From a client, Steve:

Dear Ben,

I know this wasn’t part of the assignment, but I couldn’t let this part of my journey go by without saying thank you.

THANK YOU! Thank you for quitting your job! Thank you for taking that leap of faith and following your instinct. Thank you for being aware and being willing to change your business plan as you felt the need. You have truly walked the walk in what you are encouraging others to do.  That alone, gives you such credibility.

Thank you for caring!! From our first phone call, I knew that you were really listening to me and you were feeling what was in my heart. Thank you for laughing with me, crying with me, and encouraging me along the way.

I know you believe you are helping people, and you are. But, do you really get just how much you are helping people?

I want you to understand just how much you have helped me and how much that means to me.

I’ve been going through my life hating who I was and trying to be who everyone else wanted me to be. As my brother once told me, he had never seen me really happy. And that was true. I didn’t think that anyone else was aware, though. There have been happy times, of course, but underneath the moments of happiness, was the ever-present self-doubt and self-loathing. This self-doubt and self-hatred led me to make decisions that were not really in my best interest. I was always searching for something or someone who would make me happy. I would go from job to job, thinking the next one would make me happy, but after a few years, I would start looking for something else.

I was wandering aimlessly through life. I was feeling as though my purpose for being here was almost over.  My vision for my future was to watch my child graduate from college, start their career, and possibly get married, and I would just coast on out the remainder of my years. But, then a series of synchronized moments occurred. (My child) introduced me to TikTok, so I got hooked on watching videos. As a result of that, a video showed up on my For You Page. It was a handsome, shirtless man who was telling me that he is happy I am here, he is happy I’m on this planet, and he’s happy that I exist, and that I have a unique purpose. That was something I needed to hear. That video led me to his Instagram page, where I began reading his inspirational posts and they were speaking to me, so I hit the follow button. Then, something surprising happened. You reached out to me to thank me for following you and said you hoped something would hit home with me. That was the beginning of a real change in my life. One that I never really thought could happen. Even after you “guilted” me into investing my savings into self-improvement and self-care, my expectations were pretty low. However, there is a light in you that speaks to the deepest parts of my soul. I felt comfortable opening up to you because I believed you truly cared and were invested in helping me make that life change. That, my friend, is what sets you apart from all the others I have encountered. Your light and sincerity motivated me to really take everything you were saying to heart, and I put forth my best effort to do everything you suggested, even if it felt very awkward, silly, and untrue at times.

It is your ability to focus and really listen to what I say and then lead me to answer my own questions that made the difference for me. I never for one moment felt that you were just letting me talk and get things out. You were actively listening, even taking notes and emphasizing things I would say. You made me feel that I had something to say; that I still had something to do with my life; that I still had multi purposes; and that I could still dream and achieve those dreams.

So, I hung on your every word, I did the homework, even when I really didn’t want to, even when what I was doing felt so foreign and disjointed and uncomfortable…. I still did it, because I had faith in YOU and you had faith in ME.

As time went by, we saw a little progress from week to week. However, as you know, it was last week that it seemed to magically all come together and I experienced a weekend of exhilaration and pure happiness with who I am and where I am and so very excited about my future! I had never experienced that before in my life. But a wise man once posted on Instagram, “Life is a practice…This is not a one and done experience. We must fall in love with the process because the life experience IS a process..”  and my favorite, “change because you love yourself, not because you hate yourself” and I am finally feeling a love for myself, which is beginning the change that I’ve wanted to see in myself.

You, my friend, are a Godsend. You are truly an answered prayer. I bet you didn’t realize when you decided to quit your job and go into the unknown, you were really doing it for me, did you? Hehe. So, again, I say THANK YOU, for YOU have made such a difference in my life and it’s because of your coaching that I have come to love myself for who I am, to know that I still have much to do with my life,  and am so excited about it.

I really do love and appreciate you! And always will.