Focus On Why – How I Found My Purpose

I really enjoyed being interviewed by my friend Amy Rowlinson for her “Focus on Why” podcast.
It made me realise just how long it is since I’ve told the story of how I came to do what I do now – and just how long and hard the journey was of finding my Purpose

(I still can’t quite believe I’ve been doing the same thing for 10 years – before this, I couldn’t stick with anything for more than 3 months without wanting to leave and find something else!).

And it all began with a realisation of what I definitely didn’t want.

• I didn’t want to have to wear a suit for work
• I didn’t want to have anything to do with traditional sales – especially after a 17 year career that imposed sales techniques that I was never happy about using and nearly wearing myself out trying to bring integrity to the mix.
• And I didn’t want a corporate job – I’d already walked out of a very high paying headhunting consultancy role, even after being offered enough money to pay off my mortgage – but only if I stayed for another 5 years
• I knew it was time to leave because I’d lost sight of who I really was!
• And my body was already showing signs of chronic fatigue syndrome and M.E.

So, I left sales and set off on my own journey – a relentless pursuit of my life’s purpose.

Everything from learning to teach yoga and meditation, acupuncture training in Sri Lanka, studying a master’s degree to become a nutritional therapist, hypnotherapy, Reiki, NLP, and coaching.

But each time I mastered one of these modalities, I always got a sinking sensation in the pit of my stomach and a little voice whispering inside of me that would say,

“Catherine, this still isn’t it!”

It was really frustrating, but I kept on going, and eventually, after 5 years of seeking, I was rewarded with a true light bulb moment that would change everything.

The thing is, I’d met so many women during those 5 years of immersing myself in these different courses and modalities who, besides their amazingness and all that they offered, didn’t know how to turn those talents into money!

So, when I was invited to deliver a day’s training to a group of coaches to help them turn their newly acquired skills into a business and sell in a way that would feel authentic to them, I welcomed the opportunity and at the end of that day, I absolutely knew that this was what I had been looking for.

And, rather like The Alchemist (in the book by Paulo Coelho, I came full circle and realised the treasure was right there all the time – sales!)

But this time with the integrity that was so intrinsic to me, and with the sense of meaning and purpose I was craving…

teaching heart-led business owners the finer subtleties of sales so they could fall in love with the whole sales process and their businesses!

And guess what?

Unlike that sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach and the voices that I couldn’t ignore that were giving me the message that wasn’t convenient but true, this was a true epiphany from my heart and there were no voices of doubt piping up at all.

And on that day, my business “Selling from the Heart.” was born.

But it didn’t stop there…

My Purpose was clear, but the confirmation of it has been evolving over the past 10 years along with my business. In this time I’ve learned that:

• My true zone of genius, (with a little extra help from reading and putting into practice Clockwork by Michael Michalowicz) is in passing on my knowledge and expertise in an easy way that everyone can understand and apply,
• That my particular business model of choice would be a Business Membership Programme. This is where I feel fulfilled rather than the high ticket 121 programmes that were touted as the only way to be successful when I started out. It has taken 7 years to fulfill but it’s now my ‘baby’ and where I am putting most of my attention in my business.
• Finding your purpose is always fulfilling such as when any one of the members of my business mentoring membership, “Business from the Heart,’ sells her first ever package or programme having followed the process I teach.  She’s lit up because she knows she’s on her way – and I’m lit up to see her reach that first all-important milestone on the road to her success.

Find out how it all happened and more about this story,

If it took me 5 years of seeking to find MY purpose, I’m sure you can find yours in a lot less time!

As long as you trust and keep moving forward you’ll keep getting the feedback to help you course correct yourself when you go off course and eventually you too will find your purpose.

And what if you feel you’ve taken the wrong path?

That’s not necessarily a bad thing – Maybe like me you just have to change it when you come up against that closed gate, or you may have to veer off to the left or the right when you come across a meadow full of scary cows and cut through foliage if you end up in woodland, but eventually, you find the clearing where your palace awaits and that’s when you realise that this is where you’ve always belonged.

So, keep moving because if you’re stuck in one place on the spot, you definitely won’t get anywhere!

Listen to the whole podcast here

And as always, please feel free to comment below.

If you’d like to learn more, get my 7 Steps to Yes video training absolutely free.

It’s a series of bite-sized videos (just 3 minutes each) that will give you a complete step-by-step structure for your sales conversations so you can learn how to guide a potential client to a natural and easy “yes” without any “icky” closing techniques – and it’s completely FREE. Get started today with my 7 Steps to Yes! video training.