Just before I shut down my email for the 2010 holiday break, I got an email from Tara Mohr.
Tara had been on my radar for a few months. I was reading her blog, her posts on Productive Flourishing, and her articles on the Huffington Post. We’d tweeted back and forth a few times too. It was obvious that Tara was playing a big game with her internet presence, her business, and her life.
#StandfordMBADoesn’tHurt
I opened the email expecting to find a holiday greeting or maybe an invitation to chat further.
Instead she said something to the effect of:
I had a dream that I did a session with you. It went really well. I’d like to schedule one.
I stared at the computer screen. “Um, what?” I thought.
#didImentiontheStanfordMBA
At the end of 2010, I had a thriving business and was empowering plenty of fledgling entrepreneurs to make significant improvements in their businesses. I believed in what I did. But Tara? I didn’t feel qualified. She was out of my league.
In the moment I read that email, I confronted all of my fears:
- I’m not good enough.
- I’m a fraud.
- I won’t have anything of value to offer her.
- This can’t end well.
In my mind, these were legitimate concerns. Truths I either needed to accept or overcome. I wasn’t cutting myself down, I was serving a potential customer, right? Right?
I mustered all my courage focused objectively on all the things I did have to bring to the table, and responded to the email.
I don’t remember exactly what I said and I can’t bear going back into my email archive to dig it out. But I’m sure it was something like this:
Tell me more about what you’re looking for.
Interested but noncommittal.
I think I also was quite honest and explained that I wasn’t sure how I was qualified to help her but that I was willing to try.
#ThingsNotToIncludeInYourClientEmails
Graciously, Tara responded with more info and I began to see how valuable I could be to what she was trying to accomplish.
As we worked together over many sessions, she developed and launched a program called Playing Big that generated an elegant and financially rewarding launch.
Working with Tara was a huge step forward in helping me play a bigger game. The results we achieved together gave me the proof I needed to know that my philosophy & methods were sound & valuable.
It was time to stop playing small & start playing big: bigger clients, bigger goals, bigger ways of operating, bigger ideas. Small could only serve me for so long.
Playing big has serious long-term potential.
Playing big – and continuing to play bigger & bigger – has gone hand & hand with realizing my current calling. It’s meant getting noticed and attracting a bigger audience. It’s meant having my ideas spread into new markets & circles of influence.
Speaking of influence, I was recently named a Problogger Blogger to Watch in 2012, a top woman entrepreneur on Twitter at Women 2.0, and one of 22 Top Single-Voice Business Bloggers (alongside Seth Godin, Chris Brogan, and Danielle LaPorte!) by Jonathan Fields. Yeah, that was a great week.
But what I get out of playing bigger is not the lesson I want you to take away from this post. Wanting to play bigger isn’t all about me.
When I learned to play a bigger game, I was able to serve Tara. In turn, Tara help over a hundred women play bigger in her program.
Playing big isn’t about you. It’s about all the people playing bigger enables you to serve.
Playing bigger has few qualifications. You don’t need a particular degree or years of experience. You don’t need a flashy website or a book deal. You don’t need a big pay check or fancy equipment.
Playing big has one qualification deciding that you are qualified to start down the path.
#youare
Tara will be stopping by here tomorrow with her own take on playing big and a very special announcement. We’re giving away one spot at The Art of Earning LIVE to a woman who is ready to play a bigger game with her business in 2012. Stay tuned!
Also tomorrow, join me for a FREE teleclass on getting out of your head & into the gut of your business to unlock your business vision. This is the first step in The Art of Earning. Want to know more? Click away, my friend!
Sweetheart, now you made me cry! And you made my day/week/month.
For those reading, this is a true tale! I did have a dream that I did a session with Tara G. that was incredibly helpful. A vivid enough dream that I was moved to email her the next day and say…um…I received instructions from my unconscious, let’s do this.
And she did, in playing-big-confident-woman fashion, write back to let me know that she was quite sure there was not much she could help me with.
It took persistence on my part for this woman to allow me to pay her.
More tomorrow!!
Maybe my fav post of yours yet. #truestoriesthatinspireme
Loved this story. Glad to know we don’t have to be immune to fear and doubts; we just have to rise above.
Eek! Love this post! And after reading what Playing Big is all about, I can tell I love Tara M too! It’s a Tara extravaganza!!! (ok- maybe that’s too much). Anyhoo, thanks so much for the inspiration:)
Tara, thanks for the reassurance you give and the ‘names’ I need to address the things that cause me to hesitate or even sabotage my goals. Wishing you (and myself) all the best going forward.
Thank you for your blog. It has made a huge difference in my life. Please keep up the good work.
Wow! This is just what I needed! And the theme of ‘Playing A Bigger Game’ is going to become my theme for 2012. I have been on the look out for my theme and in the past week this concept of ‘Playing A Bigger Game’ has been coming at me from all angles. Thank you so much for sharing your story – isn’t it funny how quickly we can limit ourselves when some who is supposably so much smarter, more clever and successful that us are comes into our world. Well done for moving beyond this and making such a huge difference. Now, just telling this story you are playing a bigger game and helping others do the same. Thank you!
What a great story! So glad to hear that you pushed through all of those fears, Tara! And, were brave enough to tell us (and the world!) about it. Keep on playing big & serving others. I plan on doing the same!