Episode 1: Empowering your Inner CEO (ep. 1)

EPISODE 1: Empowering your Inner CEO

Most transformational entrepreneurs focus on creating transformation for clients, and not on the business. In this powerful episode, Pamela walks you through an exercise to know what might be holding back your ‘Inner CEO’ and how to shift that.

In this episode, you will:

• Identify the #1 hidden sabotaging belief in your business.
• Discover how to use your coaching or expert skillset to accelerate your business.
• End the procrastination that holds you back in critical business actions.

Timecode Guide:

04:55: Gene encourages you to explore the idea of being a CEO by asking yourself 2 questions.

07:38-13:53: Join along with Pamela as she begins the Visualization exercise.

22:09: If you’re feeling stuck after this exercise, on either a mindset or a strategic issue, you can work with Jon, one of Pamela’s coaches, 1-on-1 in an exclusive session for podcast listeners. BookMyBreakthroughCall.com.

Podcast Transcription

Episode 1: Empowering your Inner CEO

Intro | (00:00):

You’re listening to ‘A Profitable Impact.’

Pamela | Speaker 1 (00:02):

If you’re sitting there going, “Yeah, I don’t like marketing. I don’t like sales. I don’t like putting myself out there. Don’t like doing the admin of the business part of it,” then I think you’re going to love this exercise. Because at the end of the exercise, you’re going to have a whole new perspective on how you might engage in the business part.

Gene | Speaker 2 (00:18):

Welcome to ‘A Profitable Impact,’ where every single week we help coaches and healers to expand their reach, to increase their impact in the world, and to be well-paid for their extraordinary skills and talents. 

My name is Gene Monterastelli and I am the lead coach in Pamela Bruner’s Impact Accelerator coaching program. And now it is time. 

Please welcome my friend, my colleague, and the CEO of Attract Clients Online, Pamela Bruner. 

Hi, Pamela. How are you doing today? 

Pamela (00:46):

I’m doing great. And so excited about what we’re going to be talking about today.

Gene (00:50):

I am too. I was looking at the show notes before we hit ‘record’ this morning, and I saw that we’re going to be spending time talking about Empowering your Inner CEO. 

For all of you who are listening along to this today, as this conversation unfolds, if you are starting to recognize some of the struggles that we’re talking about, if you’re lacking clarity on your tactics and your strategy, we actually have an opportunity for you to talk to another one of our coaches, Jon. 

All you need to do is go to BookMyBreakthroughCall.com, and you can get on Jon’s calendar. It’ll be an opportunity for you to continue and to explore the conversation we’re having today. 

We’ll mention it again at the end of the show to give you more details, but I just wanted to plant that seed, knowing that we’re here so that we can kind of have some expanded help for you as we navigate our way through this. 

Gene (01:40):

So Pamela, when you say, “Empowering your Inner CEO,” what do you mean by that? What is the thing that resonates inside of that for you?

Pamela (01:50):

In working with the thousands of coaches and healers and consultants and, and other people I call transformational entrepreneurs whose work transforms lives in the world with what they do. The transformational work feels far easier. The business feels far harder. So when we look at a CEO or we look at what part of me is doing this, the business part of it, generally, that part is not as empowered as the part that that’s offering the services. And what that means is (I’ll just use coaches as a shorthand), what that means for most coaches is that they’re great at working with clients, but they’re not very good at all of the other things that they need to do in order to help more people and in order to grow their business. And so today, in this episode, what I want to do is help people to start shifting that balance, so they become as comfortable and as skilled in the business part as they are in the transformation part.

Gene (02:45):

And what I think is really interesting as I hear you talk about that is, I think about the clients that you and I get a chance to work with. And most of the clients that we get a chance to work with the transformational work that they’re doing, one is really mission-driven. And two is something that is dispositional, that they’ve always been the people in their lives, where they have been the helper. And so they’ve had this entire lifetime crafting the skills of showing up as a helper. Then once they recognized that that was something they were good at, they went and they did training and they did all of the stuff to sharpen their expertise. And for most of us in that space, we don’t think of that other side of it, that business aspect of it, and thinking that it should just naturally be there when we’ve worked so hard to be good at that transformational piece.

Pamela (03:33):

Exactly. And you know, in another episode, we discuss the difference in different business levels because certainly, you can be a coach, consultant, healer, expert service provider, and you could be making a hundred thousand or $200,000 a year. Or you could build a significant business where you’ve got a lot of team members and your reach is very broad and you’re maybe at the half a million, a million, or $2 million-mark in your business. Of course, those models are very different, but I think that there is, unfortunately, an illusion in the marketplace that, you know, you can just go hang out your shingle and not do a lot of business and not do a lot of marketing and not worry about your sales and make a very comfortable living, and that’s just not my experience speaking as a business coach and online marketer. Especially now in a pandemic-world, we are particularly limited in how we attract clients. And so I think that this whole idea of Empowering the Inner CEO is wonderful for the listeners today.

Gene (04:30):

And one of the things I think also kind of strikes me inside of that: for most coaches and healers, CEO is not a word that they would normally associate with themselves. And on some level that shows up because like those of us who were more mission-driven might have some subconscious resistance to anything that is business world related. Cause that feels like a place that is unsafe or we’re in a circumstance where we might be a solo practitioner, or we might have a really small team, and to even start thinking through the lens of what does it mean to be CEO in my business? And what does that internal CEO look like? I have a feeling it’s going to be at least initially foreign to some of the folks who are listening to us today.

Pamela (05:07):

Exactly! And what we’re going to do is go on a journey together, take you through a visualization. And in that visualization, we’ll get an opportunity to explore these concepts in a way that I believe is going to have a better chance of accessing the subconscious, accessing the deep beliefs, so that we shine a light on things that may be sabotaging or getting in the way that, right now, you as a coach or healer or expert may not be aware of and shining a light on is one of the best ways to begin the transformation.

Gene (05:39):

And so, as we do that process before we step into the visualization here, what do you imagine is the before and after states of doing something like this are there before and after-state of understanding the insight that we’re hoping to share right now. Just to kind of give folks the opportunity to kind see what the arc of transformation looks like in this conversation.

Pamela (05:59):

Yeah. Great question. So one of the things that happens is with the clarity of what’s in the way of pursuing the business, part of the business, I find that people are number one more motivated to step into the business activities they need to. They shift their attitude, approach, and energy around the business activities much, much faster after doing this visualization than they do before. So if you’re listening and you’re sitting there going, “Yeah, I don’t like marketing. I don’t like sales. I don’t like putting myself out there. Don’t like doing the admin of the business part of it,” then I think you’re going to love this exercise because at the end of the exercise, you’re gonna have a whole new perspective on how you might engage in the business part.

Gene (06:40):

And I think what’s the other thing that strikes me as you’re sharing that is there are two parts to what you’re sharing there. One is the strategic tactical part of knowing what to do, the other is having the emotional capacity for lack of a better word, to be able to engage with it the way that you were talking about showing up with energy, doing these things consistently. And oftentimes I think we’re in a circumstance. Well, if I just know how to do this thing, that’s going to be enough. And I’m going to be able to take the action because I know exactly what to do.

Pamela (07:10):

Yeah. If that were true, then diets would not be a multi multi-billion dollar industry. We all know what we should eat and we all know what we should be doing for exercise, but few are doing it.

Gene (07:20):

That’s right. New Year’s resolutions would work every single year if all it required was a state taking a goal and knowing exactly what steps to take. 

Pamela (07:20):

Yes. 

Gene (07:20):

Awesome. Great. So with that being said, is there anything that we need to do as listeners to prepare ourselves before we step into this particular activity that you want to lead us?

Pamela (07:38):

You know, I know a lot of people listen to podcasts when they’re doing other things like driving or walking, or obviously if you’re doing a visualization and you’re driving a car, please don’t close your eyes. I’m going to suggest that you close your eyes during this. But if you want to just listen to it while you’re driving, that’s fine. If you’re walking and you need to keep your eyes open, I’ll invite you to have a soft gaze perhaps so that you can think through things in your inner world. And if you like, what happens with this exercise? Of course, you can listen to it repeatedly because I think you’ll continue to get benefits from listening to it more than once.

Gene (08:09):

Excellent. Well, that sounds really awesome. Pamela, let’s just give it a go. I’m ready. All right. So take a deep breath.

Pamela (08:16):

Let it out slowly through your mouth. Take another deep breath and again, and again, let it out slowly. And if you’re able to let your eyes softly close, or at least bring a softness to your gaze.

Pamela (08:38):

Continue breathing in a way that’s very comfortable for you and very relaxing. 

Now in the arena of your mind, I’d like to invite you to go to a place that is special for you. This place might be someplace in your home. It might be your room. It might be your back garden or a porch swing, or it might be a place strictly from your imagination. Maybe it’s a meadow, or the beach, or a high on a mountain-top. This is going to be your special place. And it’s a terrific place to have a conversation with some of the parts of you. 

Once you’re in this place, look around, take it in, deep breath, and recognize that this is a wonderful place to have a deep and meaningful conversation. That you have all the time you need, and you have all of the support and comfort that you need here in this space.

Pamela (09:39):

When you’re ready, I’m going to ask you to invite in your higher-self. This is the part of you that you exhibit when you are doing your best work. Usually her higher-self is present when you’re doing your best work with clients. When you’re deep in the transformation, when you know that you’re making an incredible difference for them, it’s your higher-self working through you. 

So, invite your higher-self into this special place. And as you visualize your higher-self coming into this place, what do you know is true? Just from looking at this being, maybe it looks like a glowing white light. Maybe it looks like you want a really good hair day, but what do you see in your higher-self? And what do you know is true of this part of you that does such incredible work with your client.

Pamela (10:45):

Take another deep breath.

Pamela (10:54):

And now I’m going to invite you to also invite into this space, your business-self, I’ll call it your biz-self. This is the part of you that is exhibited when you were doing the business activities. So when you are marketing, when you were selling, when you are writing copy, when you are figuring out the business structure, if you’re looking at your, your business accounts, it is that part of you. 

And as you invite your biz-self in, take a look at what that part of you looks like. 

Does it look like a small hunched up uncomfortable part of you? Do you notice that your biz-self and your higher-self may be dressed very differently? What do you see in the visual and in the energy of your biz-self?

Pamela (11:52):

And are you comfortable with the idea that someone who looks and acts like this is running your business? And if not, it’s okay. This is a snapshot of where you are right now. 

Now in this environment, your higher-self is able to contribute to your biz-self. So in this moment, ask your higher self to make a contribution to your biz-self. What suggestion would be essential to start the transformative process? What would begin uplifting the biz-self? So remain quiet and listen for the answer. And as you do, you may want to breathe very deeply. 

[Pause]

When you’ve received the answer. Thank your higher self for coming in to be so helpful in this, in this particular time. And then thank your biz-self for showing up, taking the break from whatever that part of you is doing to work on the business. And let both parts know that you’ll be visiting with them in the future because you see this as a partnership. 

When you’re ready, return to the room or the activity that you were in, when you left and gently open your eyes.

Pamela (13:53):

Now at this point, I want to start asking questions about what you saw, what did your biz-self look like? 

I’ve done this exercise, this visualization with literally thousands of coaches, healers, and experts, and I’ve gotten all kinds of responses, but almost always the higher-self looks like an angelic-being or looks like a very confident expression of you. Whereas the biz-self often looks nervous, anxious, physically uncomfortable, sometimes it’s dressed uncomfortably, sometimes the best self looks like a child-version of the person who’s doing the visualization. 

So Gene, do you remember other answers that we’ve gotten from some of our clients on this?

Gene (14:36):

Actually, if you’d like, I can just share my experience because I actually, I actually did this. 

So space, like when you said find a beautiful space and you know, I’ve done this with you lots of times as we’ve done this at live events and trainings, and it’s different every single time. 

And I think it’s good for us to recognize that when you said space, I immediately landed in this 13th-century temple that I was in, in Kyoto. That was just like still and perfect. And because I was there in the winter, I was the only person in this 750-year-old beautiful building. And when my higher-self came in, it was the single most elegant version of myself I could possibly imagine. And I don’t just mean that in the way of dress, it was just ease and grace and movement and just totally in control.

Gene (15:26):

When it came to the biz-self, every single time, it’s different. As you know, this particular week, I have had technology issues. I was without a website for three week or three days. I was without email. It caused all sorts of havoc. And so when I biz-self showed up, it was the most frazzled like hair pull out hadn’t showered in days. And literally the space kind of vibrated with nervous energy as my biz-self stepped into the place. And so then when we went to the point of sharing a resource (sharing information), it was just this jet of blue light that was just carrying the sense of calm and not that what was going on is unimportant, but that this is a bump in the road that you have the resources to manage your way through. You have people you can reach out to like I’ve been doing all week to help me to solve problems that were over the top of my head.

Gene (16:22):

And, after managing that stuff, the capacity and space will be there again to do those other things. And so for me, it was a much more specific, this-week experience. You know, when we’ve done this with clients in the past, sometimes it’s like we have someone, I think one of my favorites was when their biz-self showed up it was a seven-year-old. Just because it wasn’t it because it wasn’t like inner child work where their seven-year-old self was running their business, but that’s how infantilized and incapable that they felt when they were thinking of the part of them that had to manage their business. So sometimes, like mine today was a resource-state issue of how I feel in my business. In that example, it’s about how they think of themselves as business owners and how they felt that they were never going to catch up. They were going to be stuck as this child navigating this thing.

Pamela (17:16):

Hmm. Well, I love that you were willing to share, and it’s such a great vision and great visual — it’s very, very clear. And one of the things I love about what you shared is the message that I think our higher selves can often bring. 

When you have a spiritual bent on the universe, one of the ways to manage problems, or at least to bring calm to situations, even if you can’t immediately change the situation is to say, how can we make you bigger than the problem? The problem is the way it is, but how can you see yourself as more capable as bigger? 

And I think accessing the resources, the calm, the presence of the higher-self is a great way to do that. And that’s what I got from what you shared, that I know the problem is now solved, “Yay,” and while the problem was going on with the website, there was nothing you could do about the situation other than the calls you were making.

Pamela (18:12):

But to bring that sense of calm in and say, I can make myself bigger than this problem is a wonderful way to empower yourself. And it’s not just feel-good, and there’s nothing wrong with feeling good, but we know because of the brain science we’ve studied that we are far more resourceful when we are in a calmer state, we are far more resourceful when we’re not exhibiting that negative energy. So love, love, love that. 

And you know, if you’re listening to this podcast and you said, “Oh, I want to have an experience like Gene’s! Mine wasn’t quite that good,” listen to it again! See if your experience doesn’t change. And if you want to send blue light to your best self, by all means.

Gene (18:55):

And doing an activity like this. I mentioned the fact that it showed up differently than it did last time. And one of the things that we’ve seen with our clients over the years, some people, the environment and the way that it shows up is consistent. Each time you do the visualization, and sometimes it changes. So give yourself permission when you’re doing something like this, to trust your inner wisdom and trust your instinct. This is not an exercise where there’s a right or wrong answer. This is an exercise for you to just sit back and let some of those more wheat resource parts of yourself serve the parts that are struggling today to make it easier for all of you to navigate what you’re doing and working through as you do this.

Pamela (19:32):

Yeah. So what I want to do to sort of wrap this up and make it as useful as possible for listeners is I gave some promises. I said, I’ll help you identify the number one hidden sabotaging belief in your business. And for me, that number one, hidden sabotaging belief is always, always expressed in your biz-self in this visualization. 

So I would say, for example, for you Gene, that the number one sabotaging belief in your business might be that nervousness is actually an inappropriate way to deal with us because it’s not. And you know, you and I talked through, uh, during the website challenges that you had, and you actually did exhibit calm from time to time. 

So I know, you know, that nervousness, you know, isn’t, isn’t the way, but what was the, you know, I’ll, I’ll inquire this of the, of the listeners: What was the thing that you saw in your biz-self?

Pamela (20:23):

And can you see that that might be your number one biggest saboteur? 

Another promise I made was to discover how to use your coaching or expert skill to accelerate your business. And can you see that when you bring the resources, the internal resources of your higher-self, of this part of you, that is so good at the transformational work, and you bring that part to your biz-self, that, you know, you may have gotten a message that relaxes you and your business. You may have gotten a message that motivates you and your business, but I’ve never known anyone who didn’t come out of this exercise and say, “I feel at least somewhat more capable in my business because of that skill set.” 

And finally, if there is procrastination holding you back around your business and you and I discuss procrastination a lot, Gene, and I know we’ve got so much to share about that, but often procrastination comes from the fear or the discomfort around doing something. And without going deeply into procrastination in this episode, I will say that if there is fear or discomfort in your biz self, you’re probably procrastinating at least one, if not many activities in your business. So how can this new awareness of your biz self actually help you to end that procrastination? How could perhaps sending love to your busy self or sending encouragement or sending a blue light of calm? How can that help you move forward with your business?

Gene (21:48):

Awesome. Well, Pamela, thank you very much for, for, for sharing that with us. You know, I’ve done it with you. Lots of times I’ve done it with our clients before. And it’s a good reminder for myself that I know over the course of the next week. This is something that I’m going to be revisiting again because it’s such a simple but powerful thing that we can use to really connect with that part of ourselves.

Pamela (22:09):

Oh, you’re very welcome. I love that exercise myself and for the listeners. If, as you start exploring this, if you see some ways in which you’re stopping yourself, or if you’re not sure if what’s stopping you is a mindset issue like this, or if it’s a strategic issue that you just don’t know what to do next to proceed. 

I want to reiterate that offer that Gene made at the beginning of the call: have a call with one of my coaches, BookMyBreakthroughCall.com, again, that’s BookMyBreakthroughCall.com, and we’ll get you on Jon’s calendar. He’s absolutely amazing. And I know that you would enjoy talking to him.

Gene (22:45):

I really hope you enjoyed the conversation that we had today. If you know someone in your life, a coach, a healer, a transformational professional, who could really benefit from the exercise that we did today, please pass this along. It’s a really easy thing to do. You don’t need to send it to everybody in the world, but you might know two or three people right now who could use this particular resource that this will make them and their day and their business so much better. Just pass it along. 

If you haven’t done so already, please subscribe to the show. You can subscribe to the show, every place that you get podcasts. It’s an Apple podcast, Google podcast, Spotify, Pandora, Amazon music, everywhere you get audio. All you need to do is search for ‘A Profitable Impact.’ That’s letter ‘a,’ ‘A Profitable Impact,’ and you will make sure that every single week you get these amazing nuggets and these amazing opportunities for you to move forward as a coach.

Gene (23:36):

And as a healer, if you have a question, if you have a comment, if you have a topic you’d like us to deal with in a future episode, we would love to hear from you. If you go to attractclientsonline.com, click on the contact link, drop us a note. We would love to hear how in the future we can serve you. Pamela, once again, thank you very much for your time today. 

Pamela (23:36):

My pleasure, Gene, it’s always wonderful to talk about these things with you.

Gene (End):

And I hope all of you have a very impactful week. Bye-bye.

ABOUT THE PODCAST

Building a business as a coach or expert is challenging, especially if you’re trying to find your clients online.

Join business coach and online marketing expert Pamela Bruner as she uncovers the secrets of successful transformational businesses. If you want to make a difference in people’s lives, expand your reach, and attract high-paying clients, you’ll love this show!