An opportunity to rid your FEAR of MONEY and RECEIVE!

You all know me at the Better Getter coach. A huge focus on my coaching is to help guide and teach people, particularly women, on HOW to get past guilt, in order to RECEIVE.

I’m sorry to report that I see it in a very prevalent way from the entrepreneurial women I meet, coach, and lead. Most of the women that are having trouble getting their business off the ground are the ones who are afraid to “ask for the sale” and fail to charge enough (or sometimes, anything at all! ) for their services.

Just last week, my teenage daughter went on a job interview, and said the woman would be calling in a week to let her know if she got the job. “How much will you be paid,” I asked. She didn’t know. She feared that asking how much the job paid would send a message that she wasn’t eager enough.

I told her it was good to look eager. But, I said, it was also important to be respected. The lady asked her is she had any questions. My daughter had none. MINE would have included, “How much does the position pay?” Because, frankly, that’s what a JOB is. You give your services to someone, and that person pays you in return. I truly believe when you are willing to work for next to nothing (or appear to be that willing), the respect you are paid back in return is next to nothing. It doesn’t get honored or appreciated, and in the end, it will be EXPECTED.

Now, that’s NOT to say that pro-bono work, discounts and negotiations, and outright charity don’t have a place. I certainly have done a TON of pro-bono work, and continue to do so. I donated a week stay at my Wisconsin rental home to our chamber last year. Had I rented that week out this summer, it would have been over $1,900 in sales for me.

But I willingly chose to do that. It has less to do with what we CHOOSE to do, and what we do because we feel FORCED into a position out of fear.

And that’s what I’ve been seeing lately — fear around income and money. Fear of using money. Fear of where it’s going to come from to build and increase a business. Fear of RECEIVING it.

So I was thrilled when I learned that my colleague, Suzanne Evans, the coach to those who are trying to make a difference in the lives of others, came up with this new LIVE video event. And the best part is, it’s absolutely FREE.

It’s called “End Your Money Fear Forever… LIVE!”

I love Suzanne. She’s shoots straight from the hip and tells you like it is. She does NOT hold back. She’s as much (more so?) trainer as coach, so she will DIRECT YOU toward what you have to do next to be successful. And she is her own best example. Suzanne started with nothing (in fact, I believe less than nothing, as she had debt), and moved her business to SEVEN FIGURES. And her company won a place on the Inc. 500 list of the fasting growing small businesses in the country.

She is my own inspiration, as a coach and a businesswoman. And I’m as excited to view this event as I am to offer it to you, my blog readers.

Via this event, Suzanne will show you what amazing things are possible, when you make your money fear a thing of the past. Because here is the stunning truth: Your
biggest roadblocks to building your business aren’t the things it takes to build a business. But the fear that keeps you immobilized. Hesitant. Frozen in your tracks. And unable to take action.

But when you join Suzanne for this amazing world premiere live video broadcast, you can dissolve EVERY money fear you have ever had.

Join Suzanne and discover:

• The same secrets she used to create her breathtaking success. And how you can use them in your own business.
• High powered experts and inspirational special guests that reveal just how doable this is.
• Plus (get this!) A rare behind the scenes look at Suzanne’s most powerful marketing avenues. That enabled her to bring in more money in a day. Than she made in her years working for someone else.

It’s coming up soon… the end of this week, to be more exact. And you don’t want to miss it.

So sign up now, and join us for this powerful livestream: Simplified. Straight at you. Streamlined. And absolutely FREE!  Trust me — There are very few areas in your
business that will make a bigger difference than this:

“End Your Money Fear Forever… LIVE!”

Do you beat yourself up for your circumstances?

Usually, when I get stressed out, I beat myself up for being so “wimpy.” I complain that others handle stress so much better than I do, and wonder what’s wrong with me.

December of 2012 and January of this year was a tough time for me. I was stressed to the max, and all my good habits I had worked so hard and long to achieve started to erode. It would have been easy to hate myself for being so weak.

Then I took the time to actually assess everything that was going on in my life that during that period of time:

• an ex-boyfriend who still was a very close friend, someone I knew for over 10 years, died
• a person who I felt close enough to consider as a friend died very unexpectedly
• my daughter exhibited very risky behavior and bad choices… and then left home
• my son have a traumatic experience at school and then had to change schools
• my elderly father, who lives with me, had a rough time with his current ailments, and he ended up spending three nights in the hospital

All the while, I’m attempted to change my lifestyle of diet and exercise in a very dramatic way.

Is it any wonder that I feel stressed and overwhelmed? And I realize that ANYONE would. I’m not weak. I’m just HUMAN. And sometimes, life can throw a lot of negative things at us, all at once. And we deal as best we can.

Are you beating yourself up for circumstances over which you have no control? And have you taken the time to take a good look at what’s really going on, and just how strong and capable you really are, despite those circumstances?

Stress: our health pays the price

I’ve always believed myself to be a person who stresses out easily. I guess that’s a matter of perspective, as some people have looked at me and my life over the years and say, “How do you do it???”

Perhaps it is that I do “do it,” but not necessarily well. My last decade has been full of me attempting to lesson the load and reduce the stress. I’ve been successful on many levels. But let me share an area in my life where stress won the battle, in the hope that others will learn from my experience.

I think it’s apparent that stress can damage your health, even kill you. Years ago, there was a study that revealed that a person’s risk for a heart attack was highest on Monday mornings. It’s due, in part, because of the stress of going back to work after having the weekend off. So we know it’s deadly.

But how many think it’s going to happen to us? Well, years ago, and without my knowledge, stress started to rob something very dear to me: My sight.

Before a few weeks ago, I had never heard of central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC or CSCR), also known as central serous retinopathy (CSR). But I did know I was having a hard time seeing out of my left eye, and had for the last 6 or 7 years. And it seemed to be getting worse.

A dark spot in the center of my vision in my left eye was the first symptom. Eventually, and without my knowledge, I also lost my ability to see colors correctly in that eye. Now, when the eye doctor tests me, I come up as color blind in the left eye.

And as the years progressed, my vision was becoming more blurry, and more difficult for the optometrist to correct my vision with glasses. He could see damage on my retina, and suggested that I see a retinal specialist, but I’ll be honest — I was afraid to go. I’m VERY squeamish about my eyes. Putting in my contact lenses and taking them out is torture! When I was younger, eye drops were nearly impossible for me. But as my vision got worse, I knew I had to let an expert take a look and see what, if anything, could be done.

So a few weeks ago, I did just that. The symptoms of central serous chorioretinopathy mimic a lot of other eye ailments, including dry macular degeneration. So my husband and I were shown a video of it before the doctor saw us, because that’s the diagnosis he was leaning toward, along with the possibility of a tear in my retina. None of what I was hearing was good news.

The diagnosis instead of CSCR, I suppose, was good news in a way. I don’t have to have surgery. The bad news is that’s because there’s really nothing that can be done about my particular case. There’s scaring on my retina. It formed from a blister on my retina, which was caused by leak of fluid under the macula. Sometimes these blisters spontaneously resolve themselves. But it’s NOT unusual for them to return, and a long episode or multiple episodes can cause scarring and permanent vision loss, as in my own situation. It is what it is, and it will NEVER get better.

How the hell did this happen? Well, the medical community isn’t completely sure. But there appears to be a connection to steroids. There are times when steroid use can cause such blisters to form, and I have had steroid injections in the past. However, the symptoms only started in 2005, nearly 7 years later.

The more likely culprit: CORTISOL. I decided to test my cortisol levels in 2009, and they were found to be high in my system. Why would that be? Because cortisol is a hormone that is secreted in response to stress, to help the body deal with a stressful situation. And when you are under stress for a long period of time, your cortisol levels can remain high. I tested because I suspected (and still believe) it keeps me from losing weight. I now know it also was ruining my eyesight.

Typically, CSCR is an eye disesase of Type A males and people in high stress jobs (according to Wikipedia, many airline pilots experience CSCR). But as we all know, we ladies can suffer from a far amount of stress as well. Trying to do it all — taking care of everything and everybody — it’s amazing we don’t hear about this eye disease more often.

My right eye is perfectly fine, and it makes up for my vision loss in the left eye. But if anything happens to that eye, I’m in trouble.

So now it’s crucial… downright critical… that I do everything I can to keep my stress levels DOWN. Unfortunately, I have lost part of my vision due to stress, but thankfully, I’ve been actively working for years on my stress level, and staying healthy. I am now moved to be ever more vigilant.

And I wanted to tell my story as a warning for the rest of you ladies. I’m not alone. And I never really thought that anything “bad” would ever happen to me due to my stress, past a few periods of exhaustion, or some aches and pains. But losing part of my eyesight has been extremely alarming. Thank God I can still see… I do have trouble driving at night now, and I do strain the left eye at times, and it becomes fatigued… But I can still see. It’s a blessing that I will no longer take for granted.

Style is a choice, and that’s OK…

I was having thoughts today about style… specifically where it sits on our heap of priorities and where it should sit. And I decided there is no “should.” Like anything else in life, style and being stylish is a choice. And everyone is going to have their own thoughts and make their own choices and have their own unique and different place for it on their priority list.

Some might have it high. Some might have it low. I don’t really think we should judge the placement. For some, style is NOT important at all. I know for myself, I LIKE being stylish, but, even though I coach style, it’s not the end all to end all for me either. So much comes before it: My desire to serve others (which I believe is why we are all here ~ we are the hands of God), my faith, my love of God, my love of my family and also my friends. My wish to make sure that we are all well taken care of and financially comfortable. All these things come first. And it’s because I WANT it that way.

And only God knows what is going on in a person’s life, and let’s face it, right now, with the bad economy, people out of work, families losing their homes… priorities need to be shifted.

I want to be as stylish and beautiful as much as I can, but I want to do it without it interfering with all of the things that are MOST important to me. It’s that “WANT,” that DESIRE that I find most important of all. It’s our choice where we want our priorities to fall, but then, after choosing, we have an obligation to ourselves to fulfill the desire. That is the definition of pursuing a goal — having a desire, a want, and then making it into a reality. I really look at it as a PROMISE to ourselves.

Wherever beauty and style fall on YOUR priority list, work to pursue it as it is important to you, so that it remains on that spot on the list, and doesn’t fall into dead last… unless that’s where you want it. Then that’s fine… because this is YOUR life to live the way you want to live it. No one else can do it for you.

If you’ve decided that it is time to put your beauty and style higher up on your list, I offer a fantastic program that helps you do just that, quickly and easily. It’s called “Express Yourself with Style,” and it’s offered both for groups and for individuals. In just four quick weeks, you will identify your unique style, learn how to express it, and then put it into action on a continuous, habitual basis. You’ll love it! Write me, Pat LaCroix, at LaCroixCreative@gmail.com or visit my website at www.LaCroixCreativeLifeandStyle.com to learn more!