I have a client named Loretta who has a very successful wholesale business selling accessories. After attempting to sell her accessories through different wholesale and retail channels, she finally landed a very large retailer to sell her goods. For many years, Loretta relied on this retailer for her business’ growth and prosperity. However, this reliance on one retailer caused her a tremendous amount of emotional pain because the client was always threatening to cut sales orders. Some months, too, they ordered quite a bit less than other months. Loretta was always worried about losing the client and she believed that without this large retailer she would be out of business. So the thought of losing this client put her in an emotional state of pain filled with fear and misery.
One day I visited Loretta at her office for a meeting. In the beginning of our meeting Loretta said, “The thought of losing this client gives me so much anxiety. I almost feel like I can’t breathe. Everything I worked so hard for would be gone.”
I knew at this moment that Loretta needed to open up to other possibilities in her life because depending on this one client was creating a limited view of her business and was creating too much stress for her daily life. I explained to Loretta the door visualization (I will post the visualization next week) and we did the visualization as we were sitting in her office. First, I asked Loretta to envision a door right in front of her face with only this one client. Loretta said this made her feel terrible and panic-stricken. I then asked Loretta to imagine slowly pulling away from the door and see that there was nothing around the door but open space. I explained to Loretta that the open space was called Maybe and that is where all the other possibilities for her business and her life existed. Loretta started to giggle with the sight of all the space around her. I asked her to sit in that open space for about 15 minutes and when we were done she said it was the best she had felt in years. Loretta said the idea of Maybe gave her hope and insight. She recognized that she was in so much emotional pain because she believed that things could only be one way and pulling away from the door that represented her one client gave her clarity and an openness to finding other ways.
Loretta did the door visualization every day for a month. After the month she telephoned me with a list of new potential buyers for her accessories. Within one year, she had begun selling to two major markets overseas and four additional big retailers in the states. Also, her original client has actually increased their orders. But now, she takes it all in stride. She realizes that there are many ways for her to do business and she never wants to get stuck in front of one door again.