Dream & Do

FIND YOUR SPARK, OR FRIEND

Tara Shelton1 Comment

Fate and Instagram brought me into the company of “success coach for health and wellness coaches” Kate Toholka. She commented on a photo on my Instagram of me presenting at the ‘Make it Happen’ day at The Entourage. As you do, I clicked on her profile and was interested in what she stood for. I noticed that she was going to be in Byron Bay doing a ‘Find your Spark’ workshop at the same time I was holidaying there with friends. I casually commented on one of her photos and asked if she would be keen to meet for a drink. And so we did. It was that easy!

We instantly connected and shared our businesses with each other and spent a good 20 minutes of the conversation revealing our mutual girl-crush on Lisa Messenger. This is not the first time this has happened. Lisa, you really are starting a movement! Turns out, Kate has written a book and Lisa Messenger wrote her forward. Impressive. 

At the end of our meet-up, Kate kindly gifted me a ticket to her ‘Find Your Spark’ workshop in Sydney the following week. I invited a few clients and friends who I thought would benefit from the event. Personally, I do a lot of creative workshops myself and feel as though I am pretty in-tune with the purpose and vision of my business. I was keen to see how the day would run, but I didn’t think I would get the epiphany that I walked out with!

Kate paired us up with people in the group and I was with my good friend, Kiki – owner of Couani, and just a basket of energy and joy to be around. At the end of the session Kate came around to spend some individual time one-on-one and hear out our visions and fears (blockers in the way of the big vision). She asked really poignant questions that unveiled a lot of truth.

Kiki explained her BIG vision for Couani and her fear of failure. What if she put all of her efforts, money and love into Couani and it failed? I explained my BIG vision for Dream & Do and I realized that it wasn’t the fear of failure that was stopping me getting there, it was the fear of success. I know I can have what I set my mind on, but what if it gets too big and I am trapped by my own success? What is all that work going to cost me in terms of stress, time and relationships? Will I be able to have other things in life that I really want, in particular, a family?

Kate asked me a pointed question: What kind of life do you want? She encouraged me to figure out the lifestyle that I feel comfortable with, and build a business to suit that. This was a complete light bulb moment for me… I have a fair few of these moments but the light is rarely flicked on by someone else. Especially someone I hardly even know. I instantly felt grounded and in control again. Instead of completely being so focused on building the business to this grand vision in my mind, I took a step back and thought, how can I use this business to give me the life I want, now and in the future? After all, this is the beauty of having your own business, it’s your baby. It can be as big and as small as you like. Right now, small suits me just fine.