Personal (114)

Are You a Microwave or Are You an Oven?

When the going gets tough...the tough gets going, right? At least that is what I have always been told. Unfortunately I rarely get to witness it. It has become evident that most people don't really have what it takes to press on and persevere through the storm. But for those of us that do, it can be extremely rewarding.We live in what I would consider a microwave society. We want everything fast and with little to no effort. We have developed a sense of entitlement that leads us to believe that we don't have to work hard to be rewarded. We want rewards and accolades to be easily attained. We have lost sight of all the hard work and dedication that goes into reaching our goals and having the lives of our dreams.Think about it....everything that you have ever had that was worth keeping did not come to you overnight..did it? For mothers, it took nine months to finally be able to receive that bundle of joy. For those with college degrees, it took years to achieve those ranks. Not many can say that they are a "true" overnight success. Easy come...Easy go!! When we work hard for our rewards, we are much more apt to take better care and have a greater sense of pride.For those looking for true success in life and in your business, know that it does not happen overnight. You must put in a great amount of work and dedication. There will be sacrifices that you must make and the transition will not be comfortable. Take massive action for an extended amount of time.Don't put your life in the microwave and expect it to come out perfect...Put it in the oven and let it cook slowly and consistently. The finished product will be much more appetizing!!

 

Randa Johnson "Helping You Brand the Best You" http://www.randajohnson.com

 

 

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System #2: Customer Relationship Management

The customer relationship management system refers to the way you take care of your current customers. It may be the way that you process their intake into doing new business with you. It's about how you provide here and service once your clients have already paid or invested in your services. Ultimately the goal is for prospects to become clients and eventually to become raving fans for your business. This happens when you treat current clients or fans very well.

How do you deliver on the promises that you make in your brand. Does it require a lot of manual labor? Can you automate delivery of your services? Can you set up systems with the click of a button that will accept payment and deliver on the promise? If you're conducting a coaching group is there self-service function word new clients can go and access their profiles, pay an invoice, create a support case? This is all part of delivering on your brand promises.
When you have easy tools and systems in place it's much easier for your clients to rave about your services and to refer others to them as well. A great service experience can immediately expand your level of influence and authority.

I am a huge fan of Customer Relationship Management systems (CRM). CRMs were like a dream come true because I was tired of manually tracking loose pieces of paper, sticky notes, e-mails that flooded my inbox from people I worked with. A solid CRM can manage projects, automate your billing, and make it easy for you to find essential correspondence between you and the customer. Examples of great CRMs to research for your business include BaseCamp, Salesforce, Capsule CRM, and WorkEtc.

Another part of the relationship management, however, involves your approach to follow-up. Send Out Cards is a simple but highly distinctive way to show your clients you care. I purchased an account with the company years ago but did not realize the power of the program until I used it to mail personalized postcards to members of a course I was teaching online. It really made an impact with my clients to receive a special thank you from the right at their doorstep.

Trust me, in this age of Internet marketing a postcard or greeting card will help you stand out from the crowd. It will also help to solidify the emotional connection with your customer, which has the potential to generate more sales. Besides, sales are really about creating a personal experience for the buyer.

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About the Author: Tanya Smith is a creative business strategist specializing in showing coaches, consultants and freelancers how to spend more time making money with simple, yet profitable marketing systems. Her company Be Promotable provides clients with fresh actionable strategies and virtual resources to promote their small businesses as power players in their market. Claim your instant access to a free 10 part ecourse, 10 Ways To Grow Your List at: www.bepromotable.com.
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dreamstimefree_1333671-300x199.jpg?width=300Every solo business owner has a set of processes or systems that either promote their business very well or contribute to the business’ demise. There are really 3 essential systems that any successful business owner needs in place in order to automate the things they repetitively do over and over again, while adequately supporting the brand. These systems form the structure of success because they are the ways in which you continuously reinvigorate your business for expansion and growth.

What is a system?

For purposes of this article, we’re going to define a system as follows: a set of integrated, interdependent processes that can be replicated over and over again to produce similar results.

This article is designed to explain the 3 critical brand support systems for real breakthrough in your business. These essential systems are key to ensuring your success and creating a structure on which your brand can thrive.

It all starts with the BRAND

Before we cover these systems, let’s talk about brand first. As a solopreneur in the “entrepreneurial renaissance” age – a coin termed by business coach, Marcia Bench, you will have to compete against many people who claim expertise in the same field as you. Regardless of their level of experience or visibility, the sheer numbers require that you carve out a way to stand apart from the crowd. Your brand must be distinctive, powerful and recognizable.

The brand is the foundation of any effective marketing strategy. It is how people perceive you. The brand is YOU in a single owner business. If your brand is weak, the systems I will describe below will not operate to support your business. An analogy would be like building a new house, installing a beautiful kitchen, hardwood floors, and hiring a dynamic salesman to greet buyers at the door when the house has no walls yet.

The support systems we will talk about in this article will allow you to deliver great service, they will engage your customer base, and they will automate your delivery but only when you have taken the necessary steps to first put in place your brand strategy.

This means getting clear about what you do, the market you serve, and how you provide the service. Brand support is most connected to the latter – the “how”.

We will spend time outlining the 3 systems over the next group of articles in this series.



WANT TO RE-POST THIS ARTICLE ON YOUR BLOG OR USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE, E-NEWSLETTER OR WEB SITE?

You may, as long as you include this complete blurb with it:

About the Author: Tanya Smith is a creative business strategist specializing in showing coaches, consultants and freelancers how to spend more time making money with simple, yet profitable marketing systems. Her company Be Promotable provides clients with fresh actionable strategies and virtual resources to promote their small businesses as power players in their market. Claim your instant access to a free 10 part ecourse, 10 Ways To Grow Your List at: www.bepromotable.com.
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graphorange-300x221.jpg?width=300Sticky notes are not the best way to keep track of a prospect you need to call. There is a better way - thankfully. It's called a CRM.

A CRM is a sales and marketing term for "customer relationship management". It's a system to keep track of important information about your clients, customers, sales prospects and a way to centralize your business communications and resources.

I love technology. You may already know that from some of the resources I share. But I really didn't discover the power of a CRM until I started realizing that I had too much paperwork floating around with my client's notes, names of people I needed to follow up with, and even keeping track of any missing payments to my client accounts.

So here are some benefits of using a CRM:

  • Organizes your business records
  • Creates a safeguard of all your key contacts
  • Automates your appointments
  • Helps you develop a "pipeline", which is the path you work each client or prospect through to work with you
  • Gives you an easier way to pay attention to your customers
  • Makes it easy for people to pay you
These are just a few of the things that I've learned a CRM can do for my business. And when you're a solopreneur, it helps to make your workflow as simple as possible.

Need a few ideas on CRMs to try?

I'm developing a video kit to help you use the simple, slick system I use, but for now here are some recommendations you can look into: www.CapsuleCRM.com, www.HighRiseHQ.com, www.BigContacts.com, www.SalesForce.com.

Try one and let me know what you think in the comments below!

WANT TO RE-POST THIS ARTICLE ON YOUR BLOG OR USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE, E-NEWSLETTER OR WEB SITE? You may, as long as you include this complete blurb with it:

About the Author: Tanya Smith is a creative business strategist specializing in showing coaches, consultants and freelancers how to spend more time making money with simple, yet profitable marketing systems. Her company Be Promotable provides clients with fresh actionable strategies and virtual resources to promote their businesses as power players in their market. Claim your instant access to a free 10 part ecourse, 10 Ways To Grow Your List at: www.bepromotable.com.
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iStock_000007606415XSmall-150x150.jpg?width=150I had a dream last night. In the dream I invested in some type of postal supplies shop - you know, like the ones you see on every corner now? This guy from an office next door kept coming in to say he was there to help me. Seemed like a nice enough man. At first, he offered to lay a customized floor tile that looked like a stamp for me in front of the counter. He described how it would have my initials, my favorite colors, and it would really light up the place. I was convinced and I said, "sure, that would be nice". Then after he put it in and I realized it wasn't just one tile, it was half the floor. Cha-ching.

Next, he came in and offered to change the locks on my door. I said, "yes, that's probably a good idea". And of course, he upgraded the entire door. Cha-ching...again. After a series of these offers, I realized I'd drawn up quite a bill. That's when I finally sat down to look at the total costs of my initial investment, the add-ons, and the history of success the shop had before me. Guess what? The previous owner sold it because she hadn't made a profit.

It was a pretty dismal outlook. I had the same dream at least once more the same night. It was like I had to go through it all over again, even knowing what the end would be. Then I woke up.

I realized that this was a pretty accurate picture of some decisions I've made before as a business owner. Not researching the so-called investment first, saying yes to everything that looks short-term shiny, looking at the total profit/loss picture only after I've spent all the money...

Notice I didn't say anything about "adding value" or "profit generating" decisions? What investments are you making in yourself and in your business that will add long-term value and generate profit? Got the wake up call yet?

 

WANT TO RE-POST THIS ARTICLE ON YOUR BLOG OR USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE, E-NEWSLETTER OR WEB SITE? You may, as long as you include this complete blurb with it:

About the Author: Tanya Smith of Be Promotable is a premier personal branding & marketing coach. Her creative genius has unlocked the potential of many women solopreneurs, helping them to reinvent themselves as power players in their startup business. Claim your free instant access to a free video download, 5 Secrets to Developing Your Unique Brand Proposition at: www.bepromotable.com.

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How to identify and overcome negative or limiting beliefs?

In my interaction with women I find that many are struggling with limiting and/or negative beliefs. And there are some who are in denial and feel that they don’t have any limiting beliefs. Entertaining limiting beliefs will only sabotage your empowering success and I am out to help you finally be free of the control of
limiting belief. My passion is empowering women and this is one area that blocks many from realizing their desires.

Read what one of my clients stated about identifying a limiting belief……

Pay attention to part B of her testimonial

One of my success statements was related to me exercising on a regular basis. While I am not grossly overweight, I was carrying more weight than my small frame could handle. I knew this because my knees started to hurt constantly. After emailing Robin my success statements, I committed to it. In addition to exercising I actually went a step further and did some clean up in my diet. I can report today that I have lost 5 pounds to date. I feel better and my knees don’t hurt nearly as much.

I also sent in my limiting belief. At first I did not feel as if I had one but through prayer I found that I did. And it was a big one! I have proceeded with my action steps and praise God, He has confirmed what I needed confirmation of. I’m still doing both action steps and I know these will keep me moving forward toward success. I would never have identified this had Robin not challenged us with this. Thank you Robin!”

Mari Taylor – Author
Extraordinary Woman Extraordinary life Silver Group Coaching program

One of the first steps to identifying your limiting or negative beliefs is awareness.

You have belief systems that were formed early on in your life. Think about some of the things that come up for you when embarking on a new journey or undertaking a new task.

Do you start off with a bang only to be tripped up by negative chatter or negative/limiting beliefs?

Overcoming your limiting beliefs entails becoming aware, identifying the belief and reprogramming. And please know this…. it didn’t happen overnight so the reprogramming is not going to happen overnight. It’s a process.

What are your beliefs?

What are your thoughts about money?
Do you say things such as  Get the rest of the juicy details here

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What Is Your God Given Talent?

I had my hand in many of business opportunities , but this one is a keeper. You have to love what you do in order to do it well. Through the year's of giving advice and word's of inspiration that encouraged and helped family and friends to take their business to the next level I knew this was my God given talent .
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Mind Assets

Sometimes the best asset you can give to yourself and and your business is to purchase books. Most books are very resourceful in any business no matter what the industry. I recently read three books by two authors.  They are Robert Kiyosaki and Jay-Z. I want to thank these two authors for their passion on providing business professionals and the community with insight. Thank You!

The first book I read was "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki. I know most of you have read it but read it again (I've read it three times now and I feel I need to read it one more time before I put it down). The book opened my eyes to many things like assets, liabilities and the myths about higher education. I wish I would have read Kiyosaki's book a decade ago. Most of the things he talks about in his book I've experienced and I always wondered "Why me?" Read what Kiyosaki’s rich dad and his poor dad taught him about money and being successful, as he was growing up. The book is a small investment you need in your business to become triumphant so go ahead and add the book to your personal library collection. This could be the first step in you “minding your own business.”

If you get "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" you need to also get part two entitled "Cashflow Quadrant" by Robert Kiyosaki. What quadrant are you currently in and what quadrant are you working towards? The book will answer this and many other questions. Find out how college dropouts or people with street smarts seem to be the most victorious. Find out why people who are successful would rather read about the headlines, instead of having the distraction of television, to find out what is going on in the world. The more you learn by listening and reading, the more victorious you become. Make this book a permanent collection in your personal library.

Speaking of street smarts, the last book I purchased was "Decoded" by Jay-Z. The book mainly tells about some of Jay-Z's lyrics and breaks them down for you. He also tells the history behind the lyrics. You wonder why he used the song from the hit musical Annie? Do you know the real reason why Jay-Z choose the streets to gain his education? It even has pictures in the book that I think he puts there for you, to take you back to the places he went and see what he saw in his mind. I already liked Jay-Z so I had no doubt that the book would enlighten me. He has always had the hustler mentality so when he wants something he will go for it, no matter who or what is in his way.  Find out how Jay-Z has worked and continues to work hard for his success. They say you should always have business-minded professionals in your circle, I know Jay-Z is flourishing so I wanted his book to be in my collection so I can be a part of his circle.

This is my insight for you and check back frequently to see what I'm reading.

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You are great!



One of the most well known confidence building exercises is to list your own strengths and natural abilities.

By looking at the list it can make you say “Wow, I really am good!”

Another great way of building your confidence and getting in touch with how great you really are is to ask friends, colleagues and people who you know for feedback on your strengths and natural abilities.

Your practical assignment is to list 5 people who you know and trust for this exercise.

Make sure they are from different areas of your life.

List them below:

1.    A FAMILY MEMBER



2.    A FRIEND



3.    A WORK COLLEAGUE



4.    AN ASSOCIATE



5.    A SOCIAL CONTACT


You might at this stage be feeling a little nervous about asking these people for feedback.

Don’t worry, because you will be only asking for your strengths.

JUST GO FOR IT!

So, how do you go about it?

Well, below is a list of questions that I’d like you to ask to each of your list.

I recommend that you meet or talk on the phone with each beforehand and explain the context of the exercise and then either ask them verbally or give them the questions and either fill in the sheet of paper or email you with their feedback.

They will feel honored that you have asked them and the feedback that you will receive will truly make you feel fabulous and full of confidence.

Rightly or wrongly, we live in a society where other peoples’ opinions count to our self esteem and confidence.

By completing this exercise you will get some really good insight into some of your strengths.

Often you receive valuable information on the strengths that you didn’t even know you had!

EXTERNAL FEEDBACK QUESTIONS


•    What do you perceive to be my greatest strengths?


•    What do you like most about me?


•    What do you value most about me?


•    What three words sum up the positive points about me?


•    If you needed help with something, what would you call me to help you with?



After you have received all of the feedback it is now time to reflect on what has been written or said:

How do you feel about it?


Are there any surprises?


Do you feel confident about your abilities?


How can you use this information going forward?


How can you maximize your strengths?


If these people think you have these strengths, so do a lot of other people as well – how does that make you feel?


What are the key insights you have learned?


What will you do now that is different to what you have done before?



Have a great week!

Cheers,

Charlotte









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What if I told you that you could change your life for-ever?

What if I told you that it could happen within 45 minutes and totally up-level in under 8 weeks?

I will be facilitating a phenomenal Tele-series Total Transformation: Simple secrets to Maximum Empowerment, Mega Mindset Breakthroughs and Total Wellness

Do you feel like you need a total overhaul? Well I want to talk to you about
Total Transformation. And when I say total I mean total.

What is Transformation?
1: an act, process, or instance of transforming or being transformed
In the bible it reads; Be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. Notice it states renewing which is continual. It’s not a place of arrival and then you’re done. There are many things that come to stop us from reaching our destiny and fulfilling our purpose.

“Give me just 45 minutes
and I’ll share with you secrets to
realizing MEGA Mindset
Breakthroughs, maximum
EMPOWERMENT, Overcome
debilitating Fear, unleash the
Faith-full, Holistically Fit and
Fabulous you so you can realize
Total Transformation, manifest as the
unstoppable irresistible Kingdom
woman you were meant to be with
laser focus, an EMPOWERED mindset
and live an Authentically Brilliant
Diamond life!!”

Topic this week: Kingdom Woman Total Transformation:
Simple Secrets to Maximum Empowerment,
MEGA Mindset Breakthroughs and overcoming limiting
beliefs!!

When: First call
Thursday, February 24 at 1:00 pm PST, 3:00 pm CST, 4:00 pm EST
Can’t make the call?
My gift for this call only is the download of this power-packed audio teaching.

I will also be giving away over $897 in resources during the course of this Tele-series to registrants

of this call so be sure to register.

Register here: http://tinyurl.com/totaltransformationpr

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Take a moment to Pay it Forward------>

4948073-5-dimensions-of-personal-development-spiritual-emotional-mental-physical-social--concept-on-blackboa.jpg


Personal Development is the greatest investment to growing and making changes in 2011. Click here to view the importance of investing in Personal Development in 2011.


Here are a few Personal Development Books that I found useful:

PS. View the complete series for more Solutions for Getting Your New Year Started Right!

I would love to hear your thoughts on this post or personal development books you use. Please share below!
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Are you the person everyone comes to for advice? If so Compass is providing for you to make it official and become a Professional Life Coach. Compass Coach Training is comprehensive, accelerated and affordable.

 

With Compass Coach Training you can become a Professional Life Coach with a comprehensive curriculum,  industry IAC ( International Association of Coaches ) partnership. This is  unique coach training design for you to  become a Certified Life Coach within a year with an - Earn While You Learn approach.

 

You will have clients assigned to you through Compass Independent Reps who are enrolling people into the Compass Coaching Network. Classes can be atttended virtually as to not interfere with what you are currently doing. Next class starts in March and Limited Enrollment.

 

Contact me if  you are interested; I will provide you with additional details. Also visit http://www.fallintoyou.com to know all about Compass - self-growth and personal development network for women.

 

Marlene McCray, MS

Certififed Compass Coach

 

 

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4 Parts to a Fabulous Personal Brand Statement

iStock_000008473282XSmall-150x150.jpg?width=150I often hear the question, "how do I develop a personal brand statement?" and my answer stays the same most of the time. A strong personal brand statement can be one of the best tools you can have and certainly one of the most critical ones for your branding and marketing toolkit, whether you are a business owner, or a professional working for someone else.

There are certain components that are variable and others that are pretty foundational in developing your personal brand statement (P.B.S.). Some of the factors that may be variable are:
  • When and how you will use it - e.g. interview for a job? networking situation? speech?
  • Who you're talking to - e.g. language needs to meet the needs of the audience; the message is the same, but the approach should be adaptable
Even though these may change, there are basically four parts I like to use in developing the main statement, so I'll share these next. A great basic statement tells people:
  1. Who you are - let the recipient of the statement know your identity, your name
  2. What you do - the core service or opportunity you provide
  3. Who you do it for - your target audience and/or ideal client you work with
  4. How you do it - your style, your unique approach, what distinguishes you

Let me give you an example of how this might work -

"Hi, I'm Tanya Smith of Be Promotable, the No Guesswork Branding & Marketing Resource for women solopreneurs. We show our clients practical, step-by-step online marketing strategies to confidently promote their business and get them noticed."

Now you try it. Add your own P.B.S. with the 4 parts in the comments and I'll share feedback...come on, you can do it!

About the Author: Tanya Smith of Be Promotable is a premier personal branding & marketing coach. Her creative genius has unlocked the potential of many women solopreneurs, helping them to reinvent themselves as power players in their startup business. Claim your free instant access to a free video and audio download, 5 Secrets to Successfully Starting a Solo Business While Working Full Time at: www.bepromotable.com.

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Simple Steps to Creating Your Marketing Map

iStock_000001184887XSmall-150x150.jpg?width=150Solo professionals are like big businesses when it comes to the need for a solid marketing strategy. The distinctive thing about solopreneurs, however, is that you get to be the head decision maker for every part of the business. That means it is all the more important to take your strategies from complex to simple whenever possible.

Now is a great time to develop your branding and marketing plan. While you definitely need to consider mapping out a strategy that is more comprehensive to cover you for at least the next twelve months, here are four simple questions you can answer in order to set a basic foundation for promoting your distinctive brand and services you provide:

How will I generate leads?

This is one of the most critical steps to developing a solid branding and marketing strategy. Assuming you have already identified who your ideal clients are, you must now figure out where to find them. Immerse yourself in studying your target market - find out what they read, where they frequent, and what they buy - and put yourself in front of them.

How will prospects get to do a "taste test" with me?

Before a potential client will buy BIG from you, they will want to know what your services are like. Depending on the business you're in, you will need to decide what is most effective and most practical to give away. For example, you might offer a free strategy session, or a free audio, or even an e-book. What can you offer that will be of interest and take little effort or investment on your part?

How will I direct them from one point to the next?

Now that your prospect has had a taste of what you do and they want more, make it simple for them to know what is next. This involves some thinking on your part of what your marketing funnel looks like. Whenever you engage a client in your product or service, be prepared to promote the next thing and make it easy. At the end of your teleseminar, share the next program or info product. This is the time where you can extend even greater value to your new customer - at the point that you have already made good on your initial promise!

How will I follow up?

The client engagement process usually follows a certain path - suspect --> prospect --> client --> advocate/evangelist. In order to move people through these stages, you need some idea of how to continuously follow up and stay in touch. Whether this looks like a series of autoresponder emails, a regular ezine, postcards, etc. consider how you will stay in front of your leads. The key is to add value to their inbox, not being pesky.

 

I now invite you to claim instant access to a free video and audio download, 5 Secrets to Successfully
Starting a Solo Business While Working Full Time
at: http://www.bepromotable.com to learn even more about great solo professional business branding tips. - Tanya Smith, The Solo Business Brand Coach at Be Promotable.

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Goal Setting Is Not Dead...Just Boring

iStock_000015158998XSmall.jpg?width=167This post was originally published on Tanya Smith's blog. Click here to see the original post.

Goal setting always gets to be pretty popular this time of year. You hear a lot of techniques about how to do it and one of the most common ways is the SMART technique. I'm not writing about that here, because it's so overused now, I don't think you'll care.

No matter what you use, the new year always kicks us off with a great start, right? But then somehow you lose interest. There is this cycle that we seem to get into and it goes a little something like this:

  • Day 1: Whoo hoo, yeah, I'm on it this time. I'm going to [your goal here] -->
  • Day 3: This is great. I can't believe how this is changing [enter positive results] for me! I will definitely keep this up. -- >
  • Day 5: You know what, I'm just going to take a little bitty break...I'll come back to it, I promise! -- >
  • Day 10: What was that thing I was trying to do again?
  • Day 20: Start over again or drop it completely..
Part of the reason this happens is that we haven't really developed for ourselves a tangible, exciting "why" and "what". What I mean by this is the vision of what we want to get to and why we're doing it was never really that clear and constant.

You see, when you are setting a goal, it's important to identify the most clear picture possible of what you want. And doing this early in the process is one of the best ways to I learned this training in NLP (Neuro-linguistic Programming) when I studied with a celebrated master pracititioner, Susan Stageman, for over a year.

Yes, it took me that long to really get it and start applying the techniques . I can be kind of hard-headed, as my mom used to say. There were so many good ones, but the one that has stuck with me forever is called creating a "well-formed outcome" (WFO).

This is a very powerful way to set long-term and short-term goals so that they STICK...and really, that's what we set them for in the first place.

So I'm going to share with you my criteria for remembering the WFO in 5 simple steps. Maybe this will keep your goal setting from being so boring. ;). I call it the PLEAS approach (as in, can I have another goal, "pleas"):

Positive

State the goal in positive terms. Describe the present situation and compare it with the desired future goal. Make sure you can see yourself having obtained the goal.

Level

Line up the goal with your values and beliefs. For me this means lining up what I've asked for, or stated, to be sure it is in the will of what God has for my life. I pray and ask for spiritual guidance around the goal. You may line it up however you see fit. It's important that your goals are a good fit with what's important to you.

Evident

Describe the goal using "sensory" terms. What will let you know that you have attained that desired state? This is a critical piece - think in terms of what you will hear, see, and feel when you have success.

Appropriate

Consider if the goal is right for you in all areas of your life. Is there something that may hold you back? Is this goal right for you right now, in this place where you are?

Self-initiated & Maintained

Self-initiated and maintained. Your goal must be something that you can initiate and maintain. It must not be something dependent on other people. Make sure that your goal reflects things that you can directly affect.

If your goal, or outcome is set each time with these criteria in mind, you will have crystal-clear vision that you can hang on to and it will get you past those tough times when you're ready to let go. OR it will bring you back to what you wanted in the first place...SUCCESS!

Share one of your clear outcomes in the comments below.

 

About the Author: Tanya Smith of Be Promotable is the "no guesswork" personal branding & marketing coach. Her creative genius has unlocked the potential of many women solopreneurs, helping them to reinvent themselves as power players in their startup business. Claim your free instant access to a free multimedia downloads including 10 Branding Mistakes Made by Solopreneurs and 5 Secrets to Successfully Starting a Solo Business While Working Full Time at: www.bepromotable.com

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Maintaining A Winning Mindset

How do you stay positive in your business when the going gets tough? It amazes me how some people can deal with their setbacks and others shut down!It is all about being in the right mindset. How do you maintain a winning mindset?Please watch my video: Comments are Greatly Appreciated!! I love the book As a Man Thinketh and one of my favorite scriptures: Proverbs 23:7For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.Winners don’t make excuses nor sit around feeling sorry for themselves. Change Your Thoughts and you can change the world and start speaking positive thoughts into your life.With that saidWinners engage in daily activites that the losers don’t .Here are some things I do to maintain a winning mindset.1. Daily Affirmations - You can change your life by speaking the right things. Using positive daily affirmations is a powerful key to being successful.2. Write Down Your Goals - Write down your goals monthly. We all have goals but get them written down on paper and let's started working towards them.3. Surrond yourself around positive people -Positive people can help you succeed in life. When you have a goal, surround yourslef with people who have a positive attitude.4. Make the vision plain - Once you have a clear vision of what it is you want, WRITE your vision out-create your VISION statement. Be bold and to the point of EXACTLY what you want!5. Celebrate. Celebrate every Success or Accomplishment no matter how big or small, know that it is worth celebrating!Please feel free to comment and share how you maintain a Winning Mindset!LaKeisha Hankinswww.LaKeishaHankins.com
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5 Steps to Create Your Vision Board for 2011

Every year, my kids and I create a vision board to capture goal highlights for the year using posters, magazine clippings, crayons, glitter, glue sticks -- you name it, it's on the floor on 12/31. We have the music going, candles lit, and complete focus on what we're doing. Here is our process laid out in 5 steps for you. I hope you then enjoy the short video version of my board that was designed using Animoto.com. Head over to Life Vision Boards and get another take on the "how to". They use Animoto as well and you certainly can too - it's a free tool for creating video using images and music. Use theirs or add your own.

5 Steps To Creating Your Vision Board

  1. Get yourself to a quiet place
  2. Imagine that it is now the end of 2011 and you are reflecting back on your accomplishments for the year
  3. Write down a list -- brainstorm freely at first
  4. Now highlight the top 3-5 things you really want to focus on for the year
  5. Cut, draw, and paste images that represent your goals onto a poster board (you can even make a miniature version on an index card to carry with you)

That's it! Now set a date to get the board finished. ;)

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Personal Brand Kung Fu - The SWOT Analysis

iStock_000006195022XSmall.jpgOkay, yes the title may tell you I know a little something about martial arts...but no, I don't. Only as much as the last Karate Kid movie
(which is one of my kids' favorites) and the line from Kung Fu Panda
which says that Kung Fu stands for "excellence of self".


I was thinking about that today after having watched the main character, a Panda named Po, one of 50 jillion times. I think personal brand work is like working out your Kung Fu - it truly stands for mining
and understanding how to portray your self excellence.


I thought I'd share how you can strategically do some kung fu kicks with identifying your personal brand strategy below. One approach is using the SWOT analysis.


SWOT Analysis is a well-known method of identifying your Strengths and Weaknesses, while also examining the Opportunities and Threats you face. All four areas can help you clarify your personal brand and your
distinctive and unique value.


Often carrying out an analysis using the SWOT framework will be enough to reveal changes that need to be made in your plan.


Try to work through the following questions and think about what insights you have from this focused work:

Strengths -

  • What do you do well?
  • What can you do better than anyone else?
  • What comes naturally for you?

Weaknesses -

  • What could be improved?
  • What might you do poorly?
  • What comes with more difficulty for you?

Opportunities -

  • In what areas do you see possibilities?
  • What resources or circumstances can you leverage?
  • What trends might you use to your advantage?

Threats -

  • What obstacles are in your way?
  • Who is your competition and what are they doing well?
  • Are you financially challenged?
  • What else do you find yourself up against?


About the Author: Tanya Smith, Career & Personal Brand Coach, offers women professionals, with dual roles in a corporate career & solo side business, access to cutting-edge strategies to help them thrive
and promote themselves as experts in a progressively competitive work and
marketplace. Claim your free instant access to two fill-in-the-blank brand templates and a special report, The Beginner’s Guide to A Successful Career
Brand
at: http://www.bepromotable.com.

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