By Ann Barczay SloanWomen's Networking Editor
Owner,
Charmed Life Coaching
Creator,
Secrets of Financial Alchemy™
How Hot is Your Relationship with Money?
“IF MONEY WERE A PERSON”, asks Morgana Rae, “what kind of person would reflect your current experience of Money?” Is it an ugly, disappointing, elusive, even frightening presence in your life, one that causes heartache and anxiety ─ or is it a highly attractive, loving, sexy and exciting entity who finds you powerfully attractive and is always eager to please you?
What an intriguing question! Even more intriguing for me are the amazingly abundant (i.e., rich) results Morgana has achieved for her own business as well as her coaching clients through using this dynamic metaphor. I’ve been eager to learn more and have planned for months now to get an interview. As you see, I have succeeded ─ so please read on!
Who is Morgana?
Morgana Rae is described as “The Coach with the Magic Touch” and the “Money Magic Queen”. It’s interesting to note that her mother named her after King Arthur’s sister, Morgana Le Fey (Morgana the Faerie), a priestess with magical healing powers.
Morgana’s web site, http://www.howtobeamoneymagnet.com/ provides this background information:
Morgana Rae, a certified Master Results Coach and mythologist trained in NLP, hypnosis, and co-active coaching, draws on these skills and 20 years in the entertainment industry to create fun, dynamic exercises that transform your life quickly – with stunning results. Morgana is known as the Charmed Life Coach: “the coach with the magic touch”.
She owns Charmed Life Coaching, a successful life and business coaching company. Morgana guides clients to attract more than they chase, and to enjoy success without sacrificing their humanity.
As a leading expert on wealth manifestation, Morgana is a popular speaker and frequent television and radio guest. Morgana delivers keynote addresses and breakout sessions at expos and conferences from Los Angeles to Oslo. Her articles have been published in over 50 countries worldwide… Her Financial Alchemy books, CDs, magazine articles and classes have impacted the lives of thousands of people worldwide.
Web Site and Book Information
Morgana’s web site is at http://www.howtobeamoneymagnet.com/, and her blogis found at http://www.abundanceandprosperity.com/
Her unique information products (available via her web site) are:
Workbook:
-- FINANCIAL ALCHEMY™: Twelve Months of Magic and Manifestation.
CDs:
-- FINANCIAL ALCHEMY™: Create a New Relationship with Money
-- FINANCIAL ALCHEMY™: Limiting Belief Obliterator
How I first got to meet Morgana
I first caught a glimpse of Morgana Rae at one of the original dinner meetings of N.E.W. Entrepreneurs in Santa Monica, CA, founded by Christine Kloser: also a subject of my Women’s Networking article (Sept. 21, 2008 issue of TNNW). I don’t recall ever speaking with Morgana directly (we always seemed to sit in opposite corners of the room), but ─ given my deep interest in mythology and allied arcane subjects ─ you can bet my ears perked up at hearing her magical name!
But soon thereafter I had a major, challenging life shift and ended up moving from sunny California climes to the Pacific Northwest. Eventually, just as I ended up cycling back to reconnect with Christine where she is now, I cycled back to Morgana because – as long-time reader of her newsletter and blog ─ I’ve become fascinated by her escalating progress and apparent success in what she calls “charmed living”.
And now, on with the interview!
At last, we are here now, ready to talk and share. I’m super-curious to hear what Morgana has to say!
So Morgana, how would you summarize what you do? What’s your “elevator speech”?
“I help people create a new relationship with Money as if Money were the hottest, sexiest, most romantic lover who wants to woo you, loves you more than anyone else in the world, and wants to stay with you if you’ll let him.
This strikes me as so delightful that I laugh in surprise.
So you suggest we create and envision our own personal, hot, committed, ever-unfolding romance with a personalized “Money”? This is what you’ve named your Money Honey?
Precisely! And this works for both genders, by the way. So if you’re a male, the Money Honey you’d create would be a gorgeous sexy female.
Very innovative! Can you tell me what exactly makes what you do unique?
“Uh… unique? You think I’m unique? (As I bat my eyes...) Nooobody teaches what I teach. And the results I get would be unbelievable if I didn’t have the emails to support them. (Day after last night’s teleclass, the success story emails are already coming in.) And frankly, anyone who tries to do my coaching is going to have hit or miss results unless they trained with me.
My playful, sexy style don’t hurt neither!”
I definitely get that! (I smile.) So ─ how would you describe the primary mission of what you do?
“Let me give you my mission statement,” says Morgana. “It just popped into my head one day, ready made, while I was typing something else. So far I haven’t been able to improve upon it:
I write, teach and coach in order to evolve humanity, and to witness a whole world of empowered, enlightened, charmed living.
In addition, I feel called (mostly because my Money Honey told me) to give attention to empowering women economically. I think that’s the key to world change and peace.”
Please describe how you got started in all this, and how you arrived where you are currently.
“Oy! I’m an overachiever. Let me tell you… I was hit by a car, thrown into a coma, woke up with a serious head injury (unable to concentrate or remember things or sleep for a year and a half) and I STILL graduated as a National Merit Scholar and went on to a top college. And I was a fat, uncoordinated little girl who became a professional ballerina. Do I know how to accomplish stuff or what?”
That’s definitely impressive!
“Yeah… But I couldn’t make a living. Talk about a surprise. I choked when stating my fee or asking to be paid. I realized I had to change my relationship with Money, and overnight I had a bunch of clients paying me more than I had ever charged before (which, in hindsight, was pathetically low—but it was more than I had courage to charge at the time).
Basically, here’s how it happened: When I changed my money monster (who’d terrorized me for many years) into my tall, dark, handsome Money Honey, and committed myself to being a loving relationship partner, I became VERY attractive to clients, and very good at graciously accepting their payment without embarrassment.”
You felt uncomfortable asking for payment?
“I still have that moment of fear before I remember how handsome my Money Honey is. So ─ I charge for him.”
Once again I have to smile at Morgana’s delightful metaphor. But I keep moving forward. I ask:
Which of your projects are you currently most passionate about?
“Training and licensing Financial Alchemy Coaches. This is the most ambitious, exciting, and gratifying thing I’ve ever done. These wonderful people are my protégés. I am determined to see them succeed beyond anything they’ve known. I teach, coach and mentor them. I even send them clients when I have too many. And I know they will make a bigger impact in the world than I could ever make by myself. This is my legacy and my project of love.”
How much of your work is focused specifically toward women?
“I’ve already touched on that a bit. My approach to Money really resonates with women. We love love. We tend to be nurturers and people pleasers—which ironically is just the right formula to give away our gifts without getting paid.”
So there’s a potential danger here?
“Yes! Whether it’s from a feeling of unworthiness, or a fear of rejection or causing harm, or a guilt about taking money to help someone (I’m speaking from my own experience, ladies), we repel and protect ourselves from wealth. But…”
… You have a remedy?
“… if you make Money a person, we can turn all of our loving, nurturing superpowers towards making that relationship work AND feel good about valuing Money!”
What are some of the ways and places in which you promote your work?
“Wow! Shall I count the ways?
1. My e-zine
2. Magazine articles
3. Blog articles
4. Facebook
5. Radio and television interviews
6. Magazine interviews
7. Public speaking
8. Taking classes ALL THE TIME.
9. Expos
10. Selfgrowth.com
11. Social Networking: Digg / Stumbleupon / Reditt / Twitter
12. Learning about SEO. Haven’t bought adwords yet.
13. Networking meetings ─ but not so much.
14. Free teleclasses.
15. Free e-book.
16. Joint ventures.
17. I had a publicist for two years.
18. Charm and humor.”
19. The best little business card in the world: Red dress, red shoes, on my back with money and rose petals raining down on me. No photo-shop—that’s real cash, baby. Talk about a “Money” shot!”
Wow ─ thanks for sharing these dynamite photos!
Now I’d like to ask: Whom does your network currently include? What is the size of your outreach?
“My outreach? I can only guess. I used to have a national magazine column. I’ve done around 100 radio interviews and been in about 70 magazines worldwide. Last year my Financial Alchemy book tour took me from Baja to Oslo, Norway, with Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, New York City, and Maryland in between. I also have 3,500 people on my ezine list (not big, but loyal).
I have about 2,000 Facebook friends, and then those friends’ friends. (Social Networking is the BEST!) Also about 150 folks on Twitter. Then there’s 12,000 on the Coaches Training Institute forum. I haven’t kept track of Plaxo or LinkedIn friends. I get between 5,000 and 20,000 hits a month on my blog, http://www.abundanceandprosperity.com/.
I’m also excited that my teleclasses always include people from the UK, Norway, Australia, and South Africa. It’s incredible. That recent interview of mine with UPI literally went around the planet.”
What has been the best about building a network: Positive experiences? Benefits, expected and unexpected?
"Here’s the essence of it all: The real value of building a network is friendship.
Coaching can be lonely, so networking meetings and personal development classes get me out of my office, and I LOVE that. I see the same people over and over at different events, and it’s a joy to reconnect with them every time. I’ve developed some real friendships this way.
I joined a networking group in 2003 called Network for Empowering Women (N.E.W.) Entrepreneurs. (It disbanded a couple of years ago.) My first night there, it seemed like every woman was a coach. I made a decision that I probably wouldn’t get any clients there, but the women were so FABULOUS that I was going to join anyway. It was one of the best business decisions I made in my life ─ and I didn’t even know it at the time.”
See any down side to networking?
“Here’s where networking gets icky: when people want to meet for coffee to ‘find out more about what I do.’ (The implication being that they’ll tell me what they do and ask for referrals.) I don’t want to meet for coffee with a business agenda.
The same is true for online. I hate it when someone introduces themselves to sell me something. If we become good friends and you offer something I want, you better believe I’ll buy it from you.”
What challenges (if any) have you found in your networking experiences?
“It was really hard in the beginning, because I didn’t know how to articulate what I do (coaching) in a compelling way. Especially when I tried to sound ‘professional’, you could see the listener’s eyes glaze over. I was profoundly uninteresting. I got better when I started to bring in some magical, witchy elements: this resonated with more women than I expected. Of course this is L.A.”, she laughs.
Of course! I kind of miss that aspect of L.A.…
“The big shift in all this came from writing. When I wrote my article on ‘Creating a New Relationship with Money’, the response was overwhelmingly enthusiastic. I knew I was on to something. As I slowly got the courage to make that my focus (nobody likes to have a niche, and it’s only the starting point for what I do as a life and business coach), my business grew.”
What made the difference, you think?
“I found what the market wanted, and things started to take off.
I eventually hired an excellent publicist. It was a huge investment (more than my rent), but I can’t discount the payoff in terms of recognition and credibility. I think it’s an important step if you’re going to take your business seriously.”
Bottom line – What do you feel is really working well for you, your company?
“My newsletter and my blog. Build your list!!! Any time I want to make some money, I send out an email to my list. I offer an article (that I can then re-use in my blog or a book or allow other people to post all over the web and send traffic back to me) or a free teleclass, and I get an influx of business. I’m talking thousands and thousands of dollars of business. And I bribe, bribe, bribe people to join my list. You have to have a GREAT product (e-book, audio-class) that people WANT, and GIVE IT AWAY to snare subscribers.
This giving away a product will also relieve you of guilt for not giving your coaching service away for free. By the way, to get your own copy of my free E-book, see details at the end of this article”.
So coaching for free is not a good idea, you think?
“Never, never, never coach for free. This is the most challenging thing in the world, because you want to help everyone. (That’s why I offer so much free stuff—for many people, the free teleclass is all they need to get them started on the right path…)
Here’s why you should never coach for free: if you are a good enough coach, your client will get so much value from that one session that they won’t see the need to hire you. They’re satisfied. And that sucks. Give free consultations or strategy sessions, but don’t coach them. It’s a subtle but critical distinction.
Free coaching is deeply disrespectful of the value you worked so hard for, and invested so much money in training, to offer. Look at it this way: Car dealers don’t give cars away for free. You shouldn’t be giving away your high end product either.”
Besides networking, how else are you promoting your company? What do you view as the primary vehicle and what makes it more important than the others?
“I think I covered that. Dollar for dollar, and for time invested, virtual networking brings me the bulk of my business. When I look at the proportion of out of town, out of state, and overseas customers and clients, it’s HUGE. Also: Network on Facebook and Twitter! And of course, contribute to forums in your field. The payoff is amazing.”
What’s the achievement you’re most proud of at this time?
“Oh my god. I’m making a living doing what I love! How awesome is that? It took me ages, and a ton of tears, to figure out what worked for me. It was horrible. And now I find myself a leader in this industry. Amazing. A dream come true. This is why I train and mentor other coaches. I don’t want other people to hurt like I did.”
What are your plans and goals for the future; organizational, personal?
“I have a real passion for training, mentoring, and promoting a new generation of Financial Alchemy coaches, so they can succeed and help more people than I ever could on my own. And this way I can keep my focus on speaking, creating new projects, and doing fun stuff. It would also be nice to fall in love.”
Anything else you would like to add for our readers? Perhaps words of encouragement and / or inspiration?
“Here’s the heart of it all: Make friends, not customers. Be authentic! Don’t push your services. Focus on attracting. And give yourself TIME to break through gravity and take off.”
Thank you, Morgana, for this delightful time together! You’ve really inspired me ─ now I must dash off to envision and attract my own super-attractive Money Honey ASAP!
Contact Information:
Morgana can be reached through her websites at:
http://www.abundanceandprosperity.com/
or
http://www.howtobeamoneymagnet.com/
Reminder:
Be sure to grab a free download of Morgana’s E-book: “Proven Steps to Be a Money Magnet” at either of her websites.
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Posted to THE NATIONAL NETWORKER. To subscribe for your free newletter, go to http://www.thenationalnetworker.com/. For the complete National Networker Relationship Capital Toolkit and a free RSS feed, go to: http://thenationalnetworkerweblog.blogspot.com/.
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1 comment:
Thanks for this article. I enjoyed learning about Morgana and her unique way of creating abundance. I did the money honey meditation & I have a better relationship with money now.
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