It’s my pleasure to introduce you today to Cydney Smith, a certified holistic health coach who specializes in mompreneurs.  She’s so up our alley!

Briefly, what are the highlights of your career story?

I’ve had an adventurous career, having worked as an outdoor leader and environmental educator, a professor in environmental studies for several years, a co-founder of a dog sledding adventure business, a co-founder of a nationally recognized life coaching and mentoring program for young adults, a mother of two girls, and my current career as the founder of Mompreneur Wellness and as certified holistic health coach.

As best as you can currently understand it, what are you here to do? Who are you here to serve? What difference do you make for your clients?

To create a new vision for healthy eating for the modern women that is based on nourishing a vibrant life. I help busy, creative moms who are creating a lifestyle for themselves that allows them to pursue a career, their passions and be the primary caregiver raising their family– many are entrepreneurs or women who have created or obtained flexible scheduling options with their work.

Moms are on the frontlines of creating a healthier nation. Feeding kids healthy meals, learning to eat to nourish our bodies, and finding the time to do all the steps necessary for self care and eating healthy is daunting. And most of us didn’t grow up learning to cook or eat healthy, whole foods.

How do you define “success” for yourself?

Having the health, vitality and happiness to enjoy life.

What changes have you made or experienced in your life and business that have enabled you to experience more ease?

Learning to have clarity. Connect with my priorities. Keep things simple. Practicing this is what keeps the ease going.

What would you love your next breakthrough to be?

Publishing my book, and supporting 50 women in the upcoming Mompreneur Wellness healthy eating kickstart program.

What brings you joy?

My family, travel, adventure, laughter. Wholesome, nourishing foods that are fresh and lovingly prepared. The outdoors. Being with friends.

As a successful Brilliance-Based Businesswoman, what’s the best piece of advice you have for other aspiring Brilliance-Based Businesswoman out there?

‘Know thyself.’ Take the time to be who you are. Nourish your dreams and get clear on how you want to feel and on what you value.

What’s the best way for others to learn more about what you do?

Grab a copy of the guide I have for free on my website at http://MompreneurWellness.com. Sign-up to receive it and you will also get the weekly Upgrade – one tip, trick or shortcut to healthier eating for busy moms. 

Connect with me on Twitter (@cydneysmith) and join the Mompreneur Wellness Community on Facebook.

Of course, the best way to find out what I do is to ask! Send me an email with any questions or schedule a free consultation. My contact information is at http://MompreneurWellness.com.

For most Brilliance-Based Businesswomen, you ARE your business. Your business brand is very integrated with your personal brand. And this very fact is what often confuses business owners when they think about promoting!  Often times you are using one voice to connect with people and share your personal thoughts and personality and another voice entirely when you talk about your business and “push” products and services. It is so easy to fall into this trap. For me, using the same voice to promote my personal and professional brand is critical!

Here are a few thoughts about authentic promotion from my perspective as a Business Strategist and Brilliance-Based Businesswoman.

• Promotion is just another form of connection. My goal is to truly connect with people so they understand what I am all about and what my business mission is all about. When I have fun with it, it flows naturally and does not feel manipulated or forced.

• I adhere to the philosophy: Give, Give, Give, Get.  I give value, ideas, feedback, and content more often than I promote one of my programs, products or services.

• Easy way to have fun promoting: Comment on forums, blogs and collaborators’ Facebook posts. Recommend people, retweet them, offer answers to questions posed on social media- especially when they are in your area of passion and expertise. Contribute!

• Understand that when you ARE your business, you are always promoting your business.  Carry your brand as proudly at the grocery store as you would at a networking event.

Stefanie Frank, Initiative Based Writing

When I write to promote my business, it’s all about what the reader — the prospective client — is going through. The writing lens is focused on the reader’s needs, not my needs.  Writing from a place of empathy and compassion, and with personality, is the best way to attract new clients. It’s also true service and advocacy, rather than rhetoric and emotional button pushing.

Being visible through marketing is a key to business success — and can also be incredibly scary. Practicing the art and science of influence and advocacy through writing meaty marketing materials not only helps you attract ideal clients, it supports you in managing the fear and uncertainty that inevitably pop up when you’re truly committed to growing your business.

Great writing is the foundation of great marketing – as is keeping all promises you make, in every link, every sentence, every paragraph, every blog post, every white paper, every web page. Committing to great writing and keeping the promises that I make in that writing is how I promote my business in a way that feels authentically great and in integrity.

Christine Silvey, Empowered You

The simple answer is, I walk my talk and I share myself with others from my heart in full transparency. In doing so, my hope is people know they are not alone and that they CAN overcome the heartache, the excuses, and the struggle to create new possibilities beyond what their Thinking Mind wants to tell them.

When I began my coaching career over 10 years ago, it was out of deep calling to shine the light so others can know how magnificent they truly are – not the stories, beliefs and habits that cover over our brilliance, but the incredibly powerful humans we are to create whatever we desire in life, once we distinguish and clear the inner barriers.

This became my passion and purpose because I personally had experienced a transformation that was beyond my wildest imagination.  Years of suppressing my voice, hiding my wisdom, living with fear, shame and regret had buried the real me.  It was only when faced with multiple life-altering challenges that I got the wake-up call that radical change needed to happen.

Jennifer Urezzio, Know Soul’s Language

One of my Soul Languages (AT: how I will be known here) is called the Teacher of Integrity, so being authentic is a must for me and my business.  My first career was in public relations. That left some scars, so when I first started my business, promotion was a struggle.  What I realized wasn’t so much as the vehicle of promotion as it was the “come from place.”

Here are a couple of truths I keep in mind when promoting a product, a service or ME:

• I only have to be one step ahead of my community

• A powerful leader knows it is safe to be vulnerable

• I let go of what people are going to think (because it really is about me sharing my vision, so others who are waiting to hear that message can hear it)

For me, it really has to do with knowing that I’m of value and that I have something profound to share with the world.  If the world doesn’t know that or have a place to access that, well …

I check in with my Soul and the Soul of my business, if it doesn’t feel right than it isn’t right for me.

Do you have confidence about Your Brilliance? Without that knowledge, you might find it challenging to promote yourself – to prospective clients, employers, or even social connections – in integrity. Has this post resonated with you?  Then today’s the day for you to take this one step toward living with more joy, ease and prosperity. To learn how you can articulate and express Your Brilliance in every aspect of your life, career and/or business, visit BBBSalon.com or email us to arrange a brief one-on-one chat.

Meet the connect2 Brilliant Blog Panelists:

Christine Silvey is a highly sought-after Master Coach, Transformation Leader, Spiritual Mentor, Healer, Speaker, Trainer and forthcoming author with specialties in evolving consciousness, leadership and communication effectiveness, business building mastery, and transcending psycho-emotional-energetic dynamics.

For over 10 years, Christine has guided men and women from around the globe to GET OUT OF YOUR HEAD AND INTO YOUR LIFE™. Through her highly effective coaching programs, Christine can guide YOU to transcend the Thinking Mind and open to a New Way of Being in the world.  To learn more about Christine, and how she can assist you with deep change ~ profound results™, visit http://www.empoweredyou.com.

Jennifer Urezzio is the spiritual director and founder of Know Soul’s Language – a way to create a conscious connection with your Soul.  She guides leaders and healers to create a more conscious deeper relationship with themselves and the Divine.  Download Jennifer’s free report 5 Days to a More Powerful Life with Soul Language at http://www.knowsoulslanguage.net/?page_id=1360.

So much for that idea and the illusion of safety.  The spirit of divine dice rolling gave me the opportunity to spend three days with five of my dear colleagues, my coach, and, you guessed it – horses. This weekend of wisdom was facilitated by master horse whisperer Anna Twinney and Vin Mancarella of Reach Out to Horses.  To say I was terrified and intimidated going into this would be an understatement.

What I knew for sure about this weekend was that resistance and terror aside, I was willing. I was called here for a reason (even if it was with the firm nudge of my coach) and I could either sit on the sidelines and whine or show up fully.  To me there is no other option but to show up fully. How you do one thing (a retreat, vacation, class, relationship, etc.) is how you do everything.  You either show up or you take a backseat in your own life.  You either commit or don’t.  Maybe does not exist.  There is no try.

I also knew that I would trust deeply. I already knew I trusted my coach implicitly.  If she knew and trusted our facilitators (basically trusted them with our lives and safety) then so would I.  I was fully in and ready to go deep quickly.

A great reminder to be careful what you wish for!

Considering it took under five minutes for Anna to see through my story and basically call me out on what would be my biggest challenges, I knew I was in for a ride.  I’ve only had two people ever meet me for just a few minutes and then throw me that soul piercing “I see right through you and have I got a challenge for you” look.  Both times had been intense and life changing. I thought uh-oh, here we go!

So, what did I learn from my expert human guides and incredible horse teachers? SO very much.

Intention and Energy Trumps Actions

While actions may speak louder than words, your intention and energy speaks louder than actions.  Never has this been so obvious to me than in working with the horses. On our first day we learned to lift the hoof and clean it.  Guess what? If you’re not clear, strong, and direct about lifting that hoof, the horse will never lift it. I had to shift my own energy from tentative and petrified (I had to move through my terror about even being near or touching the horse) to deliberate leader.  If I had not made this shift I would still be there trying to lift that first hoof a week later.

Later on in the weekend we had to move and guide the horses while they were loose in the ring.  Once again without a very clear intention and strong energy you are certainly not going to get a horse to move or to stop.  This was so obvious as people would approach the horse standing big and tall and then poof nothing happened. You can take all the “right” actions but if you’re not confident and clear on the inside, that horse is going to blow you off and do exactly what it pleases.

There is No Halfway

You cannot kinda sorta make a request of a horse. They will just stand and look at you with a “what the hell?!” look. You will also get the same “huh?!” response if you send him mixed signals.  So often in business and life we try to straddle the fence.  The conversation in your head sounds like: If I don’t jump all in, it’ll be safer.  The problem is that “on the fence” leaves you without clear intention, half-hearted commitment, and therefore half-hearted (if any) results. Not to mention this in-between position is painful (and I’m not just talking about fence wedgies).  It’s downright torturous to be living in that middle ground not quite having what you want but fooling yourself that you’re doing all that you can to make it happen. Horses don’t do in-between for a reason.

It Isn’t Personal

When a horse blows you off, tells you that you are full of it, or decides to do his thing instead of your request, it’s not personal.  It’s not because you’re not good enough, not worthy, not tall enough, short enough, thin enough, smart enough… you get the picture.  It’s not about you.  You may have triggered something in the horse that causes him to do something, but in the end it has nothing to do with your innate worthiness.

How often does a co-worker, client, or friend do or say something that throws you into a death spiral of negative thoughts?  Something gets said, confidence plummets and you essentially feel like a fraud wondering who am I to be brilliant?  While there can often be something to learn about ourselves in any situation because all things are our mirrors and teachers, it isn’t personal.  The horse is just being the kind of horse he is.

Staying Stuck in Your Head Will Get You Killed

When you have a 1400 pound horse (or two) running at you, you do not have time to think.  That is not the time for pro and con lists, mental gymnastics, or deep analysis of your options. Over thinking (frankly thinking about it at all) will get you run over. I mean could you see saying “Excuse me, Mr. Horse – I need to run some regression analysis on this first!” Yeah, right…

On our first morning Anna said to me that my biggest problem would be staying out of my head so I don’t get killed when a horse is running at me.  When she said that (remember – it was still introductions, I was still terrified, and I knew this woman for maybe 30 minutes, and I was thinking bond with horses not running loose in a ring) I really wanted to just pee my pants or leave. My mentor even said afterwards – wow you were brave to just sit there and take that in! Yet, I know that despite all my breakthroughs with getting out of my head and into my heart (that have led to me creating Intuitive Intelligence(TM)), there is a new level of evolution still calling to me and this is it.

So, when I was asked to be in the ring with two loose horses and a teammate, I had to show up in a big way, decide, and act on pure intuition (and verbal guidance from our horse whisperer of course). It was breathtaking, exhilarating, and amazing fun to learn in this way.  We accomplished our goal of guiding the two horses to stand in a particular space and hold them there with our presence and leadership.  The deep lesson I learned about strong heart-felt leadership, trust, and teamwork in those moments will be with me for a lifetime.

We All Want to Give and Receive Love and Healing

Love is all there is.  The greatest spiritual leaders and even the Beatles have shared that message far and wide and it is true.  All beings desire to give and receive love and healing and that can only happen from our heart (not our head) in a place of willingness and trust.  I’ll admit that my favorite way to learn is in a space with excitement and movement like we did with the horses in the ring.  Yet I learned something equally profound in the stillness of the stall while offering energy healing to a horse.

My experience with a feisty show-off of a horse (coincidentally one of the horses from the ring the day before) was extremely gentle and loving. I felt he really did want to receive love and healing and that in some way he desires to be seen in a deeper way.  It took some time to get beyond the distractions that keep all of us at a superficial level of relating (let’s say he was going to keep chewing hay until he was ready to receive).  Yet with patience an opening to a deeper experience was shown.  Because of the nature of this exercise, it is hard to explain in words except to say that I know in those moments that he experienced the healing power of release and love as did I.

To Wrap-Up…There are experiences that change who we are and the way we navigate in the world.  They stay with us forever and fuel everything that is to come in some alchemical way.  I’m blessed to have had another one of these experiences.  It really was a journey from terrified to terrific – I now see horses and myself in a little different light and for that I am grateful.

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Paula Gregorowicz, owner of The Paula G. Company, helps you stop living a double life so you can discover and successfully create the work you are meant to do in the world. Through the power of Intuitive Intelligence (TM) you will learn to make wiser decisions with ease as you break free from the tyranny of your own mind that holds you back from your greatest success and enjoying the journey. Download the free report – Your Own Uniqueness: The Path to Purpose, Prosperity, and Playfulness at http://www.intuitiveintelligencecoaching.com and visit her website at http://www.thepaulagcompany.com.