I know many people who would probably argue that success is meant to be easy. Many believe all we have to do is visualise our goal as already achieved, or chant a mantra, and it will all miraculously drop into our laps. And of course for some this does happen.

But we are all different. We all have different belief mechanisms. We all have different paths. And we are all here to experience the physical realities of what we feel about what we create in each moment.

It’s probably fair to say the physical and spiritual realities combine. We decide what we want and begin to work towards it (physical). We then have feelings about what we create (spiritual). This causes us to refine our actions until we either give up or succeed.

A few years ago, I found myself before a judge, giving evidence against someone I used to love. I had been abused by this woman and there were allegations that the same was happening to my daughter. There had been masses of paperwork in the ten months leading up to a final hearing (physical) and the issues raised made me question my own lack of guts in the past and the whole concept of love. My spiritual challenge during these months was to show love and compassion for my ex partner while doing what I had to do for my daughter – and of course answering my own failings as a human being before a Court.

I also took on different challenge. I decided to lose some excess weight. Having declared my intention the universe tested me, both physically and spiritually. During this time, and with a coach to reflect my behaviour, I learned more about my mind, body and spirit than I bargained for. I’ve since been blessed with the opportunity to coach others on the journey to better health and wellness.

Why do I mention these episodes?

In both cases I could have given up, lacked the relentlessness, lacked the guts, determination and backbone to nurture the skills I needed. Had I done this, through my failure to take action I’d probably have resigned one person to abuse for the rest of her childhood. In the other I’d have denied a great coach the ability to show off his skills and earn his living. And maybe, just maybe, as a result of all I’ve learned I might now go on to inspire something special to come from within others I come into contact with.

What if you contributed to one persons happiness today? What if you also inspired someone too because you found the skills and the relentlessness to go beyond the point most people do? What would your family be like in ten years? What would your friends become? What about your business? What about your village or your town?

You see, we can change the world and we do it through evolving our own consciousness. What skills do you have to find and when will you begin to apply them relentlessly in order to make your ripple of change in the world?

Much love and good wishes to you. I hope 2011 is your most magnificent year yet!

Neil

Neil Fellowes shows conscious entrepreneurs, coaches, consultants and complementary therapists how to make a difference AND a profit. Visit his website at http://www.communitysoul.co.uk

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Would love to have you answer these questions: Have you contributed to one person’s happiness recently? Do you think this inspired someone else to do the same and go beyond the point most people do?

“Resolve to make at least one person happy every day, and then in ten years you may have made three thousand, six hundred and fifty persons happy, or brightened a small town by your contribution to the fund of general enjoyment.” Sydney Smith

What's your ripple? Have you tried to move away from the same old patterns and find fresh new ones?

New Year is traditionally an opportunity for a fresh start, but all too often, within days, we’ve slipped back into the same old ways as the previous year.

If things didn’t turn out in the way we hoped during the last year, then perhaps returning to the same old patterns and principals and accepting the world as it is, is not our most inspired idea. I think intellectually we understand this, which is why we make New Year resolutions and declarations of change at various points throughout the year.

If Edison hadn’t continually made changes to his experiments, I might not be writing this article with a light bulb shining over my desk. Like Edison’s experiments, it may be part of our grand design: to experiment, acknowledge the results, what they mean to us and then modify what we tried. Therefore each time we try, we move closer to the experiences we most desire.

I wonder if our resolutions are an opportunity – a golden nugget – to get to know our inner self. When we make the resolution to give up smoking, to lose weight, get fit, get rich or find love, we are resolving to find something of real value about ourselves.

Whenever we declare a change the Universe responds to us. It asks us through our in-the-moment experiences: Do you have what it takes? Are you determined? Will you work hard enough? Will you stick at it? Do you have the backbone? Guts? Relentless focus? Do you love it?

Following our resolutions we may discover a few things. Maybe we are lazier or have less willpower than we thought. Perhaps we beat ourselves up too much, get depressed, fail to understand others, or play out a victim role.

Remember: It’s the journey that counts – not the goal!

How are your resolutions going?

Best Wishes
Neil

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Have you made any resolutions this new year? If not, why not? If so, have you followed through. Would love to hear from you, so feel free to add a comment.

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Neil Fellowes shows conscious entrepreneurs, coaches, consultants and complementary therapists how to make a difference AND a profit. Visit his website at http://www.communitysoul.co.uk

I don’t recall one school lesson that taught money management skills. My guess is that your experience is quite similar.

The lure of money pulled me out of sixth form early. I’d found a job and the thought of stacking money up in the bank and also having stuff I fancied but previously couldn’t get had a massive appeal to me at seventeen.

I worked hard and soon became the best sales person I could be. With the commission, I was soon able to buy myself a car. I found a girlfriend and later began to enjoy things like beer and clubbing. When the appeal of all that died away, I settled down: got married, got a monthly repayment – commonly known as a mortgage – and had my first child. All fairly typical up to this point.

I bought a mortgage because I’d heard that a house was an asset. As no one had ever shown me what an asset looked like on a financial balance sheet I fell for it, hook line and sinker, because the truth is a mortgage is not an asset to me. But it is to my bank. My mortgage was in truth a liability to me.

What’s an Asset?
Good question. An asset is something that earns you money. How much does your mortgage earn you? Most likely your mortgage costs you. For example an £80,000 mortgage over a normal period at a usual kind of rate will mean repayments of around around £210,000.

Does that sound like an asset?
Sure you can argue that your home will rise in value. But does that earn you money? Probably not. Here’s why.

Your bank knows that you won’t complete the term. They know that in 6-8 years you’re going to move on and take out another loan, usually a bigger debt and a bigger loan.

A Mortgage is ‘For Life’
The word mortgage is derived from the French word ‘Mortif’ which literally means ‘For life.’ And this is most likely where your bank has you… for life.

Why the Rich Get Richer…
The rich get richer because they understand more about money than most people do. They got educated. They know that working for a living means you get taxed and pay your NI contribution before you get your hands on the money. So they go into business. This means that they take their legitimate expenses off pre-tax, pay less tax and end up with more disposable income from the profits.

Why Become Self-Employed?
When I became self-employed – and this may be true for you too – it wasn’t for tax breaks, but to get out of the rat-race and do something I loved, while at the same time creating freedom of time. The tax breaks are a bonus – well, they are if you can earn enough.

The problem for many self-employed people is that they know how to do their task, say massage therapy or homeopathy, but don’t have the marketing skills to drive a stampede of customers through the door. That’s why so many businesses end up closing within three years.

I’ve put together my top tips for spiritual people on earning money.  These are below. They cover business as well as personal expenses.

1. If you pay money out on loans, a mortgage or a credit cards, you do not have assets, but liabilities. You are therefore the banks asset.

2. Begin to educate yourself financially. Is it your wish to see your money be put to uses you approve of? There are some excellent books on making money from money. Start to read them and edge towards financial freedom, rather than financial control.

3. Reduce your expenses to a minimum. Find 10% of your income and use it to reduce your loans. Wealthy, financially free people, know to always clear their debts as early as possible. Once your debts are paid, you can invest in the kind of good, ethical business you believe in.

I hope these ideas help you.

Best, Neil

Would love to hear your opinion. Feel free to add a comment.

Neil Fellowes shows conscious entrepreneurs, coaches, consultants and complementary therapists how to make a difference AND a profit. Visit his website at http://www.communitysoul.co.uk

By the time any of us reach 30 years of age, we’ve probably been through some “stuff”.

In life that might be something like a divorce, or in business it might be as big as a bankruptcy.

So a typo on your website or a broken link in an email or fluffing your words in a talk is nothing, really, in the scheme of things.

Imagine you’re a footballer in a cup final with five minutes to play, and you just made the mistake that could cost your team the cup. What are you going to do, cry about it and wallow in self-pity for a decade afterwards or pull yourself together and bust a gut to lay on or score the goal that makes amends?

You may remember David Beckham in 1998, kicking the Argentinian and getting sent off. He had people hanging effigies of him from lamp posts and others sending him hate mail. But he came back strong. Almost single handedly, he qualified England two years later for the Euros.

You look at the German and Japanese economies. Decimated during the war, but by the 70-80′s they had the most productive economies in the world.

So what I’m saying is don’t sink when things don’t go quite right. Feel the pain or the frustration and then work with the blessing of gratitude that you noticed that at some point in the past you didn’t do things quite right and now you’re noticing the detail. Accept the change to get it right and make it happen.

An area I had to work through in my business life was walking away from opportunities on the point of breakthrough.

To me, this felt like boredom. I’d taken something and moulded it, then wanted to move on to the next thing. The results of what I did in business echoed through my life – lots of nearly moments.

What I needed to look at was what I needed to do to break this habit, so I could actually mould my business into what I wanted it to be.

The thing to remember is: just because you didn’t succeed the first time or even the second time, it doesn’t mean you can’t ever achieve what you want in business.

Like David Beckham, or like the German or Japanese economies or like I did, you can always come back from a so-called “failure” and succeed.

But in truth, we never fail, we just find another way not to do something.

Happy successes
Neil

Would love to hear from you — leave a comment and tell me how you’ve overcome failures.

Neil Fellowes shows conscious entrepreneurs, coaches, consultants and complementary therapists how to make a difference AND a profit. Visit his website at http://www.communitysoul.co.uk

Has your mind taken over your spirit?

For most of us, we are driven by what seems to be our needs – emotions and wants. Those needs and wants are driven largely by what we perceive success to be. These perception are created by our masters…

Masters?

Yes, masters. I’m talking about the masters who taught and still teach us how to think and behave. I’m talking about our parents, teachers and peers. I’m also talking about the media, advertisers and clever marketers. Together they make us formidable machines that are driven by unconscious minds.

We literally become machines that will behave in an almost pre-programmed manner, irrespective of whether the current situation warrants the usual behaviour. Some of these masters condition us over time, others plant triggers in our heads, better know as subliminals.

It works like this:

In a relationship I act out the kind of behaviour I saw my parents act out.

In life, I act out the kind of metaphors my parents gave me – work hard for a living, money doesn’t grow on trees. I live these day-in, day-out.

When I sit down to watch TV, I like to sit down with food. If I forget, the advertisers remind me. Before I know it I’m in the kitchen hunting food, despite the fact I want to lose weight and have good dietary habits during the rest of the day.

The trick is to reverse the cycle – get the spirit to drive the mind. Here is how:

1. Sit down in a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed. Now ask your spirit where it would like you to go next on your life path.

2. When you have an answer, consider the possibilities of what needs to be done to get you on that path. Don’t get any fixed or rigid ideas.

3. Create a plan that you think might work and begin to probe and see if things work.

4. Monitor what happens. See where the plan works and see where it takes you and where it doesn’t.  Be aware at all times of when the mind kicks in and tries to take over, saying you ‘should do this‘ or ‘you should do that.’

Whenever the mind takes control you begin to run on auto-pilot. You have to become what they call in quantum physics, the observer.

How do I become the observer?

Simple. You have to learn to monitor your thoughts and begin to question them. By questioning them you become aware of them and can then choose which ones serve you and which ones don‘t. This is much more profitable than making the same mistake ten times and wondering why you keep getting the same result. The question here is always about who is in control…

Was the spirit driving the mind or was the mind driving the spirit?

Love and Good Wishes
Neil

Leave a comment and tell me what drives you — your mind or your spirit? Why?

Neil Fellowes shows conscious entrepreneurs, coaches, consultants and complementary therapists how to make a difference AND a profit. Visit his website at http://www.communitysoul.co.uk

If we accept our comfort zone and never step out of it, we will never be all we can be. In this article I want to explore this, using children as the theme.

When you change what you do, the world around you changes.

I’m sure most of recognise that there is something we’d like – an experience or an opportunity that we haven’t had yet.

A number of people reading this article will want life to be be better in some way. They may want this change to happen but they may not be wandering around 24/7 trying to fix the problem.

But here is the truth. The problems most of us face are “back of mind” issues rather than “front of mind”. What this means is that we go from day-to-day coping, but never really healing the issues that gnaw away at our happiness.

Because these issues are back of mind, they are rarely noticed. They may be thought of every few week or months when the issue starts to cross a pain threshold.

For example, your teenager may be rude to you at 7.30am, but as the day moves on you might not think about that again until it happens again later. Then you wish it would be different, but then you forget about it again.

Years ago, when I was a stepparent to two children as well as a parent  to two of my own, I recognised the pains and stresses of blending two families together, especially when the kids were rude and disrespectful. Things didn’t work out in that relationship and when I left I had some issues to heal in my parenting.

I didn’t always like how my own children behaved and it would have been easy to blame them or try to change them, but I recognised that they were who they were because of who I was.

This is so because they reflected what I taught them about how they could be through my actions. So, it made sense when they did something I didn’t like, and I needed to change what I did that may have caused that to happen.

The result has been that the frustrations and pains, many parents have, just dissolved for me, one issue at a time.

It’s been nine years since I started practicing this and with one teenager and one tweenager, I’d have to go back almost 5 years to when I last felt stressed with my kids’ behaviour.

In fact, the other day I was saying how they have both become amazing people who I would readily choose as friends, because of the fine qualities they demonstrate.

So many parents feel exhausted, stressed and disrespected. Yet it doesn’t need to be that way. Just ponder what you have done that allows or causes them to be who they are. When you change what you do, the world around you changes.

Lossa love
Neil

What have you accomplished from ‘change’? Leave a comment!

Neil Fellowes shows conscious entrepreneurs, coaches, consultants and complementary therapists how to make a difference AND a profit. Visit his website at http://www.communitysoul.co.uk

When you set a goal, that’s just the beginning.

What is it you need to do next to have your vision happen?

Decide on your goal - work out a plan - then move forward.

Way One – The Planning: Do you have to write a plan? Pick up the phone and ask someone for help? Find a mentor?  Is there a book you need to read? A website you need to go to? A product you need to buy? Help you need to enlist?

Make a list of all the steps and make a start. Then proceed.

But it’s not just what you need to do…

Way Two – Take note of the things that cause you discomfort or the things you usually leave undone. It’s madness that we do that kind of thing, but we do!

Why do we do it? We do it because we actually don’t like change much. And why would we? After all, we just spent our who life getting this way, so why would we want it to be any different?

For me, too often in the past I left details undone, so it tripped me up. I didn’t tidy up the little snags. For you, you might notice other things you do that trip you up.

These things that trip you up are things that cause a disconnect with a prospective client or customer, so you have to resolve these snags.

Way Three - When you notice you are doing something that stops you from achieving your goal, you find a solution.

There are other things that can stop you from getting the results you want.

Some people might know they need to make sales calls, but shy away from it. But remember, just because your business needs sales calls made, doesn’t mean you have to make them.

Like with all business problems (and life) you just need to find your way around the problem… over the problem or through the problem.

From there all you do is keep checking on what might stop you. Doing this closes the gap between what you want and where you are.

Happy results!
Neil

Leave a comment and tell us what you do to get results!

Neil Fellowes shows conscious entrepreneurs, coaches, consultants and complementary therapists how to make a difference AND a profit. Visit his website at http://www.communitysoul.co.uk

In life you either get what you want or you get experiences of failing to have what you want. Life is that simple.

Why is that?

When we say we want something and then don’t do what needs to be done, our behaviour isn’t supporting our intention.

Interestingly our behaviour will always align to what we most want or to our fears about what we most want. What do I mean?

What I mean is when we really want something, our behaviour will align to it or to our anxieties about making the transformation.

So some people may currently have a contradiction between what they say they want and what they do to get it.

When we decide what we want, we create a resonance. That resonance can still include resistance or fear. Only when the resistance or fear is overcome we can achieve what we most want.

And it’s no different to where any of us are now. We have a choice to make our life or the world a better place by taking the steps to do that or to accept the status quo.

What makes the change is gentle action… loving action… spirited action… that keeps us on purpose and helps us be all we can be. And that doesn’t mean ignoring a fear, it means understanding it… accepting it… and working with it.

Fear doesn’t have to stop you. It can propel you!

We resonate with what we want when we make accepting second best a thing of the past. We resonate with what we want when we stop making excuses. We resonate with what we want if we accept our responsibility for everything we do and everything we are.

Contrast that with accepting second best… making excuses… not accepting responsibility… there is immediately a different resonance isn’t there?

Can you feel it?

If you are not currently getting what you want, look at where you accept second best, where you make excuses and where you might not be taking responsibility.

Lots of love and good wishes
Neil

Neil Fellowes shows conscious entrepreneurs, coaches, consultants and complementary therapists how to make a difference AND a profit. Visit his website at http://www.communitysoul.co.uk

Niching helps you save money and here is how…

I used to get calls from magazines trying to sell me a deal on their space. If they are a magazine I haven’t previously used my first question to them is  going to be: “What’s the demographic and psychographic profile your publication aims at?”

Knowing who your client is will help you talk their language.

You would be amazed how many publications have no idea about this. And if they don’t know, then may be handing over your hard earned money for no return.

When you know who your niche is you’ll know where to advertise, because you will know where your followers spend their time.

Working with a business recently revealed how they were losing money.

They thought they were getting bargains on their advertising. The salesman  had given them 50% off an advert in a sister paper, 30 miles away. One question I asked revealed that this was money wasted, because most of that businesses clientele came within a 5-mile radius – walking in off the street or coming through referral.

So knowing who your client is, is really going to help you be clear on who you work with and this is going to help you talk their language and package what you do to that market and it also helps you know when to advertise and who with.

When you’ve understood who your client is I promise you are going to leverage your expertise, and your networking and market yourself much more efficiently.

The way I look at knowing who your client is, is nothing more than a respect and appreciation for who they are. After all they will be investing their hard earned cash with you, so it makes sense to know who they are, because knowing who they are leads to another understanding.

When you know who your client is, you’ll really understand what they need, and when you know this you can serve them with a great-fullness and a real appreciation of what they need and want.

To not know who… to not define who… is where so many people struggle. Resolving this, will make a huge difference to how you communicate online and in front of people.

Clearly knowing who your client is helps you resonate with them.

Best wishes finding your who,
Neil

Neil Fellowes shows conscious entrepreneurs, coaches, consultants and complementary therapists how to make a difference AND a profit. Visit his website at http://www.communitysoul.co.uk

Elton John, Billy Joel, Phil Collins and Freddie Mercury all have something in common – aside of a smidge of talent and the fact they all became pop-stars.

Watch Elton John perform “I’m Still Standing” or Billy Joel play “My Life” at their pianos; witness Freddie Mercury winding up for “We are the Champions” or Phil Collins on drums during “In The Air Tonight,” and you’ll see something magical happening, something that sends shivers down your spine.

But what is it that they do?

We’ll it’s the same ‘something’ that caused Bob Geldoff to pull all his music industry pals together and raise millions for charity back in the eighties with the hit Do they Know Its Christmas and the subsequent Band Aid appeal. It got Churchill to move the nation with powerful speeches and it is all that stands between you and your true greatness.

But what is that ‘something’? And is it simple enough to bring into our everyday lives?

We all have a gift for something. It’s something that we get inspired by. It’s something that when we do it we feel purposeful and “at one”.

Maybe you know what that is. Maybe you don’t.

When spiritual teachers talk about purpose, they talk about it as something we have inside us. It’s true we all have that special something… that something that is the music inside us, but essentially life is meaningless and empty, until we fill it.

I had that experience last summer when on holiday in Spain. There was no school run. No animals to feed. No work to do. I had a blank canvas and from it I created a new purpose.

Before last summer I had never noticed so obviously that we all have the power to materialise and dematerialise life so easily. We construct meaning to things easily and make ourselves purposeful, but how often does that purposefulness connect with passion and inspiration and cause electric sparks in your being?

Maybe now is the time to rethink things

best wishes
Neil

Neil Fellowes shows conscious entrepreneurs, coaches, consultants and complementary therapists how to make a difference AND a profit. Visit his website at http://www.communitysoul.co.uk