These are the top three things I learned in 2009 (let me know if you can relate):
1. I Am NOT My Business!
This conclusion hit me pretty hard when I realized that I had put A LOT of time, energy, and resources into my businesses. I started to identify myself and who I am with my business. Then I had the thought, if I didn’t have these businesses, who would I be? To my great joy, I remembered that I am much more than my businesses and WHO I AM is the foundation in my businesses. It’s the energy behind and through it and it’s what people are drawn to. To lose myself in my businesses meant that I would lose the “umph,” the energy, and what made my businesses unique.
The Lesson:
The good news is I recommitted to ME. It’s easy to get lost in the day-to-day operations and goals of business. What will make my business thrive is ME. If I’m burned out and have forgotten my true identity, it will most certainly appear in my business. I dedicated the last little bit of 2009 to re-focusing on me so I can show up more powerfully than ever before in all aspects of my life including my businesses.
2. What Are My Priorities?
As a solo-preneur (for the most part) I spent part of 2009 keeping myself really busy. Being busy I though meant I was producing results. WRONG. Being busy is just being busy. I learned to first, identify what my goals are. Second, identify the activities that would create the results I desired. Third, focus on those activities that are directly related to reaching my goals. Anything else got to be delegated or it was simply not that important so it got deleted.
The Lesson:
Not everything is an urgent priority. By identifying what the goals were and action steps to get to the goal, I Be 100% committed to my success and don’t allow myself to get distracted by what I call “bright shiny, sparkly things,” which are opportunities, however they are not opportunities that serve my goals or serve my focus at the time. So pass the opportunities to someone else so I then have the space in my life to create what I truly want. This means saying no to things that don’t serve my highest vision for myself.
3. Having Clear Boundaries.
I experienced my business life spilling over into my personal life and relationships a lot in 2009. I justified it by telling myself that ANYONE who has created change on the planet has had to focus and sacrifice. While this is true, it can also be done with balance and boundaries. This relates to #1 about focusing on what makes me, me so I can show up in all areas of my life clear, confident, healthy and with LOVE.
The Lesson:
Plan my time and stick to a schedule. Make sure I have time for me. The results so far are: I have at least one bubble bath a week. I go to bed early (before 10 p.m.) with a glass of tea and a good book. My husband and I have started having weekly date nights (no excuses) and we plan our lives around these dates rather than having them happen when we don’t have anything else going on that night. I make plans with friends that are not focused on business goals. I’m excited to carry this fairly new schedule into the rest of 2010.
The holiday season is typically a time of family, friends, gifts, parties and giving service. When you are an entrepreneur, there is another layer to the holiday season.
Among the holiday parties and gift giving, entrepreneurs are also focused on their year end numbers and goals. This alone is a massive focus and we can’t do it without support. Suddenly your 2010 goals are more real and require more focus.
Can you keep going as a solo-preneur?
One question I get consistently is “How do I build a teamwhen I can’t afford a full-time salary for someone?” This is an excellent question and the best ways to do this are:
When you give to others through mentoring, masterminding, giving referrals, sharing ideas and tools and simply making an effort to assist someone else in their business, the door swings wide open for you to receive the same support. Solo-preneurs wear a lot of hats and the biggest mistake I’ve made is to do tasks that take up time from me actually receiving the hourly rate that I am worth. I have utilized masterminds and people who can contribute a few hours here and there in exchange for trade, money or simply service.
Always remember there is a win/win. When you are truly committed to creating something in your business there is always someone who is willing to give you a hand, to a beneficial trade or cut you a break. And never underestimate resources coming into your space so you can make things happen like #2 below.
Ali Brown has excellent tips to know if you are ready to hire an assistant.
Having participated in many masterminds, I’m continually amazed at the power they bring to my life and business. This is the best way you can create a team without capital!
A mastermind is a group of 3-8 people (I prefer no more than 8 and they may be a little big) that meets on a regular basis and you discuss ideas, challenges about your business. Everyone in the group focuses on your business and provides ideas, feedback and support to break through the barriers holding you back. My preference is to have a mastermind that includes a variety of expertise and people who will be HONEST with their feedback. If you are in a mastermind where everyone thinks just like you, you will NEVER grow. Wouldn’t you rather know sooner than later that a business idea you have needs an adjustment? Having people in your mastermind who will give you honest feedback is ESSENTIAL to making sure you continue to grow.
Ideally masterminds, meet at least monthly and I like to give each person in the group at least 10 minutes to get feedback from the group. The key to having a successful mastermind is you have to meet regularly and consistently. All members get to participate and be committed to attending for a mastermind to be effective.
When you manage your time, you will literally have physical, mental and emotional room for people to join your team. When you don’t make time to come up for air, it will be impossible to manage one other person let alone a team.You have to first make the “space” in your life before you an add more to it.
Rene Johnson, The Power Zone Coach, teaches the 4-D Decision making process, which I use every day and has saved me a ton of time and worry. This puts me back into control over my time and what I focus on. Separate your tasks into Delegate, Delete, Do It or Defer. Have a file folder that you review regularly with each set of tasks in each category. If something has been in your defer file for two weeks or more, considering just dumping it. One of the reasons entrepreneurs feel so overwhelmed is because everything feels like it’s urgent.
When I feel like everything is important, I ask myself “What will make me money today?, What will take me closer to the biggest goal I have right now?”
More Time Management Tips:
James Roche, the Info Product Guy, who is a coach to Ali Brown and very successful (and a really great guy), gave me these tips:Focus Time: plan long-term projects. This is where you work ON your business not IN your business. Get away from your office or home to do this so you can truly focus and plan. When you are in Focus time, turn off your phone, close your email and shut your door. Give yourself allotted time to work on something. Work on a project for 30 minutes and set a timer. Then take a five-minute break and move onto the next project.
Flex Time: This is when you are actually making money, when you are working with clients, making calls, emails, managing your team, etc.
Free Time: This is when you do everything else.
Overall, the key to creating a team to support and assist you is you have to first believe in your value of what you are offering. When you work on yourself, you start seeing results in your business, relationships, health and your entire life.
Alright folks. Let’s talk about something that happens to be one of my pet peeves. I know that sometimes we just don’t know certain things or do THIS by accident…
I love (not really) getting an email and there are dozens and dozens of recipients that the email was sent to and the sender did not use the BCC option. So now I scroll through all of the email addresses (I just got one that probably had 200 names in it) and finally get to the message.
This is the problem with sending a mass email to your list and NOT using the BCC option. My email address just got sent to your other contacts and well, it’s not polite to send a mass email so generically (see below for the exceptions). If you really want to make a connection to your email recipients and want a response from them, send them a personal email when possible.
Okay, so let’s go over the rules:
When you compose an email there are three fields: To, CC and BCC
Use the To field when you are:
Now, CC stands for Carbon Copy. Use the CC field when you are:
Sending an email to a primary recipient and want someone else to simply be aware of the information on the email but there is no call to action for the CC person. For example, when I send an email to a speaker to my events, I will CC their assistant so their assistant knows they have the information or vice versa.
BCC stands for Blind Carbon Copy. Use the BCC field when you are:
Overall, sending a mass email and putting everyone in the To field is unprofessional and a little annoying to your recipients for the above-mentioned reasons.
Email Etiquette #2 coming soon. We’ll talk about subject lines, signatures, images in your signatures and more. Stay tuned. Thanks for letting me rant a little bit.
Use email managers like Aweber to manage your email campaigns. This is the ideal way to manage your emails.
In order to find out where you want to go, you must first find out where you are. It’s like when someone is lost and they call to get directions. In order for them to be directed on where to go, they must first find out where they are.
For example, personally I am recommitting to my vibrant health and releasing some extra weight I’ve “attracted” for the the past two years. I was gauging my results from how I was feeling and how my clothes fit. I was consciously avoiding the scale.
I don’t believe in having my scale rule my life and I admire some health mentors who have thrown out their scale because they are so in tune with their bodies that they don’t need to even look at the numbers.
Let’s be honest. I’m not there yet. So I did a brave thing and I stepped on the scale. When I saw the number I was immediately clear of where I’m at and where I get to go on this weight release and vibrant health journey. It propelled me into action because it wasn’t as easy to justify the current results I was creating. Taking ownership of where I am at empowered me to create my desired results.
The same goes for owning the numbers in your business. When you look at the bottom line in your business there is no more justifying or “waiting” for things to improve by themselves. Looking at the numbers is the only way to know where to cut back, add more resources or maintain.
Now here is the tricky part for many entrepreneurs. We are often right-brained, visionary folks who cringe at the thought of bookkeeping, filing and financial projections. Here is the good news: When we stop trying to do everything ourselves, we outsource what we don’t want. There is always a win/win. There is someone who loves to do what you hate to do.
When you educate ourselves on the numbers then you are empowered to find the perfect solutions and people to assist you in building the financial foundation of your business.
So whether it’s looking at the numbers on the scale or the numbers in your business, just bite the bullet and do it. It’s freeing and absolutely necessary for you to build your dreams. Without knowing where you are, it’s impossible to find a new direction to get you where you want to go.
Free Biz Divas Accounting 101 workshop on Tuesday, November 3 in Draper, UT.
Endyo Group and The Accredited Network: The Accredited Network was started by Garret Gunderson who is revolutionizing wealth education. If you are ready for paradigm shift and to take ownership of your wealth and financial freedom, I highly recommend Nate Guggia and Ryan O’Shea. (Endyo Group is a division of The Accredited Network.)
Nate and Ryan are incredible and because of my association with them, they are offering their introductory process complimentary (normally starts at $1,500) to people I know. Contact them at: (801) 304-7797 or at nate [@]theaccreditednetwork [.] com
I’m really excited to share some information with you regarding some new trends in marketing.
First, traditional marketing and advertising does not work like it used to. With the changing times, consumers are demanding more from businesses including yours. Consider the following:
How do you market your business when people are more selective to what they hear and pay attention to? The great news is rather than having to pay an advertising agency a large monthly retainer, you have the power to market yourself. It’s called relationship marketing.
This term has been around since the 80′s and is making a comeback with the popularity of social media.
Relationship marketing is perfect for conscious women-preneurs like us. Why? Because it’s what we do naturally. We naturally like to connect authentically with our clients. When this is the foundation and intention of our business, the clients are a natural result.
With relationship marketing you can increase your sales by 50%. Check out this article: Customer Relationships Are Key to Your Marketing Strategy
How to Start Your Relationship Marketing
One way to get on the Relationship Marketing tidal wave is to get going on your social media. At the social media workshop this month, guru Jack Hadley of Lava 7, in Orem, UT advised that Social media is not a fad. It’s literally a revolution and it’s changing the way we interact with each other. Therefor it’s changing the way we market and advertise. Social media is often the start of the relationships we create.
Another favorite resource is Christine Comaford and this is what she has to say:
“The bottom line is that Social Networking is NOT going away, and Facebook is a popular network. And remember, “social” networking is fine, but the REALLY big deals are done face to face.”
If you are an busy mom, women-preneur or executive, ask yourself when you really gave yourself permission to just BE and receive some pampering. When was the last time you took a bath or spent even a few quiet minutes listening to your soul?
I have recently experienced some cool shifts in my life and business and it’s from the most simple thing ever. I’m taking time to pamper and take care of myself and I “just say no” to new projects that don’t support my vision. This is HUGE for me. When I do this, my mind opens up to new possibilities and I create the space to receive the things I’m looking for. When before my mind was so full there was literally “NO ROOM at the inn.”
Plus, I’ve noticed that when I take time for self care, it’s a sign to the universe and everyone around me that I honor who I am and I’m deserving to receive.
Here are a couple of my favorite pamper pass-times that have assisted me on creating new serenity in my life.
~~ Serenity Facial by the lovely Aleca McKenna-Yates ~~
I have received the best facial of my life from Aleca. She has an fabulous spa space in her home in South Jordan and she has an energy that totally honors and pampers you will peace and tranquility. I left her space in complete serenity.
She is offering my networks a “Serenity Facial” for $50 (regularly $65). Treat yourself to this experience before the busy holiday season starts. OR you can get a gift certificate to use later in the holidays or to gift to a fabulous woman in your life. For the first five people who use this special offer, you also receive a free pair of hand-crafted semi-precious stone pair of earrings as a gift.
Email her at alecamckenna@gmail.com to book your appointment or buy your gift certificate.
~~ Breathing ~~
When is the last time you consciously inhaled and exhaled five deep breaths? Right now, are you breathing shallow or deep breaths? Breathing oxygenates the body and brain and can energize you. Try this before going to the caffeine if you want some natural energy. And it opens up the mind to receive new insights.
~~ Bath with peppermint oil and Epsom or sea salt ~~
If you work on the computer a lot like I do, you probably experience tight shoulders, neck and back. When there is tense or stuck energy in your body, it can be hard to receive inspiration and feel motivated to take action when inspiration hits. If you want a little extra energy boost, place a piece of rose quartz (my favorite) in the water too with a few drops of peppermint oil.
~~ Images Salon~~ (Salt Lake City, UT)
This is my favorite salon in the area. Check out their Minx toes (trust me) http://www.minxnails.com/. Their full menu of services will pamper you in many ways. The owner Rhonda is incredible. When you feel and look fabulous you are ready to take on the world in a whole new way!
~~ Massage ~~
Enough said. Get one. Today. Here are my three favorite people, they all have amazing technique and energy:
Kyle Taylor at Soul Expressions Salon in Sugarhouse: (801) 467-9130
Lyndsey Holm – (Thai massage) Evolution Therapy
Michelle Bennett – (she does home visits too, request her at Sanctuary Day Spa at Gateway): (801) 456-2375
Ever wonder what to post, tweet and write about with your social media efforts?
The last Biz Divas workshop was on Social Media and it was incredible. I learned that social media is a revolution, not a fad and it’s completely changing the way we market. I feel like for the first time, new companies can create awesome marketing momentum through cost-effective efforts. No longer do companies have to have a $10,000+ retainer with an ad or marketing agency to be successful.
First, check out this awesome article that one of my favorite social media and marketing experts (Jack Hadley @jack_hadley from Lava 7) passed along to me:
http://blog.listpipe.com/2009/frequency-seo-and-wasting-time
Now, do you follow the 70-20-10 rule?
70% is sharing resources
20% is spent in conversations with people
10% is about promoting yourself
Here are a couple of articles I liked about this:
http://www.fwrenaissance.com/do-you-comply-with-the-70-20-10-rule-for-twitter/
http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/2009/02/06/creating-social-media-rituals/
Now what to write about:
Do you have a product or service that helps people? Talk about what results you are co-creating with your clients?
How have you gotten where you are? Share the resources that support you (books, articles, blogs, mentors, etc.)
Share tips. For example, an event planner can share tips on how to throw an amazing holiday party. Or share party etiquette.
Are you a massage therapist or other type of healer? Share tips on what people can do to minimize stress.
Share the inspiration behind your art if you are an artist of any kind.
What are your amitions and state of mind today? Share that, people will relate and you will create authentic relationships.
My personal philosophy is that social media is thriving because we are more interested in relationship marketing than “being sold to.” Social media engages you in relationship marketing and it works.
Do you want some feedback on what you can write about in your social media? Reply to this post with a very brief description of your company and I, along with my readers, will respond and give you some insight. This is the first step in making your social media successful. It’s about supporting each other. When we give, we receive everything we are looking for.
