Using my “One word, one sentence” framework and system
“That sounds like alot of work, “ she said.
She’s in a second season of life.
- She has realized tremendous results coaching up and comers inside of a company that was depositing a paycheck into her bank account every two weeks.
- But she recently hung up that ‘corporate executive hat’ and stood up a coaching business.
- Now, how to call in the paycheck?
- She has a unique way she solves problems. She just doesn’t have a system to sell in it in.
- She is sitting on at least a $100,000 worth of knowledge in her brain (that someone would gladly pay for).
More importantly, after being a slave to the big man, maybe she doesn’t want to work that hard anymore.
I went away to Rome this February and thought long and hard on my daily walks in the 60 degree weather—What truly are the outcomes I create?
If, after I have shared how a person arrives at his or her personal brand, the reaction is: “That feels like alot of work,” then I need to solve for the problem.
People buy 1 of 3 things in life:
- How to make more money
- How to realize better health
- How to realize a relationship
I taught public speaking to make the case for a job or a promotion. The outcome?
- She made National Sales Director.
- She became Executive Director.
- She landed her dream job with a 15% pay bump.
- Something I’ve noticed lately: She lost at least 20 pounds after working me (because she had reconnected to herself, gained confidence.)
But after devoting a full year to teaching it—- I observed—-
She still couldn’t sell.
That was the outcome, time irrelevant.
A quick story:
I was 18 years old.
My parents enrolled me in a really expensive private college. But—they failed to tell me they had not saved for this really expensive private college. As immigrants, they were quite financially irresponsible and I had a rather uncomfortable conversation waiting for me at the school registrar’s office when second semester sophomore year started:
“Nobody paid for last semester. Nobody paid for this semester either. Pay up or go home.”
Staying in school was the only outcome I envisioned.
I launched into action:
- I had a very specific vision (I wanted to be a TV news anchor)
- I made the case to folks who had money (Alumni who had set up scholarship funds)
- I secured a scholarship from a doctor in the Midwest who had set aside money for aspiring journalists.
Years later, I realized the gift.
It was the first time I had realized my ability to sell.
There is a line in Debra Messing-Dermot Mulroney movie “The Wedding Date” where Messing says to an ex who just won’t go away: “I’m so sick….
—-of us.”
For years, I operated in survival mode. I was sick of being broke. I was sick of “just eeking by with the skin of my teeth. I was sick of —being me.
I did 5 things:
- I got clear on what my superpower was
- I got clear on how I would package it up
- I 10x-ed my pricing and sold it
- I hired a coach to help me sell to that next strata of client base
- I marketed it in my content each day
I’ve come a long way since launching that first Masterclass.
I’m on a plane right now, hustling back to New York from home, because next week, I am hosting 2 workshops for which I commanded the price I command in the marketplace today.
So—as I walked the thousand year old streets of Rome, how do I create that outcome for her and do it in a shorter period of time?
While in Rome, I put that entire system into a 6-week Masterclass.
In closing—change is hard.
I’m transitioning back from being in a place of adventure and beauty for one whole month today.
Anytime you are considering “an uplevel,” there will be identity decompression.
Saying goodbye to “old you.”
I flew all day yesterday—— the psychological corridor between contexts.
Leaving a place is a “loss event,” even when it’s positive.
Suppressing it is never the answer.
As a younger coach, I learned that there needs to be a phase of “Integration.”
- the woman in Rome was allowed to have slow mornings
- saw beauty and sun everywhere
- had solitude
So even as I’m challenging you to do any of the above, including work with me for 6 weeks, look at the resistance with the help of these prompts:
Prompt 1 — What did Rome/your former self allow you to be?
(qualities, tempo, clothing, rituals, thinking style)
Prompt 2 — What did Rome/your former self remove from you?
(urgency, noise, expectations, roles)
Prompt 3 — What must travel with you into this next chapter?
(behaviors, not souvenirs)
Prompt 4 — What would make transition times (like me flying for a day) NOT wasted?
(usually one insight)
So today, I’m not doing any strategic thinking.
Today is for:
- email triage
- gentle content drafting
- client touchpoints
- organizing Rome notes
- aesthetic tasks (wardrobe, photos, writing fragments)
I’m still metabolizing.
I design life through chapters and cities.
It’s my method.
Can you design a ritual that closes out this chapter today?
Otherwise it lingers unfinished in your psyche.
