How I Recovered $6,591 From My Hard Drive by Making Business Trainings Work For Me By Ling B Wong | Submitted On October 21, 2014

How I Recovered $6,591 From My Hard Drive by Making Business Trainings Work For Me

By Ling B Wong  

Confession: I am a recovering business training junkie.

In the first couple of years in my business, I spent thousands and thousands of dollars on trainings and programs. A few out of genuine passion for learning and growth, but some out of "Fears" - the fear of not knowing enough, the fear of missing out (triggered by some scarcity tactic or caught in the comparison trap), the fear of not doing the "right" things and therefore being criticized or judged... etc.

I was looking for some "$297 magic bullet" outside of me for clarity. I was thinking if I had a "tried-and-true" blueprint I could numb out with the "doing" - make myself feel good about checking things off the list - and thereby spare myself from the "soul-searching" hard work that ultimately, forms the foundation for a fulfilling business.

I was rushing ahead without knowing where I was going.

When I put myself on a "program diet" a year ago, I dug through my hard drive and found $6,591 worth of training materials I had not been able to deploy meaningfully and successfully (i.e., the implementation takes me close to my big vision) - in fact they might have done more harm than good...

·         Some of them added a bunch of ideas to the "stuff I know" bin in my brain but got me frozen in information overload.

·         Some sent me down the path of doing a load of busy work that ultimately, caused me to detour from my big vision (which means time and energy wasted.)

·         Some left me with folders full of half-done assignments that added to the confusion and analysis paralysis.

·         Some even drove me into the comparison trap, getting me to wonder what was wrong with me because I didn't get the results "as advertised."

I felt like a faceless number being spat out from the other end of the "guru" factory line, regurgitating the same stuff just like everyone else.

Creativity, individuality and self-expression are my highest values - they need to be expressed in the way I do ME in my business.

Regurgitation and copycatting aren't cutting it.

There's gotta be MORE.

Hamster wheel kept churning until I screamed STOP! and made the decision to get clear on what I AM really about. Who I want to BE in my business. My Superpower. My big vision. My true passion. Not defined by canned content from some gurus.

With this clarity, I asked - what do I need to do to get to where I truly want to go? Not what someone says we should achieve.

This One Question helped me recover $6,591 worth of investment.

From there, I devised strategy and tactics to support that vision. Then I went revisited all those trainings sitting on my hard drive - selecting the ones that will help me implement the tactics, and learning with a critical mind what is truly in alignment with what I stand for and what I want to put out into the world.

Even for the ones I decided not to revisit or implement, I had to make an intentional decision - a process that required me to develop further clarity.

It's not just the $6,591 - the savings kept coming...

In fact, I saved a lot of money this year by not purchasing unnecessary programs and trainings just because they sound good on paper, just because they pulled my trigger for needing something outside of me to feel I know enough, or I AM enough, or just because they pulled the scarcity or comparison tactic.

By now you know I poopoo those "$297 magic bullets" - but not so much because of their content (they do have value and I am still investing and learning) but how some try to pass the be-all-end-all solution to building a business.

Some make us think with this blueprint and that system, we can bypass the very foundational (and often hard) work of standing up for our passion, vision, value, Truth.

Getting on the hamster wheel of "I need more trainings" is like putting the cart before the horse:

·         The training teaches you how to "get more Facebook likes"... but who do these "likes" come from? You can load up the numbers with random people... but are they really folks you want to serve? What is the point of getting 1,000 likes if none of them engage with your posts because your content doesn't carry a strong clear message that cut through the clutter?

·         The training shows you how to make an info product... just jump in a pull something together over a weekend! But what do you want this info product to do for you? How is it going to benefit your business without being an act of throwing spaghetti on the wall? What is the point of the busy work if it just sits on your website but fail to draw in the "right people" who will graduate to working with you on high ticket services?

·         The training gets you to set up your newsletter and opt-in gift to grow you list. You even manage to get people to sign up... but are they reading your stuff? Are they engaged with your content? Is your voice unique enough to resonate with them and make them want to work with you?

If you *think* you "got it"... think again...

Sure, nailing your niche can solve quite a few of these problems. But I have talked to many people who *thought* they got their niche sorted only to realize what they know does very little to help them get clients (isn't that the point??!)

Or they are missing the passion and excitement coming from their GUTS that indicate YES, it's indeed their calling. (I have a built-in BS detector on this front. I won't let a client off the hook until we hit gold.)

Or they got spoon-fed a niche during one of those "5 minutes of fame" group coaching calls, only to realize that it doesn't resonate at all... after they have gone down the rabbit hole of dutifully doing the assignments and developing a load of materials for that niche.

Let's get You a business that Fires you up:

If you don't have clarity, you will be wasting time and money and still got stuck in a "meh" business that doesn't FIRE you up.

There is so much more to having a profitable, sustainable and fulfilling business, and the foundation is to find CLARITY for what you really want, what you stand for, what your Superpower is, and how you want to leverage your strength to deploy your Superpower, serving the people you truly want to serve.

This level of Ultra-CLARITY is where your big bucks lie - and I want to help you nail it.

I am not going to sugarcoat it. Getting to this level of clarity IS hard work. Not because you have to slave over a task for hours on end, but because you have to face all parts of you - the good, the bad and the ugly.

You cannot buy this Clarity for $297, you have to work it.

It is truly priceless. It is where Freedom begins.

Truth is, being in your own head without someone who won't just say "yeah, that sounds nice" because they don't give a crap enough to call you out and give you honest feedback can be tough. Doing a few canned journaling exercises without someone to push you through the "feel good" point into examining every part of you can be downright impossible.

Been there, tried that. Getting Ultra-Clarity is not conducive to DIY... yeah, sure you can go at it alone, but would you rather get to where you need to go and actually do want you are here to do, instead of flopping and struggling to find that light at the end of the tunnel?

I am saying it not because finding the SOUL of a business is my Superpower... I am saying it because out of everything I have invested in coaching and training, I find the investment in getting clarity is the most well-spent as I could not have done it myself.

Ling Wong, Business Artist, Mindset Provocateur and Chief Freedom Fighter at business-soulwork.com, provides Business Soulwork + Marketing Activation for the Maverick Entrepreneur to build a business that is a full expression of their creativity and individuality.

Ling helps her clients supercharge their actions not only through practical strategies and marketing tools, but also through their growth and development - so they not only grow their business, but also LET THEIR BUSINESS GROW THEM. Through her "left brain meets right brain" approach, she helps her clients uncover their truth and tap into their intuition, then ground those light bulb moments with practical strategies and marketing tactics.

Download Ling's "4 Keys To Enrolling High Paying Clients" for FREE at http://business-soulwork.com/more-clients-please-free-training/

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