Monthly Archives: April 2016

Ready, Willing and Able. Are You Ready to Become Your Own Boss?

 in Guest Post  tagged be your own boss / business / business idea / business ownership / business success / entrepreneur / Henry Lopez / own your business / startup

Thinking of setting up your own coaching business? In today’s guest post Henry Lopez uses his 34 years of business experience to ask:

Ready, Willing and Able. Are You Ready to Become Your Own Boss?

By Henry Lopez

"Ready, Willing and Able. Are You Ready to Become Your Own Boss?" by H Lopez

You have been dreaming about it for some time now. You talk about it with your friends and family, you are certain you have a great idea, and you may even have an elaborate business plan. Someday soon, you will be your own boss. Yet there always seems to be something that keeps you stuck as a “wantreprenuer”, and no closer to realizing your vision of becoming an entrepreneur.

What’s holding you back? Is it lack of confidence, fear of failure, a shortage of cash, or a combination of obstacles? All of these challenges, and more, are what keep some people on the sidelines while so many others charge ahead and launch their own business. Some of these challenges are perceived, and others are undeniably real. The question is, when and how do you know if you are prepared to become your own boss?

In my experience, it can be summarized by assessing if you are ready, willing and able. You have to be mentally and emotionally ready, you must be willing to sacrifice the time and effort required, and you must be able to afford the investment of time, money and energy.

By honestly assessing what is holding you back, you can begin to make real progress and get started on your journey to realizing your dreams.

Are you mentally and emotionally READY?

For most people, the fear of personal failure is often the biggest obstacle. Are you afraid of the embarrassment of personal failure – having to tell those you care about that you failed – or is it the fear of financial failure (i.e. you’ve taken a second mortgage on your house, borrowed against your 401(k) or used all of your savings)? There is a significant difference between these two types of fear. The former is mostly perceived and self-imposed, and the latter is a harsh realization of the potential impact of failure on your personal and family finances.

If your business idea requires you to risk everything you have financially, and failure would put you and your family in a precarious position, then it’s fair to say that you are likely not ready. You either need to adjust your business idea, or wait until you are in a more stable position financially.

How do you view failure? Is it something to be avoided at all costs, or something you can learn from? Once you have identified your financial exposure, the fear you must face and conquer is of the personal and perceived variety. You must overcome the fear of embarrassment. More debilitating than embarrassment, however, may be the lack of confidence in your ability to succeed. The story you tell yourself is probably one written for you by others who also remain permanently on the sidelines. The story you write for yourself is about having confidence in your abilities. Courage is not the absence of fear, but experiencing fear and moving forward anyway. Successful entrepreneurs harness that fear to fuel their intensity and desire.

To help you assess if you are ready, ask yourself these questions:

  • How do you view risk, and what type of risk (reputation or financial) are you really concerned with?
  • Do you have a solid plan to succeed, but are prepared to fail?
  • If the business fails, will that put you and your family in a dire financial position?
  • Are you ready to face and overcome your fears and get started?
  • Do you have confidence in your abilities (and of your partners and your team) to succeed?

Are you WILLING to put in the time and effort?

What are you willing to sacrifice for the sake of your business success? Are you willing to give up hobbies, free time, family time and hanging out with friends? Your success in business, as with many things in life, is directly proportionate to your discipline and sacrifice. Business success is typically a long-term journey, filled with setbacks, demanding consistency and dedication.

There are few “overnight successes” in the business world. It may seem that way, as we are constantly exposed to glamorized examples of huge and seemingly immediate success. Indeed, there are certainly plenty of instant success stories. The reality for most small business owners, however, is that it takes time to build a profitable venture. More often than not, a successful entrepreneur’s journey is marked by overcoming challenges along the way.

As a business owner, you will likely work harder than you have ever worked before. Once you cross over into the world of entrepreneurship, you assume the ultimate responsibility for everything. There will be times when the work to be done seems endless. To get through it all will require your maximum possible effort.

Here are some additional questions to help you assess your willingness to start your own business:

  • Are you willing to work harder than you ever have?
  • Are you willing to be challenged constantly and always be learning new things?
  • Do you have a passion for your business idea?
  • Are you ready to delay gratification, or are you searching for immediate results?
  • Are you desperately looking for a get-rich-quick scheme or are your willing to build your business over time?
  • Are you prepared for the impact on yourself and your family?

Are you ABLE to afford the investment of time, money and energy?

Starting and managing a business requires a significant investment of time, money and energy. As I mentioned above, you must be able to sacrifice the time you currently spend on other activities and interests. You will need to be prepared to dedicate most of your time to your business. While you can definitely start out small, there will likely also be a personal financial investment. Of course, to top it all off, you must be able to physically and emotionally handle the challenges and stresses of being your own boss.

Time is our most precious resource. Managing and allocating your time will be critical to your success. You may have to keep your current job while you build your business on the side. If you have a family, then you definitely have responsibilities you must continue to make time for. You must consider everything that requires your attention currently, and then honestly assess what you are willing and able to sacrifice. In my personal experience, starting a new business requires considerably more time than you might expect or plan for.

A lack of capital is perhaps the most common reason people site for not starting their own business. As you develop your business plan, and in particular your financial projections, it’s critical that you calculate the financial investment requirement as accurately as possible – and add an additional contingency amount. The most common reason small businesses fail is they run out of cash.

You must be ready to invest your own money, and also need to be ready and able to guarantee any amount you borrow. If you don’t have the financial wherewithal now, then perhaps scaling or delaying your plans may be the best approach. Adjusting your idea may mean starting out smaller than you initially envisioned, and then growing methodically through bootstrapping (reinvesting your profits). It may also mean keeping your day job until you can move into business ownership fulltime. It often also means adjusting your spending habits and reducing your debt.

It requires boundless energy to start and build a business. The initial excitement will provide you with a tremendous boost, but the long-haul business building journey will require significant energy and stamina. Your personal health will largely dictate your ability to persevere.

Assess your ability to build a business by asking yourself these questions:

  • Are your personal finances in order and are you credit worthy?
  • Do you have savings and assets to invest or pledge as collateral?
  • What’s your worst case financial scenario if the business fails?
  • How will you recover financially if your business fails?
  • Do you have the support of your family, and should you do it anyway if you don’t?
  • Do you have the energy and health to endure the long and arduous process of starting and growing a business?

An honest and mindful assessment is the key to determining if you are ready, willing and able to start your own business. If your timing is not quite right, then you can immediately start identifying and addressing those areas which are holding your back. Develop a plan of attack for addressing your shortcomings, and prepare yourself properly for your journey into entrepreneurship. Delaying your start does not mean that you are giving up on your dreams. It means that you are diligently working on the foundational components that will put you in the best position possible to realize your success. Starting and running a business is hard work, but the rewards can be tremendous. If you still think business ownership is for you, then start charging ahead today and begin your exciting entrepreneurial journey.

About Henry Lopez

Henry Lopez is Co-Founder of Levante Business Group, dedicated to helping aspiring entrepreneurs and small business owners grow their business. You can find more resources for entrepreneurs and small business owners at http://www.levantebusinessgroup.com

Ezinearticles expert page: H. Lopez

Article Source: Ready, Willing and Able. Are You Ready to Become Your Own Boss?

 

When Are You Most Productive? How to Maximize Your Productivity

 in Guest Post  tagged Juan A Rademacher / maximum productivity / productive first thing in the AM / productive first thing in the morning / working from home

Many coaches work from home. When deciding to do this a lot question how distracted they will be, their levels of productivity and if that’s a way they can work.

In today’s guest post internet marketer Juan A Rademacher shares his experience of working from his home.

When Are You Most Productive? How to Maximize Your Productivity

By Juan A Rademacher

"When Are You Most Productive? How to Maximize Your Productivity" by Juan A Rademacher

When Are You Most Productive?

I’m most productive first thing in the morning, right after I finish my breakfast and sit down in front of the computer with my first cup of coffee.

I have my day all planned out. I divide my work day into 6 to 8 one hour blocks of time, and I assign a specific task to each block. I do this the night before. Thus I am completely organized for maximum productivity.

So before I even get into my work space, I know exactly what I’m going to do this day.

Are you impressed?

You should be, because I really do this everyday as part of my working routine.

There’s only one problem. Even though I have the most energy in the morning, and I have all these tasks lined up, somehow I don’t always follow my plan.

My most important time blocks are for content creation, whether it is writing an article, writing a blog post or writing the script for a video.

The problem is that as I sit in front of my computer, I get an unexpected case of writer’s block. I know the topic I want to write about, but the words just don’t come.

So to avoid being unproductive, I decide to make a couple of posts to my Facebook page. Good Idea! Right?

Well, Facebook can easily start you on a slippery slope so far as productivity goes. I’m sure I don’t have to explain how this can happen. There are too many tempting distractions.

The other strange thing I’ve discovered is that in spite of having the most energy in the mornings, I also seem to have the greatest number of distractions.

I know what I want to accomplish that day, but my mind keeps jumping from one interesting topic to another.

As I go through my day, getting a few things done related to my business, running a few errands to cope with the usual demands of daily life, I soon come to the end of the daylight hours.

After dinner, and an hour or two of TV, I settle back to my work space to plan my next day.

But this is when a strange thing happens. All of a sudden, I get an idea in my mind about some content I want to produce, I start making some notes, and before I realize it I am typing away furiously as the thoughts and ideas pour into my mind.

When I check the time, it’s approaching 2:00 AM and I still have a few more lines to complete. I’m now physically tired, but I feel that I have to finish the piece of content I’m working on.

When I’m done, I have two articles written, plus a blog post or some other piece of content I had been thinking about.

So what’s going on here!?

Apparently, some of us find that we can be most productive and even most creative late in the day or late at night.

I am by no means a “morning person,” nor a night owl, it just so happens that my creative energy, my drive, my desire and joy to work come at various times of the day.

This can be very disconcerting, and very tough on your neatly set up daily working plans. It used to bother me a lot. I thought I was not only weird, but lacking in discipline and organization.

Then I read a comment from a super successful online marketer who confessed to having days when he couldn’t get himself motivated in the morning, or the rest of the day and having to just take the day off.

Interestingly, he commented that he was not alone, that everyone working from home had this experience quite frequently.

The secret answer he said was to make the most of those periods, day or night, when everything started to flow, and to get as much done as long as the energy lasted, even if it meant pulling an all-nighter.

So that’s what I do now, and I no longer feel guilty when the mornings get off to a slow start.

I confess, I am obsessed with traffic. That’s because after years of frustration trying to get traffic to my websites, I’ve discovered the power of some easy, time-tested methods for FREE, and low-cost traffic generation.

Read more by visiting: http://jarwinsmarketing.com/writing-tips-for-engaging-content/

About Juan A Rademacher

I retired from Eastman Kodak Co. after 30 years in Kodak international marketing operations. I traveled extensively around the world for 25 years, and I have visited over 50 countries.

After retirement, I switched my focus to Internet marketing.

My passion is to learn, and teach what I know about “How to Generate Traffic.” This is a basic skill that newbies struggle with, and expert marketers are constantly seeking to improve.

Why?

Because traffic is the lifeblood of any business, online and offline. Without traffic you do not have a business.

It is my sincere desire that everyone that comes in contact with me will experience an increase in life, an increase in health and well-being, an increase in financial freedom, in short, an increase in every aspect of their lives.

“What I want for myself, I want for everybody.”

 

Ezinearticles expert page: Juan A Rademacher

Article Source: When Are You Most Productive? How to Maximize Your Productivity

Be a Masterful Change Agent: Mind the Gap

 in Guest Post  tagged change / comfort zone / Gail Gaspar / mind the gap

In today’s guest post coach Gail Gaspar, inspired by a recant visit, shares some of her experience and knowledge.

Be a Masterful Change Agent:

Mind the Gap

By Gail Gaspar

"Be a Masterful Change Agent: Mind the Gap" by Gail Gaspar

Can you recall a time when you visited someplace for the first time?

Chances are, you couldn’t wait to get up and greet the day. You may have experienced a tingly sense of fiery energy in anticipation of the unknown.

We will contrast this with what happens when we think about making changes in everyday life.

First, a travel story.

My husband and I visited London for the first time recently.

As someone who reveres words, it was striking to be in another English speaking country, yet experience brand new words and new uses for old words.

Some examples: The word bespoke is applied everywhere, from bespoke haircuts to tea. I had to look up its definition, which is “made to individual order.” And the word sorry tumbles off the tongue with great frequency. It appears as if the Brits apologize for “their bad” and mine.

My favorite British expression, hands-down, is Mind the Gap.

Mind the Gap is broadcast on the speaker systems before every Tube station stop. It’s posted on signs above every train door. It’s painted on the railway platform as you step off the train. Mind you, unlike with the metro in Washington, D.C., the actual distance between the train and the platform was very small. The expression got hold of me. My imagination was off and running with the power and potential of these three little words, only ten letters in all.

What does this mean, Mind the Gap? My interpretation is to make a conscious effort to be present and be responsible for taking the step from where you are (on the train) to where you want to go (the platform).

And why does Mind the Gap matter?

Your brain is a drama queen.

Think about it. What happened the last time you told yourself you wanted to make a change from something familiar – a driving route, a relationship, a job, a piece of furniture – to something as yet unknown?

Your brain makes a ruckus. It’s enough to shut the station down.

It’s been my experience that the brain would much rather worry about the future or ruminate on the past than be present.

Want to outsmart your brain?

The brain will rant, quite persuasively, that the gap between what you’ve been doing and what you want to do is GINORMOUS. Sometimes this may be the case but 99 percent of the time, it is simply not so.

Give your brain something time and scope limited to tackle.

Step off the train. The train is so very good at getting you from one station to the next, but would you consider staying on to the end of the line because you were afraid to take the little step off at your station stop? The next step is often smaller than it appears.

Getting out of your comfort zone is a good thing.

There are those who would rather stick with the job and lifestyle circumstances they’re in because the tracks are familiar. There are business owners who would rather continue to operate as they have been for years. By minding the gap, even just a little, you’ll be amazed at what you and your business can do that was just beyond your comfort zone.

Three simple words: Mind The Gap

The best way I know to grow is to spice up your experience with something new. It might be taking a vacation or varying your route to work.

Remember, when you know how to mind the gap, you have the power grow in ways you can’t possibly imagine…yet.

How would the Mind the Gap perspective help you stretch out of a comfort zone? Tell us in the comments below!

About Gail Gaspar

Gail Gaspar, M.A., is a certified career transformation coach and entrepreneur. She helps high-achieving service professionals pivot to the next-stage career role that results in greater joy, impact and revenue.

You may contact her for a free 20 minute consultation at http://gailgaspar.com/request-for-coaching/.  You may also get her bi-monthly doses of inspiration, career strategies and bonus download at http://gailgaspar.com/