Whew! I cannot believe it has nearly been a month since I posted last. So where have I been? Well, since you asked I have been taking the road less travelled. In the past month I have been under the influx of attending the most amazing events – not all business yet, related by a very curious common denominator – Thursdays, Driven Women, and Divine Paths.
Thursday, October 30th
I attended Madonna’s concert in Vancouver; which was packed with raving fans for the fabulous and ever changing diva. Over the years her concerts have been controversial at best and have presented the next evolution of her being. This one was no exception. Looking like the mother of Guns and Roses’ guitarist Slash, her long blond curls draped down under a black top hat while her well buffed Pilate’s body was poised in fishnets and high heels. She strapped on an electric guitar and played her heart out while accompanying a majority of her own songs throughout the evening- who knew she could play?
I found myself watching her in amazement as I felt she was the poster child of what it means to be a Driven Women. What made Madonna so special was that she embodied, throughout the concert, this “can do” energy. She treated the whole event as a play ground of sorts, letting you see many sides to her that I believe stretched some people in her audience. With blatant political messages in support of US presidential candidate Barack Obama – humanitarian images of Middle Eastern villagers scrolling on jumbo trons above the stage – and the simplicity of a gypsy band performing with Madonna as she sang in a very earthy tone, she was able to showcase new dimensions of herself within her show. She really knows how to leverage this in her musical performances.
When the whole experience was over I was left thinking that she had done it again. She surprised us with her performances but, it was her open expression of her views, her ability to step into something unexpected without worry that she was not presenting the “pop star darling backed by club music” her audience probably expected. There was something more authentic to her in this show than I expected to see. I was more aware in the end that something was shifting within her and we were witness to a more conscientious, wiser woman. A women driven by most peoples’ standards but, I believe it was a demonstration of her personal grown over the past few years where she allowed it to stretch her expression of her work as well. Like great artist can do.
This is something rare as I see it. There are many people famous and not so famous that ties their identity into which they initially started out being in their work / career. As they grow personally over the years, with age and experience, they still maintain a very structured role – a possible condition to maintain their position of separation of their work and personal life.
Madonna presented the first of my Thursday lessons. People get stuck in their work when they do not adapt their work to express who they are as they grow and mature with age. Because they are conditioned to perform a certain way initially in their careers they begin to feel unauthentic in their work as they grow personally. This can leave people with a feeling of being stifled, stuck, and without options for advancement. They do not feel passionate about their job performance anymore. Ultimately as they have grown and matured their values have changed yet, they have not brought their career growth along with their personal growth. This can often lead to the jumping off point when people decide to step out of the constraints of the corporate world and move into the freedom of entrepreneurship in order to have more personal control and expression over their work.
Thursday, November 6th
I was invited to attend an event in Vancouver called The Power of Women. It was an all day event featuring female key note speakers on topics such as connecting, teamwork, communication strategies, ambition, and motivation. All the women who presented – some very well known and some more local celebrities, were brilliant in their presentation. The energy of the room was high with nearly 1,800 women, and a few men, to hear the inspiring talks of the likes of Olympic gold medalist Cassie Campbell, team captain of Canada’s Women’s Hockey team, author and brain scientist Jill Bolte Taylor, and TV host and comedian Joy Behar from the TV show The View – just to name a few.
One speaker particularly stood out the most for me. A presenter named Alison Levine. Petite, classically dressed, and very attractive, she walked out on stage. Within a few minutes into her talk you knew this was going to be a different experience. Here before us was another Driven Women. This mighty force of nature standing a mere 5′3″ tall was a professional mountain climber and explorer – forget entrepreneur! She had served as team captain of the first American Women´s Everest Expedition, climbed the highest peak on each continent, and skied 100 miles across the Arctic Circle to the geographic North Pole.
Her story was riveting with life and death experiences of the expeditions she had lead. Telling her story about climbing Mount Everest was incredibly profound. In preparation from base camp to camp 4, up near the summit, her team had to climb up and down the mountain several times to each camp station. She explained how the climbs allowed their bodies to adapt to the extreme shifts in elevation. Once they reached the top at camp 4 they carefully traversed over the frozen mountain side in slow motion towards the summit. Every step they took needed ten breaths before the next movement of their step. And as they reached the finally few feet – less than a hundred, a storm broke and they had to decide if they were going to end the climb there or continue. Due to the nature of the elevation that last few feet would take nearly three hours to accomplish and as she stated, “If you are taking ten breaths for each step there is no way to “run” off the mountain if extreme weather hits.” So she and the other women on her team decided to quit and turn back for safety reasons. Disappointed not to reach the summit it took time for her to realize the amazing accomplishment of the climb because her focus was to reach the summit. She realized the value of the experience as an individual and as a woman to have been but less than 1 percent of the world’s population to ever attempt this climb.
My second Thursday lesson presented itself to me in that moment. The assent to the top of our success “mountains” are often filled with a sense of going backwards while we are in motion. As Alison spoke about the climb up and down numerous times to base camp, then to each camp up on the summit she demonstrated a unique point about progress and growth. If people just head up the mountains of their entrepreneurial dreams without establishing a base camp it is incredibly easy to get off course. Without a base camp to define an initial start all the foundations and help needed to climb successfully would not be in place. There would be no place to stop and check equipment, review trail maps, and reestablish focus. Further Alison’s team had to turn back and descend the mountain each time they reached the next camp site and in doing so they understood their terrain better. While it may feel like we are climbing ”backwards” at times in our businesses I now believe this gives us the ability to adjust to the new elevation changes we are about to embark upon. You cannot just run up Everest any more than you can start up a business and expect over night clients and fortunes.
The second part to this lesson is that it is important to know when to quit. I believe it’s our social conditioning to never quit – even in the event of foreseen dangers. Although in some cases in business, and most especially as small business owners, we need to stop and asses if where we are going is taking its toll on us physically, financially, emotionally, mentally and personally. Driven women understand one thing that is critical in reshaping the notion of quitting; they know it may be essential in the preservation and care of their well being. If situations demand that a pull back is necessary they will. As disappointing as it may appear they often find the journey held invaluable lessons for them along the way but they have faith a better opportunity exists just beyond the next horizon. Self care is always a first priority and taking the time to evaluate and asses the conditions of personal environments is crucial for entrepreneurial success.
Thursday, November 13th
I was in LA at the last ever Ali Brown’s Online Success Blueprint Workshop with 450 other entrepreneurial women from across the globe. The energy was even more magical and amazing than the week previous. Some of the most innovative, courageous, and driven women congregated together to take part in Ali’s final event. The energy was contagious and there was a feeling of support, encouragement, and drive expressed during the four day event yet, without the need to feel like we had to compete with one another.
Ali Brown has been one of my personal mentors for many years. I have watched her grow the most successful online information marketing business over the past five years. Her vibrant charisma has always shown through in her writing, tele-seminars, and products but, at this event you could sense something was different with her. As she spoke on stage you did not see just an info marketer you saw the birth of a star. She was a woman who had fully embraced her success and was indebted to her followers for helping her catch that light. She declared that she had started down the next new path of her business ventures, which included launching her own national magazine called Ali, launching her own online boutique, and negotiating a possible TV show.
Presenting her final event she created the ultimate business woman experience for all who attended. Hosting a wonderful boutique in the lobby with pink briefcases, clothing, and jewelry all branded with her new Ali logo. Her event was truly feminine, diverse and accommodating to the number of women in attendance. She even went as far as to take into consideration the volume of women in comparison to bathrooms in the hotel! She rented princess potties – deluxe port-o-potties hosted just off site to accommodate everyone during our well timed breaks. It was truly the most well thought out workshop I have ever attended as a woman!
While we were all there for business education by this master marketer you could feel the energy of the room take flight each time we gathered for the sessions. It was unlike the rah-rah moments of a motivational conference but, that of a vibrational shift happening of the energy levels of each and every woman in that room, and the few men who had the boobs enough to attend!
At the end of the event, I left feeling like I had once again witnessed another emerging soul who had claimed her Divine Path. Lying flares for the rest of us to follow and join her. Ali’s success is truly inspirational to all that know her. She is a definitely a Driven Woman for sure, and like Madonna she used her event as a stage to play out her full dimensionality. Similarly, like Alison Levine, the mountain climber, she was nearing the next camp site on the summit of her great career and we were all there to experience it with her.
My third Thursday lesson arrived that day. As women entrepreneurs we have very few opportunities to move forward in our businesses unabated by additional responsibilities of family, marriages, and the salvaged of a few moments during the week we can actually spend time alone. It would be easy to slow down, settle for less or quit because we are tired from all the other responsibilities we often incur. So why do some women quit and some have that drive? I believe I was witness to the answer: Divine Paths. When a woman’s divine path appears, even just as a glimpse of what is possible, she embraces it and runs. This does not mean that there is a clear vision to all that is before her but I believe she senses that divine timing is at play. Faith is the navigator on her journey and as each step is taken the next step magically is revealed. This process requires trust and possibility thinking in the opportunities ahead; a definite characteristic of a conscious woman entrepreneur. That is how I ended up at this amazing event!
I have been blessed to see so many wonderful lessons presented to me these past few weeks. Witnessing the courage of self expression, the value of the climb, and the faith in moving forward on the divine path and all curiously enough to me experienced on Thursdays!
Hum, I wonder if Freud would have a different point of view, “Sometimes a Thursday is just a Thursday.” Well regardless, it has been an interesting journey to witness the roads less taken by a few very extraordinarily, driven women. By the way Ali, I will be joining you soon.
If there are still things that you feel you must understand about your industry, then invest in learning. It is often the marketing not the mastery that catapults expertise status. There are people already waiting for your help right now – you just have to find them and lead the way. Now, answer this question for yourself and see how it applies to your business and marketing: “What problem can I best solve for my clients that will enhance their lives and others?”
