Lynn: I absolutely am!

John: Yes! Lynn is an expert on the topic of intuition through her work as an intuitive business advisor. She’s helped thousands of people achieve their goals and create business success. She’s the author of seven books on intuition, including Trust Your Gut: How the Power of Intuition Can Grow Your Business. Well Lynn, take minute, fill in the gaps from this intro, and give us a little glimpse into your personal life.

Lynn: Well, thanks. I’ve always been fascinated by intuition. I just love the topic. I think as entrepreneurs we need to listen to that intuition. Sometimes we can’t hear or know all about that those facts and figures. We have to really trust our gut. I’ve just been so interested in it for such a long time. I think it’s a great guide for our lives. Not just our business lives, but our personal lives.

I find that when I pay attention to what excites me, what energizes me that’s my intuition leading me in the right direction. I think of that when I’m feeling bored, drained, aggravated by something that’s my intuition also saying, “Don’t go there,” or, “Move away from it.” When we pay attention to those signals our life really becomes amazing, and I think our business becomes much more successful.

John: Lynn, if I had a penny for every time I heard the intuition or I said the word intuition here on EO Fire, I’d have a couple hundred pennies.

Lynn: Yes, you’d be a rich man.

John: Yeah, there would be a couple dollars right there for me. I’ve gotta tell you, I’ve never had an intuition expert on the show, despite the fact that I am always just clanging that bell about following your intuition. My guests are always sharing that their failures happen when they don’t follow their intuition, and their ah-ha moments happen when they do. I love the fact that here on episode 1,019 we finally have an expert on intuition.

You’ve written 11 books, Lynn. It’s so exciting on so many levels. Before we break into your story, and how you got there, and just some other things, talk to us about revenue. Because we are entrepreneurs first and foremost, creating viable businesses, so how do you, Lynn Robinson, the author of seven books and so much more – How do you make dollars?
Lynn: You know that’s such a good question because so often we don’t ask that of each other. I have three different ways. The main ways that I make money are obviously through the books, and royalties and advances for my books. I also am a speaker, so I love training entrepreneurs about how to trust their gut. You’re right, I think a lot of us know the value of it, but we don’t talk about how do you get it? How do you receive that information? Because it’s different for each of us.

My primary income stream is to do intuitive advisor work or intuitive readings as people often call it. People usually call me when they’re in the midst of change, transition, trying to figure out their next steps. I use my intuition, and hopefully help them use theirs to figure out what those next steps might be.

John: Fire Nation, if you are willing to take a stand for something in some niche and for Lynn it was the word intuition. She just wanted to be the authority figure, the person with the credibility in this niche. Guess what? You are going to be able to find consulting work. There’s gonna be books. There’s gonna be communities. There’s gonna be coaching. So many opportunities, don’t try to be the master of everything. What’s that one thing you can dominate right now? Crush it, and then just let the world be attracted to you, the right clients, the right people get attracted you way.

Lynn, you weren’t always the authority figure on intuition. It doesn’t just happen. You don’t just wake up one morning and say, “Oh, yeah. I’m gonna be the intuition expert,” and then there it is. You’ve had your ups. You’ve had your downs. Here on EO Fire we always start with the downs, and that down that I wanna talk about is your worst entrepreneurial moment. Lynn, take us there.

Lynn: Oh, and again, thank you for having that question. Because doesn’t it seem so often when you talk to all the experts that no one has ever had a down moment? And certainly we all do. I just think it’s important to just kind of put that out there.

Well, you know that I’m an intuition expert, and the main question that people always ask me, “Well, if you’re so intuitive, why have you never won the lottery?” Well, the fact is that right after I got married, I woke up with – What is it? Six numbers in my head, and I had never played the lottery number before, but I couldn’t go back to sleep. I couldn’t get the numbers out of my head. They just kept repeating themselves over and over again.

My husband’s snoring beside me, and I said, “Honey, honey,” and I’m nudging him. I said, “How many numbers are in the lottery?”

He said, “Six.”

I said, “Well, I think that I’ve got the lottery number.” I have never seen that man move so fast before or since. I swear. He was on his feet, he had a pad paper, he had a pen, and he was writing that lottery number down.

We wrote the number down, it’s a Wednesday morning, and he said, “I’m playing this on the way to work this morning.” He was all excited. I’ve married an intuitive; we’ve won the lottery, so I kind of put it out of my mind.

Friday morning rolls around. We’re having coffee, reading the paper, and I said, “Oh, we should check to see if my number came in on Wednesday.”

He looked a little sheepish, and he said, “You know, I forgot to play it. I got really busy. I totally put it out of my head.”

I’m thinking, “Oh, well.” Slim to none chances that I won the lottery here, but I looked anyway. I’m staring at the numbers, and I put the paper over to him and I said, “Aren’t these my numbers?”

He put the little piece of paper he had written it down on and looked at the newspaper and he said, “Oh, my God. That’s the lottery, the time that I didn’t win it.” It was for $5.2 million.

John: Oh, my god.

Lynn: Oh, my god, and I’m still married to the man. There’s a long list of people I’ve been told to e-mail if I ever come up with the lottery number again, but so far it hasn’t happened. I may have had my one chance and I blew it.

John: Unbelievable. You know, I don’t want to say that’s a tragedy so to speak, but that is something that you do look at and say, “Man, what could I have done in this world with that?”

Lynn: Oh, sure.

John: It’s not like I need money just for money’s sake, to buy material things. It’s like, hey, if you are an entrepreneur, if you are a humanitarian, if you’re a philanthropist, you can do so many amazing things. That’s one of the things we always talk about here at EO Fire is, Fire Nation, don’t let your subconscious keep you away from actually feeling like there is an obligation to grasp that money when it’s there, to generate revenue, to take your winnings when they’re sitting in front of you because you can do so much amazing things with it. I love that Jay Z quote, Lynn, that is, “You can’t help the poor if you’re poor.” That’s just a reality. You can’t. There’s so many things you can do that’s great.

I have a couple of things coming up that I’m really excited about in 2016 in that vein, and I love the fact that we’re going to continue this conversation about intuition, giving back, etc. Lynn, what do you really wanna make sure our listeners, Fire Nation, gets from that story?

Lynn: Well, it was the lesson that I got from that story because it’s not only important to listen to your intuition, but it’s important to act on it. After I got over being mad at my husband for not playing it, I realized all those fingers were pointing back at me. It’s like, Lynn, you really could’ve played it yourself, and so that’s something that I really always think about. It’s like, “Okay, there’s the intuition. There’s that ah-ha moment. There’s that inner voice.” However I get that information now I take action on it. We can certainly choose to ignore it, but acting on the wisdom that we receive is all important. That’s what I learned from that story.

John: Nothing happens without action. Now Lynn, instead of dwelling on this $5.2 million, all of those zeros. I can’t even see the end of those zeros, but instead of dwelling on that, let’s move to another story. This one is gonna be an ah-ha moment you’ve had at some point in your journey. Now, I know you’ve had a ton, but the reality is this, you know our listeners. We’re Fire Nation. We’re entrepreneurs. What’s an ah-ha moment that you’ve had that you think is really going to inspire our listeners?

Lynn: Well, my business started at a friend’s funeral. I bet you have never heard that before.

John: No.

Lynn: I was the operations manager of a software company at the time, and I was talking to a career coach saying, “I’m trusting my intuition here. I’m bored with what I’m doing. I know it’s not what I wanna do anymore. I really wanna do something different. I’m passionate about intuition. I love counseling people, but how the heck do you start a business like this?”

Fortunately, this career coach was kind of unusual and she was very into, I guess, what we now call law of attraction. She asked me to visualize what I wanted. I had imagined an office full of happy clients. I imagined my appointment book full. I was imagining money going into the bank. Those were all the things I was visualizing, and she just had me do an affirmation. She said I’ve got a full time business helping people with their intuition, and giving advice to people, or counseling or coaching.

I was saying those affirmations, and a couple months went by, nothing’s happening. A friend of mine died who had been sick for quite a while. I walked into the funeral home, and I heard what I can only tell you was an inner voice. There was like 200 people in the funeral home for the service, and I heard this woman’s voice say, “Please, sit there.” I turned around to acknowledge her and, John, it sounds weird, but there was no one there.

I’m thinking, “What the heck was that?” I sat in the seat next to this woman who was indicated, and I’m thinking the whole time, “What the heck was that about?” I’m sitting next to a total stranger, but at the end of the service, she and I just started engaging in small talk.

She said, “Well, what do you do for a living?”

Well, I was the operations manager of a software company, but what do I blurt out? “Oh, I’m a psychic.” My brain just didn’t engage with my mouth. I was so totally embarrassed that I said that. Fortunately, she was really interested.

She said, “Oh, my gosh. I’m really interested in this. Would you give me an intuitive reading?”

The short version of the story was I didn’t have an office or anything. I went over to her house and did a session with her. She found it really helpful. At the end of the session I said, “You know, we didn’t really talk about what you do for a living.”

She said, “Oh, I thought I told you. I’m a writer for The Boston Globe newspaper, and I’d love to write an article about you.” She wrote the article, and the month after it came out I had 500 clients lined up for sessions.

John: What?

Lynn: That was my ah-ha moment.

John: Now, there are a couple things that I kind of want to dive into here. One is that luck is when effort meets opportunity. Now, there was definitely some luck involved there for you following your intuition, following that voice, sitting next to the right person, having the right conversation. You took advantage of the opportunity that was there. You put effort forth, and that was huge.

One thing that you did kind of start this with that I definitely agree on some levels with is you don’t always hear about people coming up with their great ideas at funerals. At the same time, I think if you really think about – I think, Fire Nation, if you actually think about the reality of what a funeral is that might not actually be the case. For me, funerals are just really an example of our mortality, the fact that we only have so much time on this planet. That our time is running our every single minute of every single day, and we don’t know how long are lives are gonna be, but we know they’re gonna be short, period.

There’s a great book, Lynn, The Ten Biggest Regrets of the Dying, where this woman went around to people hospice, and interviewed over 1,000. They all said without any difference in the top two or three it was for all of them, I wish that I hadn’t let outside influences dictate my life. That’s so telling, and so I think that a funeral can do that too. You can say, “Man, here’s my friend who passed, and he or she may or may not have lived the life they were meant to do.” It turns a mirror back on you saying, “Hey, in this short life that I have, am I living the life that I want to be living, that I’m meant to be living, that I know that I can be living because it’s gonna be over in a flash.”

Fire Nation, absorb that, and take it in. Hold that mirror for you. Don’t make a funeral hold that mirror for you. Hold that mirror up for yourself. Lynn, just like you shared your one takeaway on that biggest failure story, what’s the one thing you really want to make sure our listeners get from this story?

Lynn: Well, it’s certainly to listen to your intuition again, but also to – Kind of what you were saying, is that people talk themselves out of what they want to do a lot. They let outside influences talk them out. What I observe in doing intuitive sessions with people is often that we’re our own worst enemies. We’re saying, “Oh, I’m scared. What will people think? Oh, that’s kind of a weird occupation. I can’t tell her that.”

As I’m processing all of this in a quick moment, as she’s asking me, “What do you do for a living?” All of those things went on in my mind. Often when we’re really trying to trust our intuition, the first thing that comes up is fear because it’s gonna put us out of our comfort zone. I mean, that was totally out of my comfort zone. I had never really done that for anybody I didn’t know before, so it was really about feeling the fear and doing it anyway because it comes up for all of us as entrepreneurs.

John: Lynn, what’s your biggest weakness as an entrepreneur?

Lynn: I would say – Well, it’s a blessing and curse, but I would say being an introvert. Which is not about being shy, but it’s also – You know, when I go to those networking events, oh my gosh, I wanna go home and take a nap. I would much rather be reading a trashy novel with a blanket pulled up to my neck. I think that’s really probably one of the weaknesses, but it’s also a strength because I think those of us who are more introverted in nature tend to be very good listeners. We tend to be better empaths, so I think there’s a flipside to that.

John: Well, what is your biggest strength, your number one strength?

Lynn: I would say moving through fear and probably being an empath. It really makes – When I do my intuitive sessions with people, it’s really actively listening to my own intuition. It’s really hearing what’s going on kind of on an invisible level with the beliefs of others. It’s really about tuning into people very deeply.

John: How would you define empath?

Lynn: It’s about being intuitive, but we get intuition in so many different ways. We get it on a feeling level, which is more of what an empath is. We might get that clairaudient, that clear voice like I got at the funeral. You might get a gut feeling or other physical sensation. An empath is somebody who really kind of feels into what’s going with someone, or feels into their situation.
A lot of people hire me, for example, when they’ve got a partnership issue either in personal life or business. They’re hiring somebody new, and they’ve got an issue with an employee. I tune in and I say, “What do I feel is going on with that person?” I put myself in their shoes and say, “Here’s what’s going on. Here’s the perspective that they have in their life.”

John: Wow. Love that. Lynn, you have a lot of things going on that you’re really excited about. Hopefully one in the near term future is gonna be waking up with six numbers in your head again.

Lynn: Yes, from your lips to God’s ears. Yes.

John: Walking your husband to the nearest 7-11. Now, of all of these things that you do have going on, what’s the one thing that has you most fired up today?

Lynn: Probably two things. One is that I love teaching intuition to entrepreneurs. I’m finding that there’s a lot more openness about this kind of thing, and people are really fired up about hearing about it. That’s one thing. Also, I’m talking to a publisher about possibly writing a new business book on intuition. Those are the two things that have me fired up right now.

John: Love it. Well, we will have those linked up at show notes as always Fire Nation. Don’t go anywhere because we’re about to enter the lightning round, but before we do, let’s take a minute to thank our sponsors. Lynn, are you prepared for the lightning rounds?

Lynn: I am.

John: What was holding you back from becoming an entrepreneur?

Lynn: A fear. Totally fear. Just thinking, “What if I do it and it doesn’t work out? What do I have to fall back on? Oh, my gosh. What will people think?” It was all of that inner dialogue stuff. I left a really good job to do this for a living, and I’ve never looked back. I’m just so grateful that it’s worked out.

John: What is the best advice you’ve ever received?

Lynn: You know, I don’t know who said this to me, but it’s really just understanding that life has its ups and downs. I mean, you kind of start out your podcast that way. That understanding that there’s gonna be setbacks, and it’s normal. It’s really about persevering, and holding the vision of what you want versus what you fear during those down times.

John: What’s the personal habit that contributes to your success?

Lynn: I have something that I do every day that just really helps me a lot. Part of it – It’s got three short steps. The first part is visualizing or seeing, writing down what it is that I want. What’s the best possible outcome of my next step, my business? What is it that I really wanna be doing? What is the ideal life look like?

The second part is I meditate, and as part of the meditation I describe to myself in my own mind what that looks and feels like. It’s like, “Wow. That new audience is just rocking this. This is great. I’m getting hired for more speaking gigs. More and more clients are signing up on my appointment book.” I just describe it to myself as if it’s already happened.

Then the third part is an intuitive part. I put my hand over my heart because I feel like that gets out of my logical brain, and I just ask myself, “What three things can I do today to move in the direction of my dreams?” That helps so much A, when I’m stuck, or B, when I’m overwhelmed it helps me shift the priorities. The intuitive part of that three action steps is I pay attention to what comes to me that feels energizing, that’s exciting, that I’m curious about, and those are the ones I take action on. Because I think those are the ones that are intuitively guided.

John: Wow. Well, I’ve gotta share something with you, and you, Fire Nation, right now is I do these interviews, Lynn, on a standing desk. I’m currently standing up as I do all my interviews and webinars, and as you were talking you said you put your hand over your heart. I just kind of instinctively, being like a human being where we like to kind of mimic things, I put my hand over my heart, and just out of nowhere this memory just came back in. From first to sixth grade every single morning we would do The Pledge of Allegiance.

Lynn: Oh, right.

John: Putting your hand over your heart, and I just – I don’t know if there’s been many times I’ve done that since then, which is crazy to think about. As soon as I did that, just hand over the heart, I was like, “I pledge allegiance to the flag,” out of nowhere. That just came out of nowhere.

Lynn: It just comes right back.

John: A little side note, but thanks for sharing that.

Lynn: It’s also a very centering thing to do. It kind of gets you out of, “Oh, I should do this. I should do this.” You’re kind of going, “Okay.” If you wanna pledge allegiance when that happens, that’s okay.

John: I love it. No, I was at a conference not too long ago, and I saw someone I hadn’t seen for a while. I went to give him and hug, and he was just like, “No, no. We don’t hug like that. We hug heart to heart.” He showed me how you kind of bring it in right to like left cheek.

Lynn: Did you do the side hug? Yeah.

John: Exactly, so you’re doing it like that, so like your heart – I was like, “Man, that is a more impactful way of doing it.” It is centering so to speak. Now Lynn, what’s an internet resource like Evernote that you can share with our listeners?

Lynn: The one that I use a lot is Fullslate.com, and it’s a calendar application online. It’s made my life so much easier when I have people who can sign up, see my schedule, pay for things right online, and it reminds people about their appointment. It gives them a six months touch base. They’ll send out an e-mail automatically to say, “Hey, haven’t seen you in a while.” It’s just really made my life so much easier. It’s Fullslate.com.

John: If you could recommend one book to join your book Trust Your Gut on our bookshelves, what would that book be and why?

Lynn: It’s a book I read a long time ago, and it’s called The Power of Your Subconscious Mind by Joseph Murphy. I think it’s gotten revised by Hayhouse recently. That was the first book that I read that really got me understanding both about intuition, but about the power of the images that we hold in our mind, and the self-talk that we have.

As entrepreneurs, if we’re saying, “Wow. This is gonna be successful. I’m gonna do this. It’s gonna work. Things will work out for me.” Those are the people who are real successful. When I was reading The Power of Your Subconscious Mind, he was describing what I now see with a lot of my intuitive reading clients. When we say the opposite of that, “Wow. Maybe I’m not lucky. Things don’t work out for me. That works for John Lee, but it doesn’t work for me,” that’s when we start getting those failure messages in your head. The Power of Your Subconscious Mind, I love that book.

John: Well Fire Nation, I know that you love audio, so I teamed up with Audible, and if you haven’t already, you can get an amazing audiobook for free at eofirebook.com. Lynn, this is the last question of the lightening round, but it’s a doozy. Imagine you work up tomorrow morning in a brand new world identical to Earth, but you knew no one. You still have all the experience and knowledge that you currently have. Your food and shelter is taken care of, but all you have is this laptop and $500. What would you do in the next seven days?

Lynn: You know, of all your questions that was the one I was struggling with the most. I was trying to come up with this really unique business idea. The first thing that really came to mind was just feeling very grateful for the roof over the head and food on my table. I was thinking, “Okay. Well, if I can start there being in gratitude that’s a really good place.”

Then I just thought about my own calling. Through my whole life, I’ve always been somebody that people seek out to talk to me, and to say, “What do you think?” and, “Here’s what’s going on with my life.” I just figured, if I can make a living doing this now, than I can do that in the brand new identical world that you described. I think that’s what I probably would be doing, just the same thing I’m doing now, which made me feel good to come up with that answer.

John: Yeah, that’s kind of cool. It’s like, “That’s actually what I would be doing.” Lynn, we started on fire, let’s end on fire with you sharing a parting piece of guidance, the best way that we can connect with you, and then we’ll say goodbye.

Lynn: Okay. Well, my website is LynnRobinson.com, and my first name is spelled L-y-n-n. I have a how to listen to you inner CEO booklet or e-book that people can download. It’s at LynnRobinson.com/Fire. That’s the easiest way to be in touch with me.

John: What’s that parting piece of guidance?

Lynn: It’s to really listen to your intuition. Ask your intuition questions. What’s my right next step? What do I need to know about this person or situation? What could I do today to be more successful? How can I open to abundance? Whatever the question is that you have, asking it in that open ended way. Keeping a pad of paper or a keyboard, and just writing down whatever you get.

The answer may not come in right away, but when you ask those questions you’re kind of priming the pump for the universe to give you an answer. It may come as a still, quiet inner voice. It may come as an ah-ha moment. It may come in listening to one of John Lee’s podcasts. It can come in a whole bunch of different ways. You may be drawn to an article that answers your question. The universe is a very responsive place and the answer will come through the vehicle of your intuition.

John: Fire Nation, you’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with, and you have been hanging out with Lynn and JLD, so keep up the heat, and head over to EOFire.com. Just type Lynn, L-y-n-n, in our search bar. Her show notes page will pop right up with everything that we’ve been talking about today. Her recommended resource, her recommended book, of course her book, Trust Your Gut, and so much more, including the gift at LynnRobinson.com/Fire.

Lynn, I wanna thank you for sharing your journey with Fire Nation today, for that we salute you. I put my hand over my heart, and I will catch you on the flipside.

Lynn: Thank you John Lee.