?

Share the love – pass this on to activate other powerhouses.

Pick your poison – have you been puffing up, or playing small? Most of us prefer one over the other. Let’s get honest about what’s behind them both.

The obvious fake: Puffing Up

Enter the chest-beaters and those who act bigger than they are. We just love people who shout about how great they are, and prove this to us with their metrics, their staunch opinions, their criticisms, loud or whispered. So sexy.

Puffing up is faking it, and it cheapens your message. But you knew that. Sometimes one can’t resist, (sending a little wink and wave to the online biz world here), but you know that’s not who you really are.
Now for the other side of the faker coin, and what’s really underneath all that puffing up:

The subtler side: False Humility

This one is a little less obvious, and it sounds like…

“Oh, I’m not ready yet. I can’t do that thing.”
“I’m just here to serve. They don’t want what I really have to give.”
“Oh, I don’t have a big enough audience to talk about what I really want to talk about.”
“Other people have already said what I have to say, and done what I want to do.”
“I don’t feel safe enough.”
“I’m too stressed to really give this my best, and do it the way I want to.”

Time’s ticking away darling, while you sell yourself short.

Whether you take your small straight up, or with a twist of overcompensation, it amounts to the same thing: playing small, dumbing it down, waiting for permission, not wanting to take up too much room. As if your incredible true nature could ever do such a thing! We can’t get sick enough to make others well, and you can’t hold back enough to let others thrive.

When you play small, you create a subtle split in yourself, a canyon in your heart that expands to a chasm every time you don’t admit to all that you are. In that moment, one part of you sees yourself as inadequate/unprepared, etc., and the rest of you continues to know just how whole and ready you are, body and soul. Whether it shows up as “puffing up” or “playing small,” the split is happening. Those are just symptoms of the canyon deepening.

This is faking it, babe. Because underneath it all, you know. You know.

True pride = admitting that you and your gifts are precious, and honoring that truth.

True pride is without pretension. It doesn’t need any.
It’s about making room for you, admitting that you know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you’ve got beauty and truth and magic in you. This is not a temporary high to grant yourself at a retreat. This is the practice of feeding the warmth in your belly, relaxing into the humming wholeness of your heart, and sharpening the clarity of your vision, as often as it takes.

Faking it is f-ing complicated, and playing small is exhausting. Being truthful about your worth and your readiness is surprisingly… simple. Not necessarily easy, but simple. There’s no machinations to manage, no compensating to juggle. (It comes with a bonus: you appear as big as you truly are, and a damn sight more compelling.)

When you cultivate true pride, it’s fascinating how quickly things begin to move. Your best work can tumble out of you in a rush, when you honor yourself and your gifts. When you lead with true pride, resources and people line up to wait for you. The world loves it when you give it your all.
Who cares if you don’t have all the skill sets you need just yet? Go out there and earn ‘em. Learning those can be a pleasureful part of the natural unfolding of your work. You can’t hide behind not yet “knowing enough.” Your magnificent nature doesn’t care about that – it just wants to unfold.

To get productive, take in the true pride. Time to fall out of love with flogging.

Yes, good work can come through you in spite of faker habits. Most people flog themselves into motion, and make it happen the hard way. But you, my love, can take the direct route, and regularly admit that you already know…

: how incredible you really are
: how beautiful your intentions really are
: that the seeds of your ideas already hold truth and magic.

… and put the whip down.

You are enough. Complete. Ready.

You genius, your best work, must come from this knowing place. If you let it, this can feel so good it makes you blush.
Is your heart beating faster yet? Let it. Let the canyon fill with a trickle, then a gushing tide of hope and excitement. You can handle it.

And for my readers who need a gut check – if you’re irritated right now, these words are no less true for you. You’re focusing more on the heartache of the split, than the potential for something different. Come back, babe. Stick with it. You can do it.
If you don’t want to, then I lovingly invite you to check outta here, and go read someone else’s work. Our community here is only for people who are ready for more.

Because you have enough to give.
And you know enough to start where you are.

I’ve spent the last month making some free tools for you to do just that – a rebellious reinvention of the way you access your genius. A meditation on activation. A jumpstart like no other. All so that you can make your best work, and grow that biz of yours.

These tools will hit the stands with our beeyooteeful new website design, coming oh-so-soon. To be sure you get this suite of presents, grab your free subscription to the Conduit now, up on the top right. Subscribers are getting an extra somethin’ somethin’ when we go live. Cannot wait to share it with you.

Big love,

Your turn, dahling:
Where do you already cultivate true pride? Where are you still faking it? I’d love to know.

Think someone else needs to see this today? Don’t be stingy – Tweet it, G+ it, FB it. As visionaries, you deserve all the support you can get. The world is waiting for you.