If you want to have a great life or a great business, you must have a vision of what you want to be, do, have or look like. Refine that vision until it is crystal clear- clear enough that you can hear the customer say “I love your product”. Write it down or paint a picture of it and put it on your mirror, your bulletin board or someplace that you can’t help but see it every day, the more you see it the better. You might even try an Invision Mirror. Clarity is power.

I am a small business guy through and through and I think that everyone should have the experience of working in a small business so that they know what it means to be a big fish in a small pond. This is not for ego, but for meaning. In a small business every person counts and every person is crucial to the success of that business. Knowing your importance in the bigger picture brings meaning to what you do. I think too many people are stuck in corporate jobs in which they can’t really see their part in the bigger picture, sometimes they can’t even identify with the vision of the company and it is just a grind for a paycheck with no meaning. During my time in the corporate world, I saw first hand the negatives of corporate detachment, inefficiency and blurred vision, but the company had momentum and I think that is the only thing that keeps many big businesses going.

My wife and I have now owned our own business for five years and I left my corporate job nearly three years ago. In the last 18 months, I have started two new small businesses and I am having more fun than ever, but it is not without challenges. At one point about two years ago, my vision was to own multiple small businesses but I soon found myself with the businesses, but very little revenue from them. I never lacked passion, but I lacked clarity. In hindsight I think my vision should have been for multiple sources of plentiful income, but all things happen for a reason, so I am grateful to have refined my clarity even though it cost a lot of time and money to learn that lesson. That lesson is a valuable part of who I am.

So how does a small business gain that momentum to keep it going? Passion is the fuel for the fire of small business. As an owner or potential owner you have got to feel that passion and let it shine brightly for others to see. It is all about the energy that you put out.

I am an owner so that I can serve on a higher level- I want to create things, products, services, jobs and wealth too. I also want to serve as a positive example to others and make my customers happy with great products and service. When I look in the mirror every morning, I make it a point to look myself in the eye and have a little pep rally to make sure my attitude and my energy are fine tuned for the day ahead.

I am currently exhibiting at a trade show and I love the interaction with buyers and other exhibitors. Quite a few times in the last three days I have heard people say that they love our products. I love to hear that and it makes my passion burn brighter. I am actively working on my vision and my clarity for 2010. How about you?

Tom Milton

A Harris Interactive Poll found that 80% of us are not living our passions.  Are you part of the 80% or part of the 20%?  A Gallup poll found that only 28% of American workers were actively engaged in their jobs- that leaves a whopping 72% of us who are just going through the motions to earn a living and exist. 

There is a lot more to life than just existing and we all have our unique gifts to bring to the world.  Our passions are those gifts and The Passion Test points out where we need to make changes in our lives that enable us to use those gifts.  The result is wonderful. 

When we are aligned with our passions, we become clear on what is most important and we focus our energy on those things.  This enables us to better serve others and fulfill our purpose here on earth. 

There are several ways to take The Passion Test- you can read the book (and do the exercises yourself), you can attend a group seminar or you can work one-on-one with a certified facilitator.  Tom and Stuart Milton are both certified facilitators for The Passion Test and have worked with people from all over North America.  Contact them today in order to find your purpose and live your life to the fullest.

First of all, an Invision Mirror combines a mirror with a vision board.  Mirror work helps you connect with yourself on a very deep level in order to realize and accept yourself.  I now look myself in the eye quite often and I accept myself for who I am right now. It was not always this way. I went through many years of my life not realizing how disconnected I was from who I really am.  The payoff of reconnecting is that I am much more spiritual, creative and happy. Most people use a mirror many times a day to comb their hair, brush their teeth or check their makeup, but they never really look themselves in the eye.  It is only through acceptance of who we are, right here and right now, that we can truly manifest meaningful change.

Second, an Invision Mirror has a cork or magnetic board that makes it very easy to attach things to.  By using push pins or magnets you are able to easily relocate or replace any item on the board.  I may want to relocate an item to make room for something new or perhaps replace an image of something that has already manifested in my life.  My goals and my dreams can and do change, so I want to keep my Invision Mirror current with what is going on in my world. It is a work in progress just like my life.

Last, but not least, the Invision Mirror elevates the vision board to a piece of art.  Typically vision boards are made from magazine clippings and a piece of poster board or foam core.  They are intentionally quirky collages of meaningful images and phrases that are collected from various sources and pasted to the board.  Because they look a bit like school projects, vision boards often get put in an out of the way place and “out of sight is out of mind”. The cork board Invision Mirror is hand framed in beautiful hardwood moldings and is perfect to hang in your home or office. There are lots of moldings available to suit your style.

Live the life you Invision- Begin Now!

People are acutely interested in being sustainably happy. Finding that special job, lifestyle, new skill set or meaningful project is reason enough to hire a coach.  They want help in finding a compelling vision for their future and moving forward very, very quickly, even if it means big changes in their life. 

People want to get ahead faster at work or in their business.  A coach can act as a mentor, catalyst and source of support; whatever the client needs to get them where they want to go. 

The following is taken from the “Top 10 Reasons To Hire A Coach” by the late Thomas J. Leonard, one of the founding fathers of personal coaching. 

1. You will set far better goals that will motivate you. Your coach will help you identify and set the goals that you really want, not the shoulds, pipedreams and goals of your parents or society. Your coach will help you clarify your personal values, so that you have something really solid on which to develop your goals. When your goals are based on the things you value most, they are more naturally motivating.
2. Accomplish goals, tasks and projects much more quickly. You can learn how to be far more effective, efficient and productive in everything that you do.
3. Make fewer mistakes in your business life or in your personal life. With a coach, you don’t have to learn everything from your mistakes.  This takes too long and is expensive!  Mistakes are more costly nowadays what with the greater pace of change.  Your coach will keep an eye on you and help you make better decisions, reducing the risk of mistakes.  Working with a coach can be like taking out insurance against making mistakes.
4. Move up to the next level in your professional and personal life.  Almost everybody is moving up a ladder of some sort- business success, personal development, awareness and emotional balance, for example.  Your coach can help you see where you are right now and point out ways to grow and get to where you want to get to. Or, if you are not even on the ladder, the coach can guide you to the right one, or at least the one that is leaning up against the right wall and help you get started on your path (please excuse the mixed metaphors!).
5. Reduce the number of problems you have and better resolve those that are left.  The first step in solving a problem is to ask yourself why you have this problem.  The second step is to ask yourself why you have problems at all.  The third step is to get on track to having no problems at all- being a Problem Free Zone (PFZ). This is not a joke. Being a PFZ is becoming even more important along the path to sustainable success.  Life’s too short and problems are too expensive.
6. Make more money in your career, profession or business.  Clients don’t keep paying their coaches just for the fun of it.  Although money isn’t everything, coaching can help you to improve the financial bottom line. You can work with your coach on, for example, getting a raise, choosing a better career, starting a business, improving profitability, adding more value for your customers, proper pricing, productivity and more.
7. You’ll be a lot happier and this happiness will last.  Coaches know how to help you reduce stress, integrate all aspects of your life, simplify or downshift and reorient around what makes you the happiest. What good is increased productivity and profitability of you are not happy?
8. You’ll be much more effective and influential with others: family, business and personal relationships.  A coach can help you come across better, relate well with others, listen aggressively, influence, coach, motivate and support others.
9. You’ll become much more attractive to others – on the inside and on the outside.  Selling, as a profession and as a proven technique/process, is changing dramatically.  Why? Because humans are getting better at choosing for themselves and buying smarter.  Humans will respond less to advertising and selling techniques and instead be drawn to a product or service and they will be more likely drawn because of who is offering the product or service.  This process has been called attraction- and it’s real.  It works. And it will replace much of the promotion, marketing, selling, seducing and other very expensive budget items.  Attraction is the next generation of selling and an experienced coach can help you and your business get on this track immediately.
10. You’ll have a better life, not just a better lifestyle.  The term Quality of Life has become overused in the past few years, but the trend of seeking to create a much better life is accelerating.  In fact, people are re-examining what they had assumed that a good life was (married, 2.3 kids, nice car, secure job, 4 weeks of vacation a year) and are now creating their own lives, often breaking the rules and flying in the face of conventional wisdom in the process. 

These words were published back in 1996, but are truer today than ever.

The Invision Mirror comes in two versions The first is a corkboard with a mirror inset into the middle. The mirror and the corkboard are beautifully framed in hardwood picture frame moldings. The second version is a painted metal board with a mirror in the center.

The life you are creating is a masterpiece and the Invision Mirror frames it like the fine art that it is! Post images, words, prayers and affirmations representing your goals, dreams and passions on the cork or magnetic surface. Hang the Invision Mirror in a place that you will see it often.

The Invision Mirror is a powerful new tool that allows you to literally put yourself in the middle of all that you want to create in your life. Seeing yourself surrounded by all that you wish to manifest as you reconnect with yourself by doing mirror work makes truly and deeply believing in your dreams easier and that is where the shift begins.

Combining a vision board and mirror work is very powerful and a lot of fun! It’s like holding a pep rally for yourself every time you look at your Invision Mirror! Starting your day with a few minutes in front of the Invision Mirror will change the way you approach your day. You can raise your energy level significantly in a very short session in front of the Invision Mirror and you will be amazed at how quickly you start to notice changes in your life.

The Invision Mirror is a powerful new tool that allows you to literally put yourself in the middle of all that you want to create in your life. The corkboard with a mirror inset in the middle are beautifully framed in hardwood picture frame moldings. Images, words, prayers and affirmations representing goals, dreams and passions can be on the cork surface.

Seeing yourself surrounded by all that you wish to manifest as you reconnect with yourself by doing mirror work can make believing in your dreams much easier. Tom Milton, a life coach who invented The Invision Mirror, says combining a vision board and mirror work is like holding a pep rally for yourself every time you use it.

“Starting your day with a few minutes in front of the Invision Mirror will change the way you approach your day,” says Milton. “You can raise your energy level significantly in a very short session and you will be amazed at how quickly you start to notice changes in your life.”