Hey coaches, I have something really different and exciting today. I’m doing an interview with the awesome Shannon Kaiser. I’ll introduce her in just a minute, but let me tell you how this came about.
I came across her website and on her website was an assessment to test what your intuition style is. And I could not resist taking it. Great questions on it, by the way. And as soon as I received the results, it told me that I was clairsentient. I had known that before, but I didn’t know an assessment would be able to evaluate that about me. This was kind of fun. I want you to know a couple of the things that the results told me. It said that:
- I feel drained being in a large group of people.
- I have awesome instincts about people, places, and situations.
- I find it difficult to watch the news.
- I am super sensitive to my environment.
- I can’t shop at thrift antique stores.
All true. This last one made me laugh because I can’t touch other people’s stuff a lot, you know, unless I have a relationship with them. So these are all really interesting to me.
Over the years in my coaching business, I have developed my intuition and I think it’s really important for coaches to do this. So I invite you to go to Shannon’s website for the assessment. And while you’re there, look around at all the wonderful things that Shannon has on there.
Let me tell you about her because you’re going be amazed at this wonderful human being.
Shannon, first, let me just say “hi”.
Shannon Kaiser:
Hi. It’s so great to be here with you. And I’m so glad you got to, uh, dive into that assessment and it related. That’s pretty amazing.
Rhonda Hess:
I’m pretty amazed that you could write something that was so effective of nailing my style of intuition. Congratulations!
Shannon Kaiser:
That’s part using my intuition to create it. We’ll talk about that.
Rhonda Hess:
Shannon is a world renowned, spiritual and self love teacher, speaker and empowerment coach. She is the bestselling author of 5 books on psychology of happiness and fulfillment — I laugh because I can’t even imagine writing one — including The Self-Love Experiment, Adventure for Your Soul, and Joy Seeker. She guides people to awaken and align to their true selves so that they can live their highest potential. She’s been named among the top hundred women to watch in wellness by mindbodygreen. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her rescue dog, Chance. Anything else you want to tell us about what brought you to being an empowerment coach, speaking globally and writing all these books?
Shannon Kaiser:
It’s great to be here with you. Thank you. I truly feel we have these pivotal moments in our life and I haven’t always done this work. In fact, in 2009 I was in a whole different career climbing the corporate ladder, working in advertising, working with celebrities, being an Art Director and Graphic Designer.
It looked like I had it all. I was dating a man who wanted to marry me and it was just wonderful checking all those boxes off of what they society says you should want.
But I would cry myself to sleep at night. My relationships were very toxic and I was silently suffering from eating disorders and drug addiction. And it was a turning point because in 2009 and I went to the doctor and they diagnosed me with clinical depression and extreme anxiety. And that night when I came home, there was a turning point and I call it the pivotal moment where my inner voice said: “You can’t keep doing what the outside world is trying to tell. You have to go inward. It’s time to follow your heart.”
And that was shocking for me, cuz we hear this … follow your heart. It’s a meme and all that, but I didn’t really get, I had never asked myself, well, what do you really want? I was just going through the motions.
And that was a turning point where I dropped from my head into my heart. And it led me to say, you are a writer. You want to help empower people. You want to travel the world with your message. And since that day I’ve been doing that and it’s beautiful because it is my career and my mission. And I feel very connected to everything I do.
Rhonda Hess
That’s so beautiful. And I’m sorry that you went through all that at the same time. What I know from my own journey — physical, mental health journey — is that sometimes those things, when you go through the cauldron of them to come out the other side, you know yourself better and are able to make a difference in the world in a much bigger way.
Shannon Kaiser:
Yeah. You know, I agree with you. I truly think that these turbulent times in our life and we can look at even the world right now, it feels turbulent, but often we go through it. It helps us step into an even more aligned and awakened part of us. So I actually, when I look back on it, I don’t regret any of it. And I see it as this beautiful gift for my soul. And that’s, what’s led to the books and my coaching practice. And as you know, what we go through is, is basically the best catalyst to helping others personal experience and sharing your own story.
Rhonda Hess:
Mmm, I agree 100%. So Shannon, I love all the things you’re doing and in my concept of archetypes and I have an episode (#12) in my podcast called What Coach Archetype Fits You. I think you might be both what I call an ICON and a HEALER. And I say that because you’ve been through a lot of trauma and anxiety in your life and you’ve healed through it to launch a coaching business and become a global speaker and author.
So what I really want to know is how did your intuition play a role in your self healing and turning that into a business that’s thriving while sharing your story and voice with thousands of people?
Shannon Kaiser:
Yeah. And that’s such a beautiful question because our intuition, I truly feel is our superpower. I wouldn’t be where I am today and doing this work and writing and sharing my passion, which is our purpose. Uh, if I wasn’t in tune with my intuition, but I didn’t know it.
And so when I was in advertising, I was depressed in part because I didn’t know that I was an empath. I didn’t know that I was a sensitive soul. I didn’t even know what intuition was. And I was picking up energy from everyone and it was causing a lot of angst. And so it wasn’t until I started to go on my own inner journey, which I often feel is a spiritual journey, cuz we’re starting to get in touch with our heart instead of the frantic head and the obsessive kind of over worrying. And from that place, things started to shift and it’s transformed my coaching practice.
Shannon Kaiser:
In fact, I believe it is the most important tool, which is why I have the assessment on my website for people to kind of go inward and ask, well, what is my intuition? Try to tell me. I mean, there’s so many layers to it.
I can share about when I tried to raise my prices early on in my career as a coach and this is just a story real quick on how intuition is impacted. I was about maybe two years into starting my coaching practice and a lot of people, other coaches, authors, and even coaching clients said, “You’re pricing yourself too low. You need to raise your price. You’re undervaluing yourself.” And I was listening to everything everyone else said, but in my heart I felt really good about those prices. I was really connected to that price, but I went ahead and I raised my price and I felt sick to my stomach.
Shannon Kaiser:
And I’m sharing this because it wasn’t about me undervaluing myself. It was about me knowing and trusting my intuition because I knew who I was serving. And I was at that time, serving people who were just leaving a career and didn’t have money because they were on unemployment. And so for me, the connection to my higher self, my true self and the coaching and the way I wanted to be in service to the world at that time was to have a price point that it didn’t matter what the rest of the world charging. I was so connected. So I lowered it back and I ended up having a full coaching practice and it was a beautiful part of my journey. But I think ultimately you have your own divine path and your intuition is telling you, and if it feels good on the inside, it’s going to manifest on the outside.
Rhonda Hess:
That’s a great story. The mentor coach in me says, when you went back to the original price, the price you felt right about in your heart, you said you had a full practice. Did you also earn well, were you able to be profitable?
Shannon Kaiser:
Absolutely. And that’s what I think is really the misconception because it was a price that felt so aligned for me. And I truly believe when we follow our heart, we are always provided for. And so I make a fabulous living doing what I love and that became a mantra that I was repeating it by no means was a low price throughout my whole entire journey of leaving corporate. I’ve always been and very clear about making goals from the soul. I call ’em goals with soul. And, uh, I talk about being a goal Digger, which is aligning not just to a number, but a vibration. And so, uh, I want to be provided for, and it’s, it’s a beautiful practice when you’re of service because you will always get the right people at the right time. And so, yeah, it’s been great. And then of course I have my books and my speaking as well.
Rhonda Hess:
I love also the distinction that it wasn’t about lack of self worth, you know, the sense that you couldn’t charge because you weren’t worthy. It was really from your intuition, from your soul that you got this information,
Shannon Kaiser:
That’s a really important part, you know? Yeah. Especially in our business. Right.
Rhonda Hess:
So important, which brings me to a question about how do you think that strengthening intuition is helpful in a practical way for coaches to launch with confidence and, and becomes successful in their businesses?
Shannon Kaiser:
Oh, it’s so important. It becomes our are kind of our assistant, if you will, or like a, a little, uh, kind of helper. And it’s our true self in inside of us that knows what is best. There’s actually different ways that we can start to work with our intuition. And the more it’s like working out, the more you start to do it, the more you realize this is so, so spot on for me. And now in my practice, you know, after doing this for over a decade, my intuition, I know ahead of time, even when a client is, is, is not fully prepared or up for it. And they end up canceling that day. I, I feel into it because I’m using my intuition to help be of the highest service for clients. And so I will send them resources before they even send me that email of for whatever reason of I can’t make it. So my whole point is there’s a lot of energy happening on the planet right now. And you may have seen this in your own practice. It’s, it’s hard sometimes with all the chaos in the world to kind of keep going and showing up and being of such service, if we’re not fully understanding our own inner guidance system. And that’s where intuition really comes in, it starts to be this process where we trust ourselves so fully that everything falls into place from a place of alignment and peace versus strain and struggle.
Rhonda Hess:
Yeah. Nobody needs struggle. Struggle doesn’t help us in any way. It’s a rollercoaster you got to get off of. What are the different styles of intuition? Mine was clairsentient, what are you Shannon? And, what are the other ones?
Shannon Kaiser:
Yeah. You know, and it’s interesting cuz I think sometimes, and maybe you notice this too. There is a little bit of an overlap and I kind of dip in and out there’s Claire Voyant, which is really about clear seeing and then also Claire audience, which is hearing. And I think what we can do is if you’re just listening now and you’re like, what are these “clairs” I don’t understand? It’s fun to really understand your unique language. Of course I have the quiz and in my new book, Return to You, I have a whole assessment within the book as well, but there is a process for example, um, I’ll just share one of the, my favorite questions from the assessment. When you watch a movie, what do you remember most? Just think about a movie you’ve recently seen. What do you remember if you’re going to tell your friend or family or loved ones, Hey, go check out that movie.
Shannon Kaiser:
Do you say the scenery, the visual effects, maybe the costumes, you know, how it looked? Is that the first thing you kind of think about when you remember a movie or would it be the soundtrack? Maybe you have a digital library of a whole bunch of different songs and you’re thinking as you’re watching a movie: This is a great song. Oh yeah. This matches the scene. And then of course, how you feel … the characters pull you in and you’re feeling right along with them or there’s also the acting itself and the storyline based on these answers. For example, if you kind of aligned, of course there’s a deeper assessment, but this is just a highlight reel if you will, the cinema in the visuals, that means you are the clairvoyant, which is a clear seer in your intuition, talks to you through sight.
Shannon Kaiser:
You often get visual pictures in your mind. And if you have the soundtrack, then that’s like me, the Clair audience, your intuition will give you little messages through audio. My, I will hear my inner voice say thanks to me. And it’s, uh, you used to, I used to dismiss it. And then of course, if you feel so then, like you said for you, there’s the Claire sentient, which is the knower and the feeler, which is so important. Right. And it’s a fun way to really honor that we have a voice that’s trying to guide us and help us to our truest self.
Rhonda Hess:
Yeah. Where could a coach go to take that quiz about learning their own intuition style?
Shannon Kaiser:
Yeah. Well it’s on my website, playwiththeworld.com and that will lead you right to the quiz. And it’s also in my brand new book Return to You: 11 Spiritual Lessons for Unshakeable Inner Peace, which is actually where it originated. Cuz I had used this quiz in my retreats and in my personal practice. And then when I wrote the book, it’s in the chapter — If You Don’t Go Within, You Go Without — and I don’t know about you, but I absolutely love as much tools as we can have. So I too am an audio learner, but I’m also a visual learner. So that’s why I’ve made it available. If you want to take the assessment online, it’s a free quiz, a free assessment for you to take, but you get an, a really robust recap that this is (your intutions style) and also tools to help you improve it and maybe exercises that you can do.
Shannon Kaiser:
So I learned when I was clairsentient that my intuition talks to me through my feeling, but also I hear it. So there are certain audio exercises you can do. So I started to do this in my coaching practice, not with clients, but before I would meet with them, I would start to tune into the, the sounds … things you just normally tune out. And in five minutes a day, each person (based on) on your assessment, you’ll get a special breakthrough tool to help you build your intuition because it is in the practice. It’s nice to say, “oh yeah, I got an intuition”, but if we’re not actively working with it, then it can really be easy to go to the wayside and fall into the monkey mind or the fear.
Rhonda Hess:
Okay. That sounds really good. Well, I, you know, really hope coaches that you will all take advantage of it. Any kind of information about yourself is worthwhile for your business — knowing yourself, understanding yourself it’s helpful for life. Right. So definitely go check that out. And Shannon, I know that Return to You is just now coming out … or is it not out yet?
Shannon Kaiser:
Yeah, it’s it’s out in the world April.
Rhonda Hess:
Okay. So I think they can pre-purchase right. If they want to, there’s a place.
Shannon Kaiser:
Yeah. And in fact, if you go to playwiththeworld.com/ReturntoYou, I have some pre-purchase gifts, which obviously will help you just really align with your true self. But it’s also available wherever bookstores are sold, online of course, Amazon and Barnes and noble and all the wonderful places. But this book’s very special to me because it’s about returning to your true self and this will help you in, in any area of your life and our relationships and with our relationship with ourselves.
And let’s get honest, it’s pretty chaotic out in the world. It can be hard to stay focused on our business, especially as a sensitive person or empath. And sometimes it’s easy to fall into isolation and feel hopeless, but this guide, it really takes you through a step by step process for intuition development. So we can step into the purpose that we are meant to live.
Rhonda Hess:
That sounds wonderful. I’m definitely going to check it out myself. You know, I wanted to just say something about something that you mentioned …
A lot of times when I’m working with my VIP clients — and these are coaches who enroll into my 5 month private mentoring program with me to help them build the whole foundation of their business — one of the things that happens, and this happens to everybody it’s not abnormal or bad or any of that, is they struggle with fear and feeling like they’re not worthy. There’s the imposter syndrome coming up. And there’s just this sense that I don’t know enough. I don’t have enough. I don’t know how I’m going to deliver value. And I think it’s natural and normal to feel that when you’re starting something new makes total sense.
But what I love about the idea of Return to You is that within you all the years that you’ve lived this life, you have so much wisdom, knowledge and intuition, I think it even goes even beyond those things. It’s using your body as a source of wisdom, it’s using your senses as a source of wisdom. And if you believe in spirit too.
So I just want to emphasize that if you’re scared, if you’re struggling, if you’re worried, you’re not enough, if you’re feeling like you’re an imposter — any of those things, I think that’s a really good reason to develop your intuition and check into this book Return to You.
Shannon Kaiser:
I really, I love that you share that because it’s, it’s so true. I even in the book, this book has a chapter and a lesson. Your soul has seasons. And it actually is about even in our coaching practices in our life, we have seasons to our soul and there is a season of fear if you will, I don’t call it that, but we all go through it as coaches.
And so what you recognize is that your purpose is personal expansion and you start to open up your purpose and to be a coach, your purpose season, to write that book, your purpose is to expand into a greater version of you. And as you do this, the fear starts to go away. And it’s a beautiful, as you know, in your coaching practice, it’s a beautiful process when you witness that transformation. But the way through. We take the step and you know, both you and I have doing our coaching, but I remember very clearly the days when I was stuck in that fear, I was like, who’s going to want to work with you?
You gotta get all the certifications, you know, all the things we tell ourselves, but the truth is your true self knows what is best for you. And so I love that you share that because fear is just an indicator that we are moving closer to what we truly want. Often. It’s just trying to protect us from the
Rhonda Hess:
Exactly. Right. Well, thanks for that. And I can’t believe how fast this time has gone. Shannon. I wish we had hours and hours to spend.
Shannon Kaiser :
This was so fun to connect with you today. Thank you.
Rhonda Hess: Stay inspired and make things happen.