Every participant got to share their message from stage and hone their presentation skills. It was a fast track to clarity! Really fun….now I am off to my two Hell Raiser groups (private client Master Minds) to go deep into their six and seven figure businesses…most of these folks have coached with me 2-3 years and we are just getting started. Then, my LA tour stop- will I see you there? Lots going on – Hell Yeah!

If it were easy everyone would do it.

If it were easy no one would need me (or many of you.)

If it were easy you probably wouldn’t be reading this.

And not only is it not easy- some of it can be hellish. I talk to lots of you each day via calls, emails, social media and I hear the tough stuff. And listen, I get it. I go through the tough stuff, too. That launch that failed, the employee that quit, the client that bailed, the nasty email… there are days you can feel like you are going through hell. I thought since you ended up there not on purpose you might want some directions out of there.

Directions from Hell:

1) OK, let’s start here. If you are going through hell- don’t stop! That’s the worst thing you could do. You never want to pull up a chair and sit at that table. It will feel like the right thing to do is throw in the towel, but this is just a big red firey flag (joke intended) saying- don’t stop here! Keep moving.

2) Get out as fast as possible- look for the exits. I read a great quote today that said: “We all come with baggage. Find someone who loves you enough to help you unpack.” Here are the best exit plans:

a) delegate- sometimes others have a better view point of the exit
b) stop thinking- don’t try to figure out how you got there (yet)
c) see if you have any ideal clients there- sometimes what appears to be “hell” is actually just an opportunity to stretch
d) get factual- work from truth and not emotion. Emotion will never allow you to see the exit.

3) Once you find the exit get a drink of water. Pause, rehydrate, and analyze. I keep saying business is math, metrics, science, and numbers… get clear on what didn’t work and what happened.

4) Tell the story. We never go through hell unless we were meant to teach about the trip. Don’t wallow in what happened or whine about getting lost. Just make the mess your message. Find a way to market it. People love that stuff!

Hope this helps to turn your hell into a hell yeah!

A few days of R and R was just what I needed to take time to reflect on last year and all the good stuff that happened… that is what I love about reflection: the life happenings that seemed hard, the challenges, the shocks…they all are brilliant lessons with some distance and some clarity.

I love what business teaches me. My greatest classroom has been my office. My greatest teacher has been my clients and my team. Here’s to an amazing 2012 with lots of frozen beverages! ;-)

The reality is two things:

1. We always have the money to do the things we REALLY want to do.
2. You always get exactly what you need when you need it.

If you believe Universal Truths of Abundance you will know the money is always there. Now, I do know some people do not know where to look for the money and that is where I have put in a lot of time energy and research. I thought it would be very helpful to share this with you for two reasons:

1. You might be telling yourself you can’t get the support you need because YOU don’t have the money. Maybe this will help.
2. It will help you in speaking to clients who say they don’t have the money.

So, here we go – 10 ways to get the money you need every time!

1) Business Loan. There are many small lending institutions (especially locally owned banks) that want to help finance small business as the entrepreneur is doing well in this economy.

2) “Business Loan.” This is what I call a job or part time job. I think if you TRULY believe in your dream then you must do whatever necessary to realize that dream. A stream of income will help you go from NEEDING clients to wanting clients. And do not look at it as a job – it is a business loan to fuel your start up.

3) 401ks and Other Investments. Your accountant will probably tell you this is a horrible idea, but I am very grateful I used some of mine as seed money. That money grew into a 7-figure business. I had actually lost quite a bit of it with the craziness in the market and so I became very aware the best investment I could make was an investment in ME. There are even ways to roll the funds into your business with NO penalties.

4) Low Interest Credit Cards. We have a really messed up view of credit in this country. Debt has been made to seem evil (I could go on for days about this), but good debt is a very useful tool. Good debt is debt you incur to finance a project or dream and you have a plan to pay it back. You are using it to learn, grow, and develop to bring in revenue from your business. No one really blinks at student loan debt, but we all get nuts when we, say, put a program or mentor on a credit card. What’s the difference? There isn’t – at all! One has just been conditioned by society to be okay.

5) Got Junk? I have had students (actually right now) finance their dreams by selling gold an ex-husband gave them, putting cool stuff on ebay, or selling a car they no longer wanted or needed. My friend and mentor, David Neagle, first financed his dream by selling a boat. I spent a year selling yard sale finds on ebay to pay for a vacation AND my coaches. See how creative you can get?

6) Start NOW! Many of you are waiting to have everything perfect or in place to get clients and make money. I guarantee you know enough now to start working with people. Maybe you will have an introductory rate or special for the first 5 clients you work with, but there is no need to wait. You can start making money now!

7) Friends and Family. Many times friends and family are happy to help and will charge you a much lower interest or no interest. If you are in the UK, Australia or South Africa, Richard Branson has made this very easy with www.virginmoney.com. He has created a program that helps friends and family create loans and have tracking, accountability, and make them professional and organized. He calls them social loans.

8) Make a Change. Look at your full budget and spending – I have never seen one person or family that didn’t have something they could tweak to find money for their business. Is there a tweak that could be made to your daily spending? Hobby spending? Where is there waste in your weekly budget? It can be amazing how easy it is to find $100 or more a week with small changes.

9) Apply For a Home Equity Line of Credit. Some banks offer home equity lines of credit that let you borrow up to as much as 85% of the appraised value of your home. Depending on the value of your home and what you still owe in other mortgages, that can put a significant chunk of money at your disposal for starting your business. The downside: you’re putting your home at risk. This is not an option for everyone, but it is a great option for some. Always understand your risk and all the details.

10) Make The Decision. You or your clients do not need the money for coaching /mentoring/support until they make the decision to get support and play a bigger game. Anything is possible when you make a decision. Many people think they have made a decision, but here are the facts. A decision is ONLY when there are no other options. There is no failure or stopping buckets to put your balls in. You do whatever it takes. And you will get the support you need to make it happen.

The universe is waiting to fund your dream! The money is already here!

The first 30 years of my life I did try. I didn’t really know any different.

I skipped slumber parties at 7 if it was the same night as 60 Minutes and at 6 I gave a political speech for Geraldine Ferraro — none of my friends knew who she was. As I grew older I could have cared less about High School drama and instead I spent the summers training as a professional water skier and I started a professional acting career when I was 4.

Don’t get me wrong. I wanted to hang with the cool kids and I did — I could hang out with anybody… I like people and so I got along with the nerds, hung out with the preps, and weekended with the dreadlocked hippy group at school.

But I never really fit anywhere. I would try. I was extremely malleable and so I would shift and change and try to be whoever I needed to in that moment — it never really worked.

• I have been overweight since I was 5.
• I have been bossy since 3.
• I have been the girl who does a little of everything forever.

I wasn’t fitting in. And I floundered between it bothering me deeply and total apathy.

Until I turned 32.

I noticed I was a pretty good marketer. I saw ideas that some people didn’t. I had the primal urge to rage against what everybody else was saying/writing/selling and do it a little different. I like a good challenge. I like to poke people.

And it hit me — my marketing works because I don’t fit in. And now I am clear…

I won’t even try (not a little).

• I will not stop cursing.
• I will not behave the way you think a coach should or a marketer should or a conscious entrepreneur should.
• I will not make you feel good by telling you BS.
• I will not run my business off of emotional business management because women have for years.
• I will not sell the way everyone else does.
• I will not be feminine or masculine — heart centered or hard core marketing.
• I will not do what my industry does because it looks good or is polite.

But I will be me. And I don’t fit in. And it works.

And I invite you to join me… I don’t want you to fit in either. There is only so much room for people to fit in and that room gets too full — all the oxygen gets drained.

So I’ll meet you in the hallway. I am easy to find — I’ll be the one dropping the F-bomb.

That’s how I roll. I am a sprinter, so I like to work fast and hard, then retreat and repeat. It has always worked for me and I can get recharged in just a few hours.

Some of you may be marathoners — you work slow and steady for a while, and then need longer retreat. Honor your working style whatever it is.

And that brings us to this week’s article… it has been highly requested to be repeated. Honor who you are. Who you are IS innovative. Who you are IS creative. Who you are IS perfect and imperfect, which is all perfect — use it all to start your movement.

AND enjoy the last days of summer. Swim, catch a firefly, drink a beer, shoot a firework. Hell yeah!

When you have a plan you are able to scale your model and profit centers become rinse and repeat.  Here is my 5-step plan to make money.  Every day.  Every time.

1)  Ask where? When you plan a project, launch, or product, know from the start where you want it to take you both financially and positioning.  It is key to have an overall plan for the year so you understand the impact every launch or idea has.  Most people simply throw the spaghetti on the wall and hope something sticks, but it is imperative that you ask where this is going to take you and have a clear and measurable outcome.

2) Ask when? What are your set dates for the most successful profit outcome?  Once you determine those you have to live and die by them.  When you miss launch dates you throw off your entire profit cycle.

3) Ask who? Loral Langmeir had a phenomenal quote where she says,”When an opportunity comes to you, ask yourself the million dollar question.  Who can I get to do this for me?”  You must leverage your time as soon as possible (even if you are just starting out).  Have a team of resources, contractors, or employees to carry out the tasks and technical work so you can do what you do best.

4) Analyze and test. Everything I do is a test.  Every email, call, newsletter, or event. We are constantly analyzing our results and improving upon what worked, changing what did not, and eliminating waste.  You market in a vacuum if you don’t analyze and test your results from start to finish.

5) Play big and plan small. Most companies are focused on the big end result or the 3-5 year plan.  They become so consumed with big picture that they can’t figure out what to do right now.  Don’t plan further out than 60 days for doable step-by-step sustainable results that can be tested.  Your results truly are the indicator of what next step to take.  Nano planning allows for flexibility and achievable results.

Hope is not a business plan, nor is passion.  Those items just enable you to work the plan.  If you need to increase revenues start with these simple steps and when you explode your profits… here is the good news.  These steps still apply.  Rinse and repeat.