A Note From Celia

Often, our conversations go like this.

"Celia, I could never tell anyone this... but..."

When you've got a strong track record behind you and big dreams ahead of you, you know you can handle a lot – and you back yourself. 

But sometimes there's a part of you – even if just a small part – that's feeling stuck. 

When you sense it, *that's* how you know it's time for a powerful conversation. 

"Income" in Message to Income™ doesn't just mean money, though it does mean that, too.

But for many high achievers and change-makers, "income" – what they want coming IN to their experience – can mean other things. 

• New or bigger opportunities
• Higher-paying clients 
• More personal time
• More confidence to do something
• A better-performing team
• A higher-quality inner circle
• A larger audience
• More influence
• Better or different results at work
• A promotion
• A new or different relationship
• A life partner
• A stronger marriage
• Closer connection with family
• More podcast and speaking invitations
• A life-changing mentor
• A sense of inner peace 
• To be seen and understood
• To be known for something
•                                                ?

Success, and striving for success, can bring surprises – like loneliness, aloneness, insecurity, MORE self doubt, burnout, unexpected financial pressure or confusion, and strain on health and important relationships. 

So often, we can't see past our blind spots. 

Until we're asked the right questions in the right way at the right time.

It's only when we come face-to-face with these questions, and really sit with them, that we can also find the answers – and the next layer of progress – within reach. 

SO, WHERE DID ALL THIS START?

FIRST CAME JOURNALISM

I've spent my entire adult working life in conversation with leaders and high performers.

It all started at age 22 when I landed my first career role out of university. I was hired as a reporter for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 

I'd hardly spoken to a true high performer outside the safety of the high school or university context, let alone interviewed one. 

And suddenly, I was faced with the prospect of interviewing politicians, CEOs, and high-level subject matter experts on the daily. 

Some of whom wanted to talk to a 22-year-old fresh-faced reporter – and many who didn't. 

I had 7 days to start building my contact list, learn where all the buttons were in the broadcast studio, and then I was on air every weekday at 6:45am with my own news and current events program. 

It was scary, and the pressure of making mistakes and learning out loud on the go is tripled when you're doing it live on air to thousands of people every morning. 

But it was the best trial by fire to start to intimately understand how high performers tick and how to ask the right questions that would evoke answers that surprised even them. 

Most importantly, I learned to ask, listen, challenge, then make space for their insights.

NEXT CAME JAPAN 

Two years as a daily news reporter was enough for me to know that type of journalism wasn't going to hold my interest in the long term.

So, I moved to Japan to start working with language in a whole new way. 

First as an ESL instructor, and then as an instructional designer writing curriculum for one of the most well-known foreign language institutes in the country.

I also took a side hustle as Managing Editor of the premier inbound-tourism magazine for the Kansai region of Japan, Kansai Scene.

It was trial by fire once more as I knew only two words of Japanese that I learned on the flight over – and I'd never been a teacher, an instructional designer, or a managing editor before.

Once more, I found myself in humbling situations learning by making mistakes and course correcting – often in front of rooms full of people.

But again I found myself repeatedly in situations where I was required to: 

- Use the right words and

- Ask the right questions 

- In the right way 

- At the right time 

To be able to help someone move into an "ah-hah" moment that would allow them to see the simple changes they had to make to dramatically improve the outcomes they were getting.

I spent nearly a decade living in Osaka mastering the art of creating powerful conversations for people in their second language.

Many of my clients were executives and top performers at some of the most well-known Japanese companies.

Despite the culture differences, the themes were all the same.

They struggled with the typical burdens of high achievers with high standards.

Ultimately, my role was to ask, listen, challenge, then make space for their insights.

THEN CAME BUSINESS

Of all the leaps I've taken in life, starting a business came with the biggest lessons. 

I wasn't one of those "natural entrepreneurs" who sold trading cards as a kid or set up lemonade stands in their front yard on weekends. 

I'd never sold a thing in my life.

But since age 22, I'd been pursuing the little-known but exponentially powerful art of direct-response copywriting. 

First, so I could be a successful journalist.

Second, so I could be a successful curriculum writer and instructional designer.

Third, so I could be a successful magazine editor.

And, finally, so I could be a successful organic marketing strategist and help business owners to make more money by being positioned clearly in their market and creating content that clearly resonated with their future best clients.

Direct-response copywriting is the skill and mindset behind creating the strategy that leads to the desired outcomes in all the above scenarios.

Because of my past experience and the skills I'd been building – brand messaging and marketing came naturally.

Sales was another story. 

Sales was another trial by fire until I eventually created a sales system that didn't feel like selling.

My clients said to me: "show us how to sell without it feeling like selling!"

So, I gave them a framework with clear instructions when talking to their future best clients... 

To ask, listen, challenge, then make space for their insights.

FINALLY, I ARRIVED AT COACHING

This I had not anticipated.

I loved being a marketer so much that I spent 4 years refining an organic marketing strategy for advisers, consultants, and coaches that would allow them to reverse-engineer any monthly new-clients target they wished to set.

I loved sharing it with my clients, and I loved it even more when they implemented it and absolutely flew as a result. 

I thought I'd be doing marketing forever. 

But there was one thing I couldn't help but notice – and feel a little disillusioned by. It became somewhat of an elephant in the room for me.  

It was this. 

Only about a third of the clients I worked with actually went on to fully implement their strategy. 

I worked tirelessly to make the strategy as clear and easy-to-implement as possible, yet some folks just paid me their fee and never did it. 

Or they did it in a kind of half-baked way. 

And we all know that half-baked actions lead to half-baked results. 

Why? Was the big question on my mind. 

Then the truth started to dawn on me. 

For so many of these high achievers with high standards – what they needed next wasn't more logical, rational, left-brained strategy rooted in the mind.

What they needed was a sounding board and to be asked the right questions to elicit the right answers to lead them to where they *really* wanted to go. 

Someone who could read between the lines and work out what they *weren't* saying. 

Someone who could question them in a way that got them to their truth so they could take the real action that mattered in their business and life. 

I learned how many of them had so few people they could rely on to just tell them the truth. 

And the truth was, often times, a marketing strategy wasn't the only thing they needed. 

They were looking for clarity on another matter entirely. 

What I noticed was, as soon as they'd had their new insight, their next epiphany – they knew exactly what to do with that new-found clarity. 

They didn't need to be spoon-fed strategy. 

Once they'd reached the new perspective that had been eluding them, they'd create and follow their own guidance to get exactly where they wanted to go. 

One new insight – their next epiphany – was enough to light a fire under them so big that their steps to get where they *really* wanted to go were already crystal clear. 

So, what's my role in all this? 

You guessed it.

To ask, listen, challenge, then make space for their insights.

--

After years working with advisers, coaches, leaders, and high performers to help them get what they want, I've landed on one crucial insight. 

Everything you want is on the other side of Mastering your Message. 

Your message on the inside first.

Then your message on the outside.

It applies in every business, relationship, and personal situation – from the micro to the macro.

Oh – and Message Mastery never ends.