One of the most important things I’ve discovered over the years is to give myself time off to think if I’m feeling stuck or overwhelmed.
Do something outside of the office that will clear your head. Go for a walk, sit in the park and do some deep breathing, take your dog for a run if you have one, anything that will get you out of the office space for a while.
Take an hour or two if necessary – or even a whole day if you’ve been working overtime. Nothing will fall apart and you will feel more focused and relaxed and able to get back to what you were doing with a much clearer mind.
As entrepreneurs and business owners, we make a serious of choices every day that can make or break our success. As a business coach for many years now, I’ve learned that it’s often not even the big things that have the greatest impact…
It’s the small, almost unconscious decisions we make that can influence the shape our life takes.
The other day one of the Success Connections team coaches, Therese Skelly, said, “I was just talking to one of the Gold Plus members about how you take time off for self-care.”
Last week, I had one of my usual Mondays. I got up, ate breakfast, meditated, went to work out, went to an appointment, had a nice long lunch with my honey out by the lake, ran a couple of errands, came home, took the dog for a long walk in the hills, read another chapter of
This week I am really delighted to share that I am on creative retreat…at the ocean!
A few months back I realized that my boys were going skiing with their dad for spring break and my husband was going to be traveling this week. I didn’t really want to be home alone all week. Well, I woke up one morning around 5 am wondering, “What would my future self….my inner audaciously successful & savvy business woman…my future self in 3 years do?”
I knew instantly. She would find a beautiful place to visit, nurture herself, and spend some chunks of time finally getting to some of those creative writing projects like revising my web page for the Joyful Business Guide and putting the final details together for my new Platinum coaching program. And, of course, it would have to be by the beach!
We dream of spontaneous trips to the beach, month-long vacations, all while making six or seven figure incomes. Sure it’s possible…but the probability is that in your journey to “home based business nirvana”, you’ll log some serious hours in the office.
Want to know what I DON’T do in my business so that I can focus on making a high 6-figure income?
For starters, I don’t answer emails sent in from my site. I don’t update my website myself anymore (this one was hard for me to give up because I love fiddling with my site!). I don’t pay bills, run to get the mail, do my own scheduling or do my bookkeeping.
Are you working too hard in your business? If you’re an entrepreneur, you probably are, especially if you’re in the early stages of your business building. And you’re not alone.
Here’s an example from my own client files:
I was recently working with a client who was a real go-getter, very serious about being in business for herself, and marketing only to a more affluent clientele. She wanted to increase her reach into that market online. And she was considering adding article marketing to her mix.
At this stage in her business, she was already doing quite well. She was close to making 6 figures and charging 5 times as much as her counterparts - and getting it easily. But she wasn’t satisfied. She really wanted to break the $100k mark before the third anniversary of her business, which was coming up in just a few months.
Everywhere I go recently it seems that someone is talking about balance and focus. I keep hearing how challenging it is to stay balanced and focused on a daily basis and I can certainly relate to that.
Because I have a home office, like so many coaches, it’s very easy to fold instead of focusing. What I mean by that is, there you are moving through your day and doing your best to get all the things done that you might have on a list. You managed to get the first thing finished and now you’re on action #2, when suddenly you think about something completely different Read the rest of this post »
In May, I’ll celebrate 18 years in business. Over the years, I’ve gone back and forth on my answer to this question: Do women make better entrepreneurs? I’ve decided the answer is Yes… and No. The same things that make us great entrepreneurs also make us bad ones. It’s a fine line, a tightrope we walk. Let me explain.
Women are nurturers.
Women have the ability to hang on, to stick with something, to grow and nurture their business despite opposition, heartache, and setbacks. A woman sees the potential in her creations and has the tenacity to stick with them. Her business is her baby. A woman could no more toss her nurtured business aside than she could toss aside her own child. She will hang on because she has a bond with her business. In business this type of tenacity is invaluable.
I had the privilege of being interviewed by Solo-E Certified Expert Laura Howard West for her Joyful Business Podcast bi-weekly series. Surf on over and listen in on our casual conversation about choices, letting go, practicing, and getting to happiness as a Solo Entrepreneur (20 minutes).
