Posted on:Lets Talk

Our Story Creates Identity And Connection

Storytelling is the way we build our identity as human beings. And the weavers of those stories come in the form of traditional archetypes.

Ultimately the memories we choose to tell form carefully placed scene of our story; which then inform our life purpose.

We are what we share and we only share if we care –

So, it’s simply inappropriate to brush off our experiences as dull or insignificant. How we choose to connect to our stories is what makes an interesting meaningful story arc.

What we choose to say and share is extremely important, whether its last weeks school graduation as a meaningful event, the birth of a child or the death of a loved one as a turning point, it doesn’t matter what the event, but rather it’s the essence, the emotion, the spirit that’s expressed about the moment that really matters.

Finding a genuine, formative moment in your story is always going to be a powerful and valuable contribution to your reader or audience. Our stories are what teach us and guide us toward our humanity.

Do you have a story that needs to be shared?

Posted on:Lets Talk

WHY we need STORY

animals-avian-beach-760984We long for connection with all that is curious and creative.

We are creatures who belong to each other for reasons beyond analysis, for it is our heart’s desire and our life’s dream to fulfill a worthy story.

We ache with a need to connect and create or sadly the other is we become numb and silently indifferent.

Yet it is the never-ending and renewed STORY that is forever wanting to grow through us… I urge you, dear storytellers of our time, to be at one with its magical forces. For in truth there is nothing but Story, it is what teaches us and what sustains us as human beings. STORY informs our purpose, but more importantly, it gives humanity its Soul.

– Elizabeth Ellames

Do you have a story wanting to grow through you?

Posted on:Real Deal Matters

KIND is the new COOL

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The REAL DEAL Benefits Of Being Socially Responsible in Business

There are benefits on both sides of being a socially responsible business. We all like to connect with good people, as do customers, who also prefer to associate with good businesses. And being a socially responsible business is a great way to attract positive attention to your organization, and also make your employees feel proud to be part of your enterprise. But before you can do this, it’s important to have clearly defined core values.

Build Your Brand From The Inside Out

Being socially responsible is a great way to build your brand, and create a positive name for yourself. Things like goodwill, trust, and an overall positive image are possible through being socially responsible. If you support the right type of cause, there can also be many co-branding and marketing opportunities.

Attract And Engage Appropriate Talent

Gen Y and Gen X are generally suspicious of big business, the government, and the media. And are especially connected to working for socially responsible companies. Millennial case studies show that around 80 percent of 13- to 25-year-olds surveyed want to work for businesses that care about their effect on society. Others studies have found that MBA graduates would prefer to sacrifice on average $11,000 of their annual salary to work for a socially responsible establishment. The current trends show that people really do want to make a difference in the world, and this is a great way to attract and engage the appropriate talent in your business. When staff members are proud of where they work they feel a sense of loyalty, which makes them ambassadors for the business.

People Want To Contribute To Something That Makes A Difference And Has A Positive Impact On The World

People Love Being Socially Responsible

Many studies have found that 50% of consumers, surveyed worldwide would be willing to pay more for goods and services from socially responsible companies. The caution is, and this is important for businesses to think about, is that in countries where there was already some disbelief, the willingness to spend more was lower. This means that businesses and the initiatives you’re applying need to be totally authentic. It’s extremely important to always be demonstrating “inclusiveness, kindness and transparency,” in everything from your business culture to your promotional campaigns.

It Helps To Encourage Connectivity And Engagement 

When you include your team in larger processes and vision planning, such as designing and applying a socially responsible initiative for your business. They’ll feel that they are part of something bigger, inspired, that they have influence and can create impact. Therefore they will be more engaged and generally speaking, people are most engaged when they feel part of a collective, rather than bound to their usual role and tasks.

It Keeps Your Business Innovative

Choosing to have a unique and value-add impact, as a business, and doing things differently to your competitors helps your business stand out more. This applies to all areas of business, including a socially responsible business. Your relationship with society is as important as your relationship with customers. Having a strong vision and connection to a cause that makes a positive impact provides a genuine “value add, caring, and innovative advantage.”

Collaborative Leadership For Good 

Being a small operation or a ‘sole trader’ needn’t hold you back from becoming a socially responsible business. The same principles apply whether your business is large or small. You can still be an inspiration, influence others and create social impact by simply collaborating with other small business owners, consultants and sole traders that have aligned values and who are equally passionate about making a positive difference in the world.

CONTACT ME TODAY

Tel 040 330 9696

elizabeth.ellames@ozemail.com.au

 

Posted on:Real Deal Matters

Being YOU!

Being the best YOU eliminates competition and comparisons. The truth is no one can be better at being you, than you!

I have been in the business of helping people identify their authentic self for well over 20 years. It’s been indeed a powerful, rewarding, challenging, and revealing process and I say that with absolute love and compassion.

  • I’ll also add my experience on this journey of self-discovery was the number one issue for most people that I’ve worked with is the limiting core belief of “not being good enough”.
  • This is often masked by what some call “the imposter syndrome”, whose flipside is “I have to be better than everyone else to be accepted”.

The problem with this thinking is one never reaches or even feels their potential for long enough to really grow their inner culture because their true potential lies within themselves and when someone is constantly viewing themselves from an external comparison their inner culture, their magnificence (light) starts to fade away.

So when I say… Being the best YOU eliminates competition and comparisons, I am suggesting you cant do it by looking outside yourself, you must go within. Being the best you is always going to be an inside job, sure we can use tools/practices to aid in that process and that’s why I created the tools I have for people. But the looking outside yourself is really for one reason only… to genuinely connect with other human beings.

Not for the purpose of gain or to copy them or even be better than them. Its to unite with them so we can ALL shine brighter. Of course, I’m not saying we don’t learn from each other because that’s a given.

However, what I am pointing out is “what’s the intention, desire, and motivation behind that need to learn from others?” In a world where we are made to think you have to “be the best” to get ahead, it’s no wonder people have adopted these destructive and disempowering ideas and become blind to the needs of their inner personal culture, essence, spirit, and value.

The truth is no one can be better at being you, than you! You then see that there is no competition, it’s just a figment of your imagination.

So, I will say it again… no one can be better at being you, than you! Which invites the question, Who are YOU?

Posted on:Real Deal Matters

Learning from a Master

As a Business Culture and Story-Based Branding Consultant, my role is to help people or businesses gain clarity about the ‘real deal’ value and message of their brand; the STORY and the PURPOSE.

These are the four topics I cover in my signature branding process –

  • The CULTURE of your brand invites your audience to engage and quickly becomes a place or experience that makes them feel like they belong.
  • The ESSENCE of your brand is a perfected backstory; an experience that people relate to and want to share with others.
  • The SPIRIT of your brand is the genuine ‘life force’ that you bring to it; the ‘magic elixir’ that people connect to that makes them feel alive.
  • The VALUE of your brand is your ability to be of service, and how that adds value to the lives of others.

But today I want to share this interesting documentary about one of my hero’s; Walt Disney. Walt was indeed a genius when it came to branding and that was because he was super clear around his values and vision. Enjoy and learn from a master of his craft … and a real innovation “tech wiz” as well. 

Featuring interviews with various Disney Legends and Historians, Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow looks at the various technologies Walt Disney used and developed over the course of his life. From creating the first sync sound animation in 1928 to his unrealized dream of E.P.C.O.T., an experimental city that passed on with him in 1966, this film shows Walt Disney as the futurist he truly was.

Posted on:Real Deal Matters

What are​ Attention and Intention?

What does it take to perfect clarity again and again throughout your life?

It takes “CLARITY of INTENTION” – which simply means placing your attention on how your personality and skill set can add value to the lives of others. It also requires tuning in with the same enthusiasm, heart to heart connection, vulnerability, and openness that you felt at the time of your project’s inception, and then be willing to listen to and observe any synchronicities that present themselves.

Attention and Intention are how you build quality RESONANCE – this means cultivating alignment, hovering around it, reclaiming it and correcting and transforming your behavior again and again – plus watching with honesty and compassion to the what, why and how of all your actions.

You must totally trust that the Unified Field, Your Future Self, and Your Spirit has been informing you of your role as a co-creator in all that you have been creating.

Being in synch with the larger intention (The Field) – will give you the courage to open your heart and mind to social innovation, to speak out even when you are the only person in the room with that perception.

Don’t doubt what you are supposed to be doing – when you align your values and motives to serve the “greater creative impulse”, you begin to see it’s actually facilitating you.

That doesn’t mean you don’t occasionally lose hope, clarity, or inner peace. However it does mean that you know how to regain it, and it always comes down to tuning into something greater than yourself and aligning with the creative impulse, which is moving in the same direction, accompanying you as you go.

How do you achieve this? – By simply meditating each morning for 15 – 60 minutes a day before doing anything else. Contemplating, tuning in, asking, listening and waiting until you are fully relaxed and grateful before you get up and begin the rest of your day. I know that might seem like a long time for some people, but the results are worth it.

You could look at it this way time = live not money – and your Future Self requires you to create some uninterrupted Time and Space each day to ensure you continue to have Clarity of Intention – I encourage you to decided that approximately 4 hours in a week of 168 hours, isn’t really much to contribute to gain the clarity of intention and a deep sense of connection you need to keep on purpose. Also recognizing that the “peak” synchronistic events that you have experienced in life, along with your daily meditation help you maintain your resonance, which in turn allows these synchronistic events to keep occurring organically.

Acknowledging these experiences is a reminder of what’s possible – choose to be in this resonance as often as you possibly can: A co-creative, connected, clear place where your thoughts, feelings, beliefs, conversations and actions are all aligned with your purpose.

Here is a short verse to use when seeking guidance around your co-creation and purpose.

Dear Future Self…

Please show me if this project I want to initiate or be a part of is part of a greater creative impulse, which is authentically correcting and transforming our world – and directly moving toward…

SYNERGY, PEACE, LOVE, PROSPERITY and UNITY.

If it is, I am happy to be an instrument of this conscious evolution and I will generously use my personal empowerment to serve this larger vision. I simply need to know this isn’t just me doing something willfully, independent of a larger purpose and intention.

 

 

Posted on:Real Deal Matters

The Value Of Connecting Face To Face

“We succeed when we help others succeed” this is the Unite Your Light WOMEN motto and actually is one of my motto’s in life. 

Thursday 8th of Dec 2016 was our first event at The Lion Hotel – And I am delighted to say it showed signs of being a very valuable meet up for women who want to shine a light on their story, their strengths, their success and their spirit. #UniteYourLightWOMEN Thank you to all who attended and I look forward to allowing our heartfelt intentions to grow into wonderful and valuable ventures. Elizabeth Ellames

If you choose to come along to our next event… here are a series of backstory questions that could really add depth and value to your brand and pitch.

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These simple questions are to be asked and answered quickly:

Who am I –

  • Where was I born?
  • Where do I come from?
  • Who is my family?
  • What is my background/my family identity?
  • What am I grateful for?
  • What and who have made me who I am?

What’s my experience –

  • What am I inspired and motivated by?
  • What am I passionate about?
  • What work have I done?
  • What have I had to overcome, and what are my triumphs?

How do I add value –

  • What am I good at?
  • What are my special skills?
  • Why do people love me, and what do I do to maintain that?
  • What has made me unique and exceptional?
  • What kind of attitude do I have?
  • What can I do for others?
  • What makes me successful that is not about my technical or professional experience?

Being real matters and “Your Story” creates your value.

So, learn to be comfortable with sharing your story and values, because that’s what people connect to and also what they share.

Elizabeth Ellames – Tel: 040 330 9696

  www.livingattributes.com