Happy Earth Day!

My family and I have been recycling for over ten years and this makes us feel good. However we have begun to ask ourselves what other small actions could we be taking to be kinder to our planet.

Some of the small actions is that we use recycled cloth bags for all of our shopping. We recycle any of the plastic bags we do have and we have been choosing filtered water over bottled water. 

It occurred to me that the small actions we are taking as a collective will obviously yield big gains down the road. This concept also applies to our businesses and our leadership.

Small actions that we take as a leader can lead us to gains we may have not even planned to receive. For example one of my employees was having a very tough day- I however was feeling great. I really wasn’t in the mood to ‘deal’ with someone who was in a funky mood. It then struck me fairly quickly that a small action to help my employee feel fantastic was really following up on the concept of ‘increase for all’.

Needless to say I quickly shared by good mood energy and went on to invest more energy and time than ever before in helping her to feel fantastic. The next day I was the one having a tough day and it was my beloved employee who returned the good energy favor and then some!

You have heard that saying ‘you have to give to get’ and I know it often can feel counter intuitive when we are in a negative space but it really is true.

We want a greener earth- we have to give to get.

We want a happy team- we have to give to get.

We want to have more clients- we have to give to get.

Small actions- big and bigger gains.

Evolution means that we as a living organisms are continuing to grow, change and adapt. In the current economic times fear is rampant and is causing ‘contraction’ versus ‘expansion’- think about the past and recognize how much you have evolved but also how everything has evolved.

In my own personal past I recognize that what is happening now is a ‘full circle’ opportunity. I started my business in 1994 when many people told me it was the worst possible time to do so.

Ignorance is bliss because my passion and belief for what I was doing overrode any naysayers in my path. In fact the first business that I started which was a service business went on to generate 6 figures in the first year and we sold it for mid six figures in 1999.

The full circle realization came for me when in 1994 I hired a business coach (this was before ‘coaches’ were a common thing) and even though I had to borrow $7000.00 off of my line of credit I took the leap because I knew I needed someone who could guide me to self-employed success.

Fast forward to 2009 and I have been blessed with much business success as an entrepreneur, professional speaker, author and consultant. So what am I doing that is full circle? I am investing in new types of coaching and even though others might be restraining their spending I am investing in the future of what I believe is possible for myself and for all of my clients.

I have hired coaches over the years and have always benefited from the outside perspective, harsh truths and the advice. This time though I am committing to a bigger investment once again as I hold fast to the vibrant future.

Already my coaching/consulting clients have noticed a shift as my approach and value offering increases for them. The more I learn, grow and challenge myself the more I can share with my clients, friends and family and in the end “increase for all” will win the day!

Want to watch something inspiring- check this out!

You Wont See This on Unitedvideo:1904098

This past two weeks I have been travelling, I was in Las Vegas for a five day course and then was off to Springfield Illinois and then on to Libertyville Illinois. 

Interestingly Las Vegas was its old regular self- bustling and busy with lots of tourists lined up to watch the Bellagio water display with music.  The deals that are available to go to Vegas right now are amazing- couple that with spring break and you have a boom town. 

In Springfield the mood was of gratitude since the main industry is government and there were no lay offs in the last year but there is a hiring freeze.

In Libertyville I met with a few clients and one particular client named Holly seemed to me to have the right attitude along with the right strategy to ‘work’ the current economic climate. She is practicing the ‘ripple effect. Similar to the Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell the ripple effect is based on the premise that actions taken today will cause an effect felt in the near future.

Although many of Holly’s clients have been laid off or are going through a restructure they are all finding work in new industries or even making the long overdue decision to go out on their own. So the action Holly is taking today is to stay in touch with all of her contacts even when they move on to new endeavors. Her focus is on keeping the relationship intact and providing value whether they can use her services right now or not.

So fast forward to the fall of 2009 and early 2010 and I predict that Holly will be bustling with more business than ever before- why? Because she has been throwing the stones in the pond by following all of her relationships to their new locations and within a six month period you can bet they will be calling Holly for her services.

This current economy requires that we do not look for instant gratification rather we look at gathering the pebbles, throwing them in the pond and with gratitude enjoy the ripple effect.