Discovering Your Inner Samurai Blog

The Heroine's Journey - Return

Tuesday, we began exploring the Heroine's Journey as it relates to today's Accidental Pren-her. Today, we conclude with the third stage our woman's journey as she travels from Accidental Pren-her to entrepreneurial women.

There are three stages to every Heroine's Journey. They are:

• Departure
• Initiation
• Return

So far, we've covered the first two stages: departure and initiation.

Today, we'll focus on: RETURN

The last part of the Heroine’s Journey is the return home. Before returning home, however, there is usually some sacrifice required of the heroine—something that she must leave behind. Quite often, it is some aspect of the heroine’s ego that must be sacrificed; other times it is something physical.

Regardless, the sacrifice is always some part of us that needs to be transformed. Some part of us that is holding us back from becoming who we are and from achieving what we most desire.

When I was a teenager, I remember reading Hinds’ Feet on High Places by English author Hannah Hurnard. This beautifully written allegorical book had a great impact on me. It was my first encounter with the feminine version of The Hero’s Journey. It is the story of a young woman named Much Afraid, and her spiritual journey away from her Fearing family and into the High Places of the Shepherd, accompanied by her two companions Sorrow and Suffering.

Together the young heroine and her allies pass through many dangers and fears as they mount to the High Places. One by one, Much Afraid faces and overcomes her doubts, turning her weaknesses into strengths and her fears into faith. At the top, she is required to sacrifice something very dear to her — her heart. And when she does, she is transformed, given a new name, and returned to the valley with truth, new awareness, and a deep knowing. She returns with gladness in her step, a smile on her face, and a new willingness to be of service to humankind.

(Excerpt from Chapter 6 of my book)

This is the kind of transformation that takes place along The Heroine's Journey. What gifts have come your way, once you let go of something? What new awareness did you have as a result? What new opening occurred?

Susan L. Reid
The original Accidental Pren-her™

Author of Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success

Susan L. Reid
The original Accidental Pren-her™

Author of Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success

The Heroine's Journey - Initiation

Yesterday, we began exploring the Heroine's Journey as it relates to today's Accidental Pren-her. Today, we continue with the second stage our woman's journey as she travels from Accidental Pren-her to entrepreneurial women.

There are three stages to every Heroine's Journey. They are:

• Departure
• Initiation
• Return

Yesterday we talked about Departure.

Today, we'll focus on: INITIATION

After the heroine has accepted the call and sets off down the road, she must cross the threshold between the world she is familiar with and the unknown world. This is the heroine’s road of trials. The time when she is tested. Where she is honed and strengthened by the journey.

Sounds rather daunting, doesn’t it? Well, there is good news. We don’t travel this part of the journey alone. Many allies and friends will walk with us. Some known, some unknown. Some will protect us. Others will guide us. Still others will be older and wiser to provide sound counsel and sage advice. Those we meet will provide us with the tools and insights for the adventure ahead. This is the part of the journey where we go it together. Where synchronistic events, seemingly chance encounters, and the most unexpectedly helpful guides come to assist us and walk with us along our way.

Remember the scene in the movie version of The Fellowship of the Ring when Gandalf tells Frodo that he is no longer safe in the Shire, that the ring Bilbo has left him is the One Ring, the ring being sought after by the Dark Lord Sauron? This is the moment of Frodo’s call to action. He and his beloved Shire are threatened if he stays. He accepts the call to take the One Ring to Rivendell, and at that moment, Sam appears, to walk by his side, to accompany him, no matter what.

Together they set off on their great adventure. Everything is going along just fine until Sam suddenly stops at the edge of a cornfield. Frodo keeps walking ahead and hasn’t noticed for a few seconds that Sam is no longer with him. When he does, he turns back and sees Sam looking down at the ground in front of him.

“What is it, Sam?” Frodo asks.

“This is it. If I take one more step, it will be the farthest from home I’ve ever been.”

This is what the experience of crossing the threshold between what you know and what you don’t know is like. This is the place between worlds. Between what is familiar and what is not. No matter how excited you may be on our journey, that place where you cross over can stop you in your tracks. You don’t know what lies ahead. You are in new, uncharted territory.

This is the place where many small business owners get hung up. Where they are foiled. Where they become fearful of moving on. What do you call this place? I’ve heard it called ‘sitting on the fence.’ Others say this is the place where the ‘rubber meets the road.’ What’s the experience like? One client of mine described it as the feeling of straddling two planets with one foot on Earth and the other on Mars. Another client said she felt like she was straddling the Grand Canyon with one foot on the north side and the other on the south. Both felt what Sam felt — a coming to the end of what is known and understood.

(Excerpt from Chapter 6 of my book)

Who's walking beside you? What friends, allies, and guides are with you on your journey from Accidental Pren-her to entrepreneurial woman? To go it alone would be unbearable. Companionship makes it bearable, even enjoyable.

Susan L. Reid
The original Accidental Pren-her™

Author of Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success

The Heroine's Journey - Departure

For the next three days, we'll be exploring the Heroine's Journey as it relates to today's Accidental Pren-her. We'll be using  Joseph Campbell's own research into the Hero's Journey as our model, adapting it specifically to a woman's journey as she travels from Accidental Pren-her to entrepreneurial women.

There are three stages to every Heroine's Journey. They are: 

• Departure
  
• Initiation
• Return

Today, we'll focus on: DEPARTURE

The adventure begins when the heroine receives a call to action. The call to action, according to Campbell, usually comes when “a blunder — apparently the merest chance — reveals an unsuspected world, and the individual is drawn into a relationship with forces that are not rightly understood.” This activating event is often seen as a threat to the peace of the individual or the community. It is often brought on by another person, an outside event, or a spiritual occurrence.

If you are someone who has been downsized from the corporate world, has lost your job, or has quit simply because you’ve had enough of working for someone else, then this is your activating event. If your children have recently left home or you are newly divorced, this is also an activating event. Mine was a spiritual experience; what was yours? Maybe it was the death of a loved one. Perhaps you’ve come into some money, or maybe you’ve had a near-miss accident. Whatever event it was, it became your heralded call for change: A call to action.

Once the call is received, the heroine has a choice — to accept or decline. There is always that choice. No one is ever forced to go on a Heroine’s Journey. This is one of those times when the decision is a singular decision. It is up to you to decide if you are going to heed the call to action or not. If you say yes, your world will change. If you say no, it will still change, though in a different way. Campbell explains, “Refusal of the summons converts the adventure into its negative. Walled in boredom, hard work, or ‘culture,’ the subject loses the power of significant affirmative action and becomes a victim to be saved.”

For those who are contemplating becoming a small business owner, this is the time when you decide if you will or will not venture forth. If you will or will not take your first steps toward entrepreneurship. Will you heed the call or become a victim to be saved? No matter what your decision, the fact remains, something unexpected has happened in your life that is shaping who you are and what you do today. You can’t go back. You can never go back to the time before the call. Will you go on?

Many of us don’t. However, the few who do are changed forever. The Heroine’s Journey shapes us, transforms us, and spits us out whole with a fire in our bellies and a deeper inner knowing than we’ve never had before — an Inner Samurai knowing.

Do you feel called to something yet unknown? Has something unexpected happened in your life? If so, you are at the beginning of the Heroine's journey

Susan L. Reid
The original Accidental Pren-her™

Author of Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success

Laura Varn and Julie McWherter on Accidental Pren-her Podcast

Business podcast with Laura Varn and Julie McWherter – subscribe now via iTunes.

Today’s guests are Laura Varn and Julie McWherter of prettySMART!. Laura and Julie are sisters who joined forces to invent practical, fun and useful items for women. In this interview you’ll learn how they came up with their personal business name, and what it’s like working together as sisters.  

• Listen to the interview. (If needed, click here to access easy download instructions page.)
• Read the transcript.

This episode of Accidental Pren-her: Stories of the Unexpected podcast is brought to you by Green Career Central. A one-stop career site to help you identify your green niche, research the green economy, and find your place whether you want to land a green job or start a green business.

8 Bare Bones Essentials to Take to Establish Your Home-Based Business Identity

Whether you're a freelancer, small business owner, or solo prenuer, here are the bare-bones steps you'll want to take when starting up your business. These 8 steps will help you establish your identity as a business and show people that your business is legit.

1. Chose your business name and create a tag line. One of the videos in our Turn Your Business Dream Into Reality Series, "Five Characteristics of Great Business Names" will show you how to pick a great name for your business.
2. Make sure you have a business address and phone number just for your business. Avoid using your home address and telephone number.
3. Get an employer ID number (EIN) with the IRS.
4. Open a business checking account. Keep your business expenses and income separate from your personal checking account.
5. Create a logo for your home-based business. Shop around on-line for low-cost design options. Low-cost. Not cheap. Unless you're a graphic designer, don't create your own logo.
6. Order your business cards. Again, shop around for low-coast options. Unless you have a laser printer that can handle heavier card stock, don't print them yourself.
7. Order your business stationery. Often you'll be able to get this done at the same place as your business cards. Ask about a business start-up package deal.
8. Put up your business website. It doesn't need to be flashy or costly. It does, however, need to look professional. 

Happy starting up!

Susan L. Reid
The original Accidental Pren-her™
Award-winning author of Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success

The Inner Samurai Business Leadership Video Series

 Introducing the debut of The Inner Samurai Business Leadership Video Series

Conscious business decisions. From the inside out.

The Inner Samurai Business Leadership Video Series has been established to help the conscious business woman clarify her own sacred and powerful Way of doing business in the world, and gives her the tools and techniques to take her powerful Inner Knower out into the business world to prosper and thrive.

Inner Samurai Business Leadership means women doing business the Inner Samurai Way with strength, integrity and honor.

Here's our first video: How to Use the Law of Attraction for Deliberate Creation.

When you're done watching, let us know how helpful this was to you.

The Inner Samurai Business Leadership Video Series

 Introducing the debut of The Inner Samurai Business Leadership Video Series

Conscious business decisions. From the inside out.

The Inner Samurai Business Leadership Video Series has been established to help the conscious business woman clarify her own sacred and powerful Way of doing business in the world, and gives her the tools and techniques to take her powerful Inner Knower out into the business world to prosper and thrive.

Inner Samurai Business Leadership means women doing business the Inner Samurai Way with strength, integrity and honor.

Here's our first video: How to Use the Law of Attraction for Deliberate Creation.

When you're done watching, let us know how helpful this was to you.

The Inner Samurai Business Leadership Video Series

 Introducing the debut of The Inner Samurai Business Leadership Video Series

Conscious business decisions. From the inside out.

The Inner Samurai Business Leadership Video Series has been established to help the conscious business woman clarify her own sacred and powerful Way of doing business in the world, and gives her the tools and techniques to take her powerful Inner Knower out into the business world to prosper and thrive.

Inner Samurai Business Leadership means women doing business the Inner Samurai Way with strength, integrity and honor.

Here's our first video: How to Use the Law of Attraction for Deliberate Creation.

When you're done watching, let us know how helpful this was to you.

What an Entrepreneur Is Not

Every wondered what an entrepreneur isn't?

I don't know about you, but I've always thought in terms of what an entrepreneur is. What qualities characterize her, motivate her, and inspire her. Then, I came across this guest post by Marty Zwilling over at blogtrepreneur and began looking at entrepreneurship differently.

"Not Everyone is an Entrepreneur" looks at entrepreneurship from the flip side . . . what an entrepreneur is not. Here are five characteristics from Marty's list that I think are important for women entrepreneurs to know.

1. “I like my life structured with clear decision criteria.” Entrepreneurs do not function well in structured organizations and do not like someone having authority over them. Most believe they can do the job better than anyone else and will strive for maximum responsibility and accountability.
   
   
2. “Handling problems causes me stress and pressure.” Entrepreneurs are comfortable in stress situations, and are challenged rather than discouraged by setbacks. They may actually be uncomfortable when things are going well, and are not troubled by ambiguity and uncertainty because they are used to solving problems.
   
   
3. “Balance and family are important in my life.” Entrepreneurs may devote a disproportionate time to the business. During tough business periods, they will concentrate their energies on business operations, and may stay on the job for extended periods of time. Even at home or at social events, the business is always top of mind.
   
   
4. “I love to get awards for my efforts.” Entrepreneurs find satisfaction in symbols of success that are external to themselves. They like the business they have built to be praised, but they are often embarrassed by praise directed at them personally.
   
   
5. “Risk and uncertainty cause me to lose too much sleep.” Some of the best entrepreneurs talk about the highs they get from taking a big risk, and the euphoria they feel when they beat the odds. They live for these feelings.

If you'd like to read the other five characteristics that are on Marty's list, you can read the rest at Blogtrepreneur. 

Happy reading,

Susan L. Reid
The original Accidental Pren-her™
Award-winning author of Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success

Three-tier Leveraged Renenue Model for Coaching

This question came in from one of our readers. If you have a small business question that you'd like for me to answer, let me know.

Q: "How do I go about creating product and service packages for my website?"

A: When you think about what products and services you are going to offer and how you're going to package them, consider this business model: 3-tier leveraged revenue.

Here's how it works:

1. Design your high-end product or service first. Then work backwards from there.

2. Have the rest of your products and services funnel into your high-end product or service.

3. Create three tiers:

•    Low: something in the $97 or below range.
•    Middle: something in the $197-497 range.
•    High: something in the $500-997 range.

First, outline your high-end product or service. This is the one that folks probably won't buy now, although they will be ready to purchase it later on, after they get to know you and have tried out your other products and services. Don't go into too much detail planning it all out. Just outline it. From an energetic standpoint, writing down and seeing what this product or service looks like will begin attracting it to you.

Then develop your first and second tier services to flow into your third tier service.

Coaching Product example:

1. Your first tier may be a home-study course that includes a CD, checklist, assessment, and book for $97.

2. Your second tier could be a group coaching program or online teleseminar. The key here is that it is structured, at a specific time, for a limited period, and geared toward getting a specific result. A three-month program that has regular group calls, downloadable stuff, and 20-pages of documentation per week could easily be priced at $297.

3. A high-end offering would be a platinum program focused on your signature offering, extended over a longer period of time. It could include one-on-one coaching with you each month, monthly group mastermind calls, monthly expert interview calls, and one or two live, in-person events, all for between $500-900 per month.

If you have a small business question that you'd like for me to answer, let me know.

Susan L. Reid
The original Accidental Pren-her™
Award-winning author of Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success

What's in Your Marketing Funnel?

Today . . . I am thinking about this question that came in from one of our readers. She's been in business for a couple of years and wanted some suggestions about what to put into her marketing funnel.

If you have a small business question that you'd like for me to answer, let me know.

Q: What's a marketing funnel and what goes in it?"

A: A marketing funnel is a visual representation of the actual products and services that you are offering your prospects. The point of a marketing funnel is to keep people flowing down from the top of the funnel to the bottom. As you go deeper into the funnel your products and services will be priced higher and higher, until you get to the bottom where your highest priced offering awaits.

Here's how it works: Picture a funnel—wide and open at the top and tiny and narrow at the bottom. At the top of the funnel is where you want to get as many prospects in as possible. At the bottom of the funnel is your highest priced product or service. In the middle are in-between levels and prices.

Three Steps to Creating Your Marketing Funnel

Step one: Get your prospects into the funnel by offering them something free, such as a special report, e-Book, e-Zine, PDF chapter from your book, intro teleclass, or tip sheet. The important thing to keep in mind when creating your free offering is that it must be of value to your prospects. In other words, it must be something that they want. In exchange for signing up to receive your freebie, you get their names and e-mail addresses (leads).

Step two: Strategically fill the middle of your funnel with information products and other programs to sell. This will give your prospects the chance to "sample" you and get to know you at a lower price point before committing to your highest priced product or service at the bottom of the funnel.

10 Information Product Ideas for the Middle of Your Funnel

•    Audio Programs (MP3s or CDs)
•    Books
•    E-Books
•    Home Study Courses
•    Special Reports
•    Teleclasses
•    Teleseminars
•    Video Programs (MP4s or DVDs)
•    Webinars
•    Workbooks

Step three: Choose 2-3 high priced and highly sought after products and services for the bottom of your funnel, such as, private consultations, extended coaching packages, weekend live workshops, or a year-long personal mentoring program.

That's it!

Do you have any other suggestions? If so, leave a comment and let us know. And, if you have a small business question that you'd like for me to answer, let me know.

Susan L. Reid
The original Accidental Pren-her™
Award-winning author of Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success