At the peak of his business, David had just released his book, Get Paid For Who You Are, and was burnt out, tired, and depressed.  During this stressful time, he asked himself what he’d do if he had six months to live.  The conclusion was to spend more time in Bali, which would ultimately shift the course of his life as he sold everything, subleased a Balinese villa, and resigned from the Transformational Leadership Council.  

Only too soon, David had to leave the country after issues with housing surfaced.  And once again he found himself wondering what would be next. Should he go back to coaching?  Would he build another business? What mattered to him now?

Here are 3 lessons from David’s leap of faith:

Doubt is Part of the Process, Embrace it. David wants you to know that it’s ok to have doubts when you don’t know how life is going to look.  In fact, he shares it’s a natural function of the brain to have doubts and to want to control outcomes when we’re exploring unknown territory.  It’s less about how much doubt you will or won’t feel and more about how you take action when those doubts are distracting you from your potential.  

If you’re in a downward spiral of doubt and fear, there’s likely a voice inside of you that really wants to know the answers to feel safe and secure.  There’s nothing wrong with this aspect of you. It’s actually a process that sometimes serves a magnificent function — protecting you from danger. But sometimes that function works overtime and can distract you from delivering your best.   How you go about changing your day will vary from person to person, but the best you can do is allow yourself the space to not know the answers and keep moving and grooving.

Have Faith in Your Risk Taking. According to David, it takes some simple faith to keep taking risks, especially when it comes to business.  He sees this pattern in many where life seems to get harder before it gets easier, almost as if it’s testing you through the dips.  It takes faith to keep putting in the time while seeing little return but as you stay focused others will likely start to see that you’re serious about what you’re up to.

As you go through the ups and downs, you can switch up your strategy and refine your process, but keep taking consistent action.  While David suggests this mindset, he also recommends continuously discerning whether or not your efforts are providing real value to people or if they need some reevaluating.  Keep going to reap the rewards, and hopefully, when it rains it pours.

Share Your Solutions to Reinforce Relationships. Each iteration of David’s career has seemingly angled him closer to what really lights him up while continuing to be the best allocation of his time, energy and talent.  When David first got started, he created a newsletter that ultimately attracted a high performing audience of 150,000. This information sharing model created the foundation that set him up to easily share free solutions, while simultaneously building a network of followers that had a solid sense of who he was.  

Building rapport with your clientele is helpful in gaining trust and interest in your offerings.  Whether it’s a consistent stream of articles, podcasts, or other forms of content, providing your audience with value will sow seeds that you can reap the benefits from.  

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Amelia Broughton is a relational facilitator, writer, and purveyor of connection, pioneering a more connected, communication-savvy, and emotionally intelligent planet. She has facilitated Authentic Relating and Relational Leadership in a 9-month training named T3 (Train the Trainer), in workshops with companies such as Authentic World, Authentic Revolution, and Authentic Relating Training International, around the world in communities such as Unconventional Life and Momentom Collective, and in the past year has facilitated monthly events at Archipelago Clubs in Denver, CO. 

Amelia’s writing has been featured on mindbodygreen, in Conscious Lifestyle Magazine, Boulder Lifestyle Magazine, and The C3 Method.  An active Unconventional Life member, Amelia consistently contributes her writing.