Just completed my first coaching session since I started the Dip in Life Coaching with TCI. The student support people are very pleased for me that I've gained a client even before the Intake Weekend next month.

I've set myself a starting goal of 100 hours to prepare for a full-time career in coaching the best out of people.

My thoughts after last night?

I feel awesome! THIS is what I am meant to do.

Here's how I prepared myself.

Listened to Extraordinary Living and Coaching Starter Kit CDs.

Watched Sharon Pearson's video clips on the Dip Life Coaching page on TCI website and took lots of notes.

Just before the session (8.30 pm SIN time/10.30 pm MEL time), I started feeling sleepy. That was a bit of a worry.

So I did some stretching, listened to Paul Scheele's Paraliminal CD on Focus and Concentration.

And fell asleep.

When I awoke, I felt a bit guilty, but guess what? I felt so refreshed as well. Wasn't expecting that actually.

As I type this close to midnight, I am still feeling alert and awake.

One more thing I did: I actively implemented Sharon's advice.

Ex: when you're thinking about what question to ask next or stress that you may ask a wrong question, it becomes about you, not your client. You're letting your ego, your fear, your need for control, get in the way. Your client is not paying you for these things. They want change, solutions, to feel better than before your session with them.

Here's what my client said when I asked for feedback at the end of our Skype session together:

I feel fantastic! Thank you very much! :)

To wrap up, I left her a gift beyond what my coach training has advocated, but which I feel strongly about because of my Christian faith. I reminded her that her true identity is based on what God thinks of her, and that He loved her enough to send His Son to die for her.

Her response?

WOW Awesome!! Thank you v much Serena.

Invitation to see Dr John Demartini

What hubby is going for that I'd like to go for if it wasn't on a week night in the city!

====================================================

Dr Demartini had a vision to connect with ‘A-List’ celebrities whose work he admired.

Many would be daunted by the idea of meeting personally with these mega-stars. After all, you can’t just call them up for coffee.And they’re highly guarded by ‘gatekeepers’.

But, Dr Demartini wasn’t daunted.

He created a list of the ‘A-Listers’ he wanted to meet. Then he applied his ‘Influence Secrets’ and was able to meet…not one of them… not two of them….or even three of them.

But he personally met every single one of the celebrities on his list.

Some of them even became clients. And these were not ‘B grade stars’. These were people like Robert De Niro and Sylvester Stallone. He even appeared in a movie with Hugh Jackman.

This is the highest level of influence - to set an intention and make it happen fast.

*******************************************

Click here to join Dr John Demartini at the Secrets of Influence event - FREE

*******************************************

Imagine if you could master this skill. You could meet who you want…when you want…and then influence them ethically for ‘win-win’ results…in your health, wealth and relationships.

This sort of skill is rarely taught. And those that have this ‘gift’ often don’t know how to explain how they do it! They just do it.

The good news is Dr John Demartini is going to teach exactly you how to master the magic of influence - step-by-step at the Influence and Leadership Masterclass in your city.

*******************************************

Click here to join Dr John Demartini at the Secrets of Influence event - FREE

*******************************************

See you there,

Greg

P.S. Last time Dr John Demartini came to Australia nearly 2000 people flocked to see him. This time could be even bigger as news of his genius spreads.

Grab your FREE Ticket now while there’s still time

Click here to join Dr John Demartini at the Secrets of Influence event - FREE

What is Money? (extract from Business Lyceum e-Letter by (J.F.) Jim Straw

What is MONEY?

MONEY IS ONLY A MEDIUM OF EXCHANGE. -- That simply means that ANYTHING that can be exchanged for something else is MONEY.

Until you finally learn and accept the fact that ANYTHING (and I do mean anything) you can exchange for SOMETHING ELSE is money, you will be doomed to a life-long futile search for something you already have.

Now ... let me tell you a true story about George. He "borrowed" a whole factory.

George is a real person, but, since his company is still in business and I'm sure he wouldn't want a bunch of crazy telephone calls interrupting his business days, I have not given you his last name or where his company is located. I've also used "generic" terms to describe his business; rather than the specific product lines, just in case you're in the same kind of business and might recognize him from clues in his story.

When I first met George, he was a successful manufacturer of an industrial product. -- That's a product that is sold to other manufacturers who use it to manufacture other products.

One day, in my office, over a cup of coffee, we were swapping war stories about our various business activities. After telling George how I had started my business, he told me how he had "borrowed" a whole factory to start his business.

Before he was a manufacturer, George was a salesman; selling the same industrial product he later started manufacturing. He was a pretty good salesman and made enough to support his wife and 7 children comfortably but not lavishly.

George had always dreamed of owning his own factory. He had approached a number of lenders, but had always been turned-down. The money he thought he needed was just too much for his provable limits.

By the way, one of the reasons George was a successful salesman was because he was (and is) a meticulous record keeper. He made it his personal responsibility to take exceptional care of his customers. And, his customers knew they could depend on him because he had proven it over and over again in their dealings.

When George celebrated his 40th birthday, he started considering where he had been, where he was, and where he wanted to be. If he was going to make his dream come true and own a factory of his own, he had better get moving, or he would be too old to enjoy it later.

Taking a look over all of the packages and proposals he had prepared for various lenders over the years, George made a list of all the things he thought he needed to get his factory going. After he had that list, he went through it again and again. Each time, he eliminated more and more of the nice-to-have items, until he had a bare-bones list of only the most necessary items. That list included:

1) Incorporation of the business.

2) A building to work from.

3) Office equipment & supplies.

4) Manufacturing machinery.

5) Employees.

6) Raw materials & supplies.

7) Operating cash.

Everything on his list could be had with "cash," but George didn't have, and couldn't get, that kind of cash. So, he "borrowed" all of it, one piece at a time, until he had all of it.

To get started, George felt he had to, first, incorporate a business.

Since George didn't have cash for the attorney fees, filing fees, etc., he talked to a friend of his who was an attorney. After George explained that he was going to manufacture the same product he had been selling for about 20 years, the attorney prepared the corporate charter, paid the filing fees himself, and agreed to act as Secretary of the corporation for ten thousand shares of the company stock (out of 1,000,000 authorized shares). After all, he knew George could sell the product and make a profit, if he could manufacture it.

George's proven skill of selling the product had gotten him one item on his list. -- Only 6 more to go.

Down the road from George's home, there was an old run-down mill building. It had a railroad siding, loading docks, and even a set of old truck scales, but it was really in a sorry state of disrepair.

George had driven past that old building thousands of times. He really hadn't noticed it until he started looking for a building for his factory. The only real reason he noticed it even then was because, after pricing buildings for rent or purchase, he had all but given up on finding a building he could afford.

The owner of the building lived in a house on the other end of the property. The old building had been there when he bought the property, about 10 years before. He had meant to do something with the building, or tear it down, but he just never got around to it.

After a number of conversations, the owner agreed to let George use the building for a period of 2 years, rent-free. During that time, George would repair the building, make it usable & presentable, and clean up all the debris that had accumulated around the building. At the end of 2 years, George would either vacate the building leaving all of the improvements, or he would enter into a rental agreement with the owner at $1,500 per month for the next 3 years.

George had his building -- but -- it was far from being serviceable.

Working nights and weekends, with help from his wife & children, George managed to get the building cleaned-up; inside & out. At work, during the day, he enlisted the help of other salesmen. At church, on Sundays, he enlisted the help of his friends.

As time went by, more and more of his friends helped-out with the painting, wiring, plumbing, and general fix-up of the building. And, a friend of a friend, who worked for the telephone company, even put in an extension of George's house telephone; since it was less than a half mile from George's home. -- The old building took on a new life; to the amazement of the property owner.

While George and his friends were working on the building, his brother-in-law closed a small branch office of his Insurance Brokerage. Since his brother-in-law didn't have a place to "store" the excess office furnishings, George told him about the factory. -- George borrowed the office furnishings, including an almost-new typewriter.

George was well on his way. He had his business structure, building and office, but an empty factory doesn't produce much products.

Because George had worked in the industry for a good many years, he knew most of the manufacturers. So he knew that two of the manufacturers had replaced some older, out-dated equipment with brand-new equipment over the past two years. -- Maybe one of them would have some used equipment he could get.

Talking to the two manufacturers, George discovered that between the two, they had enough old equipment to set-up one full production line. Although neither of them would agree to let George just "use" the equipment, they both agreed to allow him a one-year option to purchase. -- George would move the equipment to his location and at anytime during the year, he could pay for the equipment or arrange financing. If George did not buy the equipment within one-year, he would be required to reimburse the companies for the use of the equipment at a set rate per month on each piece of machinery, and pay all cost involved in returning the machinery (if he didn't have someone else to buy it).

Actually, the manufacturers were so glad to get the machinery out of their buildings, they used their own labor and trucks to deliver the machinery to George at his building.

It's one thing to have machinery, but yet another to operate it. Especially when you don't have any cash money to cover payrolls for employees.

Talking to some of the machine operators at the other factories, George made a deal with 3 of them to run his machines for him in the evenings and on weekends. And, since he didn't have any cash money to pay them salaries, he made an agreement with them to pay them a percentage of each order produced and shipped. This way, they would get their pay as soon as George was paid for the products they produced.

After he had his machinery installed and ready to operate, and had his signed agreements with his part-time employees, George went after the Raw Materials and supplies he would need to manufacture his product.

By showing the suppliers of the Raw Materials and Supplies through his factory, George was able to get them to agree to ship their materials and supplies on a 90-day billing. That meant he would have 90-days to pay for those materials after the materials were delivered. But, George could only get the materials he would need to fill each order. Therefore, he would have to show the suppliers confirmable Purchase Orders before they would ship the goods.

George quit his job and went on the road selling the same products he had been selling for years -- but -- this time, he was selling for his own company.

As George got Purchase Orders from the buyers, he took them to the Raw Materials Suppliers so they could be confirmed. -- The raw materials and supplies were shipped on the agreed-upon 90-day billings.

When the raw materials and supplies were delivered, George notified his part-time employees. They produced the product and shipped it to the buyers.

Even though George invoiced his customers on a net 30-days basis, there was a time lag between billing the customer and receiving payment. During that time lag, some things that George couldn't borrow had to be paid for with cash money. Such things as electricity and gas were increasing in direct relation to the amount of manufacturing being done. And, the freight lines that delivered the product to George's customers required cash payment or George's product wouldn't be delivered.

To get the cash money he needed to cover operating costs, George ran a classified ad in his local newspaper; something like this:

PRIVATE INVESTORS WANTED for going manufacturing concern with orders in hand and production scheduled. Call George at 555-1111.

Although the response to the ad wasn't very big, George showed each of those who responded his new factory, the purchase orders he had in hand, and delivery slips & invoices on the product already manufactured and shipped. George sold enough of them some of his stock at $1 per share to cover his cash operating cost until the cash started coming in from the billings already made.

George had "borrowed" a whole factory.

When you finally accept the fact that money is ANYTHING you can exchange for SOMETHING ELSE, you may be able to do even greater things than George did. All you have to do is break your desires down into their basic component parts. Then acquire each of those component parts using someone else's money in whatever form it may take.

Of course, you should ONLY use someone else's money for things you really need. Beyond that, you must always remember that when you do use someone else's money, you take on a responsibility far beyond any you would bear using your own money. If you mis-use someone else's money, you will pay penalties that could be disastrous to your financial position for many years to come. And, it doesn't matter whether the money you use is "cash" or something else of a tradable value.

Believe it or not, I have just revealed to you some of the most powerful tricks, techniques and methods used in the world of business and finance. - Tricks I have used over and over myself to build my own fortune. - The beauty of those methods is that anyone can begin using them immediately to achieve financial independence. But, I'm not going to itemize and annotate them for you.

If I were to itemize and annotate the various and many tricks, techniques and methods, you would simply nod your head and never use the information. But, if you really want that knowledge, you'll read and re-read this report until the knowledge you seek strikes you like a bolt of summer lightning.

Anyone can get all of the money they need; someone else's money, when they finally learn what money really is.

Am watching a DVD presentation: How To Open A Coaching Session by Sharon Pearson.

Am learning so much about...

• why not to worry if I don't know what to say
• how to sidestep the trap of 1-2-3 questions from the client
• why you should speak up in moments of uncertainty
• when is the right time to point out a truth
• why a question I can't answer may not be a bad question
• the goal of coaching is to ask the unexpected
• the value of having inner certainty before I coach
  

It's definitely not what I expected to hear, and some of it is quite confronting (language girl!), but I have confidence that I can synthesize all this and use the best for my clients.

Am saturating myself in the TCI materials.

There's so much! The Starter Kit that came in the post last week, the members' resources on the website (videos, mp3 recordings, schedule of webinars), Free Yourself From Fears With NLP by Joseph O' Connor.

Today, I had my Personal Success Goal Setting chat with Coach Lisa.

I heard myself say the most incredible things...

3 months from my Intake weekend, I want to have set up my coaching practice.

6 months from my Intake weekend, I want to have recouped my Diploma investment.

When you're in a safe and supportive environment, the fear factor is greatly reduced and conversely, you rediscover the courage to be extraordinary.

Just need to remember to ACT on everything I'm learning.

A Success Formula For The Ethical Individual

I full realize that no wealth or position can long endure, unless built upon truth and justice; therefore, I will engage in no transaction which does not benefit all whom it affects.
I will succeed by attracting to myself the forces I wish to use, the cooperation of other people.
I will induce others to serve me, necause of my willingness to serve others.
I will eliminate hatred, envy, jealousy, selfishness, and cynicism, by developing love for all humanity, because I know that a negative attitude toward others can never bring me success.
I will cause others to believe in me, because I will believe in them, and in myself.

From Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill

Towards Serena, Life Coach

Just had my first conversation with Coach B from The Coaching Institute.

Am impressed with her listening and affirmation skills and inspired by stories of Dip students who started taking paying clients immediately after the Intake weekend.

We're going to have another conversation on Wed. In the meantime, I've committed to enrolling in the Dip of Life Coaching and to discussing with hubby how I will attend the 17 or so face-to-face training days that are part of the curriculum.