Name:  Patricia Lawless
Company Name:  Lawless Coaching, LLC
Website: www.patricialawless.com
Facebook Fan Page: https://www.facebook.com/pslawless
Twitter handle: @pslawless

Note from Jenn: Meet coach, leader, and writer, Patricia Lawless, who is also part of my Right-Brain Entrepreneur Mentorship Program. I love that Patricia shares in her spotlight how she gets her right and left brains to work together to help her grow her business. Plus, she highlights for us the importance of having a Nurture Huddle. Read on to get inspired!

What is your business and what makes your business unique?

As a writer, leader, and certified coach, I help people (especially women) rewrite their life stories and find their happily-ever-after. I work with practical dreamers who have their head in the clouds and feet on the ground. They see a world of possibility but because of “practical realities” can’t see how it could really happen for them. They have a good life, are good at their job, and know how to get things done, but they feel like they’re missing something (“Everyone else would be happy with what I’ve got, so why aren’t I?”).

I guide these practical dreamers to create a realistic action plan that will take them from where they are now to where they *really* want to be. And I help them get out of their own way and move their plan into action, starting today.

How has the Right-Brain Business Plan® helped you? What is different for you and your business after approaching planning in a creative, visual way?

I am both right and left-brained. In college, my first major was chemistry and I was also pre-med, but quickly changed my major to English (keeping pre-med), because I got bored studying nothing but science.

I usually start things from my left-brain first (“let’s be logical”). So when I started my business, I turned to a couple of traditional business books. And while I understood what it was the book said, I felt disconnected from what it was I was trying to achieve.

When I discovered the Right-Brain Business Plan, my right-brain creative self found the room to explore and the permission it needed to really feel into what my business means to me. And from there, my left-brain jumped into action (loving all the new business spreadsheets).

In the end, the Right-Brain Business Plan helped my right-brain take the lead, and inspired all of me to embrace my business.

What goals (big or small) on your business plan have you already accomplished or have made progress on?

One of the best things that has come out of what I learned in the Right-Brain Business Plan is that I am now part of a mastermind group (or “nurture huddle”). This group of women has been integral to my personal and business growth this year, offering me support, accountability, and the occasional kick in the butt when I get complacent.

Also, I am currently working on a new group coaching program I am launching this fall. It will cover everything a practical dreamer could need to take their dream and turn it into their real life.

How do you use your creative intuition in your work?

As a coach, I use my intuition as a tool, helping to guide me and my clients into places that my logical brain would never consider. Whatever my intuition is telling me is something my client can use to create something new.

And as a writer, my creative intuition is that unconscious part of me that knows what words to put onto a page. My best writing happens when I trust my creative intuition and let it flow (versus outlining and planning what I need to say). In other words, my right-brain creative intuition is the writer, and my left-brain analytical thinking is the editor.

Is there anything you’d like to share about your Right-Brain Business Plan® in terms of what it’s made out of or how you made it?

When I first created my big vision, I pulled pictures from magazines totally based on intuition. When it was done, I stepped back and looked at what I had created and while it felt “right” on the one hand, it also didn’t feel like where I was in that moment. Frankly, it scared me and I let my fears get the best of me, so I put away my Right-Brain Business Plan for almost a year.

Earlier this year I pulled it out again, and I realized that it really was true to me and where I was headed in my business (even though I didn’t feel ready when I created it!). I refined it a bit, adding some words and pictures to the backside of what I had already created. So I learned another lesson in trusting my intuition. Also that my business plan can evolve as I do.

What’s your big vision for your business?

My big vision for my business is to help people (especially women) rewrite their life stories and find their happily ever after. I want to inspire women to ask “why not?” when the world is asking them “why?”. And I want to create a space for people to embrace who they really are and live the possibilities they choose because trying to be like everyone else and deny your differences is a recipe for frustration, anxiety, and chronic boredom. My vision is to bring joy to the world.

My left-brain would also like to add that my big vision includes writing books, leading workshops, and speaking at TED someday (why not?).

What advice do you have for other creative entrepreneurs?

1. When the doubts and anxieties creep in, take a break. Take a breath. Take a walk. Whatever you do, don’t sit and stew in the negative stuff.
2. Create or join a mastermind group. These are the people who will understand your ups and downs. They’re the ones who will pop the champagne or bring boxes of kleenex, and challenge you when you’re playing safe.
3. Just because “everyone else is doing it this way”, doesn’t mean it’s the right way for you. Find your own right way.
4. Be unapologetically you.

For more support with developing your RBBP, check out the Right-Brain Business Plan® e-Course happening this fall.

Want to create your own Right-Brain Business Plan®? The Right-Brain Business Plan® Kit includes supplies to make your own accordion book style visual business plan.