Terri Levine is the founder of The Modern Coaching Method (www.moderncoachingmethod.com) and the Heart-repreneur® Cause (www.heartrepreneur.com) where she helps coaches and consultants create six and seven figure businesses.
She has been named one of the top ten coaching gurus in the world by www.globalgurus.org and the top female coach in the world. Over her tenure she has received recognition from almost every major coaching organization and association worldwide.
She has been mentoring business for over 3 decades and has helped over 6,000 business owners create the income they deserve, the impact they desire and the time freedom they long for.
Dr. Levine is also a best-selling author of dozens of titles including her latest release, The Conversion Equation. As a keynote speaker, Terri has inspired hundreds of thousands of people through her high content, memorable, and motivational speeches.
Contact Dr. Terri:
[Podcast Transcript Using Artificial Intelligence]
Umar Hameed 0:01
Are you ready to become awesomer? Hello everyone! My name is Umar Hameed, I'm your host on the No Limits Selling Podcast where industry leaders share their tips, strategies and advice on how you can become better, stronger, faster. Just before we get started, I've got a question for you, do you have a negative voice inside your head? We all do, right? I'm gonna help you remove that voice and under 30 days guaranteed, not only remove it, but transform it. So instead of the voice that sabotages you, there's one that propels you to much higher levels of performance and success. There's a link in the show notes, click on it to find out more. All right! Let's get started.
Umar Hameed 0:41
Hello everyone! Today I have the pleasure of having Terri Levine here. She's a heart..., helped me pronounce it, it's heart and entrepreneur and I can't say...
Terri Levine 0:49
Heart-repreneur . Yeah, you said it right.
Umar Hameed 0:52
Brilliant. Just before we start, I wanted to let you know that my wife had told me you know, the fastest way to a man's heart is through his chest.
Terri Levine 0:59
I love it.
Umar Hameed 1:02
So in business, we spend so much time being focused on what we're thinking, and don't connect with our heart as often as we should. And so talk to me about why you went in this direction, because I think it's the best way to go.
Terri Levine 1:16
Yeah, sure. I had been CEO of a national healthcare company. And it really struck me that it was all about dollar. So it's all about numbers. They didn't really care about the employees, they didn't care about the vendors. It was profit. And I did something unusual in that company and I just spoke transparently to the 1800 employees that I had, I literally spoke from the heart, I made connections, I was authentic, I was an integrity, productivity went up over seventy percent. And I said that's the way to do business. And I decided that I would disrupt how people were doing business.
Umar Hameed 1:59
You know, what's really interesting is that, A, congratulations for doing that. And people can tell easily when you're just saying something. And when you truly believe something, it just comes through in a different way.
Terri Levine 2:12
Yeah, it really does. And if you do business really centered on always being authentic, transparent and in integrity, my favorite three words, it really make a huge difference in life.
Umar Hameed 2:25
So say the three words again, I'm gonna write those down.
Terri Levine 2:27
Yeah. Authenticity, transparency, integrity.
Umar Hameed 2:34
Okay, I'll tell you my favorite three words.
Terri Levine 2:36
I love to hear them.
Umar Hameed 2:37
So it's being authentic to who you are. Being relevant to the people you're serving. And having focus on what you're doing, which are different, but in the same kind of ballpark.
Terri Levine 2:51
Yeah, we're definitely aligned, definitely.
Umar Hameed 2:53
So one of the most powerful experiences I ever had was this, is somebody said, "Umar, lift up your left arm, and notice what it feels like," which I did. And it felt, you know, like it would then he said, "Okay, now I want you to do something weird, I want you to ask your heart to lift up your left arm." And it just lifted up of his own accord, it was flying, I felt like a ballerina because it was like no effort and it was just graceful. And that was a life changing moment for me. And that's why I wanted to talk to you because they write a million songs about the heart, poems, not one about the liver, because the heart is more than just a pump. It's basically where we connect with ourselves and with the divine and with each other. And so how do you bring this kind of like crazy talk to business people and make it relatable, understandable, and they see the power of it?
Terri Levine 3:46
Now, I'm glad you asked. I just had this conversation with a brand new client yesterday, and he said, "Why, you know, the CEOs I work with, they don't want to hear any of this stuff?" And I'm like, "You know what, it really is time for people to engage much more emotion and emotional intelligence." And when I find that people aren't ready to hear about heart and heart-centered, heart centered leadership, all I do is show them case studies and evidence. One company after another one transition after another. And usually that helps them make the shift and decide that they're going to be a bit more open-minded.
Umar Hameed 4:25
Absolutely. I think my best guess would be this, that if you went to them, you know, "Of course, this stuff doesn't work." But tell me about a particular time, where you listen to your heart, and everyone's got a story of when they did it and say, "Hey, imagine if that was for you every day," and then sometimes this evidence from their own life. And what's interesting is we discount that when it was happening to us, we believed it and went, "holy crap, this is amazing," and then for some reason, we talked ourselves out of it.
Terri Levine 4:51
Yeah, I get that. And you know, some people will say, "Well, I trust my gut," and I'll say, "I don't know that your gut really is a brain," I know there's conversation about that. I really believe that if I trust my heart, then I make the right decisions. I've been married for my gosh, almost 43 years happily to an amazing man, just by trusting my heart. And that's how I make my decisions.
Umar Hameed 5:16
So I come at this similar to you, but slightly differently. So I'm going to take you down a tangent, if I may.
Terri Levine 5:22
Yeah.
Umar Hameed 5:22
Do you remember that old TV show, Star Trek?
Terri Levine 5:25
Of course.
Umar Hameed 5:27
So at the beginning of the episode, something's happening, and Bones and McCoy and Kirk don't all agree what they need to do. But by the end of the episode, they all come into alignment. And the reason I share that with you is this, do you remember what Spock was all about? What was his main thing?
Terri Levine 5:43
I don't know that I have an answer for that.
Umar Hameed 5:45
It was logic, it was all about, you know "Hey, your head, all logic."
Terri Levine 5:48
Yeah.
Umar Hameed 5:48
And then Bones was, you know, the doctor, he was all about heart and connecting and feeling. And then James and Kirk was all about gut, you know, I"'m gonna sleep with her," kind of thing. And so I think the reason that show was so popular was that to be a whole person, we need to connect our head, our heart and our gut. So I'm a firm believer in gut. And if they all align, then you know you're on the right track, but if you got to trust one out of the three, I would go with you trust the heart, but don't discount the others either.
Terri Levine 6:18
I love that you brought that up, because just in making a decision I'm making right now. I went with my feelings with my heart, and then I backed that up literally, with logic, like, well, here's the pros, here's the cons. And I brought it all together. And I noticed it wasn't doing it as consciously as I might have, I noticed that it comes from me first tapping into my heart,
Umar Hameed 6:43
Yes.
Terri Levine 6:44
and bringing everything else in, yeah.
Umar Hameed 6:46
That's amazing. That's powerful. What's kind of interesting is that, you know, we talk about teams with heart. Because oftentimes, they're the ones that are just average people coming together. And they come together in a way that brings courage to the equation. And there's a level of certainty that comes with it, is when you use a logic, there's always the pros and the cons and the heart always kind of has a sense of this is the right thing to do. And I'm going to help you get the resources you need, if you just believe and go down this path with me.
Terri Levine 7:18
Yeah, I find it really interesting that when I aligned with my heart, it's like magic happens, things start to show up people opportunities, experiences. Just the other day there was somebody send me an email message, I don't know the person. But the email message really touched my heart and so...
Umar Hameed 7:37
Yes.
Terri Levine 7:38
...I reached back out to them. And we have the most amazing connection yesterday, and that's just because I stopped and I listened.
Umar Hameed 7:47
That is amazing. So I'll tell you my heart story. Back in 2003, the most important person in the entire world, you guessed it was me.
Terri Levine 7:57
I was about to guess that.
Umar Hameed 7:59
And the only time it wasn't is, you know, I help people break through their mental blocks to get to the other side. And when I was in session with someone, they were the most important person, the rest of time it was me. And I went for a training in New Zealand, and the first thing they did was, they only fed us a salad a vegetarian salad for lunch. It was like eight weeks of training so we wouldn't fall asleep in the afternoons so my diet changed. I was in New Zealand, and they speak English, but they have a totally different culture. And then all day long, I was working with people so it's concerned about other people, you know, 12 hours a day for eight weeks. And something magical happened and what happened was, the best way I can describe it is if my heart was like a rosebud tightly clenched, it blossom during that experience of making others more important than me. And it just changed the quality of my work everywhere because I came more heart-focused, as opposed to logic-focused and ego-focused.
Terri Levine 8:59
I can relate to that I really can...
Umar Hameed 9:02
Do you have a story like that?
Terri Levine 9:03
Yeah, I have a very similar story. And this is, gosh, it has to be like 30 years ago, I was very ego-focused and and I'm aware of it now and wasn't then. And I was in Mount Snow, Vermont, and every single day, I was cross-country skiing, which I just loved. And one day, all of a sudden, I was out there by myself and I got caught in a huge blizzard. I mean, it was crazy. It was like a whiteout. I couldn't see anything.
Umar Hameed 9:34
Right.
Terri Levine 9:35
And I stopped myself from feeling fear and panic about myself and thinking, I remember seeing other people somewhere on this path, I wonder if they're okay. And it was so interesting to me because I turned and started going back in the other direction forgetting about my own self, all focused on I remember other people, "Are they okay?" And eventually actually found somebody else on the path was (Garbled).
Umar Hameed 9:59
Nice.
Terri Levine 10:00
And I thought, wow, when I turned that around, it turned around my whole way of being. And that was a big shift for me.
Umar Hameed 10:07
You know, isn't that amazing that we get these life changing moments. And the thing that's really sad of the whole thing is I wonder how many other life changing moments I had that I ignored. Like, the lesson was there, and I just missed it. And I just caught the ones I did, that were life changing, amazing made me a better person. And it's just like, "Huh, I could have been awesome are so long ago."
Terri Levine 10:31
I think we are granted life changing moments, like all the time, and sometimes our eyes and ears and our heart aren't open for them. And...
Umar Hameed 10:40
Yeah.
Terri Levine 10:41
...I believe sometimes people go through their whole life without that. So I just feel every one of those moments is a real blessing. And I'm grateful for them. And I do my best to try to seek more of them.
Umar Hameed 10:52
So here's, I'm going to share a theory with you let me know kind of what you think.
Terri Levine 10:57
Okay.
Umar Hameed 10:58
So you have somebody going down a life path that they've chosen. And it could have been, you know, a good career, a good family, but they're just not doing what they're supposed to be doing. And at some point, they hit one of these roadblocks, where it's like, you know, things are not working, and they overcome it, and they keep on going down the same path and then the messages get more and more intense, and sometimes these people end up getting sick. And they get cancer, and when people get better from cancer, we call it remission. And we don't use language accidentally, it's like, remission is like, they come to a point where they go, "Wait a minute, what I'm doing isn't the right thing. I shouldn't be doing this." And this is this doesn't mean they need to go save the whales. They just could be I need to be a teacher or whatever. And the question to you is this, do you think that confronting death, got them to reconsider their life? And then they got better? Or was it that they got better, and they re-examined their life? What do you think the new mission comes up before the healing or as a result of the healing?
Terri Levine 12:01
I think it comes up before. I really do and I have a personal story. Can I share that?
Umar Hameed 12:07
Of course. Tell me.
Terri Levine 12:09
So in 1996, my mom passed away of emphysema, and she was literally like my best friend on the planet. And seven days later, my girlfriend Marni died of breast cancer at age four,
Umar Hameed 12:23
Wow.
Terri Levine 12:25
up until that point in my life, I defined my entire life by work, work, work, and I had worked myself sick, literally sick. When all of this happened, I sat down and I love how you put readmission. I really remission my entire life. I quit my JLB, I took my day planner, that was my Bible, literally, I...
Umar Hameed 12:50
Yes.
Terri Levine 12:51
...put in a garbage can.
Umar Hameed 12:52
Hold on for a second. (applause). Please continue.
Terri Levine 12:57
And I literally in that moment changed everything in my life. I changed my focus on my health, my eating my sleeping, I started meditation, I learned how to breathe, I could go on and on. So I honestly believe that the remission comes first, whether...
Umar Hameed 13:15
Yeah.
Terri Levine 13:15
...conscious or unconscious. Does that make sense Umar?
Umar Hameed 13:19
Absolutely. I think what's interesting is, that it is, A, so sad that we have to confront something so awful like that to kind of get a wake up call, and you listen to it. And so I used to have this radio show a long time ago called Life Changing Breakthroughs. And one of my friends, we were having coffee, I said, "Hey, Jim, have you ever had a life changing breakthrough?" And he said, "Oh, yeah, now, I was getting ready to go on stage in Singapore to do a keynote speech. And I had a heart attack and I died and literally took them two minutes to revive me and bring me back." And then I realized that the path that I'm on is the wrong path that I should be going down this other path. And I said, "Oh, well, that's pretty amazing. By any chance, were there any signs before you fricking died?" And he said, "You know what? They were billboards with flashing lights, and I just did not see them. But when I look back, he was like, 'Oh, my God, there was so many signs that I did not see.' If I had seen those I would not have gotten to this stage." So for everyone listening, there's some people listening going, "Oh my God, that's amazing." And there's other people listening going, 'These guys are nuts." And I want you to just go, 'We might be nuts," but just going to think back to, you know, have there been signs in your life that just would have allowed you to change things and it's never too late to change. And it doesn't mean being a lawyer is bad or being obsessed about your work, whatever you're doing is bad, it's like, "Oh, I'm here to do this." Can you bring some of that into your life, you don't have to destroy everything, but you can like refocus it and just get more happiness and joy. Once you're doing what you're meant to be doing what happen happens is something really bizarre, you wake up every morning going, "Oh, I can't wait to do this," and you can have a totally crap day that's filled with disaster and you come home and tell your loved one, "Oh, it was an awesome day...
Terri Levine 15:12
It's true.
Umar Hameed 15:13
...exhausted (garbled) with energy.
Terri Levine 15:15
Yeah, I just returned. I live in Mexico part of the year so I just returned for spending a couple weeks at my place in Mexico. And the day I came home, I was so excited, I mean, I love being away and yet I couldn't wait to get to my office, I couldn't wait to catch up with my clients, I couldn't wait to see what videos and homework they uploaded. And my husband was like, "It is amazing to watch you for all these years, doing what you love and loving what you do," and that's a blessing.
Umar Hameed 15:44
That is a blessing. And it's so close to everyone's grasp to go get it to person. If I was in preferred date, like right now the US doesn't know who's in charge, I think I should take over just for a day.
Terri Levine 15:55
I gotcha.
Umar Hameed 15:57
So the three things that I would actually force every American to do. Number one is uncover who you truly deeply are. Most people don't know who they are. And if you don't know who you are, you're lost. Number two, figure out your purpose in life. Because if you know who you are, and where you're going, you can find a goal that's worthy of you that aligns with who you are. And every ounce of your passion will help you achieve it. And number three, this is like from left field, every American should travel overseas, because when you go overseas, this is what you realize that everybody in the world is just like us,
Terri Levine 16:31
Great.
Umar Hameed 16:33
I want the same things. They want a better life for the kids, they want safety, and they want justice in the place that they live.
Terri Levine 16:42
I am so glad that I have gotten to travel and speak all around the world in all kinds of countries of all different sizes and cultures. And human beings are human beings, DNA is DNA, it doesn't change based on where you live, your size, your shape, your color, your ethnicity, none of that.
Umar Hameed 17:02
And you know, the other thing that is just still blows my mind, anytime I see this, is that you go back to ancient writings, and they dealing with the same exact stuff. We got better toys.
Terri Levine 17:13
Yeah.
Umar Hameed 17:14
So this this book from Marcus Aurelius, I don't remember what it's called, there was a, there was this woman that had written the history of self help. And so the host was asking her, you know, so you know, "Tell me about, you know, the earliest self help books," and the one from Marcus Aurelius, when something like this, you know, you fret about your friends, where they don't treat you that well, just consider, "at least you're not dead." And then you go to another chapter about, you know, in work, things are going bad and not going the way you want, "at least you're not dead." And that wasn't, which is true.
Terri Levine 17:48
I have to say, I totally love that it is true. And, you know, I always tell people like personal development is not new, self help is not new transformation is not new. We're all spinning things a bit differently,
Umar Hameed 18:02
Yes.
Terri Levine 18:02
It's been around as long as human beings have had a brain in the heart.
Umar Hameed 18:07
So when I was in high school, we all have a favorite teacher. Mr. Higgins was our English teacher, and one day he read something out loud. So this was a letter written from one guy to his buddy, and the letter basically went, "Oh, my God, we're going to hell, the next generation, they are lazy, not interested in the right things. I'm not sure where we're gonna end up," and he said, "Could you date that?" And said, "Okay, 1950s, 1920s, and it was like, one BC," and I translate it and was like, "Hey, this stuff has been going on?" Because I could see my dad right into it.
Terri Levine 18:49
Yeah, yeah. Glad you say that. Because just yesterday, just last evening, I was reflecting on, you know, the whole political climate and all the division and I thought, "Oh, this is all new," and then all of a sudden, I was like, "Wait a minute, Vietnam, can't stay, I mean, I can give you a million examples...
Umar Hameed 19:09
Yup.
Terri Levine 19:09
...not new. And it for me, it actually helped put things in perspective and I didn't feel as quote debilitated as I felt by hearing all of the rhetoric.
Umar Hameed 19:19
So here's something that is kind of interesting. So for us, we have these moments where the universe brings up stuff to help us confront what's going on and get a new direction.
Terri Levine 19:31
Yep.
Umar Hameed 19:32
And here's my personal theory on why we're at this moment in time, is that we went from hunters and gatherers to farming. And I'm sure there was lots of hunters and gatherers like, "Are you guys freaking nuts? Why would we do this? This is insanity," and it took a while for that transformation to happen, it didn't happen overnight and there was a lot of stress in the system. Then we went from agriculture to industrial that took a while. Then we went from industrial to technology and now we're going to the information age. I think we're just at the cusp of the information age, that we're not quite there. And that's why, in this moment in time around the world, people are turning to strong men with radical ideas, like, you know, Cambodia is for Cambodians or whatever,
Terri Levine 20:18
Right.
Umar Hameed 20:19
What's happening in the Philippines, in India, because we're at this space like, "Are my kids going to have a job? What's happening here? I think is a 20 year, 30 year window," but once we get to the other side of it, something amazing stuffs gonna happen. But just living through it is why we've got our climate in the US, and this division is because this fear underneath.
Terri Levine 20:38
I agree, I think there's lots of fear, uncertainty, all of these things that are driving, I have to remind my clients every single day, you get to consciously make choices about what you choose to think, feel and experience. Go in a new style, go on to social media diet, focus on what's important in your life, because you're not going to be able to change all of the things out there. You can only change how you respond and how you choose consciously to feel.
Umar Hameed 21:05
So Terri, I'm gonna actually zing it back to you in a second. The way to transcend this is to check in with your heart. Because your heads gonna say, "Those people are wrong. They're terrible," and your hearts gonna say, "Yeah, you're just like, loving them."
Terri Levine 21:22
Yeah, for me, it's and I had this like discussion with someone on Facebook the other day. He was just like, taking aside, let me put it that way, and I said, You know, "I just feel love for everybody." Everybody's in their own pain in their own hurt and everybody's in this mood of like, lashing out and frustration and you know, certainly COVID in lockdown, it hasn't helped people mentally. So instead of expressing and spewing hate and anger, what if you just shared back a feeling of love.
Umar Hameed 21:54
Yep.
Terri Levine 21:55
And he just couldn't resonate with that, and that's okay, I'm not going to push them on to that, that's what I've been doing. There's a lot of friends and family that hold a different position than I hold. I embrace them for it. That's what makes humanity. I send them love. I honor them. We didn't grow up the sam, our beliefs are different. You choose yours, I choose mine. That's how the world works. I just send love.
Umar Hameed 22:19
And if you want to get dear listener, more motivation, more heartfelt kind of thoughts and ideas and techniques. There's a certain Facebook Group that I know that you can go get that. Any ideas where that would be Terri?
Terri Levine 22:33
I don't know I happen to have this on my mind. I have a community of about I guess 5300 like minded people, it's called Heartrepreneurs with Terri Levine, it's a Facebook group. And it is very different, very unusual, you will probably find no other Facebook Group like this. There's live trainings, webinars, master classes, tools, documents, and people who really want to connect heart to heart with each other. So it's Heartrepreneurs with Terri Levine.
Umar Hameed 23:02
So Terri, I believe we had a heart to heart conversation. Thank you so much for joining me today.
Terri Levine 23:07
It was a pleasure, Umar. Thanks for having me.
Umar Hameed 23:14
If you enjoyed this episode, please go to iTunes and leave a five-star rating. And if you're looking for more tools, go to my website at nolimitsselling.com. I've got a free mind training course there, that's going to teach you some insights from the world of neuro-linguistic programming and that is the fastest way to get better results.