Life, Love and Chocolate!
Life, love, and chocolate taste better when shared with others. — Cindy Hess Kasper
How true is that statement! I have been reflecting a lot lately upon the people in my life that add value to my daily existence. I am meeting one such person today for a long overdue lunch.
Equally so, there are those that detract from my life because they are in it only for themselves. I have some of those people in my life as well. Happily only a few.
Have you considered what you life would be like without those people in your life who not only add to it, but multiply the joy you have by their own, creating a richer fuller life for both of you? Rarely am I thankful enough for the people in my life who give me insight, encouragement, entertainment and yes even the occasional bit of stress.
Today I am grateful for my family and for my furry little four-legged friends who share my life. And for all the people I meet with each day, clients, old friends and new friends. I am grateful for those who speak wisdom into my life, pastors, mentors, leaders I respect. They encourage me and enlighten me and admonish me as necessary. That is the true value of one’s life, friendship. The more friends we have the richer we are. The bumper sticker which reads “he who dies with the most stuff wins” should read, “he who dies with the most friends wins”.
If you are feeling as though your life does not count today, think of those people who count on you. Not just for to fill a spot, or do a job, but to be their for them, to enrich their lives with yours. Even though we all seek to have more “stuff” in the end the people we have gathered throughout our lives will be what counts in the end.
Go share some chocolate with someone you love today!
Dealing with Distractions
On any given day, in any given life, there are distractions. I am always amazed that I will lay out my plans for the week and look back and find that all I have accomplished is dealing with distractions. I am dealing with a couple right now that could impact my business quite a bit, so I can’t ignore them.
Distractions are the junction changes on the railroad of life. You are happily rolling down your tracks, your goals and lists firmly in hand, going north with your goal station in view and then a distraction comes up and you are suddenly going north west. Oh you are still going north, but just a little off north. Now you can still see your little station, but can’t quite reach it, you have to follow the distraction. Sound familiar?
Life is just riddled with distractions. That is what makes goal-setting and achieving seem like it never works. ”What is the point of setting a goal I will never reach?” I hear that all the time. ”I don’t set goals because they just frustrate me.” is another common complaint. Hear is the news flash, it is not the goals that are the problem, it is the distractions that cause the derailment.
The trick is to keep your eyes firmly on the goal, while dealing with the distractions that the track takes you on. Developing good strategies for dealing with distractions, is vital in reaching your goals. Distractions always happen, maintaining focus is what keeps them from derailing your little train. Are you still on the track today?Watch out for those junction changes!
Balancing Your Act!
Life is really a balancing act, or rather a series of “balancing acts”. Getting up in the morning and getting to work. Getting the children ready for school and then in the summer, finding a place for them while you work. Once at work, we have to meet the deadlines imposed by those above us. Or if you work for yourself, balancing your time between working with clients and finding them!
We have to balance our checkbooks, make sure we provide for our future, get the dog groomed, pick up the UPS package that needs a signature, exercise, eat right, make sure the homework gets done. It’s all about balance. Just one thing goes wrong and many things go wrong.
What I have observed about life though, in my 50 plus years on the planet, is that we have to keep moving or all the balls we throw up in the air will simply drop to the ground. For some that seems like a simple statement, but for others the act of moving forward is just overwhelming. When the record of your life (see how old I am) gets stuck in one spot, and you stop moving, a lot of other things also stop as well.
When I don’t feel like moving forward anymore, I often stop and think about all the things that would drop to the ground if I stopped. Now, not for one second do I believe I can’t be replaced, but I do believe that each of us has a unique spot to fill and that we are each designed especially for that spot. If I stop moving, my spot will miss me, and so will yours.
So if you are contemplating letting those balls all drop, think about your spot and how you are uniquely equipped to fill it. In my humble opinion, there is no greater thought than the fact that I was made for a purpose and that pursuing that purpose makes me necessary in the grand scheme of things. That is a balancing thought to me. However small my purpose may be, it is still my purpose and that makes me keep moving forward. Are you ready to start moving again?
What Are You Looking For?
“What we see depends mainly on what we look for,” said British statesman John Lubbock (1834–1913). So was he an optimist or a fool?
Today, at the beginning of the work week, what are you looking for? I always awake to a new week with lots of hope and excitement. I will meet more people, do more business, work with clients and generally enjoy the week. Rarely do I have a week that I am not looking forward to.
That is not the case for many people. Perhaps they have a job they hate, a boss who is too demanding, a job where no one knows their name unless something is missed. Perhaps someone they love is ill and each minute seems like an eternity because they are afraid of the outcome. Let’s face it, life can deal some pretty harsh blows at times and all we can do is take it.
Nothing anyone says can change the reality of life for anyone else. However, what we look for in each situation can greatly impact what we see. Do you see a job or a boss you dislike or a paycheck that let’s you provide for your family and enjoy your hobby on the weekend? Do you see lack of notice from your bosses or are you just thankful for a job when so many are losing theirs? Do you see a loved one’s illness as something to fret over or an opportunity to grow your faith and extend your hand to help them?
Life really isn’t easy at times. I do believe, however, that our attitude can make the journey much less objectionable. By looking for small nuggets in every situation that can cheer us and move us forward, we are able to cope and survive. These are two skills that are more needful today than in times past. Learn to look for the good and look past the worst that life has to offer. There is good to be found, so long as you are looking for it?
Are You Working For Nothing?
Most of us feel as though we are working very hard these days but with very little return. For some it is because you work for someone else and feel you are not being paid nearly what you are worth. Chances are you are likely correct but the people I am talking to today are the business owners who provide a service or product they have not priced correctly.
That’s right, I work with a lot of clients who fail to price their wares well and then work very, very hard for their clients and find that on an hourly basis they are making much less than they imagined.
So how does this happen? Well, when we start our businesses, we often fail to do the research necessary to make sure we are pricing ourselves competitively. Another problem is that we don’t think through our working process very well. As an example; if I charge $100/hour for coaching and coach for one hour with no other responsibilities around that client than that one hour, then I am probably doing okay. But, if for that one hour of work, I then have to go and do five hours of work to provide additional help for the client, then that $100/hr just turned into less than $20/hour. It also reduced the amount of time I can spend with other clients.
Many consultants suffer from this problem. They often fail to take into account all the background work necessary to do the job for their clients and therefore price themselves too low.
As you look at your business profitability, really consider carefully the whole picture so that when you are with your clients you help them and yourself.
Remember You are Free!
I worked with someone not too long ago, who, although we live in a country with incredible freedoms, was imprisoned in her own guilt and and sadness. Sometimes the choices we make in life lead us down a path of deep regret and we feel that this path has a one way sign on it and we can never turn back.
The exciting truth is that there is a way back from any problem you may have. Although you may have to deal with the consequences of your actions, there is always a way to recover and be free of the guilt and sadness that you may be feeling. God does not give up on us, we generally give up on Him and His offer of forgiveness and freedom.
I have run into many people recently who are very interested in “the secret” and the “law of attraction” and although I respect their opinions and beliefs, I am much more comfortable trusting in God for my daily provisions and the freedom He offers me through faith. Since my relationship with Him is tangible to me and has sustained itself for almost 50 years, I believe I need not look to the “universe” to meet my needs, my provision has already been met.
My work as a life coach allows me to help people who want to make the changes in their lives necessary to come back from the prison in their mind. I am excited when I think that we live in a country that allows us the freedom to believe in God or not, to change or not, to become a whole person or not. We are indeed physically free, but until we release our hearts and minds from the prison of our soul, we are only partially free. The secret is that God loves you and wants you to be free. Think about freedom for your soul while you celebrate the freedom you have for your body.
You Gotta Have a Plan!
So many people are out there right now Twittering their little hearts out hoping against hope that it will generate sales for their small business or MLM. And I know that I keep preaching this, but it is very important that you be very purposeful about how you use social networking.
The more I learn about the process the more I realize that it is best to treat Twitter, Facebook and the like just like your face-to-face networking. You need to go into it with a “give first” attitude and not just try to sell anything that has an electronic pulse. And secondly, you have to build relationships that help you learn about other people. Customers will buy from the people they know, like and trust. If you can learn the secret of becoming known, liked and trusted online, you will do well with your online business. However, if all you do is tweet about your product or service, you will fall short.
It is also a good idea to link all your profiles so people see you and recognize you in all the places you have a profile. Talk to people about your LinkedIn profile on Twitter and have a link to your twitter account on LinkedIn. Let people know about your Facebook page, it will just help online people connect the dots and see you as an expert in your field.
All-in-all, social networking is here to stay, it is whether you can build those relationships with it, that will determine your success. So happy tweeting!
Wasting Time or Making Progress?
By anyone’s standards Twitter, Facebook, My Space, LinkedIn, blogging and other social media all take time out of our day to create, engage and maintain. Most of my clients want to be involved in one or all of these media outlets, and most don’t really know where to start or what they will gain by these endeavors. Here are a few things to consider before dipping your toe into the great internet marketing waters known as social media.
1. Because most of these streams of marketing are free, we all assume that they cost us nothing. However, for many people there is the cost of their time to consider, and if you charge by the hour, add up how much time you spend online everyday and then assign your hourly rate to that time, you will be surprised at the cost. My caution here is to make sure that you don’t get swept away by answering questions or tweeting your every thought and waste a lot of your valuable time during the day that could be used to make money.
2. Ask yourself if your business is suited to internet marketing. There are many people out their who are spending a lot of time online with various endeavors for their business, that will never realize a sale or a referral from their efforts because they can only do business in a fifty-mile radius of their location. In this case get on Facebook or Twitter for fun, but don’t waste time trying to sell what you do.
3. Just like any other marketing strategy, your online marketing should have a purpose. If your purpose is to get noticed in your local market, Facebook is a good start because for the most part you are connecting with people you know. By updating your Facebook with little thoughts about your business you get to keep people informed without being “salesy” or talking to them in person. LinkedIn is a good strategy just to create a professional profile of yourself that will allow you to connect locally or more broadly, as you wish. The key with each option is to think strategically about what it could do for your business.
4. Blogging is a nice option to let people know what you know. It allows you to showcase your expertise in your given field and can help you to create a following at the same time. Blogging however is not for the faint of heart. Oh it is fun at first, but to get results one must be committed, so if you dislike writing, can’t spell or string a sentence together, blogging should not be part of your strategy, it will do more harm than good.
5. And then there is Twitter. It seems to be the newest “thing” in social media. People use it for all kinds of reasons. Some to keep up with friend, others want to meet new friends, most want to sell you something. So the game is on, can you sell to them, before they sell to you? Personally I like Twitter. I find it fast and easy and I am about to do my first face-to-face interaction based on Twitter introductions. I love the challenge of getting new followers and the fact that there is a lot of information available on it. Again I caution everyone to beware of the time spent on it. It will eat you alive if you let it which will not get much business in the door.
Finally, it is wise to include some of these outlets in your marketing strategy, however there still is no substitute for a cup of coffee and a hand shake to gain credibility and new business. I caution all business-owners to not let social media substitute for regular networking meetings and occasions to get in front of people. It may seem easy to get clients online, but the time investment is far greater than we think and the return on our time investment can be small. It is still best to ask yourself “what activities make me money” and put the bulk of your time into the answer to that question.
Thinking Strategically
Whether in life, work or business ownership it thinking strategically is often a overlooked. We may be good at getting day-to-day tasks done and staying on top of our live, but thinking strategically is not something we often consider.
So what does thinking strategically look like? Well remember in the old cowboy movies how the good guys (and sometimes the bad guys) would usually go up on a hill to look down on the enemy to get a better idea of what they were doing below. From here they would formulate a plan. That is what strategic thinking looks like!
In the case of your life or business, it is stepping back and asking yourself questions like, where will I be this time next year? Or what is the next step for my business or career? After answering these questions one can then move forward with goal setting and thinking about how to make the strategic plan a reality.
Without the step of strategic thinking, we are all just setting goals to get through the day. Know where you are going, think strategically!
So Are You Twittering?
The race is on to get as many people following you on Twitter as quickly as possible. There are lots of people out there ready to help you figure out how to do and they are happy to sell you a piece of software that will get you thousands of followers quickly.
Before you either rush out and buy all the tools to Twitter your way to the top, or waste a lot of time reading mindless quotes and sales talk, let me ask you how Twittering fits into your business plan.
I think there is a lot of value in establishing online relationships and meeting new people who may be interested in your product or service, but before you follow the crowd, make sure you just ask yourself if this is a valid way to build you business. If the answer is yes, create a systematic approach to making good contacts with Twitter or Facebook or other social networks. If not, then don’t waste the time online that you could be using to market in person to someone in a local networking group.
A common problem among many small business owners is that they are falling into the attraction of the possibilities presented by the vast wide world out there online versus the smaller networks we actually have to talk to right in front of us. It seems so much easier to try and reach our clients online than in person. In reality we often waste a lot of time tweeting when we could just be going to Starbucks and reaching the people we know.
Maybe Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Ning, and others really are a great option for your business. Or maybe they are just one piece of the puzzle, but be sure you take a strategic approach to using these venues for marketing.
On the other hand, if you Twitter just for fun or you Facebook to keep up with friends and family, enjoy the venue it can be fun and you can meet some great people. Being strategic can just keep you from wasting time because “everyone is doing it”. Examine your motives and your needs and tweet your little heart out.
