By the thinkBIG Team
Natasha Bing and Sky Leigh are often asked how they created the business and lives they wanted? How did they succeed where others had failed? Their stories are testimonies to thinking big.
How did two part-time businesswomen and part-time mothers from Hawkes Bay, New Zealand manage to organise Jack Canfield to speak in New Zealand? Their journey began in October 2008 on the completion of a Personal Development programme.
"We were discussing our personal journey and experiences; how we had faced several crisis points in our lives, including being solo parents, facing the end of marriages, being unemployed and rock bottom," Natasha says.
The pair not only survived these hardships, but they made the decision to better themselves and change their lives. It was over a coffee one afternoon that their bigger vision was born.
"Imagine how it would be if more people from New Zealand and Australia had easier, more affordable access to international speakers in the personal development field?" Sky asks.
"Could we arrange this? What would we have to do? We had no idea what was going to be involved, or how to do everything we needed to do. What we did know, was that we really wanted to do it. We had a burning desire to make this happen. We wanted to give others the opportunity to grow as we had. We also knew that we had reached a stage in our own personal development journeys where it was time to give back something of what we had learnt and stretch ourselves to think bigger"
Getting their personal development business up and running over the past six months has been an ordeal, taking the highs and lows that come with setting up a business practice. The pair has had to come to terms with financial management and service provision while at the same time balancing their family duties.
Feedback from others pointed to the fact that they needed to expand outside of New Zealand, which provides a relatively small market for this type of business.
"We also had to dig deep inside ourselves to stay on top, to keep our limiting beliefs in check, to stay positive, keep taking action and keep our vision in focus," Natasha says.
"When we have reached a hurdle we have chosen to be creative, we have chosen to think about how we can do what we need to do and what the learning opportunity for this experience is. Instead of thinking "'this is too hard and 'what if…', we ensure that we do not let our fear and uncertainty get in the way. We have chosen to take action towards our vision, goals and dreams."
There have been times when Sky and Natasha catch themselves dwelling on minor setbacks instead of celebrating success, and as a result found themselves falling into the trap of doubting their ability to achieve their goals.
"In these times we used books, audio programs, CDs, DVDs and support from each other to find a way forward," Sky says. "Inevitably, once we had shifted our thoughts about a situation we would find a renewed belief in our vision and with that belief someone would appear who gave us the additional support, assistance or information we needed."
So to answer the question: how did they do it?
"A lot of self-reflection, a lot of asking ourselves and others for support and ways forward, clarity of vision and faith in ourselves and remembering why we were doing this… and then we mixed this with taking action and having fun."
