Getting paid for being me. It brings into vivid focus that internal clash between our traditional brain that says “no, no, you get paid for creating value for others” and our more free brain that says “wow, wouldn’t that be great, to make my living through just being who I am.”

If “getting paid for being me” is a possibility, I first have to let go of my old notions of making money. As business owners, most of us have been trained to think in terms of being financially rewarded for delivering outcomes to people. Giving them clean carpets, a report or financial plan, or a 12-week program . I have to be willing to consider that I can offer not just an outcome, or my time on an hourly basis, but that I could deliver value simply through sharing my unique access to universal wisdom.

“Getting paid for being me” means not that I just sit at home and collect the dough while I watch Oprah and bake cookies, but that I create work that capitalizes on what I do with the least effort, on sharing what is obvious to me (but often not to others), and on revealing my passionate thoughts, beliefs, and insights.

It means creating some vehicle for sharing myself with others: programs, products, services. It means developing my own distinctive style and expertise. It means having the chutzpah to believe that I have something to offer that no one else can and having the hubris to ask people to pay me for it.

So, in essence, “getting paid for being me” means creating a business that allows me to be rewarded for my message and insights, not my labor. First, I have to recognize for myself what I bring to the table and second, be able to communicate its value to others. And what’s vital if I am going to do that is to have a darn good story to tell about what is happening for people in the world and what I have to offer that is different. I need a way to make my vision of what is possible so clear and so inviting that people are willing to pay to learn more.

On a Visionary Communication call a few years ago, guest Laura Naughton shared the distinction of fitting ourselves into our livelihood versus designing a livelihood around who we are.

As long as we fit ourselves into the traditional molds, the molds matter more than we do. We are expendable, replaceable. We get paid for performing the work expected of us. When we have the courage to design our work around who we are, when we are willing to value what our lives have developed in us, then we truly have a chance to grab the brass ring of being rewarded financially for sharing from the depths of who we are.

© 2007-2010. Isabel Parlett

Here, then, are five resolutions that call you to step up into the magnificence of using your words and your work as a powerful force for good in the world.

I, ____ (your name here), do hereby resolve to:

1. Nurture my faith that the world has an urgent need to hear what I am called to say, and to act in alignment with that belief even when loud voices say I should follow the crowd.

2. Seize every opportunity to share my deepest message – my most passionate, deeply cherished insights and beliefs – each time I write and talk about my work.

3. Risk being vulnerable by revealing myself when I write and speak about my work– knowing that the thing I am most afraid to say is probably the very thing my audience would find most compelling.

4. Accept and enjoy the work of creating the market for my services, rather than assuming that people will automatically know what I am offering and why it’s important.

5. Step out willingly to share my message and story, realizing that the goal is not to communicate perfectly but to create the opportunities to share my message with increasingly larger audiences who are yearning to hear what I have to share.

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Isabel Parlett is a business communication expert who helps innovative professionals create the market for their services by tapping into the emotional power of their words.

© 2008. Isabel Parlett. All rights reserved.