Mar 6th
I want to give you a tip that will make it much easier to reach your goals.
At some point, in going after your goal, you are going to be stopped by a lack of information.
Now I honestly don’t like doing a lot of research. But here are some of the techniques I enjoy using to get information when I’m stuck:
1. Tell people what your wish is and the obstacle you face. You won’t believe how quickly people (even strangers!) will jump right into problem-solving mode and you’ll be given information or contacts who can give you the solution…try it…really…you’ll be amazed!
2. Go to the library (online).
I love libraries. When I was six years old, a friend took me on my first trip to a library. I was astounded and absolutely delighted to learn that I could take 5 books home and it was free!
Today, I can access mountains of popular magazines, scholarly journals, and databases on everything from history to science to health right from my computer. All you need is a library card number. Go to your local public libraries website and find their online databases. You will find information here that will get you unstuck. The only downside (if you want to call it that!) to this method is that you can spend hours happily sifting for gold in this treasure trove!
3. Got to conferences, association meetings and trade shows.
There’s nothing like hanging out with a bunch of people who share your interest. The Encyclopedia of Associations lists every group and association that meets regularly in the U.S. and even worldwide.
So, what’s a goal you’d love to achieve? Are you stopped by lack of information? Try one of my favorite techniques this week and find out how great it is to get just the information you need to keep moving forward.
Drop a line on my blog and let me know how it goes!
Feb 26th
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What is transformation? And more importantly, how does it happen? The dictionary tells you that transformation is a change in form, appearance, nature, or character. Peter Senge, a faculty member at MIT and an expert on learning organizations, states, “as W. Edwards Deming says, nothing happens without “personal transformation.” And the only safe space to allow for this transformation is a learning community.”
On the final call of a four week Authentic Life Institute class, one participant, who had actively engaged with the reading material and phone calls, said that the course had transformed her. It was a powerful statement, you could tell it was true, and it filled me with gratitude that this learning community we’ve formed is making a true difference by creating the safe (and fun!) space for transformative experiences.
I think that, while transformation often happens subtly, so quietly that you don’t even notice, there ARE times when you are acutely aware that something in your mind has just shifted in a way that is more expansive, in a way that affirms your powerfulness, in a way that feels so true you wonder how you ever didn’t know this.
As Oliver Wendell Holmes said, “One’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.”
While I don’t think you can “do” transformation in a step-by-step linear process, I can give you some ideas on how to cultivate the fertile soil of your mind, so you are ready to experience transformation when a new, expansive seed thought is planted.
1. Participate in supportive groups. As in introvert, I know this can be a challenge and a stretch. I’ve gone long periods of time without being in groups and have found that when I do, I begin to wither. You need to be listened to deeply and without judgment. This process allows you time and space to think. And in the right groups, you are asked questions to help you remove mind blocks and think of things that were unimaginable to you before.
2. Think of how far you’ve come. You are, by nature, always evolving. Take a look back at your life…how many different people have you been? I bet you can see tremendous changes that have happened in the way you view the world and yourself. Even though you may not have felt like you were changing -in the long view, you can see that you have.
3. Be a gentle observer of yourself and others. Letting go of judgment, of yourself and others, is a powerful way to experience transformation. The energy you create in yourself when judging is strong and negative. Know that in any given situation you are doing the best you can. If you are reflecting about something you’ve done and feel you could have improved on it -fine! Next time try something different to make it even better. But don’t beat yourself up about what is done. The past has no precedence. What do I mean by that? You can create your future, in the way that you choose, no matter what you have done in the past.
Watch for your own transformations. It can be as simple as using different words to describe your business that make you feel more confident and capable…and when you feel so, you are!
I would love to hear your transformation stories. Post one here. You never know who might be inspired by your transformation!
Feb 23rd
RT @TPEntrepreneur A list of 61 Marketing Tips for Entrepreneurs http://bit.ly/EntrepreneurMarketing
Feb 19th
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Do you find yourself caught up in a lot of “stinking thinking?” When you wishfully think of something, do you immediately stop yourself with a “I can’t have, do or be that!”
How about when someone presents an idea to you – a dream they have -and it totally seems off the wall. Do you say, “well, it won’t be easy.” Or, “you’ve got a long road ahead.” Instead, why not say “great! what would have to happen to make that come true?”
See the difference. Once you start thinking about what the outcome would be, your brain will start getting creative and will begin to draft out steps you’ll take. You probably won’t know every step needed to reach your dream. But if you start in the direction your wise inner self guides you to, you’ll be led to the next step, the next person.
This is the power of planning. To me making plans is like playing. And to be honest, many of my plans go out the window. The secret is, that while you’re following your initial plan, all kinds of unexpected and wonderful things occur.
You meet just the right person who can help you with the next step towards your dream. You stumble upon a book that has just the key you need to unlock some blocked area you had. You stop into the “wrong” office and run into an old friend who can help you.
Planning in this way, loosely attached to the exact outcome, is the only way your dreams become real. Action rocks. You don’t have to create your entire dream alone…matter of fact, you can’t. When you get in the game, and take action in the world, the world will meet you and give you more than you can imagine.
Would love to see your comments here. Post a dream you have! You never know who might have a missing link you need.
Feb 5th
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What do you do when you hit a problem in your business? Maybe it’s how to generate more income, how to build a client list or how to create an information product. Too often you might find yourself getting stopped by a problem and just giving up. Here’s what you can do to get past those problems and on to doing what you love to do.
Jim Rohn, the wonderful motivational speaker, said to go inside first and see if you can come up a solution. If that doesn’t work, go to a book or internet sources to see if you can find an answer. If that doesn’t work, ask someone else who is where you want to be. This is good advice. Let’s explore further.
1. Go inside. You have an extraordinary amount of wisdom right inside yourself –from your past experiences and from your natural preferences. One great way to get your answers from within is to take some time to get quiet. Make a list of teachers you’ve had that made a positive impact on you. Some may have been conventional teachers; others may be people you met who were not in a classroom. You can even consider famous people, people who have died or you haven’t met in person but you learned something valuable from them. Now choose one that jumps out at you right now.
Now write out a dialogue between you and this person. Ask him/her for advice. I can bet you will find some powerful insights into how to solve your problem
2. Get some more information. When someone tells me they’re stuck on a problem, I quickly assess whether it is a lack of information that is the real problem. It often is. I’m amazed at how many people don’t take the time to seek information through books and the internet. Often there is someone out there who has solved a problem similar to yours and you can quickly get ideas about how to solve your problem.
3. Ask someone else. If you still can’t figure out how to get past your problem after going inside and doing some research…now is the time to ask someone else. Most people are willing to share information and help you IF you show them that you have done some research prior to asking them. It’s startling how many people ask me for advice and information and when I ask them what they’ve done so far to solve their problem…they say “nothing”.
I’ll give you a concrete example. You want to run a tour business. You don’t know where to start and feel overwhelmed every time you think about this idea…but it just won’t go away.
First, you take time and journal with your teacher within. You have a dialogue and get encouragement from the teacher that you are on the right track. You even get some ideas about where you would like to lead tours and get a strong sense of the feelings of satisfaction and joy you’ll get when you achieve this goal.
Now you think, “I don’t know how to start. What insurance do I need? How do I hire a bus? What kind of outdoor microphone will I need so that people can hear me? How will I find people to enroll for my tours?”
So you go to Google and type in “how to lead tours”. You get nothing useful. So you try, “how to be a tour guide”. Bingo. You get a great article with lots of information and a link to an online course on the topic. You subscribe for the course. You then do an Amazon search and find a book that looks great on this topic so you order it.
After you’ve taken the course and read the book, you are about 100% confident that you’d like to achieve the goal of becoming a tour guide but you’d like to talk to some people who are actually doing it to get the real scoop on what it’s like and maybe ideas on how to break into the field.
Now, if you don’t already know someone in the field, it’s time to look up a few people in the field, approach them by email to request a 20 minute informational interview by phone. Send an email that says that you are interested in entering the field, you’ve taken a course and read about the field and now want to get some real world information.
Tell them that you’ll have 5-10 questions prepared before the call and that you’d be happy to email the questions to them prior to the call. You might want to ask what the best part of their work is and what the worst part of their work is. Don’t ask specific salaries, though you may ask what would be an expected range of pay for a beginner and for someone advanced in the field.
People are generally very happy to help out, happy to share information about work they love AND they will be impressed that you did your research prior to seeking them out.
So go ahead. What’s a problem you have? Try the 3 steps above and get unstuck now!
Feb 4th
Stuck in a rut? This blog shows how to brainstorm your way out http://bit.ly/BrainStormIdeas (my tip #85)
Feb 2nd
RT @TPEntrepreneur Scared of the Worst Case Scenario? Check out these entrepreneurs’ stories: http://bit.ly/WorstCases
My tip is #120!
Jan 29th
It’s a one-of-a-kind event … yet couldn’t be more timely!
Whether you admit it or not, the word resolution goes hand in hand with the start of a new year. Whether you make your resolutions in the form of business goals and priorities, or actual resolutions …. By mid to late January, you’re likely tired of forcing yourself to follow-through on what you set out just a few weeks ago.
In comes Terri Z at Solo-E with the Post Resolution Hangover Giveaway. This isn’t your typical giveaway…each item is a true gift, not available anywhere else for free! The value of each item is the price at which it sells today. How cool is that?! (You can get my Create your 2nd Life After 40 Home Study Kit Here at no cost!)
The gifts include ebooks, audios, home-study packages and more, on topics including: 101 Ways to Attract Clients, 7 Things You Must Do to Get More Clients, The Facebook Fan Page Intensive, The Online Video Playbook, 5 Psychological Triggers to Turn Prospects Into Clients, Abundance in Business, and The Finding Time Quick-Start Guide.
Solo-E has partnered with several key experts to offer these incredible resources for online based business owners. For 12 days only – January 25 to February 5, you can download all these gifts at absolutely no cost (and no strings). That’s right…you don’t even have to give up your email address!
An incredible group of Experts are participating in the Post Resolution Hangover Giveaway, including:
Alicia Forest, Ann Ronan, Loren Fogelman, Tracey Lawton, Allison Babb, Tina Forsyth, Rebecca Zwar, Christine Gallagher, Lou Bortone, Heather Dominic, Laurie Weiss, Laurie Mandato, Zahra Efan, Hazel Palache, Laura West, Eva Gregory, Alicia Smith, Michele PW, Nina East and Paula Eder
Take a few minutes to see what all the fuss is about, and cure your Resolution Hangover! You’ll get access to fantastic resources that you can download and review at your convenience. Visit http://www.solo-e.com/PostHolidayHangoverRemedy
Jan 28th
“How Do I Find A Good Accountant” blog post with amazing tips. Check it out here http://budurl.com/bryy
Jan 28th
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What the heck do I mean by “repurpose?” Well it’s when you do one thing and then spin that one thing into many. Let’s take a look at how this might work.
1. Write a top ten tip sheet. My first one was called “Top Ten Ways to Live Authentically.” I wrote it 10 years ago and put it online and I still get feedback from it!
2. Flesh out each of your top ten tips into a few paragraphs and now you have an article. Write a 400-600 word article expanding on your top ten tips. You put a “call to action” resource box at the end of the article. A resource box is the jargon term that online article databases use…kind of like a byline, only it’s much more.
Don’t make the mistake of using the few sentences you have here by talking about your bio data. Instead, give people a reason to go to your website and get something free, and of value, in exchange for their email address.
That one article becomes a client list builder. And the beauty of it is that article remains online for a very long time AND other website/blog owners looking for good content, may ask you if they can post your articles WITH your website, on their webs/blogs…this happens to me several times a year.
3. Create an e-course out of your top ten tips. Set them up in an autoresponder like Aweber or 1shopping cart. Now you have something of value to give away in exchange for a person’s email address. AND the best part is, they will receive 10 different emails from you, maybe one a week. That helps build relationships. If you’re really on top of it, you’ll have a call to action at the end of each of the weekly emails.
4. Rework your article into a press release. The key to getting your press releases published is to tie your content into something interesting and newsworthy. An example from my biz might be to write about how self employments may be the key to turning around the economy and then add the content of my article.
You can submit press releases to your local newspapers, business journals and online for free (or fee). One free online source is http://www.1888pressrelease.com/.
5. Create a teleseminar based on your article content. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Your content can be used in many ways. Teleseminars are a great way to build your list and to promote an upcoming fee-based teleseminar series.
6. Create a video of you teaching some of the content and post it on YouTube. You can do this easily with an inexpensive FlipCam. It doesn’t have to be professional. Just be you. YouTube gets tons of web searches each day. Some folks just plain prefer to learn by video.
And that’s just the beginning! The next time you decide to create something, brainstorm all the possible ways it can be used.
