Today I conducted two coaching sessions. On the first one, the therapist had noticed a decline in her practice and was very confused about what to do next. It hurt my heart to hear her fatigue and her lack of enthusiasm. She had no psychic or emotional energy to keep going.

My job in the coaching session was to help her reconnect to her vision and her passion for this work. She then intuitively identified her “next steps” and ended the call ready to get started.

The next call I had was with Mark Hastings, http://www.thedadscoach.com. We hadn’t spoken in a while and I looked forward to hearing how he was doing.

When we first met years ago, Mark had sounded like my first call. Not sure of what to do and without any energy to do it - even if he knew what it was.

But he persevered. He did the internal work around his vision and his purpose. He stayed laser-like focused on his desire to have a successful private practice. And a lot of things went wrong along the way - things that could have made him give up in defeat. He got “day” jobs along the way to support his family. He worked steadily toward his private practice dream. Sometimes he lost these jobs too as places down-sized. But, for Mark, giving up was simply not an option. (He notes, “I decided I wanted it and I hustled.”)

Here is what I heard from Mark today:

1) Where once the idea of offering a presentation was like getting a root canal, he now books speaking engagements at large churches.

2) He joined a new church. He wanted to become more involved in the church and he asked the staff “How can I serve you?” They wanted another good therapist to refer to. They jumped on it and now regularly refer to him.

3) If a speaking engagement doesn’t “fill,” he sees the real opportunity; he uses it as a way to connect deeper with the organizers.

4) He regularly meets with his contacts for coffee. They get to like and remember him.

5) “This is second order change” he told me. As Mark changed his concept of marketing and improved his relationship to it, he grew into the person who would absolutely be successful. How successful? Three new cash-paying clients in the last week!

My clients always teach me things. From Mark I learned that if we stay focused on the “calling” - in spite of the economy, in spite of the times we fail, in spite of the nay-sayers, we will succeed.

Don’t give up. Take a day job if you need to pay the bills. But please - don’t quit before the miracle. We need you.

Love and blessings,

Casey