Day Six-Experiment in Living Spontaneously

I used to think that running an organization was equivalent to conducting a symphony orchestra. But I don’t think that’s quite it; it’s more like jazz. There is more improvisation.
~Warren Bennis

Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.
~John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Today, “Creating Your” Day is about authenticity and leadership.  My goal with this blog is to be open and honest about my journey. This is about me being real. My writing has always been about that.  I am writing about my personal journey building my own business and the ease and discomfort of doing that.  I am writing about what it took me to get here.  That is about what creating my day consciously, is about.

Just because I am a Double Diamond in my company, which is a leadership level (it is six levels above entry level), doesn’t mean I have mastered all of the skills it requires and now I do them perfectly and I am not going to pretend that I do.  My gut feeling tells me it is freeing to others to know that it is not always easy even for the leaders.  I am just a person like anyone else, building a business. I got promoted into leadership one level at a time while I grew as a person.

When someone moves into a leadership position in a company there is an assumption that it is always easy and enjoyable for them and that they know everything.  People will say, “it is easy for you to do that” and “You are lucky, you’re a Double Diamond”, but it is not always easy, and comfortable and there is continual personal growth that happens even at the top. The distinction I will make is that because I am a leader, I am going to do something even if it makes me uncomfortable and I am not going to be afraid to say it wasn’t my favorite thing to do.

I don’t have years of experience in Network Marketing, I have been doing it for a several years and only seriously for three. I was a distributor in a couple of companies before I found It Works Global but  I have never built a successful business, this is my first. There are a lot of people in my company with years of experience or extremely out going personalities who are moving at warp speed and promoting quickly.  The beauty is you don’t have to have those two things going for you to make it to the top of this business.  You just have to have the willingness to do things that aren’t comfortable and get out of your own way.  That is the kind of company It Works Global is.

One of my reasons for writing this blog is because I love the business model of Network Marketing, because it is a vehicle for financial freedom for everyone, and I believe that anyone can do it.  I mean anyone. I would love to see everyone financially free and Network Marketing is one of the only ways that the average person can do that.  I think people quit as soon as it gets uncomfortable.  For some that is right after they sign up, for some it is when someone says ‘no’ for the first time, which could be the first day, and some people start to taste freedom and that makes them uncomfortable and they quit.

I am writing to encourage people not to quit, no matter what, and if hearing that it is not always easy for me to build my business, even though I am a leader, makes someone quit, they quit too soon.  They have just used me as their excuse to do it.

When I was still working and my job paid for all of my living expenses I could pick and choose the ways I wanted to build my business, based on what was fun and what was easy for me to do.  Now that I am no longer working, and the purpose of this  “Create Your Day Experiment” is to re-invent myself, how I do life and how I build my business. Now I have to do things that take me out of my comfort zone so I can expand and grow more.  I could pretend that it is easy smeazy for me to reinvent myself, but I would be lying.

I could just write about all of my successes, all of the great things I am doing as a leader and no one would ever have to know what is underneath.  Just think of all the people who would flock to me because I could be their fearless leader.  I could be shooting myself in the foot with this blog, but authenticity is more important to me.  If my admission of humanness makes me seem weak, insecure, fearful and not a capable leader….trust me, that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

I do have many natural-born leadership skills, including integrity, authenticity and creativity.  I am nurturing, supportive and a good listener and I understand human nature.  I am a visionary, intuitive, I can see from a more expanded view-point than many people, I know how to dream and make dreams a reality.  I am tenacious and I don’t give up.  The leadership skills and business building skills that I find more challenging are the things I am working on and I am not afraid to say out loud that I am not good at them and they are challenging for me.

Leaders are more powerful role models when they learn than when they teach.
~Rosabeth Moss Kantor

Interview with Mojo Bringer, Theresa Rose, Bring it on!!

Theresa Rose is new to the Twin Cities and we are blessed to have her. She has already made an indelible mark on many of us. She is a speaker, author and most importantly a bringer of mojo. She is funny while touching you deeply.  It is the mojo that I am really interested in! I am excited to interview her and share her with those who don’t know her.

Prior to becoming a writer and speaker, Theresa owned EnergyWorks, a healing center that provided bodywork, yoga and energy healing services. While at EnergyWorks, Theresa conducted weekly guided meditation workshops, was a nationally certified Reiki instructor, and taught yoga several times per week. As a Licensed Massage Therapist, Intuitive Healer and Reiki Master, she had a thriving healing practice where she helped people unlock physical and emotional blockages, understand and transcend core life issues, and ultimately embrace their personal power more fully.

Theresa is a former instructor at the Sarasota School of Massage Therapy, and a former hospice volunteer.

Theresa is an Ordained Minister of Prayer from the Center for Sacred Studies, having completed a two-year cross-cultural ministerial training program with emphasis on indigenous ceremony, ritual and transpersonal psychology. She is currently a Ministerial Guide at Lake Harriet Spiritual Community, one of the premier spiritual centers in Minneapolis.

Katelyn Mariah: I am a big fan of your work and the idea of bringing Mojo back into people’s lives. I am curious about how and when you were possessed by the entrepreneurial spirit and some of the forms it has taken.

Theresa Rose: Even though I had my first job at age 13, I never really felt the calling to be my own boss. I held several positions in Corporate America over the years, from Senior Manager of Product Marketing and Development for a Fortune 100 multinational to a management consultant of a boutique consulting firm. However, when I found myself without a job due to layoffs, I moved out of the traditional business world and into alternative healing. In 2003, I went to massage school and opened my own healing center. Once I got a taste of owning my own business, there was no turning back! Even though it can be incredibly challenging at times, I can’t ever see myself working for anyone else again. I guess I got spoiled!

KM: From Corporate America to Alternative Healing, that is a leap! Can you talk about where your interest in alternative healing comes from and why you chose that avenue?

TR:I have always been fascinated by alternative healing, and received my first therapeutic massage when I was in high school. Ever since then, I have had a deep connection with bodywork and energy healing. When I decided to leave Corporate America and move into a different direction, an intuitive I saw in Sedona suggested that I investigate a career in the healing arts. Since I already had a strong affinity for that type of work, it seemed like a natural avenue for me to pursue. I can’t get enough of it!

Opening the Kimono, by Theresa Rose

KM: I am really enjoying your book “Opening the Kimono”. What impresses me the most is your authenticity and transparency and your ability to talk about those thinks that most of us want to keep to ourselves.  As an author and artist myself, I understand how hard it is to be completely authentic. Many times I have put something out there and wished I could pull it right back because I was afraid of what people would think. I know you have had that feeling as well. Can you talk about the process of writing and how it changed you?

TR: Writing Opening the Kimono was life-changing in that I finally started to reveal myself in the deepest, truest ways, both to myself and the outside world. I acknowledged, and even honored, the many aspects of shadow that resided (and continue to reside) in me. Once I started to reveal my biggest secrets, I discovered that there was tremendous personal power contained within them. The bigger the release, the stronger I became. It was the single biggest therapeutic process I have ever experienced.
KM: Not only did it transform you when you shared yourself in that way but the reader is given permission to be okay with their shadow as well.  I love that part!

One of my purposes for doing the interviews is to show people that they can manifest their dreams by sharing with the reader, people who have done it. For example, you wrote a book and got it published and I am sure it was a long time dream of yours. I have dreamed of writing a book and having it published and had an agent. We were so close to getting it published but at the last-minute the publisher changed her mind. That was after making all of the changes she wanted to see, so I know how hard it is to have a book you wrote in your hands. Can you talk about what that process was like for you and how you got it published?

TR: When I finished writing my book, I was torn by the direction I should take it. My head told me to find a traditional publisher, but my heart wanted it out into the world right away! After a lukewarm attempt to get an agent, I decided that I was unwilling to wait for months or years to see my literary baby delivered into the world. As a result, I took on the major project of getting it published myself. I had my husband edit it with me line-by-line, and we hired a professional advertising photographer for the cover art as well as two book designers to complete the book. I did all of the research to get an ISDN number, a Library of Congress registration, a self-publishing firm, and a distributing company. Since I was doing all of the promotion activities myself, I also figured out how to enter my book into award competitions, book fairs, bookstores and other key outlets. It was definitely a labor of love, and I am so very grateful that I took the initiative to do it all myself. It was all worth it!

KM: I am glad you followed your intuition because it is an important book that will help a lot of people.

Theresa Rose has become known as the Mojo Bringing in personal development circles. I have heard of mojo but was curious about the real definition so I looked it on in the dictionary. This is what I found:

mojo: noun, pl , mojos, mojoes (U.S.)
slang

1. a magic charm, spell or influence. A black American concept, popularised elsewhere by its use in blues and rhythm-and-blues records of the 1950s and early 1960s. The word’s origin is thought to be West African, but no specific source has been identified.

2. mojo: that positive spirit toward what we are doing now that starts on the inside and radiates to the outside.

3. joie de vivre, that sense of being alive, joyful, and fully present in the moment. The path to finding your mojo differs for everyone. For some, mojo is a sense of purpose and meaning in your life. For others, it’s reclaiming optimal health or sparking their creativity. Some seekers find mojo by getting in touch with the divine, while others get their mojo by getting in touch with their sexual prowess.

Okay, now I am really curious to find out what a Mojo Bringer is, aren’t you?

TR: To me, mojo is the fire, the energy, the power that propels us forward to create juicy, magnificent lives. All of us have lost our mojo at one time or another, and there are simple, effective techniques that can bring us back to that place of unlimited power. In my keynote presentations, I talk about mojo busters (those things that sap our energy and cause us to live with mediocrity) and provide mojo boosters that can fill our tanks once again. Personally, I know that I am a happier, healthier, far more productive person when I utilize my mojo boosters. In fact, my nine year-old daughter made me a cheat sheet of my own program that I have taped to my bathroom mirror just to remind me every day on what I can work on!

KM: That is awesome Theresa, a daughter that is following in your footsteps!

If you would like to learn more about Theresa Rose got to her website:

http://www.theresarose.com/index.html

If you would like to hear her speak you can hear her at Lake Harriet Spiritual Community.  Check their events calendar at Lake Harriet Spiritual Community

To get a flavor for Theresa Rose check out the video clip below:

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Thank you Theresa Rose for taking the time to do this interview with me!

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