Don't Cancel on Yourself

Most of the time when you make an appointment with someone really important - your boss, your best friend, an important client or customer, you don't cancel it. You don't just not show up right?

If Matt Damon (or insert your favorite celebrity here) made an appointment with you, would you cancel on him? HECK NO!

So why is it OK to cancel on yourself? You are a VERY IMPORTANT PERSON.  If you have made an important appointment with yourself, whether it's for your workout, or to work on your business, you need to SHOW UP.

Telling yourself you are going to do something and not doing something is lying to yourself - you also wouldn't lie to those other VIPs in your life either right?

Treat yourself as if you are important and worthy of the time you have set aside to get you to your goals. You deserve it.

Going Public

So you want to start your own business, or have started your own business, but one problem - you haven't told anyone about it!  This happens with people in my business all the time. They don't want to put themselves out there and "go public" until they have success either with the products or with the business, and then they feel like they can announce it. Some people are also nervous about what other people will think, or if they will be judged (I know I was!)

The problem is, if people don't know you have a business and that you are a resource for a product or service, they don't know to come to you (and buy from you) or to recommend you to their friends. You are delaying your own success.  Not to mention, having the extra accountability of people knowing what you are doing will push you to have more success. And people are going to judge you no matter what you do in life, what's important is that you learn to not to take it personally and realize that only you can determine what you want in life, and how you want to go about doing it.  I've learned not to worry about other people. Most people who are judgmental or rude are unhappy in their own lives, and there's nothing you can do about that! As they say, haters gonna hate. :)

So my most important advice is - don't wait until you feel like you are READY to talk to people about your business. Be honest and share your story - the easiest way to start is on social media - and include the following and be authentically YOU:

• why did you decide to start a business?
• why did you choose the business that you did?
• what do you have to offer people? Products? Parties? Coaching? Support group while using the products?
• how can they get in touch with you?

One exception: if you have a full time job now and you have to keep it under wraps so that your current employer doesn't think you are on your way out or are not serious about your current career, be very careful what you post and who can see it (you can restrict co-workers from seeing certain posts or block certain people).  

My Daily Schedule - how to fit in a full time business in 3 hours a day

The kids are back to school and I now have a window of about 3 hours to get the bulk of my work done (they are both in half days). Since people often ask me what I do and how I fit it all in, here's how I'm doing it:

7-8:30am - get the kids up and ready, and walk them both to school

8:30-9:30am - workout + Shakeology

9:30-11am - POWER HOUR (and a half) this is where I do all of my core activities which includes checking on my current challengers (those actively doing a fitness program in one of my groups), adding people to my network, emailing new customers, inviting people to my next fitness group or to join a business opportunity event, and scheduling social media posts for the day.

11-11:30am - Snack, quick shower and off to pick up the kids from school

Our current plan is that 2 days a week my husband or a friend will watch them for 2 hours in the afternoon so I can work on bigger projects like training, recording videos for my team, working on my blog and other social media activities, research, creating graphics & visuals for use on my blog & social media, and whatever else pops up.

The rest of the week, if I can, I will check in 1-2 times (early afternoon and early evening) to see if I have any urgent messages that can't wait. (often times during one of the kids activities when they are in a class)

After the kids go to bed at 8pm, I will catch up on anything I didn't complete and respond to messages.

I also do Personal Development for 20-30 minutes before bedtime.

I'm not my "AFTER PHOTO" Yet

This is something I hear a lot specifically in my fitness business but can also apply to many other businesses you may be considering starting. Maybe you are selling cooking products or cutlery but you are not a great cook yet? Make-up rep but you don't always have the perfect face on or know the right techniques? Weight to lose but want to work in fitness?

DO NOT let this be a reason for you to put off starting your business. Any business takes time to grow, and if you wait until you are "perfect" to start, guess what, you will never start - and you will never achieve the goals you have set for yourself.

It's crucial that you use the products your business sells, but you don't have to be the PERFECT example of them yet. What's most important is that you are willing to learn (how to apply make-up, how to eat better and exercise, whatever) and you want to help others do the same.

TOP REASONS WHY YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE YOUR AFTER PHOTO YET:

• It's OK to be on the journey with your customers. People connect with others who are like them.
• Especially if you are working full time now, with a future plan to work your new business full time, you won't get to that point if you don't start building your business. Even if you have very little time to dedicate to it, do something every day so you are moving in the right direction
• You get a discount or wholesale price on buying these products yourself (which gets you to your goal or the skill you want faster!)
• In any network marketing company, the sooner you get in the better. While position in the organization isn't everything, it is a benefit to you.

I also blogged about this on my fitness site HERE

Multi-tasking Doesn't Work

We live in a society where it's a badge of honor to say that you can do 3 things at once.  We put "Ability to multi-task" on our resumes. It sounds good - it must mean that you are super productive and efficient right? Ever done any of these: typing an email or IM while on the phone, having ten different browser windows open and bouncing between them, checking emails while posting on Facebook and checking your bank balance. How about checking your phone or surfing the internet while watching a TV show, only to realize halfway into the show, you had no idea what was going on? Ever check your phone or email during a meal with your family - there's no direct affect on productivity but it certainly isn't strengthening your relationships or making your family feel like a priority. Anything you can relate to? 

What I've learned is that all of this is actually making everything you do suffer - in quality, in the amount of time it takes, and it actually makes you feel more frantic. Do a gut check - it's true right? Do you feel like you get so much done because you multi-task? Your To Do List is totally crossed off every day? I'm guessing no.

I was at a seminar recently where the guest said that every time you get interrupted during something, it takes you 16 minutes to get back to the level of focus you had before the interruption.  Multi-tasking is YOU creating your own interruptions! Why would you want to do that?

If you take the time to focus on one thing at a time, you will not only doing a better job at it, you will get it done faster and your mind can mentally close the door on that task.

Tips:

• Find a quiet place where you won't be interrupted. If you can shut or lock the door, do.
• Turn off your phone or leave it in the other room.
• Keep only the window open that you are working on, on your computer.
• Focus on one screen at a time. (I believe in limiting it to things that really serve a purpose but that's a whole other blog post!)
• Leave your phone at home or in the car when having a meal with friends or family.

Setting Business Hours

Whether or not you are working on your business along side a full time job, or it is your full time/only job, you need to set business hours. One of the dangers of having your own home-based business is that you can get sucked in to working 24 hours a day. Because most of the work can be done online or from your phone, it's always within arms reach.  But that's dangerous for many reasons.

1. It tells your customers you are always available to them and they will continue to expect an immediate response.
2. There is no work/life balance. The whole reason you started your business was for some freedom right?
3. It's harder to be present with your family and friends. It's very distracting to be "on" all the time. You need to learn to turn it off.
4. You will get more done if you have set time to work on your business and be productive. The busier I am, the more focused I am during business hours.

HOW TO DO IT

Working a Full Time Job:

• Get up 30 minutes early to get a few things done before going to work
• Use your commute time to work for personal development or conference calls
• Lunch Hour - use your lunch hour as your "Power Hour" (I will do a post about that later this week) and get as much work done at one time
• TV time in the evenings - go through your DVR and remove all of the shows you don't even really like. Use that time to work on your business.

Working Your Business Full Time:

• Decide what hours of the day you will work - for me that's while my kids are at school
• Don't work outside those hours
• Communicate those hours to your colleagues and customers and team members

In both scenarios, be sure to communicate to people when are you available for phone calls, and don't be a slave to emails or FB messages. Tell people I only check messages/emails once a day at this time of day so if you need something urgently, don't email it to me.  The people who are important to you should have your phone number or a way to reach you if it's urgent.

Every day a Vacation??

We just got back from a week vacation in Hawaii.  I checked in on my business a couple times a day, probably for a total of one hour per day.  I also posted a lot of what we were doing on social media (which is part of being authentically you which draws people like you to you and your business).  I got a lot of comments like "why are you checking emails on vacation?" or "Don't work, you are on vacation"  And my response to them was, not only do I love what I do, and it doesn't really feel like work, but working just an hour a day while on vacation allows me to take more vacations, and be home with my kids, and be my own boss. I didn't have to do any of that - I have no one telling me what to do or expecting anything from me. So I worked when I wanted to, when I could, without taking time away from my family.  (and when we had free WiFi - ha ha)

It's part of my whole philosophy (which many share) of designing your own life. I love that I can work from anywhere, on my smart phone. I love that while on vacation I got a great paycheck even though I did the "minimum" work required.  I have another trip planned next week for a seminar I have been really excited about, and I plan to work some on breaks, because it's exciting and my business is growing, and like any momentum, you don't want to stop it while going. But it's not because I have to, and it's not a burden. If you want to be successful, you make the time, and you want to do the things that will make you successful.

So while many people take a vacation to escape from their lives, ours was to create memories and enjoy our lives!!