Letting Go for the Highest Good (& a Big Opportunity for An Online Business Owner)

We’ve all heard the saying “If you love something, set it free, if it comes back to you, it’s yours.” Right?

I think it’s probably most said in the context of love and relationship, but it’s equally true in every area of life, including business.

I first discovered the power of it after I created my first information product – the Kids Protection Planning Kit.

I invested $15,000 or so to make the Kit only to have it selling in dribs and drabs that were not going to get me the freedom or impact I had been hoping for when invested my time, energy and money in creating the thing.

I wanted so badly to make it work.  But then I hired a very expensive business coach who told me to drop it and focus on something that would make me money, so after much kicking, screaming and resisting, I did.

I let it go, redirected my energy and attention and instead created a program to teach lawyers how to engage more clients.

On my first teleseminar for that program, I did $117,000 in sales, went on to do about $225,000 total over the following six weeks and today that program is still my flagship, bestselling program in what eventually became a multi-million dollar business making a huge difference in the lives of the lawyers it serves.

That would not have happened if I had not let go of the kit for parents.

What’s interesting though is that the Kids Protection Planning Kit ultimately came back and became the foundation for my book on legal planning for parents and the licensing program in which we, in part, teach lawyers how to reach and serve families with young children.

None of that could have happened if I hadn’t set it aside.

What Can You Let Go of Today?

Let it go, if it comes back, it’s yours and will be far better than you could have imagined.

I heard this reinforced on a recent program by Andrea Lee of Wealthy Thought Leader when she suggested that the solution to overwhelm is to be willing to let go of that which is most precious.

Easier said then done. Especially when you love something or someone so much that you just want to cling to it so it never gets away. At least it is for me.  Can you relate?

I’ve been holding on to my businesses like this.  My babies, my Great Work.  Thinking that just because I created the work I also need to be the one to get it out into the world, build a team around it, manage that team, run the show, etc.

As a result, I’ve been running two businesses for several years and running myself into the ground along the way.

And I can see now how it has been holding me back and putting what I really want — health, happiness, freedom – at risk.

The truth is that I am a starter.  I love to start things, create amazing programs, offer them to the marketplace and sell them, but I am much less good at creating teams and systems around my work.  I’ve done it twice now (first in my law firm and then in my lawyer training business) and both times it was extremely painful.

I’ve come to accept that while I could do it a third time, I do not want to.  Not and also run my business that serves lawyers and the woman and mom I want to be.

I had to choose.

So I gave myself a break for the past few months.  I reduced my expenses, all but stopped taking on clients, stopped selling my programs and let it all go to see what would come back.

It became exceedingly clear that it’s time for me to let go of my work serving entrepreneurs, for now.  The Money Map and LIFT are amazing programs that can be integrated into someone else’s Great Work.

It’s funny to me that it’s the lawyers that came back.

But of course it makes sense in so many ways.  I am uniquely suited to serve lawyers even if I do freak many of them out with my progressive nature and hippie dippy lifestyle.

There are very few other lawyers (probably none) who can provide the tools I’ve developed for attracting, engaging, and retaining clients plus the same kind of insight into the crossover between the practice of law, entrepreneurship and client service in the context of a new law business model than I can.

In contrast, there are lots of amazing online business owners who can serve entrepreneurs.

So I’ve decided to find one who can integrate my Great Work, the Money Map and LIFT, into his or her Great Work.

And it’s super scary because it’s the ultimate in letting go.

In 2008, I sold my law firm to a man who ran it into the ground and virtually killed it within 6 months, stopped paying the bills, took care of the clients horribly and ruined what I had built.  From that experience I learned that the single most important part of this process is that I choose someone I will love to work with who I can trust to serve my clients and my work exceedingly well.

This is a huge opportunity for the right person to leverage everything I have created into their own business and get my strategic mind and sales ability on their business along with it. 

And this time I am holding out until I feel totally sure I have found the right person who can turn my work into legacy work that lasts well beyond my participation in it.

This time, I will not settle just to get it done.  I’ve gotten myself into a position where I can wait, if necessary.  It’s not ideal and opportunities will be lost if I do not find the right person soon, but I am letting go and trusting for the highest good.

Instead of naming a price and terms, I’m having a contest of sorts to find the right person and establish the terms of the transaction.  I will tell you this much — these programs brought in more than $800,000 in revenue over 18 months and because they are information products they do not require a massive overhead to sell or service them. They do require sales and marketing strategy and implementation.

If you have existing infrastructure, they can likely slide right in to your existing relationship pathway and enhance what you are already doing substantially.

All of that is outlined in a letter I wrote about the opportunity.

If you think you might be that person, email me at [email protected] and let me know why.  If I feel that there is real potential, I’ll send you the letter I put together fully detailing the opportunity and next steps.  If you think you might know the right person, please send hm or her this blog post.

I’m curious how all of this lands for you.  Please share in the comments — even if you have something negative or judgmental to say — because it helps me to keep the pulse of reality beyond my own personal experience.