become a trusted authority

8/12/2019 Become a Trusted Authority

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BBEECCOOMMEEAA

TTRRUUSSTTEEDDAAUUTTHHOORRIITTYYBy Akrura dasa

"Thank you for your excellent e-book. I found many jewels inside."

Sacinandana Swami


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

A NEW ROLE

HOW TO BECOME A TRUSTED AUTHORITY FOR LIFE?

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO SHOW TO PEOPLE?

WHAT SHOULD PEOPLE FEEL ABOUT YOU?

IT'S OUR ORIGINAL NATURE THAT'S WHY WE WANT IT

HOW CAN PEOPLE GET CONFIDENCE THAT THEY CAN BE SUCCESSFUL?

APPENDIX

CONTACT


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Becoming a Trusted Authority is not meant only for some people. It is universal. It is

applicable to many roles and many professions in life to any business, to sales, if

you are a preacher, if you are a teacher, counselor or coach, mentor or a consultant. It

can be applied practically in every profession and every role in life.

A NEW ROLE

What is this ebook about? It is about your new role, or a new perception of your role

in various areas of your life. This is the summary: Whatever you do, position yourself

in the hearts and minds of the people you serve, lead, teach, as the most TrustedAuthority for life. There is a term "life coach". I have changed it into "lifetime coach", a

coach for the whole life. Similarly, Trusted Authority for the whole life is your new

role, a role that is very much needed in human society.

Becoming a Trusted Authority means becoming a leader, a guide. Someone who

knows how to help. There are many people who teach success principles. But there

are very few people who can help you, in a very precise way, in how to use the

universal principles of success and apply them to your particular situation. This is the

kind of sincere and skilled Trusted Authority we want to become in any life role.

If you are a manager in a company, if you are a teacher in a school, if you are a

parent, if you are a financial adviser, in any occupation you position yourself as the

most Trusted Authority.

What does it mean? It means that people are convinced that you have their best

interest at heart. They know that you wish all the best for them, and also for their

families, friends, relatives, etc..

For example, if you are selling Srila Prabhupada's books and you show people four

books, and they say, "I will take only one." And you can say, "Take your time, take one


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book. It's ok. But there is much more in these other books. So you are basically losing

if you don't take all of them. You are losing an opportunity to gain a treasure of

knowledge." In this way, you don't want them to miss the other things you have that

can benefit them.

You have these wonderful transcendental books. You have knowledge how to apply

these books, how they can benefit from them. And they will benefit if they

communicate with you more often. People are silently begging to be led. And you

can become their guide. It's a great service opportunity.

HOW TO BECOME A TRUSTED AUTHORITY FOR LIFE?

Here I will give you some ideas. The first step is to show them that you understand

them. You understand how they feel. You understand what they think. You

empathize. And how do you do this? How they will know that you understand them?

You put into words something that they feel for a long time, but they are not able to

articulate. They are not able to clearly define what it is. They feel something is wrong?

They feel something is missing. They feel something doesn't work. And if you are able

to put this into words and to express how they feel, they will see that you understand

them. They will think, "He gets it. He exactly understands how I feel."

If they feel understood, they will trust you. Because if you understand them, you can

help them.

Do not be shy to strongly recommend what you think and feel is the best for them. It

may be your friend, your client, your child, or your parent. People are silently begging

to be led. And you should lead them. Because you are a devotee. You know more

than most people about the essence of life, about many things. People don't even

know how to go to the toilet properly. Devotees have a system how to go to the


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toilet as a civilized human being, as a gentleman. It is very scientific and hygienic. It's

very healthy. After using that system you fell better.

What to speak of other thingshow to eat, how to rest, how to think, how to act.

People need leadership. They need guidance. You have a full right to recommend

what you think is best for them. Don't be shy! They need you. If you don't guide these

people, somebody else will. And usually where they will lead them?

andha yathandhair upaniyamanas

SB 7.5.31

Blind men lead other blind man into a ditch, into a hole.

Now that I mentioned a hole I want to give you a nice example. A person who needs

to build something, or to fix something, they go to a shop and buy a drill. But actually

they don't want a drill. They want a hole. They don't care about that machine, they

care about the result. They care about what the machine can do for them.

Similarly, you can have great ideas and strategies, and great advice, but in order to be

a Trusted Authority, you have to be able to show them how they will benefit from

what you suggest, and what results they will get. So you focus on always adding a

special value to them. You clearly show to them that they matter. They are important

to you. And you want them to get good results.

This is called "you-attitude". It's about you, not about me. I am not giving you good

advice because it will benefit me. I am giving it because it will benefit you. If you

focus on adding value to people's lives, you will become very attractive, and people

will develop a greater interest in your products and services.


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For example, if you are selling incence and you are an intelligent salesman, if you are

an intelligent Trusted Authority, you will always educate your clients about the

benefits of burning incence.

Now, if you want to sell incence to me, it will be very difficult to do. Because incence

suffocates me. And even if you explain to me 108 benefits, it will no be enough to

convince me. You may say, "This is maha incence. If you inhale you will make spiritual

advancement. You might even see Krsna if you inhale all the smoke of the one maha

incence. You might fall in ecstasy. And your family members will be purified. Your

neighbors will be purified. You will have so many benefits by burning incence."

Still I will not be convinced because it suffocates me. So you have to offer me some

other product. If you would want to sell me a good acoustic guitar, I'd be really

interested, because this is something I can use.

The point is that if you offer what people are interested in, they will listen to you. If

you offer them what they need, they will listen to you. And try to verbalize it and

present it in a very, very attractive way.

I tried to do something attractive on my blog to inspire people to read The Science

Of Self Realization book. You may see it here (ctrl+click to follow link):

http://www.gitacoaching.com/2012/09/the-rest-of-your-life.html

The picture is very easy to understand and to motivate you to change, and I

connected it to my product and offered it to my readers. I am 100% convinced about

the value of my product, because this book brought me to spiritual life. I have faith in

that book. And I believe it can change people's lives. Some people will probably read

it, so I also offered my email in case they have questions. I set it up so they only have

to click on my email. They don't have to type it. There is an email link option on the

blog.
http://www.gitacoaching.com/2012/09/the-rest-of-your-life.htmlhttp://www.gitacoaching.com/2012/09/the-rest-of-your-life.html


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Make it easy for them to accept what you offer. If you want to become a Trusted

Authority make it easy for them to accept things from you.

People need solutions, not just strategies. If you respect their intelligence, you will

explain why your product or service is good for them, and how it will make a

difference in their lives, how it will transform their lives.

We are not into a business of preaching, we are into transforming people's lives. We

want these transcendental books to fully help people to change their lives, to benefit

them.

Most salespeople, businesspeople, and people in general, they fall in love with their

product, or their skill, or their profession. You may be in love with your products and

services but you should also fall in love with your clients. What does the word "client"

mean? It doesn't only mean a customer, one who buys. "Client" means, according to

Webster dictionary, one who is under the care and protection of the other. That's why

I am using that word. It is a nice word. There is a similar wordward, one who is

under someone's protection.

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO SHOW TO PEOPLE?

You want to take them on a journey to the future how their life will change if they

take advantage of your services and products; how it will be better, richer, fuller, moreexciting, more pleasant, full of happiness. Describe it so nicely that they can feel it,

because all buying decisions are emotional. Whether you are selling an idea or a cake

people neet to get inspired to buy it, or to accept it if you offer it to them.

Just like I was eating fruits from one devotee's garden. They are naturally produced. It

was such a wonderful experience because usually do not get such natural fruits. It was

so wonderful to taste prasadam, the real plums.


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If you have such a nice product you can promote it intelligently. People want you to

show them, not only tell them. Sometimes when they sell fruits they say, "Ok, taste it!

If you like it, buy it. If you don't like it, don't buy it." You have to show so that people

experienceit.

For example, if you want to convince people to chant Hare Krsna, you should first be

the one who is benefiting from chanting. You can tell them, "If you chant Hare Krsna

you will become as happy and as peaceful as me. Problems will not disturb you." You

show them a practical example of how they can benefit from what you offer.

WHAT SHOULD PEOPLE FEEL ABOUT YOU?

They should feel that you are their greatest fan. In the neigborhood of one devotee in

Portugal you can find the greatest fans of the local football club. Your clients should

feel that you are their greatest fan. You care about them so much. You want to

benefit them. You want to help them become happy. You want to help them to

release their potential, to become smart. To take these books, like Bhagavad-gita, and

become super-wise, super-intelligent.

Srila Prabhupada is even teaching us how to become lazy intelligent. High-court

judge is only sitting and has a highest salary. What does it mean to be lazy

intelligent? It means you think deeply. You are very wise and sober. You thinkcarefully before making decisions. It also means that with the least effort you get the

biggest results. Why lift something heavy, when you can use the lever? With a lever it

is much easier to lift it. Let's say something fell under the huge, heavy box. Intelligent

person will use the lever. If you can achieve something with less energy, that's

intelligent.


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There is no limit how much we can learn about how to improve our life and the lives

of others.

There is another thing about people and their psychology. They don't know what

they want. You have to tell them what is good for them to want. This is where you

become a leader. You tell them, "You should want this." Why? Because it will benefit

you. Because it's good for you. Then show them how it is good, why it is good, how it

has benefitted others, how it has benefitted you. You lead people to a good

destination.

Steven jobs, the founder of Apple, said he always felt he's leading a revolution. This is

what we need. Maybe you are a peaceful person, you are quiet. I was like that.

Sometimes it was very hard to get a word out of my mouth, before I got

Prabhupada's books. When I read them I thought that I have to start speaking more.

Even if I can't speak. Even if I lose my voice, I can distribute books. I can write a big

sign that says CHANT HARE KRSNA, and show it to people. The message is so

important that I have to give up all shyness. I have to give up my introverted nature.

My dreaming mentality. I have to get out of my mind. The message is more important

than my conditioned nature.

In the beginning people were walking out of my lectures. The lectures were slow and

boring. Sometimes people were crying. It was too heavy. People were laughing until

stomach hurt. Because it was too funny. But over time I got a balance between

scaring people, making them cry, and making them laugh. So I made many mistakes

in the beginning. But I had a desire to give the message. And you can do the same.


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IT'S OUR ORIGINAL NATURE THAT'S WHY WE WANT IT

I will now tell you what I think you feel. Maybe you are not aware that you feel this.

Maybe you neglect the feeling when it comes. Maybe you are afraid to admit it and

confront it. But it's there. Why? Because it is your original nature. So what is it?

It is described in the Introduction to the Bhagavad-gita:

http://vedabase.com/en/bg/introduction

Sanatana-dharma. It means your eternal quality, your eternal occupation, your eternalnature. What is your nature? You want to serve. You want to love. You want to give.

You want to contribute. This is the essence of your nature. So if you don't do this in a

big way, in a maximal way, you cannot be happy. There will be always something

lacking. This is my diagnose why we are not happy. We are not fulfiling our full

potential.

Confront the next sentence boldly. This is what I think you feel, consciously or

unconsciously:

"I WANT TO DO SOMETHING ON THIS PLANET!"

I want to make a difference. I want to make a contribution. I want to add value to

people's lives

to my freinds, to my colleagues, to people I meet on the street, to myfamily. The secret of happiness is giving. But people with material consciousness,

think that the secret of happiness is getting something for yourself. So become a go-

giver. Go and give something. When you wake up in the morning the first question

you can ask is "How can I give today?"
http://vedabase.com/en/bg/introductionhttp://vedabase.com/en/bg/introductionhttp://vedabase.com/en/bg/introduction


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If you add value to people's lives, God will inspire them to reciprocate. Even if you

don't charge. I am telling you this from my experience. I never ask people for money.

But they give me. Because Krsna inspires them. I don't even think about it.

When I was in Argentina last year, I wanted to help devotees to make more money.

Because many devotees are stuglling financially. I really wanted to help them to learn

how to think about money, how to save money, and how to get more money, so they

can chant Hare Krsna peacefully and preach and serve, without being in anxiety about

money. So I did a seminar.

I gave them some spiritual and professional strategies, ideas and examples about

laksmi, or money. This was the most attended course on my South American tour.

Why? Because devotees need this knowledge and they struggle financially. And what

happened at the end? I got so much money. They gave me many donations. Krsna is

my witness that I didn't think even for a second if I would get any donations. It was a

free course. When you help others make money, Krsna gives you money. Krsna

inspires people to give you money. That commitment to others' success is your secret

of success.

HOW CAN PEOPLE GET CONFIDENCE THAT THEY CAN BE

SUCCESSFUL?

You can help them achieve small victories. If you come to me ask me to teach you

how to play harmonium, I show you one melody and you say, "I can never play like

that." If I am a good teacher, I will show you a more simple melody that is easy for

you to play right now. And you say, "I can do that!" Thus you gain confidence that

you can play harmonium. Then the next time we do a more complex melody.

You show them how they cando it. You believe in them. You believe in their

potential. And your belief in them gives them strength. Gradually, they start to believe


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in themselves. They start to believe that Krsna is the ability in us. And that God helps

those who help themselves. So they try and they have some small victory, then

another small victory.

As a Trusted Authority, you always help people succeed in various ways. You are a

great positive force in their lives by acting as an instrument in Lord's hands. When

you genuinely care about people, you will get guidance both from within and from

without how to do it so people will benefit from your service. And you are always

ready to learn how to do it better and better and better.

End

APPENDIX

PRACTICAL Q&A ABOUT BEING A TRUSTED AUTHORITY

Question: You said we should give our services without expecting anything in

return. I am a lawyer. How does it apply to me? When I get clients and do my

job for them, does it mean I should not charge them?

Akrura dasa: If you are a professional you have to charge, but you as a professional

should have this meditation you are focusing on helping your client succeed. You

don't think about money. You think about adding value. If you become a Trusted

Authority, you can even raise your fees. One way you can charge is to make it risk-

free. It means there will be no risk for your client. It means if the client is not satsfied

you give the money back, or you don't even take money if they don't get results.

Recently I coached a devotee and we had three sessions. I gave him ideas and tasks

to work on in order to improve in certain area, but he found a therapy that is more

helpful. So he wanted to stop with coaching and pay me something for my time, to

give a donation for the three sessions. I said, "No, I accept reciprocation when you

get results. I don't accept it only for my time." Maybe in your particular profession it


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does not make much sense, but try to understand the principle behind it. The

principle is that the benefit of your client is your top priority. This is your high-class

attitude. This is Spiritual Business Intelligence (SBI). Spiritual principles make a huge

difference in business. They build trust and a long-term success. Therefore spiritual

knowledge is superior even to business knowledge, because it goes deeper into a

psychology of success.

Question: As a lawyer, I deal with lots of people. Often they don't accept what I

think is best for them. So I must do what they think is best for them. What to do

about it?

A: If you explain to them all the benefits of doing it the way you suggest, if you are

convinced, and if you have some examples to show, then they will be more

convinced. In most situations in life we have to convince people. If they are able to

understand the benefits themselves, that is better. Otherwise you have to educate

them.

Question: It is not only a question of convincing people by words but also the

way you relate. Sometimes people do not buy a book, still I listen to them, I

make friends with them. The mentality behind it is very inspiring and they feel

comfortable and happy. They can exppress themselves and their difficulties to

me. So it is not a question of always convincing them by words, but mostly by

your example. What do you think about it?

A: This is a very important point. You start a relationship with someone, and it's long

term. You are not there just to sell-and-runaway, just to sell only one time. You are

right - if you meet them and you are nice to them, and you want to benefit them,

they will feel it. They will remember this encounter with you. And even if they don't

buy a book now, when they meet you next time, or see another devotee with books

on the street, they might take them, because they were inspired by your kindness. So

whether you gain something material or not you always gain something spiritual. You

gain their trust. And you want to build a long-term relationship. You want to serve


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them and benefit them their whole life. And this is a very important success principle:

long-term vision. You will always try to convince but you are not attached to the

result. This a spiritual success principle from the Bhagavad-gita: don't be attached to

results. Be a little detached. Respect their free will. It's between themselves and

themselves and between themselves and God what decisions they will make. But you

are always adding value, always investing. You are a Trusted Authority.

* * * * *

Akrura dasais a Spiritual Life Coach, speaker, seminar leader, writer, and musician.

He travels around the world teaching success principles of the Bhagavad-gita As It Is,

performing spiritual music, and assisting individuals and teams with Gita Coaching.

CONTACT

Thank you for reading this ebook. I hope it will enhance your success and happiness.

If you have any questions or comments, email me on:

[email protected]

And be sure to visit our Gita Coaching site, full of resources for your success:

www.gitacoaching.com

It has audio, video, music, interviews, stories, cool friends, photos, and quick tips.

And our Facebook page, updated daily:

https://www.facebook.com/gita.coaching
http://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_7/[email protected]://www.gitacoaching.com/https://www.facebook.com/gita.coachinghttps://www.facebook.com/gita.coachinghttps://www.facebook.com/gita.coachinghttp://www.gitacoaching.com/http://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_7/[email protected]

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