Recently I had the pleasure of being asked by my mentors, Carey Peters and Stacey Morgenstern, of Holistic MBA to appear on a panel at their live event in San Diego in front of 250 entrepreneurs.
I was asked to share my story about how I have built my own business, and how I transitioned from my day job and took the risk to quit and become a full time Legal Coach® and Holistic Lawyer®.
Such an honor… and Totally. Freaking. Scary.
Here is a photo of the panel at Holistic MBA Live (photo credit: Wendy Yalom Photography):
Shortly thereafter, Holistic MBA featured me in a Core Program Graduate “Superstar” webinar where I was interviewed by Stacey for 30 minutes about my strategies for going from start-up to 6-figures without burning out. It was live, totally unscripted, and in real time.
Again. Totally. Freaking. Scary.
It didn’t stop there. Next, Mikki Evans Kingsley interviewed me as part of her Inspired Woman Project to discuss how I overcame fear to take bold steps in my business.
Such an exciting opportunity, and again – So. Freaking. Scary.
And then right after that, Jana Matthews of Healing Essentials interviewed me in her Healer’s Hangout live webinar where I shared the top Legal Tips for Holistic Entrepreneurs.
Need I say more?
On the one hand, it was such an honor to be interviewed, to share my story, and to legally enlighten other entrepreneurs. Of course.
But what most people don’t know is that appearing live and on camera to talk about ME, and tell MY STORY, was WAAAAAY outside of my comfort zone.
I am TOTALLY and completely comfortable standing on a stage speaking publicly about the law or in a leadership position. To my point:
- I gave over 72 corporate wellness talks about healthy eating and living just in the past 2 years (before transitioning to full-time Legal Coaching!).
- I am a former president of the Junior League of Portland and I used to speak from the stage multiple times a month.
- I once gave a legal presentation in front of over 1,000 lawyers at a national conference (talk about a tough crowd!)
And, this week I am a featured speaker at The Health Coach Group’s Mastermind at Club Med to legally enlighten Health Coaches about “The First 3 Legal Steps that Every Health Coach Should Take”, and “What Can I Do – and Not Do – as a Health Coach in My State?”.
I am not even nervous. Not one bit. Public speaking is not a problem for me.
HOWEVER, talking about MYSELF and my own journey in a public arena – well, that’s a different story!
There is something so incredibly vulnerable about appearing on stage or in a live webinar talking about MYSELF and my own fears and successes that was really terrifying to me.
On the Holistic MBA Live stage, I talked about my financial journey and how it is okay to grow your practice at your own pace. I shared how freaking SLOW I was to transition to full-time Legal Coaching. (I was slower than molasses. It took me over 18 months!) I shared that I had started by working part-time nights and weekends making at first $1,000/month then $2,000/month then $4,000/month all the way up to $9,000/month which is when I finally got the courage to make the leap to quit my day job and start my full-time Legal Coaching practice (and that was just 10 months ago!). Now I gratefully and consistently make 15-20x/month than what I made at the outset.
It may sound crazy to you, but it was really frightening for me to share my fear of leaving my day job as well as my financial success. To stand in the spotlight. To be received. To be applauded. To be praised. To be fully seen. To be that open. To be fully myself.
But I did it. I decided to embrace it and I totally showed up. And you know what happened? I received a standing ovation.
A. Standing. Ovation.
For absolutely no reason other than having the courage to go onstage, speak from my heart, and let myself be fully seen and heard. That’s it. Isn’t that just incredible?
It actually brought tears to my eyes to receive that kind of attention and energy from a room full of 250 incredibly talented and loving coaches who were honoring my success and hard work.
My first instinct was to make myself small and shrink down on the stage so I wouldn’t be taking away any light from anyone else when the spotlight was being shone on me.
And in that moment, it dawned on me how easy it is for me to encourage and celebrate OTHER people’s successes when they stand in the spotlight, but it was REALLY hard for me to let myself receive the same in return.
Yet I chose to sit right there in my own discomfort and just tried to let myself receive the love, attention, acknowledgement, and kindness that was so powerfully directed at me in that moment. I kept telling myself, “Breathe and receive. Breath and receive.” With as much humility and grace as I could muster.
What I learned most from that standing ovation is that letting people into those vulnerable places and sharing in our success is actually a part of RECEIVING.
It’s 2nd chakra stuff.
It’s not by chance that the 2nd chakra is affiliated with creation, pleasure, joy, and money – and also giving AND receiving.
And then it dawned on me that being open to receiving attention and recognition is the same as being open to receiving MONEY. And love. And joy. And pleasure. And anything else that you want. Because the way you receive ONE thing is the way you receive EVERYTHING.
Which means that when you close the door to being seen or acknowledged, you are also closing the door to receiving money…and vice-versa.
So I am curious…
- How can you be a bit more visible and vulnerable in your practice as an entrepreneur?
- How can you expand your courage to be acknowledged and SEEN?
- How can you allow yourself to receive more praise and encouragement?
I’ll let you in on a little secret… I am now totally OVER my fear of talking about myself and my story – and I am so, so grateful. But the only way I could get over it was to actually be brave and show up on stage and JUST DO IT (with lots of love and support, of course!)
And, in case you are wondering what the HECK this has to do with the law and legal protection…Anything you can do to bolster and support your 2nd chakra around RECEIVING to expand your comfort around receiving clients and money and attention, supports the growth of your business, your creativity, your income, and your livelihood.
The more that you can create – like 1-on-1 programs or online programs and products – the more income you can attract, and the more you are building a business that you need to legally protect with Client Agreements, Website Terms and Conditions, and Terms of Use for Online Programs + Products.
See, it all comes full circle! If you are up for receiving more and you know you have programs to protect, but you have questions as to what legal steps YOU need to put in place first, just grab a free 20-minute Legal Chat to get some clarity.
Here’s to standing ovations, the courage to receive, and to getting Legally Enlightened™!
