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Continuing from last weeks blog “Kerri Pottharst and other inspiring people”…

After arriving in Melbourne and catching up with Andrew Mowat, we stayed with friends Anthony and Vicki Ware, who we first connected with through their work in Thailand 10 years ago. Anthony and I reconnected on the Gold Coast in November and we have picked up where we left off - sharing the journey of life and passion for making a difference. We’re inspired by what they’re doing and planning, to make a difference in Burma so we donated a coaching package & a copy of the journal for their upcoming fund-raising auction)

And our whole purpose for being in Melbourne… To learn presentation secrets to add public speaking to what we do and develop our “Elegant Business Model” with Dr Joanna Martin. I wrote in my journal on Thursday night “Big day tomorrow! I will stay on the edge of my seat and learn and participate and grow! On Friday night I wrote “It’s all been amazing. It’s the most transformative training I’ve done since the ICT (Intensive Coach Training) or Team Coach Training. Significant moments of insight and clarity… must sleep - I’m presenting some content tomorrow!”

Joanna took us all out to dinner on Saturday night which was so generous and a fabulous chance to get to know people more. It’s exciting to be in a room with like-minded, passionate people and see how we can do things like this more often.

Our Coaching Celebration parties come to mind… if you’ve been to one of those you know how fun and inspiring it is to hear from others who are pushing through limitations to achieve what’s most important to them. Hanging out with big thinkers is fun, stretching and inspiring!

We’ll be working more with Joanna and her team over the next year (and beyond I’m sure) and we’re so excited about where we’re headed, and what it means for our members and clients. We’re so passionate about bringing out the gold in people and especially those in regional or isolated areas… There are some big dreams that need to become a reality!

Cheering you on
Kerrie

The past couple of weeks could be described as a wild ride, a messy complex season or the storm before the calm… so this blog is a little overview to share the journey…

I must confess, I’m sensing a little challenge around writing - what to say when I know I’m on the verge of an incredible shift, and how do I keep it brief! I see things coming together that previously seemed to be random or insignificant moments… This makes more sense in light of the training I’m doing at the moment - Theoretical Foundations of Coaching.

Last week we studied Systems Theory, which includes Chaos Theory and Complexity Theory - we see that a small, apparently random thought or action can lead to substantial change.

When considering the complex systems that we are as individuals, and interacting with other complex systems I noticed the influence that a small change makes - for example a smile, an encouraging word or expression.

Lyndon and I were discussing on the way home (from Melbourne on Monday/Tuesday) how “seemingly random events and people we’d met” in previous years have directly resulted in us being in this place at this time, at a powerful turning point in our business. Connecting with people, self education and business education pays off in ways usually completely beyond us!

So the significance of many moments would fill a book, so for now - a few moments and pictures to share…

With a shocking head cold, but determined mind, I set off to Orange last Wednesday at 6.30am with Karen and Sam from 10X Central West to hear Kerri Pottharst, Olympic Gold Medalist, Mary Brell, and other inspiring women speak at a Business Women’s event. I had connected with Kerri previously through a friend and she’d asked me to bring a copy of my journal for her, which made my day. (I love the thought of big thinkers using it to continue to think big and achieve!) She spoke about her goals and when they were so challenging to achieve, (especially when recovering from injuries) and the importance of self-belief.  Inspiring Lady!  We can learn so much from elite athletes whether we’re sporty or not.

It was also exciting to share the day with someone who’s a significant part of my story - my first Coach, and Coach Trainer, Georgia Lush. Georgia was the Global Head of Training for Results Coaching Systems and I connected with her in 2004, driving to Orange each week for coaching until she convinced me to try phone coaching! The rest is history! Georgia has since had two gorgeous babies and is stepping back into the coaching world and making a bigger difference in people’s lives. Go Girl!

We arrived home from Orange around 6pm for me to jump out of Karen’s car into ours and head off towards Melbourne with Lyndon. Staying in West Wyalong overnight gave us a head start the next day and we took our time, being tourists and enjoying the sights along the way… It’s a new habit - rather than racing to be somewhere I make sure I enjoy the journey and learn along the way.

Meeting up with Results Coaching colleague Andrew Mowat was exciting, but going through a box of tissues every few hours took the edge off the fun. Fortunately facebook, twine and twitter keep us connected and sharing the journey of discovery about the internet and our shared fascination with the brain and neuroleadership. Andrews work from Victoria to Dubai and London makes our travels look more like the occasional Sunday Drive!

The big reason for our trip (and the outcomes) is going to take more than a paragraph, so I shall write more over the next few days, leaving you now with a quote that I keep coming back to…

“Each new friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.”
- Anais Nin

Dust in the air creates a beautiful sunrise in West Wyalong http://twitpic.com/283a1 on our way 2 Melbourne for Shift Speaker Training.

No Cash No Fear is an inspiring book that tells the story of the entrepreneur Terry Allen. Terry Allen has started over 20 businesses since he was a child and shares his successes and failures openly and equally.

After listening to No Cash No Fear I was so excited I organised for Kerrie and I to sit down and make some plans and reset our goals. It also included reassessing our values (if you follow us on twitter you will have seen when this was happening). Now we have not finished doing all this but we have made a start and I am looking forward to continuing to move forward.

Have you heard the saying “You have to have money to make money.”? If you believe this or have even said it then this book will lay that fallacy to rest.

If you are looking to be inspired and move ahead in business, even if you have no cash. Read No Cash No Fear.

In it you will discover:

• How Terry Allen bounced back from bankruptcy to building a $10 million company.
• 99% of everything you will ever need to know about selling by direct mail.
• Discover the secrets to selling a product that doesn’t exist yet!
• How to start up your own business with no cash whatsoever.
• How Terry Allen used his classmates as a great source of raising capital.
• The 4 commandments you must know and understand before you start a business.

No Cash No Fear reminded me of when I was at school and my mates used to wait outside the door to the cooking room. When I had finished I would meet them and sell what I had cooked. It reminded me that I was being entrepreneurial even when I was young and encouraged me to lay aside some of my beliefs that have clouded that desire.

My hope is that it will do the same for you.

Click the link below to Check out the Book Summary or audio book summary, free to Create the Life Club Members.

Click Here for No Cash No Fear.

A couple of days ago, Ethan excitedly called to me from the front yard – “Mum, you’ve got to come and see this!”

“Do I have to be out there long?” I replied from the front door, looking around… “I’m still in my PJ’s…”

There I stood at the tree in the driveway, in my purple pajama’s and gazed at the Bottle-Brush tree with my 8 year old. We were looking not only at the bees on the tree, but as Ethan pointed out – the pollen on the bees legs and wings. I really didn’t think I would see them that closely, but there it was – bees gathering pollen, little bundles of it. So what kept me in the front yard, starting into a tree for goodness knows how long, unaware if anyone did go past to take in the sight of us there?

I’m not sure what your experience has been, but as I stood and looked into the tree, I saw one bee, then another, then another. There were hundreds of bees, but I didn’t see them at first and it got me thinking… how often do we not see what’s there in abundance because we’re either too busy elsewhere, or don’t want to be seen to be standing still for too long (in Pajama’s perhaps)?
I could have said, “Oh yes, I see a bee” then gone back inside, I would have missed the full experience – and a special learning moment with a son who loves animals, science, technology… he’s a sponge for any kind of knowledge of things interesting.

I looked more closely to see the pollen they were gathering. I thought I’d see a speck or two, but the bees were carrying bundles of pollen. What situation could you see differently if you look closely? What do you see when you start discovering a wealth of possibilities? Perhaps they carry even more than you first realized. Perhaps there’s even a sense of fear – as there was when I realized how many bees were inches from my face. Sometimes exciting possibilities can also provoke a sense of fear – “Oh my goodness, I didn’t think it would be this big…” (Have you ever wanted to create something awesome, yet keep it manageable?)

That lovely morning was a lesson in slowing down.

What incredible discoveries are there to be made when you stop for a while. One of my favourite questions is “What else?” We often look at something once or twice, make and assumption and move on – which is often necessary for the sake of time – but what about with the things that really matter?

What kept me there at the tree? A decision to stop and be in the moment; a decision to see what Ethan was seeing; a decision to slow down. A valuable experience… What are your thoughts?

Insights From the Kitchen.

Life is like cooking; deviate from the recipe every now and then - and see how it tastes.

Now I can follow a recipe like the best of them and I had wanted to be a chef when I was a kid.  (But I wanted a social life, not the hours of a chef.)

At home we cook a lot of Thai food (we love it,  and we know we’ve found a good Thai restaurant when the aroma and taste of the food makes us feel as if we are on the streets of Bangkok).

When Kerrie returned from 2 weeks in Thailand (several years ago) I was so pleased to see her that I said she could pick any restaurant she wanted to go to as a celebration of her return.  Kerrie picked… drum roll please… you guessed it… the local Thai restaurant!

Anyway,  when I was cooking a thai curry the other night, making it the same way I always do; the thought occurred to me “why don’t I deviate… experiment… stray from my usual recipe?”  We were pleasantly surprised by the result.

Life is a bit like that.  Every now and again (or every day if you’re keen), challenge yourself to try something new.  Then life won’t become monotonous.

You never know.  You may just like it.

One of my favourite questions is -
When was the last time you did something for the first time?

Love to hear your comments below… Do you have any Insights From The Kitchen?

Maree and I had so much fun on Sunday at Joanna Martins Presentations Secrets seminar, took pages of notes and met lots of fabulous people and I realised that Lyndon and I are well on the way to creating what Joanna calls the Elegant Business Model.

To recap on the weekend is proving to be quite the challenge! I’m always up for a challenge; however I want to ensure that anything I post here is going to be useful… so to share an insight is better than writing a report on the happenings.

Jo mentioned that one of her friends says “If you’re not doing something every day that makes you feel a little bit sick – you’re not living!” I love it. I’m not sure that I push myself out of the comfort zone that much everyday – but if it’s been a while, I certainly notice it and get moving again. I don’t like being bored, (although chilling out is good) and I love to stretch myself in new situations. It’s too easy to stay in the comfort zone, but so rewarding to jump out… you’re actually enlarging your comfort zone. (Just think – what do you do now that used to be scary?)

If you find yourself holding back, from any kind of opportunity – to talk to strangers, to travel, to taste new foods or speak to a room full of people – remember a time when you did something out of the ordinary. If you think of something you did that was a stretch for you, (never mind if it was in anyone else’s opinion) remember how good you felt afterwards. It’s all too easy to hang back and let life pass us by, but if you know you’re on the planet for a reason, get out there and stretch yourself with something, anything that will give you a little sense of achievement. Little steps forward expand your world and if you keep moving you will amaze yourself when you look back over your journey and celebrate your successes.

Here’s a snippet of my excited thoughts at the end of the day on Sunday…

Step out of your Comfort Zones.

Kerrie is doing some more Coach Training (Theoretical Foundations of Coaching) with David Rock… And loving it!