Ep. 7: How to Use the 3 Rules of Improv to Go Big in Business

You have to start saying yes and to the universe's offers because those yeses always lead you in the direction of prosperity, in the direction of your purpose. Welcome to the Prosperous Woman Podcast. I'm Claire Sellers, a business mentor and coach who is absolutely obsessed with helping you create the business of your dreams and your most prosperous life. Tune in for Join me for inspiring conversations with extraordinary women that will propel you towards becoming the prosperous woman. Today, I'm so excited to share with you one of my favorite teachings that actually isn't or wasn't a business teaching, but it has become One of the foundational teachings, no matter where you are in your business journey, whether you are like completely clueless, lost, stuck, whether you've started your business and like it's kind of getting going, but you're hitting some speed bumps, or maybe you're already at $10K, $30K, $50K, $100K months, this teaching will apply to you, it will be impactful for you, and it will absolutely revolutionize the way that you not only think about your business, but your life. So like all good things, this starts with a story, and I'm just gonna paint a very vivid picture here for you. So I'm 18, I'm in New York City, I'm in theater school, And obviously I sign up for Improv 1 because like that seemed much more interesting than Theater History, for example. So I walk into this Improv 1 class. Actually, I got lost trying to find the class, so I was late. I walk in and this very charismatic gay man named Dan Diggles— Dan Diggles. Welcomes me into the class, and little did I know Dan Diggles would become one of my greatest business mentors. So Dan actually wrote a book, which we'll link in the show notes. I, to be honest, don't know where he is, what he's doing, what's going on. Maybe I'll try and track him down. But Dan Diggles always wore a fanny pack. Fanny pack. And that actually has no bearing on the story, but it's just like, I always remembered he kind of had like crazy hair. He wore his pants pulled up kind of high and he always had a colorful fanny pack. And I always was like, what is Dan Diggles keeping in his fanny pack? To this day, we'll never know. I have no clue. Anyway, Dan Diggles, my improv teacher, was an incredible teacher. Why? Why? Because he kept it simple and he always had one method that he came back to time and time and time again, to the point that it was so simple. The process to be incredible at improv was so simple. And it's something that I've really taken on my business journey, which is that business is so simple. Why? Well, I'm about to tell you through the 3 rules of improv as told by Dan Diggles. So the first rule of improv is dare to be obvious. Now, when you're in an improv setting, maybe you've done improv, but you can probably gather the, you know, gather the pieces together. You know, maybe you're working with a partner and the partner says something like, "we should really go get lunch." And the whole point of improv is to say what comes to your mind, dare to be obvious, right? Yeah. So instead of racking your brain, "Oh my God, where should I respond to this person that we're gonna go to lunch? Oh, that place might have a wait. I shouldn't suggest that." You just dare to be obvious. What's the restaurant downstairs? What's the first restaurant that comes to your mind? Dare to be obvious. And we're gonna apply this to business because— Because all of us are very good at solving complicated problems, but that doesn't mean that everything is a complicated problem. In fact, most things are quite easy and quite obvious. And so let's look at this through the lens of your business. Let's say that you are really desiring to start your own business. And I see this all the time. Women say this to me all the time. I wanna start my own business, but I just don't know what kind of business to start. And do you know what I ask them? What's the thing you love the most that doesn't feel like work? What's the thing that you would do if money didn't matter? That's your best business idea. You're just so afraid that it's so obvious and so easy that it wouldn't work. It's too good to be true. And so what do you do? You go take a million different certifications and yoga courses and, you know, you get your sommelier license and all these other things trying to find the thing that you can start your business on, the thing that is your purpose, when your purpose is the thing that you would do even if you never saw a dollar from it, even if you didn't have to do it, right? So dare to be obvious, right? And this is something I really want to drill home. Like, my business journey, I've changed, quote, niches, which I'll probably do an episode on niches at some point. I've changed niches and cross-niched and double-backed niche. It doesn't freaking matter because at the end of the day, my mission is so clear. And my mission was the most obvious thing. What's, what's the most obvious thing? I want to help other women like me feel free and fulfilled in their lives. And I do that through coaching. And when I first started, it was so obvious to me to help women through career coaching. And then when I realized I no longer wanted to help women get jobs that I knew inevitably weren't tied to their purpose, I moved into business coaching. And then I became so passionate through my studies with different teachers and my own relationships and my own dating experience, I really felt like I had something to teach and share around dating. And so I ran a dating course. Right? With amazing success. And so in your business, your job is to dare to be obvious. And I really want you to take a moment, like get out your pen and paper and write down like, what are 3 things that I would teach or do or share or be or whatever it might be, even if I never saw a dollar from it? I'm telling you guys, like, I have a, you can't see, but you know, I have a team that's supporting me in creating this podcast and supports me in my business. And I mean, I was getting my makeup done earlier and I'm coaching my brand manager on how she needs to start scaling her business, right? And how she can start scaling into new markets. Like I'm doing this all the time. The money is the natural byproduct of the obvious passion for the thing that lights you up, right? So this is rule number 1 of improv, and sorry, Dan, but I'm borrowing it. It's rule number 1 of business. Dare to be obvious. Rule number 2 of improv is say yes, and. To your partner's offer. Now, in improv, what this looks like is, you know, your partner might say, "Let's go get lunch downstairs at Lardo." And you, as the partner, should say, "Yes, and after, let's go get ice cream at Joe's." You see what I'm saying here? So the whole point is that you say "yes, and" to your partner's offer in improv. That's how we create this really dynamic, like, A, B, and no one really knows where it's going, and that's what makes it so exciting. And remember, I have a theater background. I do improv now. I'm a storyteller. So I love improv, but you understand. Now let's apply this to your business. I tweaked it a little bit. Sorry, Dan. Say yes and to the universe's offer. The offers, because there will be many. When you are on the path of clarifying your purpose and starting your business, scaling your business, certain people, places, things, ideas will fall into your lap and directly onto your path, and it is your responsibility to say yes and and I'll use this podcast as an example. I actually never really wanted to have a podcast until about 3 months ago. And I said, you know what? I want a podcast. And I— and this idea, it came to me just like a lightning bolt. And I was like, okay, yes. And we're going to record episodes live because I want people to be able to see me and feel me, right? And so that's just one example of saying yes and, right? I see this happen all the time with my clients where, you know, they're, they're deciding to launch a new program and, you know, a new client falls out of the sky and it's the client that's asking them to help them with the program that they've been toiling over, should they start it, should they launch it or not. You have to start saying yes and to the universe's offers because those yeses always lead you in the direction of prosperity, in the direction of your purpose. And one of the other things that I say a lot is follow the opening. If you're my client, you're like, "Claire, you say it every day." I literally say it every day. Follow the opening, follow the opening, choose easy, choose easy. So much of improv, which is why I love it as a business parallel, is about choosing easy. Like my business genuinely feels very easy to me. I rarely actually feel like I'm working, honestly, very, very, very rarely. And that's because I just— decided to let it be easy, right? I dare to be obvious. I say yes and to the universe's offers. Someone reaches out and says, hey, do you want to do this? And I say, yeah, that sounds amazing. Let's do it. Right. I have an idea for a podcast or a new program and I'm like, boom, let's do it. Here's the sales page copy. Send it to my designer. I decide I'm going to launch on X date. We go. Right, I just keep saying yes and, I just keep following the opening, right? So say yes and to the universe's offers. So that's rule number 2 of improv and business. Rule number 3 is make your partner look good. Now, in improv, this plays out like this. My partner says, you know, let's go to lunch. And I'm like, yes, and let's go get ice cream after. And my partner's like, oh my God, that's amazing. Now imagine my partner says, oh my gosh, let's go to lunch. And I say, no, I don't want to. I want you to really think about how many of you are doing this in your own lives. You're literally getting a golden invitation to something, and not only do you make yourself not look great, but you make the universe not look great because it just dropped you the opportunity of a lifetime and you're like, "No, I'm not ready for that," or, "Uh, I don't have the money," or, "Uh, I'm too busy, sorry." How do we grow? How do we expand? How do we scale? Whether this is in purpose or business or love, we make our partner look good, and you are co-creating your dream life with the universe. You're co-creating. And so third rule of improv and business is make your partner, aka the universe, look good. How do you do that? By saying yes and, by daring to be obvious, by following the opening. And so what I want you to do, because, you know, I'm a coach, so I can't just like drop a bunch of truth bombs and say, "All right, guys, see you later." I want you to actually start tracking this. I want you to write this down in your phone. Dare to be obvious. Make your partner look good. Say "yes, and" to the universe's offers. And I want you to start writing, when is this happening in your life? When is this coming up in your life? And I want you to start training your brain to say, "Yes, and." I want you to start training your brain to be, dare to be obvious. It is daring to be obvious. Trust me, it's way, it oftentimes feels way easier and way safer to not be obvious and to go for the complicated thing and to go for the thing that seems like it's gonna take 6 years to get the certification and it's gonna be a long uphill battle. Just dare to be obvious. We have to train our brains to dare to be obvious. We have to train our brains to say, "Yes, and." Right? We have to dare, we have to train our brains to make our partner, the universe, look good. And so I want you to really start tracking this and training your brain because again, we— our brains are super malleable, but they're designed to choose safety over expansion. And this framework is designed to help you expand into the next level that's calling you forward. The other action step I'd love to leave you with today is to either go to an improv show That's level 1. Level 2 is to take an improv class. It might be a little scary, but I promise it will radically change the way you show up in your business and life. I love taking improv classes and trust me, I get scared every single time. I'm like, oh my God, they're going to think I'm so weird. And I ended up not only having fun, but I end up unleashing something within me because I've just shown my soul. Yeah. In my nervous system and my brain that I can dare to be obvious. I can say, "Yes, and." I can trust the universe. I can make the universe look good by saying, "Yes, and." So I hope that this framework is helpful for you, not only in your business and your life, but also just in your way of being. Because when you can start operating within this paradigm, things start getting easier. It doesn't always feel feel like such an uphill battle. You start feeling like you're on the easy train. And that's what I want for all of you. So I would love to know which one of these 3 rules of improv and business resonated most deeply with you. Tell me in the comments. Send me a DM @itsclairesellers so that we can have a little convo about it. I love talking about improv. I love hearing from you guys. It absolutely makes my day. And if you are hearing me and you're like, I feel like she is the type of person I want to get to know more and be in her world, there's two ways to plug in with me. The first is through the Dream Accelerator. This is my idea to launch 4-month business birthing program where I literally walk you through the steps of how to go from I have an idea or maybe I don't have an idea yet all the way to your first sale in 4 months flat. Mm-hmm. Flat. It's absolutely incredible. It's like the most fun program ever. I have girls launching all types of businesses, wallpaper companies, olive oil brands, coaching companies, consulting businesses, marketing agencies, clothing companies, you name it. If you already have a business and you are really looking for a soul-led, purpose-led mentor to help you scale past $10K months upwards towards $20K, $30K, $40K and beyond, I am the woman for you. I have a very unique approach. I think that this program, the Opulence Mastermind, is really the only business building and scaling program you need. You don't need to, you know, be in 15 different programs. So if either of these sound like they could be a fit for you, just drop me a DM and just say, I'd love to know where I fit in. Here's my deal. and I will find the best fit for you in my world. I am so grateful for your tuning in today. Thank you so much for being here and can't wait to be in conversation with you over in the DMs and in the comments. Thank you for tuning in to the Prosperous Woman Podcast. I am so grateful for your presence and for being a part of this community. Feel free to DM me at @itsclairesellers on Instagram. I would love to connect with you and hear what resonated with you in this episode. Forget to subscribe to the show, and if you enjoyed what you heard today, leave a 5-star review. Your feedback means the world to me and helps me reach more incredible women just like you. And because I love to spoil you, just DM me a screenshot of your review on Instagram and I'll send you my free Prosperity Activation course as a thank you. It's my way of investing in you and your dreams. Thank you.