The Causey Consulting Podcast

I recently heard an episode of Jenn Stevens' podcast entitled, "Emotional Alchemy: Turn Sh*t Into Gold." I enjoyed it and it inspired me to record this episode about how you can turn poop experiences in your business into gold. 

Key topics:

✔️ In business as in life, sometimes 💩 is gonna happen. This is part of the human condition. No one gets a perfect life or a perfect business. 
✔️ It's good to perform an autopsy when something goes awry, BUT you need to do it in a way that is not punitive or blaming. Trying to figure out how every negative thing in the world is your fault is a waste of time and it makes you feel awful. I've done the leg work. I know!
✔️ Spiritual and emotional alchemy will invite you to do shadow work. One of the easiest ways to get started is to pay attention to your triggers. What are the things that get you hot under the collar?
✔️ Business is tough. The love & light only crowd might tell you that it's gonna be bliss all the time but no, no, it is not! You will have challenges to deal with and problems to solve. We don't have to walk into the office each morning saying, "Great. What fresh hell awaits me today?" But when something we dislike occurs, it's a waste of time and emotional energy to decide it's all your fault for not staying super positive about everything all the time.

Link to article I discuss: https://spiritualgangster.com/blogs/news/the-art-of-spiritual-alchemy


Need more? Email me: https://causeyconsultingllc.com/contact-causey/

One of my coaching clients asked, "What do we do with 'meh' clients? Clients who aren't horrible but yet are definitely not ideal either. What then?" 

Key topics:

✔️ It's easy to make a decision with people on either side of the spectrum: amazing, wonderful clients you want more of and awful, rude dumpster fires who need to gooooo. It's more difficult in the gray areas.
✔️ It's important to consider what you are willing to deal with. Firstly, assess the money. Is this "meh" client paying you well, on time, and in full? If not, that massively tips the scales in a negative direction. From there, you have to decide if it's worth the physical, mental, and emotional effort involved to deal with that person.
✔️ Trying to either change or guilt trip a selfish jerk is a fool's errand. And sadly, you will bump into selfish jerks from time to time in the business world. Sometimes dealing with them is worth the money and other times it is not.
✔️ Getting involved in a confrontation is generally NOT the way to go. Some people are unhappy and they are spoiling for a fight. They want nothing more than to pull you into unnecessary drama. You don't have to take the bait!
✔️ As Bob Proctor says: you need to be the star of your own show. This is your life and your business. Not someone else's. Don't place your happiness and well-being in someone else's hands.

Special intro music: "Stuck in the Middle With You" by Stealers Wheel.

Link to article I discuss: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/ambigamy/201905/nine-tips-when-youre-tempted-tell-someone


Need more? Email me: https://causeyconsultingllc.com/contact-causey/

I received an outpouring of responses from last week's episode about Bob getting stabbed in the back by his boss, Rick. Sadly, a lot of us have been Bob and have had at least one (often more than one) horrible experience like that at the hands of either a terrible boss, toxic company, scheming colleague, or some combo of all of the above. 

Key topics:

✔️ One of my coaching clients asked me if I had any Bob experiences and yes, I do. I recount a couple of them in this episode.
✔️ There are signs that the times are changing, though more needs to be done. The days of companies being able to treat people like garbage with no repercussions and no accountability are coming to an end.
✔️ The Devil Wears Prada turned 15 this year. Yet the Miranda Priestly-es of the world are still in Corporate America, make no mistake about it. More women are rebelling against mantras of "lean in" and "girlboss" yet managers from hell are by no means a thing of the past. Or a thing purely of fiction.
✔️ The old school notion of success having to be the corner office with a fancy title is obsolete. Ya know, kinda like how the idea of a corporation giving its retirees a pension, full benefits, and a gold watch no longer exists.  We can debate whether that dream died with the Enron scandal, but we know now that it's gone. The onus is on you to look out for yourself and not swear fealty to a corporation. 


Need more? Email me: https://causeyconsultingllc.com/contact-causey/

What happens when we have been so hurt, so betrayed that we can't let it go? Part of toxic positivity is trying to pick yourself up and dust yourself off too fast. Or feeling guilty if you need to take a significant length of time to process pain. In this episode, I relay the story of Bob and how his boss, Rick, stabbed him in the back with no apparent remorse.

Key topics:

✔️ Bob and Rick: not their real names, just to be clear.
✔️ Have you ever noticed that the more you try to force yourself not to feel angry or sad about something, the stronger the emotion blows out of you once you allow it?
✔️ Know thyself. In Bob's case, he knew he needed to leave a toxic situation immediately. 
✔️ Rushing through the process of grieving a loss is a form of denial. "Maybe if I just hurry up, I can get this over with." Human emotions don't operate in such a tidy fashion. Embrace your own journey. 


Need more? Email me: https://causeyconsultingllc.com/contact-causey/

Sometimes it feels like we fall into a loop of bad luck or weird encounters. Other times when we are introspective, we may realize that these people or situations keep showing up due to toxic patterns. In this episode, I discuss ways to help you break those toxic patterns in your business.

Key topics:

✔️ There are a lot of tips out there for breaking toxic patterns in relationships, especially for dating. But what about business? Toxic patterns lurk in the business world, too.
✔️ Really FR being done with something means that, when given the chance to repeat a toxic pattern, we turn in a different direction and make a different choice. If we fall into "same ole, same ole" then we're not actually done with it yet.
✔️ Not all money is good money. Sometimes the amount of stress and nightmarish nonsense a client wants us to accept is not worth it. 
✔️ Consider the costs all the way around. What is this costing me emotionally, financially, physically, etc? Sometimes as business owners or freelancers, we only focus on how much money we'll net, but don't think about what we'll have to do to get to the money. I've heard it said before that work is deciding how much of your life you want to trade for money and I felt that in my soul. So how much life do you want to trade? Be judicious about it.


Need more? Email me: https://causeyconsultingllc.com/contact-causey/

I've heard the entrepreneur Dan Lok say that most business issues are 70 to 80% mindset related and 20 to 30% tactical issues. I agree. But how do you know? How can you tell if it's a mindset issue, a tactical problem, or some combination of both? One of my coaching clients asked me that question recently and it's an important one.


Key topics:

✔️ I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you can get sucked into the "always hustle, always grind" culture and still be broke. Intentional, strategic action beats randomly running around in a state of panic. 
✔️ Taking "massive action" is not likely to work out well if your mental monologue loop is filled with pessimism and sour grapes. This may also sound unfair, but it's true. I should know-- I lived it before!
✔️ Pay attention to how you feel day in and day out as you operate your business. Does every little bump in the road make you mad? Do you feel energized and revved up? Peaceful and tranquil? Angry and burned out? Do you find yourself having fantasies of escape or being rescued from yourself? 
✔️ Are you able to pay yourself? So often we focus on paying the employees or freelancers, paying the bills, and taking care of everyone else but are you able to pay YOURSELF through your business? If not, that is a major red flag that must be addressed. 

Link to Brian Scott's meditation I discuss in this episode:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hgQftvsqWM

Need more? Email me: https://causeyconsultingllc.com/contact-causey/

It's pretty easy to find articles, chats, and support if you're a client wishing to kvetch about a freelancer. And I get it: I've been on that end of the transaction, too, waiting and wondering if someone is actually going to submit the deliverable or if they fell off the face of the earth. It is def frustrating to pay good money and then feel like the person either gave you subpar work or no work at all. But what about the difficult, unpleasable clients? What's a freelancer or a consultant to do?

Key topics:

✔️ An ounce of prevention is worth about 20 lbs of cure in this case. Do what you can to filter out the bad apples ahead of time. Not all money is good money. Your sanity and mental health matter, too. 
✔️ Have a game plan. If someone slides under the radar who seemed great but turned out to be a nightmare or some major change occurs and a good relationship goes sour, have a plan. Figure out how you could extricate yourself if you needed to hit the escape hatch.
✔️ Always set the rules of engagement from the beginning. In order to run your own business or run your own freelancing desk, you need to have a good backbone.
✔️ Know when to say "no." If someone is trying to run you over and/or be rude and crass during the intake process, that is a major red flag. The dynamic won't change once you are freelancing or consulting for them!

Link to article I discuss in this episode:
https://www.and.co/freelancersblog/freelance-knowledge/dealing-with-difficult-clients/

Need more? Email me: https://causeyconsultingllc.com/contact-causey/

If you ever feel like you're floating through life, not really sure about what you want or you look around at other people and feel envious... "Why do they have that? Why are they experiencing life so much better than me?" this is the episode for you. Or maybe you've just gotten your feet wet with setting goals or manifesting what you want but you're ready to level up and go further, faster. This is also the episode for you.

Key topics:

✔️ BHAG = big, hairy audacious goal. A BHAG can be shorter term, maybe 6 to 12 months, or it can be longer like 3 to 5 years. But it damn well has to be a stretch. It needs to challenge your imagination's muscles. 
✔️ Moonshot goal = something monumental that may take 10 to 20 years to achieve. Perhaps you're 30 now and you want to retire early at 50 as a multi-millionaire and you have no clue how you'll get there. That's a moonshot goal.
✔️ If your BHAG makes you feel excited and giddy but also kinda sick and nervous at the same time, that's a great sign.
✔️ It's like the old phrase, "You can either get busy living or get busy dying." Do you want to participate in deliberate creation in your life and indulge your inner desire towards creation and expansion, or do you want to stagnate and gripe that everyone else has it good and you don't? It's your decision to make. 

Need more? Email me: https://causeyconsultingllc.com/contact-causey/

I received great responses to the last episode about Toxic Positivity. I wanted to take some time to address a few of the viewer mail questions now.

Special intro music: "Spirits in the Material World" by The Police.
 

Key topics:

✔️ It's unrealistic to expect every moment to be total bliss. But how can we avoid extremes? Not being a downer Eeyore but also not being toxically positive either?
✔️ As the scriptures say: "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven." I've heard Wayne Dyer lecture on this topic before. There's a time for comfort and discomfort, for work and for rest, for heat and for cold. This is nature itself. Toxic positivity tries to hijack the system and tell you that you damnwellbetter be happy 24/7.
✔️ If someone close to you is dumping toxic positivity on you, how can you handle it without booting them out of your life? Or if you tend to be sunny and effervescent, how can you avoid perpetrating toxic positivity onto others?
✔️ Right before sleep and upon waking in the morning, your brain is in a good place to receive positive affirmations and statements. These times are excellent for implanting the kind of programming YOU WANT inside your head. Don't fall asleep listening to things like the news, talk radio, politics, violent movies or TV shows, etc. 

Links to videos mentioned in this episode:

Esther Hicks' Good Morning Rampage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmczMP1gQzk

Five Reiki Principles Meditation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_gIaVvOKi0&t=128s

Need more? Email me: https://causeyconsultingllc.com/contact-causey/

The other day, I saw a t-shirt that said "No Bad Vibes Allowed" and I think my eyes did a complete 360 revolution in their sockets. Toxic positivity is so ubiquitous it is now t-shirt fodder. Oy. 

Key topics:

✔️ Guess what - sometimes as a human being, you will feel sad, angry, frustrated, upset, etc. There is no way I know of to be positive about every single moment every single day.
✔️ Even though we are all existentially alone, it is so healing to be heard and understood by another human being. Getting slapped down by toxic positivity robs you off that catharsis.
✔️ As my wartime consigliere told me, "A lot of these people who say they work in 'love and light' all the time are actually seething with unresolved rage."  WORD.
✔️ Providing a healthy outlet for your anger is better than bottling it up or ignoring it. Go to the batting cages. Punch a punching bag at the gym. But don't hold it in and paste a fake smile over the top of it under the guise of "love and light only!" 

Need more? Email me: https://causeyconsultingllc.com/contact-causey/