Posts by LisaYoung

#BYOG Day Thirty-One: Tear It Down & Build It Again

Posted by LisaYoung in Uncategorized | 4 comments

We’re here!

Thirty-one glorious(?) days later, and what have you learned? What have you uncovered inside yourself?

I won’t speak for you, but my own journey has left me with a truck-load of feelings, ideas, and other goodness:

• That you are enough just as you are.
• That you will face hurdles and overcome them – if you so choose.
• That people will rally around you when they believe in you – no matter who you are, and even if they never met you before.
• That there are a lot of smartypants people in the world, willing to lend a hand, offer advice, and point you in the right direction.

But all of that stuff means nothing if you’re not willing to take action. To do something. To be fearless – even for just a moment…

…just long enough to become the hero of your journey.

It means that the excuses must stop. You can’t make excuses and deliver results. You must choose.

You have to step into the flow, and trust that the actions you take will build the bridge to success.

And you’ll make mistakes along the way. You’ll create things no one wants but you. You’ll miss out on opportunities that you thought were perfect for you. You’re an Action Hero – getting banged around and bloodied up a bit is part of the journey.

But you’ll meet up with your Shadow Self, have a nice chat, maybe a cuppa tea, and iron out your differences.

And you’ll re-double your efforts, re-commit, and tear down the old stuff to make room for the new.

And Divine Intervention will take over: connecting you to books, authors and thought leaders, clients and colleagues that will cheer you on, lift you up, and show you exactly what you’ve been missing – and how to correct your course.

Nowhere is this better illustrated than in Eric Ries’ new book, The Lean Startup. He tells the story of how his team spent months building a barely functional prototype for what would later become IMVU – and people wouldn’t use it. It wasn’t “cool enough” for people to share it with their friends. But Eric didn’t give up. He and his team tore it apart, and re-built it to meet the needs of the market he was trying to serve. He persevered. He listened. And he grew his company into a multi-million dollar organization that’s dominating their market and put Eric on the map (and in the boardrooms of America) today.

Would you invest 6 months of your life in a project that didn’t work, only to put more time, energy and money into improving it until it DID work?

You’ve just invested 31 days of your life in this program. What are YOU going to do now?

Me? I’ve got an idea I’ve been toying with for a couple of days now. I want to launch a project on 1/1/12, and I want to take you behind the scenes and show it to you as I build it. Right here on the blog. I’m scared as hell, because it’s one part reality show and one part business venture. If it succeeds, it will succeed mightily. If it fails, it’s a horrible public failure.

It’ll either be Kitty Hawk or The Hindenburg, and if you’re interested, I’d love for you to tag along. Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

Congratulations on making it to the end of this 31 day journey. If you haven’t already signed up for the downloads that go along with this program, you can do that in the box atop this page. As soon as we have everything put together, you’ll be notified.

Thanks again for joining me on this adventure. Until we meet again!

Truth, Trust and Hard Decisions

Posted by LisaYoung in Uncategorized |

“If you look deep inside trust, you will find truth.”

-Jeffrey Gitomer

Tomorrow is my assistant’s last day.

This is a bittersweet confrontation for me, because Bonnie – “MY Bonnie,” as I like to call her – will be ending her 2+ year run with me.

Sweet, because she’s looking into becoming an entrepreneur herself, as a VA (and she ROCKS!).

Bitter, because I had to let her go.

I’ve shuffled this post around for days now, trying to figure out exactly how to word it. It feels like a wonky “Dear John” kind of break-up post. Except the breaking up isn’t with you, it’s within me.

I’ve hinted at some of the tough stuff that’s happened this year. In my #BYOG interview with @JohnnyBTruant the other day, I remarked how it’s more common than we might think for entrepreneurs (myself included) to have crappy credit. Some of you know that I sold my car, and we’re selling our house (at a loss, mind you), not because we can’t afford them, but because we’ve made the decision to eliminate every possible debt we have as fast as we can.

My husband’s gotten so compulsive about it, he often pays ahead on the utility bills. Seriously.

I won’t speak for my husband, but I guess you could say that in a way I can’t afford it:

Confessions of a Shrinking Violet

Posted by LisaYoung in Uncategorized | 2 comments

As the guest posts start coming in for the “Be Your Own Guru” (#BYOG) blog series, I am humbled and overwhelmed by the heart and generosity of my guests.

And lest you think this is a shameless plug for the series… well, there is a bit of shame about it. Allow me to explain.

I was in my coaching session with @SarahRobinson, and we were talking about building relationships with key people as I move my business forward. One of the key industries I’m targeting is authors (specifically up-and-coming authors). She asked me point blank who I knew.

I offered up a big ol’ “ummmmm….” in reply.

This was not going to end well.

Being of Influence

Posted by LisaYoung in Uncategorized |

So many people believe that once they “make it big” they’ll have some kind of sway, pull or influence over the masses.

What they don’t realize is that while they’re waiting for the Publisher’s Clearing House van to pull up to their front door, they already have influence.

You already have influence.

Did you catch that?

You are already an influencer.

As you sit there shaking your head, thinking about the ripple effect, or the butterfly effect, you say “but Lisa, that’s not what I mean. I mean I want to have a big, lasting impact on the world.”

LifeCrap

Posted by LisaYoung in Uncategorized | 24 comments

Just back from vacation, and there’s a lot of stuff going on in my brain. Indulge me for a moment, while I get a little biblical and talk about coincidences.

See I woke up this morning -first day back in my own bed – and fell right into my morning routine again: meditation, prayer, and a bit of “bible divination” to start my day. For those of you not familiar with the practice, it’s kind of like using the Bible as a “Magic 8 ball” I ask a question, and open the book to a random page for an “answer.” While I generally take such guidance with a grain of salt, I have to share what happened today.