Hey, it's Samantha. Hartley of the Profitable Joyful Consulting Podcast. This is season Ten. We are talking about business performance. And today, I wanted to specifically talk about what happens when you have a lot of proposals out there and you're playing the waiting game, just like waiting for clients to make a decision. I have several people who are in this position. This week all my clients are waiting and waiting and waiting and it feels kind of passive. So what can we do to be more active during the time when really what we're doing is like receiving or waiting for a decision?

So it's really a little bit of an energetic exercise where we kind of look at ourselves. But to me, I don't like to do anything that's the law of attraction without figuring out how to apply the law of action. I really want to practicalize everything that we do. So I know personally what action I'm supposed to take as a result of something. So I have a client who has, I think there's like three or four proposals out there and she said, “I'm just playing the waiting game here, waiting for the clients to make a decision so what do I do during this time?”

And so what I talked to her about, and this is the first thing I'd have you do is like, think about the ones that are out there, think about them individually and not collectively. Because there are going to be those that you feel like and they're I probably am not going to get or and I don't really want and then there are the ones that you really want. So when you isolate the ones that you really don't care about, I had a client say, you know, I realize this represents old work and an old version of me that I'm not doing anymore. Or I'm really not as excited to do. Somebody else said, you know, it's low cost work and I don't charge that way anymore. So sometimes older clients will come to you and you feel bad about doing the new pricing for them. And so you'll kind of write a low level thing. And then when they're thinking about it a long time along with the other people you're kind of hoping that one doesn't go along. So if you imagine yourself kind of hoping at a block of potential work and some of it you hope doesn't really go through and some of it you hope really does go through, well then that can get confusing. It's like, what do you really want? So if I were the Universe, I'd be like, I don't understand what you want. And in practical terms, like, what can I do with it? I think it's really good to get clear on like I just realized it clarified for me there's work out there that I'm bidding on that I don't really want.

So you need to pull that kind of stuff out of your, you know, your purview. You need to not bid for that stuff anymore because it's just going to reduce the joy factor in things. So I think that process can be very clarifying for you. And when you know what you want, you are likelier to get it. And so this is to me the opposite of it. What do you want? So, for example, one of my clients said to me, well, this one, for example, I really, really want.

Okay, cool. So now you've said that's the one. What are all of the qualities of that that make it the one that you want? Well, it's new work. It represents the version of me that I'm evolving into. It's higher value, higher paid. All of those kinds of things. So when you get clear on that, you're going to see that work convert faster than this other stuff. So you can sit with the intention of bringing that work to yourself. Okay, so imagine yourself receiving it. What happens when you are clear on the one out of the three or four or whatever that are out there, what happens when you imagine yourself bringing that work to yourself? First of all, it's bundled with these other things right now and so like if I got all that work right now, if everybody out there said yes, I'd be in big trouble, right? That'd be too much work all at once. And so you can hear yourself creating barriers to it. You can hear resistance within yourself, like, how can we bring you work that's going to swamp you or drain you? I had another client say the onboarding of clients is really heavy. And so if there were reasons why I might not want the largest of those engagements, it's because part of me is in conflict, because the onboarding is heavy. Great. Again, super clarification and actionable information. Take that insight that you have, and now it's time to make the onboarding process easier.

What can you be doing now, whether you get that client or not? What can you be doing now to prepare yourself for onboarding and enrolling a bigger sized client? Well, okay. There are these systems that I can put in place. There are these things that I can do with my team. I can write SOPS for this so that we're push button ready when the client says yes. Do you hear how I'm finding ways within you? We're looking at beliefs we have that might be sending a no message out there. I've talked in other episodes about the idea of a virtual closed sign on your business. Like when you're busy and swamped with work you put out a no and that can look again, the energetics of it look like energetically you're sending a no message, but the physics of it or the physical activities of it look like I don't really follow up on things as fast as I should, or I don't do my outreaches as much as I should. You know, it's almost always going to translate into there's an action that you're taking or not taking. So if you're like that client, that would be a lot of work to onboard, then maybe you aren't as enthusiastically following up with them or maybe you're just you know, kind of sending a message through your energy that says, I'm not really ready for that.

So we need to clear all of that. Anything that we can do when we're playing the waiting game is make sure that no part of us is sending a no message. None of our actions are out of alignment with what we really want, which is at least one of those big things out there to close. So the other big message that you get from this, I'm sure, is, that you need to clarify your intentions. When we are clear about what we want, we tend to get it. That's because the clearer you are in your mind about what you want, that usually the clearer it translates into actions, into steps that you can take. So if I say out of those four clients, here's the one I want. Okay. I want that one, too. Okay. I want that third one. I realize now I don't want that fourth one. Okay. I'm going to follow up assertively with these three clients.

And now that I'm clear about that I realize the offer that I have out to that number one client that's an offer that is really powerful. That's work that I really want to do and be doing more of. Now I can think about who else am I working with or am I acquainted with that might need that offer? Maybe nobody. But now I can start writing posts about that offer that will attract more perfect clients like that one. So you can use your intention around that work that hasn't quite closed yet to create even more potential clients coming into you because of the clarity you have around that particular client and that offer.

I have had many times somebody come to me and say I wanted that client, but they said no. And I'm like, but, you were super excited about that offer, right? And you were excited about doing that offer for that client. So you have a really good match of client fit with a potential offer. So you put those two things together. Let's go find other clients like that one like that really helped you clarify your demographic, your psychographics, the offer that you're doing. Just because somebody doesn't say yes to you doesn't mean that it wasn't helpful to have that interaction with them. So let's put that time and effort to good use.

And the last thing that I want to unpack, for you that we've been doing is that we have been looking at receiving, active receiving. One of the reasons Law of Attraction doesn't work for people a lot of times as an idea is because it feels too passive for them during the receiving part. So you've launched an intention, you're told you launched that clear intention, and then you need to receive and prepare to receive. So for a lot of people to be like, I don't know what that is like, what does this prepare to receive? Well, let me show you energetically the difference you may have seen and if you're listening along that, here's what we did. When I say launch an intention, there's a forward motion to launching an intention, right? You're kind of like throwing the spear or you're kind of leaning forward. You're taking a forward action and then when it's time to receive you lean back, receiving, you can make your body kind of like a C or C shape. Right? This kind of ball, you're beginning to receive something you're calling nothing into you when you're out here in, you know, In forward motion, it's hard to receive it, right? You're almost pushing it away from yourself, so you lean back and receive it.

I take a breath, naturally, preparing to receive. We slow ourselves down. It's a more introspective state of being, as opposed to going out and going after and, You know, exerting. All of these are extroverted actions. This is a receptive state. I want you to take a deep breath, lean back, and now you are going to prepare to receive these new clients. And when you do that, again, this is where those insights and ideas come to you about what you need to do to prepare for them. Oh, like we have procedures and processes we could be putting in place. And I'm being quiet so we can just listen. What else comes to mind for you that you could be doing to prepare for these clients? An amazing thing happens when we just lean back and listen. Ideas will come to you. You will get ideas for yourself about these potential clients. Think about with clarity, with clear intention about the one that you want. Imagine that client coming to you right now and what happens? You will get ideas. And when you do, here's the fun part. They're going to spark action. Oh, I just realized what I could do. Oh, one of my favorite quotes is getting an idea should be like sitting down on a pin. It should make you want to get up and take action. When you get excited about action, that is what they refer to as inspired action. Like now you're inspired, now you're excited to do something. And so when we think about it like, oh, follow up, you feel so heavy and terrible and dreadful. Well, that's because you're not doing it from a place of inspired action. You're doing it from a place of like obligation. And who wants to do anything from that place? I always want you in all of your efforts, whether. It's outreach. Or follow up or anything that you're doing. I want you to do it from a place of inspired action. Like, Oh, I'm excited to do this. I just had this idea. So think about the ways that you can, in your receptive state, just don't force it. Don't even go, think, think, think, think, think again. Can you feel how that's like pushing forward and efforting?

It's a no effort state. Receiving is all about leaning back and seeing what happens, what is coming to you in that state. Okay. So that I find is the most helpful, active way that we can wait for clients to make a decision. See what other actions that we can be taking and use those emotions that you feel in each of those energy states as your guide for what you should do. If you're leaning forward and you're feeling like negative emotion around it, like obligation or worry or concern. That's a sign to lean back, lean back and listen and find out what your next action step is. So I hope that has been helpful for you. If you would like to hear more ideas like that, I encourage you to check out our Facebook group. It's called Profitable Joyful Consulting. Where we can share ideas. You can ask your questions. And you can learn how to be a more profitable and joyful consulting business. Thanks.