On my Facebook newsfeed and in the many Internet marketing newsletters I receive, I see coaching programs that may be guilting people into believing they are doing something wrong if they aren’t earning tons of money.

The problem I see with these programs is not the programs themselves but that people tend to get sucked into the allure of a high income without knowing why they went into business in the first place. How about you? Have you been thinking that there is something wrong with you because you haven’t earned six or seven figures in your business yet?

Since we all have different skill sets, experience, and values it’s ill advised to follow coaching advice until you gain an intimate knowledge of exactly why you went into business. So, before you start suffering from self-esteem issues because you can’t figure out why you aren’t achieving certain money goals, realize that each of us aren’t in business for the same reasons.

I’ve identified three different types of people and the reason they would have for starting a business. It’s important to know which one you are when building a business model and base your income goals on a life you want to create. You will see that only one has an inherent value that requires a really large income stream.

The Empire Builders
These people are the ones who love business. They usually desire to build something big to leave a legacy when they are gone or to sell the business and start something new. They don’t mind working long hours and see business as a game or something to master.

The Freedom Lovers
These people create businesses because they desire a lifestyle that is flexible, mobile and fun. They want to travel, meet new people, and work when and where they want to work. Work blends in with their personal life and they consider owning a business a way to enjoy life to the maximum without the nine to five grind.

The Altruistic Visionaries
These people create businesses to make a difference. Whether it’s people, pets, the environment or health they either have a cause or have a passion to help someone or something. They may start a non-profit business, an association, or for profit business to further their cause.

Only the Business Builders have a true, innate drive to build a large business. If you don’t love the idea of working lots of hours, investing heavily into your business, and managing lots of people this style is probably not for you. The Freedom Lovers and Altruistic Visionaries would be happiest if they built a business that would cover their business and household expenses and allow them to invest for the future. Occasionally altruistic visionaries create large organizations but they usually believe that their business has to operate on a larger scale to further their cause and reach.

Knowing what you value in life is an important part of creating a business and a desired lifestyle. Before going a step further in your business look at the above styles and figure out which style best fits you. Then you can create realistic income goals that fit the way you want to work and the lifestyle you want to live. When it’s time to hire a coach you’ll know if they can get you where you want to go and you won’t waste time and money building something you don’t desire.

Sherrie Koretke, Niche Clarity Coach. Certified Professional Career Coach, Law of Attraction Specialist, Small Business Coach and Consultant. Visit her at sherriekoretke.com

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Last week I had the honor of speaking with Annemarie Cross on her podcast Ambitious Entrepreneur. Annemarie Cross is a coach specializing in both personal branding and social media strategies and money mindset breakthroughs.

The subject we talked about was the three motivations behind starting a business. These motivations are behind the “style” of business they create.

These styles are . . . 

• Empire Builders
• Freedom Lovers
• Altruistic Visionaries

Sherrie Koretke, Niche Clarity Coach. Certified Professional Career Coach, Law of Attraction Specialist, Small Business Coach and Consultant. Visit her at sherriekoretke.com

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Today I am sharing this great video I ran across on how to complete those pesky projects you have started. You know the half written books, the videos you started to create, the marketing plan you planned to write, etc. It’s a quick tip I thought a lot of my associates and clients would love to learn.

Funny fact, I was pruning my tomato plants this morning right before I watched this video by Scott Behance, author of Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and Reality suggested.  (Affiliate link) 

Now it’s time for me to start pruning all those pesky, “darling” projects.

What did you think? Did it motivate you to get started on your big, career changing project? Leave me a comment and tell me what you’ll be working on! (Or will be after commenting.)  

I love helping people find their life’s work and get them moving on their path fast! Be sure to enroll in your free E-course “Five Ways to Leverage the Power of You” to the right of this post. —->

This post is a little different from my normal posts. I thought about writing it for a guest post but this is a viewpoint I want to own and get feedback on for my own research. So here it goes . . .

My opinion is that we need to have required business and economic education in high school. We teach our kids math, science, and language arts in high school. Important information to know, for sure. But why don’t we teach high school students about the fundamentals of business and the economy?

This is a question I have been asking myself for years because I have seen major flaws in the way the general public perceives business and the economy. (The false beliefs about big corporations and how they are run are even more rampant.)

What do I mean by this?

1. There are unrealistic views of what businesses can and cannot do.
2. There is a belief that an economy can turn on a dime just because a new president is elected.
3. There is the belief that money can come from out of nowhere to give everyone a raise. 
4. There is the belief that corporations are separate entities with their own minds.

I believe this even though most people won’t own a business or even work in one. You may ask why I think there is a need for business education. I would flippantly respond: Why did I need to learn science when I never intended to become a scientist? Think about that for a minute.

Here’s a short list of reasons why I would love it if everyone had basic knowledge about business and the economy:

• When people listen to a politician promise sweeping changes in family leave policies you would know that it could potentially bankrupt smaller corporations.
• When people hear a store makes a 50 percent markup on their products they don’t assume the business is “rolling” in profits. They would know that there are taxes, payroll, rent, and many other expenses taken out before a profit is declared.
• When a union leader tells people that they deserve a significant raise and more time off they’ll know that during a poor economy that would be economically unfeasible for a business or school district. They won’t assume it’s corporate or government greed.
• When people realize that they don’t want to be employed any more and start a MLM business they will have basic business knowledge.
• When people pirate movies and music they would understand the long-term effects on the entertainment industry and future availability of entertainment.

So what do you think? Do think we need to offer a basic level of business education in high school or even college? In what ways do you see people are lacking in this knowledge and how would it benefit all of us if they were better educated? What are some alternatives for educating youth on business and the economy? 

Disclaimer: I’m fully aware of the state of the economy and what the expense would be to implement such a program. This is just a discussion on why this isn’t a common class offered. I also realize that not everyone will understand and use the information in a big picture fashion but I’m allowed to dream on my own blog. 

I would love to get a conversation going on this subject! Please leave a comment below!

I love helping people find their life’s work and get them moving on their path fast! Be sure to enroll in your free E-course “Five Ways to Leverage the Power of You” to the right of this post. —->

A while back I wrote an article called What is your Entrepreneurial Style? It was featured on a different blog which received lots of comments. I transferred it over to this blog and it’s been tweeted automatically using a WordPress plugin. The post features three different entrepreneurial reasons to start a business based on their goals for the future. The three types I talked about were: 

• The Business Builders
• The Lifestyle/Freedom Lovers
• The Altruistic Visionaries 

Anyway, I recently received a comment on Twitter asking me why she couldn’t be all three at once. I then realized I needed to explain the difference better. First I went back and changed the business builders style to empire builders. I think that name more accurately reflects what I’m talking about. I’m now reflecting on what I should call these “styles” because what they really are three different reasons or motivations for starting a business. 

Two of these motivations are incompatible with each other. Empire Builders are people who start or buy businesses and grow them into major corporations. Think Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Sam Walton, Richard Branson, or Mark Zuckerburg. When I refer to Empire Builders I’m talking about people who build businesses that employ hundreds or thousands of employees. They may start multiple businesses or grow one major one. Yes, they most likely end up with lifestyles we envy but they also worked very hard to achieve them. 

People who start lifestyle business want to skip over all that hard work, financial risk and personal sacrifice and start living their chosen lifestyle. There is no limit to their income potential per se. But to be frank, they are not as likely to be billionaires from running a business. 

Neither motivation is good or bad. In fact, a lot of us can be thankful to those who become Empire Builders because they provide lots of jobs that keep us many of us employed. They provide products, services, and entertainment that we may not have had other wise. 

The whole point of this article was to get people to understand their motivation for wanting to start a business. Let’s say a person who looks at the lifestyle of a rich and famous business owner decides they want that to start a business just like their mentor. They work really hard to build their business, get burned out and they realize they didn’t want all that work and responsibility. They just wanted their lifestyle. 

True Empire Builders love the game of business. They feel called to do what they do. In fact, I bet most days they love what they are doing. These are people who could run almost any kind of business and be successful. And if they aren’t, they pick right back up and start something new. So my answer is no under my definition of entrepreneurial motivations.

I am a lifestyle business owner and have no desire to create a major corporation or own more than one business. Simplicity is what I am after. What about you? Have you thought about what you want your business to look like down the road? Do you desire becoming an Empire Builder? Tell me about in the comment section.

Sherrie Koretke, The Niche Clarity Coach, Certified Professional Intuitive Coach | Have you downloaded your free guide on “Five Ways to Leverage the Power of YOU in Your Business yet? If you’re curious to learn about unlocking the power within you to supercharge your business go ahead and sign up now!

Everyone knows starting a business begins with an idea but where do these ideas come from?

Some ideas come from a purely entrepreneurial path. When you pursue business ideas from an entrepreneurial mindset you focus on ideas that are external.

For example you look for ideas that are based on:

• Consumer demands,
• Market trends
• Job Experience
• Skill Sets
• Local Opportunities

Then there is a spiritual path. These ideas come to us from internal factors such as a life-altering events that happen and we turn inward and become more spiritual-minded. It could be something from within like a spiritual crisis or something like a divorce, financial loss or job loss. It’s important to know the magnitude of what we experience depends on our lesson and our resistance to our life’s purpose.

At some point after this awakening a lot of us wonder:

• Why am I here?
• Is there more I can do with my life?
• Why am I going through this?
• What is my life’s purpose?

We then go in search of the answers. Eventually this search leads us to self-exploration about our personalities, passions, skills, talents etc. It starts from when we were born. We came with a different set of gifts and talents. We slowly learned what they were and developed them at our own speed. Then the need to earn money kicked in and we got our first jobs. This is where we started picking up speed in developing our skills and development. We next proceed to college or some sort of educational training where our knowledge was further expanded.

On this path of self-discovery we may have taken personality tests and read books like “The Passion Test and “Do What You Love and the Money Will Follow.” While these books are great they can create a misunderstanding when it comes to pursuing a career or business based on your life purpose.

Listing what you are passionate about it only part of the picture. It’s great to know this information because understanding your passions can enhance your whole life. Doing what you love is a great idea but what if what you love isn’t a marketable profession?

I had this journey of self-exploration. I searched frantically for my life purpose. I knew I was living it in part but what it was remained hidden from my conscious mind. I hired different coaches trying to get to my life’s purpose. I eventually settled on something that fit but it took awhile. But then I learned there was something even deeper. There is another larger view of why you and I are on earth. It has to do with our divine calling.

You see, each of our lives contributes to a collective consciousness in the world. Each day most of us work to make the world a better place to live not just physically but spiritually.

Here’s is my spiritual understanding about the difference between a life purpose and a divine calling:

• A life purpose is your day-to-day contribution to the people in your life. It could be as a healer, teacher, a person who inspires, etc.
• A divine calling is your contribution to the collective consciousness of the world. This would encompass bringing joy, happiness, love, peace, or enlightenment to all of us.

The distinction is important because your life purpose is more about of what you do on earth but your divine calling is about why. This knowledge is then applied to business ideas based with a spiritual foundation. So what you love and what you are passionate about relate more to your divine calling. When creating a business based on spirituality it’s important to do what you love but I recommend focusing on your life purpose and divine calling when doing so.

I believe knowing your why and having a bigger picture regarding your life is important because it motivates you to up your game and fully commit to living your life and running a business with passion and purpose.

Living and working on purpose with passion is the ultimate way to live.

Sherrie Koretke, The Niche Clarity Coach