Can your rock bottom to rockstar journey change the world?
Submitted by Lisa Steadman on October 26, 2011 - 10:36 am
Seven years ago, I was homeless, jobless, brokenhearted, and in excruciating physical pain.
I’d left my corporate job. Gone cold turkey with Mr. Wrong. Moved out of my luxury condo. And was struggling with painful tendinitis in both of my arms, which made writing — my lifelong profession — practically impossible.
I had thought being chained to my cubicle, still sleeping with my ex who worked 3 cubicles away, and being the only single woman in a 10 mile radius of my luxury condo had been rock-bottom.
I was wrong.
Being homeless, jobless, brokenhearted, in excruciating physical pain, AND not knowing how I was going to survive was rock-bottom.
Honestly, that was one of the scariest times of my life.
It was also the most freeing and fabulous. And here’s why…
When life as you know it is no longer an option, you have a choice. You can:
1. Shrink in despair, become a victim, and fall into the permanent paralysis of inaction
OR
2. Make the conscious choice that today is rock-bottom and every day moving forward will get a little better
You don’t have to know how you’ll go from rock-bottom to rockstar. You just need to be WILLING to surrender to the unknown (as my good friend and healer Kirsten Korot says), and have the courage to do something different to get a different result.
The truth is, change isn’t easy. And typically no one makes change until NOT changing becomes more uncomfortable than leaping into the unknown.
For me, the journey from rock bottom to rock star was 1 step at a time, 1 day at a time.
After moving out of my condo in Torrance, I moved in with a friend in Silverlake, sleeping on a blow up mattress on his living room floor for a summer. (Moving from married-with-children suburbia to the artsy bohemiam predestrian-friendly neighborhood with plenty of like minded singles was a crucial part of my journey back to rock star status.)
Sick and tired of being in pain but not wanting to give up on my writing career, I invested in voice software, and began making a living as a freelance writer. I used this same software to write all 3 of my best selling books. (Learning to talk to my computer transformed me from a shy writer into a confident public speaker!)
Going cold turkey with my Big Breakup was hard, but in doing so, I cleared the way for my Summer of Man Magnetism, where I met the coolest, funniest, smartest men on a daily basis and eventually met The Hubs.
Again, hitting rock bottom hurt like hell. But the journey since then has been well worth it!
At Woohoo Weekend, many of the speakers shared their inspiring rock bottom to rock star journeys with the room (some for the first time!)
Rick Clemons, The Coming Out Coach, shared how he went from being married to a woman with 2 fantastic kids to stepping out of his shadows and into his truth of being a powerful gay man. His coming out journey moved the entire room to tears, and helped us all see where we might still be hiding in our closets. Click here to watch Rick on Woohoo TV and find out what gay men and powerful women have in common http://bit.ly/woohootv6
Healer Kirsten Korot shared her profound rock bottom to rock star story of overcoming a dire diagnosis and 50-50 chances of surviving by using the same healing techniques she uses on her clients. One woman later told Kirsten,”I’m so glad you survived.” Amen! Click here to hear Kirsten’s incredible story on Woohoo TV http://bit.ly/woohootv3
Stylist JuliAnn Stitick, The Heart of Empowered Style, shared how childhood abuse had made her a prisoner of perfection, and why telling her story not only healed herself but heals her clients. JuliAnn’s story helped others in the room forgive themselves for childhood pain. What a gift!
If Rick, Kirsten, and JuliAnn had NOT shared their rock bottom to rock star stories, they still would have rocked the house at Woohoo Weekend.
But they wouldn’t have changed the world as only they can.
They wouldn’t have touched people’s hearts, demonstrated that rock-bottom is just a temporary stop on the road to rock stardom, or inspired the audience to do one thing differently to get a different result…
After hearing their inspired stories, 1 Woohoo Weekender got over her fear of public speaking and shared a poem she’d written about Woohoo Weekend from the stage. She got a standing ovation!
Once reserved and intensely private, another Woohoo Weekender rocked the house by leading the Woohoo Wiggle dance train that got everyone out of their seats and into their bodies.
The stories go on and on! Since Woohoo Weekend, I’ve received countless e-mails from people who are ready to share their rock-bottom to rockstar stories and heal the world as only they can. Woohoo!
Which leads me to my question for you…
On the journey from rock-bottom rock star, where are you?
Are there parts of your story you’re apologizing for? If so, how can you stop apologizing and start celebrating your journey even more?
And how can sharing your personal journey heal the world as only you can?
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. The journey from rock-bottom to rockstar is not one way. Instead, there are many dips, twists, turns, and loops along the way. When we surrender to the unknown of what lies ahead and instead start celebrating and sharing our stories, that’s when we start changing the world.
Today, I invite you to start changing the world as only YOU can. Start sharing your story. Do something different. Step out of the shadows and into YOUR spotlight. You never know whose life you will change as a result. It may just be your own!
For more rock bottom to rockstar stories, be sure to tune in to Woohoo Radio today at 2 PM Pacific |5pm Eastern. My guests will be i-Thrive coach Tambre Leighn who will share how you can go from right to thrive in YOUR life (she did it after losing her husband to cancer) and Hillary Rubin, whose story of overcoming MS to live medication and symptom-free will blow your mind!
Tune in today here: https://bitly.com/woohooradio
Headline: What happens AFTER Diagnosis Or Death?
Submitted by Lisa Steadman on October 24, 2011 - 4:19 pm
At Woohoo Radio, we love exploring the topic of hitting rock bottom and the step by step journey back into rock star status. After all, life isn’t supposed to be some perfect journey. What makes the ride so interesting is the roller coaster twists and turns of the Boohoo AND the Woohoo. On this week’s episode of Woohoo Radio: Love, Life, Business, & The Pursuit of Happiness, my 2 guests are rock stars in their own right, having faced rock bottom and journeyed back to rock star status after a harrowing diagnosis.
Meet Hillary Rubin
When it comes to that roller coaster ride from rock bottom to rock star, nothing stops us in our tracks quicker than a dire diagnosis. That’s exactly what happened to Hillary Rubin. While working at Prada in Manhattan, Hillary was smacked upside the head with a dire diagnosis of MS. Instead of surrendering to life in a wheel chair and taking medication, Hillary embarked on a powerful and inspired journey that transformed her life from rock bottom to rock star. Now symptom and medication free, Hillary’s using her own body breakthrough as a roadmap for others on how to overcome diagnosis traps, let go of self-imposed labels, and step into empowered action in health, wellness, and wisdom.
Hillary has a special offer for Woohoo Radio listeners. Get your fab freebies here: http://hillaryrubin.com/woohoolisteners/
Meet Tambre Leighn
Hillary’s not the only rock star on this week’s show. After losing her husband Gary to cancer in his mid-30s, Tambre Leighn fell into a survival slump that lasted nearly a decade. It wasn’t until she realized the power of turning her mess into her message that Tambre picked herself up, dusted herself off, and embarked on a rock bottom to rock star journey. Now, Tambre uses her iThrive success system to help doctors, care givers, patients, and families dealing with cancer overcome the pain of diagnosis, step into action, and take empowered action.
Tambre’s hosting a FREE call you’ll want to check out. Sign up for it here: http://coachingbytambre.com/the-big-question/
Check out Tambre’s powerful story on this episode of Woohoo TV
Got questions or want to share your own rock bottom to rock star story? Share them here and listen LIVE on Wednesday at 2pm Pacific | 4pm Eastern at http://bitly.com/woohooradio. Be sure to join the LIVE tweetcast using the hashtag #woohooradio.
You can catch past podcasts of Woohoo Radio here: http://bit.ly/Woohooradiopodcast
Woohoo TV Presents: What do Gay Men & Powerful Women Have In Common?
Submitted by Lisa Steadman on - 1:20 pm
What do gay men and powerful women have in common? In this episode of Woohoo TV, Rick Clemons, The Coming Out Coach, shares with host Lisa Steadman what we have in common (besides our love of men) and how we can all come out of hiding and step up, step out, and step into living in our powerful truths!
For more on Rick Clemons, The Coming Out Coach, visit RickClemons.com.
Got a comment or question for Rick or Lisa? Post it here!
Woohoo TV Presents: How to Have More Pleasure In the Bedroom AND in Business
Submitted by Lisa Steadman on - 1:18 pm
What are 3 simple steps to creating more passion – in your bedroom AND in business? In this episode of Woohoo TV, Sex Butter creator Bonnie Stern shares with host Lisa Steadman how you can create lasting pleasure in both areas of your life starting today!
For more on Bonnie and Sex Butter, visit http://www.sexbutter.net/.
Got a comment or question for Bonnie or Lisa? Post it here!
Woohoo TV Presents: What can 500,000 Facebook Fans Do For YOU?
Submitted by Lisa Steadman on - 1:16 pm
What are the misconceptions about social media that are keeping YOU from mastering it? What could 500,000 Facebook fans do for YOU? In this episode of Woohoo TV, social media guru Charles J Orlando shares with host Lisa Steadman the misconceptions that sabotage people’s success on social media and how to leverage your fan base into social media super stardom!
For more on Charles, visit http://socialbrandacceleration.com/
Got a comment or question for Charles or Lisa? Post it here!
Woohoo TV Presents: How to Overcome 50-50 Chances of Surviving A Dire Diagnosis
Submitted by Lisa Steadman on - 1:15 pm
What would YOU do if a doctor delivered a dire diagnosis and said you only had 50-50 chances of surviving? In this episode of Woohoo TV, healer Kirsten Korot shares with host Lisa Steadman how she healed herself from serious liver disease using sound therapy, body talk, and mastering her mind-body connection.
For more information on Kirsten, visit kirstenkorot.com.
Got a comment or question for Kirsten or Lisa? Post it here!
Woohoo TV Presents: How to STOP Unhealthy Eating & Find Your Vavoom Factor
Submitted by Lisa Steadman on - 1:11 pm
Sick and tired of being sick and tired? In this episode of Woohoo TV, Vitality & Vavoom Expert Sharon Otness Foot shares with host Lisa Steadman how you can transform your gloom and doom lifestyle into serious Vavoom!
For more on how you can rev up your own radiance and find YOUR Vavoom Factor, visit Sharon @ http://sharonotnessfoot.com/.
Got a comment or question for Sharon or Lisa? Post it here!
Woohoo TV Presents: How to Go From Survive to Thrive After Losing A Spouse
Submitted by Lisa Steadman on - 1:08 pm
After Tambre Leighn lost her husband to cancer, she hit rock bottom. In this episode of Woohoo TV, Tambre shares with host Lisa Steadman how she transformed her loss into rock star status and helps others dealing with cancer and its devastating effects.
For more information on Tambre, visit http://coachingbytambre.com/.
Got a comment or question for Tambre or Lisa? Post it here!
3 Tips For Business Success Against All Odds by Melanie Gorman of YourTango
Submitted by Lisa Steadman on October 10, 2011 - 11:30 am
What does it take to succeed in today’s hectic business climate? YourTango’s Melanie Gorman wrote this awesome article on the trajectory of success. Enjoy…
For many small business owners and aspiring CEOs, the state of the economy can be a scary thing. Tough economic times, failing businesses and a crowded marketplace are topics regularly splashed across the headlines. Less buzzed about are the businesses that succeed. Rarely heard are about the inventive ways that solo or small businesses succeed against the odds.
Why don’t we hear about the businesses that make it? Because success is boring. The day-to-day activities of a successful business are not newsworthy. However, it’s the mundane tasks that create the foundation for a successful business. Help The Economy By Dating An Intellectual Nerd! EXPERT
According to the Small Business Administration (SBA) the cold, hard facts about small businesses are:
- 7 out of 10 new businesses survive at least two years … Very good news!
- 51% of small businesses survive at least five years … Also, good news and better than the mis-quoted stat that 50% fail in the first year and 95% fail by year five.
Additionally, the point of failure income-wise is between $100K and $1mm in revenue. So, while new businesses do make it through the first few years more often than not, the point at which your hard work is intended to pay off is often the point at which your business fails.
1. Know Your Audience
Being a successful business owner is not rocket science. It is about knowing your craft and having a business practice in place that allows you to be successful. The “secret sauce” is in the day-to-day activities, systems and procedures that lead to either a successful venture or a failing one.
What do I mean here? Businesses are built from the ground up. You start with a great idea, a killer passion or a drive to do a certain kind of work. From there — and it doesn’t matter if you’re a coach, therapist, product developer or a trash collector — your business is only as successful as your lead source. If you fail to have the systems in place to bring in new leads or new interest, then you’ll fail. Period. Yes, you have to be good at what you do, but being good is only a part of the larger equation. How Compassion Facilitates Forgiveness EXPERT
YourTango Expert, Charles J. Orlando’s success on Facebook is a testament to this model. He works every single day to put up smart, pithy, insightful posts on his book fan page, The Problem With Women … Is Men. That dedicated attention brings in thousands of fans. Today he has 546K fans, a remarkable feat he’s accomplished in under two years.
For a little perspective, if you added up the fan base of John Gray (Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus) and Glamour Magazine (one of the most popular women’s magazines in the US), Charles has almost as many fans as the two pages combined. Why? He puts in his time every day on the things that bring in his fans. He knows his audience and he gives them what they want. He doesn’t ask them to serve his needs, he serves theirs, and consquently, they keep coming back.
2. Manage Your Personal & Professional Bandwidth
CEOs often make the critical mistake of believing that they have to do it all. They don’t. CEOs have to manage it all, but certainly they don’t have to do it all.
I heard a commercial on the radio last week and the man speaking identified himself as the CEO of his company, the “Chief Everything Officer.” If they needed staples, he was on it. If they needed to close a client deal, he was on it. The critical flaw in this thinking is that at a certain level, a CEO doesn’t have the personal bandwidth or the stamina to do it all and do it well.
Eventually, things slip. Customers don’t get the same level of service the brand was built on and often, the pipeline that makes up your client pool doesn’t get the attention it needs. As the CEO, if your attention is exclusively on closing a big deal and it’s not equally on lead generation, you may have a bird in the hand, but you’ve lost sight of the one in the bush that will feed you tomorrow.
3. Don’t Lose Sight Of The High-Hanging Fruit
The fact is that CEOs who feel like they have to be everything to everyone eventually lose steam. The first things to go are the tedious, monotonous tasks that are long-arms to sales. For example, the client who says “not today but maybe next week” falls off your radar in favor of the client who can pay for services today. In the short run, it isn’t a bad thing. We call thisphenomenon paying attention to the low-hanging fruit. But, you also must keep an eye on who is climbing the tree for the fruit that’s higher off the ground, i.e. your competition. Divorce: 5 Steps For Surviving The Big D EXPERT
This pipeline of prospective clients is what allows you to have enough interest in your business so that you can constantly be in a position to sell your goods. And make no mistake about it, not all of your customers will start out as paying customers. Everyone comes to the moment when they are ready to buy. Especially in this Internet age, we read, research, investigate and then eventually buy.
For some people this means that all they will do is read or watch your free offerings. Others will get in your pipeline and begin systematically purchasing all of the different products you offer. The point of “deciding to invest” is different for everyone. As a smart CEO, you need to focus on those who will want/need your products today and those who are simply doing due diligence for another day. A successful CEO has a clear plan and a set of daily tasks that allow their pipeline to remain full and ever-flowing with prospective business leads.
The other thing successful CEO’s do is cultivate a team of people who help grow their business. In keeping with the mindset that CEOs are not responsible for doing everything but responsible for managing everything, successful business owners know that there are certain tasks that only they can do for their business. You can’t ask your assistant or intern to close a big deal for you, but certainly they can take the first pass at an email to your newsletter list or help you with your Twitter or Facebook calendar.
All of it has to be done. The smart leader knows where they have to step in and where they can delegate. In my talk at Lisa Steadman’s amazing Woo-Hoo Weekend, I’m going to dive into the trajectory of success and explore with business owners how to understand their own bandwidth and how their actions make or break their business success.
Join me on Sunday, October 16th to explore your business and see where on the predictable trajectory of success your business is. Take this opportunity to note where a little TLC can make the impact so that you come out on top and not as one of the unfortunate “failed business” statistics.
Are YOU The Best Kept Secret in Town?
Submitted by Lisa Steadman on - 11:24 am
So you’ve got a big idea, a killer brand, a brilliant business. You know it can change the world. And yet, how do engage an audience in your message and put a movement behind your mission? I talk to so many INCREDIBLY brilliant business owners who all have a rock star idea. But often, they’re stuck in roadie status because they don’t know how to bring their message to the masses. In short, they’re a well kept secret. Can you relate? In today’s social world, that’s a big No No. If you want to magnetize your messaging, create a loyal following, build a profitable business, and/or become a household name in the RIGHT households, you’ll need to STOP doing what’s NOT working (like waiting for clients to find you) and START broadcasting in bigger, bolder ways, create consistent and conscious clamor, and magnetize your messaging and mission. Here are 5 simple steps to follow that’ll take you from best kept secret status to social super star status…
1. Connect to Your Mission/Vision
If you’re like me and have a massive mission to share with the world, sometimes sharing it can feel overwhelming. The voice in our head (sometimes our own, sometime someone else’s- a critical parent, sibling, friend, ex) whispers, “who do you think you are to be so verbal and visible?” or “what makes YOU so special?”(Been there, heard that!) When you surrender to the beautiful truth that your mission and your message are not about YOU, and you are simply the best messenger the universe could find to deliver your unique message to the masses, the pressure releases. No longer burdened by doubt or uncertainty or ego, you are free to broadcast your mission and vision brilliantly.
2. Step Out of the Shadows and Into Your Spotlight
When you realize that being seen and heard in the world has NOTHING to do with YOU and EVERYTHING to do with your mission, it longer feels so scary to stand center stage and share your message. Once you develop an innate trust with your self and your purpose, you’ll no longer fear being judged or misunderstood. Instead, you’ll confidently (even in the face of fear) take that step out of the shadows into the spotlight. (When I realized I didn’t have to reduce the size of my thighs before I could stand on a stage and share my Woohoo! message that you deserve to have a life, relationships, and a career that has you waking up every morning, fist pumping, loudly and proudly shouting Woohoo! I was able to get out of my own way, step out of MY shadows, and MY spotlight.)
3. Share Freely
Once you’re in the spotlight, it’s up to you to broadcast your message. Thanks to the social world we live in, it’s never been easier or more affordable to share yourself freely and consistently. Notice I just gave you two keys to yoursuccess — sharing freely AND consistently. It’s not enough to have a brilliant message if you only put it out once a day on one social media
4. Get Engaged
Now that you’re sharing freely, it’s time to actively engage your audience. Listen to their feedback, pay attention to what resonates for them and what doesn’t, and energetically align your messaging with conscious content, emotion, and engagement. This is a two-way street. Listen, learn, and act accordingly.
5. Stand OUT
Think about the Internet and specifically social media this way: you’re on a congested freeway and everyone is going 90 miles an hour. If your goal is to get everyone to slow down, pay attention, and tune in, how do you do that? Trauma and drama ALWAYS slow things down, but is that the kind of attention you want? No. Instead, it’s important to create conscious clamor as only YOU can (it’s all about mastering that messaging!), engage your audience and thoughtful ways, and be consistent in the energy you share. (There’s nothing worse than confusing your audience with mixed messages and inconsistent energy.)
So there you have it. 5 simple steps to going from roadie to rock star in your business, starting today. How will YOU step out of the shadows and into the spotlight? Post a comment here!
