Coach Cassandra Rae | SimplyFearless.com » business development

What happens in a Simply Fearless coaching session?

Cassandra Rae — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 15:55:28 +0000

Photo by kelsey_lovefusionphoto

Are you waiting for more clients to show up? Maybe you have all the things you think are necessary for running a business. You have a website, blog, twitter, and facebook page. Maybe you’re even giving away a freebie and writing a newsletter. But, you just aren’t going anywhere fast. Bugger!

One of the major stumbling blocks is because business owners aren’t willing to put themselves out there. We expect people to put themselves out there by hiring us, but we want them to take that first step. I mean, we’re all set up and ready for them so why not, right? But, here’s the rub:

DOING ALL THE ‘RIGHT’ THINGS DOESN’T MEAN YOU ARE PUTTING YOURSELF OUT THERE

Think about it. How often do you downplay your awesomeness? How much of your true self are you sharing? And how often are you inviting people to hire you?

So today I am putting myself out there by letting you know what we do in a complimentary coaching session. We have the best time together and I am continually amazed at how much can happen in a half an hour. Here’s what happens:

We open with a centering exercise that brings us into the coaching space ~ a safe place for you to come out of your shell, share your true self, and totally rock it out!
We coach around a topic of your choice ~ what’s weighing on your heart? What might be holding you back? Where would you like to receive more success?
While we are coaching I am taking notes ~ my clients love my notes and to be quite frank with you, so do I! I write down all the cool stuff we discover. I draw pictures. I capture the essence of our time together on paper and after our session I email you a copy. It’s like a souvenir of our time together!
We close with a practice assignment ~ something you promise to do during the next week to keep you moving towards your short-term goals and life-long dreams. This is where the benefit of our time together really impacts your life, your business and your success.

Woohoo! Doesn’t that sound awesome? I have such an amazing time meeting with people for complimentary sessions and I would love to meet with you too. It’s so easy to receive this amazing gift. All you have to do is visit my Private Client Center where you can gain immediate access to my calendar and book your session in a few simple steps.

Quick & Easy Coaching Exercise

What can you do to put yourself out there? Think about it. Journal about it. Open yourself up to receive ideas about it and then make a plan. Finish this sentence:

I promise to put myself out there by…
{i.e. emailing my peeps, attending a networking event, starting a blog}

Post a comment because everyone benefits when you share. What do you think about putting yourself out there? What holds you back? What inspires you? Or anything else you’d like to share. I love receiving and reading your comments. *smile*

Social Media Success: mega list of techie tools

Cassandra Rae — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 23:02:43 +0000

photo by webtreats

Today I rocked it out at the very first Sassy Networking Event. Woohoo! My favorite part was helping people video their 30 second intros. What an awesome party. We schmoozed, learned, and schmoozed some more. After our rockin’ guest speakers Cherie & Carla with GatherYour Crowd taught us about gaining on-line influence with photos & videos, I got to share all kinds of tools as a part of the techie panel. And guess what? I’m going to share them with you too…

Here’s how to find a flickr photo to use on your website for FREE:

Click here to search all flickr photos posted under a Creative Commons Attribution license. This means that you can use the photo for free on your site as long as you give credit to the photographer – I always include a back-link to the flickr photo page.
Enter your search terms. To find the photo I used in this post I entered “social media”
If you don’t like the selection, then click on “Interesting” to view the best photos
Click on the photo you want to use
Click on “All sizes” to download the size of your choice
Use the photo with credit and then leave the photographer a comment on the flickr page telling them thank you for allowing you to use their photo for free. You can also leave a link to where you’ve used the comment and peeps might click through to see your stuff too!

Being on-line is no longer just about having a website and blog. It’s about having a presence and being present. Here are some of our favorite techie tools:

Create a free website
- http://www.weebly.com/
Fonts
- http://www.dafont.com/
Stock photos
On-line appointment scheduling
Movie making
- http://www.xtranormal.com/
- http://animoto.com/
Share your PowerPoint presentations
- http://www.slideshare.net/
Reputation Management
- http://socialmention.com/
- http://www.yext.com/
- http://www.trackur.com/
- http://www.steprep.com/ {this is the one Chrystal raves about}
Don’t send the wrong message ~ check your email for tone
- http://www.tonecheck.com/
Social Media Productivity Tools
- http://hootsuite.com/
- http://www.socialoomph.com/
Photo editing
Discover the magic of words
- http://wordsmith.org/
Mind Mapping
- http://www.mindmeister.com/
Information Management
Computer Back-up Services
- http://www.carbonite.com/en/default.aspx
- http://mozy.com/
Copywriting tips
- http://www.copyblogger.com/

To really set yourself up to succeed on-line, start by setting your intention. Why are you there? What do you want to accomplish? How are you going to contribute? Then be sure to show up on a consistent basis and openly share your expertise. The more you connect with people, the more opportunities you have to grow your network, gain influence, and really rock it out!

Here’s a golden opportunity to share your expertise: post a comment with your favorite techie tool. What is it? How does it help you? And how much does it cost?

**special thanks to Chrystal Bougon, Gather Your Crowd, and Hatch Network for contributing to our list of techie tools**

Oh the dreaded sales pitch!

Cassandra Rae — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 21:48:11 +0000

Oh my gosh I had the most amazing and scary experience this week. I role-played the “sales pitch convo.” My coach acted as if she was a potential client and I got to share about my upcoming program with her. I was so scared, but I didn’t have that long to think about the fear. The idea simply came up in the session and one second I’m sharing my process and the next I’m talking to a potential client.

And isn’t that how it goes in life too? You strike up a conversation with someone at a party or at the book store and all of a sudden you realize you are talking to the perfect candidate for your product or service. Here’s the opportunity. Do you take it? What do you say? How do you talk about it without being pushy?

Yeah, it was one of those moments.

And it was fabulous!

I learned that when I don’t have the time to over-think it I actually know what to say. I got to experience my own joy, excitement, and energy around the topic of Calling. It was amazing. Yes, there were parts that were fuzzy – as my coach was kind enough to tell me honestly and gently – but, overall the experienced showed me that I’m on the right track. I actually know what I’m talking about. What a relief!

I’m so grateful for my coach who gave me this opportunity to stretch my comfort zone and practice sharing my message with potential clients. Now I feel more sure of myself even though I don’t have all the pieces in place yet. Woohoo!

Today is Simply Fearless Friday! Blog about one thing you’ve done this past week that’s stretched your comfort zone and then come back here to share the link directly to your blog post. Facing your fears is an absolute must when you are building the business of your dreams. But, you do not have to do it alone. Share your story and I promise to swing on by and leave you a comment. I’d love to connect with you.

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Audio: Fempreneur Coaching Call

Cassandra Rae — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 22:17:38 +0000

On the 4th Monday of every month at 12noon Pacific I host a free coaching call. This month we went over the Simply Fearless Fempreneur Group.

Right click here and “Save link as” to download the audio to today’s call or listen via the player at the end of this post.

Important News: registration for the Simply Fearless Fempreneur Group ends tomorrow, Tuesday, January 26, 2010 at 12midnight Pacific. I would love for you to join us!

Here is an outline of today’s call:

Opening Quote:

“Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart.” ~ Confucius {from http://www.heartquotes.net/Heart-quotes.html}

Discussion questions:

What is a fempreneur?
1. Woman business owner
2. Service provider
3. Home based headquarters
4. Running a household
5. May or may not have kids
What is your calling?
1. Internal ~ intuition, thoughts, feelings, nudges from your Soul
2. External ~ peeps who need your talents, skills, experience, wisdom, etc.
3. Evolves ~ your calling is not static; it evolves with you
Believing in your calling & your ideal client
1. You are here for a purpose
2. You are capable of knowing it, claiming it, and rocking it out!
3. There are others out there who need you to answer your calling
Open up to receive your calling & your ideal client
1. Opening your heart
2. Processing your feelings
3. Increased awareness
4. Intention
Connect with your calling & your ideal client
1. Share
2. Ask
3. Listen
4. Soul Convos
5. What are you doing consistently to connect with your ideal client?
Surrender to it while you choose it
1. Let go of controling the process with your mind & everything you are “supposed to do”
2. Instead make powerful choices that move you out of your comfort zone through Soul inspired action
3. The bottom line is: Now that you have this information, what are you going to do with it?
As you follow your inner calling, the outer piece follows

Closing Quote:

“A person’s world is only as big as their heart.” ~ Tanya A. Moore {quote from http://www.heartquotes.net/Heart-quotes.html}

Welcome Video

Cassandra Rae — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:57:14 +0000

Need Your Help With My Cocktail Pitch

Cassandra Rae — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 17:03:28 +0000

I went to a party last night and was asked twice by people I didn’t know, “So what do you do?”

Both times I wasn’t completely satisfied with my answer. The cool thing about it was that I switched it up the second time knowing that after the first time I wanted to do it differently. Good for me for taking action in the now.

And I could use some improvement in this area. So this morning on my run I came up with an answer when people ask me what I do. Here it is:

I work with people who know there is something missing in their life. Some of them know exactly what it is and they come to me with a very specific goal. Others come to me and have no clue what that missing link is. Either way, we process the fear and feelings that are holding them back and we build the courage and confidence to really rock out their life!

What do you think? I’m really nervous about putting this out there – so please be gentle with me – but I know that it will help me to ask for and receive your help. Please post a comment or send me an email and let me know how it sounds. What does it feel like? Does it leave you with questions? If so, what are they?

Thank you so much!

31 Days to Build a Better Blog by ProBlogger

Cassandra Rae — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 22:04:15 +0000

I just received an email from TheWeblogZone letting me know about ProBlogger’s 31 Days to Build a Better Blog eCourse and it is hot! I absolutely love the concept and that it’s FREE! Woohoo!

All you do is enter your name & email here and ProBlogger will send you one email a day for the month of April with a tip and an assignment for you to begin rockin’ out your blog one day at a time. It’s simply brilliant. There are literally thousands of people already signed up and I am one of them. Here’s what the creator has to say about why he’s running the program:

The idea behind this is simply to have a group of bloggers setting aside a month of their time to work at improving their blogs. While we all want to have better blogs sometimes it becomes one of those things that we’re going to do…. one day.

I personally find that I improve (in all areas of my life) when I’m more intentional and set aside a specific time to make the improvements. That’s what this project is about.

ProBlogger.net is an amazing resource for bloggers. Oh! And I just remembered that with this 31 Day Challenge Darren is also providing a private forum for all of the participants to interact with one another. What a great way to expose your blog to thousands of people.

I hope you will join us!

3 Reasons Why Every Solopreneur Should Blog

Cassandra Rae — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 18:26:32 +0000

Every solopreneur should blog. Why? Good question. Here are my top 3 reasons:

Personal Development
The more we write about who we are, what we’re offering and why, the better we become at articulating why people would want to work with us. The truth is there are other people out there who do what you do or sell what you sell. BUT, there is no other YOU. You are the only you and your potential clients or customers cannot get that anywhere else.
Honor Your Wisdom
You have a lot of experience and it was through this experience that you have built your very own enterprise on. When you blog about what you’ve gone through, how you’ve grown from it, and how your customers or clients can benefit from it, then you will quickly attract a dedicated readership. Why? Because you are sharing valuable, relevant, and timely information to meet their needs right now. Plus, when you truly believe in your product or service because you have personally benefited, then you can promote the heck out of it without coming off like a sleazy salesperson. People will feel the quality of your message and want to know more.
Community
Let’s face it. It takes time to build a business because at the heart of all successful businesses are healthy relationships with loyal clients/customers. And relationships are built over time in a community of people who like each other. Blogs are an excellent way to create a dialogue with past, current, and future clients who can actually help you direct your company based on the comments of those you serve.

So blog for yourself, your wisdom, and for the people you’d like to serve because when you do everyone benefits.

Oh, and be sure to post a comment here so that I can check out your blog and we can build a community together!