The biggest reason we get stuck or overwhelmed is fear. 

But that's not what we say to ourselves. We don't say "I'm stuck, where is my fear and what can I do about it?" (Ewww, hard!)

In fact, we probably don't say anything beyond "Hmmm. That's hard...

...I wonder who's on Instagram Stories today?"

But once we've procrastinated through Celeste Barber's latest hilarious and inspiring offering (hello, how amazing has her Tom Ford stuff been?) we often seek out a different form of procrastination, hiding, staying stuck and staying small. We tell ourselves we need more information, more knowledge, more qualifications, more strategies, more expert advice or another free podcast, blog post or download before we can move forward. 

When we're stuck, our fear uses logic to persuade us to stay safe. We tell ourselves that all we need are strategies. Steps. A direct path from A --> B. That level of clarity is enticing, but not always effective in getting us unstuck. 

Clarity...

Knowledge doesn't create change.

If knowledge were enough to create change no-one would be smoking, drinking in excess, overeating or over-indulging in the many of the wonderful things that we love but are 'bad' for our health. We know it's 'bad', but we do it anyway. Knowledge alone does not create behaviour change. 

Action alone, also doesn't create change. 

*insert audible gasp and outrage from the entrepreneurial coaches out there screaming 'action' and 'hustle' and 'no plan b' from the rooftops. 

So many of the courses and coaching programs I come across online are delivering (and even harping on) about action-oriented programs, when a large segment of their audience and/or client-base are not yet prepared for action, and will not be well served by action-oriented approaches. 

People who are not yet prepared for action are often seen as procrastinators, lacking in motivation or conviction, and even ambivalent to...

When I decided to become an Occupational Therapist, I didn’t decide I wanted to make money first and then do the training. That’s absurd. I did the training, then I used my training to make money.

When you start out in business though, you seem to think there are different rules. You tell yourself things like “I can’t pay for training, my business isn’t making any money yet…”

When we (my husband and I) realised this was an absurd mindset, our business started to take off. We realised that the skills we needed to get us here, weren't going to cut it to get us over there, to where we wanted to be. 

In fact, a lot of what we had learned at school and in our previous jobs, needed to be unlearned if we were going to make it in business!

We paid for training, so we could become the people capable of having a successful business. The investment wasn't always in business training, it was in our own...

Why?

Because it’s not my job.

Every time we use language like “Can you please help me unpack the dishwasher?” “Can you give me a hand to hang out the washing?” or "Can you do x, y, or z for me?" we’re sending a message that it’s our job, but it would be ever so kind of you to help us get it done.

It’s not my job to manage the house. It’s our collective job.

Whenever my 5-year old says “I don’t want to unpack the dishwasher.” I say “Neither do I. But it’s one of the jobs that our team has to do so we have clean plates to eat off.” If there’s still resistance (come on, of course, there is) there is the reminder that he can choose not to, but there might be things later that I choose not to do, that may affect him.

It goes something like this:

“Dad and I don’t always WANT to spend our Saturday at a 5-year-old friend’s birthday party. We don’t always WANT to make...

When I first decided to build an online business, I invested in some online courses. I'm all about learning from other people who have done what I want to do. I also really love a good structure, so when some online experts told me they'd share the exact steps they took to achieve online success, I was sold. 

The importance of being your authentic self was casually raised in module one of my first-ever online course (about how to build an online business).

At first glance, it seemed easy. Be authentic. Got it. Let’s get on to the ‘real stuff’ like showing me the exact steps on how to build my social media following and actually make money while I’m growing my business (like it said in your marketing blurb which, by the way, totally drew me in).  

The real stuff involved a lot of content building. Not just any content, content that is extremely valuable to your audience. Content that could be delivered in a myriad of ways -...

WHO THE F IS MY AUTHENTIC SELF?

We live in a time where we no longer have to hit our 30s, have our children and get stuck with the decision of whether to continue in our less-than-fulfilling, not-quite-flexible-enough jobs, OR become a stay-at-home parent. We live in a time where we have so many more options now. We can create our own opportunities, some say, because we can access 'the world' with little more than a smartphone and an internet connection.

But because it is easier than ever before to start a personal brand based business, LOTS of people are doing it. There are minimal barriers to entry (or so it appears at first glance) and the marketplace is NOISY.

If you want to be heard over the noise, it's no longer enough to be better. It's no longer enough even to be different. You need to be able to genuinely connect with your audience. You need to know not only who you are and what it is that is that sets you apart, but how to communicate that online...

When I see world-class, life-changing work, I never think "I could do that!"

When I read an average book, see an average-quality blog, watch an awkward video, sit through a shitty workshop, complete a lack-luster course, or listen to a boring person speak, I often think "I can do this!"

Brilliant work is enjoyable, phenomenal, inspiring.

Mediocre work moves me to act. 

In fact it's how my career started. A friend of mine in high-school was in a catastrophic car accident. He worked very effectively with his Physiotherapist. However, he refused to work with his Occupational Therapist. Not because the work wasn't important, but because her approach didn't have the chemistry he needed to be inspired to act. 

I looked at her and thought, 'I like the meaning behind this. I can be effective at this.'

The world is made up of mediocre people doing brave things. People who are not as smart, funny, creative, confident, experienced, knowledgeable, inspiring or committed to...

Two years ago I made the extremely exciting decision to build my online business.

I wanted what we all want: to quit my day job, leverage my income, to work from anywhere, to be able to work flexibly around my children, all the things that are attractive to this vocation.

I got caught up in the whole “All you need is a laptop and an internet connection and you can make money online” thing and started an online course about how to build my online business.

The very first thing you learn from the plethora of people vying to teach you how to launch your 6 and 7-figure business is some variance of ‘the world needs that thing that only you can offer’, ‘just be your authentic self' and, ‘if I can do it so can you’.

So many of these online business courses then follow a similar line in my experience, with the whole ‘you can make money before you’ve even built your online course’ thing. They teach us to do a Beta Test of some sort...

I've got a massive fire in my belly about enabling my kids to experience self-worth. 

Maintaining or building self-worth, I believe, is a life-long project. I say I want to enable my kids to experience it because it's not content based learning. It's not something you can teach by repeating "You are worthy! You are worthy!" We have to create an environment that allows them to experience it as part of their own truth.

This morning George (4) wakes up, stumbles bleary-eyed to my side of the bed and wiggles down into my arms under the blankets. 

"Good morning George."

"Good morning Mum."

Pause. Cuddle.

"I'm very proud of you."

"Why? What did I do?"

Break through Mother moment. At 4, George already feels as though he has to do something tangible, physical or external for me to be telling him I'm proud of him. That he has to have been good at something, to have been kind, helpful, beautifully behaved, made great choices, you know, some display of pure awesomeness if...

SHOCK. THE ONLINE BUSINESS COURSE YOU DID DIDN'T HELP YOU LAUNCH YOUR ONLINE BUSINESS INTO THE STRATOSPHERE!

So you’ve done an online course about building a business, and it turns out it’s freaking way bigger, way more challenging and way more expensive with more moving parts than (a) you could have dreamed of and (b) ‘they’ first lead you to believe when you made that *huge* step and purchased the $2K course!

If you’re anything like me, you got drawn in with promises like:

“All you need is a laptop and an internet connection and you can start making money online”

and

“Anyone can build an online course; you have a unique gift that only you can share with the world!”

and my favourite,

“I’m going to show you the RIGHT STEPS in the RIGHT ORDER (or the ever popular my exact BLUEPRINT) so you can build a business and life that you love.” 

HOW YOU FEEL

You've done the course, you've an idea of what steps you...