There’s no way to avoid it – running our own business is one of the most powerful medicine paths we can choose.

It’s important to remember this at all times, to avoid destructive magical thinking that kills us on both ends of the spectrum:

… The voice that tells us we should immediately succeed without doing the deep work, and that we’ve failed when we don’t get the same results as the seasoned pros.

… The voice that tells us we have evidence that we’ll never reach our goals, and we should just give up and return to a 9-5.

My favorite remedy to this common trap is to strategically start feeling successful now.

Begin by picking goals you can’t possibly fail at.

Want to fill an entire program?

—> Set a goal to get one lead today.

Trying to set up a funnel so full of complex moving parts that it would make Einstein sweat?

—> Set a goal to write your headline in an hour.

Then celebrate your successes shamelessly and with zero discernment.

Someone clicked your ad and didn’t sign up to speak with you? You got engagement!

Stared blankly at your screen and wrote 10 headlines you don’t like? You just eliminated 10 options!

By relishing the small wins, we slowly but surely cultivate the grounded confidence we need to take the next step.

Our expectations of success grow with each small victory.

There’s a great saying that humans tend to overestimate what we can achieve in a few months and underestimate what we can achieve in a year.

Baby step by baby step, we can wake up a year from now and be astounded by our achievements.

The post A cure for entrepreneurial doubt and magical thinking appeared first on Visionary Readings.

“I am going to hire someone to do my sales and marketing because my personality type isn’t good at that stuff.”

“I’ve got too much Feminine energy to be doing these Masculine energy parts of my business…”

How many times have I heard women entrepreneurs uttering these sentences over the years? And how many times have I entertained these ideas for myself?

So many women who are just starting out in business are thinking some version of, “I just wish I could have someone do that hard/boring part for me.” (Which is usually only optimal for a later stage business – more on that later).

I call this “White Knight syndrome,” because it’s as though they want a White Knight to ride in on his White horse and rescue them from having to go through the birth canal of truly braving it as an entrepreneur.

This is problematic for SO MANY REASONS, but here are a few big ones.

1) The role it puts these women in is “Damsel In Distress,” which is simply not the archetype of a successful business owner. The energy that needs to be embodied is “Badass Warrior” or “Magical Manifesting Priestess,” and the transformation into this version of ourselves IS the evolutionary journey of entrepreneurship. We need to experience the birth process and that involves some labor. The frustrations, struggles and massive amounts of discomfort are priceless learning opportunities. If we outsource this, we stay the same, and we will not expand our capacity to receive. And anyway, this imaginary White Knight doesn’t exist (see #2), so we may get stuck in a holding pattern and never truly live our purpose.

2) Our soul business is like a snowflake. No one has ever done it like we will, because it is birthed from the depths of our hearts. Only we know exactly how to make it work. Even if we imitate someone who appears to be succeeding at the exact same game, it will not be the same for us, because of the subtle component that is particularly present for those who identify primarily with Feminine Energy and want to attract those clients.

I have days and days of ridiculous stories from my Vedic Astrology practice about implementing proven marketing strategies that would never work for me, and fly-in-the-face-of-marketing-wisdom things that consistently attract people to me. I have spent *thousands* of dollars over the years, trying to get experts to tell me how to do it, and not one of those dollars translated into a client.

It is so incredibly tempting, when we feel lost, overwhelmed and scared, to reach for an authoritative Masculine person to tell us what to do or actually do things for us. This is the Shadow Feminine at work. But we are simply outsourcing our confidence and wisdom. Of course we absolutely need coaches and mentors, but these people will inadvertently lead us astray if:

a) we don’t hire them from a sense of deep alignment in our hearts and do it from fear or scarcity instead or

b) they are not consistently advising us to check in with our hearts to find our deepest truth and operate from that place, and are instead telling us what they know will work for us. (Spoiler alert – hiring this person can be a very expensive mistake!)

At the end of the day, we know best, and it’s just a matter of trusting ourselves, being willing to “fail” and learn and iterate, and using our inner guidance to choose which outside information to welcome in.

3) Once we’ve gotten things working to a certain point in our business, where we understand how it all works and what’s really involved, delegation is wonderful. We can focus on our zone of genius. But if we don’t learn about all these pieces ourselves, we risk becoming completely dependent on our partner/staff etc. What if they need to leave us? What happens then? If we don’t at least understand all parts of our business, it’s ultimately disempowering.

In reality, running a business completely in our feminine isn’t actually ideal (and the inverse is true too!) We need to balance our masculine and feminine energies inside because both are needed.

A friend of mine once suggested having weekly meetings with my inner masculine to plan out the week and give it structure so my inner feminine could have more space to play. I find this practice very helpful and highly recommend it to anyone who feels any resistance being in their masculine energy.

I hope that this is useful for any budding female or feminine-energy-dominant entrepreneurs! We are truly the ones we’ve been waiting for.

💖🌟🧜🏻‍♀️

The post The Shadow Feminine In Entrepreneurship and the Dangers of the White Knight Fantasy appeared first on Visionary Readings.

While these creations do not have self awareness, they do transmit our consciousness anytime someone interacts with them. They are doling out energy on our behalf, even if we are not aware of it.

This means that our creations can create karma for us, since karma is created in both the energy we put out, but also the response that we generate.

If someone develops anger toward us because of our photos, those photos are creating a karmic bond between us and that person, whether we know it or not, or whether or not it is reasonable for them to feel that way.

Because of this, in many ancient spiritual traditions, fame is often regarded as more of a curse than a blessing.

All sorts of people put their attention on celebrities, and in all kinds of ways. One may be an adoring fan, but another may be obsessive or be projecting unwanted energy. No personal interactions are necessary to create these energetic bonds.

Most people aren’t equipped or trained to handle this much energy coming at them and it takes an accomplished yogi or shaman to transmute and channel it in a good way (an ability that was most likely acquired via diligent practice in many past lives).

The energy of other people’s thoughts about us is powerful, en masse, and can knock us off balance if we aren’t prepared.

This is why so many famous people fall apart and wind up having extremely challenging lives, despite their success and appearance of “having it all” from the outside.

We now live in a world where social media is King, and we are all aspiring celebrities in our own hall of mirrors.

There are no longer any geographical barriers to limit the number of people we enmesh with, and the amount of karma we can create in one lifetime is practically infinite.

We are in a cultural fishbowl where we don’t realize how embedded this desire to be seen is becoming in each of us. To be seen by as many people as possible is now entwined with our very survival. This will only deepen as time goes on.

The archetype that represents this new, barely-understood world is Rahu.

Rahu is the ever-moving point where the orbital path of the Sun and the Moon intersect, and is a key player in eclipses.

Rahu is a Hungry Ghost who always wants more but never feels satisfied. Rahu represents compulsive ambition, self-serving fame, ingenuity, imposters, subterfuge, unsolvable riddles, and things that are simply not what they seem.

The United States is in a Rahu “chapter” for the next 15 years and our President is basically the human embodiment of Rahu. We don’t have the birth time of this iteration of Humanity, but it seems we are collectively in a Rahu period as the epidemic of compulsively desiring fame is global.

So what do we do with this realization?

We stay awake, grounded and aware.

We tune into the frequencies of gratitude and anonymous service.

We surround ourselves with wise beings who can give us accurate and personal reflections.

We carefully consider what we are putting out there online and take time to understand and prepare for what it means to be seen and judged by many.

This doesn’t mean we should hide in a cave- we are inherently creative beings, and life is meant to be lived – but with this awareness, we can consciously choose what energies we are inviting into our field and the level we wish to play at.

The post Fame, Social Media and Karma appeared first on Visionary Readings.

I paused for a moment. Wouldn’t it be amazing if I could do whatever I wanted all the time, and have unlimited income?

This is a seductive and universally appealing vision. There are actually a few people out there who have apparently achieved this, which makes it seem even more desirable. (And they are probably inviting you into a very expensive mastermind so you can have the same results!)

But, upon further reflection, I realized that I didn’t want that at all. Here’s why.

Effort creates value. Creating anything of value requires that we apply consistent effort over time. This is simply how reality works.

When was the last time you created something of great value to others with minimal effort? (Don’t forget to count all the years you spent honing your craft or building your network).

But what about the people who seem to have money pouring down on them like a monsoon — while they go to the spa?

In those cases, one of these things is true:

A) This person does a ton of diligent work they haven’t told you about, yet posted a spa photo on social media accompanied by a quote about the ease of abundance.

B ) This person put the effort in during past lives and is now reaping the rewards.

Either way, we wind up comparing ourselves to these people without having all the data on how they created their abundance.

This matters, because life is truly about putting in the effort to alleviate the suffering of others, and giving more than we take. This is a key on the path to freedom.

When we receive the fruits of past life efforts, what we do with those rewards defines whether we are following our Dharma or just wasting good karma.

Despite what much of the internet marketing and feminine empowerment teachings tell us, life is not, in fact, about conspicuous consumption or the endless pursuit of pleasure (for its own sake).

Leading a coaching mastermind to coach other coaches to coach coaches and telling others that they should just believe they can have it too by posting to Instagram, and that their dream of constant, pleasurable indulgence will come easily, while everyone sips champagne on a boat in Italy — that’s simply not a value add.

All this does is drain the karmic bank account of hard-won, supportive energy. It’s a waste, because that energy could be used to help others who are truly suffering, which is how the coffers seem to get refilled.

Imagine that, in 1000 past lives, someone did diligent and grueling daily practices to increase their Shakti and their capacity to affect the world, and then in 2018, used it all up to blog about being rich.

This is what’s likely happening for certain people right now

In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter if we are Donald Trump or Mother Theresa – life is infinite, and will sort itself out.

But here we are, playing the game of life here in space and time – so how do we really want to do it?

If we want a fulfilled life where we feel in integrity with ourselves as humans, then easy is not the goal. Money is not the goal.

Value, service, contribution, beauty, truth, freedom, evolution – these are the kind of goals that are worth living for.

True pleasure, happiness, abundance and enjoyment are side effects of these things.

I’ve spent the last 18 months co-building a business and it’s been anything but easy. Exhilerating, fascinating, deeply fulfilling and extremely challenging – yes, but easy, no – and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

I’ve grown and learned through the challenges and struggles it has brought me. I’ve created value though my effort. I’m a part of something that truly helps people.

The process of birthing, whether enjoyable or painful, is a challenge because it’s meant to transform who we are at the core into a mother.

There is a reason why it allegedly takes 10,000 hours of applied effort to become an expert in anything.

Anyone can hang a shingle online declaring they are an expert at something, but… are they really?

Who do we really want to learn from?

So the next time someone tries to seductively sell you on the dream of “something for nothing,” I recommend walking away, because this person fundamentally misunderstands reality.

There is no such thing. We are always either giving or consuming, with every breath we take (not even our breath is free!)

Choose wisely!

~ Artwork by Paul Bond Art ~

The post Wasting Good Karma: The Seductive Myth Of Getting Something For Nothing (e.g. Millennial Wantrepreneurs on Instagram, MLM’s, And Coaching Masterminds) appeared first on Visionary Readings.

If at any point in my life you had asked me if I would like to get on the phone with people I’ve never met, talk to them about their deepest fears and biggest dreams, and then inspire them to do something they’ve seriously never even considered before to make their visions a reality, I would have said sure, I do that all the time in my readings. But if you had called it sales, I would have said “I don’t do that.”

The problem was that, not so deep down, I equated me doing sales with manipulation, being pushy, self serving, egotistical, and having a “winner/loser” outcome.

Who would want to do THAT, besides a sleazy “used car” salesman? (No offense to any high integrity used car sales people out there – I’m just working the stereotype!)

So when I realized that I had an opportunity to co-create a business that would truly help transform the love lives of women around the world, so they could finally find a partner, focus more on their soul purpose, and radiate their beautiful essence, but that the only way to make it work meant me getting on the phone and doing sales/enrollment calls, I hesitated.

I didn’t know how I was going to make it work. So I hired a mentor, and got myself in a mastermind full of other people dealing with the same thing. Then I started taking calls.

What I soon learned is that doing Sales is the single most transformative activity any entrepreneur can do. In fact, it’s probably one of the most powerful thing anyone interested in personal growth can take on.

Real Sales is about revealing the truth. Period, end. All other opinions I had about it were wrong.

…Crappy mindset? Feel like being Eeyore today? Nope, not gonna work. Gotta learn how to switch states on command.

…Feeling uncomfortable and nervous? Not confident? Nope, also not gonna work. Gotta find my inner badass and fully embody her.

…Not sure how to fully be with someone else’s pain where I’m really just listening deeply and not trying to fix or change anything? No-go. Have to shut my mouth and breathe and listen so deeply that the person I’m speaking with feels heard in a brand new way.

…Afraid to say what I really think? Sales is actually all about speaking the truth of the moment in a compassionate way.

Eventually I got the hang of it, and I’m proud to say that I am a new person because of it, and I’m also able to help 1000x more people.

Now I mentor the other women on our team to do the same thing. (That’s a whole other crazy story!!)

The post How Redefining Sales Finally Turned Me Into A Real Entrepreneur appeared first on Visionary Readings.

I love reading for these people because I don’t do either of those things, but I feel so badly for them, and it brings up a key piece that I want to share about how to choose any guide, coach or mentor.

I’ve worked with a number of coaches and mentors, and I have learned a lot – often the hard way – about how to choose the right person at the right time. I’ve made some very expensive mistakes so you don’t have to.

Here is what it all boils down to: Don’t hire a mentor from fear alone.

Every time I am about to invest money to work with someone new, I always have a little apprehension, from general excitement anxiety to underlying worries about “What if it doesn’t work?” and “What if I fail?”

This is normal.

When we are stepping into something new and big, fear is gonna be there along with a big heaping spoonful of resistance.

However, when we hire a mentor *purely* from a place of fear, we risk placing ourselves in the drama triangle — we are the victim and the mentor is our savior. Before long, when the mentor can’t save us (because no one can – it’s an inside job), they can become the perpetrator who failed us.

If we are only present to thoughts like, “I am out of options,” or “I don’t know what else to do,” and we are feeling low, sad and desperate when we make our decision, we could be operating from fear alone. This is not a good state to operate from because it obscures our truth.

It’s vital then that we feel a big yes in our heart and body about working with the person, in addition to any fear we experience. This is the only way we can ensure we are making an aligned decision.

I find it helpful to get into a better state before deciding to work with someone (this can be a simple as going for a hike or talking with a friend before having an enrollment conversation), to keep checking in with my heart’s true yes, and to seriously ask myself the question, “am I looking to be rescued?”

If I realize, deep down, that I’m just hiring them to avoid stepping into my own power, it’s a red flag. I am probably hiring them to do the very thing I need to do myself. I have done this many times, only to come to the conclusion that I had the best answers in that moment!

When it’s a real yes, I feel lit up and on fire to be working together. I feel validated, more of myself than ever, and inspired to take new actions that allow me to grow exponentially. I feel happy to have invested the money in myself.

When it’s a fake yes, I feel like they don’t quite get me, like I am wasting my time and money, and there is a frustration that they aren’t giving me any new answers. (This is not always the mentor’s fault! It can be, because not everyone is good at coaching, but it’s usually on me for not honoring my truth).

—> There is an important exception to this rule and that is if we are stuck in a destructive pattern, like an addiction that is having adverse effects on our life. Almost no one wants to go to rehab, and the psyche will throw up all sorts of smokescreens and reasons why we aren’t a yes to getting help. If we can get underneath this fog for a moment, that full bodied yes will still be there, but it can be hard to access. In these cases it’s important to find a qualified expert with a great track record for solving this problem, and leap. <—

Even if we feel our yes and hire a mentor from that place, sometimes it still won’t work out. In these cases, the experience of ‘failure’ is what’s aligned for us because it’s helping us grow in a certain way that we need.

…Maybe it reminds us that we have the answers within.

…Maybe it reminds us that we should raise our rates because we are just as good as the mentor!

…Maybe it gives us unexpected wisdom to share with the people we serve.

…Maybe our connection to that mentor will yield sweet fruit down the line.

At the end of the day, the only thing we can really trust in life is our own truth. If we follow that, regardless of the apparent outcome, we will feel like we’ve done the right thing.

I hope this share saves you some time, money and grief! Having a great guide is so vital for our growth but it’s essential to find the right one for us.

The post How To Choose A Coach, Guide Or Mentor appeared first on Visionary Readings.