Distraction: The Silent Business Killer

As I was helping my daughter with her math yesterday, she was thinking about the school play, her upcoming birthday party and playing a game of Sequence with her grandparents. In other words, her mind was on anything but making a chart to plot the coordinates on the graph paper.  The end result was total frustration for her and using up most afternoon doing math rather than having time to play outside.

Are you staring at your computer screen wishing you were outdoors or at the beach? Are you zipping from task to task without finishing any of your goals for the week? Are you feeling internally frustrated that your hard work is not coming through in your business?

In this noisy world of ours, focusing and concentrating are very challenging tasks! It is so tempting to answer email while writing an article or answering the phone whenever it rings. Facebook, Ning and Twitter give us immediate information gratification but they are like a black hole in terms of our time management.

Having the discipline to stay focused on the path is critical to business growth. When we are sidetracked mediocre work results and business stagnates. Mediocre work does not attract new clients, inspire creativity or lead to focused business growth and an internal feeling of satisfaction.

In order to know where you are getting stuck, answer the following questions:

1. Where are you losing focus?

2. What gets you sidetracked?

3. How do you refocus?

4. What good focusing habits do you do now and how can you strengthen those?

Think of your favorite actor before and during an amazing performance in a play or movie. They are striving for excellence and have a laser focus during the performance. I believe Anthony Hopkins in “Silence of The Lambs” as Hannibal Lector is a perfect illustration. He embodied a serial killer with each movement and his focus was palpable. Now, sustaining that intensity is not realistic for hours on end but at the critical points in your day extreme focus may be necessary.

Commit to observing yourself for a few days and if you feel inspired, recording when you are most distracted. Also, pay closest attention to when you are very focused and accomplish a great deal. Plan your work accordingly; whatever requires intense focus such as writing an article needs to be done during the focused time of the day.

Next, challenge yourself to pick 3 things for business growth that happen first in the day before anything else gets done. What about finding a new joint venture partner or co-sponsoring an event with another business? It is exciting because you are visualizing the future for your business and trying something you have never done before. Business growth and stategy won’t get lost in the mix of a busy day when they are done first.

I wish laser focus as your business blossoms,

Lydia

Are You Naturally Curious?

 

Curiosity is critical for an entrepreneur. With increasing competition and tight financial times, it is the unique character trait of curiosity that allows a leader to shift as the world shifts and to keep her business fresh and exciting to the consumer.

My family has many curious individuals and natural leaders. My Dad is one of the most curious people I know who taught me to question everything. He was an Episcopal priest who burned every sermon after giving it to avoid the temptation of recycling one and becoming stale. Currently, I am married to a curious man who creates a unique and fresh look for each film he shoots. However, the most curious individuals that I know are young children. They consistently question the world and wonder why things are a certain way.

Taking time to nourish curiosity is important for business growth. How do you nourish your curiosity? What fresh ideas do you have? What new paths for your business do you plan to explore?

Here are 5 ideas for boosting your natural curiosity:

1. Read. It challenges you to think and gives you new ideas to try for your business.

2. Travel. Meeting new people and getting out of your workspace immediately breeds fresh curiosity.

3. Meditate. Listen to your intuition and inner voice of curiosity without your brain talking you out of it!

4. Write. Free flow writing or journaling will help you to get the many ideas in your head in a more logical form on paper.

5. Spend time with and observe young children. They are free from self-imposed rules and innately curious about the world. Think of Tom Hanks in the movie “Big.”

“Curious is the key word…It has to do with a desire to understand, a desire to try, a desire to push whatever envelope is interesting. Leaders are curious because they can’t wait to find out what the group is going to do next.” Seth Godin, Tribes.

May you feel inspired to question,

Lydia

5 Easy Habits To Make The Most Of Your Day

Good habits create successful businesses. What success strategies are a part of your routine?

“Habit: a tendency to do something as part of a routine.”

After interviewing Misty Gibbs of www.myinspirationlounge.com yesterday, I realized again the importance of daily routines as a way of not only meeting business goals but leveraging your effort and time.

Misty just naturally incorporated a few of the following habits into her work every day and is receiving the benefits in the fast-paced growth of her business.

1.  Focus on 3 tasks that must get done everyday for the business to grow. Do these first so your day does not get away from you! Maintenance tasks like checking email, checking stats for your business and keeping up with Facebook and Twitter can easily use up your work time. They are important to keep up with so schedule 15-30 minute increments 2 times per day so you don’t get caught in the time terminator!

2.  Be aware of when you are the most creative and use that time to write or plan new initiatives for your business. Think boldly and visualize by taking time away to dream and step back from your work. It does not happen in front of a computer!

3.  Read, research and connect with others outside of your office space.  It will help your creativity, keep you up on current trends in other businesses and give you the opportunity to better serve your clients. Be sure to choose people that are positive and passionate or online destinations that inspire and are free from negativity.

4.  Ask for support from friends or a business partner to brainstorm new ideas or create synergy in a new joint venture project as part of your marketing strategy and outreach plan. Women are extending themselves and giving of their knowledge and time in unprecedented ways. Connect with other feminine leaders to find out new trends and feel inspired by their energy.

5.  Stand in your truth and value yourself! Every business is unique and the way that women juggle work and family is awe-inspiring. Look at what is working well in your business and put your energy and time in that direction. Don’t drain your energy on what is not working. Let it go! Celebrate the small successes and be able to honor yourself and your gifts.

Take a bird’s eye view of your business and observe what good habits you have in place. Focus on what is effortless and makes work joyful!

Lydia

Walk Through The Fire To Grow Your Business

This blog is a combination of marketing tool reviews and entrepreneurial lifecoaching. It is our desire to guide you through the sea of marketing overwhelm – not just saving you money, time and effort – but also keeping you sane and mindful so that you can grow your business with integrity, reliance and joy, freeing you from feeling stuck, under-inspired or overwhelmed.

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AIDA: More Than An Opera By Verdi

This blog is a combination of marketing tool reviews and entrepreneurial lifecoaching. It is our desire to guide you through the sea of marketing overwhelm – not just saving you money, time and effort – but also keeping you sane and mindful so that you can grow your business with integrity, reliance and joy, freeing you from feeling stuck, under-inspired or overwhelmed.

My Dad is a Verdi lover so whenever I hear the word AIDA, my mind immediately goes to the Italian composer.

However, in the world of article marketing and content creation, AIDA is an important principle to keep in mind every time you write content for your site or send new information to your clients. Let’s break it down further.

A= Attention: How are you grabbing the reader’s interest? There is too much to read in today’s world of information overload. Let your gift for storytelling and adventure come out with the headline and first few paragraphs.

I= Interest: How does your article provide value to a reader? What are you educating them about? For example, if you wanted to get started in article marketing as a way of promoting your business, how would you know which company to choose? If I then wrote about the 5 most important questions to ask a potential article submission company, that would be of interest to you.  The body of the article could address the following bullet points:

*What are the targets for their campaign?

*Is editing available for the writers?

*What are the companies success stories with the google index

*Are the fees appropriate? It is time consuming to submit an article to more than 100 sites, perhaps more than 10 hours.

*Who contacts the editors of sites and ezines? The process can be very time consuming and eat up a large amount of your workday if not done by the submission company.

D= Desire: What do you want the reader to feel at the end of your article? To continue with the above example, if I then compared a few article submission companies or made an argument for the one I believed to be the best based on service record and price, the reader feel a new affinity with a particular company and may choose to investigate further.

A= Action: Ask for what you want! This is the place where many people drop the ball. Think of the time you have invested in grabbing attention, giving value with the content, creating a desire to learn more and now it is time to ask the reader to visit a website or try a new service.

Getting back to the article submission example, an action step might be to try the site for 30 days for a discounted price and if there is not complete satisfaction, a full money back guarantee is provided.

With this template, good writing just flows.  Whether you are writing content just for your customers or diving into the world of article marketing as a way to attract new clients, it is vital to have clarity and creativity in your writing.

I wish you inspiration and effortless writing,

Lydia

8 Questions To Make Interviewing A Breeze

This blog is a combination of marketing tool reviews and entrepreneurial lifecoaching.  It is our desire to guide you through the sea of marketing overwhelm – not just saving you money, time and effort – but also keeping you sane and mindful so that you can grow your business with integrity, reliance and joy, freeing you from feeling stuck, under-inspired or overwhelmed.

Interviewing an expert is a wonderful way of adding value to your business.  It is a win-win situation because the business owner receives fresh content and the ability to package that content in a variety of formats that are only limited by imagination.  Here are just a few suggestions: posting the fresh audio on your website with a photo and links to the interviewees website, compiling a book or an e-book based on a series of interviews, or developing a multimedia product consisting of various training tools based on interview content.

The interviewee has the benefit of added visibility for their website or off-line business, the chance to promote new products and special offers, and the good fortune to receive new referrals.

Here are the steps to make the interviewing process a breeze.

1.  Make sure to research the interviewee before the day of the interview by visiting their website and reading any books they have written to prepare interesting interview questions in advance.

2.  Request a bio from the interviewee and ask them what products or services they would like promoted during the interview.

3.  Don’t forget any legal paperwork in terms of releasing the rights to all future content of the interview.

4.  At least 10 days before the schedule date, send a list of 6-8 good interview questions and request a response to those questions at least 48 hours prior to the interview.

Here is a sample list of 8 questions that I use:

* How did your different life experiences influence and inspire you to create your business?

* What obstacles have you encountered and what tools or habits did you use to get past them?

* What is the format that you have chosen to reach women and why is that your favorite?

* Please describe what services and products you offer to meet women’s needs?

* What would you like women entrepreneurs to know?

* What is your business model and why did you choose it?

* How can we integrate the qualities of ease and effortlessness into our lives and our businesses? What habits have you developed?

* What is the next big trend for women entrepreneurs?  Do you have any final words of wisdom to pass on?

The above questions are from a business perspective but you can adapt the themes for any business.  I challenge you to tap into your creativity and develop new and exciting ways to use this newly created content!

Happy Interviewing!

Lydia

How List Making Keeps You Sane

a b c list