Posted by Amy on June 3, 2010
One of the key factors most successful people attribute to their success is their mindset. Our fears, limiting beliefs, negativity, and lack of confidence can prevent or get in the way of us achieving our greatest dreams.
What labels have you given yourself? What box have you put yourself in?
It is through challenging our mindset and releasing ourselves from the labels we have created and having the courage to step out of our box that we created for ourselves that we can accomplish or do anything we ever wanted.
Understand that your thoughts are 100% under your control!
There’s an amazing sense of empowerment when you realize that you can control your thoughts. It can mean the end of negative self-talk, closed mindset, and self-doubt. Of course, it takes time to recognize and change your mindset, but it is an effort that is well worth the time and energy. You can control how you perceive events, how you react to challenges, and how you relate to others. When you’re able to change your mindset and control your thoughts, a whole world of opportunities opens up for you.
I am a big believer in whatever you truly believe both in thought and feeling, is what you will receive. Here is an affirmation I love to use:
My business is abundant and I am frequently and continually attracting fabulous new clients.
Mindset is a powerful thing. It can lead us astray, drive us from our strongest hopes and desires or help us fulfill our biggest dreams. Taking time to cultivate a positive mindset can change your life and your business.
Amy Robertson is the Founder of the Girlfriend's Alliance, a women's entrepreneur resource. She is also President of the Girlfriend's Biz Assistant. Amy uses her own experiences of being an entrepreneur to help inspire, empower and connect women entrepreneurs. She is someone who talks her walk... and is able to teach what works because she has done it herself.
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Posted by Amy on June 2, 2010
Being your own boss can be a challenge. You’re it! As an entrepreneur it is imperative to prioritize each day for maximum productivity. It is so easy to get caught up in surfing the net, chatting with friends on facebook or worse preparing to prioritize (you know what I am talking about… making a list, organizing papers, busy stuff that doesn’t get you any closer to your goal).
The most common time waster is procrastination. Any of us can think of a million different time consuming tasks to do, that ultimately accomplish nothing.
One of the best things you can do to maximize your time is to plan your day. Each morning or at the end of your day take 15 minutes to map out your day. The only way you are ever going to achieve your goals is to take action steps and these steps need to be in your calendar!
You might be reading this and think… yeah, yeah, I’ve heard this before. O.K., so then why aren’t you making it happen? Let’s take a second and get real. Think about what behaviors might be sabotaging your success. Do any of these sound familiar?
Continually preparing and not taking action.
Being unable to say “NO” to things that aren’t moving you forward
Failing to ask for help
Focusing on unproductive tasks
Being unorganized
Not having a clear goal
Waiting until late in the day to do tasks and then not doing them because you’re tired.
Did you connect with any of these? The first thing in correcting a behavior is recognizing it. Analyze the behavior and ask yourself why you are behaving this way? Is it possible there is something else holding you back?
Here are a few things that can help:
Focus on priorities first thing in the morning.
Tackle the most difficult task first
One of the best things you can do is carry a tote around with you, so you can be productive when free time opens up.
Don’t take phone calls, look at emails or get on the internet until your priorities for they day are complete.
Amy Robertson is the Founder of the Girlfriend's Alliance, a women's entrepreneur resource. She is also President of the Girlfriend's Biz Assistant. Amy uses her own experiences of being an entrepreneur to help inspire, empower and connect women entrepreneurs. She is someone who talks her walk... and is able to teach what works because she has done it herself.
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Posted by Amy on
While self-motivation is a simple concept, we all know that it’s one of the hardest things to attain. Despite purely good intentions, most of us are better at slacking off than getting motivated. But, no matter what your attention span it is possible for you to motivate yourself and reach your goals; you just need to follow a few simple steps.
Know what you’re doing
A to-do list is nice to have to help you get things done, but it doesn’t do much to help you stay motivated. Before you can make your to-do list, you need to set goals and priorities. They may be short term like “finish this project to attain more work” or more general like “increase workload to attain promotion”. If you give yourself a goal or vision to work for, you’re going to be more motivated to finish things than if you’re simply completing tasks.
Stay positive
A positive attitude can go a long way. People have probably told you this over and over, but you’re still not inclined to believe it. Take a little extra time each day to remind yourself of your accomplishments. It is also a good idea to try to surround yourself with positive and encouraging people. If you don’t have any at work, find positive and encouraging statements from successful people and post them around your office.
Set mini-goals
Finishing a project can be a daunting task. If it’s a large amount of work, you’re likely to look at it, get overwhelmed, and give up or put it off before you even get started. An easier way to accomplish a project is to break it up into smaller tasks. This way you’ll be looking at a bunch of small goals instead of one great big one. While it’s the same amount of work, it helps to keep you from getting overwhelmed. Plus, each time you accomplish one of your tasks, you’ll feel successful and motivated to keep trekking on through the rest.
Reward yourself
To help keep yourself going, set up rewards for each task you complete. They don’t have to be anything big; they could be going to see a movie over the weekend or spending 15 minutes on the phone with a friend you haven’t talked to in a while. It’s just something positive to help encourage you. You can also set small rewards for your mini goals and have a large reward for when you finish a large project.
You can also punish yourself to achieve goals. For example, set up a mini-punishment, like snapping a rubber band on your wrist. Every time you find yourself drifting off and not paying attention, or doing something counter-productive, snap the rubber band. This will help train your mind to stay on track.
Have a backup
While we may have the best of intentions, most of us really aren’t that good at sticking with our self-motivating methods. If this seems like you, you may be in need of some backup. This is a friend, co-worker, or associate – anyone who is dependable and trustworthy. Let them know what your goals are (and even your rewards and punishments) and set up a plan for them to check up on you.
It could be as simple as giving you a call to see how much you’ve gotten done, or maybe have them be the keeper of some reward and administer it when you reach your goal. This way, if your resolution wavers, you’ll have someone else there to help out.
Amy Robertson is the Founder of the Girlfriend's Alliance, a women's entrepreneur resource. She is also President of the Girlfriend's Biz Assistant. Amy uses her own experiences of being an entrepreneur to help inspire, empower and connect women entrepreneurs. She is someone who talks her walk... and is able to teach what works because she has done it herself.
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Posted by Amy on
If you are easily distracted or get bored easily, staying focused on your business can be harder than doing the actual work of your business! It is very easy to procrastinate, especially when you work from home. There are always ‘so many other things to do’.
Here is a secret that you may not have heard yet: The dishes can wait! The laundry can wait! So feel free to make those phone calls or answer those emails. The laundry and dishes will still be there, waiting for you! However, if you wait too long to call a client back, they may move on to someone who gets back to them faster than you do.
Why did you decide to go into business for yourself? Whatever the reason, write it down and put it where you will see it on a daily basis. When you are feeling distracted, look at what you wrote down. It will be easier to work when you remember why you are working in the first place.
You may want to team up with another work at home friend. Send each other your goals and keep one another accountable. Call each other at the end of the day and discuss what you accomplished; you can share your successes or lend each other a sympathetic ear over things that didn’t go as you planned.
Stay motivated by setting daily, weekly and monthly goals. If you “work backwards” you will create a road map to your success. For instance, if you are in direct sales and your financial goal is to sell $1500 in product that month. Do the math and you’ll see that you need to sell $375 of product each week. Now, how many home parties do you need to hold each week to accomplish that? How many phone calls do you need to make each day in order to schedule those parties?
When you accomplish your goals, give yourself a little treat to remind yourself that you worked hard and achieved success!
Amy Robertson is the Founder of the Girlfriend's Alliance, a women's entrepreneur resource. She is also President of the Girlfriend's Biz Assistant. Amy uses her own experiences of being an entrepreneur to help inspire, empower and connect women entrepreneurs. She is someone who talks her walk... and is able to teach what works because she has done it herself.
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Posted by Amy on
Being an mompreneur offers the best of both worlds. You basically have it all, the career and the family. You’re in control of your schedule, your success and you’re able to be there for your family when they need you. However, this amazing lifestyle doesn’t come without challenges. Here are a few steps to help you be a successful mompreneur:
Step One: Know and accept that you cannot do it all, why would you want to? Wonder Woman is a comic strip. She had size double D chest, a tiny waist, bulletproof bracelets and an invisible airplane – she’s fiction! Besides all of that, she didn’t have kids or a business. If she did, she’d know to focus on her strengths and the tasks that make her the most profits and the tasks she enjoys and to outsource, automate and eliminate the rest.
That means if cleaning the house takes too much time away from your profits and you cannot round up the troops at home to help, consider outsourcing the task to a cleaning service. Equally, if customer service takes too much of your time, consider outsourcing it – there are wonderful and cost effective services to handle just about any task you can think of.
Quick tip – to help you determine if it is cost effective to outsource, determine your hourly value by dividing your annual profits by how many hours you work each year. For example, if your annual profits are $100,000 and you work 20 hours a week with four weeks of vacation each year that’s 960 hours a year or $104 dollars an hour. Anything you outsource will ideally cost you less than $104/hour
Step Two: Schedule time for everything – that includes fun time and me time! Scheduling, and a good scheduling system, are the key to focused productivity. If you know that from 9-12 each day you’re working on booking appointments and from 1 – 3 each day you’re open to exercise, volunteer, or share an afternoon with a friend, you’re much more likely to stay sane and get a lot accomplished during your morning work time.
Step Three: Set boundaries, expect interruptions. Life is full of surprises and usually when we least expect and welcome them. Set boundaries with your family and friends so they respect and support your schedule and work time however, make room for exceptions. For example, your child is practically guaranteed to get sick on your big day with a potential new client.
Step Four: Make time for you. Personal care isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity. Whether you’re single or married with children or without, it’s important to take time out of your busy schedule to do things you want to do. As a mompreneur this is truly essential!
Life is about balance and in order to even the scales between work and pleasure, even if you enjoy your work, it’s important to make time for self-care. It can be anything from a trip to Italy, a day at the spa or a bubble bath by candlelight at the end of the day. The important thing is to practice it regularly and make it part of your life.
Step Five: Set aside time to plan. Yes, schedules and goals are essential to business growth however, if you’re a busy mom on top of being a business owner, planning your business often falls by the wayside. Schedule time to plan your business regularly, for example each month. Outline what you’ve accomplished, where you want to go, and how you’re going to get there. This habit will help you be more productive and you’ll be able to reach your business goals much faster.
Being a mom and a business owner isn’t easy however when approached strategically and with a bit of the common sense only a mother can bring to the table, you can have your cake and eat it too, without sacrificing your sanity, your profits, or your family.
Amy Robertson is the Founder of the Girlfriend's Alliance, a women's entrepreneur resource. She is also President of the Girlfriend's Biz Assistant. Amy uses her own experiences of being an entrepreneur to help inspire, empower and connect women entrepreneurs. She is someone who talks her walk... and is able to teach what works because she has done it herself.
Website - More Posts
Change your Mindset – Change your Business
