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5 Vision Board Uses That Can Change Your Life And Business For The Better

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You’re probably familiar with the idea of using a vision board as a tool to stay inspired to keep moving toward your dreams and goals. But did you know you can use a vision in other ways too?

One way of course, is for your business. As business owners that’s usually the first thing we think of it for. With a vision board you’re able to keep track of why and how you do what you do, and how you feel about doing it. It’s a tool to keep you inspired and motivated to continue moving toward your goals.

But, it can also help you stay in touch with your “Why.” You started your business for a reason—that’s your big why. But somewhere along the way, many of us lose sight of this goal. A business planning vision board can help you stay on track.

Unlike a regular business plan, you’ll keep images, quotes and words that represent your ideal business. Show things like where you’ll work at. Is it a beach? Is in a city, in a tall building, or a home office? What are you doing for work? Are you speaking in front of a large crowd, achieving bestseller status with your latest book, managing a big team, running a membership site, or in a big fancy office? What’s your thing? And finally, show how much money you’re making in your ideal business.

Client Attracting

Closely related to your business board, a client attraction board focuses on identifying the ideal client for your business. Every business as one, but this seemingly simple thing can be incredibly difficult to define. A vision board will help you clarify yours.

Is your client male or female? Young or old? Successful or not? Does he or she have kids or a home or a business? Is she confident or timid? Athletic or overweight? What are you helping them do? What are the results you help them achieve?

Create a collection of images that represent your ideal client and refer to it each time you are tempted, (we all are sometimes), to sign a client who is less than ideal.

Life Goals

Where do you want to be in five, ten, or twenty years? That’s not just a question from a bad job interview, it’s a critical consideration for anyone who wants to live a life of purpose and meaning, and a vision board is the perfect tool for staying motivated and on track to reach those goals.

This vision board—like all of them—is in a constant state of change. As your life goals change and grow, so will your vision board. Maybe you no longer want to live in London or Paris. That’s ok. Replace the city of lights with a relaxing mountaintop retreat, or an exoctic Carribean island if that’s your thing.
But do keep your life goals vision board updated and refer to it each time you have to make a major decision. It will help clarify the direction you need to take to achieve your life’s dreams.

Vacation Planning

Heading off on an epic vacation with the family? Don’t leave your journey to chance. Capture all your “must see” destinations on a vision board so you don’t miss anything.

Even better, invite your kids and spouse to join you, and create a fun planning tool the entire family can use. The kids will be excited about your trip, and you’ll be sure everyone gets to see and do everything they hoped for. By planning ahead, you’ll ensure everyone has the epic vacation of their dreams.

And, when you get the whole family aboard and excited about the trip, everyone will also be more willing to do whatever is necessary to make that trip happen.

Home Buying

Pinterest has built an entire business around what amounts to a digital vision board—much of it devoted to home décor. If you’re in the market for a new home, or simply remodeling the one you have, then a vision board is a great way to organize your plans.

Cut out photos of the style of home you love, color combos to try, landscaping ideas, and anything else that strikes your fancy. Keeping your home-buying or remodeling vision board close at hand will save you time in your search by reminding you exactly what you’re looking for.

It can also help contractors and others helping you with your remodeling work understand exactly what you’re going for.  And, that could save you lots of time, money and frustration.

Using a vision board for the five areas listed above will help you stay motivated and on track to meet and maybe even exceed your goals. And that can certainly change your life and business for the better. It can  help you create an amazing life; the life your dreams are made of.

Want to learn more about how to create your own vision board? Grab my Free Quick Guide To Vision Board Creation 

Worrying Hits Pause On Purpose

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I just checked out this great blog post and video from my friend Kelly McCausey. I am a big believer in taking control of your own happiness and mindset. Part of that means keeping a positive attitude and not letting worry and other negative emotions derail me. So, I was really jazzed when I saw this post about not letting worry knock you off track from your goals and life purpose.

In the article Kelly says:

“Worry is what humans do and sometimes it serves us well, keeping us mindful of what’s important, sparking action and solving problems.

On the other hand, constant worry does not serve us well at all. It keeps us wrapped up in fear, focused on the worst that could happen.

Indulging in worry too often and too long is a good way to hit the pause button on fulfilling your purpose in life.”

Check out the full article and video at: Worry Hits Pause On Purpose

 

The Secret Key To Creating An Amazing Brand

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secret key to creating an amazing brand
There was a time when “branding” meant a corporate-looking logo, a slick catalog and  matching business cards and stationary. We’re not there anymore. In today’s online marketplace, the real value is in simply being you. People really aren’t so interested in how big you are. They want to know who you are and why you do what you do.

Let Your Personality Shine Through For A Stellar Brand

Here’s the one thing today’s successful marketers know: Customers don’t buy a product or service, they buy you. Your personality, your experience, and the unique qualities only you possess. They buy your how and why you do the thing that you do.  That’s your brand. That’s what  separates you from the herd and attracts your ideal clients.

It’s what makes price and competition irrelevant. Because, no one else can do you.  When you’ve created a brand, that truly represents you, you have the real key to creating an amazing brand, that fills your pipeline with clients and lets you grow a business you love.

But, exactly how do you do that?

Here Are Four Tips Helping Me To Create A Brand I Love:

 

  • Use Your Authentic Voice

Have you ever heard a song on the radio, and as soon as the artist sang the first words you knew exactly who that was? Even, if you’d never heard the song before, you knew it was that artist. They had a signature sound that was theirs.

Bruno Mars can do that for me. He sings a song and from the first phrase I know it’s him.  Other people sing his songs and sometimes I think, that sounds like it could be a Bruno Mars song. Even when I’d never heard him sing it before. And, it always turns out, that it IS a Bruno Mars song.  I guess you could say I’m a fan. And, his sound, is his brand.

As a small business owner, and especially one online, branding works like that for you too. How you write, speak, and even, act on camera, or in an audio interview, has the power to instantly identify you to your audience. The trick is to be consistent in your style. That means the shapes and colors of the images, status updates, shared posts, and content you deliver to your social media feeds, and other platforms you use to present yourself to the world should be easily recognizable as having come from you. And they should align with your real personality and the products and services you release out into the world, or hope to one day.

If you have a favorite person you follow regularly on one of the social media platforms, take a moment to really look at your feed. I’m willing to bet it’s easy for you to tell which images and updates that person posted. It’s because you’ve come to recognize their voice, just by how they regularly speak. It’s become their brand. The same thing can be true for you.

  • Speak To Your Specific Audience

There’s something else that’s a really important aspect of  using your “authentic voice. . .”  It has the power to attract a specific audience. YOUR audience. Because, word choices, intonation, style and delivery all have an impact in reaching your right audience.

Whitney Houston sang “I Will Always Love You,” and garnered international fame and recognition for it.  In fact, since her death, it has pretty much become HER theme song, her Opus. Everyone recognizes her for having sung it.  But, it wasn’t her song first. Dolly Parton wrote and sang that song long before Whitney ever even heard of it.

And, despite Whitney Houston’s great fame and accomplishments around that song; Dolly fans remember who did it first, and maybe in their opinion. . . best.

There is a world of difference in those two versions of that song. And each version speaks to the audience that is perfect for it.

The point is, it doesn’t matter who else does what you do. When you stay true to your authentic self, you attract people who want to work with and be around the real you, the way YOU do what you do, blemishes,warts and all.  Being true to yourself makes  competition irrelevant.

  • Share Your Story

Share your story.  Your backstory and how you got where you are today is powerful stuff!  Even, if you think it’s boring, complace or irrelevant—I promise you it’s not. It’s a powerful tool.  It makes you human and identifiable and it explains your why in a way that’s memorable.  It can help solidify your brand and attract just the right audience. And, most importantly, it gives your audience the support and hope that they can achieve their goals too.

I used to be invisible. I struggled with self-doubt and low self-esteem. But, everything changed for me when I finally realized that it was the stories I told myself that kept me invisible and afraid, and it was up to me to change it. I had to do a mindset reset in order to even begin to feel capable or worthy of having the business I wanted to build.

But, I didn’t think my story was relevant for others trying to build a business. Guess what you can’t build a business if you’re not visible. You probably already know that. The problem is you don’t WANT to be visible. And, that is because of whatever brand of baggage you’re holding onto that keeps you feeling unworthy.  We’ve all been there. So when, I finally shared my story, it resonated. It helped me begin attracting my right audience.

Your story doesn’t have to be dramatic.

My friend and mentor Kelly McCausey, talks about how when she first came online, she was just looking for a way to earn a few extra dollars a month to keep the lights on. So she started creating $5 graphics and very quickly found herself with a full-time career online. She’s changed her brand a few times since then. But her story, is still a part of it.

It’s a simple story. But, it works. Your story can be simple too. You certainly don’t have to share more than you’re comfortable with, In fact, the only real requirement is that it’s yours.  When you’re true to yourself,  your right audience will self-select. Your perfect client will find you.

  • Don’t Be Afraid To Make Mistakes

Finally, this is a biggie . . . I’m not perfect, by any stretch of the imagination.  I make mistakes.  And, you will too. The thing is, what you do most consistently, and how you do it builds your brand, and your brand’s reputation.  That means that sometimes you might be accidentally creating messaging that you really don’t want to be a part of your brand.

And, there’s probably a reason for it too . . . one that gets right back to the heart of creating visibility for yourself and your business. But, you don’t have to let it win.

Here’s the thing, and maybe one of the most important things you need to hear. . . it’s okay to simply course correct. What it’s not okay to do, is beat yourself up, revert back to negative self-talk, or give up your dream of successful business ownership altogether. Just own the mistake, learn what you can from it and move on.

I guarantee you’ll feel better afterwards, and you’ll be developing a strong success habit in the process. Best of all, you’ll have the secret key in hand. Be yourself, it’s the hidden gem behind all the tactics of the gurus and wizards, to truly building an amazing brand that you love.

Small Things Matter

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Have you ever noticed that newer computers don’t even have the”cents” sign on it anymore? You have to actually write the word out,like a penny isn’t money.

It says a lot about our society, we’re constantly over looking the small things to go after the big ones. Did you know if you could double a penny everyday for 30 days you would have over 5 Million Dollars?!

The Little things count especially when it comes to building a business; Things like outstanding customer service, quality products, and standing behind your product lead to big money results faster & more reliability than any get rich scheme ever will.

 

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Learn more about build a successful business you love. Register FREE for the Business Profit Equation October 8th-10th 2o2o. Or grab the replays here

A Simple Intro To Legal Entities

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When Kelly McCausey asked me to write a guest post about legal entities for businesses. I was happy to. Of course, then she asked me to make it simple!

Well simple, and business structures are two totally different balls of wax. But then, I’m always up for a challenge.  And just liked that, I remembered trying to help my son pick out an acceptable version of the “baby dragon” he wanted for a pet.

We were off to the races.

Trying to figure what baby dragons have to do with business entities . . .?
Read the article here.

Want to learn more about business structures? I have a whole workshop for that.

Is This the Right Time to Start Your Own Online Business?

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Are you wondering if online business ownership is for you?  We are living in truly interesting times right now. And, many of us find ourselves working from home, perhaps for the first time ever.

According to the New York Post, almost 62 percent of the U.S. population said they dreamed of having their own business. That was back in 2018. But most, keep putting it off, waiting for  that right time, or sweet opportunity. Life has a way of getting in the way like that. But, maybe you’re stuck at home now or working remotely. Or maybe, you’ve been laid off.

Could now be the moment to finally give in to those entrepreneurial cravings. Could now be the time to launch that business you’ve been dreaming of?

If you decide to start an online business, you would be joining the ranks of hundreds of thousands of others. And, there are a lot of moving parts to an online business. Figuring out how to make yourself stand out from the crowd. And getting those parts done correctly, and in the right order will go a long way to helping you be successful. But is that enough?

There is a huge learning curve to starting a business. And, an online business, is after all, still a business. So, there is marketing and websites. There are technical hurdles, and learning to attract leads.  And of course, how to convert those leads to customers. Plus product development and affiliate sales.  And that’s just at the tip of the iceberg.  After you get all of that in place there’s scaling the business to build sustainable growth . . . and whew!

I’m not trying to scare you though.

The list could go on and on because there’s always something new to learn. Even online business owners and marketers at the top of their game are still learning. But, here’s the thing . . . ALL of that can be learned.

You can even hire other folks to do some of it for you. That is not the real key to determining if you should start your own business on or offline. The real determining factor is you!

Do you have the right mindset for running your own business? Can you think like a CEO, rather than an employee?

Are you open to figuring out how to adapt your business to new realities as they present themselves. There will be times when you have to find new avenues and opportunities to serve your clients. Or even meet their changing needs. Can you do that? Can you stay calm in the midst of the storm, when everyone else is losing their heads? Can you find the opportunity to serve your potential clients now, and into the future?

Starting, running and growing a business doesn’t have to be hard. But it does take stamina and courage to go the distance; to persevere against the odds. And a willingness to take consistent, focused action in the direction you want to go.

If you’re willing to do that, and you’ve figured out how you can serve the needs of your potential customer . . . right now might be the very best time to start your new business.

And, you don’t have to do it alone.

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