MEET Jim Phillips — Jim Phillips is a gifted speaker, seminar leader and certified life, spiritual and business coach. His true passion is the exploration and application of spiritual law as it applies to prosperity and overall quality of life. One of Jim’s gifts is his ability to help others understand and apply complex spiritual concepts to their personal life. Jim currently resides in Aldie, VA where he continues his writing, coaching and speaking. To learn more about the availability of the book, to schedule a book signing or speaking engagement, contact Jim at 703-626-8441 or email at jim@prosperitybydesign.com. You can learn more about Jim and his work online at http://www.prosperitybydesign.com.
WMI: What were you doing before you starting working as a life coach?
JP: I have been an entrepreneur for well over 30 years, primarily in the in the real estate industry, first as an agent, then office manager, then vice president/general manager of a multi-office firm. I now co-own my own firm. It was through my various roles in my real estate career that I began speaking, training, writing and coaching. In addition to the real estate, I have also been involved in other business ventures, a few network marketing companies and business consulting.
It was as a result of my real estate business that I decided to get certified as a professional life and business coach. As a real estate broker, I was coaching my agents on a daily basis; however, I did not call it coaching. Getting certified was the next natural step for me to take to expand my reach beyond the real estate industry to life and spiritual coaching, which are my passions. Being certified also brings with it a certain amount of instant credibility and professional status like other professional designations one might acquire in other industries.
WMI: Tell us about three key things you have learned from the corporate leaders you’ve coached or worked with?
JP: To have a truly successful organization, one that extends beyond the profit and the sales numbers, you must create an environment that is conducive to the success of each individual. This begins with open, honest communication from top to bottom and bottom to top. There must be a willingness to share, and to be receptive to new ideas and information. There must also be a willingness to openly discuss challenges or shortcomings.
The success environment also invites, encourages and honors each person to be authentic and true to herself. This doesn’t mean an individual places her needs above that of the organization, but that an individual is encouraged to be who she is and to bring her unique gifts and talents to the organization. When a person operates from a place of authenticity, she is his most creative, productive self, and therefore more engaged and invested in what she is doing, thus becoming of greater benefit to the organization.
Another key component of a success environment is that of partnership. This doesn’t mean that everyone has actual ownership; it means that everyone is a stake holder in the company and understands the importance of their role in the continued success of the company. We all want to know that who we are and what we do is relevant. When partnership is fostered, honored and appreciated in an organization in this way, an organization will not only retain its talented partners, but become attractive to other talented folks looking for this type of opportunity.
A third key component of a success environment is that of internal growth. My experience has shown that people don’t want to move around from company to company, but do so because they are not offered the opportunity for personal growth and greater contribution. A success environment encourages and rewards top talent for their contribution and creativity by providing opportunities for personal growth and expansion.
WMI: At your official website, you say that people tell you that they aren’t where they thought they’d be in their lives. Then, you go on to say that we create the life we have. How do we create our life experiences?
JP: Many coaching clients and those who attend my workshops often say that they are not where they thought they would be at this time in their life, regardless of their age. Most felt they would be making more money, be in a more fulfilling relationship, or be engaged in something they really enjoyed doing, rather than what allows them to just pay their monthly obligations. Many have fallen on difficult times with the economy having gone through the recent recession. On top of that, a good amount of what they had counted on for retirement is no longer available, although there has been some recovery.
What I think it boils down to is that folks feel there has to be – or they thought there had to be – more to life then what they have experienced to this point. This doesn’t mean that it has been good or bad, just that they expected it to be more then it has been.
And yet, the life we live is the life we have created as a result of the cumulative decisions we have made along the way based on the thoughts and beliefs we hold. Things do happen that are out of our control that present challenges. However, we still choose how we respond to those challenging opportunities which then results in how we experience life. Again, this is not about good or bad, it is about taking responsibility for the choices we make and the subsequent experiences we have as a result.
Have you ever questioned why you believe what you believe? Take a few minutes to do so, really consider what you believe and how you came to believe it. My experience has shown that most of what we believe is based on things outside of our personal experience. In other words, it is based on what others have said, or on what we have read or heard. How much of what we believe is actually true?
So to the point of the question of how we create our life experiences, we create our life experiences based on the decisions we make against the beliefs and thoughts we hold as true, whether those beliefs and thoughts are actually true or not.
The scary and intriguing aspect of this understanding is to consider how many of the major life decisions each of us has made were against beliefs we hold, or have held, that are not true. How far off course are we?
There is so much more that can be discussed around this topic that goes much deeper than this interview would allow. Digging deeper into this exploration of thoughts, belief and truth are the basis for Prosperity by Design Coaching™.
WMI: When and why did you develop Prosperity by Design™ Coaching?
JP: I actually began Prosperity by Design™ Coaching many years ago without calling it Prosperity by Design™ Coaching. I would coach real estate agents in how to create higher levels of productivity/prosperity and overall quality of life. For me, it isn’t just how much business someone does, it is how they do their business and who they are, or are becoming, while in the process of building their business.
Prosperity, in the way I use the term, is not just financial well-being. Prosperity is living a rich, fulfilling life in all areas of one’s life including health, relationships, family and Self.
Prosperity by Design™ was chosen because it places the power and fulfillment of prosperity in our hands, or more specifically in our hearts and minds. How we choose to live life is up to each of us, regardless of the circumstances in which we might find ourselves.
Prosperity by Design™ Coaching offers the opportunity for my clients to dig deep within themselves to recover, embrace and release the latent potential for personal magnificence that lies waiting to be experienced and expressed.
WMI: If our life experiences, including our business successes, are based on beliefs we developed based on our early childhood experiences, including how our parents and caretakers repeatedly treated us, can we really change our beliefs and our future?
JP: Yes, we can always change our beliefs which results in not only the future being changed, but the present moment experience being changed as well.
The past only equals the future if we allow it to, meaning that if we bring the past into our current thinking and allow it to dictate who we are, or how we choose, then, yes, it will influence our present moment experiences and our future. If instead, we consciously make choices that reflect who we desire to be in that moment and what we desire to experience in that moment, then we can and will create those experiences without regard to what a previous life experience or belief might have been.
When we make choices based on what we desire to experience now, we disassociate from any earlier experience or belief we held up to that moment. Keep in mind that some of our limiting beliefs are deeply seated and will take time to work through and overcome. However, it is only by first acknowledging and accepting that these limiting beliefs exists that we are able to address and move beyond them. It is when we resign ourselves to the belief there is nothing we can do that we are stuck in that experience or pattern.
This gets back to the point I made while answering the previous question regarding why we believe what we believe. Nothing is more limiting or liberating than our beliefs about our self.
When we question our beliefs and realize that most of what we believe is not the truth, especially about our self, we become empowered . Once we are empowered, anything and everything is possible.
WMI: Please share three tips/ways entrepreneurs can create their businesses with intention?
JP: There are actually 7 tips or keys that I present in my program, The 7 Keys to LIFE Mastery. Here I will share three that are foundational to creating a business or life that one desires.
The first key and one of the most powerful activities in which we can engage is that of awareness. When we are aware of what is happening around us, and more importantly within us, we see and take advantage of opportunities that we might not have taken before. In simple terms, it means to be present and engaged in whatever we are doing, wherever we are, at all times.
Another key is our belief that we can, in fact, without a doubt, create the business or life we desire. It is also accepting responsibility for the life we have created and experienced up until this moment.
A third key is clarity. We must be clear on what we want to create and experience. Spend time imagining the experience (life or business) that you desire to have as fully and completely as possible. Allow your mind to imagine freely. We have been lovingly endowed with the gift of imagination to do just that.
Clarity is not just the vision of what you want to create but the actual experience of what you want to create, including the attendant feelings of the experience as if it were actually happening. Once you become clear on what you want to create and experience, awareness again becomes the key. Pay attention to all that is being presented in alignment with your creation and make choices that support it being made manifest.
As I mentioned these are just three of the 7 Keys to LIFE Mastery that I present. However, they are among the most powerful when creating a business or life experiences with intention.
WMI: Congratulations on writing and publishing “The Key to Life, Living in Full Expression!” As the author, Jim Phillips, tell us about some topics you cover in the book.
JP: The primary message in my book is to live in full expression of who we are at all times, to be authentic in everything we do. We have become so concerned with what others might say, think or do, if we are being authentic that we withhold our magnificence from ourselves and the world. Living in full expression is being vulnerable to one’s truth by stepping joyously into one’s magnificence.
I talk in the book about how we are all victims of identity theft. However, our identity hasn’t been stolen by someone else; it has been denied by each of us. We live in “Self denial” of who we truly are. Living in full expression is about dropping the façade of who we believe we are and who others think we should be, and living who we are in Truth.
The Key to LIFE, Living In Full Expression invites the reader to take a journey of “Self recovery” into a deep level of knowing and trust. It is from this level of knowing and trust that you can live in full expression and experience of Self, your very reason for being here at this time and place.
WMI: Who is “The Key to Life, Living in Full Expression!” written for and what key takeaways will they gain from reading the book?
JP: The book was primarily written for me as a way to fully express what I felt and understood to be the truth about me, my life, and life in general. However, it isn’t a book about me and my experiences, it is about what I have come to know and understand as a result of my experiences that I believe can benefit others as they consider where they are and desire in be in life.
My intention with the book is to cause people to think more deeply and passionately about what they believe, and then to make choices from this greater understanding. When we realize that the experiences of our lives are a reflection of our most deeply held thoughts and beliefs, we come to know just how powerful we are.
It is my heartfelt desire that people come to embrace their personal power so that their life experiences are created consciously out of their desire for these experiences and not by default. If those who read my book come away from the experience with a greater awareness of who they are, and of what they are capable of doing, and they have gained “trust” in themselves, then I believe that I have succeeded in the writing of this book.
WMI: How has writing and publishing a book enhanced your coaching and speaking careers?
JP: The most obvious thing writing a book does for the author is give them credibility and a certain amount of expertise. It doesn’t mean that I, or any author, knows more or is more of an authority before writing the book. It’s just that society places a certain degree of authority and acceptance on someone who is published. As a result of this newly gained credibility more and more people and organizations are open and receptive to me and my message.
One of the greatest, if not the greatest, benefits of writing my book has been the increased level of confidence and trust I now have in my Self. In writing the book I realized how vulnerable one becomes and how much courage it takes to put oneself out in the world in written form where it can be seen by everybody. I have tremendous respect for all authors who have trusted themselves enough to do so.
Experiencing this level of vulnerability personally allows me to connect more intimately with my coaching clients and those who come to hear me speak. I have developed greater empathy and compassion towards my clients, enabling me to more fully understand where they are, and what they desire from life.
This higher level of confidence and self-trust also translates into an attractiveness, not a physical attractiveness, but an energetic attractiveness that people want to be around and experience. Most often this cannot be put into words but it exists nonetheless. It helps people feel comfortable and more trusting in me and what I have to offer them.
All in all, the experience of writing and publishing my book has been an opportunity for me to live in full expression of who I am as an example to others of who they are and of what they are capable of doing.
WMI: What has been the most rewarding part of working as a life coach?
JP: Seeing a person’s eyes light up when they have that defining “aha moment” is the most gratifying aspect of coaching. I can see and feel a person’s energy and demeanor change when they understand how truly powerful they are and that life does, and will, provide everything they desire and ask for from life.
Another rewarding part of being a life coach is the incredible people I meet and the relationships that are developed. I have met some extraordinary folks who I don’t believe I would have met if not for my becoming certified as a life coach.
WMI: Social media networks, press releases, interviews, etc. provide a myriad of marketing opportunities. Share three to four specific marketing strategies/action steps you have found to be most effective at getting you exposure for your life coaching, speaking and writing works?
JP: I take advantage of all of the primary social media platforms and believe it is essential to getting my name and work out to the world. It is not a quick fix solution, however, to building a business or following, it takes thought and consistency.
As an example, I mentioned earlier in this interview that awareness is one of the 7 Keys to LIFE Mastery. Using social media effectively requires an awareness of what folks are asking for, many times covertly, in their posts, tweets, etc. I will monitor what is being shared by others and respond when I feel it is appropriate and beneficial to do so. This also requires me to more fully understand and be able to articulate what I have to share in a more concise manner, especially on Twitter. One of the important strategies I employ is consistently inviting people to take a look at or offer their opinion on something I have posted. This engagement is what has lead me to increase my followers and therefore my speaking and coaching opportunities.
I also search out opportunities to be a guest on different radio programs where I gain exposure to the listeners of that particular show. What I have discovered is that there is a seemingly limitless number of internet based, as well as traditional, radio programs that are constantly looking for interesting guests. Each time I am on a show, I receive a recording of the program and will either post the complete interview or create 3-5 minute sound bites from the show to be posted at different times during a week or month. These allow me to create continuous exposure through social media and hopefully maintain a certain buzz about what I have to share.
I do the same thing with articles I write or blog posts I create. I will take certain segments of a particular written piece and post it over a period of time to give me more exposure and more bang for the buck with everything I write.
Another strategy I use is that of creating short video clips that I share via different social media platforms. This was not something I was always comfortable with but have learned that the power of these brief messages far outweighs any discomfort I might feel in putting them together. An example of a video clip would be me answering a question I was asked during the week, the answer to which would be of benefit to a lot of folks, not just the person who asked the question. An important step in this process of answering questions is asking folks what they want to know. It is amazing the questions people will give me that not only allow me to expand my knowledge and understanding but to continue to build my credibility and following.
WMI: In what ways do you see the Internet changing the life coaching and business industries over the coming two to three years?
JP: I think the Internet has already changed the business and coaching industries in the most profound way that it ever will by providing access to unlimited information on all topics and in the way we can connect with people all around the world instantaneously.
I think future changes will be the number of people around the globe that gain access to the Internet that did not have it before and perhaps the way content is displayed and delivered. All in all, it will mean that we are able to communicate our messages and services more effectively and efficiently to more people than ever before.
WMI: Who inspired you to go after your dreams when you were a child? How is this person still positively impacting your life today?
JP: I honestly do not have one specific person who I can say was my inspiration when I was a child. Of course, I respected my parents and was appreciative for all that they provided for me. I had certain sports coaches who taught me lessons regarding discipline, focus and personal responsibility. But most of my inspiration came from an interest in human potential and questioning the purpose of life, and more specifically, my life. What is my purpose? Is who I am and what I do relevant?
I would read and follow thought leaders of the time, especially those who spoke of human potential like Napoleon Hill, Dale Carnegie and the lesser known, Claude Bristow. I would adopt some of what they shared. Yet, I always had a sense that it was not up to others to tell me what was true, it was up to me to discover my truth about who I am and to live that truth as faithfully as possible.
I continue to this day to expand my understanding of the purpose of life and within the context of the purpose of life, my life’s purpose. All of this has lead me to adopt a mantra that I included in my book, The Key to LIFE, Living In Full Expression, that is; “Today what I know to be true, tomorrow might not be.”
WMI: What’s next for Jim Phillips? Where do you see yourself and your career three to five years from now?
JP: Hopefully more of what I am currently doing but in a more expansive and exciting way. I will continue my writing, speaking and coaching. I have a few projects currently in the works that will allow me to touch many more people in what I believe will be meaningful ways. I love collaborating with other like-minded folks and look for ways to leverage what each of us has to offer.
I also will be traveling much more than I have been recently, again in an effort to interact with more folks. But more importantly, and this is really the heart of my message, it is for me to live in full experience and expression of who I know myself to be and am always in the process of being. This is our very reason for being here.
Sources:
http://www.prosperitybydesign.com
Follow on Twitter at: @inspired10
email: jim@prosperitybydesign.com
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