Maybe you’re currently experiencing a unique opportunity to slow down (you’re in the midst of a job change, you’re stuck at home during a pandemic, you’re tight on cash, your relationship just ended, you’re healing from an injury, or you just made the decision to give yourself the gift of me-time. Or maybe you’re busier than ever and are realizing you need some of that coveted me-time.

Regardless of what the cause is…whether it's outside of your control or a conscious choice you’re making to take some time for yourself…having time to plan your next FIRST or BEST is not only healthy but also a great way to prepare for a significant step forward in your life.

Why do I say it’s significant? Let me answer you with a question.

Do you remember your first kiss?
How about the first time you made a sale?
Or the first time you rode a roller coaster or bungee jumped off a bridge?

Do you remember when you ran your fastest...

You’ve heard this quote before, right? “People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care [about them]."

It has been attributed to many people including Theodore Roosevelt, John Maxwell, and Earl Nightingale, but who said it first isn’t important. What’s important is that you understand it and benefit from its message.

Being in a tech-connected world means higher levels of competition than ever before. Customers can easily find your competitors online, they can buy products and services with the click of a button, and they can read the opinions of clients you’ve previously worked with. That means the days of being able to be a jerk and still be professionally successful are running out.

However, you don’t have to be a jerk for this principle to apply to you. Customers no longer have to be repulsed by someone to make them decide to take their business elsewhere. Back in the day when you were the...

Every business has a leader. In many cases, they call that person the CEO.

If you’re self-employed, even though you may not think of yourself as one, you most certainly are the CEO of your own business. 

Do you think of yourself as a CEO? If you do, then you are more likely to think like a CEO and to perform like one—in a way that consistently drives your business forward.  In this post, we’re covering some of the most important responsibilities of a CEO and the key ingredients that make CEOs exceptional at what they do.

The CEO Genome Project

It was a 10-year-study of the 2500 largest companies in the world with the purpose of determining what all top-performing CEOs have in common.  The 4 main characteristics shared by all of the most effective CEOs are:

• Decisive
• Engaging (with clients and employees alike)
• Adaptive
• Reliable

A CEO is also a visionary. As the leader of your business, you’re responsible for determining what your...

How many times have you tried to stop eating sugar? Or start exercising? Or spend less time on your phone? Or read more books? Or save money?  Or one of many other actions you label as good for you or more in alignment with who you want to be?

Why is it hard to create one good habit?
And why is quitting a bad habit so difficult?
To stop doing something we know doesn’t serve us should be easy, shouldn’t it?

Those are questions most of us have asked ourselves a time or two. One reason why this topic is so important is because it applies to us all.

When you understand your behavior, it becomes easier to change. There are a few key steps that’ll help you make or break habits, and understanding how a habit works in your brain is the first step.

A habit is something you’ve repeated enough times that it became ingrained in your neural pathways so that you do it without consciously thinking about doing it or how to do it.

The...

Changing a Bad Habit or Creating a Good Habit is a process. It’s not easy, but it is scientific and you can control it.

Here’s an overview of the process to change or create a habit with more explanation below.

• Figure out what the cue is
• Replace the bad habit behavior with a new one, and make sure there is some sort of reward for the new behavior
• Start small and take incremental steps (the rewards can be small too)
• Prime your environment
• Focus on habits that influence other habits

Figure out your cues

Do you walk into the kitchen when you’re bored or restless, and you find yourself reaching for a snack when you’re not even hungry? It could be that your cue is the feeling of being bored or restless or even the action of walking into the kitchen.

Implement a More Positive Behavior

Sometimes, simply swapping a behavior in an existing loop for a new one is easier than eliminating the loop all together. Instead of walking into the kitchen when...

Busy professionals and small business owners tend to have a lot in common, not the least of which is having a lot of stress.

Dealing with daily stress can keep you from being your best. It’s helpful to learn how to conquer stress and the effects it has on your overall health and wellness in order to achieve success in your career. Read more about the affects stress has on you or to take a survey to become clear on your relationship with stress.

To help you get on the right track, here are a few ways you can reduce stress.

Stay on Top of Your Finances at Work and Home

When it comes to stress, finances can be a huge source of additional strain. Creating a solid financial plan for your business can cut a lot of that stress out for you.

You can begin by figuring out how much capital you will need to start and creating a realistic plan to track cash flow over the coming months. Many people like to create a projected...

Why do you think it’s important to have good communication skills?

And how could such skills benefit you?

In my experience, and witnessing others' experiences, I've come to believe communication skills has an affect on your personal life, your work life, and your social life. Communication is basically central to all your relationships.  

In each of the next four posts (well this one, plus 3 others), I’m going to discuss effective communication. 

Think about your personal life. If you improved your communication skills, where would it affect your life the most?  

For me, I think it would most help my marriage, because even though my husband Josh and I actually are in a really good place, we still get into arguments, and most of the time, it's my fault. I know it's Josh —one of the most forgiving people you’ll ever meet—and he's going to forgive me like it's no big deal.

With him, I don't always take the time to...

Take a minute and think about your sales goals.

Don’t think about your current sales or what you think you can sell in a certain amount of time—this isn’t about how much you’re selling now or will sell with your current plan.

How much do you want to sell?

How much income or commission do you want to earn from sales? $100,000? $200,000? $500,000? More?

What if you could get there only by selling to people you’ve already sold to? If that sounds like a pipe dream, rethink that. It’s possible and achievable. We’ve done it, and we’re going to talk about how you can do it too.

Remember that everything new to you is harder at the beginning than it ever will be again. It’s the learning curve—your job, as it is now, is the hardest it will ever be, for a few reasons.

As you continue to get sales, your experience will help you become a better salesperson. Not only that, if you keep seeking out improvement...

Years ago when I first got into business the internet, email and everything else related to it was in it’s infancy. There wasn’t social media or texting, and cell phones were just coming onto the scene.

The world has changed in recent years and so has the way we do business. Today’s we’re more connected than ever and as a result, our client’s attention is more valuable than ever. Our ability to capture AND KEEP the attention of a client is arguably the most valuable skill set we can develop.

How do you leverage the communication of today to capture AND KEEP the attention of your client’s so you can be sure you’re their go to person for the product and/or service you offer?

I learned this the hard way. The first time I invested in direct mail I got zero response. Well, except for my mom and one other client who both already planned on buying from me. For years I was the person who said, “I don’t email or call my clients”. I...

As successful entrepreneurs we all come to a point where it’s time to begin enlisting the help of others and delegating tasks in order to continue growing. It’s not as easy as it sounds though. Usually we have a mountain of tasks we handle for our business. We know how to do them and do them well. Much of it is in our head and this is our business, our baby. What if someone screws it up? We have to learn to delegate effectively in order to grow. If we don’t it can become the most tedious part of running the business.

Personally, this was NOT an easy game to figure out. When I started letting go of things I couldn’t figure out why it didn’t seem to be working. It was like being sucked into a time warp. Teach someone a task and they’d make mistake after mistake. Or they’d take forever to do it. Or they’d get frustrated or bored and quit. I started thinking to myself, “Maybe I’m just not made to delegate at all!”...