Archives for July 2016

Conscious Money Challenge: How Are You Investing?

July 27, 2016 by influexwp Leave a Comment

Conscious Money Challenge. Are you willing to open your eyes?

If you have investment money in the stock market, whether through a retirement account or a straight brokerage account, I challenge you today to find out what your money is invested in and make a conscious choice about what you are supporting in the world.

If you aren't sure how to do this, grab your last account statement (or go online) and find the 5 letter code that indicates where your money is invested.

Then, type that into Google and review the breakdown of holdings.

For example, AGTHX, the Growth Fund of America. It sounds so nice.

I might have even picked it myself back in the day when I worked for the big law firm said, “Hey Alexis, you've got a 401k, how do you want it invested?”

I looked at the options on the paper they gave me, closed my eyes, put my finger down and filled in the little bubbles on my form. Totally blind.

Ridiculous, but I didn't know any better. And my guess is you don't either.

So, are you willing to stay blind? Or are you ready to wake up?

We vote with our dollars, but not just with what we buy, but with HOW WE INVEST.

Most of us, though, are investing blindly.

Using robo-funds, or financial advisors who only care about their own commissions or getting your money under management, or simply ignoring it because it's too complex.

But, really, it's not. For example …

Type AGTHX into google and you can see that if you are invested in what they call the Growth Fund of America, you are investing in Phillip Morris (the tobacco company that hid data on nicotine's addictive properties), EOG Resources (fracking!), and Amgen (a company that may be suppressing a true cure for cancer to promote it's own bottom line — unverified).

Come on, people.

Are you really desiring to support big tobacco, fracking and big pharma?

Or do you think we can do something better with your money?

Wake up, please. Let's take back control and not invest blindly just because we want that “safe” 5% return for our retirement. It's not safe, it's a lie.

What will your retirement be anyway if we are living in a world without clean water (fracking), where we cannot get access to our own natural healing (big pharma), and where lying to addict people is considered acceptable (big tobacco)?

We can change this, but we have to wake up to do it.

Message me at support@eyeswideopenlife if you want help looking at how you are using your resources. It's time we made a change. And it starts with you.

I Cried and Cried as I Remembered

July 19, 2016 by influexwp Leave a Comment

Last night I cried and cried as I watched the movie, Captain Fantastic. I grieved for a life I have so longed for, and have not been able to successfully create.

It's the life I really, really, really, REALLY want. And it feels too late for me to have it. (I know this is just my mind BS and it's up to me to stay focused on what I want, which is something I teach in our Money Map to Freedom course and in Eyes Wide Open coaching, but that doesn't mean I don't still struggle with it myself.)

I had something close to it for a year when I gave everything up and moved to a farm outside of town with my kids.

But it felt unsustainable without a man like “Captain Fantastic” by my side. Or maybe he was there and my own lack of true readiness for that life made it so I couldn't see him.

So I moved back into the world of business, and busy-ness, and rebuilt the structures I had, though this time with more connection to the land, and community and myself than I had ever had before

And I can see how the life I have once again created makes it currently unlikely I would even meet or connect with a man who could or would want the life of Captain Fantastic.

And of course it's a movie so it's all romanticized.

But it feels really good (and yes really sad too) to once again remember and open to the deeper longing of my heart.

Now, what to do with this remembering?

Well, it all begins with the acknowledgement of what I truly want.

The first step in the Money Map to Freedom process.

This isn't something you do just once, set and forget; it's a lifelong evolution, spiraling up, creating from current awareness and then revising based on our own shifting energy patterns and desires as we become more of who we really are.

Each turn of the wheel bringing us new awareness of our WHAT we really, really, really, REALLY want. And when we create from that place (rather than moving into the HOW from the conditioned place of sales, marketing, and media messages), we take another step closer ourselves.

Acknowledging what we really want, and fully facing and experiencing the grief of not having it, is where it always begins.

It's the step so many of us skip because we either get distracted from our deeper knowing, or pretend we don't want it because the thought of not having it creates such risk for a disappointment that feels as if it would be unbearable, or we try to move into the how before we've really let the emotion of desire ripple through us.

So we settle for so much less. Pretending it's okay. Avoiding feeling the emotions.

Or we hide our true desires behind judgment or envy.

If you are ready to open to a deeper level of knowing (and having) what you really, really, really, REALLY want and discover your own path to creating it based on what true, real, meaningful success means to you, I invite you to join us for our next live training on the Money Map to Freedom.

We're doing it again live on Thursday, July 21, this time in the evening so those of you who can't attend during the day can join us. You can register here: https://life.moneymaptofreedom.com/july-21-webinar-registration.

From my wide open heart,

Ali

PS — if you were already registered for the last training on Thursday during the day and you couldn't make it, we've already registered you for the next Thursday evening training. Please do make sure you do the pre-work before the training, as much as possible. Details on that in your email if you registered.

The Tools for Your Freedom

July 12, 2016 by influexwp Leave a Comment

I'm writing to you looking over the 70 acre shared land I am part of in Mendocino County. Here this weekend with 27 other sisters who came up for a women's weekend to craft, and sing, and sit around the fire, and eat, and cook, and dance, and love. You can see some pictures here.

I'm seriously considering how I can spend a lot more time up here, and write my book. For now, I am enjoying being up here for the 2nd time this month, camping in a van I rented from a local friend that has me considering it may be time to get my own little van that I can live in down by the river.

I remember when the idea of living in a van by the river was the most terrifying thing I could imagine.

Today, it would be a dream come true to have that kind of freedom. It would be another level of freedom for me, that's for sure.

Financial freedom (we call it financial liberation here at Eyes Wide Open, and you can get a better understanding of that here) has led me to work I love, that I get to do on my own time, with who I want, when I want and where I want.

Next level for me would be gaining the emotional freedom that would be necessary for me to take the time away from my family and every day community to live in a van, alone, and write, write, write.

Of course, I'll keep you posted on how that comes about, as I consider those next possibilities.

In the meantime, I would love to offer you the tools toward your freedom, whatever that next step looks like for you.

For most, the first step requires dis-entanglement from the trap of your relationship with money that is likely keeping you stuck in work you don't love, or a job you must go to everyday, a 9-5 (or in many cases an 8-8) that exhausts you, or a business that no longer serves you.

So today, I give you the Tools of Your Freedom, as they came through me here on the land this weekend:

1. Discover the Truth of Your Enough

How much do you really need to have the life you really, really, really, REALLY want?

The less you need and the more you realize you already have, the closer you are to your liberation. It's not something you have to wait your whole life to experience. Your time to step into it is now. You truly do not have to wait.

This understanding is truly the foundation to your freedom. It's so important, in fact, that when you join us live on Thursday, I'm going to give you my entire Enough Course as my gift to you.

2. Know What You Have to Give and How You Like to Give it

Start by mining the resources (many of which are probably hidden to you) you have right now, and understand that you are in an evolutionary process. What you have and how you like to give it will evolve over time, as your energy shifts and changes, as you learn and grow.

Stay fluid. Be willing to change. Approach this with play.

Discover your entrepreneurial archetype and the archetype path for you, so whether you work for yourself or someone else, you get paid by working in the ways you most like to work. (We'll cover the entrepreneurial archetypes on the live webinar on Thursday.)

3. Learn How to Ask For What You Need in Exchange for What You Have to Give

Once you know what you need (which can be a whole journey in and of itself), you can ask for what you need powerfully and congruently.

This past week, my dear sister KC Baker did just that.

She found a property she has been dreaming of owning in Sedona for many years had come up on the market. She'd need $100,000 within two weeks to make an offer on the property and be able to get the financing to buy it.

She emailed some of her sisters, including me, with a powerful, congruent ask and she has now raised all the money she needs. I'll be sharing the details of this on Thursday's webinar.

Plus, in my Enough Course, which you'll receive as my gift to you when you attend live, you'll get to watch me make a VERY edgy ask (when I asked my mom to invest in me, knowing she'd say no and you'll have to see what happened next) in a video that's part of the Enough Course.

For most people, knowing how to ask for what you need in exchange for what you have to give shows up as being able to price and package your services, or ask for the pay raise at your job, or restructure your work time for sovereignty while still meeting the needs of your business or the business you work for, and we'll definitely be covering that Thursday.

So these are, in my experience, the three foundational pieces you'll want to master to step into your own freedom.

Once you master these, money is no longer the fear that's holding you back. Money dysmorphia is cured. You are able to tap into all you need, when you need it, on demand.

And from there, you have the space to face the emotional pieces holding you back.

That's where I am right now. Now that I can't hide behind not enough money, I have to (get to!) face the beliefs that are keeping me stuck in any lack of perceived freedom and where I am actually choosing every single piece of my life. So if there's anything I don't like in my life, I get to remember that I'm choosing it. It's truly all mine, here for me, a gift to my awakening.

A gift to your awakening.

Love beyond,
Ali

PS — See you Thursday on the live webinar The Roadmap to Your Money Map to Freedom Life and Income plan — Right Relationship with Time, Money and How You Get Paid. There's only 100 live spots, but register even if you can't make it and we'll send you the recording. If you can make it live, do. I'll be giving direct coaching, plus my Enough Course to all who attend live.

—

Dawn Pigoni

Eyes Wide Open Campaign Manager

Build an Eyes Wide Open business – awake, aware & on your terms. START HERE.

(WARNING: profanity in first line of post) Do you have any idea what you are getting yourself into?

July 1, 2016 by influexwp Leave a Comment

Faaaaaahhhhhhck.

That’s my general feeling about business right now. And, I put it right up front to weed out those of you who are too sensitive to be part of my Eyes Wide Open community and don't actually want to hear what's real.

[If you don’t like it, you can still benefit from my work through people I have trained as Personal Family Lawyers, Family Business Lawyers, Creative Business Lawyers, or Money Map Masters, most of whom would never use a “bad word” right up front in an email like this.]

I’m done pussy-footing around trying to make everyone happy.

I’m building businesses to support people who want to live life and do business awake, aware and on their terms, with their eyes wide open.

I’m putting in a HUGE amount of effort to make the work I’ve created accessible to people without requiring the hundreds of thousands (millions?) of dollars of investment I’ve made along the way to learn how to do the things I teach.

I once invested $25,000 for a DAY of coaching with Lisa Sasevich on how to structure my business model.

I once invested $100,000 for a year long mastermind with Ali Brown. Out of that mastermind came my willingness to teach my LIFT System so you can be smart about the legal, insurance, financial and tax parts of your business.

Would I have created that system if I hadn’t made that investment? No.

As I was making these investments, I promised myself I would make my programs accessible to more people than just those who could afford $25,000 and $100,000 investments in their business.

It’s right about now, when I’ve circled back for a 4th time in the life cycle of these businesses to build the next level systems necessary for scale that I begin to wonder — have I chosen the wrong business model?

What the heck have I gotten myself into?

Currently, I sit behind my computer for 12 hours a day writing copy for sales funnels, reviewing opt-in sequences, creating autoresponders, talking to my team members, coaching my team members to make it through the conflicts, firing people, hiring people, writing job descriptions, creating organizational charts.

Training sales teams.

Considering new governance models.

Should we implement holacracy or keep the traditional hierarchy based governance structures in place?

Daily, I wonder if I should just say fuck it and stay a high-end coach, delivering expensive one-to-one services and going seriously deep with private clients.

I know how to do that, and I do it well.

As I am re-building the systems for both companies, I am working with two private clients and woah, the work is deep.

Both of these clients came to me to discover their own foundation of Enough, and who they are and how they be in the world from the spaciousness of Enough. They both happen to be navigating divorce settlements.

In one situation, I am supporting the entire multi-generational family dynamic, working with the young adult children, and the elder parents in addition to my client.

I LOVE the work.

And, I know it’s not yet time for me to do it full time.

I am compelled to build the systems in New Law Business Model and Eyes Wide Open for them to serve at scale.

All the components have been created.

The only thing in the way is my own ability to stay focused, keep my eye on the ultimate vision, and keep saying yes.

The resistance is alive and well.

I want to write my book. I want to post on Facebook. I want to be done with this part already. My mind tells me I should have done this years ago and tries to convince me I won’t be able to do it.

I know it’s a lie.

I know I can.

At least, I think I can. I think I can. I think I can.

If I had known what I was getting myself into with the Star Creator Archetype path would I have chosen another way?

I can’t say yet. I’m not at the end. I’ll have to let you know.

For now, I am in it.

I am doing the work that I’ve discovered only I can do.

Each time I have tried to hire this work out to others, an interim CEO in one case, marketing funnel automation specialists twice (to the tune of $40,000), a promised Chief of Staff … what I discovered is that this part requires me.

If you could just hire it out, everyone with money would have successful, sustainable, make a difference businesses.

But it’s not as easy as that.

It requires determination, focus, grit, persistence, willingness, learning, growth, evolution.

I’m in.

And I’m going to do a better job of communicating and sharing from here.

I’ve been hiding out a bit.

Because I wasn’t sure I could keep going and frankly didn’t want to share from my uncertainty.

But when I got this message from Facebook yesterday, from 4 years ago, literally the month before I filed bankruptcy, I remembered ….

I chose this. I want this. I don’t HAVE to do this, I want to do it.

And I can share my uncertainty. It’s okay. Valuable and helpful even because you are probably uncertain about whether you can do it too (whatever your “it” is.)

Where I got trapped back in my last iteration of “success” that ultimately led to my giving it all up was that I stopped sharing vulnerably.

I listened to the voices that said “you can’t do that, you can’t say that, you can’t write that, you’ll hurt the business.”

So I fired everyone, let it all go and traveled around in my RV, lived on the farm, and said whatever I wanted for a couple of years. Remember the Whole Truth Show? I loved that show! I loved speaking my truth.

But I missed the businesses.

I missed knowing that when I am being all of myself, and speaking at events, and writing what’s in my mind and heart and soul and people are inspired that they can easily flow into business structures of support that can help their learning, growth and evolution.

I want the both/and.

I want to be a free spirit with business systems to support my freedom.

Ali and Alexis, integrated.

And to have that, I need to put in the effort and focus to truly build the next level scalable systems that work to support it.

So I am.

What are you building that’s forcing you to face all of your resistance, all your old patterns, all your places that you just want to play small?

Are you compromising your life just because it seems easier to do that than to stretch?

It’s time to stop doing that. I’m stopping with you.

Love beyond,

Ali

PS — On July 7, I’m hosting my first live training in 6 months, specifically for those of you who want to stop compromising and start building your life and income awake, aware and on your terms — with clarity about what you are doing and what you really want so you can choose the “how” strategically and wisely, instead of just throwing money at problems like I’ve done so many times in the past OR being stuck in your head wondering what your next steps should be. Sign up here.

How Are You Going to Fund the Transition?

July 1, 2016 by influexwp Leave a Comment

I run into so many people (both online and offline) who tell me they want to build business models that scale.

You are likely bombarded with messages that tell you the path to success is a scalable business.

You likely have seen loads of Facebook ads telling you that your next step is to create a course, launch an online program, create a digital product.

That your path to a life of success is to make money while you sleep, selling your information and knowledge. Passive revenue, multiple revenue streams, the dream come true!

And, because I am committed to you building your life and income awake, aware and on your terms, I’m here to tell you the truth and help you make the best decisions along the way.

I wish I had had someone to help me do more of that along the way myself.

So, yes, you can totally build a business that scales, if you are fully, 100% committed to spending a lot of time behind your computer, managing teams, of people, learning to become a leader, building systems and writing a heck of a lot of copy. And, investing big time, energy, attention and money (TEAM resources) in all of it.

In our Money Map system, this is the Star Guide and Star Creator archetype paths. And with eyes wide open, you can do it.

But, where do you start? And how will you fund it? And what are the steps along the way.

In most cases, it all starts with you creating a Sage Guide business model that actually works

All too often, people want to skip this step and get right to scale.

I get it.

The marketing gurus out there almost encourage it.

But what the heck are you scaling?

Before you can scale, before you can transition to the next level, you need to have mastered the prior level. Then, you can “transcend and include.”

That means that you take what works from the prior level as you move to the next level, leaving behind what doesn’t work, and always keeping what does.

So what is the prior level to master on your way to a business that scales?

GENERALLY speaking (all caps because I acknowledge this is a generalization and not always true), the level prior to scale, or programs, or courses, or products involves you providing a 1-1 service that truly delivers a valuable outcome.

That one to one service is the thing you do that provides tremendous value to people, you love doing, and before you transcend it and go to the next level, you create a sustainable income model around it for yourself.

So that looks like an enrollment process that works for you and the people you serve.

Packages and a fee quoting system that allow your prospects to choose the best way to work with you.

And THEN, once you’ve got that rocking and rolling, marketing strategies (oftentimes programs, products and courses) to keep your pipeline full.

And finally, if all goes well, maybe you can scale those programs, products and courses so you can drop the one to one work altogether. But that’s a seriously long road and one I think far too many people are anxious to get to far too quickly.

It’s an expensive path to scale.

It requires serious capital investment. It requires serious time, energy and attention focus.

It will take everything you have. Read this article about Elon Musk and what it’s taken even him.

And the best way to fund it?

If you aren’t going to seek venture capital, or other outside investment (including credit), you can fund it with a 1-1 service that you can deliver consistently with an enrollment process and packages that work well for you and the people you serve.

If you are a lawyer and you want to learn to create that in your law practice, sign up for my next training on how to create your own client engagement system.

If you are not a lawyer and you want to create an enrollment structure that leads to yes nearly every time, you want to get Bill Baren’s reports that he is coming out with this week.

You can get Bill’s report “The Yes Blueprint: Your Step-by-Step Method for Turning Conversations into High-Paying Clients” plus two other amazing reports he created here.

Alright, I need to run now — my team is waiting for me to run a sales/support meeting with them. Part of “scaling” is leading teams. Leadership stretches me far beyond what I ever imagined.

I’ll be back with a message about that tomorrow.

Love to you on your journey,

Ali

PS — On July 7, I am hosting a live webinar (my first in 6 months) to help you choose the right income model for you, identify where you are now, get clear on where you are going next and stop the mind spin of wonder, worry, stress and strain. We’ll send sign-up info soon.