Coach Cassandra Rae

See the rest of my photos on flickr

Have you ever wanted something so much you were afraid to go after it? Yeah, that’s me right now.  I’m in the process of redesigning my coaching website & blog and I really want it to reflect my true heart’s desire.  But, I feel so vulnerable with it all. You see, I want to explore the topics of:

• Connecting with your Soul
• Receiving your Calling
• Creating your Success

But, I’m afraid I’ll fail. Oh my gosh.  It just hit me that I’m making myself a failure before my site has even been published.  Ouch.  Why am I torturing myself?  I guess the torture feels safer than actually opening my internet doors {read: heart} to the world.  It reminds me of this quote:

“Known hells are safer than unknown heavens.” ~ unknown

I wonder…what am I really afraid of? That people won’t like it?  That people won’t hire me?  But, those are all external factors.  If I were working with a client on this challenge I would ask her to focus on the internal factors: her desires, her message, and her heart.  I would ask her to trust her Soul, her Calling, and herself.

Another aspect to my stuck-ness is that I feel like I have to choose between business or spiritual coaching.  Over the last year I’ve worked mainly with women business owners.  In fact, people refer to me as a business coach.  I do have one foot in the business realm and one foot in the spiritual realm.  The business realm feels so easy in that I know the language and where to go to meet people.  It feels so tangible.

The spiritual realm feels so out of reach. I don’t know exactly how it will work or where to go to meet people.  Wait a minute.  That’s so not true!  I mean, it is how a part of me feels.  But, it isn’t true.  The truth is…I’m a part of a national spirtual community that has totally transformed my life.  I’m taking classes in preparation to enter the Licensed Practitioner program.  In fact…

I am an aspiring spiritual leader!

Whoa.  I “said” it out loud.  Yowza.  It wasn’t even that hard or scary.  You know what?  This is one of those times when thinking about it is worse than actually doing it.  I just need to go claim my Calling, write my web copy, and put it out there.  Wahoo!  I’m outta here…

{fyi ~ my blog is moving to SimplyFearless.com ~ more news to follow when I launch}

Tags: confidence, courage, decisions, fear, Life Coaching, spirituality, success

97. {12/27/09} Today I wrote a totally and completely honest email invitation to my subscribers.  It’s not that I have written non-honest emails in the past.  But, this email was written from a more vulnerable place.  I simply shared the truth about where I was at without trying to pretty it up.  And I got such a great responses back too!  Yippee :~)

Tags: 100 Things I Fear, courage, fear, honesty

80. {12/10/09} Oh I hosted the first Simply Fearless Fempreneur Brainstorming Party tonight!  It was so much fun and turnout was great.  One thing that totally took me by surprise was how I was beating myself up with criticism during the event.  I found myself thinking things like:

“People aren’t getting enough out of their brainstorming sessions.”

“I should have given my 30 second introduction.”

“I should have allowed everyone to introduce themselves.”

“Why didn’t I do a centering exercise at the beginning?”

Basically, all of these thoughts were fear telling me I’m not good enough.  But, the truth is…the event was a smashing success!  In fact, I received so many emails afterwards telling me how empowering and awesome it was.  So I choose to focus on the success and make any necessary adjustments for the next one.

Tags: 100 Things I Fear, courage, fear, negative self talk, success

78. {12/08/09} Lately I’ve made a lot of decisions and adjustments in my life coaching practice.  There is a fear coming up that I’m letting myself off the hook.  After connecting with Soul, I learned that it’s okay to follow my gut.  Well, of course I already knew that, but I needed to learn it again.  Now, I can let go of doubting myself and move forward knowing my decisions are sound.  Aaahhh…

Tags: 100 Things I Fear, confidence, courage, fear

67. {11/27/09} I woke up focusing on the negative.  I realized I was faced with a choice:

I can focus on what I didn’t like or what I did like.

I decided to be the kind of person who focuses on the good stuff.  I then wrote out a list of all the really cool stuff that had happened recently.

Tags: 100 Things I Fear, courage, fear, gratitude

66. {11/26/09} Happy Thanksgiving!  I sent out an unplanned email to all of my subscribers about connecting with Soul.  It was so cool!  If you’re not on my list, then you can sign up here on SimplyFearless.com

Tags: 100 Things I Fear, courage, fear

57. {11/17/09} More doubt and fear about the book proposal came up today.  In response I reached out to 2 coaches I know for support.  I’m grateful for the fear that has inspired me to receive help.  I know I will move faster and more effective with a team of people on my side!

Tags: 100 Things I Fear, book proposal, courage, creativity, fear, writing

Simply Fearless FEMpreneurs

Oh my goodness…I inadvertently called myself one of the most successful FEMpreneurs on the planet! And guess what? I’m not taking it back.

Just this week I decided to dedicate my life coaching practice to  FEMpreneurs {women business owners & founders} and so I rewrote my bio blurb.  Check it out:

If you were to look at Coach Cassandra Rae’s life on paper you would think that she’d be living in the projects and on welfare. In fact, there were many a peeps who told her just that. You see, her life has taken her through domestic violence, homelessness, the welfare system, teenage pregnancy, miscarriage, divorce, drugs, and abortion. And yet, she has risen above it all. As a single mother, she put herself through Hartnell College and the University of California, Berkeley. She has learned how to turn all of her life’s challenges into stepping stones. Today she thrives with her husband and daughter in Sunnyvale, California where she runs her own Life Coaching Practice. She is one of the most unexpected and successful FEMpreneurs on the planet. If she can do it, so can you!

I really only intended for “the most” part to apply to the unexpectedness and not the successful piece, but now that it’s published I am going to leave it as-is.  Oy! The voice of fear is totally piping up, but I am not going to let it stop me.

Do I see myself as one of the most successful FEMpreneurs on the planet? Well, yes and no. Do I qualify in terms of dollars? No. But, do I qualify in terms of talent, passion, and dedication? OH HECK YES!

So I am putting down my editing pen and letting it stand as a declaration to the world {and myself!} that I am one of the most successful FEMpreneurs on the planet.  Here I come, Oprah!

Tags: 100 Things I Fear, business, business development, courage, fear, FEMpreneurs, Life Coaching

So many of my friends & family members tell me how cool they think the 100 Things I Fear challenge is {of course it is!}  They love to read about my fears {that’s kind of sadistic if you ask me, but that’s okay!} and they admire the courage {my sister even called me brave!}

At the same time, so many of them are like, “I don’t have a 100 fears,” {and you can read my response to that here} or “It’s too big of a commitment. “

It’s true: it is a big commitment.  In fact, I am a week behind in updating my list.  Oy!  But, that’s beside the point.  The point is…I thought it would be fun to provide an opportunity for people to play & contribute without committing to 100 days.  So here’s your chance.  Blog or comment your answer to this question:

What do you do to get yourself moving again when you feel like giving up?

We all lose steam every once in awhile – it happened to me this week!  In fact, there is almost always a break-down right before a big break-through.  So wouldn’t it be great to have a place to go to be reminded to keep going and take that leap of faith even when you feel like giving up? Please post your answer {or the link to your answer if you posted it on your own blog} so that we can all learn from your wisdom!

Thanks!  And now I am off to Champagne Friday :~)

Tags: 100 Things I Fear, advice, blogging, courage, failure, fear, success

Today I faced a super yummy fear!  It was that excited fear you feel right before you speak in front of a group of people:

Coach Cassandra Rae

I know, it’s not the best picture and I look all slouchy…but, who cares? I got to speak to 100 people at Chrystal Bougon’s SoMe Bootcamp!

Here’s how I got the gig…listen up because this is tricky…

I asked for it.

Seriously, that’s all I did.  I sent her an email and asked her if I could lead a short centering exercise.  Okay, I also recorded an audio and sent her a link to listen to with my request. By the way, I also used the audio as a blog post so that it was available for everyone to hear as well. I love leveraging my efforts :~)

Now, she said no to my initial request.  But we agreed that I could do something as long as it wasn’t too woo woo.  And you know what? I think it turned out way better than a centering exercise!

I didn’t even know exactly what I was going to say when I got up there.  But, I knew I was going to bring the group back to the learning state of mind while waking people up after eating lunch.  So I allowed the details of what turned into a Mental/Emotional Stretch to emerge on the spot {I do love improv and it turned out beautifully.}  And what’s even sweeter…she included a link to my website in the emails sent out to all of the participants both before & after the event.  How freaking cool is that?

And it would have never happened if I didn’t ask.  So keep facing those fears, Peeps, and ask for what you want because you just might get it!

Tags: 100 Things I Fear, courage, fear, social media, solopreneur, speaking, success