In the weeks leading up to the event this past weekend where I shared the stage with Jack Canfield and delivered the closing keynote, I set some big goals.  Ridiculous goals, actually, now that I look back on it. 

I decided to: get my new website written and up, write and put up a sales page for my ten week program, recruit joint venture partners to promote my program and do teleclasses with them, host my own fr*ee teleclass, get new headshots, have new business cards designed, write the copy for new marketing materials and get them designed and printed, get a tradeshow display sign designed and created, and create two new audio products with downloadable workbooks.  On top of that, I needed to refine the two speeches I was going to be presenting at the event!

All in 3 ½ weeks.  This was originally going to be spread out through the 4^th quarter, but I decided I could get it done. 

As you can imagine, this required some long hours.  I worked from 7 am until I couldn’t think or see any more, usually about midnight.  I took one day off. The rest of my life was on hold.

I wasn’t stopping to create and prepare healthy meals. My house was chaos. My outdoor plants went unwatered. My bushes went untrimmed. I had no time for Bud the Beagle. I cancelled early morning walks with my girlfriends. My best friend even had to come over and cut up salad greens and veggies and fruit for me so that I’d have food to eat. I had no balance. I was fried.

A Recipe for Disaster

I had so much to do the night before I left that I didn’t finish until 5 am.  Unfortunately, I had to get up at 5:30 am to get to the airport for my flight.  So I never really slept.  Driving to the airport, I was incredibly tired.  I was fighting to stay awake.  And apparently, I lost the fight.

One moment I was driving along the highway at 75 mph, eagerly anticipating the conference and the opportunity to meet Jack Canfield.  The next moment, I found myself crashing into the median cables, screaming in terror, trying to get my car under control so I didn’t go into the ongoing traffic and cause a head on collision.  Two of my tires blew out, and my car finally came to a stop, crashing into the median.

I was totally shaken. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know who to call. I couldn’t think clearly. I couldn’t breathe. Physically, I was okay, but emotionally, I was in a meltdown. 

Over the next hour, it all got worked out. My best friend calmed me down over the phone. The police, the fire department and an ambulance came and went. The tow truck came, and the driver dropped me off at the airport so I could fly to Fort Lauderdale.

I had to wait in the airport for 7 ½ hours for the next flight, so I had a lot of time to think.  And to be incredibly grateful.  I was okay. I didn’t hurt or kill anyone else. I walked away without a scratch or an ache or pain. That’s a huge amount to be grateful for. It could have gone a lot of other ways.

This was a Big Fat Wakeup Call!

• I had to wake up to the fact that I am not superhuman.  I require sleep, healthy food, fresh air, and exercise. Things don’t go well when these necessities get ignored.

• I had to wake up to the fact that setting “stretch goals” is great, but setting goals that require an amount of work that no mere mortal could possibly accomplish without working 16 hours a day and forgoing sleep and a life is a really bad idea.

• I had to wake up to the fact that quite possibly (translation: “in reality”), I drove the team of people who were working with me (my amazing virtual assistant, web designer, graphic designer, and vice queen) nuts with these deadlines.  It’s amazing they didn’t fire me.

• I had to wake up to the fact that having a life— making time for fun, friends, art projects, walks with “Bud the Beagle”, and the other things in my life I love—is as important as my business.

• I had to wake up to the reality that I’ve been given a chance to do it differently.  And I know it’s going to be an ongoing challenge not to get sucked into the vortex of working too much.  I love what I do, I’m passionate about it, so it often doesn’t feel like work. And there’s more to my life than my business.  I’ve been given a second chance, and it’s time to do it differently.

 So this weekend, somewhere out in nature, I’ll be pondering all of this.  I’ll be dreaming, and planning, and relaxing, and being grateful for the chance to do it differently.

 Because it could have all gone differently.  I could have hurt or killed myself or someone else.  I was spared. 

 What about you? 

 What can you learn from my Big Fat Wake Up Call, and how does this apply to your life?  Let me know in the comments below.

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I’ve made a lot of changes in my company this year.  I started a new company, Big Impact Speaking, and added it to my two already established companies, Feisty Women Rock! and The Diamond Success Group.

Each targets a different audience, and has a different set of products and services.  And here’s what I’ve noticed about this year.

I’ve had to learn a ton. As a successful professional speaker for the past 16 years, I know about speaking.  As a consultant and executive coach for the last 25 years, I know about coaching and about how to get people to their goals.

Yet, the world of internet marketing and all that goes along with it was new  to me.  I had a steep learning curve.  I knew nothing about sales pages, auto responders, joint ventures, telesummits, list building, and all that goes into what I needed to know to build Big Impact Speaking.

I needed to meet new people, learn new things, attend new events, network differently, and be willing to stretch myself. I could rely on what’s served me well all these years.

You see, it all started with a decision.  Once I decided to start this company, I knew that I would do what it took to learn what I needed to learn for it to be successful.  I invested in myself.  I hired coaches who understood the internet marketing world.  I read. I studied. I learned.

In today’s world, it’s “growth or stagnation.” We must be willing to continually evolve, to innovate and reinvent, to move beyond our comfort zones and step into the unknown. That’s the path to success. 

So here are some lessons I’ve learned this year. 

1. It starts with a decision.  Nothing happens until you make a decision.  I’d been considering starting Big Impact Speaking for several months.  I toyed with the idea. I dreamed about it. Nothing much happened.

But once I made the decision, I went into action. I figured out what I had to do.  And I began to do it.

2.  You have to be all in.  The path before me seemed a bit daunting.  But I was all in.  I knew I would do whatever it took.  I would learn what I needed to learn, and do what I needed to do.  I was on a mission—to help entrepreneurs learn to use speaking to get more clients, make more money, and have a bigger impact.  And I was super focused on helping as many entrepreneurs as I could.

3.  Strategy rocks!  There are a lot of moving parts in any business. There are a lot of opportunities and bright shiny objects that could be pursued (and I love me some bright, shiny objects!).

Having a strategy, and taking the action steps to make that strategy a reality keeps me focused. 

4.  It takes a village.  I wrote about this in my newsletter a couple of weeks ago. You can read the post here if you missed it. http://www.feistywomenrock.com/got-a-village.html   I’ve finally learned that I can’t do it all. I have a fabulous team and great resources that help me make it all happen.

5.  Become more.  With every thing I learn, every stretch goal I accomplish, every new thing I create, I evolve.  I reach more of my potential.  I grow.  I’m able to help more people.  I “rinse and repeat” and grow some more.  It’s exhilarating!

So what about you?

• Are you willing to grow, to evolve, to move out of your comfort zone?
• And what will you do TODAY to begin to make that happen?

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“The ultimate reason for setting goals is

to become the person it takes to achieve them.”

This was Paul Martinelli’s thought of the day on Monday.  And it is absolutely true!

You see, when you set a bit goal, you have to learn new things, connect with new people, find new resources.  You have to grow and develop and change. You have to become more.

You become bigger.  You live more of your potential. You can impact more people with what you offer. 

My friend Edie Galley called when I was in the middle of writing this blog post.  I told her what I was writing about, and she told me she’d recently reached a goal she’d been working on for two years.   

She said, “I love myself for who I had to become to reach that goal.  The end goal wasn’t the big thing.  How much did I have to grow, how much did I have to think, how much did I have to change to make that happen?  I had to become somebody more than I was in order to reach the goal. ”

So what about you? 

• What beliefs about yourself and what you can do would you have to let go of in order to go after what you really want?
• Are you willing to change?  Going after a big goal absolutely requires that willingness.  You can’t get bigger results if you’re not willing to change and grow!
• Are you willing to ask for help?  You’ll need to connect with people who know things you don’t know, and have done things you haven’t done.  You’ll have to ask for support.  You’ll need to find people to help you along the way.

So, set those big goals.  Be willing to change and grow.  And watch your business catapult to new levels of success!

I want to tell you about two big things going on…

The 4^th Annual Prosperity Conference with Jack Canfield and me!

This Un-Conference takes your business to the next level with All Star Experts to coach and guide you. Jack Canfield, Nancy Matthews, Simon T. Bailey, Craig Duswalt, Trish Carr, Wendi Blum, and ME!  Palm Beach, September 16-18

World Class speakers with real solutions to your real problems!

Check it out!  

Click below

 bit.ly/qW9gUE

The other big thing is a f*ree call with me! 

I’ve been talking to so many entrepreneurs lately who want to grow their business, make more money, and get their message out and have a bigger impact.

They want a foolproof way to fill their pipeline with ideal clients.

So I’m hosting this fr*ee call on September 14 to show you how to do this!

For all the information, click on this link…

http://bigimpactspeaking.com/rock10week/ava/

I hope to see you on this call.  No charge. Great information!

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