For the first time ever, I’m running a contest! I’m running a one-week-only contest and giving away free Power-Up sessions to three lucky small business owners. Entry is easy and the pay-off is huge!
What You Win: An hour-long, one-on-one Power-Up Session with me, Susan Baroncini-Moe, CEO of Business in Blue Jeans, also known as “The Micro-Entrepreneur’s Mentor.” In this session, I’ll determine the three biggest mistakes you’re making in your business and provide personalized strategies for powering up your business to grow profitability and achieve success.
How To Win: Write one paragraph. Topic: “If I Could Wave A Magic Wand and Change Something About My Small Business, It Would Be…..” Post it on your blog or Facebook page with link back to http://www.businessinbluejeans.com/contest.html (or to this blog entry…makes no difference to me).
Then, e-mail contest@businessinbluejeans.com with a link to your entry (or just e-mail your entry to contest@businessinbluejeans.com). It’s that simple!
Contest Rules: Three winners will be chosen at random on February 22, 2010. You’ll be contacted by me right away.
So…go write your paragraphs! It shouldn’t take too long and you just might win a freebie Power-Up Session with me!
Last December, I said goodbye to an old friend: the old Indiana tulip tree that’s been in my back yard longer than I’ve been alive. Since my husband and I remodeled and now live in the home where I grew up, this tree has has been a constant in the landscape of my life through the years. Sadly, about two years ago, we realized the tree was slowly dying. I waited as long as I could, until I realized that keeping the tree put the house in danger, and finally decided it was time to let go.
(So what does this tree have to do with your business? Well, you know by now that I can find business inspiration in anything from my travels to my chicken coop, so follow along with me and you’ll see where I’m going with this.)
As I watched the crew cut down my tree, I thought about all the things the tree had meant to me over the years. It provided the branch my dad hung my rope swing on, and offered shade in the hot Midwestern summers. It was large enough to provide just enough privacy from the street, while also keeping things open enough for a friendly wave to a neighbor walking by.
The tree had its drawbacks, too, I have to confess. As big as it was, there were a million leaves to rake every fall, but this year, all those leaves provided us with an absolutely wonderful, warm afternoon with our friends, talking and laughing as we raked and hauled leaves to the compost pile. There were the carpenter ants, who made their home in, around, and everywhere near the tree, plus the aphids who lived it the tree, dropping black residue on virtually everything underneath. And in recent years, there was the fear. As the tree was dying, it had a tendency to drop branches here and there, unexpectedly. I constantly worried that someone would get hurt or we’d have a big storm and the tree would fall onto my house (look at the picture and you can see just how serious a threat that was!).
My tree, with all the beautiful, sentimental memories attached to it, also came with some encumbrances, things that made it harder for us to enjoy our home and our life with the serenity you want to feel at home. Watching the tree come down, suddenly I realized that as hard as it was to say goodbye to the tree, letting go of the tree meant I would have peace of mind and a calmness about many things, plus we were making space for something new. That space can be the home for a new flower or vegetable bed…(“Or, the place for my new pool!” says my hubby, who just popped his head in the office to see if I want a cup of tea)
Any time is a good time to look at your business (and your life) and ask what you’re holding onto that might be holding you back. For myself, as I examined my business, there were a few things holding me back that I’ve decided to let go of as I head into the future. Maybe you’ll discover it’s a product or a service that you’re offering that’s limiting you. It’s more likely, though, that it’s a mindset, an attitude, or a limiting belief that’s getting in your way.
Just as the aphids who lived in my tree dropped black stuff all over everything under the tree, limiting beliefs and a negative mindset will drop junk all over your business and your life. Just as my tree created too much shade in some parts of my garden making it hard to get much to grow there, you may have too much “mental shade” in areas of your business, so you’re unable to see ways in which you could grow. And just as my big, beautiful tree threatened to fall over onto my house, you may have created some business structures that threaten to fall apart and damage your business.
Take a careful, close, and most importantly, honest look at your life and your business. What’s holding you back? What’s getting in the way of you moving forward? When you find the things that are keeping you from achieving your goals, take some time to appreciate what they’ve brought to your life and what those things have done for you, and then let them go.
And remember, letting go doesn’t always mean a complete severing of ties. It often means analyzing something closely enough that you can keep what is working, and throw out the rest. In my business, it meant keeping certain program elements and bringing them into my new programs, while leaving other elements behind. And for my tree, it meant having the crew chop my tree into firewood that will last us for the next several winters and leaving a full slice of the trunk for my hubby and me to make into a table in the spring.
One thing I’ve noticed in the last couple of days since the tree came down is that when I look up, where there was once a lot of branches and leaves obstructing the view, now there’s just clear, blue sky, filled with possibility. Let go of whatever isn’t serving you in your business and in your life, so that you can head into the future with lightness and serenity, with all the possibility of moving forward into real success.
Today is a big day at Business in Blue Jeans! You may recall that I mentioned that this was coming. Several weeks ago, I was invited to participate in a unique project like nothing I’ve ever seen!
And finally, today, along with 29 other successful online businesswomen, we’re launching The Millionairess League e-book! In this downloadable e-book, you’ll find inspiration, tools, resources, empowerment, and more, from some of the most powerful, successful, female entrepreneurs online today. Australian publisher Sarah Sprout interviewed me, Susan Baroncini-Moe, CEO of Business in Blue Jeans, along with 29 other phenomenal women to find out what makes us tick. Get inspired, hear our advice, and learn how to build your own online empire today!
My latest post on LifeHack.org, published March 26, 2009:
How often do you get that lazy feeling? You know the one. It’s that heavy feeling that weighs down your entire body so the only things you really feel like doing is watching TV, surfing the Internet, or playing your Wii. Or, maybe you just feel like doing something fun instead of working, when you know you really need to get some serious work done. These are serious productivity killers, especially for home-based business owners…but there are ways to fight back. Use these tips to get back to work and see your productivity soar.
First, plan ahead. You can’t always predict your moods, but you can plan ahead so you start out with the right state of mind. If you wake up without a concrete plan for your day you can easily waft into checking e-mail and social networking sites before doing any actual work. This is the sort of time-sucking activity that can eat up half of your workday (if not all of it!). If you develop a plan of action and go to bed with a strong commitment to wake up the next morning and get to work, you’ll do exactly that.
Second, as part of your plan, wait until late morning or early afternoon to open your e-mail software or check any social networking sites. This is something that Tim Ferriss, author of The Four-Hour Workweek, recommends. If you check your e-mail, there’s a strong chance that there will be something in your Inbox that will require action on your part, and you can bet you’ll feel compelled to deal with that e-mail before you get to work on the tasks you had planned for the day. Talk about derailing your productivity! Even more importantly (especially if your work requires you to check e-mail first thing), keep your personal and work e-mail accounts separate, and only check your personal accounts when your work is done for the day.
Third, once you’re ready to work, minimize distractions. Turn off the TV and the phone ringer and disable any chat or text/instant messaging software. I have a client whose productivity is regularly disrupted by phone calls from friends and family members throughout the day. It’s especially important when you work from home to make sure your friends and family know when you are working, so you can maintain a consistent, productive environment.
Fourth, if you’re trying to work and keep getting distracted by thoughts of something else, take care of whatever is distracting you and then come back to work. If it’s “fun” that’s distracting you, take a half hour out to go do something enjoyable. My husband and I regularly break to take walks outside on a pleasant day, or to bake a loaf of bread. Sometimes you just can’t focus, and if that happens, it’s best not to try to force it. In fact, the stress and pressure can make it even harder to focus and you may end up doing poor work. So take some time out, have a little fun, relax, and then come back with a fresh, new perspective.
Fifth, for some, it works well to build in a system of rewards and punishments. Generally, most people recommend positive stimuli only. But sometimes you want to avoid something just as much as you want to gain its opposite. So the reward and punishment can actually be two sides of the same coin: if you accomplish your task, you get to do a particular fun activity and if you don’t accomplish your task, you don’t get to do that activity. This can be a powerful motivator (but if you really are struggling for motivation, see my article from last week).
Finally, there’s the powerful “just do it” strategy. Once you start working and getting in the groove of productivity, you’ll find that it’s much easier to stay in that “productivity zone.” And once you’re in that zone, you may find that you can get more accomplished in an hour than you might normally get done in a entire day. Sometimes you may have to do some real self-direction to get to this place. One technique that works well to get you into the productivity zone is the “act as if” exercise. In this exercise, you think of someone who you respect and admire who is good at whatever it is that you want to accomplish. Then, you envision what that person is feeling at that moment, step into their shoes, and “act as if” you are them. It’s not enough to act like them, you actually want to act as if you are them. This enables you to temporarily leave the you that isn’t “in the mood” to work behind and in essence, be someone else for awhile.
Use these tips and your productivity will be high with consistency. You’ll avoid the time-sucking, distractions and derailing attitudes and “I can’t believe the day is over and I didn’t get anything done,” will be a thing of the past.
My latest post on LifeHack.org, published March 19, 2009:
Maybe you’ve been trying to kick-start your business and it just hasn’t worked yet. Maybe you’ve just started but you’re already frustrated. Or maybe you’ve wanted to hit that next level for years and haven’t been able to get there. Regardless of your situation, getting motivated and on-track isn’t difficult. It’s staying that way that’s the trick. And when you’re struggling to “make it,” sometimes it’s even harder. You find yourself wandering, letting yourself get distracted, and wondering if you’ll ever really make your mark. Want to end the cycle of struggle? Master these tips and you’ll be virtually unstoppable.
First, know that this is a temporary state. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been where you are. All that you need to know is that nothing is permanent. All things change, even if it seems that they don’t. It’s simply a law of nature — nothing stays the same forever. The universe is constantly moving, evolving, and changing, and so are you. So instead of seeing this as a neverending path into darkness, know that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, and every day, it’s getting closer. And as soon as you get a new client, sell your first product, or hit that next target, everything within you will shift.
Second, remind yourself what you’re fighting for. When you’ve been trying to make something happen for awhile, you can start to lose sight of the end goal. Instead of focusing on the reason you started this journey in the first place, you begin to focus on smaller, more immediate outcomes. For example, if you started your business so you could eventually free up enough time to spend with your family, but you’ve been working for a long time and haven’t seen the results you’d expected or hoped for, your goal may have shifted from “be with my family” to “make my business work.” This has exactly the opposite effect than you originally intended. By shifting your priorities, now you’re probably spending less time with your family.
Sometimes it’s helpful to create tangible reminders of the reason you started down this path. A vision board may be useful, or just a statement, penned boldly and tacked to a bulletin board near your workspace. If you want to remind yourself of a forgotten goal and reintegrate it into your thinking process and mindset, set your alarm a few minutes earlier each morning and spend that time meditating on what you’re working towards. Reaffirm what you’re fighting for and you’ll find the will to fight is restored and renewed once more.
Third, believe in yourself. It can be hard to believe in yourself when you’ve been trying to make something work for a long time. Sometimes you just lose faith in your own ability to make it work or see it through. One of the best ways to stay strong in your belief in yourself is to keep track of your successes, even the small ones. When you’re feeling down on yourself, go back to the list of successes and review them. Remind yourself that you are capable and you can make this work.
Another way to rebuild your confidence involves something social psychologists have known for decades — that our feelings about ourselves are frequently a reflection of how we think others perceive us. So take advantage of that! Read through your client testimonials and e-mails. Ask your clients for periodic evaluations and you’re bound to receive some fantastic feedback (and if there are some negatives, folks, that’s a great learning experience — it tells you exactly what you need to do to improve and make your clients happy). Even if your faith in yourself falters, others still believe in you.
Finally, get help before you’re in crisis. If your business isn’t where you want it to be, if you aren’t making the leaps ahead that you want to be making, there’s obviously something going on. Before things go too far, before you get lost and become totally unmotivated, get help!
The problem may be with your business — it could be a branding issue, a marketing issue, or maybe just you aren’t giving your clients what they want. Hire a consultant who can turn your business inside out finding ways to improve your results. The problem may also lie within — you yourself might benefit from some “fine-tuning.” Hire a coach and work through any roadblocks that may be getting in the way of your success. Hire a mentor and model his/her behavior. Or if you’re struggling with self-discipline and need a budget solution, ask a reliable friend to be your accountability partner so you both can improve.
As you begin to master the ability to keep your motivation high, it will become easier to stay on-track. Moments of frustration will be fewer and farther between and, as you master your mindset, you’ll find that you actually achieve success and reach your targets faster.
I’m almost always thinking about business, so it’s no surprise that when I’m working out at the gym, business is on my mind. Recently, I had a revelation at the gym. I often work out with headphones. I listen to power music and that helps me stay focused and I can endure more than if I don’t have them on. But with those headphones on, I never, ever meet people.
My gym is a social place. And although each gym probably has its own dynamic and subculture, I suspect most gyms are just as friendly. But so many of us are wearing our headphones, it’s hard to find out how friendly things actually are.
Since I had my revelation, I’m committed to spending at least a half hour of my time at the gym without my headphones on, just getting to know the people around me. I’ve met some really great people. And a few of them have become clients.
Now, here’s the thing I’ve figured out about networking and why it isn’t working. People are spending a lot of time “qualifying” their leads and not nearly enough time getting to know people. These aren’t leads, they’re people. Your clients are people. And even if the guy you’re talking to doesn’t need your services right now, not only might he know someone who does, but if you expand your network of friends and acquaintances instead of “qualifying leads,” you’ll be first on that same guy’s mind when he does need your help.
So I’m not going around my gym, actually talking to people about my business, but I am getting to know people as I work out. It’s simple things- helping someone with their weights, asking someone to spot you, striking up a conversation on the track so you don’t have to walk or run alone. And as you get to know people, you learn what they do and they learn what you do, and that’s how it eventually leads to business.
It takes a little patience. Talk to people. Get to know them. Let them get to know you. If you make it about getting to know people and expanding your personal network, you’ll succeed far more and far faster than if you make it “networking” and all about your business and what you can “get.”
I’ve said it so many times. I’ve beaten this one to the ground. But honestly? I don’t think it can be overstated. I don’t think I can say it enough times. I’ve linked to articles form Forbes and Entrepreneur that say now is a fantastic time to start a business. And today, CNN has joined the fray, with an entire segment of their web site devoted to going solo.
Let’s recap- why is now a perfect time to go out on your own?
Corporate work isn’t as “safe” as it used to be. You don’t even have the illusion of safety anymore, do you? If you’ve seen the news, you’ve seen how many of our largest companies, even the ones that have always seemed so stable, are laying off scores of workers. I’m really not trying to scare you here, but, let’s face it…you could be next. And that’s something you should be thinking about.
We’re all pulling together these days. Lately, if I have a chance to throw work to a reliable, high quality freelancer, versus a larger company, I’ll do it. Why? Because I’d rather my dollars go more directly to the person doing the work than through the financial filter of bureaucracy and paperwork. That is, if I pay a large company to have one of its employees design a web site or logo for one of my clients, I’m essentially paying for that company’s overhead- the office building they’re in, the person who processes my payment, the boss of the person designing the web site or logo, the guy who empties their trash cans, etc. etc. etc. But if I’m paying the freelancer directly, my money goes directly into that person’s pocket. Sure, there’s be some overhead expenses there, but in the end, the person who’s doing the work gets more of the money and that matters to me in this economy. And I’m not the only one.
So what does this mean to you? It means if you’re thinking about going solo and you’re good at what you do, you’ll have people like me out there who would rather hire you than a big company.
Services are more affordable than ever. Everybody’s trying to get more clients these days. So a lot of people are cutting their rates to be more competitive (someday I’ll write another article on why that’s not necessarily the best strategy, but that’s a conversation for another day). And there are more freelancers working on their own now, and their pricing doesn’t always include the massive overhead of a big company. That means you can get all kinds of services much cheaper than any other time.
We don’t know where the economy is going. Honestly? We don’t know right now if things are going to get better or worse. And it’s possible things might get harder. So doesn’t it make sense to at least create a business that generates some pocket money or enough to cover the electric bill? Start a micro-business now in your spare time, and it’ll provide you with that little extra to help out, and then down the road, should you lose your job or decide you’re ready to transition out of the corporate world, you’ll be able to build that business without much effort (yes, really).
What, exactly, are you waiting for? If you’re waiting for the “right time” let me tell you: the right time is now. If you keep waiting, the “right time” will never come and one day you’ll look back at a lifetime spent working like a slave for someone else. Even if you don’t know what kind of business you want to start (or can start), that’s still no reason not to get something going now. In fact, that’s a perfect reason to hire an expert- someone who can show you your options and help you design your business to suit your lifestyle goals.
I can’t tell you how many times people have said to me, “I wish I could work from home like you,” or, “I wish I could do what you do.” Now, it’s not for everybody, but believe me when I say that virtually anybody can do something like what I do- not exactly what I do, but you can work from home (or anywhere in the world- and I have!). You can build a business based on what you know, that brings in a stable income, one that’s large enough so you don’t have to work every day or even all day. Even in this economy.
Whoa! The Mr. and I just watched “The Ultimate Gift,” the movie adaptation of Jim Stovall’s book of the same name. I’ve always loved the book and thought it was an absolute necessity in any personal growth library. But when I discovered the book, I just wasn’t sure I’d like it. I actually had it sitting here for a couple of months before we got around to watching it!
And you know what? It was AMAZING. The actors are fantastic and it’s not a low-budget, no-name movie like I expected. The characters were played by actors with names and faces I know, and they outdid themselves in this film. Now, there are some sad moments, I’ll tell you right now, but I have to say that the payoff makes it worth it in the end.
I thought a lot about New Year’s Resolutions and what mine should be for 2009. The more I thought about it, the more resolutions I came up with. I thought about the different spheres of my life and how I wanted to set goals in each one, but when it came right down to it, I realized that I really only need one New Year’s Resolution. Because that one resolution, if I follow it, can completely transform every area of my life.
Want to know what it is?
In 2009, I’m going to focus on asking myself one question, as frequently as I can. Just one question. And in asking myself that question, I know that I will achieve every goal I set, make every milestone, hit every target.
The question I will ask myself is:
“What am I doing right now, in this moment, to achieve my goals?”
I’m going to put this question on post-it notes all over the place. I’m going to send myself an e-mail every day reminding myself to think about it, add it to my calendar. I’ll remind myself to ask this question over and over until it becomes a habit.
If I’m lifting a fork to my mouth, I’m going to ask, “What am I doing right now, in this moment, to achieve my goals?” And then I’ll most likely put the fork down (especially if it has cake on it! I LOVE cake!).
If I’m goofing off and checking personal e-mail during my workday, I’m going to ask, “What am I doing right now, in this moment, to achieve my goals?” And then I’ll get back to work.
If I’m feeling cranky at my husband, I’m going to ask, “What am I doing right now, in this moment, to achieve my goals?” And then I’ll give him a big hug.
If I’m surfing the net or watching throwaway TV that I don’t really enjoy just to pass the time, I’m going to ask myself, “What am I doing right now, in this moment, to achieve my goals?”
This question, this one single question, has the potential to transform my entire life. And that is why it is my one and only New Year’s Resolution for 2009.
Last December, I said goodbye to an old friend: the old 
