Is it possible to run a successful business and be committed to your spiritual practice? How can your inner wealth translate into financial achievement? How does building wealth equate with spiritual values?
Author of Funky to Fabulous: Surefire Success Strategies for the Savvy, Sassy and Swamped, Eli Davidson describes herself as a reinvention expert. She walks her talk. Eli has more than once "reinvented" herself.
On the way to her most recent success, Eli shares what she has learned on the way, the pitfalls she has learned to avoid and the strategies that have worked for her. Her forte has been defining a clear, targeted niche for her own talents, gifts and skills, and assisting others to do the same.
Getting to the heart of Eli Davidson, I wanted to know more about what makes Eli tick.
AN: What inspires you most about your calling?
ED: This calling came like a thunder clap in an elevator in Spanish Harlem. "You will speak spirit." Crossing the street, I could not hold a positive thought together. This left me scratching my head for a decade or two. But it never went away. I literally felt a hand on my back, pushing me into the world.
Now that I have the blessing to speak, inspire and help people implement their inspiration, I am blessed beyond measure.
I am so honored in watching people that have struggled for years make the life changes they imagined. It is extraordinary for me to help people find their value and earn their living from what were once merely dreams
My calling is to serve people in value and empowerment. Empowerment can be a concept unless it is anchored in everyday reality. For women in particular, true empowerment includes the pocketbook. I am very focused on empowering women business owners to come together for a greater good.
AN: Who is the most inspiring person you have ever met?
ED: The current hero is my friend and fellow HuffPost blogger John Morton. I've seen John walk through the fire for what he believes in, time and time again. His example calls me to rise up to be a bigger and better person. His dedication and loving are truly inspiring
AN: What qualities do you see in them that you also recognize in yourself?
ED: I am all in, as I see in John. He goes to the end of the earth to serve. He does not hold back. He walks his talk and loves with incredible integrity. I am very human, as he is. I am 100 percent committed to what I am doing. At the same time I am a vulnerable human being.
AN: What are three key spiritual principles on which you base your life and business?
ED: First is engaging with God as my partner. God is the kind of guy I can trust. Second is finding the good in every situation and being grateful. Third is taking "unreasonable action." That is to say, following inspiration or taking in-spirit action, beyond logic and the laws of man.
AN: How do you view the opportunities in today's world?
ED: We are in the time of the greatest opportunity on the planet. The playing field has been leveled in a way never seen before in history. For instance, Stanford offers free courses online. I just saw a story today where a boy in Kazakhstan took a free class and got a job with Twitter. That would have been unthinkable even two years ago. I am so excited to see that business large and small can create massive impact for great good. Look at Start Up America.
This is very much a time for the female entrepreneur. A recent book, The Richer Sex: How the New Majority of Female Breadwinners Is Transforming Sex, Love and Family, speaks to the changes taking place. HH the Dalai Lama has said that the world will be saved by Western women. It is time for us to live up to that.
AN: What is the greatest hope you see for people facing the challenges now?
ED: My greatest hope for people facing challenges right now is one they understand that life doesn't happen to you. It happens through you.
Many people get seduced into thinking they're a victim. I use the word seduced for a reason. It's a quick fix to blame someone else.
In my own life in February 2011, I had gotten engaged and given up my business. I took what I later called my "engagacation." I had walked away from my business to plan and live my married life in Hawaii. My fiance woke up one morning and said, "I don't know if I want to be in a relationship anymore. Why don't you get on a plane to go back to L.A. today."
He handed me a plane ticket for six hours later that day. "I guess I am acting like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," he said as he drove me to the airport. Coming back to Los Angeles, I was broke and brokenhearted. That first month back I had to scramble for $4,000. I took a diamond off my finger and had to find a diamond in my business and myself. Within six months of creating my formula I had the first of three $100,000 days. Now I have a great joy teaching that formula to business owners all over the world.
If I could jump out of this computer and hold the hand of every person with a challenge, I'd say "Current challenge is the fertilizer of you future."
AN: If 2013 could be your best year yet, what would you have happen -- in yourself, in relationship, in your career ?
ED: I would get to continue to help more and more people and gosh, if it's my best year ever, meet my true love. I feel so blessed and would love to get to share this wonderful life with my spiritual life partner.
I see myself continuing to up level my health and happiness in remarkable ways.
AN: Where would you like to be in 10 years' time ?
ED: I am on a mission to help create 1 million millionaires.
I'd like to be halfway to that goal. Above all, I want to be living in greater loving every day in every way.
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How do you measure career success? What does spiritual value mean for you? I would love to know. Please leave a comment below or contact me at clearresults@me.com.
Click Eli Davidson for more on Eli.
For more tips and hints on living a healthier, wealthier, happier life, click The Wealth Book -- Winning With Spirit
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