If you are a corporate catch, with the right business model in place you can be a corporate renegade and make great money, without being tied down by the 9-5 job.

I’m working with a client right now who is definitely a corporate catch.  He builds sales teams that sell high ticket items.

And he was about to leave the corporate world altogether to pursue his dream of entrepreneurship.  Once we began working together to build out his sales and marketing systems, he began to think that maybe he was not cut out for entrepreneurship.  (Carol Roth, your book the Entrepreneur Equation was a real eye opener for him!)

Being an entrepreneur can be a major emotional roller coaster and my client discovered that he has a lot of internal work to do in order to hang on and have it feel good to be on the roller coaster.

At the same time, now that he had begun putting himself out there as an entrepreneur suddenly he was getting all sorts of calls from recruiters looking for someone with just his skillset.

So we decided that while he is still building his entrepreneurial venture he should go on a couple of job interviews.

Lo and behold, he discovered- he is quite the catch out there in the corporate world.  And that he may be able to have the benefits of the corporate world without being tied down, dependent or feeling trapped like he once did before.

Now, we are working on a business model in which he can take a job if it feels like a huge home run OR he can be a corporate entrepreneur and build his business model around serving these big corporations he once worked for.  And it can be a super simple business model that allows him to have a handful of clients he is doing great work with and getting paid handsomely for without having an employees.

Either way, he wins.

If you are in the corporate world and feeling trapped, I wonder if you may be able to shift your perspective one notch from where you are now and see a whole new possibility that allows you to integrate all of your experience in the corporate world with your strong desire for more freedom and possibility.

Or if you have recently left the corporate world and are not yet making it in your entrepreneurial venture, how you can leverage all of your knowledge and experience in that world to serve the freedom-based business you want now.

One of the things I am learning post-Eden is how to truly live the both/and of who I am.  I am finding the middle way of embracing all that I am and all that I am evolving to be — Alexis Neely, the strong lawyer, the powerhouse entrepreneur and Ali Shanti, the free spirit – all of me.

By the way, this is one of the ways the Money Shadow shows up in our lives – telling us we must pick, we cannot be all of ourselves.  I get it.  I struggle with it.  If you cannot see the money shadow in your life, you might want to watch this video training I made about the Money Shadow.

What would it look like to embrace all of you in the best, most delicious mash-up of all times?  What part of you are you currently leaving behind in your current reality and would love to integrate, if only you could?  I’d love to hear from you.

Enjoy this guest post from Michele about Big Fat Internet Marketing Lies – she’s got it all right.

It breaks my heart.  For the past 13 years I’ve worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs and small business owners, which is why I can tell you this with absolute certainty.

It is NOT easy to own your own business. In fact, all of you entrepreneurs reading this should stop and pat yourself on the back right now.

(I mean it. Stop and pat yourself on the back. I don’t care how successful or unsuccessful you think you are — you’re doing it. You’ve chosen a path that can be scary and frustrating and risky but it also can bring you the BIGGEST rewards and the HIGHEST highs.)

So if owning a business is tough, why would you make it all that tougher on yourself by believing the “lies” out there about Internet Marketing?

You see, there are a lot of beliefs swirling around out there about Internet Marketing that are either half-truths, sort-of-true-but-you-don’t-know-the-whole-context or just an out-and-out lie.

The problem is you may not know what is REALLY true and what you only THINK is true.

Actually that’s not the biggest problem. The BIGGEST problem is when you believe these half-truths or lies and then you blame YOURSELF when Internet Marketing doesn’t work for you.

THAT is the real cost of these lies. You blame yourself, the Universe, the economy, your products, etc. for what you PERCEIVE to be a failure. When, in actuality, it’s something else entirely. For instance:

• Maybe you’re using the wrong Internet Marketing strategy
• Maybe you’re using the right Internet Marketing strategy but you’re skipping some crucial steps because you don’t realize they’re crucial
• Maybe your expectations are wrong  (maybe you’re more of a success than you realize!)
• Or it’s something else that is EASY to fix and has nothing to do with the “story” you’ve created around your failure

I want you to take a deep breath right now and open yourself up to this new reality. It’s not YOU that’s the problem. It’s something else — something outside of yourself and something that’s easily fixable.

How does that feel?

What if THAT was the truth? Not these Big Fat Internet Marketing lies you’re most likely telling yourself right now?

So, do you want to hear MY take on the Top 3 Big Fat Internet Marketing lies are? I’ve created a 3-part video series with the co-founders of the Inner Mean Girl Reform School Christine Arylo and Amy Ahlers.  I partnered with them because they specialize in helping women transform their negative self-sabotaging beliefs into self-empowering ones. Here’s the link: Watch the videos.

My journey at the moment is to keep saying “yes, thank you, more please!” to everything I receive (a gift I received from my dear friend Joy Love Light Honeybee who so embodies her name fully with this philosophy).

This is the training to hold the paradox within, which to me is the essence of living in truth.

To cry with a smile on my face, or at least in my heart. To make each moment of activity, action, and movement a living, walking, breathing meditation.

My journey is to feel the fear, feel the immense pressure, feel the sadness that comes from my mind telling me I am going to somehow f*ck all this goodness up and at the same time hold the awareness of truth that I could never really f*ck it up as long as I keep showing up for everything that comes and say “yes, thank you, more please” – learn from the experience, make real change inside as a result (by being more aware, more in the moment) and keep moving forward.

Oh, it is so simple for my mind to hijack that notion, my awareness, and ultimately my peace.

Though I do notice that it’s getting less and less easy for my mind to do it; lasting for shorter and shorter periods; allowing me to feel far more centered and aware far more of the time now.

I suspect that to some degree this is how it is for everyone. We all feel this pressure inside of us, this fear, and how we handle it depends on how much more we receive and of what.

Here are some of the different ways we can handle the pressure that comes from too much:

1. We can shut down and withdraw. Then we get less of what we have been getting – consider, do you really want less or are you just afraid?

2. We can feel the pressure and push it off on other people. This generally looks like yelling or acting out in some way – also results in less of whatever you have been getting.

3. We can feel the pressure, feel the feelings that come up around that pressure (fear, sadness), and put a smile in our heart knowing that the only way to heal is to feel. Thank you to my dear friend Richard Grossman for that deep lesson. We do not have to either withdraw into self or lash out in anger, but can of course stay centered in self.

We can just be with it – be with the pressure.

4.  And if we are really present and centered in ourSelves (higher self, presence, awareness), we can even say “Yes, Thank You, More Please!” while we feel what we are feeling and cry or laugh or just be quiet. We realize we do not have to withdraw, we do not have to lash out, and we can keep showing up for all the abundance and opportunity that is presented.

When we are really great at handling all the opportunity coming our way, we receive more.

The way I like to think of it is that we can live the internal, eternal moment through our day to day life. Take every single thing that comes and learn, grow and evolve to a new awareness.

If you feel like I have missed something here, I would love to hear about it in the comments. And if it totally makes sense for you and helps you in some way, let me know that too.

By the way, this is the whole premise of the Tribal Marketplace Game, which is what I sat down here to write about, but now have no time to go into.

I think it all ties in together because ultimately, so much of that pressure comes from our own internal fear voice. Part of how community supports us with that is with loving, direct, compassionate, honest, visceral, immediate feedback from which you can learn and grow.

And then, you can tell your fear voice (the source of so much of that uncomfortable pressure), “It’s okay, if we f*ck it up, our community has our back and will helps us course correct as painlessly as possible.”

I’ll post more about the Tribal Marketplace Game soon.  We have a Q&A call every week to talk about things like this and Eden Unplugged, which is coming up super soon.  If you are coming to hang with us, get your ticket.  If you are on our mailing list, you get info about all that stuff – sign up here and get some free resources I made for you too.

I learned to appreciate business storytelling from my mentor, Gary Vaynerchuk. Gary’s Web 2.0 Expo speech back in 2008 reminded me about the value of living my life with passion and the importance of telling the “right” stories.

Building a business from the ground up, I found myself telling stories to keep me on the right path. I have always had a solid, well-crafted vision for my future, which has helped me become a successful entrepreneur. But telling my stories has helped remind me where I came from and guides me into the future. It is for this reason that I wanted to share this journey with you.

Think about this for a minute: What makes you get out of bed? If you are an entrepreneur, you might be driven by the passion to accomplish your life goals. In my life, I’ve created specific goals and developed stories to help overcome adversity, to encourage my employees and to inspire others. In creating a successful business, it’s the stories that have made the journey even more inspiring. For me, I want to create a life that I can pass onto my daughter. I’ve practiced the words in the mirror and it goes just like this: “Sienna, here is your empire, I have built this just for you!”

I am on this journey to create something that no one else will achieve. You have your own journey and you have your own stories. Starting today, make it a goal to be able to look at your journey and tell your stories.

Trust me, it will help you build your brand as an entrepreneur. By creating and telling the story of your journey, people will begin to connect with you and at the same time you are building your unique personal brand.

Do you have a leader story?

You should have an arsenal of stories as an entrepreneur. To get started, you can do what I do and practice your leader story in your bathroom mirror every day. This is not the story you tell your neighbor or a friend but the story you tell your next client or future investor. How will you explain your journey so they understand that you are the creator, the magician or the mentor?

People want to know where you’ve been and what you’ve been through. It makes you real and you’ll want to show some of your scars (not all of them, just the ones that are relevant and important for the occasion).  You’ll want to be able to tell what you’ve accomplished without bragging. You’ll want to show that you’ve learned from your successes and your setbacks, and even complete failures – and yes, I’ve had them too.

These are some questions that you can ask yourself as you begin to think about building your personal brand with storytelling:

• What story would you share that shows you are an expert in your field?
• What story would you tell to build trust with a new business partner?
• How would you inspire an employee about the future of your company?
• How would you introduce yourself to new client you meet for the first time?

Remember, branding is the perception that people have about you – and how people experience the real you – through what you do and whom you associate with. It’s also about the words you say and write, even your Tweets. As an entrepreneur, that means you need to live your passion. When your brand is authentic and you’re truly being yourself, people want to hear your stories.

Tony Hsieh Delivers Happiness

Here’s a great example: Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com, discovered what he was really passionate about on his journey – it wasn’t just about selling shoes online. He was passionate about bringing happiness to work. He wanted to build a company where you could be yourself and in turn make others happy with a strong corporate culture and customer-driven service.

Tony delivers on his mantra of “Delivering Happiness.” He has created a business that keeps people happy. Employees have fun supported by their corporate culture. Even their ads reflect that. Storytelling is the spirit of the content that can breathe life into your public relations, social media and even your ads.

The lesson is simple: Always follow your passion and don’t forget the importance of telling your unique stories along your journey. People want to bring meaning to their work and as a leader you can facilitate that through your stories. Being a leader means you should be able to inspire others with your stories.

Los Silva  | @Los_Silva

As President of Catalyst Dynamic, Los is considered to be a highly influential new voice on the subject of new media for business and the humanization of corporations.  He is currently developing a new business venture, LaunchMob Media.com, a Social PR, New Media and Digital Storytelling agency in Orlando, Florida.

Actually, my BFF Joanne is driving and we’ve got three of our kids in the backseat.

This is freedom!

I can work and play and travel while my companies bring in plenty of money, serve our clients and impact the world the whole time I’m on the road.

The best part is I get to be who I truly am without compromise.

Here’s a picture of me leaving Las Vegas. Totally true to me.

5 years ago, this was all a dream.

I was a lawyer with a bricks and mortar business serving all of my clients in person.

I had to dress a certain way, show up in the office at least 5 days a week and I felt trapped because I didn’t know any other way to serve my clients.

I wanted to serve, make money, and be free.

I knew it was possible and invested at years of my life and tens of thousands of dollars to figure out how to do it.

You don’t have to do that.

My girl, Lisa Sasevich, made a video series that gives you the specifics of a huge part of what I invested so much time and money to learn.

I think the videos come down tomorrow, so watch them today.  Here’s where you can see them:

Link to Register for Lisa’s Class

(this is an affiliate link, while there is nothing for sale here, if you buy anything from Lisa in the future, I’ll get a cut – thank you for choosing to use my link when you invest with Lisa.)

Plus, once you sign up for the video series, along with getting immediate access to Lisa’s complete video series, you’ll also get VIP access to Lisa’s tele-training — 5 Simple Secrets to 6-Figure Teleseminars 2.0: How to make BIG FAST MONEY doing what you LOVE!”

It happens today: Thursday, March 24th at 4 PM EST / 1 PM PST.

This is THE call to be on if you want to learn the secrets behind ALL Lisa’s 6-figure plus launches, and how the heck she managed to turn her little home-based business into a 7-figure business in less than 3 years…without being pushy or salesy.  (Not to mention having NO EMPLOYEES!)

In late 2006, I hosted my first teleseminar and made $117,000 in just over an hour.  I then went on to do about $200,000 in the first 6 weeks of my business, all via teleseminars.  And $2,000,000 over the next two years.  Almost entirely from teleseminars like what Lisa will be teaching you.

While the money itself did not bring me true freedom, it certainly did ease the way.

And I probably would never have gotten to a place where true freedom was possible without getting a little financial freedom under my belt.

Here’s that link again to reserve your spot in this complimentary video series and teleclass.

Link to Register for Lisa’s Class

Touch base with me after the call and let me know how it was for you.

And I’d love for you to share with me in the comments about what you will do when you have freedom to not be chained to your desk, your job or anything else.

Are you thinking about starting a new business?  Or are you overwhelmed and overworked in your existing one?

Then, you need to meet my good friend and respected business strategist, Carol Roth.

Carol has a dynamic new book called The Entrepreneur Equation which I believe is essential reading if you want to thrive as an entrepreneur.  This is not the “same-old” re-hashed business B.S., but a no-nonsense book on how to stack the odds of business success in your favor and succeed in business for the long term. Check out the video above to see what I think about her new book (and see her amazing fashion doll – so cool!).

Carol has an amazing background in not only helping entrepreneurs like you, but she’s helped companies raise over $1 billion in capital.  She knows her stuff, which is why MSNBC, FOX Business and many other business outlets consistently feature Carol’s advice.

Because I believe this book should be required reading for both aspiring and existing business owners alike, I am giving away a Money Map to Freedom home study program as part of a creative pre-launch contest she’s put together:

http://theentrepreneurequation.com/special-offers/

By clicking on the link above, you’ll see some of the amazing bonus offers that Carol is giving away to readers who buy the book this week, including an exclusive 3-part Audio Series: Strategies for Getting Your Company, Your Product or Yourself on TV & Other Free Press! with Emmy award winners, TV anchors and PR veterans.  And, you’ll get the scoop on the generous prizes offered by entrepreneurs you respect and admire, including Liz Strauss, Les McKeown, Michael Port and many more.

Whether you win one of Carol’s amazing products or not, if you buy three copies of her book, you’ll receive access to an exclusive webinar and the first two modules of the Money Map to Freedom so you can begin truth-telling your way to the life you really want.

And, here’s the best part.  For every book purchased this week, Carol will be donating one book to SCORE.org, the national business non-profit, as a way to help as many entrepreneurs as possible to succeed.

So, I encourage you to grab one (or more) copies of Carol’s book to support your entrepreneurial goals and success while furthering a great cause:

http://theentrepreneurequation.com/special-offers/

By the way, if you want to donate the books to SCORE, you can still keep the entries and other bonuses for yourself, so be sure to check out the list of bonuses by clicking on the link above.

Carol’s contest expires on Friday, Feb 18 at 11:59 pm ET so go ahead and grab your bonuses today:

http://theentrepreneurequation.com/special-offers/

Oh, and if you’d love to see a behind the scenes evolutionary entrepreneur interview I did with Carol for my evolutionary entrepreneur series, you can get that here along with more than 30+ additional interviews with evolutionary entrepreneurs that will rock your world.

Over the years, I have referred people to my web team for graphic design/web work, my customer service peeps for customer service work and my business manager for bookkeeping only to occasionally discover a BIG problem.

After I make the referral, I see these folks asking for marketing and business strategy advice from the people I’ve referred them to for web, customer service, and bookkeeping.

Why is this a big problem?

Because while these folks may have picked up quite a lot of know how from me over the years about how to do marketing and build a business, they do not necessarily have the experience to be giving marketing and business strategy that works.

They are great at web design, HTML, customer support, bookkeeping and all the things it takes to make the business go and that’s what they should be used for.

But, do not rely on them for strategy.  Let me repeat that louder.  DO NOT RELY ON THEM FOR STRATEGY.  If you are taking strategic advice from anyone, make sure you are taking strategic business advice from someone who has done what you want to do.

As the CEO of your company, strategy is your responsibility. You provide the strategy and your team executes on it.

Yes, they can (and should) provide you with their feedback around your strategy (just today my team came through with some awesome feedback from the customer perspective that I would not have tapped into on my own), but they should not be establishing your strategy for you.

That comes from you. Ideally, with the guidance of an experienced business strategist who has done what you want to do if you don’t yet have the experience yourself.  Just don’t take business and marketing advice from folks who mean well, but ultimately are not going to be able to really help you grow your business and in the worst case may actually hurt your business.

Questions? Ask em below. I love to hear from you.

As I’m terming it, your Great Work is the divine combination of your inner work and your outer work.

Your inner work … the work you do on yourself to grow, to evolve your soul, to wake up to what’s real and true for you, to break free of the illusion.

You outer work … the way you put that work into service in the world.

Maybe you’ve heard the saying that is attributed to Richard Bach in Illusions and is well-illustrated by Mike Robbins personal life experience …  “we teach best what we most need to learn.”

And that my friend is where you find your Great Work.  The thing you were custom-designed to bring to the planet.

You find it in the lessons you most need to learn and continue to practice in your own life.

There is no better way to learn, evolve and grow from and with our most important lessons than by teaching those lessons and building a sustainable business model around doing it.

Every experience you’ve been given throughout your life – both “good” and “bad” – is  a gift to prepare you for what you are individually custom designed to bring.

Your Great Work incorporates what Gay Hendricks calls Your Zone of Genius in his book the Big Leap.  Dan Sullivan refers to it as your Unique Ability.  I’ve called it your Creative Genius.

When you are doing your Great Work, you are living all of that.

Are you ready to say yes to your Great Work? If so, do you know what it is yet? Have an inkling?  Or are you still just beginning to sense there may be something out there you were born to bring to the world?

I’d love to hear what it is for you and where you are with it.

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I’m hosting a free call on discovering and living your Great Work on Thursday, December 2, 2010.  Call details go out to those of you who are on my list, so please make sure to opt-in by requesting my Life and Business Growth Kit up in the upper right corner.  We’ll be sending the call-in details out everyday between now and Thursday AND sending the recording to those of you who couldn’t make it on Friday.  I’d love to “see” you there!  If you can be there live, do – I’ll be taking questions.

When I first started out in business, I felt lost.

I had an idea.  A way I could help people.  A family to support.

I thought if I could just combine those three things in a way that made sense, I’d be golden.

With that limited vision, in August 2003 I set out on the entrepreneurial journey.

Looking back now, with the benefit of  years of experience and several businesses under my belt, I can see how helpful it would have been for me to have a bigger picture vision right from the beginning.

I would have experienced so much less frustration, stress and worry if I could have known where I was in the grand scheme of things, where I was trying to go and how to know when I got there.

But, back then I didn’t necessarily even know there was a there.  And I certainly had no idea where it was.

Now that I’ve walked the entrepreneurial path for several years (and gotten waylaid a few times) I can see the outlines of a map that I’d now like to share with you.

Had I seen it at the beginning, my journey may have been less frustrating.

If you are in the midst of building a business (or a practice) that you want to be able to count on, that you want to know makes a difference in the world and makes plenty of money, this map will help.

I’m sure you’ve heard people say “make your choices from where you want to be, not from where you are” and while I agree with this wisdom, I also know it’s critically important for you to be fully grounded in the reality of where you are or the decisions you make from where you want to be will be filled with angst and pressure.

Freedom in life and business means being able to rest in the present while taking daily action to move forward without angst or pressure.

With that in mind, accept the reality of where you are and don’t give up.

Here are the three stages you must move through if you want to build a sustainable, meaningful business that will make a significant impact in the world.

Stage 1: The True Solo

Stage 1 is all about brand new-ness. It’s about the idea, the vision, and just getting started and getting it done. It’s about figuring out the revenue model (where the money comes from) and getting on the road to freedom.

Generally speaking, you are probably working alone or with a partner. There is no team support or perhaps one person helping you out on a part time basis. There are no systems. And probably just one revenue stream, which will be your main product or service offering.

Some businesses (primarily those called “practices”) may remain in Stage 1 indefinitely. Owners stuck at Stage 1 may feel frustrated, tired (or exhausted), and as if they are not making as much of an impact as they’d like.

Stage 2: The Enterprising Entrepreneur

When you get tired of doing it all alone, you’ll bring on some team. That’s one of the major signs you’ve made it beyond Stage 1.

You’ll also begin to realize that there’s a pattern to what you do and how you do it.  Yep, you’ve got systems and processes.

You are still working pretty hard, but you are spending more time working on your business than in your business.  And you may begin to explore and implement additional revenue streams.

Financially, you are doing okay.  You know how you make money in your business and you are constantly surprised by how much money it takes to make money.  You’d probably like to keep a bit more than you are.

While you have a team, you are the one managing that team, for the most part.  You dream of the day you get to spend all your time doing the parts of your business you really love and let go of the rest.

Stage 3: The Empire/Legacy Builder

At Stage 3, your work can continue on without you.  You’ve very likely got multiple consistent revenue streams within the company and you spend your time working either on the business or in the business, but not both.

If you got sick, took a long vacation or the long permanent vacation, your business would continue.

You’ve got documented systems and process, a phenomenal team, and other leaders in the company besides just yourself.

The transition from Stage 2 to Stage 3 will be harder than you expect, at least that’s my current experience.  I’ll update you if that changes.

And if you try to make this transition too quickly, the whole thing will blow up in your face.  I have direct experience with that from my attempt to transition out of my first business completely too quickly and without the right team in place.

Until your business is sold and under phenomenal new management that you totally trust, expect to be involved.  You may have some passive revenue streams via real estate or investments and your business may have some passive revenue streams as part of its revenue model, but don’t expect your business to provide you with passive revenue as long as you still own it.

No matter where you are today and how far it seems you have to go on the journey, if you are in business for yourself, stop for a minute and celebrate.

You are working for yourself.  You are in control of your destiny.  You are on the road to freedom.