Ringing Heart Truth through Business

Sometimes confirmation and business experience happen in unexpected ways. Often, these are incredibly significant ways. Thanks to one that came to me today, I want to ask you: Do others hear your Heart Truth ringing through your business?

We each experience it differently when we heart it: someone says or does something that is so core, so essential to their individual truth and calling that we simply know on some level the same experience of truth. Maybe you find yourself nodding instinctively to someone another person says. Perhaps you want to hoot or holler or dance when you feel another’s deep truth expressed. Regardless how you recognize someone’s central self, this way of being is the difference between a business that you can love long-term and something that is simply a way to make some money so you can go do what you really want to.

Choosing a Niche Market is one of the most common messages and instructions to practioners and entrepreneurs today. And I do agree that this is a great, helpful concept. Basically, if you can’t describe a doorway into your services that another person specifically relates or refers to, being in business is tough. And there’s something even harder: settling on a Niche Market you love and can maintain before you’ve connected to your Ringing Heart Truth™.

If someone asks what you’re doing or what your work is, when you answer from the core of why you’re here and what you offer to the world, that bell of experience rings for anyone with the ears to hear it. When your mission is heard by someone else, trust me, it’s an amazing experience for both of you. And the person you’re speaking with can almost instantly tell if your work and their need is a match. (You will most likely still go through the usual process to find out about working together. But on some level, there’s no more confusion about match. Other confusions may came up!)

I was blessed to receive this experience today with another Teacher and Healer. I’ve been studying with her for a few months and needed some time off to re-invest in my own core truth: teaching people of heart and soul to succeed! Deborah’s teachings and products are amazing: not only are they beautiful but these gorgeous essences have so much to offer us. (check them out here)

Well, we ended up connecting by phone to be really clear on my time off from my studies. And what fun it turned out to be. That Ringing Heart Truth came out, I had the joy of being heard and received, and found I am able to support her work in the way that matters to me.

Do you know your Ringing Heart Truth that you offer to the world? This is so incredibly important it’s one of the reasons we spend the first couple of lessons on getting clear on this topic during the entrepreneur training program I offer www.ManagementRefugee.com.

Without this factor in your work, there will always be a missing piece—a significant missing piece. Whether your first and highest work is being a parent, an artist, an athlete, a gardener, or anything at all, your awareness and commitment to your Ringing Heart Truth is the number one thing you need to be successful. YOUR version of successful. Not mine, not anyone else’s, but the you who was sent here for a specific reason and purpose that we all need.

So I encourage you to find that Ringing Heart Truth and discover how to bring it out into the world. It’s your calling, our reward, and for your benefit that’s needed here, today.

Let your Success & Heart adventure begin…it’s never too late or too early!

Blessings,

Heidi Sue Roth

PS I'm not advocating early Christmas marketing, and I do love a bell in the heart ringing for all to hear!

Turn the Business Flops into Finds!

I believe most of are really doing the best we can. And sometimes, mistakes happen. I know on Friday I was having a conversation with a friend and college about a possible business partnership. And at one point I found myself saying something that wasn't actually true: I was speaking of a business practice I've used in other businesses, that I have specifically decided not to use now.

In other businesses, I have traded services for services with other independent business owners. And I decided that this time, I was not including it in my business model. There are serious benefits to each person paying for the service they receive, and creating a clear, direct understanding of the cost of being in business is just one of the benefits.

The situation we were talking about including people and offerings I really want to support: and before I even really thought about it, there it was! The trade idea popped out of my mouth.

I had to back-track. So, I got to apologize for what I said and take it back. Specifically highlighting that I had made a mistake and said something that wasn't true for me any more. Not my favorite thing to do. Still, it's a lot easier to admit it, apologize and correct it than misleading someone I like and respect.

What's the upside? First, there's the perceived value of admitting a mistake and being willing to make it right. Second, some mistakes are gold mines!

I believe most of are really doing the best we can. And sometimes, mistakes happen. I know on Friday I was having a conversation with a friend and college about a possible business partnership. And at one point I found myself saying something that wasn't actually true: I was speaking of a business practice I've used in other businesses, that I have specifically decided not to use now.

In other businesses, I have traded services for services with other independent business owners. And I decided that this time, I was not including it in my business model. There are serious benefits to each person paying for the service they receive, and creating a clear, direct understanding of the cost of being in business is just one of the benefits.

The situation we were talking about including people and offerings I really want to support: and before I even really thought about it, there it was! The trade idea popped out of my mouth.

I had to back-track. So, I got to apologize for what I said and take it back. Specifically highlighting that I had made a mistake and said something that wasn't true for me any more. Not my favorite thing to do. Still, it's a lot easier to admit it, apologize and correct it than misleading someone I like and respect.

What's the upside? First, there's the perceived value of admitting a mistake and being willing to make it right. Second, some mistakes are gold mines!


Like Belly Flops(TM)! We stopped at the Jelly Belly(TM) Factory in Fairfield enroute to Lodi this weekend. They have a 3-level sorting system for removing jelly bellies that meet the size and appearance standards from the packaging system. What happens next is fun, cool, and smart business: You can buy Belly Flops for a greatly reduced price at the factory. The flops are so popular there are literally cases of them on the salesfloor with busy workers opening the cases and handing out piles of bags to enthusiastic consumers.

Both of these ideas demonstrate a couple important things about mistakes, and they ARE going to happen, so don't be surprised when they happen to you and your business. It's an important part of being in business for yourself. And, from them you can learn...

• How to respond quickly and effectively to errors when they happen with customers. Just like any relationship, errors left unattended can easily become problematic.
  
• Many flops are opportunities for innovation and new offerings.
  

What's the Belly Flop, or Post-It Note glue, or Vulcanization waiting to be discovered in your business today?

Good luck and stay balanced as those opportunities for recovering from mistakes will happen!

Wishing you Success & Heart,
Heidi Sue

What is Canine Business Sense?

I was watching our little rugrats last evening just kind of musing, not really doing anything. And like those of us who are bit obsessed tend to do, I realized that our two rescue pups have really common, normal business behaviors that a lot of practioners, new business owners, and even established business people do to.

Pete, our newest family member is a stupid-cute, red cartoon of a dog. He’s just so inherently cute it’s hard to be annoyed with him for very long despite his ability to be completely annoying. He licks the floor for hours. He believes that the only good companionship is intimate: being right up in your face. And he feels the ONLY way to handle conflict, confusion or something new is aggression. The best way for his fourteen pounds to handle anything is to Bark Louder! Growl Longer! Attack—right for the throat each and every time.

Now, I want you to understand that we get Pete and his issues. We knew that a rescue dog can come with special challenges. Pete lived in the woods and on the streets for about 3 years (no one knows his exact age). I can’t imagine how hard a dog of less than 15 pounds had to fight and hustle to survive in the world alone. He was so skinny when first adopted that literally every bony point on his body was felt through his skin. This little guy is tough. At the same time he LOVES people. He’ll lick and cuddle and talk to you for ever. Receiving attention is his all-time favorite thing. We understand that undoing those early food and aggression habits is a long-term, tiny-success proposition. And we love him with all his faults, just like he loves us with all of our faults.

Then, there’s Trina. This gal is one smart, deceptive, strong-willed dog. Trina can look like a little white angel. And catch you out every time! Trina is the sneaky one. Why meet something head-on when you can express your snarkiness in ways that sneak up on people? Of course it’s never her fault that things went wrong, I was just…and so on. This powerful chick on four legs, weighing about 12 pounds will literally stare you down when she isn’t getting exactly what she wants. And in dog language that is definitely a demand! She easily takes up the entire couch. In fact, I’ve literally seen her watch her “brother” jump onto the sofa and leap in his way so she’s already in his spot when he lands. Trina is an opinionated lady.

She also has a behavioral challenge that would make being in business tough: she only knows a couple ways to express those opinions. Some of those methods are completely not welcome by others in her household. She resents our unhappiness with her methods. She definitely isn’t given to compromise, and she doesn’t exhibit much motivation to make other choices.

Trina is, on other occasions, a real joy to have around. She’s friendly to anyone and any animal that comes around. She puts up with Pete’s aggression with amazing tolerance. And she sooo loves to have her family come home I wonder if one day she’ll shake and jump herself to bits in her joy.

What’s the point you might ask? The point is that you, me, others—we’ve all learned patterns that we carry over into business. Not every challenge is ready to be met with aggressive action or secretive tactics. A mature business (one that makes money, grows with demands, meets client needs, AND includes time off for you!) has a mature person over-seeing it. Maturity in this case translates into a range of responses, strategies and tactics. If there’s a common mistake I see in business less than 2 years old, and many even older, it’s always using the same approach.

In my experience, this is kind of the “Mobster Model”—no matter how a guy screws up he looses a body part or maybe his life. Sound like a tough model? That’s intentional. Closing a business, loosing out on business success is JUST like giving up part of yourself. Don’t believe me? Ask someone who’s been there. So, you can learn from Pete and Trina: those patterns you learned before just might not be the best thing for you and your business now. Slow down enough to check it out. Invest in yourself to clean out some of those old patterns and take the time to learn some new ones.

Wishing you Success and Heart,

Heidi Sue

The Contrast of Value & Service

It's been an interesting 10 days or so in the realm of experiencing customer service. The vast space between these realities fascinates me. What do you find in these spaces?

My experience started with attempting to place a cell-phone call to my best friend. That call was invisibly re-routed to Verizon account services. I've been crazy-on the phone lately, and knew it was time to change my plan, just getting to the store to get that new phone model, and up the plan has been a real challenge.

I was definitely some annoyed when I landed in the Que for Verizon rather than on my friend in Florida's phone! The gal who answered was nice. So I heard something amazing. Verizon offered to change my plan to one that more met my usage--and back-date that change to cover all the extra minutes I accumulated. Huh? Really? You'll do something to save me money?

Sure, maybe this was driven by loosing customers, feeling that collecting in this market is pointless any how or some related business idea. And as a consumer, I did not in that minute care a fig WHY they would do this for me. Technically, they "lost" money on the offer. And boy was I happy to agree to the change and pay the difference between my old plan and the new one for two months. Big deal! And so far, so good.

But then, the complete opposite happened. I decided to experiment and try the new McCafe coffee thing. I have a local coffee shop I adore--and some days I'm simply too closely scheduled to fit in the extra mile or so into my route. So I pulled in, ordered my latte, paid my surprisingly low fee, and drove to the next window. Where someone hands me an iced coffee.

I said "NO!" that's not what I ordered. They conferred and a manager-type person came back and clearly instructed me that a latte cost more, but this time they'd accommodate me. I pretty much just blew it off--I felt my order had been clear, and okay, it worked out.

That was last week. Well, I ended up back there today. This time I ordered a HOT vanilla Latte. I said the word "hot" a couple times to make sure I was clear. It was more money than I expected this time, but pulled around, paid it, and moved on.

And of course...I was once again handed an iced coffee. By the same manager I'd talked to last time. I started laughing! I said, "Hey, we did this last time I was here. I specifically said 'hot'--I really did order a vanilla latte this time." Well, she conferred again this time. When she came back, she was shaking her head and fixed me the drink I asked for.

While in all three instances I got what I wanted or something of benefit. And how I view the value of what I got is vastly different. That's the key: the surprise of one vs. the difficulty of getting what I ordered on the other hand meant I created a completely different perception of value in my world.

So how do your clients value what you do? What can you do to increase that perception? What are doing that limit your perceived value?

If you want to know more, let me know! We can schedule a Complimentary 20 minute discuss about increasing your perceived value.

Wishing you Success & Heart,

Heidi Sue

Gotta Get MORE Habit

Do you find yourself hungry for ideas, information, ANYTHING that will turn things around for you right now? Do you ever find that there’s no way to get to all the TeleSeminars you’ve signed up for, hard to find time to read all the free reports you downloaded, find the time to actually make all those calls on my list, and on and on. I SO know this feeling and experience. In fact, I recently spent about 4 months wallowing in this one!

If you’re here, too, Stop! Watch! And Learn! This is completely a warning that you’ve got something is out of balance for your life and business. And there WILL be a price to pay. I cannot predict when you’ll have to pay that bill but I can guarantee at some point that bill will come due. Maybe that due-date looks like it’s time to pay for a program, a coaching session and you don’t have the money. Your client list has gotten smaller, or you don’t know what your next class is going to be about and who’s going to attend. Only you will be there when the bill is delivered. And lots of people will be impacted when it arrives. The world needs your gifts: I guarantee it! So if you can’t offer your services all of us experience the loss. Not to mention your family, friends and business contacts.

What can you learn here? First, stop what you’re doing for at least 30 minutes (an hour is even better, but 30 minutes will do if you need to make it faster). No phone, no music, no email, or anything else. Now, close your eyes and imagine yourself on the phone for one of these TeleSeminars or at the computer reading one of those reports. Simply observe yourself involved in this action. Then expand what you can see, open up your depth of focus to see the rest of your life that’s around you while you do this activity. What other things aren’t getting done? What people are waiting for your attention while you are busy elsewhere? And focus on these things in another way…while you’re busy with these self-education activities that have value and benefit, what also needs to happen that you deeply want to avoid?

Quick! Jot down those things you’re avoiding. Let the visualization go. Now consider what you’re avoiding, not having to do or become in order to handle these other things in your life and business?

Did you perhaps notice that you haven’t implemented any of what you’ve learned? Maybe you’re spending all your time acquiring information so you don’t have to do other things that you dream of AND resist. Don’t shirk or avoid telling yourself the truth. Honestly, no one else has to know what you learn. What matters the most is looking at what’s happening with a clear eye and figuring out what to instead or next.

What matters the most here is when you start to feel that frantic, I’ve got to learn more right now to save the day it’s time to look around and find out what we’re not IMPLEMENTING and a place to change our minds so that we do what grow our business not just our to-do list!

Wishing you Success & Heart,

Heidi Sue

Do you KNOW you have flowless sales-speak?

Speaking to clients about your offerings is perhaps the most important thing you do. Even if your work is amazing, fabulous, drop-dead astounding, without the keys to those initial conversations, your abilities will remain a well-kept (and likely under-paid) secret.

I realize lots of people say things like, "I never sell! I just refuse." Whatever word works for you is fine. And the reality is if you are not working for someone else and are not professionally unemployed, you talk to prospective clients. So I still want you to considert, "What is flawless sales-speak?" The more if it you've got, the better your life. The less of it you know and can use, the harder business--and life!--is for you.

First, it’s important to know what doesn’t make your conversations with a potential client effective. Being flawless during these conversations is not…

1. Having your “pitch” so down cold that you just slide right through it with never a stutter or a flutter. That’s not good sales-speak, that’s Leisure Larry used-car sales slimy-ness!
2. Tossing around the amazing numbers proving the value of what you’re offering
3. Trotting out testimonial after testimonial—most people just start to wonder if any of the super-cool, über-successful people actually exist.
4. Sharing your vision for the world, your company, their company, their life or any other such nonsense.
5. Your expanded vocabulary, razor-sharp wit or quick repartee.

Flawless sales-speak is talking like your customers do. Specifically, talking about another person’s needs in the same frame as happy customers talk about the results they got. This is the verbal version of those diet-aid before and after pictures. Flawless sales-speak is making it your objective to talk to people who have the same “before” pain as your best, favorite customers and believing for them that you can teach, create, give them the pleasure words that are the “after” image.

If you want to have flawless sales-speak, the best way to do this is actually speak less and listen more. No matter how excited you get about how you can help this person, how great it will be to work together, or any other thing. Listen for those before words that tell you this person is a perfect match for what you do the best. Then briefly describe what after feels like and watch what happens.

Wishing you Success & Heart through Flawless Sales-Speak,

Heidi Sue Roth

P.S. Have some extra fun--try it for a non-business conversation when opinions or agreement matters. You may just discover the short-path to verbal harmony!

Choosing a Bank for your Business can be Frustrating!

When it comes to businesses and banks, fees can make you poor and crazy. So while I honestly can’t say there’s been any Bank that I found just a joy to work with, I was pleasantly surprised with the current deal they are offering, even with the basic checking account. AND the deal is good for the life of the account. (Don’t you hate that with the cable TV companies where you get a super deal at first then they basically hand you your backside on a bill?)

So, here’s the deal, at least in California: If you use the Bank of America debit card on the business checking account at least once a month, they waive the fee for the upcoming month. This is actually a great deal. You could pay for a seminar, buy some paper or postage, whatever! And as long as you do that monthly, you save at least $14.00 a month in fees. I say at least, because I’ve yet to find a physical bank that doesn’t have what I call a “tolerance charge.” Those are the fees they charge me to put up with me, and everyone other business owner, being a customer. A fee to tolerate my business! Grrr…If your business has a close profit margin, you’ve got a nightmare in this one.

For example, lots of banks charge you 20 cents a check on a deposit. Well, if your customers purchase an average of a couple hundred bucks of stuff a time, okay, not so painful. If you make many small-value sales, say a lot of individual books at $25.00 each, those feeds ad up fast and furiously. The percentage charged by a credit card company is not really worse.

So I’m pleased with the option from Bank of America to collect that fee from some OTHER merchant at least once a month and give me a little more grace on the fees as their customer.

I suggest, if you’re in the market for a business checking account, this promotion is at least worth a look. And local banks, vs. big organizations, are often an even better choice. That’s where I’ve got my personal money! And that’s a long story for another time…

Wishing you Success & Heart,

Heidi Sue Roth

Why SuccessHeart(tm) Anyhow?

I considered lots of words and names to describe the vision, passion and purpose I'm driven to bring into the world. The longer the idea of Success & Heart hung around, the more meaningful it became to me. The majority of people live with Success and Heart out of balance. Struggling between the two.

We are in transition. And there are so many needs, wants, and plans happening during this time. I firmly believe that one of the things that most needs to change is our relationship to success, money and well-being. Whether you frame it in terms of male/female energy, new/old energy or dark/light concepts, the bottom line is that the Healing Heart has been divorced from the realm of wealth and money for a very long time. (Sorry, there's no way I can be convinced that pharmaceuticals having anything to do with heart and healing. Not a chance.) This vacuum has been filled for centuries by those focused on themselves, on conquest, and other themes that did not fully benefit our home or ourselves. Most of us

And until WE heal this gap, this disconnect, the transition will be hard, volatile and in some ways dangerous. My mission is to learn even more on how to heal this for myself, model this revolution to others and teach what I've learned. It's about having both:

It is TIME for those who have the deep pockets to also have big hearts. In other words, heart, passion and service are worthy of reward. And the place to start is being willing to reward ourselves, to accept the blessings that we so often resist and avoid from some misplaced belief that it is inappropriate.

Who does more good with great wealth? The miser who acquires out of fear and selfish motivation? Or the individual willing to see the hungry, the destitute and forgotten with the ability to actually FUND something to change those conditions?

We have denied business as spirit, as life, as path. Our greatest teachers and spiritual leaders rarely accept the challenge. Some divorce themselves from this reality. Others fall prey to social pressures of "doing wealthy" in the established routine.

SuccessHeart is about business as spiritual path, as conscious commerce, as one of the final frontiers for becoming even more of who you are and serving others in the process.

Will you accept the challenge?

Are you ready to open your heart TO the path that is YOUR work, YOUR business, YOUR service?

Life, love and possibility are all smaller until we take this step.

I challenge you to become a SuccessHeart human...playing the game of life to your fullest capacity with the realization that today, there IS NO difference between you, your life and your work. So why not make it all about Success & Heart?

Heidi Sue Roth

And the wind up!

The first part of this adventure begins! After resisting letting my gifts be offered to the world, I've accepted that challenge and the learning that comes with it. I teach practioners and business owners how to really create an offering that capitalizes on their Crazy Success Secret(TM0 so they have something that clients want, brings in money and creates the life each person has dreamed of!

And of course, when I put my intentions and plans out to Source, there's a check and balance system: the opportunities to use what I teach, to make sure I really mean it all come up and out to play. For example, one of my long-term friends from college came to visit this last weekend. She flew into San Francisco that's a complicated drive from where I live in Sonoma County. Our original plan was for me to take the shuttle down and meet her and we'd shuttle back together so we could talk and talk and talk our way home! Meanwhile, I was behind on housecleaning as I'd consistently chosen to spend time at work in stead, my fridge was seriously empty of having-company-food, and launching two new programs in two months is a LOT to do!

What turned out to be actually the best thing to do for my well-being and my business was to NOT get on that shuttle at 2:15 PM and keep working until my friend arrived from the airport at 7 PM. With this change, I could literally finish the big cleaning things (like getting the cat all her gradu OUT of the guest bathroom), tackle a few more things from my work-week task list so I could literally forget about it for the weekend, and simply relax and enjoy with my girlfriend.

Napoleon Hill talks about how the ability to make decisions and make effective decisions is one of the top skills of someone who's NOT an employee. I got a huge chance to step back, look at what would best met the needs of me as a trainer/consultant, a friend, a hostest, and a pet-family responsibilities! And out of it came a much better experience for me--and so of course, everyone else I spent time with this weekend--by being willing to ask the question, make an uncomfortable decision about changing my commitment to my friend, and investing equal amounts to home, work, and self.

The good news? It worked out great! By the time David, my partner came home, I was 95% done with all the burning concerns. We chatted, changed, picked up Jan and were INTO the weekend with a great dinner at Mary's Pizza Shack.

So when it comes to figuring out what to do and when to do it, here are my suggestions:

1. Step back from the urgency, the overwhelm: just set it aside for a bit, knowing you can always come back to those feelings if you actually need to.

2. Look at each thing you feel needs to be done and decide what's the benefit to you, the business, and others in your life.

3. Then look for where/how those values balance: while I ended up spending less total time with my friend, I was much more relaxed not feeling I'd left my business hanging with important things not done, and I got my house cleaned to a level that satisfied me.

This comes down to taking a break from the emotional/driven sensation of all these things you feel need to be done and going for more clarity about the benefit and value of each thing. balanced with heart, life, freedom and success!

Wishing you Success and Heart,

Heidi Sue