• Uncategorized

    Picking Niches? Start with What and Who You Love to Work with

    Do you go with what you love when you pick your niche (or niches as the case may certainly be)?  


    Do you go with what you know about, what you’ve experienced?


    Or do you go who you want to work with, because you know you can’t effectively work with everyone?

    All of them! 

    . . . and OMG This last one is vital! You must be sure that you LIKE the people you’ll be serving! 

    Me personally? I like to work with nice, fun and creative people. I have my own definition of a “nice,” “fun” and “creative” people and I’ve journaled about it at length.

    This essential criteria of working with who you want to work with is the 2nd of 6 Things to Pay Attention To to when you are trying to ensure the niches you’ve picked are profitable and are right for YOU!

    The first piece, “what you love,”  is kinda tough for a multi-passionista.  

    Because we love so many things! So own that reality. Jump in with both feet and name all the things you love to do, for now.

    Write this list of everything you love to do in your idea book or your journal. Then set them aside, for now. If you are a MultiPassionista, you will certainly keep adding to it. You recorded it so you can always come back to them, I promise!

    The next filter is to move on to what you know about. You want to leverage your personal experience. Your experience can absolutely transform your work.

    I’m not saying you need to be an absolute expert in everything you coach ~ we all know that coaches are experts at coaching not in the subject matter they coach people around. 

    But sharing information and stories from your own life experiences and your own expertise gives you more credibility, makes you relate-able!

    So for example,“people in transition” is a common label new coaches want to apply to their niche. They’ve experienced transition so they can surely help others, right?

    The problem with that niche label – people in transition – is that millions and billions of people around the world fit! Because life is all about transition and change.

    For every person on the planet!

    It’s too broad, too wide, and too expansive.

    Different types of transitions and change bring up different problems and challenges for different people.

    So what do you do? 

    Consider do you actually like the people you are thinking about serving or working with?

    This is one great way to determine if your niche is hot or not!

    Be sure you like working with that person. 

    How?

    I’m not talking about your “ideal client” here; we’ve all done the ideal client exercise. 

    I want you to simply think about the kind of people you like to be around. That’s all for now. And use that as ONE of your filters.

    But since you really like people, how do you know who you really want to work with?

    Journal about who you DON’T WANT TO WORK WITH! that is the second and perhaps better filter for a multi-passionate entrepreneur who really genuinely likes people.

    Sometimes the best way is to figure out what you want, is to filter out what you don’t want! Away-from language has its benefits when it comes to decision-making!

    So if you are multi-passionista with too many passions and fascinations to pick just one, here are my questions to help you narrow down who you want to work with and what you want to help them with!

    Who do you NOT want to work with?

    What kinds of challenges do you NOT want to deal with?

  • Uncategorized

    Identify Your Top Five Character Strengths for a Better Life, a Better Business

    Most people don’t have a clue what their top character strengths are! But when you identify your top 5 strengths from the list of 24 character strengths on this page, you’ll be able to name the best of who you are.  You’ll create and deal with change with less stress, and you’ll find your path to happiness, balance, and success in all areas of your life.

    To learn what your character strengths are, you can follow this link to take the ViaSurvey of Character Strengths assessment.  The assessment and your basic results are free.

    Basic results include your rank order listing of all 24 strengths, along with a short description of what each character strength can mean in your life.  You can also purchase in-depth reports if you like.

    This is an empirically validated, peer reviewed assessment … it is not just another “oprah quiz!”

    Before you take the assessment though, let me ask an important question,

    “Which do you think will help you improve your quality of life the most?”

    Knowing your strengths?
    or
    Knowing your weaknesses?

    Surprise! Working on weaknesses doesn’t work as well as knowing and building your strengths! Most people think so, but that just isn’t true!

    Intentionally work WITH your top 5 character strengths….

    That is the key to improving the quality of your work, your relationships, your play, your community work, your finances, dealing with change, reducing your stress, and becoming generally happier … you name a domain of life, it will improve!

    Scientists from the field of Positive Psychology have done a lot of research about character strengths and their research says that identifying and becoming mindful of your top 5 character strengths from this list of strengths below is far more valuable than to work on trying to improve your weaknesses.

    Take the ViaSurvey of Character Strengths
    Get Your Rank-Order Results Free!

    An in-depth report is only $20 or $40 depending on the level of detail you want.

    Oh by the way, these character strengths are NOT the same as your talents and skills like computer programing, dancing, pitching a baseball, painting, singing opera, running a meeting and mathematical or scientific prowess.

    And they are not the same as the strengths you identified with Clifton Strengths Finder.  Those talents and skills are WHAT you do.

    Character strengths are HOW you do the things you are talented and skilled at doing.  Character strengths go more to the core of who you are.

    Take out a pen and paper and keep these questions in mind as you read the description of the 24 character strengths, grouped according to values/virtues categories, below:

    1. Which ones resonate with you?
    2. Which ones you are using when you are being really you, when you are at your best.
    3. Do you feel more enthusiastic and energized when your are using it than when you are not?
    4. Does it feel natural to you?
    5. Do you feel frustrated, depressed, or irritable when you are constrained from using it?
    6. Which ones would your friends or family or co-workers say are the real you?

    Brief Description of 24 Strengths – 6 Core Virtues

    You’ll find that the 24 strengths are categorized into 6 Core Virtues. These virtues are human qualities valued by philosophers as well moral and religious thinker for over 2500 years and they show up consistently across cultures and nationalities. They represent the essence of what is good and right with humans. Read on to learn what is good and right with you!

    Wisdom: The virtue of wisdom is about knowledge that is sought out, worked for and then used for good. It isn’t the same as IQ. It is understanding and insight and clarity and doesn’t necessarily come from academic training.

      • Creativity: Not only do you love thinking of new ways to do things, it is a crucial to who you are. With this as one of your top character strengths, you are never satisfied with doing things the conventional way if a better way is possible, and for you there are always possibilities!
      • Curiosity: This character strength produces an interest in just about everything and anything. You find all subjects and topics fascinating, and love exploring and discovering and you are always asking questions.
      • Love of learning: You love learning new things, whether you are in a class or on your own. You have always loved school, books (and now the internet!), museums. You find opportunities to learn wherever you go and what ever you do.
      • Perspective: You are able to provide wise counsel to others. You have ways of looking at the world that make sense to yourself and to other people.
    • Open-mindedness: You tend to think things through and examine them from all sides. You don’t jump to conclusions and are able to change your mind in light of evidence.

    Courage: This virtue includes the emotional strengths that involve exercising choice and the will to accomplish goals in the face of opposition, to overcome fear and insecurity. It includes the strong desire to serve and protect others.

      • Bravery: You don’t shrink from threat, challenge, difficulty, or pain. You speak up for what is right even if you encounter opposition and act on convictions even if they are unpopular.
      • Persistence: When you work hard to finish what you start, you are exercising this character strength. No matter what the project is, you get it done in time. You don’t give up easily.
      • Integrity: You are an honest person, not only by speaking the truth but by living your life in a genuine and authentic way. Your are down to earth, without pretense, and people think of you as a “real person.”
    • Zest: This is vitality. Regardless of what you do, you approach it with excitement and energy For you, life is always and adventure, never boring.

    Humanity: The virtue of humanity is like empathy, it is a genuine sharing of the joys and the suffering of others. Humanity exemplifies kindness and concern even when it is not returned. It involves “tending and befriending” others

      • Capacity to love and receive love: You value close relations with others. The people to whom you feel most close are the same people who feel most close to you. Having sense of belonging is important to you.
      • Kindness:You are kind and generous to others, and you are never too busy to do a favour. This is altruistic “niceness” where you enjoy doing good deeds for people, even when you don’t know them very well.
    • Social intelligence: This character strength is sometimes labeled high Emotionally Intelligence. If this is one of yor signiture strengths, you are aware of the motives and feelings of other people. You know what to do to fit in to different social situations, and you not only know what to do to put others at ease, you love doing it.

    Justice: Justice is the virtue that ensures equality and fairness for everyone. Responsible leadership and true justice only exist when everyone rules agrees on the rules and appropriate action is taken when those rules are broken. These strengths underpin a healthy community life.

      • Citizenship, Teamwork, and Loyalty: You excel as a member of a group. You are a loyal and dedicated teammate, always doing your share or more and work hard for the success of the group.
      • Fairness: Treating all people fairly is one of your most important principles. You do not let your personal feelings bias your decisions about other people. You always try to give people the benefit of the doubt.
    • Leadership: You excell at tasks of leading others; encouraging a group to get things done and preserving harmony withing the group by making everyone feel included. You do a good job organizing activities and seeing that they happen.

    Temperance: The strengths that define this virtue are the about self-control and restraint. By controlling overindulgence, and encouraging moderation, a person can free themself of the burden of excess.

      • Forgiveness and mercy: You forgive those who have done you wrong, you don’t hold a grudge and always give people a second chance. Your guiding principle is mercy and not revenge.
      • Modesty and humility: You do not seek the spotlight, preferring to let your accomplishments speak for themselves. You do not regard yourself as special and others recognize your humilty and modesty.
      • Prudence, caution and discretion: You are a careful person. You do not say or do things that you might later regret.
    • Self-regulation and self-control: You consciously regulate what you feel and what you do. You are a disciplined person, in control of your appetites and emotions, not visa-versa.

    Transcendence: These virtues include strengths that create connections to the universe and give life meaning and purpose. The acknowledge that something bigger and better is beyond humanity, not just after this existence, but here and now in our everyday lives. It is a perception of things outside of the ordinary; the awareness that there is a higher purpose or a greater intelligence.

      • Appreciation of excellence and beauty: You notice and appreciate excellence and beauty and skilled performance in all domain of life; from nature and art, to mathmatics, to everyday experiences.
      • Gratitude: You are aware of the good things that happen to you, and you never take them for granted. You always take the time to express your thanks.
      • Hope, future-mindedness: You expect the best in the future, and you conciously work to achieve it. You believe that the future is something you can control. If things don’t go your way this time, there is optimism about how it will all work out anyway.
      • Humour and Playfulness: You like to laugh and tease. It is important to you to bring smiles to other people. You try to see the light side of all situations and usually figure out a way to have fun.
    • Spirituality: When this character strengths is one of your top strengths, you may or may not be religious or follow specific doctrine, but you do hold strong beliefs that there is a higher purpose and meaning in life.

    So Which Are Your Top 5 Signature Strengths?

     

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  • Blogging

    Energy Leadership Index

    Energy Leadership Index An Attitudinal Assessment to Strategically, Positively Change your Life Positive Changes Coaching uses the Energy Leadership Index to help you hold up mirrors to your perceptions, attitudes, behaviors – the filters through which you view and do life – and be strategic about the changes you make in your life.

    Do you view your world through the filter of Tunnel Vision – contracting and shrinking your opportunities and circumstances? 

    Our view of the world influences how we lead ourselves (and others) through situations and circumstances. Everything in our life is filtered through our experiences, values, assumptions, etc. 

    Our filters will either limit what we see like tunnel vision, or expand what we see, like a prism. They impact how we perceive and what we think about our circumstances. Our perceptions and thoughts impact how we show up, how we react or respond to life’s diverse circumstances. Or do you view your world (and your life!) through the filter of a Prism – expanding your opportunities and circumstances? 

    The Energy Leadership Index is a powerful self-perception assessment that reveals those very specific filters you’ve developed. It shows you how those filters are influencing the results you’re achieving in your life’s journey. 

    Hope you’re intrigued, if not by the assessment itself, then by the very concept that you’ve unconsciously developed filters throughout your whole life. Your filters may be holding you back from seeing, LIVING, and leading the full potential of who you are created to be and what your life and career have to offer the world. 

    Hmmm…what could life look like if only____? 

    You get to fill in the blank and reshape your filters to go after it. The filter can contract and lead you to being a Victim or expand and lead you to being a Victor! 

    Taking the plunge is up to you. Technically, the Energy Leadership Index results in your E-Factor, your “score,” your results from taking the assessment. 

    If you don’t know your E-factor, you might be missing out on all kinds of chances to be at the cause of your life instead of at the effect, to make positive change happen by choice! The Energy Leadership Index makes you aware of your how your perceptions, attitudes, behaviors impact your life and your overall leadership capabilities. It can allow you to tap into your core energy, to eliminate or minimize the real causes of stress, and become energetic, engaged, and capable of creating amazing changes, achieving outstanding accomplishments. 

    When you’ve tapped into that energy and created a solid awareness of where you are, you can be strategic about the changes you make in your life Being aware of how your energy leads you will help you observe how you use and manage your energy – including emotional, psychological, spiritual, and physical. 

    It opens up your eyes to how the energy of your thoughts, emotions and behaviors are interrelated. For many of us, it can be a real eye-opener! Throughout the day, we all go through a variety of thoughts, emotions, and experiences. 

    This is the energetic make-up that swings the gamut from negative to positive energy. But, most of us aren’t very conscious of just how much energy we have going where, or how much it affects how we think and feel and what we do. 

    Your Energy Leadership Index (ELI) or E-factor gives you that awareness so that you can be strategic and create energy/action plans to more proactively choose where we want that energy to be …. and how you want to be. 

    So, unlike many personality assessments that show you the categories of you who you are and help you do the best you can with that, the ELI helps you see who you can be, and helps you realize that potential. It also helps you identify how you are getting in your own way! It truly helps you Master the Art of Being You. 

    Our energetic makeup doesn’t affect lots of things—it affects everything! It impacts our relationships, communication, careers, productivity, leadership, finances, passion and purpose, stress level, freedom, creativity, excitement, and overall satisfaction with life, to name a few. And, these factors are all direct contributors to the amount of success we have in our endeavors. 

    All good reasons to find out your E-Factor! So What’s Different About the Energy Leadership Index as an Assessment? The Energy Leadership Index (ELI) is different from other assessments because it is an an Attitudinal Assessment, not a Personality Assessment. Personality based assessments, such as Myers Briggs and D.I.S.C. are valuable tools that pinpoint certain personality types so that you can have more of an understanding about what you strengths and weaknesses are. By understanding your personality and how it relates to what you do, you can adapt your behavior to “work with what you have,” to function effectively. 

    The Energy Leadership Index is based on an energy/action model. This assessment differs from personality assessments because it is not intended to label a person and have them work well within that label. Instead, it measures your 7 levels of energy based on your attitude, or perception and your perspective of your world. Because attitude is subjective (based on your Thoughts, your Emotions, and your Behaviors), it can be altered. That’s really good news! 

    By working with a Positive Changes Coach using the Energy Leadership Index, you can strategically shift your attitude and perspective. You can increase your energy and leadership effectiveness. What this really means is, that you can now become consciously aware of those unconscious limiting beliefs and attitudes that might be getting in your way of you having what you want.There are no limits to the growth that you can achieve. 

    Once you realize that your level of consciousness is directly related to your actions, you can move from functioning effectively, to functioning optimally. You’ll learn about the 7 levels of energy leadership and how much energy you currently have in the catabolic (or contracting, suppressing) range and in the anabolic (or expanding, inspirational) range. You’ll be debriefed on the findings of the assessment, and coached on how to navigate yourself to higher performance in your personal life and your work life as a whole.

  • Business

    Life Coach Career Income Potential

    Reports of life coach career income potential are pretty exciting. But I’ve seen a multitude of claims that earning a high dollar life coach career income is quick and easy … believe me, they are greatly exaggerated! It takes a good education from a quality coach training program, a strong entrepreneurial spirit, and a lot of time and energy. But for me, it is totally worth it!

     

    Average Life Coach Income: A 2007 study of nearly 5500 thousand coaches from around the world found that the “average” annual income for full-time coaches was over $83,000 (US dollars). The researchers found that part-time coaches made around $26,000 a year. If you happen to be a member of the International Coaches Federation (ICF), you can read a copy of the study on the ICF website. 

     

    Full-time Life Coach Career Income: The average full time life coach limits herself or himself to less than 20 one-on-one clients a month and charges around $350 a month per client. If you have 20 consistent clients, that means a gross income of about $7,000. Not bad, eh? But remember you’ve got to attract 20 clients on a consistent basis to do that!

     

    Different Coaching “Niches” have different income potential. The life coach career income potential reports encompass other “niches” or specialties. Coaches who focus on different niches such as Executives or Entrepreneurial Coaches charge a lot more than others, around $700 per hour and can gross over $17,000 a month. There are some coaches who have tremendous reputation and experience (and excellent marketing teams!) who charge beyond $1,000 an hour. But don’t count on doing that right out of your life coach course of study.

     

    Most new coaches I know charge between $100 and $300 an hour for telephone coaching, which really isn’t too bad. As I said earlier, it isn’t quick and easy income! But it can begin to pay off if you are diligent about your marketing.

     

    Alternate Ways to Create Life Coach Career Income

     

    Obviously, there is the private coaching practice where you meet either telephonic or face-to-face.

    Tele-classes and Webinars are a great source not only for additional income but also for marketing purposes.

    Group Life Coaching classes will increase your hourly income and make it more affordable for your individual clients (i.e.- 10 clients at $50 per class = $500 per hour]. I like this coaching format because I know the value of people learning and growing together and I feel strongly about providing a way for less affluent people to experience the power of life coaching.

    You can work with wellness centers and practitioners such as massage therapists, Naturopathic Physicians, etc

    And thank goodness traditional medical professionals, therapists and chiropractors are becoming more and more knowledgeable about the value coaching services can be to the health of their clients and patients.

    What is the Cost of Generating Life Coach Income?

    Like most small business endeavors, generating life coach income costs time and money, first for your training and then for building and maintaining your practice. Most people who choose a life coach career become small business owners. The overhead is pretty minimal, usually less than 15% of total sales.

     

    Sales?! And yes, creating life coach career income relies on making “sales!” That said, an important part of your life coach career training ought to include basic entrepreneurial and marketing skills so you can attract and keep track your clients.

     

    What kind of time is involved? After you’ve examined quality life coach courses to select the right one for you, it will probably take between 6 months and a year to complete your training. There are many life coaching courses pitched online that promise much quicker and cheaper “certification” and training … but please be wary of these. Look into them carefully so that you don’t waste your money and precious time.

     

    Once you’ve graduated and have been certified you can probably begin to generate some income within a few months to help defray the costs of marketing and repay yourself (or the bank) for life coach course costs.

     

    What exactly are the upfront costs of developing a solid life coaching career income? It can cost as little as $5,000. However, many, if not most coaches, find that ultimately it costs more like $12,000 to $15,000 when they count the cost of training, setting up a good home-office or renting space, marketing materials and website development.

     

    As mentioned earlier, you can find a training program for not a whole lot of money, as little as $395.99, if you believe the internet ads. But be careful! An excellent life coach course will take substantive time, and inevitably, money. Plan to spend between $1200 and $10,000 depending upon how complete the training package is. Many quality coach training schools plan a course of study that gives you the very basics of what you need at one price and then you return for more training (and more time and money) later in your career.