Sovereignty

The Bad Advice About Credit That’s Kept You Stuck

March 23, 2016 by influexwp

I’m a little riled up as I write this.

I’m part of a private Facebook group and someone posted a request for guidance about taking out a business loan to support the next evolution of her business.

The immediate response she got back from 4 people was don’t take out loans for your business, don’t go into debt, and no debt = freedom.

This is the exact thinking that keeps so many people, maybe you, stuck in work they don’t love, chasing false financial freedom and wondering why they don’t have the lives they want.

Debt is not the source of your slavery.

Credit is a gift.

Used wisely, it can and will finance your learning, growth and evolution. And it can support you to create far more in the world than you can without resources.

In fact, part of the reason most of our country’s wealth is captured and held by the 1% while the rest get poorer and poorer is because we’ve been conditioned into focusing on saving instead of on leveraging debt and other resources to invest in ourselves and creating more wisely.

If you would love support with accessing credit and using it wisely, hit reply and let us know. We’re currently planning our next training on accessing and using credit with joy and we would love to know your biggest questions about this topic.

To your eyes wide open life,

Ali

PS — Tell me your story of using credit and being in debt by hitting reply so I can help you take your next steps beyond fear and conditioning. Better yet, give this one some thought and then tell me what came through: if you had access to $50,000 of credit at 0% for a year, how would you use it? What would you invest in? What would you create?

Package Your Services: You are priceless

March 21, 2016 by influexwp

Hey y’all,

I just got off a training with my members on Pricing and Packaging your services.

We’re creating ease of enrollment and wanted to offer you some of the juicy parts. Why? Because it is the #1 thing I repeatedly see most people in service-based businesses are missing the boat on and was the 1st step toward building my professional practice into a million dollar business.

#1. Be really clear about who you serve. Most business owners start off in business trying to serve way too big of an audience.

My law practice took off big time when I narrowed my focus to serving families with young children and was able to become the go to lawyer in my community by educating families with young children in a way no other lawyers were doing at that time. I later expanded to serving business owners with young children at home, when I began offering legal services for business.

Up until I narrowed my focus, I struggled to get clients in the door and when I did, they often had to think about whether to hire me or were shopping around. Once I narrowed my focus and designed my service to meet their needs, I became unshoppable.

#2. Drop the free initial consultation and instead create a first meeting that provides tremendous value, has a name, and a specific purpose or outcome.

No one really values a free initial consultation and it’s most often seen as a sales meeting in which people really just want to know how much you charge so they can shop you.

When you shift away from the free initial consult and instead create a meeting that has a name, a purpose, and a value, your ideal clients want it, value it and whether they hire you or not, will tell all their friends and family about you.

Plus, you’re delivering value right from the start and when this meeting is done well and you prepare your prospects for it well, they aren’t focused on price, they are focused on the outcome of the meeting.

Make this meeting so awesome that you could charge for it and people would be happy to pay, but see below for how to use it in your marketing by offering it for free or discounted.

#3. Use your marketing to educate, educate, educate and give people an easy way to get your now named and highly valuable initial meeting for free or at a significant discount.

For example, if I served folks one-to-one, I would offer a pricing and packaging strategy session or Money Map Life and Income Planning Session at the end of this message, either at a discount or free, depending on how many new clients I wanted and where I was in my practice.

#4. Make a list of all the services you can possibly provide to your ideal clients by focusing on the problems they solve using outcome based language.

I see too many people trying to offer their services in terms of time or number of sessions (3-hours or 4 sessions) rather than in terms of the outcome provided.

Your pricing should be based on the value of the outcome you provide to the people you serve, not at all based on the number of hours or sessions it takes to get there.

#5. Base your fees (at least in the beginning) on the LEAST you can charge, rather than buying into some idea of charging what you are worth.

You are priceless.

You couldn’t possibly charge what you are worth, even if you tried. What you can do though is charge what you need so you aren’t sacrificing your life in service to your work AND once you’ve got confidence with your enrollment structure (which will happen quickly if you follow my guidance here) and your practice is full or close to full, you can increase your package fees based on the true value you are providing to the people you serve.

In order to ensure that you are not under-charging for your services while at the same time knowing the least you can charge, make sure you understand your Money Map Numbers at five levels — min to be happy, min to be of service, preferred, no limits, and now — so you know what you are working towards.

These numbers are calculated based on the life you want to have, what it will cost to have that life at your next number, the amount of time you have to earn in exchange for your services — which is less than you probably think given all the other things you need to do in your business.

If you found this helpful, check out our Money Map Life Planning Series. You can get it here.

In the fire + pictures from Costa Rica (including my boyfriend!)

March 7, 2016 by influexwp

A quick love letter from Costa Rica to share with you some of my experience here in this beautiful place.

First and foremost, for those of you who are most focused on the Eyes Wide Open business teachings, and not so much in the Raw and Real parts of what I share, I’ll warn you now that this love letter is a mix of both.

There’s a little business and a little raw/real happening in this love letter. If you are all business, all the time, you may want to close this one down now and get on to the next. But if you like the raw/real, read on and you’ll get some business goodness as a bonus.

I came down to Costa Rica a week and a day ago with my family, so I could speak at Envision Festival. I haven’t gotten all the pictures uploaded yet, but you can see a few on my private Facebook profile.

And here’s a quickie of the whole family as we were sending Melina, Lotus and the boys back home after Envision. The boys (men really at this point), are my son, Noah, Kaia’s boyfriend, Max, and my boyfriend (yes, I did just say that), Rainbow. Yes, his name is Rainbow.

Kaia and I stayed on for a women’s retreat with Jess Magic and Elena Meta, and in it we are exploring the elements, dance, voice and writing.

Today, the element was Fire. Breath of fire, dance of fire, sweat lodge, fiery food, and a fire ceremony to burn up whatever is ready to be released.

For me, it was the control paradigm and the last vestiges of my need to prove myself.

So, what does all this have to do with building your life and income awake, aware and on your terms?A few things …

#1: Integration of the learnings

In the past, I’ve moved so quickly from one thing to the next that I have not had time to integrate the learnings. Just last month, I went immediately from a private event at Esalen (called Return) to lead my Money Map Masters in a retreat and then immediately after that into a month of intense focus to prepare for me to be out of the office for two weeks.

This time, I decided to stay on here in Costa Rica for an extra week to attend this retreat with Kaia and to integrate the teachings and learnings from my time at Envision.

Taking my whole family to Envision was a big deal. It’s really a working event for me, not just a vacation. I’m there to speak and network, not just to hang out and have fun. And having the kids (particularly my 12-year old who still really needs a lot of me) with me was an added challenge.

But having them with me was also really fun and I had a lot of support from friends, as you can see in the pictures. Plus, I always feel really great when the kids get to hear me speak because I’m teaching some radical money concepts that they aren’t going to get in school or from the media, so I’m glad they are getting it from me and not just by osmosis, but consciously and intentionally.

#2: How to free yourself in your business

I’ll be gone a total of two weeks. Most of it off my computer, other than time to write a couple of emails, do Facebook and chat about a few things with my team via Skype.

A month ago, I was working like crazy. I wasn’t sure how I was going to manage getting out of town, let alone being mostly offline for two weeks.

So I decided to make the investment in hiring someone who could really stand in for me in both businesses and bit the bullet. I brought in Brenda Mathisen (most recently Chief of Staff for one of the PayPal investor/founders), spent a month connecting deeply with her and providing training and then left town so she could take over with minimal interference from me.

This is the counter-intuitive way to free yourself in business. Get the right person or people on board and then leave town. In the past, I thought I needed to hold on and oversee things for way too long. What I realize now is that was disempowering and indicative of my lack of trust.

By leaving town, I showed my team (and Brenda) I trust them and while I know some mistakes will likely be made, I trust them to learn, grow and evolve from those mistakes, which includes figuring out how to fix them when they happen.

Repeatedly, I have seen this with women lawyers in my New Law Business Model coaching program — they get pregnant, and if they coach with me ahead of their maternity leave to hire the right person then hand off systems with trust at the foundation, they leave to have a baby and come back two months later with a practice that is thriving far more than it would have if they had been in the office micro-managing every day.

Try this one yourself, even if you aren’t having a baby. Just plan a vacation and then actually take it. But do remember to hire a great person first.

#3: Death

The last thing I want to mention in this week’s love letter is Death.

Confronting the reality of your mortality will result in you having a better life. It is coming up in my reality frequently and I want you to start to consider how that might be true in your life.

Have you confronted your mortality? If so, have you planned to make life better for your loved ones after you are gone or are you starting doing that now? How is your own life getting better by looking at the reality of your own death?

I know this may not be an easy conversation or consideration for you, but it is an important one so you can make the very best decisions regarding the use of your resources that you possibly can.

If you want any support with that, please send me a message at [email protected] and let me know. It’s something I’m being asked to do more and more lately and I’m feeling called.

Love beyond,

Ali

PS — we have twenty new Eyes Wide Open members who are also B-Schoolers and I want to send a great big welcome to you all! If you have not already received your invite to our private member’s forum and requested to join, please check your email including the spam folder. Welcome! I’m excited to see you there.

Perfection Not Required

February 3, 2016 by influexwp

Recently I was in Esalen for 4 days (check out the pictures here) and then leading my Money Map Masters Founder’s Group retreat here in Boulder (here are some pictures from the retreat).

I didn’t open my computer for the whole week.It felt great. And then on Sunday, I got anxious. Probably because I hadn’t yet written this Love Letter, or the emails announcing the end of the discount code for our annual membership offer, or the emails announcing our payment plan options.

Rather than succumbing to it and getting back onto the computer before I was ready, I let it be. I felt the anxiety, tried not to create any story about it, and spent time with my family.

Then, the work week started and I was deep into re-entry with focus on the expansion of the New Law Business Model business model. I’m bringing in a COO so we can go to the next level of growth while I step more into creating content and away from running the company.

I’ve tried to break through this level three times and I haven’t made it yet, but I’m betting the 4th time’s a charm.

So, here I am, sending this out half a week late and remembering (and reminding you) that it’s okay. Perfection is not required here. Sure, consistency is best in business. If you can send out your newsletter the same day every week, awesome. And, if that’s not a match with your life, don’t beat yourself up for it.

Just get it out when you can and trust that the people who need to get it will.

I am making a conscious decision to not push myself the way I have in the past, to really live my Money Map and put myself first, family second and work third, knowing I have enough.

Pre-Money Map, I would push myself way harder than was really sustainable to make sales, to be “successful” by someone else’s definition and to keep up with the launch whizzes who are part of my peer group.

When I updated my own Money Map last year, I realized that it was not reasonable to have two businesses that were doing regular high pressure launches of products/programs to different audiences. Not without burning myself out.

So, even though I had invested $24,000 in a mastermind designed to support me to take my business to the next level and $15,000 in a launch manager, I decided to take a different path. I chalked those investments up to learning what I didn’t want, and sunk more deeply into what I do.

While I want the work of Money Map and Eyes Wide Open out into the world, it can’t be at the expense of my well-being and my relationships. Those are priority.

So, I did end up getting out emails about the end of our payment plan, but I didn’t announce the end of the discount, which means I’ll extend it a couple of days. And that’s okay.

When you are in business for yourself, you get to choose what gets done and what doesn’t.

And I hope you choose wisely, putting yourself first, relationships second and earning money only last, with a clear plan to know you have enough so you can.

To do so will require you to get beyond your Money Dysmorphia (the distorted view of our finances that causes us to make poor choices around our non-renewable assets, time, energy and attention) and start making life and work choices from clarity.

My friend Myka did this and she was able to carve out 6 weeks to write her book, trust that she doesn’t need to take on revenue generating work for 3 months and is freeing up the space to live the life she’s always wanted.

Why wait to have the life you really want?

This is the time, your time is now. My work is to guide you to see the resources available to you to live that life today and stop putting it off until you have enough. You have enough now. It’s time to mine it and truly live.

I love you so much. Keep showing up through all of it. Perfection is not necessary.

Love beyond,

Ali

PS — We have 10 spots left in our annual membership using code BOGO500OFF to take $500 off your investment (only with pay in full option) or you can pay over 12 months and get started for as little as $199. It’s our wisdom and experience on your life and income for a full year. Many of our members have been with us for years because they know you can’t find business model building, pricing and packaging, launch strategy, sticky situation management and legal, insurance, financial and tax knowledge anywhere else for this low of an investment. Would love you to be one of the remaining 10 to join us!

SAVE $500 with code BOGO500OFF: eyeswideopenlife.com/membership

START FOR ONLY $199 with payment plan.

With her heart and Eyes Wide Open: a love letter to Ali and the Money Map

January 18, 2016 by influexwp

This is no ordinary Love Letter; it is a Love Letter to Ali and the Money Map. A message to our community from a very dear, passionate and inspiring member of the Eyes Wide Open Collective:

In 2015, one of my biggest intentions was to create a career in alignment with my values and Soul-Purpose, one that created financial sovereignty while also being of service in a way that felt inspiring and nourishing. I heard about the Money Map Life Planning System through several friends who were going through the program and their feedback and reflections encouraged me to explore the possibility.

The Money Map is a system designed by Alexis Neely (artist name: Ali Shanti), a paradigm-shifting visionary entrepreneur and thought-leader in the field of Sacred Economics for the New Earth. This system guides participants to come into right relationship with time, money and how they get paid through a series of modules that are worked through at the individual’s own pace.

I was touched by what felt like a “wholistic financial perspective” with which this work is held. I chose this program as the next step on my path to creating an empowered, congruent and financially sovereign life. I knew that an “accountability partner” would really support me through this process, and quickly found an inspiring and resonant partner in a Facebook community group that I’m a part of.

The first two modules in the program helped me get clear on how much money I need to be earning on an hourly and monthly basis to create a lifestyle that is aligned with my values, needs and self-care, so that I can be in service “from the overflow”. It felt so clarifying to discover my “monthly number”, which is $3567, and to have a clear goal for my monthly income to aim towards. I even made a visionary collage art-piece with my monthly number on it, to help crystallize the intention.

The third module was very illuminating in helping me get clear on how I choose to invest my time. I realized how key it is for me to create space for self care (visits with a naturopath, acupuncture, massage, restful sleep), so that I can really begin sharing my gifts from a foundation of wholistic ‘thrival’. I began ‘time-blocking‘: creating my own schedule, making space for my business, clients, relationships, creativity and Spirit.

The next two modules led me into greater awareness of what real resources are currently available to me, and how I can best put them to use for my business, based on my ‘Entrepreneurial Archetype’. It was very enheartening to unearth the many ways in which my immediate environment is already aligned to support my life and my work in the world. The diverse, pioneering path that Ali has taken in her life and career has cultivated her ability to mentor other visionary entrepreneurs with creativity, innovation and resourcefulness. As I worked through these modules, I felt empowered to begin creating my website, promotional materials and branding. Of the eight entrepreneurial archetypes, I aligned with ‘Sage Guide’, and was better able to understand how to grow my business in a way that supports me in doing what I do best.

The final step was to get clear on my purpose and complete any ‘incompletions’ that are blocks on the path to creating the life that I really want. This included getting on track with loans and debt, clearing the air in challenging interpersonal dynamics and attending to health concerns that may have been swept under the rug. The intention of this module is to bring to light our blind spots and create an accountability system for us to begin bringing them to conscious completion.

Throughout this whole process, I regularly posted questions, reflections and intentions in the Facebook group, to have them witnessed and held by a supportive community. I attended the twice a month coaching calls, receiving guidance from Ali and her team, including the brilliant ‘Human Design’ consultant, Christopher Power, who works with the ‘Eyes Wide Open Life Collective’ to support people in understanding how their ‘Human Design Type’ influences their business.

As I deepen the establishment of my business and it’s processes I intend to work through Phase Two of the Money Map, which will support me in ensuring I have the proper legal, insurance, financial and tax structures in place.

With this program, I got really clear on the direction I am choosing to take my business. I created promotional materials, began seeing new clients and received really great and encouraging feedback about my work. Creating ‘right-livelihood’ through my skills and gifts has been a key component in creating a life that I love. It is definitely an ongoing journey, but having a resonant ‘tribe’ of supporters and co-creators has been an invaluable support and for that I am truly grateful.

I recently came across a quote from Dr. Wayne Dyer that felt like a powerful reflection for this journey: “When I chased after money, I never had enough. When I got my life on purpose and focused on giving of myself and everything that arrived into my life, then I was prosperous.”
Join us in the pursuit of your life and income awake, aware and on your terms. We want to work to construct an income model that works with you and for you, to include all of your amazing skills and talents into one thriving system. Take some time to go through the Life & Income Planning Series right now (for FREE) and then listen to the fourth session, recorded on New Year’s Eve. If you want to dive in with your Eyes Wide Open, join our Membership for a higher, deeper level of support from Ali and her team at the Eyes Wide Open Collective.

About Prema Gaia:

Prema Gaia brings over 13 years of intensive study and practice of the world’s wisdom traditions & healing arts to her transformational coaching practice, workshops and retreats. Feeling called to dedicate her life to service, Prema gave away all of her possessions and traveled the world on a several-year ‘vision quest’, writing about what she discovered, in magazines such as Spirituality & Health, Sage Woman & South Africa’s Odyssey Magazine. To connect, please visit: www.facebook.com/premagaiawriter

Can’t we all just get along?

January 14, 2016 by influexwp

I’m curious … are you feeling a massive shift since the start of the New Year? I am. All of the sudden the people and resources I have been dreaming of and envisioning for the past several years are showing up in my life with a full bodied yes to fully diving in together.

I’m experiencing this sense of “whaaaaattttt? this is all really happening. finally. dreams. coming. true.”

A new romantic partner who is blowing my mind and heart wide open.
An investor for the lawyer business.
An operations manager for the lawyer business with ten years of experience running Eben Pagan’s companies.
A partner for the Eyes Wide Open business who I’m not sure I could have even dreamed up, if I was making a list of my ideal partners

It’s all happening. And, I would really love to bring you with me, if it’s a match and you desire to create this kind of alignment in your life and income.

I sense a big part of the key is that I’ve finally accepted that we can’t all just get along because … we don’t. And that’s not only a-okay, but it’s valuable. I can stop fighting for what’s not a fit.

The people and situations that are not a 100% match are dropping away with ease, making space for those that are to fill in.

I didn’t always used to think this. I thought if I didn’t get along with everyone, there must be something wrong with me. And I would fight to get along.

Conflict was rampant in my life and my companies. It tore me apart. Trapped me in drama, self-judgment and tremendous doubt.

I often felt wrong. And bad. And sad. And frustrated beyond belief. I couldn’t understand where I was going wrong. I was trying so hard to do it all so right. And I was failing.

Over the past year, I’ve seen a massive shift in my experience.

Today, I see that my belief that we all need to “get along” was keeping me trapped. I see that I didn’t truly trust that if it didn’t feel good, I could walk away and make space for what does. I thought I was a bad person if I didn’t stick it out and make it work.

Today, there is harmony in my life and my companies. This harmony springs forth from within me and radiates out among those around me. Where harmony doesn’t exist, the relationships drop away with ease, making space for those with which I am in full resonance.

It’s so much easier than the way I did things before.

In the past, I struggled to fix things, sure I could make it better, I would hold on to situations, people and resources that I thought I needed or who I thought needed me. It was a scarcity mentality.

Not anymore.

My new mantra is show up as all of myself, and if it’s not a match, let it go. And fast.

Not to say that it’s always easy. I can still get hooked into patterns of wanting to save people (and thinking I can), believing if I just try a little harder, I can make it work, and wishing it could be different. I can still sometimes be tempted into the idea that compromising myself to “fit in” is necessary.

But now I can see when it happens quickly, come back to myself and let go of what doesn’t resonate much more rapidly.

I wish the same for you.

Because what will happen is when you let go of everything that is not a match, you’ll either find yourself surrounded by the most amazing people and relationships you can imagine or you’ll find yourself alone and having to face where you were not being the person you want to be and become that person before you begin to rebuild your relationships.

Either way, you are on the path to creating your own version of heaven on earth.

I desire that for you, whether we get along or not.

With love beyond the beyond,

Ali

PS — My son started cotillion today. I love that I am teaching him that he can be a suit and tie kind of guy and I can be a freaky feather wearing kind of gal and we can love each other fully and accept each other completely. Here’s a couple of pictures of his first night: me and him(Facebook); sparkle Noah (Instagram).

PPS — If you have not yet watched our New Year’s Eve Webinar and you want to work with me to fully align your life and income in 2016, this is the time to watch. We are 2/3 full in our program and if we are meant to work together, the time for me to get to know you is now. E-mail me at [email protected]

And watch the recording of the webinar here to determine if my support to align your life and income in 2016 is in the cards for you.

Follow @thealikatz

Is Money Dysmorphia Compromising Your Life?

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Is Money Dysmorphia Compromising Your Life?

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Is Money Dysmorphia Compromising Your Life? Take My FREE 2 Minute Quiz to Discover Your Money Dysmorphia Blindspot

Is Money Dysmorphia Compromising Your Life? Take My FREE 2 Minute Quiz to Discover Your Money Dysmorphia Blindspot

Is Money Dysmorphia Compromising Your Life?

Take My FREE 2 Minute Quiz to Discover Your Money Dysmorphia Blindspot

Is Money Dysmorphia Compromising Your Life?

Take My FREE 2 Minute Quiz to Discover Your Money Dysmorphia Blindspot