About

Welcome!

Hey, I’m Corrina Gordon-Barnes, founder of You Inspire Me.

If you’re a talented person and want to share your gifts with others, then you’re in the right place. I’m passionate about making it easy for you to have the impact and income you deserve.

Why do I care? Because the world needs your passion. If you can help others, it’s my job to ensure you’re no longer the best kept secret. You absolutely can make a decent living following your heart. You just need to learn how.

My story

When I trained as a coach, I realized that if I was going to reach the number of clients and have the level of impact I wanted, I needed to know as much about business as I did about coaching skills. If I wanted to pursue my passion as a career, I needed to learn what worked.

However, I couldn’t relate to traditional Business Link workshops and networking events. Everything seemed so dry and related to cash-flow, tax-returns and legalities. Important aspects, sure, but I was more keen to discover my truest purpose, stay motivated, find clients and not let the fears eat me alive.

I realized that even if I’d had a thirty year background in sales and marketing, I would have had to learn a whole new skillset because promoting yourself as one person striving to make a difference is poles apart from corporate sales.

So I subscribed to several marketing blogs aimed specifically at one-person business guys and gals like me. I tried out their ideas, experimented with my own, made mistakes, and found what worked. I was drawn particularly to those teachers who did business differently, who did it with spirit and integrity. I saw that self-employment could go hand-in-hand with personal growth and learned how intuition and inner guidance could be my North stars. I discovered that marketing could be about serving, about honest communication, about creating bonds with the people we are here to take care of.

And this is why I’m excited to share my findings with you. I want my enthusiasm for passion-led self-employment to be contagious. I want you to find congruent ways of doing marketing so you can communicate in ways that feel natural and generous.

Because without clients, you won’t get to do the thing you love. That’s the bottom line. You won’t have the people to do it with and you won’t have the money coming in which allows you to leave less fulfilling work.

Without clients, you won’t get the sense of satisfaction that you’re running a proper business. Until you start getting consistently paid for doing what you love, it will remain an expensive hobby. And that’s not okay by me.

I’ve been self-employed since 2004 and have worked with over one hundred paying coaching clients and hundreds more workshop and programme participants. Through this website and my resources, you’ll discover how success has been possible – for me, for them, and now for you.

(Listen below to me being interviewed back in 2008 by Nick Williams for his Entrepreneurial Heroes series. It’s an hour-long discussion about the early days of my journey from employment, to self-employment, to running You Inspire Me.)

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Here are a few reasons why I do what I do:

I want you to have plenty of money

I love to give money to independent service professionals. Ever since my early 20s (and catalyzed by some particularly traumatic life experiences), I’ve spent thousands and thousands of pounds on personal growth and healing, including: Shiatsu, yoga, coaching, homeopathy, health kinesiology, Five Rhythms, holistic massage, psychotherapy, Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), acupuncture, The Work, osteopathy, Craniosacral therapy, raw food, sound healing and reflexology. Since being self-employed, I’ve also invested a considerable amount in professional services and business development.

I know what has made it easy for me to spend money. I know why someone would want to give money to a service professional – in other words, why people are happy to invest in what you are offering. I understand the buyer’s perspective: what makes for an appealing online presence, a compelling package, and a smooth payment transaction.

I’ve met amazing practitioners and am passionate about raising the status – and income – of the helpers and healers in our society. I believe that people who serve others and contribute their talents from their hearts should be the ones having the greatest impact and receiving a solid income.

And whilst I’ve spent a huge amount of money in this arena, I’ve also encountered professionals who have left my money on the table. They’ve made it hard for me to invest with them. That motivates me to do this work because I want anyone whose work helps others to be able to easily receive the money that’s eager to come to them.

I know that practitioners can often block the receipt of money – through lack of clarity or through resistance. I want to help you gain clarity of communication and get unblocked so that the flow of clients and money can get through to you easily.

I want you to find it easy

I’m a natural born teacher. I come from a family of teachers and making things clear and easy-to-understand is in my genes.

I also love learning. I know the deep satisfaction of new knowledge and growth. I’m constantly discovering how to do this “business” thing with more ease and more fun and for it to feel more like play and I love sharing the most effective tools and mindset shifts with others.

I don’t want you walking around in the dark, learning from dry manuals that don’t speak to your heart, discouraged by the prevalent message that claims the only way to be successful is to be manipulative. I want you to realize you can do this authentically, joyfully, skilfully, and that the money will follow.

I have learnt (and continue to hone) my own approach to business from personal experience, inspired by many excellent teachers such as Marie Forleo, Mark Silver, Tad Hargrave, Laura Roeder, Sue Rasmussen, Naomi Dunford, Danielle LaPorte, Jack Canfield, Steven Pressfield and Mark Victor Hansen. I enjoyed 18 months of business mentoring with Jason Stein of Heart of Business.

I trained at Cambridge University to become an English and Drama teacher and I’m a certified professional co-active coach, trained with the Coaches Training Institute (CTI).

I want you to be part of the revolution

I became accidentally self-employed initially when I left a teaching job and started home-tutoring. The more frequently I got paid for doing what came easily to me, the less it made sense to contort myself to fit a job description. The more I set my own hours, chose my clients and set my rates, the less tolerant I was of working for someone else.

That was back in 2004. It is now normal for me to do what I love – and I want it be normal for everyone. It simply makes sense that we should be following our passion, contributing from our greatest talents and enjoying our daily lives.

I’ve yet to meet a person like Corrina Gordon Barnes, as consistently committed to the realization of others full potential. Through You Inspire Me and her brilliant Turn Your Passion to Profit program, she has become the guardian angel of innerpreneurs, those people who want their business to be authentic, ethical, exciting and profitable at the same time.

Ever willing to lead from her own experience, Corrina courageously shows it’s possible to have a business which nourishes the soul, makes a contribution to the world, and provides a sustainable income. I believe her integrity, big heart and indefatigable energy, will continue to spearhead this movement for many years to come.

Nick Kettles, author, The All Seeing Boy and the Blue Sky of Happiness, published by Snow Lion. www.blueskyofhappiness.com

A bit more life

Words on a screen are one thing. Come over to see me (still on a screen yet moving!) on YouTube. And let me know if there are topics you’d like me to cover in future videos.

I live in Cambridge with my beloved Sam; we’ve been married since 2008. I mostly work from home, coaching clients by phone, leading group programmes, writing blogs and designing training. I also love to take my laptop to a cafe, the Botanic Gardens or the library, enjoying the freedom of self-employment.

Other passions: decluttering, yoga, my Vitamix, cycling, dance/cheesy pop, Five Rhythms, almond milk smoothies, my gorgeous little niece and nephew, acting and Improv, holistic health, and raw vegan strawberry cheesecake. I like to do things differently, follow my heart, trust my instincts and surround myself with loving company.

Professional Bio

Feel free to use the following if you want an “official” bio:

Corrina Gordon-Barnes (CPCC) is a self-employment coach who, since 2005, has enabled talented people around the globe to enjoy the impact and income they deserve. She leads the step-by-step Turn Your Passion To Profit programme for groups and individuals and through home-study.

Her book Turn Your Passion To Profit: a step-by-step guide to getting your business off the ground was published in March 2012. She has a monthly business column in Om Yoga & Lifestyle Magazine and her business and inspirational writing has featured in Cambridge News, The London Paper, The Ecologist, Caduceus, Permaculture Magazine, Diva Magazine, The Vegan, Earth Pathways Diary and Health 24. She was awarded the Ooffoo Laureate 2008 for her acclaimed piece, The World Needs Your Passion and Anthony Robbins has referred to her as “an articulate and passionate agent for change”. She writes a popular fortnightly blog focusing on the inner journey of self-employment and sharing effective strategies for heart-centred, authentic marketing.

She is a certified professional co-active coach, having trained 2005-2007 with the Coaches Training Institute (CTI), with a background as an English and Drama teacher (trained at Cambridge University).

Corrina lives in Cambridge, England with her partner, Sam.

Meet the Team

This website and my business systems function so brilliantly thanks to the expert support of Daniel James Paterson, official You Inspire Me “Tech Genius”. While he’s not keeping me sane, Daniel is running the inspirational social enterprise ManufacturingChange.org, for which he recently won the very prestigious Manufacturing Leadership 100 award for advocacy (alongside James Dyson!).

What now?

Let’s stay connected. Join the You Inspire Me list and be first to hear about new articles, video blogs, teleclasses, programmes, live events and special offers – all to help you go and stay happily self-employed.