You rock!

Don’t believe me? Well, I believe in you—and I know you kick butt!

It can be tough to get all in touch with your inner Beyoncé (or T-Swizz or whatever celeb-with-confidence floats your boat).

We’ve all heard girls “should be” humble. Women “should be” softer, quieter, less confident, less bold. Then as moms, wives and girlfriends, we’re often trying to put others’ needs before our own, juggle stuff (as we aim for rhythm, not that awful word “balance”), and do it ALL.

It’s easy to forget how much we rock.

Plus, when you think about walkin’ around as a strong, confident woman, you may worry you’ll come off as a witch with a capitol “B” or like a cold, tough Devil Wears Prada type. (You won’t.)

So, stop worrying—it’s time to put on your big girl panties (or your cutest non-nude bra) and go for it! Strong and confident are rooted in a positive attitude and a growth mindset. Embracing your confidence will only make you more dynamic, more fun to be around, and MORE butt-kicking than ever.

Confidence breeds more confidence, just like positivity breeds positivity. It can be tough to make that switch, especially if you’ve been feeling stressed, overwhelmed, etc., etc., etc.! But hey, adopt a fake-it-‘til-you-make-it attitude and girl, try on some swagger. Put on that sexy bra and wear that outfit you feel awesome in (even if it’s just to run errands). When you look good, you feel good.

Your confidence and positivity are infectious. You’ll draw others in to you. You don’t have to be faux-positive (no one wants that)—it’s just that little shift in focus to find your silver lining and realize the learning opportunity in every struggle.

Tell yourself you’re great, awesome, amazing, and one hot mama—because lady, YOU ARE!

How to be a strong, confident woman:

1. Realize you have one less rib and you’re still doing better than your counterpart

Women are pretty amazing. We’re creators. Even if you aren’t a mom, chances are you’re still a pet-mom or a cool aunt or really great at taking care of your plants. By our very nature, we’re creators and nurturers—and thus, we’re creative. We give life (to ideas, to children, to our homes). That. Is. Amazing.

Women can do it ALL. No offense to the guys out there, but ladies are amazingly versatile. One minute you’re wiping a nose, tying a shoe, cooking dinner, and letting the dog out (all simultaneously); the next you’re running a business, making decisions, and planning budgets. Guys are single-task focused and women are natural multitaskers (because let’s face it, we have to be).

The only time I’ve ever wished I was a dude was when I was faced with a very dirty public restroom (because let’s just admit, standing up to pee is very convenient). Other than that, guys can keep their bottled emotions, machismo, “tough guy” stuff. There’s a lot of pressure on men to be MEN. I’d much rather be told to woman up than to have to man up. Women don’t have to “be women,” they just are.

You know what I’m talking about. When you make a mistake, when you have baggage, you have to sort through and deal with—so girl, own it! Take accountability. So often we try to make excuses when things go wrong. We shift blame and we think it’s unfair. Well, life can be very unfair. But it’s also what you make of it, so own up to your stuff. Own your garbage and your junk. Only you can change things for yourself.

2. Diversify what makes you happy

There are only a certain number of skills one lady can learn. If your confidence is based only on the things you do well, then you’ll only feel good about yourself when you’re doing that activity. For example, workaholics: they may love their work, but maybe they only feel best about themselves when they work. So they continue to work to continue to feel good about themselves. Find MANY ways to gain satisfaction through work, your family, your hobbies, your LIFE. Remember, you don’t have to be the best at everything to enjoy it!

When your goals and your good mood are dependent on those around you, it’s an emotional roller coaster. If someone’s a jerk to you, does that make you feel bad? Even if it’s not your fault at all? Of course you should care about other people’s feelings, but you also can’t take them on. Your friends should match your values. Everyone goes through a hard time, but avoid the constant downers. If someone’s upset, listen, care, apologize (if you contributed), but don’t let someone’s bad mood or the turn out of the universe impact how YOU feel about YOU.

Sports psychologists use positive visualization to help athletes at all levels. It might sound hokey, but it’s proven to work well—like OLYMPIAN-level well. Believing you can do something psyches you up and gets you ready to do it. On the flip side, telling yourself you can’t do something or focusing on the negative aspects of it does the same thing, but in the reverse. Literally, if you say, “This is too hard. I can’t handle this”—it WILL be and you won’t be able to. So cut the negative self-talk. You’ve got this! You deserve this!

Okay, here we are talking about how YOU can do the things—but now I’m telling you to ask for help!? What gives? Here’s the deal: asking for help is actually a sign of confidence, not weakness. Confidence comes from knowing yourself, your abilities, and your challenges. Asking for help is actually a sign that you know how to reason and use good thinking. Asking for help when you need it is a sign of self-love and bravery!

3. Move forward in spite of fear

Being confident means Believing. In. YOU. Yes, we all have fear, but we move forward in spite of the fear. You can proceed. Move forward even when you have fear. Don’t let it stop you. Mark Twain once said, “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—not absence of fear.” We have to keep moving despite our fears. That is where we are truly brave.

When you wait until you’re confident and “ready,” it’s a slippery slope to failure. Truth be told, it’s a method of self-sabotage. There are many things we face before we’re ready. Yes, we can and should be prepared (don’t just jump into the deep end of the pool when you literally don’t know how to swim). But most of the tough stuff isn’t life or death—so don’t wait for the confidence to come. Sometimes the best way to find your confidence is to just go for it!

In most situations (aside from rock climbing, skydiving, and bungee jumping), the worst-case scenario is rarely as bad as it feels. Sometimes simply recognizing the WORST possibility can make us realize it’s a lot less scary and nebulous than we think. So what’s the worst that can happen? You could fail. You could fall. You could get hurt. But you know what? You pick yourself back up. You can always recover and the more you recover, the stronger you’ll become.

4. Love yourself unconditionally

We’re trained to conditionally love ourselves. Like, “When I lose 10 pounds, I’ll feel better about myself.” Think of your best friend. Do you love her more or less depending on her weight? Does 10 pounds make a difference in how beautiful you think she is? No, of course not! We love others unconditionally, and yet, when it comes to ourselves, we’re super critical and harsh. You are amazing. You only have one body and one shot at life, so make it count. Embrace what you’ve got!

Confidence is a trust that you have the ABILITY, determination, and the will to do “X” (whatever it is you love to do, do well, and kick butt at). Confidence is based on who you are and no one else can take that away. No one can take away your determination or your will. No one else can take away your ability to live your dreams. This is within you and something you create for yourself.

5. Recognize confidence comes from within

It’s time to do some soul searching. Look within yourself and give yourself credit for all the things you do—AND even all the things you attempt to do. Allow yourself to fail, grow, and learn from each experience. Be exactly who you are at this moment. Not who you could be or who you think you should be, but who you are RIGHT NOW. You are unique—embrace it!

Emotions make us genuine, authentic, REAL. Whether you’re speaking, writing, or dancing, expressing your emotions adds beauty, depth, and realness. Learn to get comfortable with your emotions. It doesn’t mean you need to go for the Academy Award with all-out crying, screaming, or rage (although sometimes that might be the case and it’s okay, too). Emotions release energy. Working with a coach for the first time last year, I was in full-out ugly cry sobbing within 7 minutes of our first conversation! I didn’t even know it was in me!! After, I felt transformed. I got it out and it was cathartic. I was a different person because I accepted what was happening inside, took ownership, expressed it, and actively worked to move forward.

I’m a huge believer in meditation and mindfulness. In fact, meditation totally changed my life. It allowed me to connect with myself on a higher level and in a new way. I can review my activities from a semi-objective viewpoint. I can process my activities and my lack of activities in certain areas, as well as my reasons WHY. I can examine my beliefs and the ways I believe in myself. It gives me a chance to forgive myself for my shortcomings on a regular basis. Find what works for you and what keeps you connected on a deeper level.

As I said before, negative energy breeds negative energy. Is this where you want to spend your time? At what cost? It’s time to believe that the world is working FOR you, not against you. Shift your thinking and take the sign as a sign. The world is reaching out to you to work in harmony. Put forth positive and positive things will find you. Yes, sometimes you have an investment in feeling bad—it protects you or it’s for good reason. But sometimes, feeling bad and negative simply has been the story, so it’s time to let it go. Can’t stand your sister-in-law because “she’s the worst person EVER”? Until you decide she isn’t, she will be. Shift your thinking and bring in the positive.

6. Take action

We can become paralyzed by fear. We might drag our feet and put it off. We might procrastinate and ignore deadlines. Taking action is the biggest and best thing you can do to improve your confidence. Say yes! Try new things! Live actively! If you go ice skating and fall all over the place, at least you did it (and I’ll bet you even had some fun)! And next time you know how far away from the wall you can get!  

Did you thought talk of “commitment” was only for people on the dating scene? Well, guess what? We commit to all kinds of things all throughout our lives. Girl, own it!  Be strong. Be committed. If you’re doing YOU, commit to who you are and what you want to be. Don’t waiver from your dreams and goals. Don’t flake out on yourself—hold strong. When you find something commitment-worthy, really embrace it. Strongly commit to the things you do and give it your all.

Remember: You are capable. You have integrity. You have power. With all that awesomeness comes strength and confidence. Girl, I am serious: You frickin’ rock! You kick butt! You’re a superhero and a wonder woman! Believe it because it’s true. You’ve totally got this!

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Ok, so how crazy/awesome is being a mom? Right??

If you’re a mom, you’re working 24/7—and lady, let me tell you: You friggin rock. Kids are hard work. They’re wonderful and just-WOW-amazing and I wouldn’t trade mom-ing for the world, BUT girl it is tough!

I respect the hell out of moms! Anyone who puts their heart and soul into running a household and keeping tiny humans alive, fed, happy and cared for deserves major kudos.

And hey, even amazing moms get that gut-wrenching fear they might be “doing it wrong.” I totally get that. I’ve had those moments just like everyone else…when I argue with my kid about something stupid or snap at her over something small just because I’m having a bad day.

I cringe. I feel bad. Sometimes I even cry. But you know what? No one’s perfect! Not moms—and certainly not CEOs. Being a leader is hard. With great power comes great responsibility…and the power to create something amazing—whether it’s a business or ANOTHER HUMAN comes with a lot of weight.

Point being, if ANYONE knows how to lead it’s MOMS! Being a mom is the perfect training to be a CEO. If you can lead a household, you can pretty much deal with anything the business world can sling at ya!

1. You Set the Vision

As moms, we are responsible for our vision of the family. We set the standards—like what values will and won’t be important in this house. We make the rules and we set the guidelines, policies and procedures.

Will our kids be allowed to watch certain cartoons or eat certain foods? When is bedtime? We’re in charge of setting our family by-laws—and the structure of our family is based on what we set forth.

In the corporate world, leaders hold the vision for their company. A visionary leader sets the tone and they can see what’s on the horizon. Not only do they have vision but they share that vision with those around them. (Total mom-stuff!)

2. You Execute on Your Vision

We set the vision, so then WE are also responsible for carrying out our vision and leading our household to live by those standards.

How often have you heard, “Mom mom mom mom MOOOM! Can I? Can I? CAN I?” even when you’ve already laid down the law? We end up repeating the same message over and over until we’re practically blue in the face.

But guess what? As CEO, you have to do that, too! You’ll constantly receive requests and some of them (while desperate and dire) just don’t align with your vision for your company. If they don’t fit with your standards, you have to say NO. Sometimes over and over and over…

3. You Determine Your (Company) Culture

What’s your household’s “culture”? As an online business manager (OBM), I talk about “company culture” a lot. I ask questions about how the CEO and company leadership set the tone of the company. I ask CEOs of businesses of all sizes, as well as celebs, if they’re embodying the culture of their brand.

As a mom, that’s all on you, too! If Mama’s upset, everyone’s upset, right? Mom sets the tone and tenor for the whole household’s attitude. Her family mimics her coping skills and outlook (whether she wants them to or not)! Is Mom feeling moody? The whole family might feel crabby and irritated. Is Mom feeling positive and generous? Maybe she’ll notice her kids mimicking her optimism.

These responsibilities you manage at home are the exact same things you do within your business. So now’s the time to OWN IT in both places! As a business leader, you should be setting the culture of your company. If you want a positive workspace that walks the talk, you have to do it yourself. YOU set the tone both at home and at the office.

4. You Make Tough Choices, You Learn & Adjust

As leaders and as moms, we’re constantly faced with choices. Not just Coke-or-Pepsi choices, but real, live, huge choices. And how do we even know if our choices are “right”?

We start to measure our choices against our standards—but really, mostly, we don’t know! We aren’t psychic and we don’t have a crystal ball. (Don’t I wish?!) Sometimes we just have to go with our gut and hope for the best, both as moms and as leaders. We might have data and we might have examples from those who came before us, but sometimes we can’t see exactly how things will play out for years.

When people tell me I’m a good mom, I say “thank you,” of course—but really, I’m most concerned about laying the proper foundation for my kids. Day to day, that’s a challenge. And hey, I adjust as I go. We all make mistakes and we all learn—and we try to teach our kids both what we’ve learned and as we are learning. I won’t know if I taught the right lessons until much later when the data comes in. Maybe when they get into high school, they’ll be confronted with drugs or some other hard choice. I pray they’ll make the right decision. But today, I don’t know.  I won’t know for a long time, so I just make the choices based on the data I have and wait and see. As a business leader, it’s no different.

5. You’re Already a Professional Juggler

Women are great multitaskers! Remember how we all laughed at the exposed realities of parenting in that BBC Dad clip? Have you seen the BBC Mom parody version? Mom can juggle ten tasks, while dad is focused on one. Yes, there’s some discussion right now about the efficiency of multitasking in business (but truthfully, I feel like men are mostly leading that conversation)!

Guys just aren’t great multi-taskers and women know how to do it by default, whether it’s at home or at the office. We simply can get more done because we do it automatically. For example, while my husband packs for himself for a vacay, I pack for three of us AND get the dog set, walked and ready. By the time he’s done packing, the house in order, the kids are fed, and everyone’s moving forward. I get it done as I’m going from location to location because I just naturally think, “What 5 things can I do on my way?”

We get interrupted all the time and we don’t skip a beat! Things are thrown at us completely out of the blue and we STILL don’t skip a beat! We multi-taskers run circles around these boys—and as female CEOs, we’ve got all that and more covered!

6. You Understand the Importance of Setting Up Systems

Packing for vacay is yet again a perfect example. Not only do I multitask, but my girls and I have developed a packing system for figuring out how to pack clothes as well as how to determine the exact number of shoes, toys, and stuffed animals we bring. Systems are critical—and as moms we’re constantly setting them up.

We get “workflow.” We understand the need for systems—to get dinner on the table, to get everyone out the door in the morning, to get everyone to lessons and appointments and birthday parties and playdates. It comes so naturally, we might not even think of it as a system or a workflow it itself. It just happens—there are steps to every process and we’re able to envision the steps and break them down simply to get things done.

Systems are absolutely critical to survival in a busy household as well as in a budding business! CEOs do the EXACT SAME THING. They break down the steps required to get a task done, they establish repeatable processes, and they share them with their employees. They find efficient ways to do things so nothing is missed. Moms and great CEOs are experts at systems.

7. You Understand & Appreciate Teamwork

Moms have kids—and altogether the family is a team. Mom might set the vision and implement the systems. She might juggle the tasks and run the household, but it requires a team effort to get it all done. Whether you’re a single parent or married, chances are you rely on your support system of your spouse, friends, family, and neighbors, as well as teachers at school and others to get it all done. That’s your team. Your kids are your team.

CEOs and business leaders know they can’t do it all alone, either. Successful businesses require teamwork. Leaders have to be an inspiration and a motivator—just like Mom. They have to cheer and give instructions. They’re the coach, the captain, and the fan all wrapped into one, but they’re nothing without their team.

Both CEOs and moms have a deep appreciation for teamwork and team effort. Working together is the best way to get ‘er done!

Bonus: You Already Know How Crazy & Rewarding it is to have the World’s Hardest Job!

We alone are responsible for keeping the kids alive and keeping the house from burning down (at minimum). Aside from the fact that we frigging rock, we do the hardest job EVER. Nothing is harder than managing an active household. Nothing.

Not only that, but we’re responsible for creating children who we really hope will turn out to be happy and well-adjusted—and you know, generally good human beings. That’s a hard job, too—THE hardest job, in fact! WAY harder than being a CEO, President, Manager (or any other big-shot company title).

When it comes to business, people can come and go. If it’s not the right fit or an unhealthy environment, or if you plain ol’ fail, you can walk away. Sure, you might lose money. You might even end up having to change your career direction entirely. It might be stressful, but at the end of the day, you can leave.

As a mom, you’re in it FOR LIFE. You’ve taken on the hardest job and you’ve signed up to do it for the rest of it. You are incredible!! If you can handle that, you can seriously handle it all. That’s why being a mom is the PERFECT training to be a CEO!

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Hey there, Boss Lady.

First off, look, I know you’re busy and life feels crazy, but you. are. killin’ it out there! …even if it doesn’t feel that way all the time. (I get it.) As an online business manager (OBM) and entrepreneur mentor, I’ve found that many CEOs haven’t yet realized these truths.

So let’s get down to business. Whether you’re building your business or business is booming—there’s always more to learn about being a CEO!

Turns out, there are quite a few universal truths about being a successful CEO, no matter how your revenue looks or where you are in the business growth process.

As an online business manager (OBM), I’ve worked with CEOs (including celebs) who run the gamut from big businesses to small, working across a whole bunch of industries—and I’ve found that many CEOs haven’t yet realized these truths, even though they’re out there running the show every day! (But hey, sometimes it’s hard to see the whole sky until you’re really flying the plane.)

So I’d like to share these secrets of successful CEOs with YOU. The sooner you learn how the role of CEO really works, the sooner you can level up and become the CEO you need to be.

You got this!

1. You must set the tone and the vision.

You wouldn’t go on a road trip without a map or GPS, right? Well, you can’t run a business without a strong vision—and when you’re CEO, it’s all eyes on YOU.

I’ve seen plenty of companies wander along—not really failing, but not thriving either. They’re just…wandering. Why? Because the CEO didn’t set a strong tone and vision for the organization.

It’s hard to arrive a destination when you have no idea where you’re going. So many entrepreneurs start out with an idea for their product, but they lack a clear vision for their business. You set the tone. You make the timeline. This is your vision and your baby. No one else will do it for you and it won’t happen without deliberate effort.

2. You need to live and breathe by the data.

Wouldn’t it be great to gaze into a crystal ball and see a totally clear picture of exactly how everything in your business is working? (Like who doesn’t want that, right?) Great news! You already have access to an even better fortune teller: it’s your data.

Data is the pulse of your business. Your data tells you what’s working and what’s not. It tells you if your customers are satisfied and if your product is performing. Data guides you. Data makes the decisions. Just like your vision, you need data to help you map out your products, diversify your offerings, expand your brand, and grow. Maybe you aren’t a “math person.” Maybe you hate spreadsheets. (Maybe just the thought of spreadsheets sends you into a panic, for that matter.)

Well, you don’t have to love data, but you can’t afford to ignore it.

So look at your numbers. Check out your analytics. A/B test your communications. Don’t fear the truth behind feedback and testing. Welcome it, and use it as a platform to direct your next moves toward business growth.

3. You cannot lose your cool.  

We’ve all done it at some point: we’ve completely lost it at our spouse, our kids, an employee…someone. As CEO, you must resist the urge. Fight it. If you lose your cool, you’ll just frighten your spouse, your team, your investors, and your customers. Seriously not cool.  

Sounds lonely, right? Well that’s why most CEOs nowadays have a coach of their own or a mastermind group—so they can privately express and work through their fears and doubts, without causing trouble on the outside. Now, I’m not saying you can’t ever vent, but you have to understand it’s a careful slippery slope. Use your coach. That’s what they’re there for.

Get someone you can work with—someone who will help you deal with work baggage before you start slinging it at your employees or customers. Hey, we ALL have fears, doubts and frustrations. It’s OK to express them! Just find someone who can help you process your struggles behind the scenes and keep moving forward as the face of the company.

4. This is no longer your passion project.  

Okay, okay, of course it’s great to like (or even LOVE) your work. Go for it. But you’re in business now, so your focus is revenue and growth. So now’s your time to think BIG. So instead, use your business wins to finance your passions.

If you’re currently standing in that middle ground, moving from hobby to full-fledged business, yes, this can be particularly challenging. But it’s time to STEP UP your game. Your team relies on you, so you need to shift to business-mode: always thinking about what’s best for the business as a whole. You’re going to make some super tough choices and you’re going to have to think beyond yourself (which I’m sure you’re already used to, but there you have it).

This is a new normal—and a powerful, new era you’re entering.

What fits with your brand? What works best for your business, your employees, your customers? What shifts do you need to make to ensure continuity, stability and growth? Do that. Do that today!

5. You won’t love it every day.

Most business owners eventually realize they no longer love coming to work every day. *Gasp!* What?? Well, it’s true. Even if you loooove being in charge of your own business, executing your own vision and running the show every single day…you will NOT always love coming to work.

I’m not going to lie. It’s not always easy. But you chose to be an entrepreneur, so YOU chose to go down this fun (but crazy and sometimes miserable) path.

Work is still work. It’s not going to be 100% fun 100% of the time. Days off still feel like a relief and you’re still going to crave a vacation that allows you to just enjoy your kids and/or hang out with your spouse, and stop thinking about your business.

And hey, that’s OK. You deserve time to take off work and take care of yourself. Working yourself into exhaustion is pretty much the worst, and it’s really not helping your business in the long run.

Even if you’re passionate about your craft and you truly love it—you’ll still have days when you’re crabby and tired. So it’s OK to ask for help and give yourself a well-deserved break.

6. You’ll feel like a fraud sometimes (but you’re not).

COO of Facebook Sheryl Sandberg once attended a speech at Harvard University called “Feeling Like a Fraud.” She said she felt like they were speaking directly to her the entire time. Seriously. Sheryl Sandberg, with a net worth of $1.3 billion.

Alllll of us have suffered a moment of imposter syndrome—maybe even a lot of moments. As CEO, there will be times when you’ll feel like, “OMGoodness, they’re onto me. They know I have no clue what I’m doing!!”

The reality is…they don’t know. You DO have a clue. You’re doing the things and you’re awesome at running your own business. But yes, being a CEO is a learning experience. There’s a new moment of growth every single day. It’s hard and sometimes fraught with stress and scary moments, and yet you are doing it and rocking it! GO YOU.

7. You say NO 1000 times more than you say YES.  

Every mom knows this feeling and so does every CEO. You say no over and over and over. No, we can’t do that right now. No, I don’t think this is the right plan yet. No, I don’t think this is ready to launch. No, this color won’t work.

Saying YES is far harder than saying no:

Yes is commitment.

Yes to moving forward.

Yes to progression.

The yeses are far harder to come by because the yeses take more of your time, more of your energy, and/or more of your money. So you have to be very careful. If you come across a potential YES situation, but it’s not 100% aligned with your business goals, then that’s a NO.

Plan to say NO more often—but don’t be afraid of a great YES! As CEO, you make the decisions and you need to make them with confidence. Answer both without fear!

8. You get to take the credit (and occasionally the blame).

This is your business, your creation! When it thrives, you get to hear the praise. You get to reap the benefits and the rewards from your success. You get to have the corner office (or if you work from home, the prime space above the garage, ha).

This also means that when things get messed up…well, you just have to put on your big girl pants and deal with it. The buck stops and starts with you—which it totally wonderful and totally scary. People love their scapegoats, from “my dog ate my homework” to “my employee messed up your order.” But when you’re the CEO, you have to take the kudos and the critique in stride.

And how fun is THAT?!? This is YOUR baby. This is your responsibility and nobody can take it away from you.

So, the trick is to accept the feedback and be constructive with it. Rather than looking for somewhere to place the blame, look at how YOU can fix the problem and move forward. How can you make this a growth experience?

9. You have to diversify.

No matter what your business, whether you’re an entertainer, a widget saleswoman, a blogger or an inventor, your product isn’t your brand. Your company is your brand—and your brand is more than just one product.

Let me repeat: Your company is your brand and your brand is more than one product!!

If you aren’t looking for different ways to promote your brand, and change up and diversify your offerings, you’re missing opportunities. No idea how to do that? Keep asking yourself questions. If you run a blog, what other products can you offer? Can you promote affiliates? Can you create an eBook? Can you offer an online course? Can you present as a guest speaker at a conference?

You don’t have to put all your eggs in one basket. If you do, you’ll miss out on opportunities to expand and grow. With today’s online world, products and ideas can become obsolete very quickly. You have to be ever-changing, always offering new products and ideas to the world.

10. You don’t need to do everything, but you do need to inspire.

As CEO, you don’t have to do it all. And you don’t have to be everything to everyone in your company…or to your clients. Do what you do well and lead others into doing the rest. You are the source of inspiration and YOU are the one that sounds the call to action!

So often we feel we have to do it ALL, including the parts we might not do well—even the parts we aren’t even interested in. Maybe you’re great at writing, but terrible at tech. Learn the very basics (because it’s important to understand all of your business on a floor level) and then outsource it! Delegate it and move on to the things you’re really good at.

Promote your company, grow your business, oversee your employees—but don’t get bogged down in minutia. Keep yourself focused and moving forward.

As CEO, it’s most important that you lead. Remember, you are the head of your brand and your company. YOU are the boss.

You’re already out there kickin’ butt and takin’ names because you hit the ground running and you’re amazing at what you do! Add these CEO secrets to your arsenal and you’ll be ready to take on the WORLD. Go get it!!

At first glance, the statement “NO NUDE BRAS” might seem unreasonable. What have I got against the seemingly sensible, attracts-no-attention, modest undergarment?

The answer is QUITE A LOT.

It’s not a personal vendetta against the color or a piece of fashion advice. I’m against nude bras because of what they symbolize. I will give its inventor the benefit of the doubt and say that maybe their intentions were pure. Maybe beige bras were supposed to be helpful in the cases of thin white shirts and bright lights. I’ll accept that, seeing as I’d hardly consider myself an exhibitionist. But I can’t ignore what nude bras really stand for overall, when you take a good hard look.

They’re about hiding yourself and any glimpses at or traces of your femininity, in a way that’s more suited for our grandmothers’ generations. Times have changed and we are now women in business in a way earlier generations could only dream of. Hiding and toning down your impact aren’t strategies that you want as an entrepreneur, bra-wearing or otherwise.

Nude bras try not to be seen. They don’t want to disrupt or draw attention. They’re never memorable.

Ask yourself this: on the day of a big interview or meeting, do you pick your boring nude bra– even when there’s no chance of it being seen because your top isn’t sheer? Does it somehow just feel more professional? It kills me to admit but it took a long time to realize how WRONG that is! That’s a leftover idea passed down from when women weren’t allowed to start their own businesses; when sexuality was too threatening.

There is nothing wrong with enjoying bright, beautiful colors and patterns– and allowing yourself to do so can do wonders for your work life and personal life. But you don’t have to take my word for it. A study conducted by Harvard found that confidence is a key factor for career success, where the less confident people, usually women, don’t reach their full potential because of it.

“From a young age, women appear less confident than men. This confidence gap has been argued to play a key role in explaining differences in academic success, occupational choices, and career progression.”

Knowing that, wouldn’t you do all that you can to feel more confident? Why let yourself be held back by something you can actually change starting right this second?!

I hear so many women say they save their exciting, fancy bras for things like first dates, anniversaries, and parties. For every other day, which is most of them unfortunately, we repeat the same bland bras until they’re dingy and worn out. Why is that??? Why do we think we only deserve a confidence boost and, hey, maybe even a cleavage boost, on special days and celebrations? A cardigan and underwear suitable for the 1950’s won’t automatically command respect in the workplace. Feeling good shouldn’t be an indulgence; it needs to be rebranded as a daily investment in your overall quality of life.

When I need to crush a big meeting now, I want the bright red bra or the hot pink that makes me feel like a powerful boss lady. I never thought a nude bra was hurting me, since it’s marketed as being so neutral and demure, but wearing one almost edged me towards taking on those qualities. I would never reach my audience if I was content to be the quiet, “well-behaved” woman in the corner who hopes to go unnoticed. I want BOLD, colorful, fun, and brilliant– for my clothing, my personality, and my first impressions.

If you’re confident in yourself and love who you are, then why wouldn’t you want to be noticed? Even if no one is going to see your pink, mint, neon, striped, plaid, polka-dot bra, they will notice the attitude it gives you. And not attitude in a bad way, as the term is so often used, but the swagger and confidence that other people can pick up on the second you enter a room. It’s the invisible ingredient that guarantees you will be noticed, paid attention to, and remembered because you will stand out. People don’t respect the wallflowers that quietly tread in others’ footsteps; they respect the wave-makers who insist on being heard and confidently present the new ideas they believe in. There is, after all, a reason why the phrase “Well-behaved women seldom make history” is so frequently referenced.

Everyone knows Steve Jobs’s name. No one knows the Microsoft engineer who worked tirelessly and never dared to think outside the box and build a newer, (arguably*) better technology system like Apple.

Work hard. Question tradition. Value yourself. Go far.

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So you’ve done it. You’ve taken the first step to success by allowing yourself to believe you can do it. You’re taking your dreams seriously. You feel confident that big things are coming your way. Sometimes I think that’s the hardest part, because we might’ve spent years pushing aside our actual goals for the things that seemed more realistic or easier.

This post may contain affiliate links. 

Now that you are ready to go after your passions and get more out of life, it’s time to bring in a few key strategies that will actually help you get from point A to B and all of the letters that are sure to come after that!

It all comes down to visualization.

Ever heard the phrase, “I’d have to see it to believe it,” ? It usually takes on a skeptical vibe.

That’s where visualization comes in. The point of visualization is to harness the power of positive mental imagery, so that happy daydreams aren’t just a lack of focus, but a motivating factor and a roadmap to real, tangible success.

With these three visualization techniques, you’ll allow yourself to picture the outcome of your hard work and all of the progress you make along the way. It’s so incredibly inspiring and motivating for the initial push you need to get going, and will act as reassurance in times of doubt. As cliché as it sounds, the more you’re able to see yourself succeeding, the more you’ll believe in your own ability– with each one fueling the other.

A month of 2017 has already passed, but you can still crush all of the goals you have for this year by taking advantage of visualization from this moment forward!

1. Vision

The overall goal in all of this is to make our dreams a reality, and a vision board does that in the most basic sense. You start by printing, tearing out, and collecting all of the visual representations of what you want your life to be or include– a mix of things that haven’t happened yet and the happy moments we’d like to have more of in the future. Include images, words, quotes, and colors– anything that makes you feel inspired. This is for you and you only, so don’t worry about what others might think of your goals. Your vision board is a daily reminder of all the things you’re working so hard for, so holding back or censoring that is holding back the amount of motivation you’ll get out of the process.

If you’ve always dreamed of owning a red Mercedes convertible, stick one onto your board. If your dream is to travel as often as you did in your twenties, dig out a picture from one of your favorite adventures and use that to represent that specific goal. Life is made up of material items, emotions, and abstract ideas, so your vision board should as well.

And don’t be afraid to have some fun with the process of making the vision board! Turn on your favorite playlist and pour a glass of wine like the ultimate adult arts-n-crafts. Instead of flipping through magazines or Pinterest pages with envy, peruse like a serious shopper. Which parts of those photo shoots and inspo pages interest you the most? What would you be willing to work for? When it comes to your dream life, there is no wrong answer.

Tweet: Crush Your 2017 Goals With These Visualizations https://ctt.ec/5c6E1+ #entrepreneur #workingmom

2. Meditation

There are so many wonderful effects that come from taking the time to meditate, and some of the best fall under the visualization umbrella. Meditation is a way for us to organize our thoughts, set our intentions, and gain some mental clarity, but we can also use that time to envision our goals being realized.

Have you ever spent hours playing out potential scenarios and conversations in your mind the night before a big event? It’s usually out of anxiety and prevents you from getting the restful sleep you need to perform the next day– not to mention, it hardly ever proves useful in terms of preparation. Mom life can be stressful, for sure! Meditation, on the other hand, is a way to walk yourself through a situation without stress to cloud your judgment. Because it’s a relaxing process, since it incorporates deep breathing and a designated time set aside, you can work through a solution with a clear head. You are essentially practicing for how you’ll handle the conflicts and interactions that may come up as you work on your goals, which is a crucial next step after the vision board. Whereas the vision board is an unfiltered look at the “why” – why you’re working so hard–, meditation is a technique for visualizing the “how” – how you’ll accomplish all of these goals. While you meditate, you can not only practice scenarios, but will these outcomes into being. You can become a self-fulfilling prophecy in the best way, by focusing so intensely on your goals that they have no choice but to come true.

My favorite meditation is this one! It's something you must listen to.  It will lift you right and and ramp you up for the day1

3. Bullet Journaling

The feeling you get when you see your own progress is worth all of the stress, doubting, fear, and time that went into making that happen– which is probably a big part of why we keep going and refuse to give up. I love working with planners and making lists, but when it comes to visualization, there is a specific journaling method that really encapsulates the ideas behind visualization best.

It’s called bullet journaling.

Bullet journals are a slightly eccentric but highly visual combination of goal planners, to-do lists, diaries, and sketch pads. They can be made from any type of journal or notebook, lined or unlined, depending on your preference, and the contents are made as you go. The first few pages are where you’ll make an index over time. Just like the table of contents in a book, you can reference the index to find the page number of whatever you’re looking for, whether it be your long-term goals or books you’d like to read.

Bullet journals keep track of things you’ve done, things you want to do, and all of the ideas in between. The point is to keep your text concise and include plenty of visuals, whether that be a hand-drawn calendar, symbols to designate the status of a project’s components, or a page full of doodles. You can set aside a page for the sole purpose of listing your little daily “wins,” and another for the larger accomplishments. A bullet journal grows and evolves with you as a tangible representation of your progress, and a sneaky excuse to invest in some really, really great colorful pens!

Let's not forget that you have DO THE WORK required to "crush your goals".  But that said these 3 tools can help you stay focused and on course!

Good luck!

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Maria is the true meaning of balancing work and family. She grew her business with no outside help while raising her children. She later discovered the benefits of outsourcing which enabled her to grow faster and have more time to focus on mom life. Listen as her story unfolds...

Do you love listening to Podcasts?  Or do you not really know what one is quite yet?? Let me make it easy for you.  It’s perfect for you -- the super-busy-always-running-around woman that you are.  Pull up the podcast on your phone, plug-in your headphones, and listen as you work out, do your errands, or even the dishes late night!  

CLICK on the LINK Below & Go!

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Double-click here to upload or link to a .mp3. Learn more

OR another easy way you can pull up the Mompreneur on Fire podcast is via the Podcast App that is already. on. your. iPhone.

This post may contain affiliate links.

Maria Dismondy from Cardinal Rule Press was a New Year's breath of fresh air and is an inspiration for all with her energy, process and resourcefulness.  She started in a structured teacher's position, spent months upon months getting her book published.  She was a resource genius in getting book sales and driving income.  Next she has taken her business and evolved it help more and more do precisely what she did!  You are going to love every step of this conversation including Maria's energy!

We talked about so many things:

• Hybrid publishing
• I believe in you.. You have passion for the project.  Go for it. 
• Working with well-known distributor.
• Speakers budget in School Systems
• Started sending postcards
• Nurtured relationships 
• Created additional products from what was working
• Online courses
• Grassroots marketing
• Social media marketing contents and giveaways
• Provide a lot of value
• Sample Content
• Finding a new distributor
• Creating my own publishing company
• Intensive 8 hour day
• Does it bring you joy?
• Ah-ha moments in her business
• Embarrassed by her numbers
• Local assistant & an accountability partner
• Clients - self-publishing for high profile client
• Course - 10 hours of video - what she did pitching online summits

Resources

• Amy Porterfield
• SCBWI - Online Author
• Day Designer
• The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

More from Maria

I always wanted to be a mom-- that was my dream job as a kid!!!

My first job was at local chicken fast food restaurant which was a family franchise.  I took this job very seriously and was assistant manager at the age of 16 or 17.

I am an avid reader and like to mix my choices between easy novels, parenting books and business related books. You can see all of my current reads here on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1820515.Maria_Dismondy

My favorite business book is:

• The Success Principles by Jack Canfield. A few others include: 
• How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
• The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown

Apps that I use regularly to help with my business

• Asana- To manage my team and projects we are working on
• Google Sheets
• Forest App- To help me stay focused during my work hours
• Facebook Groups- This allows me to check in on my private groups for work without getting sidetracked in my FB feed
• Overcast-I love this app to listen and organize my podcasts
• Voxer- My accountability partner and I check in almost daily on this voice message app
• Instagram- This is my favorite social media platform because I can mix my passion of photography with my marketing my speaking engagements and products

My Favorite Gifts to Give

• Personalized gifts-I love Jane.com to find these
• Homemade gifts-I use Pinterest for inspiration of course! The kids and I work on projects in July and August that will be given as gifts in December since we have time when they are home from school.
• Handwritten letters
• Photos-photography is a hobby of mine-pictures make me so happy because they are reminders of special memories. I love to give photographs away
• Autographed books-whether they are my own books or a book or an author I’ve met, an autographed book is a special gift

Maria's Free Workshop

We talked in the interview about Maria's workshop - here is the exclusive link - for the Mompreneur on Fire podcast listeners!

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When it comes to balancing work and family, figuring out how to spend more time with family usually takes top priority. And why wouldn’t it? As a mother, my chief concern is always my girls! But our friends are crucial, too, and can’t be overlooked. They are a huge part in how we’re able to release, relax, and stay sane. It’s no wonder we value them! So when we do find a couple of hours to ourselves for a girls night, we want to go with the flow and enjoy.

Sometimes that means...

We overlook the time spent on gossip.

We excuse the friend who has really been bringing us down lately.

We write off our own jealousy as healthy competition.

These are some of our most cherished relationships, so it’s understandable to want to avoid ruffling any feathers. Saying no to the people and behaviors that have started to take a toll on your happiness doesn’t have to make you feel like a jerk, though! Friends are the family we choose, and sometimes we simply need to choose to revise how we interact with those friends.

1. Gossip

It always starts so innocently– just a “Hey, have you heard…” that’s initiated out of a desire to share and egged on by curiosity. And then there’s a few pointed looks and a certain inflection of disapproval or scandal in the narration. By the end, what began as a simple transfer of information has turned ugly with opinions, judgments, and jokes at the subject’s expense.

No one feels good about airing other people’s dirty laundry, and yet we chime in to remain part of the group and the conversation, putting aside the regret and disgust we personally feel. But this isn’t junior high or the set of Mean Girls. You won’t get kicked out of your friend group for politely declining to gossip. All it takes to say no to gossiping is a simple, “I don’t want to talk about them. I’m focusing on myself right now and can’t worry about what other people are doing/wearing.”

2. Jealousy

You’ve known them for years, would give them the shirt off your back, and… wait a second, is she wearing a brand new Diane von Furstenberg dress? Yeah, scratch that last part– she doesn’t need my shirt.

Time and closeness do not make your friends immune to being the target of your jealousy– and how you’ll subconsciously treat them differently because of it. Yes, you care about them, but can’t a girl be a little frustrated over how amazing and effortless some of our friends’ lives seem to be at times? The answer is no! They don’t deserve that, and you shouldn’t waste your time and energy lamenting the things you want but don’t have. Say no to jealousy by making a list of all the things in life you’re thankful for. Sometimes we get so distracted by what our friends have, that we forget to see how #blessed we are, too.

3. Draining Relationships

Somewhere in the unwritten friendship code is the starred, highlighted role of supporting a friend who’s going through a tough time. It’s the long phone calls even when you’re tired or the nights you skip your plans to show up with takeout and wine, just to be there for them to vent, complain, whine, and cry to. But patiently helping a pal during a rough patch is not the same as endlessly putting up with someone who is just draining. Maybe they weren’t always that way, but now every interaction leaves you feeling emotionally and physically exhausted, irritated, and altogether spent. You’re torn between being a good friend and being protective of your positive energy, which is a tough place to be.

You can say no to draining relationships without severing a valued friendship. First off, know that it’s not your responsibility to ‘fix’ them. Instead, talk to them. Point out how down they have seemed to you, and how you hate to see them this way. Is there anything you can do to cheer them up? In the future, try to steer the conversation away from triggering topics. If the situation doesn’t improve, limit the length of time you spend one-on-one and mix things up with more group outings.

4. Extra Activities That Don’t Further Your Goals

Invitations should be compliments. They mean we’re thought of and included. But we all know how it can really feel to be asked to take part in something we just don’t see the value of. You don’t want to offend your friends by frequently turning down their offers to go out and spend time together, but at the same time, you also don’t want to find yourself rushing through a project you really, really want to succeed at. Here’s the thing: you can say no to the barrage of extra activities your friends invite you to– without feeling like a jerk. Instead of just saying you have to work, include your friends on what you’re putting so much effort into. Let them see how passionate you are about your goals, and they won’t secretly suspect you’re blowing them off for Netflix and your couch.

5. Constant Social Media

You can’t blame your friends for wanting you to be as constantly connected as they are. There are only so many people you can trust to always throw you a like on Instagram, after all. Your friends will forgive you for missing a post, however. The internet is a dangerous rabbit hole for procrastination, and it’s pretty unsettling to realize how often throughout the day you feel compelled to check your phone. So give it a break! Your fear of missing out is not greater than your drive to succeed in real, tangible parts of life that actually matter in the long run (and sure, you can repeat that as a mantra until it really sinks in.) Delete your apps to lessen the temptation. You won’t erase your profiles and accounts, you’ll just be making them less convenient and easy to access.

We care about our work. We are the proud, huddled masses (huddled in front of our computers, that is) who use our free time to read blogs, listen to podcasts, and search for whatever else will make us better at our careers. The dedication is there. What happened to balancing work and family? In all of our well-intentioned professional development, we still have not mastered the art of saying no– or at least of saying no and not feeling like a complete jerk for doing so.

We know we deserve more recognition, higher pay, and above all, not to feel guilty about it. And yes, there are factors beyond our immediate control– but there are also some habits you can choose to say no to every day that make a huge, noticeable impact.

What am I talking about?

I’m referring to the little choices we make on a daily basis in our work lives that hold us back and stress us out. The incessant emails we grudgingly reply to, despite their lack of importance, because we want to be helpful and accommodating. The lunch hours we work through because asking for help would mean interrupting someone else’s schedule. You can chalk it up to perseverance and a rare work ethic, or you can come to terms with how stressful it can be to put your foot down and refuse.

I won’t tell you it’s not. I will, however, tell you how you can say no to five of these common work habits without any need to feel guilty, selfish, or GASP! “mean.”

1. Working Yourself to Exhaustion

One of the biggest risks of enjoying work is letting that ability to work harder and longer than other people be taken advantage of. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should– a phrase to remember the next time you have to decide between staying late on a Friday or spending time with your kids.

Maybe you don’t even realize you’re taking on too much at once, and that’s something we can fix. The key to gauging your work limits is getting organized ahead of time. Instead of accepting every extra project that comes your way and realizing later on that you don’t have room for it in your schedule, plan out what you need to accomplish this week so you can see what you have time for. Set a measurable work goal for each day, and allow yourself to go home and reset once you complete it. You can say no to working overtime, even when you have to say it to yourself.

2. Answering Every Call & Email

Technology is supposed to make communication more convenient and more readily available, and I think that has subconsciously carried over into us thinking that we have to be readily available anytime our iPhones buzz, ping, and light up. Instant communication is an option, not a mandate! It’s a little insane how much power that little red notification over my inbox icon has! But hey, you’re not Siri and you’re not a concierge. Unless it’s your kids calling, you can let voicemail serve its purpose until you have time to respond. Sometimes I think that making myself available to every text, email, Facetime, G Chat, Skype, etc. will make me seem like I’m completely on top of my stuff– but I’ve found it’s better to finish the task at hand and respond when I can devote my full focus to the conversation. Besides, you set the tone for how others will contact you. Answering every call and email right away may cause your coworkers to expect that kind of immediate response every time!

If you feel obligated, there are so many explanations you can give as to why you weren’t available right at that moment, from being on another call to being so wrapped up in a project that you didn’t notice the notification right away. But when it comes to the not-so-pressing messages, you don’t owe anyone an excuse for having other priorities.

3. Discounting Your Services

Money is a sensitive topic for many people, but you can’t be sensitive about your worth or your livelihood. Payment is a part of doing business, so don’t be nervous to bring it up to your employer. They know you are working in exchange for a profit, but they may not realize you’re unhappy with the size of that profit. If your time and effort aren’t being accurately or satisfactorily compensated, what’s stopping you from negotiating a raise? Maybe you’re worried you’ll seem greedy or be turned down– but it’s more likely that you’ll be respected. It shows you feel confident, value your work, and you’re not afraid to make sure your client or employer values it fairly too.

Decide on a figure that makes sense for your time+the raw materials+your experience level and consider that against the going rate for that service/product.  That way, you don’t start deducting and adjusting based on how much you like the client or what their budget is, and you have a logical breakdown to explain that you didn’t just pluck a price out of nowhere.

Tweet: These 5 Work Habits Are Holding You Back! & How to Say NO! https://ctt.ec/7dgo1+ #entrepreneur #workingmom

4. Not Asking For Help

I’ll be the first one to admit guilt with this one. I just don’t like the feeling of realizing I can’t always do everything myself. It turns out, the feeling of being so overwhelmed and helpless because I should’ve asked for help is way worse. Don’t let your pride get in the way of progress! You won’t seem weak for asking a coworker to lend you a hand on an assignment– it’s just the opposite. You’ll seem resourceful and insightful for knowing when you’re in over your head. Sure, you could let yourself struggle through it on your own… but that means taking longer to get to the finished product. If you work with a team, the beauty of that is being able to reach out to the other team members when you need to.

5. Being Late

Despite what you might think, being late is not an irreversible character trait. You weren’t born with an inability to get to work on time! Even if your boss hasn’t commented on this little habit, being late means not getting started on time, which means not getting as much done as you’d like to or need to… and inevitably working later into the evening to finish your tasks. It’s a slippery slope, and a habit that becomes harder to correct the longer you let yourself feel okay with it. In truth, you’re holding yourself back. So start saying no by packing yourself up the night before, waking up a little earlier, and leaving the house with more time than you need.

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As a working mom and business owner, Alli Webb took one of those business ideas for women and blew it out of the water!  (Pun intended!) She made the blow-out, a natural add-on service to the haircut and made it an affordable yet luxury item for women.  Her story on Drybar's creation, expansion and explosion is not only inspirational it's informational!   

Do you love listening to Podcasts?  Or do you not really know what one is quite yet?? Let me make it easy for you.  It’s perfect for you -- the super-busy-always-running-around woman that you are.  Pull up the podcast on your phone, plug-in your headphones, and listen as you work out, do your errands, or even the dishes late night!  

CLICK on the LINK Below & Go!

OR another easy way you can pull up the Mompreneur on Fire podcast is via the Podcast App that is already. on. your. iPhone.

This post may contain affiliate links.

“I can’t tell you how many people said ‘you’re crazy’ to start this during a recession.”

— Alli Webb

Tweet: From Mobile Blowouts to 100,000 Blowouts (a month!) I love loved talk with @alliwebb @drybar! https://ctt.ec/46Ds3+ #girlboss

The Interview:

We talked about many different things:  

• From NY to LA
• Starting out of necessity
• Transitioning from SAHM to Mompreneur
• Mobile blowouts to brick & mortar Drybar
• Bald business partners
• Leveraging mommy-bloggers for advertising
• Taking a stand and being different in the industry
• Quick growth and expansion
• Starting a business during a recession
• Taking a leap of faith
• Overcoming stress and overwhelm
• Teaching kids the importance of hard work and good values
• The appeal of affordable luxury 
• Mistakes and learning opportunities
• International expansion
• Product and tools in the works
• How to re-charge

“There was no hesitation on my part.”

— Alli Webb

Links:

• The Drybar Guide to Good Hair for All: How to Get the Perfect Blowout at Home

More From Alli

• What did Alli want to be when she grew up?
  • I wanted to be a professional tennis player! 
• What was her first job?
  • Working at my parents clothing store, Flips in South Florida.
• What are her go-to books and apps?
  • I love workout & shopping apps! (Tracy Anderson, Soul Cycle, ShopBop, Zara, Net-A-Porter)
• What are her favorite gifts to give??
  • That’s easy, the gift of great hair! All my girlfriends love getting free blowouts :)

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“We accept the love we think we deserve.”

— Stephen Chbosky

Above all, I hope you know that you are very much deserving of love. You work hard! And I value you deeply. But there’s something you need to hear, even if you’re not sure you deserve the harsh truth headed your way. This may not be the usual tone I take, but it comes from the same intention I always stand by: to help and support women business reach their goals and stay sane while doing so! I do it because I respect the hell out of the women who refused to settle for either work or parenting– one or the other. We want both, because our dreams are much more nuanced than some people gave us credit for.

But that’s a massive undertaking. You didn’t choose an easy path. Not only are there obstacles and unsure footing, but long stretches where there really are no road maps or signposts to let you know you’re still headed in the right direction.

There are days when you get so overwhelmed, discouraged, and frustrated– and as much as we’d like it to, the world doesn’t owe us a reprieve or consolation.

Creative entrepreneurism isn’t for the faint of heart, and motherhood even less so.

The one, absolute constant to depend on is your mindset. If you have the attitude that you will succeed and flourish, then you will.

If you spend time looking for something or someone to blame for not having the life you want, you’ll never get it.

I think this is something we all know, deep down. Whether we consciously acknowledge this truth is a wholly different matter. I don’t blame you for not wanting to hold yourself responsible when every day has a full set of responsibilities already assigned to you. Especially as mothers, when we wake up and go to sleep worried about the small, blossoming lives that we have the happy burden of nurturing, protecting, and shaping for their own successes.

Haven’t we always been told that we can achieve anything we set our minds to?

So why don’t we believe it?

If you want to meet someone to pitch your big idea or make a business connection, reach out to them. Don’t worry about what they might think or if they’ll turn you down. Deal with the actual events as they happen in the present, or you’ll anchor yourself in hypothetical disappointment.

If you want to start a website, log on to SquareSpace or Wordpress right now and just start. If you’re telling yourself that you need a concrete business plan, a web developer, and marketing team in place before you take the first step, you’re making excuses.

Happiness is a choice.

It’s comprised of the little ways we decide to view the world and all the situations we face. It’s seeing the value in negative experiences, but also wanting to improve them of our own accord. If your instinct is to wait for someone else to make you feel better, you’re depriving yourself of the pride and satisfaction that comes with being your own hero. The world doesn’t often take pity on those who actively choose not to help themselves– or others. So don’t wait for the world to offer you the opportunity of a lifetime, or for fate to decide it’s your turn to win. That outcome isn’t a matter of chance, but of working hard and insisting it will. Be a self-fulfilling prophecy in the best way.

Helplessness is a myth.

It’s a sickening emotion that we can fall victim to if we buy into its reality. There is always something you can do to make things better than they were before, even if there isn’t a precedent already set. How many success stories feature a person who, against all odds, shocked the world with a seemingly ridiculous idea? How many of the world’s greatest minds were told they’d amount to nothing– and had to believe in themselves when no one else would?

You can spend another year reading about these revolutionary underdogs in viral blog posts and 60 Minutes specials. Or you can tell yourself right now and everyday that follows, “I will see this through. I have big dreams and I will make all of them happen.”

It’s an intimidating prospect, no doubt, because it means that there’s no one else to blame if you fail. That’s why you have to remove that as a possibility. Change your inner dialogue until you’re your own biggest proponent and cheerleader and emotional benefactor. Ignore concepts like modesty and realistic-ness. You don’t have to tone down your goals or place boundaries on how far you can go and how successful you’ll be. You’re entitled to the world, and anyone who’s threatened by your ambition and confidence needs to be reevaluated.

Make 2017 the year you’ve never had before, and the one you’ll look back on as the start of a new era. Expect messiness and complications, but don’t fear them.

I agree that we accept the love we think we deserve.

I hope to always get the advice I need.

And I’ll always work for the life I want.

I wish the same for you.

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You can focus on creating multiple streams of income or waking up early to finish the laundry. While both need to happen at some point, they are not both a priority. Your to-do list is long, and time is limited. Make the most out of each day by knowing where to spend the energy and when to let things slide. 

You can’t force motivation. It’s just not realistic to expect yourself to wake up each day with a laser focus on being productive, and the energy to follow through. But your heart is in this, and you can retrain your brain little by little until being your best self is only a matter of “I woke up like this.” 

When?

Even if you’ve struggled to stick to New Year’s resolutions in the past, the fact remains that this is an incredibly opportune time to make a change. We’ve been told over and over that this is a chance for starting over and bettering ourselves, so the perception is already ingrained in our psyches. It’s not a date you can push back and put off, and the aura of change will be all around you. Plan to start making little changes on January 1.

I changed my life January 1, 2016 and you can plan to do the same in 2017.

How?

You know how they say it only takes 21 days of doing something until it becomes a habit? It’s like that. You make the change. You fight for it. Every living day. And to start you can majorly change your life by making minor adjustments in how you approach the different parts of your day to day.

It’s all about active vs. passive.

These are terms you’ve heard a million times before, but did you ever consider redefining your life with them? You can’t resolve to be on your game, 100%, every day, but you can change how you approach your day to start getting the most out of it. As a working mom, you can do this by organizing the parts of your life into active or passive categories. What deserves your full attention and engagement, and what is better being overlooked?

You want to live actively in the parts of your life that call for it most-- the activities that benefit your mental health, wellbeing, and financial success. Dedicate your time and attention to the things that have the greatest positive results. Anything that doesn’t move you forward or positively affect your life should be regarded passively, with little acknowledgment and even less emotional significance.

Here’s where to start:

5 PLACES TO LIVE ACTIVELY:

1. Getting Out of Your Routine

There’s much to be discovered when you deviate from the beaten path, especially when the beaten path is the one you travel day after day, without much enthusiasm. Boredom and apathy come when you know exactly what to expect, so even if your daily routine isn’t horrible and painful, you’re still doing yourself a disservice by repeating it for too long. Stimulate your creativity and curiosity and make a change. I did things that freaked me out. Scared me to tears - before and after the activity. I fell and was foolish. I was embarrassed and I was terrible. But then guess what happened - I created some successes too. How did you start a podcast? How did you get so many listeners? How did you put yourself out there? How do you earn money from it? Do something that freaks you out. The mere fact that you will survive it - is eye-opening and can be life-changing too!

Even if it’s just trying a new restaurant for lunch, or going to the grocery store on a different day of the week. You never know who you’ll meet or what you’ll see, and that’s exciting all on its own. If you could choose, wouldn’t you want your life to be more Alice in Wonderland than Groundhog Day? Good thing you can choose.

2. Driving Sales

Boosting sales is a cause and effect type deal. Do what you haven't done before. Hello! Put yourself out there in a new way. Every business owner has to play an active role in accomplishing this, or sit around and hope a celebrity gets photographed with your product in US Weekly. Devote more time to researching marketing trends and implementing launch strategies. Start implementing ideas for multiple streams of income. Set up social media accounts for your business and go after meaningful business connections Reaching out to customers and influencers online is one of the easiest, cheapest methods of becoming active in this category.

3. Reducing Wasteful Spending

Ignoring the pile of receipts won’t make them go away, but actively addressing your spending habits will. Take a look at your spending history and see how many of your purchases were for essentials, and how many were a matter of impulse. What items could’ve been avoided if you had planned ahead? Even downloading a spending analyzer app is an active step toward cutting back on wasteful spending.

4. Being With Your Family & Friends

This is dual-sided, because it takes a deliberate effort sometimes to not only set aside time with your loved ones, but to be actively engaged when you do. If your life is so regimented and busy that it means scheduling family time in your planner, then so be it. Just make sure you can commit to a few hours of being there mentally in addition to physically, aka setting aside your phone. Family time is an important investment that can be overlooked without a little effort.

5. Living a Powerful Life Everyday

Fake it ‘til you make it, believe it until you achieve it. You can be wealthy without trying, but you can’t live a powerful, impactful life without actively pursuing one. Wake up everyday and tell yourself that you are powerful!

Then reinforce that mantra by living actively where it matters. Make choices that you can feel good about, and always look to move forward.

5 PLACES TO LIVE PASSIVELY:

1. Technology

For all of its benefits, there are just as many downsides to technology. It’s necessary for running a business in the 21st century, but that doesn’t mean you need to invest your personal life in all of the online happenings. Adopt a passive, almost uninterested approach to the internet and all of its trappings (see: the phone glued to your hands at all times). You don’t need to get involved in the comment war on Facebook or check Instagram/Twitter/Snapchat every hour on the hour. Contrary to popular belief, you can go to sleep without scanning social media for everything that happened online that day- and will probably sleep better because of it. You don’t have to cut yourself off from the outside world, just make sure it’s not on your priorities list.

2. Laundry

Disclaimer: please do not give up on your hygiene. But is forcing yourself to wake up early on Sunday to fold socks going to better your life? Let chores like laundry fade into the background instead of taking center stage. It will get done, just not before the things that help you reach your goals. You’re much more than a housewife, so think beyond that. You have much greater priorities. Besides, if you have school-age children or adult family members, the role doesn’t even have to belong to you at all.

3. Grocery Store

If you go to the grocery store because it’s Sunday, and not because you actually need anything, then you’re not living passively in this area. I know that most people make trips to the supermarket based on a schedule, but think of how much time that wastes! Grocery shopping doesn’t have to be a weekly outing that must be done above all else. Let it become a part of your life that you treat passively, meaning it gets attention only when warranted… such as when K-Cups go on sale.

4. Returning Every Email

I know how powerful the Pavlovian response to that little red notification box can be on your mail app. Maybe if it was a different color, we wouldn’t all be so anxious about opening and responding to emails as quickly as possible- I’ll write a letter to Apple. But in the meantime, decide to live passively in this situation. Having email capabilities on your phone is supposed to be a convenience, not an obligation. A powerful life is not one bogged down by tedious email responses. Your time is important, and you only need to give your time to the important emails.

5. Watching Every Show

It’s nice to be up on the latest pop culture trivia, but it’s better to feel accomplished in something with real value. Passivity here means watching TV when you have time and want to decompress, instead of blocking out your entire weekend to binge Orange is the New Black. There are too many streaming services and recording options to justify putting off something important in order to catch an episode. Besides, we all know it’s never going to be just one episode- not with THAT cliffhanger! Make a list of the shows that have piqued your interest, and catch up on them on your sick day, long weekends, or flight (Netflix now lets you stream offline!)

These past few weeks we have talked about doing work that is important to you, finding out what is important, how to make such decisions and why you need to. Today is just the beginning for creating space and making room in your life for achieving these things that you are deciding to work on. There IS room in your life for all these things - you just have to decide what you want and actively go for it.

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Today I am going to jump right in. It's Monday and I mean business. I'm your online business manager and I know what's holding you back. It's one of these 2 things.

Here it is, the 2 things holding you back:

It's your focus. Or your lack of focus. Period.

Don't roll your eyes! I'm not your mother!

You are making decisions in one of two ways. With how you feel or by what the data is telling you. Truthfully, you need to use a combination of both. Both activities will aid you in becoming the next powerhouse in your industry.

Start here. Start today.

What is the data telling you? Here is a quick list of what to look at.

Tweet: When your OBM says: "I know what's holding you back" http://ctt.ec/498Rc+ via @ashleighblatt

Emails

• What emails are being read?
• What emails are being tossed?
• What emails have the most clicks?
• What emails have the most responses?
• Where does your email funnel shine? Where do they start to lose steam?

Sales

• Where is the sale coming from?
• How many sales were generated per platform?
• How many sales were generated per push?
• What is your Cost Per Acquisition?

Engagement

• What is Google Analytics telling you? Where and how are your peeps finding you?
• How many Likes / Hearts / ReTweets are you getting per post?
• Which post has the most engagement?

Yes. All of this matters in your business. All of this information tells you what is connecting and what is not.

Now what are you to do with this data?

Take it step by step. One by one. Task by task.

-> Data (or a transfer of information) is what made Fast Fashion (you know Zara, H&M and Primark) is what made these business owner ga-gillionaires. They use their data from their quick sales to make decisions about product creations and sales prices.

-> Data is why the Pop-Up Shop exists. You test your products, prices and players and let the data tell you what to do. Check out #2 in this article - data is king.

-> Data is what won The Donald his seat in the White House. Like it or not, moving on the data they had took them to the Oval. This article was a fascinating read on that topic.

This is the era we live in. This is era where business is won.

Data

More Data.

and You.

Don't forget you have to do the work.

You have to take the data, absorb it, make the changes necessary and move forward.

Step by step. One by one. Task by task.

---

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Business ideas are super easy to come by. But what do you do with them once you have them? First - we have to take a look at what is happening in your business today. We have to know what’s going on and where to build from, and what works best for you.

Are you like me? Do you settle into an evening and think about the day that just passed? The future days ahead? This time of year, everyone - and I mean everyone - is thinking about the next year. Will it be more of the same? Or will change really happen? Will you do anything that is exciting??

There’s something about the holiday season that tells us to lapse on life and in business. But man oh man there is also a very strategic power movement happening too.

You know the quote “Work hard in silence, let your success be your noise”? Many entrepreneurs are doubling down today so they can hit the ground running tomorrow. Right now, they are doubling down.

I have had so many conversations like this lately, I want to get you started in the right direction.

First, let’s talk about IDEAS and what to do with them.

Business ideas are super easy to come by. Well, for me they are super easy to come by. I read like a maniac. I work with people in all sorts of fields and industries. I love having the insider knowledge of how businesses operate. I soak it in like others soak in US Weekly. My IT experience had me working with CEOs and CTOs of government agencies and Fortune 500s - even Fortune 100s. We were building kick-*ss systems to keep us safe and to protect our people abroad, to keep Americans healthy - like legit healthy, to help our Vets in very real ways, and yes to also manage hundreds of millions of dollars. Now I get to work with the most amazing entrepreneurs who are not shy about wanting to build build build in this online world. It’s a random combination, but nothing short of a whole lot of fun!

Where to Start? With your Deep-Dive -> Ideas and Needs -> and then your For What & Gut

You know in marketing when people tell you that you have to do the research on your ideal client or figure out your avatar. You nod your head and slightly roll your eyes saying, "yeah yeah, I already know that." Then, not until you have done that actual work do you realize how amazing and important that activity was?

Well, my first steps here are as important to follow through on as figuring out the ideal client and avatar is for the marketer.

First - we have to take a look at what is happening in your business today. We have to know what’s going on and where to build from, what works best for you.

When you take a deep-dive look into your business, you want to be honest. You want to go into the data and write out what is working, what’s not, and where the improvements need to be. How and where you need to improve your business in the current state. Look at your sales, presence, exposure (2 different things), and your purpose. At the end of your review, you will know where you are awesome - where you are rocking it! And quite frankly, where you have room for improvement. Within this review you will also get a clear understanding on what you want - what your ideas and needs are.

For example:

There is this amazing designer out that has an almost 7-figure business strictly through word-of-mouth referral business. 7-figures and no advertising whatsoever. What’s even more amazing is that this designer gets referrals from Billionaire to Billionaire (yes with a B) and from Celeb to Celeb. His work is as gorgeous as the clients are high-end. But get this, the man has no (none, zip, zero) social media presence. No Facebook page. No Twitter account. Has no email list. Has no outreach program. Crazy, right?

It’s so crazy you kind of love that, right?

But listen to this, he also knows he’s losing business because of it. He knows the “younger kids” look to see what he’s doing online and when they see nothing, they move on. He also knows that he’s missed client work and then even partnership opportunities because he has no presence. One of his designer friends, who has a decent social media presence, partnered with another brand to make window coverings.

Boring, right? Not so much.

Not until you hear those window coverings bring in over $10,000 / month.

FOR WINDOW COVERINGS.

That’s real money. That’s less clients you have to take on. Less time out of your busy schedule.

So, you start with an understanding of where you in your business currently, review and understand your needs and does this line up with your "for what"? When you have this information, you understand how to lay the foundation and where you need to build from. Make sense?

You understand how your business is currently operating. You know what you should do. Now what do you want to do? What are your natural extensions? What do your customers want? What do you want to do?

How oh how will you choose?

2 Ways:

1. You have to look at the numbers. There is no way around it. Numbers do not lie.
2. You have listen to what your gut is saying.

When we run the numbers behind creating a new project or product, we take a look at time, effort, materials, and marketing and we compare that against a conservative and an aggressive sales or impact outlook. You are in the business to make money. Will this effort and investment be worth it?

Where can find quick wins? Where do we want to be long-term?

Let’s say you’re thinking about pulling together booklets, notepads, and stickies! There are short term projects here and there are long term projects here.

When you look at the numbers - customer base? Conservative sales estimate? Margins vs investment? Is the initial design and maintenance worth it to you??

In the short term, this could bring in a few hundred to a few thousand dollars - more even. Is that worth it to you? Then thinking long term, is this a good tool to use for additional customer acquisition?

Could these new products drive traffic to your other products and services? What is the cost acquisition for a low cost product vs a high cost product? What conversion estimates can you determine from one to the other?

For example:

Maybe planners and scratch pads are not thrilling for you, per se, but what if I told you the one-time design and product has KILLER margins. You know there is a reason why you see so many pads and planners in the stores. What if I told you these low-cost items that are sold in the aisles at big box stores account for as much as 30% of their annual revenue and bring in the highest margins. There is a reason why when you’re standing in the checkout line that you’re surrounded by these goodies.

A real, specific reason. People want to BUY more.

THEN, not sure if this is of interest to you, but as an example, I know several specific people who market their lower priced items like the workbook / planner / stickies for revenue AND customer acquisition purposes. Planners and pads bring in revenue yes but they also help create new client relationships from which you can build. These women bring in decent monthly revenue from their products and then also use this as their starting point for a killer sales funnel for their more expensive products and services too. All in all bringing in 7-figures a year.

And then suddenly are you going to look at the sticky pad a little bit differently aren’t you??

(And now you know why I soak in business stories like they are an US Weekly!)

And if you still don't care, that brings me to my final point.

If you just don’t care, then you just don't care, and not a minute more needs to be spent on it... at this time. No effort or time will be worth it. This is when you have to go with your gut. This is when you have to be honest with what excites you, what doesn’t, where you want to spend your time and not.

Everyone has different business ideas, different goals and is coming from a different starting point. The quick wins are different for everyone. The long-term build is similar, but different for everyone.

That’s why I want you to 1) do a deep-dive of understanding into your current business 2) know where the ideas are 3) know what the needs are (from your data) 4) know what really excites you and for what you doing this work for.

Your information, your data, and your gut will tell you, if you listen to it, where oh where you should go next year!

Once you know where you want to go, you have to make room for it! Click here to sign up for my Make Room for Revenue 8 Step Checklist. You don't have to be 1 thing. Not at this stage. Not anymore.

When you're a creative entrepreneur sometimes you forget that you should be using your creativity to generate multiple streams of income!

Let’s call a spade a spade. It what it is. Being a creative entrepreneur isn’t easy.

So please oh please don't make it harder on yourself!

It’s easy to fall in love with, and easy to work hard at because your passion is there and the fulfillment is just so rewarding. But it’s not cut and dry. There is no set trajectory or linear path of steps to follow – and that can be frightening. Being classified as “creative” means your business is inherently unique. I’d rather be unique when going into a business venture because it could mean striking gold where no one else has even thought of looking, but the flip side of that is never really having a handbook to fall back on when you hit a fork in the road.

But here’s how I can help you– all of you going after creative, non-traditional dreams– in very specific terms. Let me tell you what not to do. Take a minute to go through a few of the common mistakes I have seen creative entrepreneurs make over the years. If any of these already sound like you, it’s not too late! If you’re just starting out, here’s what to look out for:

1. You’re not treating yourself like a multi-faceted business

If you secretly worry that your business idea will only ever end up as a failed hobby, that insecurity will hold you back. What else holds you back is not thinking big enough. Not recognizing how much people need and want from you. You are in demand, right? You are loved and beloved. The possibilities are infinite. So why are you still producing 1-2 products a year?

It's time to fully commit.

You have the ability to do that comes from seeing yourself as a full-fledged professional entrepreneur… and not just a woman who’s cruising along. Dive in again!

You are running a business that may become the next Apple or Snuggie or Martha Stewart. You’re not selling lemonade in your driveway for $1 a cup. Consider that when you divide up the time in your day. You have to treat yourself like an established business with many moving parts that all need attention. This is important, because achieving success is important to you. There’s no need to feel guilty about devoting time to getting your company up and running, or running smoothly. You’re not being selfish; you’re being an entrepreneur.

I repeat. You're not being selfish; you're being an entrepreneur.

2. You don’t see yourself as the expert you are

You wouldn’t start a company that you have no interest in or knowledge of. This is your thing. Your interest has led you to spend a lot of time exploring the subject because

A. You love your product/field and personally enjoy using it/immersing yourself in it

Or

B. You had a personal problem that you’re trying to solve for yourself and others with your business idea

You are the expert, and people want to hear more from you!

They want to learn from your experiences, hear the story behind your business, and find out all about the product or service you offer. People love a good origin story, especially if you’ve come up with something truly out of the ordinary. They’ll want to know, “How did you think of that?” and you, as the captain of the whole operation, will instantly have a rapt audience. No one knows the company as well as you, which makes you the ultimate expert. Know that, and step confidently into the role.

Tweet: 5 Mistakes You Are Making As A Creative Entrepreneur http://ctt.ec/cWk6d+ #entrepreneur #femaleentrepreneur via @ashleighblatt

3. You have the wrong attitude about self-promotion

Everyone around you is a potential customer, and every interaction can be a marketing opportunity. It doesn’t make you the pompous, self-centered woman that everyone else starts to avoid at parties and in the grocery store. It makes you a smart businesswoman who knows what she’s doing.

You have to be your own publicist– even if you can afford to hire a PR firm and especially if you can’t. Your genuine passion and depth of knowledge will always translate more powerfully than someone who reads off a script. You’re a marketing asset, so never be shy about what you do. You need to get your name and your company’s name out there.

To start, you want all of your established contacts to know what you’re up to: that you’ve started a business and what it does. That means updating your social media to include news clips, behind-the-scenes type videos, and a permanent link to your website– and updating often. Every post will not reach every follower, so you’re not bombarding people like you might think. People are focused on their own lives, so you have to fight a little bit to grab the spotlight for a few seconds.

But don’t stop there. Reach out to form new relationships, in real life and online. Social media grants you FREE access to millions of people, and you can take advantage even while waiting on line for a coffee. Not everyone will rush to buy your product right away, but you will be the person they think of when they are in the market later on.

4. You’re not using the data that you have right in front of you

Part of treating yourself like a multi-faceted business is investing time and money into data-tracking efforts. OR simply listening to what the others keep telling you! You need a book! You need to be on stage! Sure you may not know how to enter those fields just yet but come on! You have a wealth of people around you would love to help you out!

And if you don't know, girl, there are 1001 ways to see what "your people" are missing from you! For example maybe you’re getting a lot of likes, but how many people are actually persuaded to click on your website? What do they do once they’re on your page, and how long until they lose interest and leave? You don’t want to blindly spend money on promoted tweets or sidebar ads– you want hard numbers that indicate which type of paid advertising is being clicked on the most and focus there.

Data is the most reliable advice you’ll come across. It is proof of what has worked for other similar businesses, and pinpoints consumer needs and trends in every demographic. Stop guessing and wasting time. You know your field, industry and your company. If not - then really - take 30 minutes and start digging! The most successful and most profitable companies got that way from utilizing data.

5. You’re trying to be a one man show

Entrepreneurs make it because they have the skills and personality for business without needing to rely on a corporation, but no one makes it big completely on their own. You need someone who can help you grow your business and support you in the process. You’re an expert, but an expert in your field. You have enough on your plate without trying to take care of all aspects of your company on your own.

I know that you don’t want to pay for full time staff salaries, so hire only the most essential positions that your business requires daily to stay afloat. Leave other positions on an as-needed basis. For example, you probably don’t need a full-time IT team, even if your business is entirely online. Pay for the help you need, and don’t be afraid to acknowledge that yes, you do need it. Of the Essentials to hire are: advisors and managers to help with strategy and planning, assistants to do the time busting work, and of course the technical experts.

It is beyond fun to work with creatives who are masters of their craft. It is beyond fun for everyone involved to expand horizons, expand brand and yes, revenue streams too!

"There was so much work that needed to be done it was overwhelming. We had a hard time getting things done.  Now, we have 2 courses that are selling, signed partnership agreements, will be doing a speaking tour and have a book coming out next year.  It's unbelievably exciting!" - Beloved Reality Star

"We wanted to tap in to a new market and needed to know how the others were so successful.  I don't understand how Ashleigh knows so much.  Now we have hired designers and manufacturers, have 2 stores opening and have our website up and running. I carry Ashleigh's recommendations with me everyday." -International London-based Guru

Click here to sign up for my Make Room for Revenue 8 Step Checklist.  You don't have to be 1 thing.  Not at this stage.  Not anymore.

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An awesome Online Business Manager on your team will take your work from beige to bold in a matter of weeks.  You see, as I see it, there are 2 kinds of people out there - those who wear beige and those who live in and seek out color!  

Let me repeat, you either wear beige or seek out color.  A good OBM will help you seek out the latter vs settling on the beige.

If you're one that seeks out color - then this post is for you.  

Here's what I know.  You're an awesome cross between excitement and knowledge.  Everyone who knows you loves you. They love the work you do including the fun (and funny) that you put out.  Your energy all around is what excites others!  That coupled with your masterful skill in web design has referral after referral coming in.  

As far as I can tell, you have 2-3 launches on your programs a year, one big event and sure you'll take some 1:1 work when it comes in and when it's a good fit.

You team up with some friends to do the occasional promotion because - why not - it's fun to work with your girls.

AND now I see that you are building up a Video & YouTube platform.

You're a creative.  I get it.  I love it.  I love your work!  I'm not going to lie.

But here's a brutal truth too.  My brutal truth and I hope I am not pouring water on your fire of excitement.  But I am disappointed for you too.  Because from what I can see, you're really awesome, you do awesome work and now, next year is going to be more of the same.  

More of the same.  

YouTube?  Really?

What I want and am DYING to see from you is sooooo much more!  

You're bold not beige!  

Where are the gigs?!  Where are the products and partnerships?!  Where is your book??  Where is your speaking tour?  Where are your planners and post-it notes? How come you're not making Matt Lauer swoon first thing in the morning?!

I'm shaking my virtual head over here in sadness.  

The first thing I would do as your Online Business Manager is BURN THE BEIGE and shake you out of your own status quo.  

YouTube?  Really?  

NO!

You're bold! Not beige! 

You don't wear those dirty boring dingy nude bras do you?  NO!  You'd burn it I am sure!

Then why oh why would you settle your life and business on beige or boring?  

Okay.  Now I am opening your eyes.  Right?

Your eyes have needed to be opened.  You need to get excited again.  You need to think bigger.  

That was and is Step 1.  

Step 2 happens when I have you thinking about shaking things up, I want to hear about your out-of-reach "thing" that you rarely allow yourself to think about.  Together we will get out of you that very super fantastic awesome out of this world dream that you really want to work on but never go there.  AKA What do you want?  What do your dreams dream about?? Is it that book and speaking tour?  You having your own product with "in collaboration with" your favorite brand?  Hello American Rag - feature my style?!  Hellooo Jonathan Adler - we've got some great collab ideas!  Hellooo fun post-it notes!

Step 2 is crazy fun.  You start thinking bigger and dreaming up the awesomeness again.  Once we have figured out the most awesome ideas for you, then we start making plans!  These fun, crazy ideas build out your brand, get you closer to your own awesomeness, keep your peeps loyal and grows your business.  Grows your pockets with revenue too! 

So, um, YouTube?  What in the world does YouTube have to do with anything??

YouTube is just more of the same.   You don't want more of the same.  Do you?

When working with an OBM you will go through Steps 1 and 2.  Heck, truthfully, sometimes you can do this on your own or when you're at Happy Hour, a little buzzed and are dreaming with your best girls.

The problem is that more times than not, the next morning happens, you wake up thinking how fun that was.  Then you shake it off and continue on your day as usual.  

This is precisely why you need an OBM.  Enter in Step 3. 

A really good OBM will not only help you think bigger, they will bring to life the big dreams you dream of.  Instead of shaking off the Happy Hour as a fun night with the girls, your OBM will have a plan of action that next day for how you're going to make those G&T dreams come true.  Specifically, she would hand you the steps you need to take to write that book, create that product and make that partnership happen.  Then together we would work with your team to determine who will perform which activity, what needs to be researched / hired out and how, specifically, this action plan will be executed on.  Not to forget from within what timeframe.  She would orchestrate a step-by-step plan and activities the moves you and your team need to make last night's dreams happen. 

Let me repeat, a really good OBM will not only help you think bigger, they will bring to life the big dream you dream of.  They will show you how absolutely POSSIBLE this dream is. They will work with you and your team step-by-step to orchestrate the moves you and your team need to make your crazy dreams, not your boring, beige dreams, come true. 

Let's say, my darling, that you want to publish a book.  That is what you realllly want.  Then this awesome OBM would break it down the steps and tasks for you.  You want a book?  

Here's where we would start:

• What are you going to write about? 
• What are the goals of your book?  This matters because it will determine what and how we create it.  Is it worth trying to go through a Publisher or is it something we can Self-Publish?  Your goals determine which path here is best. 
• If you decide you want to get it published, then you need a "One-Pager."  This one pager is 7-10 pages long and will cover the gamut of information you need to present to a publisher.  What is the book, who is the audience, what the book's uniqueness. Why why why. 
• Then we pull a list of publishers
• And we start connecting with them.  Think 100 publishers in 45 days.  

From there within a very short period of time we will have you working on your book and the process started.  No more "I always wanted to write a book."  Now you are taking action and by the time Q1 is up, you will know be writing that sucker and know when it will be released!  Burn the beige! Go for bold!

Today, in your crazy busy life, there is space to do the work of the big dream.  You don't need to shake off the excitement as a Happy Hour with friends.  You can actually get working, as you are, to makes these things real.

It's your OBM's job to create the steps, hold your hand and walk you (and your team) through the process.  Beginning to end.  The OBM will create the plan and facilitate these conversations, day in day out until those connections, collaborations and creations are made.  

Tweet: Why You Need An Online Business Manager! http://ctt.ec/cdpdk+ via @ashleighblatt #entrepreneur

In real terms this means that everybody has a role.  Everybody has expectations.  Everybody and every task has deadlines. And everybody has help.  If something is not clear, we clear it up.  If a deadline is too soon, we push it out to a reasonable time.  If a hand is raised we ask and we answer.  Your team is excited again and they become accountable again.  Excuses disappear and commitments are made.

Real work gets done.  Magic happens. 

This Burn The Beige 6-month program will: 

• Give you the clarity on what it is you reallllly want to achieve or point it out to you if it's clear as day!
• Give you the actual steps (Steps 1, 2 and 3) you need to take to achieve those big, crazy dreams.
• THEN we will work these steps into your and your team's day.  We won't extend hours, we will focus the work. 
• Finally, just as important as the rest we will have regular conversations, in fact several times a week, to answer questions, get past hold-ups, hang-ups and any other randoms that prevent us from meeting our marks.  
• Within a matter of a month or 2 you will have real progress to the real stuff that matters to you and your people.

Burn the beige and go for the bold!  Get an OBM on your team that will not only push push push you to think bigger but to also put the steps and team in order to make that happen. 

I have 4 spots available beginning in January. Click here to secure your spot.  Burn the beige and go for bold! 

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Do you love listening to Podcasts?  Or do you not really know what one is quite yet?? Let me make it easy for you.  It’s perfect for you -- the super-busy-always-running-around woman that you are.  Pull up the podcast on your phone, plug-in your headphones, and listen as you work out, do your errands, or even the dishes late night!  

CLICK on the LINK Below & Go!

OR another easy way you can pull up the Mompreneur on Fire podcast is via the Podcast App that is already. on. your. iPhone.

Marilyn was a great interview.  She's a mom and business owner who works with large and small businesses.  

The Key Take-Aways For Me Are:

• Your business can look however you want it to.  It's up to you create and decide with whom you work. 
• Traditional networking business practices still work to help your business grow. 
• Do what's good for your soul.  You can feel her warmth as she talks.  Happiness is...

The Interview:

We talked about so many different things:  

• When the big market dried out, smaller markets win
• Re-tweaking services to help people 
• Word of mouth has been biggest tool for selling the different packages and services
• If you think it's something I can't do, please give my card out anyway
• Pool of clients in trainers and early childhood
• Work that warms the soul
• Filled with highs and lows
• Don't get too comfortable
• Her mentors - Top level and all over
• The importance of collaborators
• How she does it - she's really good 
• Genuinely can re-invent yourself
• Taking care of herself
• The trigger that lead to yearning

Links

• Our favorite coach ever - Josephina Santiago

More From Marilyn

• What did you want to be when you grew up?
  • I wanted to own an ice cream truck!
• What was your first job?
  • cashier at Key Food Supermarket!
• What are your go-to books and apps?
  • wouldn't say I have a go-to book or app.  I have a small personal library and my favorite are poetry books and cultural themes.
• What are your favorite gifts to give?
  • I enjoy making hand creams and scented candles and sell them seasonally.  I also make a small stock to give them out as gifts on occasions.

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The #1 thing you need to know about online business is not about how good you are, nor how hard you work, it's something entirely different. You're an expert and feel confident in your field. No doubt about it. 

Everyone tells you how much they love your work. How you're a gem and you're one of a kind.  Add in some extra expletives and an awesome giphy for flavor and fun!  

The truth is - you know you're good.  

It's not being conceited.  You're actually really really good at what you do.  

I know lots of people like you.  I am super blessed that way.   People who are AWESOME at what they are doing, AWESOME at the work they are doing and yet their business is still reminiscent of being a college kid when you are digging in the seat cushion for change for the pizza boy.  

Running a business can be very expensive.  And if you are not careful you have to run the business simply to pay the bills.  

What's crazy is you see other people, who you know, doing similar things and they aren't half as good as you!  

Yet, they are working on so many cool projects that are leading to more projects.  To more income.

You die every time you see them posting about some other cool project or thing they are doing that you could easily do.  Okay, you may not d.i.e.  But you definitely choke back that bit of vomit in your mouth and roll your eyes thinking - "don't get me started." 

You could run circles around them.  No question.   

Here's the #1 Thing You Need To Know About Online Business. 

It's not how good you are.  It's not enough to feel confident. The difference is made in how strategic you are. 

Being strategic, my friend, is the single differentiating practice that separates you from them.  That's it.  Do you think all this success fell in their lap. 

No. They worked hard for it. (Choke.)  Or someone else did.  

The reality is that your friend, you know the one that you could crush in a one-on-one competition, is being specific and strategic.  OR they have someone on their team, someone on their side, being strategic for them.   Are they smarter than you? No!  Are they better at selling widgets than you are? No!

Heck no!

They are being strategic with their time.  Period. 

It's as simple as that.  

So, my friend, this is what you need to do.  You need to think bigger.  You need to think more.  You need to think of all the things that you, your brand, your voice would or could connect with.  Could sell.  

Tweet: Are You Doing #1 Thing You Need To For Your Biz http://ctt.ec/BJqi5+ #entrepreneur #femaleentrepreneur via @ashleighblatt

Here's an example:

Ok, so my friend teaches people how to sell the s**t out of themselves.  It's a hard, hard thing for a lot of people.  And her advice is spot on.  SPOT ON.  She's an expert.  She's a Master.  There's no doubt about that. No one who works with her denies that.  Everyone loves her.  When people love someone like that so much, you / they just want more.  

You get the point. 

So why isn't she out there all over the place?  Why isn't she partnering with other programs and products?  That's what the other guy is doing.  

Her revenue now is from individual client work and a program she holds a few times a year.  In my mind, immediately she needs to become an affiliate of her favorite brands so that every time she makes a genuine recommendation, she can ask her peeps to use her name as a referral.   Easy.   Multiple streams of income just because you love a product.  

She has an awesome persona, witty and crass without being vulgar.  It takes a special person.  Why is she not on speaking tours?  Why is she not speaking at every conference high and low?  What industry doesn't need to learn how to sell themselves better in real, actionable way??  I literally can't think of one.  

Just think, if we add in partnerships, products and retreats!  Oh my! 

Now she's gone from an expert that everyone loves to a Magnifier out there.  OUT THERE growing her brand and generating revenue from multiple streams of income!!

And she becomes that person and brand, that revenue-generating machine, she has been thinking and dreaming about!

Instead of gritting your teeth when you see your friend's post about how awesome they are or what other thing they are hawking. You are genuinely growing your gig to be a top tier brand that everyone knows and wants to do work with.  

How seriously awesome is that??

She can do it.  She's on her way.  You can too. 

Conclusion - it's not as hard as it seems.  Grab the 8 Steps Checklist on how to Make Room for Revenue.  

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Whether you are just starting with your business ideas or are already up-and-running, you need a way to #MakeMoreHappen. Get inspired and empowered because you are going to make progress today.

Staples has always been this working mom's go-to place to get organized, to set priorities and to help #MakeMoreHappen.

Listen, I am a girl who lives for and loves organizational supplies.  Stock. me. up!

And Staples is one of those places you can get purposefully get lost in... Do you need more binder clips? And how many sizes?  Ooo, there are new colors!  Do you need more Sharpies?  Yes.  Oh yes.  Goodness, I could always use a new wipe board.  If only I had the room. 

For the small business owner, it's that place you slowly walk through and carefully imagine what your dream office would look like. What it would feel like.  These clips here, those pens there. These planners and pads here.  Sure, of course, I need more of ... everything!  

Now when I walk into Staples my girls dash and examine every planner, every notepad, every kind of marker!  They see coloring books and painting pads and stationary galore!

There's no doubt about it, it's fun for everyone. 

But I've got to admit.  Life is busy.  I don't shop much anymore.  Life is this crazy mix of running between conference calls and drop offs.  Making snacks and playdates while driving business and launching products.  One moment quickly leads you into a demanding next moment.  

So here I am, a confident power mom on the brink. On the brink of something really amazing.  I know it.  Everyone around me knows it too.  I need to #MakeMoreHappen and I need help doing it.  I want more and I own that.  I have no time for wishy-washy and I don't care about trends.   

Tweet: Working Mom Moments to #MakeMoreHappen #Staples http://ctt.ec/4Yr5d+ via @ashleighblatt

As a working mom, and entrepreneur mentor, I follow a few essential cardinal rules to help me (umm... us) not only survive but grow.  

1.     RESPECT YOUR PRIORITIES

Get very clear as to how much time you need and the impact it bears on your day and your work. Priority is the other thing one we know too well. We have stickers all over or don’t we? And in them we have our day’s schedule. So what really is the problem? Well, it happens not all of us respect our schedules and priority lists and yet we need this to be successful!

Other business owners who are moms say they agree their priority list is a combination of things to be done over the week including; children stuff, business and personal needs. At the end of the day she ensures all is done in good time. Alice Garbarini, a freelancer in New Jersey on the other hand says her to-do list is only complete with both work and fun slotted.

The one significance of making a to-do list is that we are able to think well and make appropriate decisions before we act; with it you will be able to act on issues much proactively than reactively. 

2.     MAKE EASIER MORNINGS

Still at home, try not to get yourself worked out in the morning by making relevant preparations for the day the night before. Pack the kid’s lunches, lay out their clothes, and have them shower. You can also decide what to make for breakfast, repack the diaper bag, purses, backpacks and or the work bags to be placed by the door, alongside the keys so you can grab them on the way out. The importance of a light morning is that you leave to work with enough energy and good mood.  

3.     SEEK HELP WHERE NECESSARY  

You can't do it on your own.  Nor should you have to.  If you're as forgetful as I am then you know you need help.  Even though society says we should find balance we still want to be 100 percent mothers, wives, and business owners.  Yet, how are we supposed to do that?!   In the end, for a healthy lifestyle, it is only mature to admit there are times you need to be assisted. From Staples - I was able to order printer paper, cartridges (necessary tools to keep my business running) plus get a few holiday treats for the girls all the while we are are in the car on a Tuesday afternoon.  No special trip.  No time out of my day.  No wondering if my printer will be able to make it one more load.  It worked out quite well.  Order online then pick up in an hour!

4.  CELEBRATE LITTLE SUCCESSES

There are so many ways celebrating little successes in our lives. Sure you can celebrate a promotion at work, beating a deadline, completing a task/project or just getting a good feedback from your manager, it’s important to acknowledge and celebrate success. And then you can celebrate the small wins from the day, like picking up your order in. an. hour! 

Helloooo - can we talk convenience??  I am all for convenience.  That is a major win for me.  Save me time and it helps me #MakeMoreHappen.  

Then when we celebrate, we get ourselves ready for the next big job, project or goal.

As a working mom and entrepreneur mentor, the moments of the day are not lost on me.  Not one bit.  It's hard to work and and live a healthy lifestyle.  This includes kicking butt at work, finding quality childcare, having some “me-time”, staying connected with my family members.  It also means owning up to any help you can get to #MakeMoreHappen.

I was asked to participate in the #MakeMoreHappen campaign, sponsored by Staples. Although I have been compensated, all opinions are my own.

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We all know the potential to grow, create, and draw in multiple streams of income from an online business is unparalleled.  No one has to tell us of the awesome opportunities here.  As an Online Business Manager, I don't just empower women, I share actionable line items for your success. Discover the 5 Myths that most mompreneurs fall victim to and see if you're one of them.

Here’s the craziest thing that is missing in today’s fast-paced online business world.  

Traditional business thinking. 

Say, what??
I’m old school.  I'll admit it.  

Traditional business thinking is what missing from today’s fast-paced, everyone-everything digital world.  

Traditionally, in business, you did something to make money.  Hobbies and habits came later.  Passion was reserved when you were out of work.  

Forget finding your passion.  Put passion into your work and knock your work out of the park.  

Remember the traditional business practice: Cash is king. 

If the revenues aren’t where you want them to be.  Expand.  Change.  Alter.  

Partner.

Ping. 

Promote.  

Sure, you have your business and it’s generating revenue but you are still often thinking - what the heck?! - how are the others kicking butt as they do??

Your end goal is to use your business to start generating multiple streams of income. (yes multiple)

Do not let any of these myths block you from finding success:

Myth #1: Page views and followers = cold, hard cash

I know how it feels to look at a social media account and see that “k” next to a number. It’s even more impressive when that “k” becomes an “m”… as in 1.4m followers, or 286k followers. While that looks nice and is an ego boost, that is actually sort of low on the priority list. How many views your page receives and the number of followers you have are vanity statistics. Websites don’t send you a check based on your popularity. 

What actually matters is your engagement, meaning the percentage of people who are actually commenting, sharing, liking, and buying your product. BUYING YOUR PRODUCT.  It’s better to have a less ‘impressive’ follower count and to be making sales and connections than to have a million people who scroll past you. 

If your sales are in the red, this does nothing for you.  Sure it’s an ego boost but aside from that, it does nothing.  You need to transfer your following (no matter how large or small) in to revenue-generating.  

Remember cash is king. 

Myth #2: Being featured on another website or podcast will immediately bring in sales

Wouldn’t that be nice if all connections lead to sales?? 

It’s funny because I have a podcast and a blog.  I am on other podcasts and blogs too.  Generating these new sets of eyes, yes!, is a great way to expand your network.  It’s a great way to meet new people, make friends and work towards future collaborations.  

What’s missing in these conversations all. the. time?  

What is the purpose of you being on a podcast? 

What’s the purpose for you being on this podcast?  

Even when you are “just” sharing your story - you have to have an end goal in mind.  You have to have your end goal in mind.

I don’t mean to sound heartless and too much like a hustler but the truth remains, just putting yourself out there is not good enough anymore. 

You have to have a reason and a purpose behind it.  Drive people to you.  To working with you.

Myth #3: You have to do one thing

It’s unbelievable to me how many missed opportunities is happening everyday. It’s one thing to focus on your core business.  I get that.  You need to have a base and your house needs to be in order.  

I get that.  You have to have some foundational pieces in place.  

And then guess what.  You need to just start.  

Does Starbucks only sell coffee?  No.  They sell you coffee, CDs, pastries, ornaments galore!

Nordstroms was a shoe store.  Amazon sold books.  Apple had a computer.  

Everyday they are improving their business. 

Everyday you can too.  Expand. 

Where oh where can you expand?

Partnerships, affiliates, events - oh my!

Products, courses, clients - hooray!

Don’t let your one thing limit you from exploring other opportunities. 

You’re a multi-faceted, complicated woman with more than one interest and talent. Let these fuel you into other opportunities and pump up your income.

Myth #4: You have to do only online work

If you think that online businesses are only for work that can be done through ethernet cords, you’re limiting yourself again! 

Think of your website as your storefront. It should be an inviting place for people to stop in, peruse, book, and buy. 

What they’re buying, however, doesn’t have to be something made and transferred on the computer. 

I have a friend who is a carpenter– perhaps the most hands-on, least online type of work around. He started an online business that offers both traditional carpentry services and made-to-order craftsman woodwork. Customers browse his handmade pieces, put in requests, and book his time for things like cabinet consultations. 

Online businesses aren’t just about blogs and tech work.   

What revenue streams can you create if you included a local opportunity?  What and how would it look like if you had a partner-in-crime to work with on a special project?  There are all sorts of ways to generate multiple streams of income. How could you partner with your beloved lunch spot for a cool local event? 

Myth #5: You have all the time in the world to start

The landscape of online businesses is always evolving.  Two years ago would you have ever guessed where you are today?  Could you have planned that out?  Guessed that this was how things would unfold for you?? 

No.  

Me either.  

But how did you get here, where you are today?

What did you do then?  

You started.  You went for it.  

Now is the time to go for it again.  

Just start. 

Build.  Grow.  Add.  

Remember your traditional business senses.  Cash is king.  

That shouldn’t scare you or deter you from pushing your business further.  Rather it should propel you and energize you into new thoughts, new fields and of course, new revenue streams! 

Focus on generating revenue and making your business (product + service quality) top notch, because the rest is all vanity. And vanity doesn’t pay for vacations, rent, or even the babysitter. 

Conclusion - it's not as hard as it seems.  Grab the 8 Steps Checklist on how to Make Room for Revenue.  

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What's the question you are dying to know but don't ask because you don't want to ask a question you are supposed to know the answer to.  You want to feel confident in your business and you don't want to look stupid in front of your peers. What are you doing wrong?

What's the number #1 question I am asked all. the. time?

What am I doing wrong?  Why are they making so much money and I am not?  You do good work, people love you, and you have the credibility.  

It's like those times when you go into your neighbor's Open House.  You see how they have decorated, where they have put upgrades, that the coffee maker you use is just like yours.  You see your house decorated that much nicer. You smile and tell them it's beautiful as you grit your teeth.   You can't help but compare.  

You can't help but compare. 

What are they doing that you are not?  

That's the question.

Here's the answer.

You're not thinking big enough.  Those peers of yours that are "all over the place" making tons of money and are involved in so many different things...  It's because they thought it up and then they took action to put themselves in their most optimal situations.

What in your life right now is a good natural extension for your business?  Don't know, email me and I can tell you in a 5-minute conversation.  I'll have no less than 10 options for you.   But you probably don't need me to answer those questions for you.  You already know what and where you can go.  

The next question is HOW.

Dare I say that's the difference between the haves and the have-nots.  

Taking action.  Taking the right action.  This is what "they" do.  And that is what changes lives.  Below are a few steps

1. Understand what you’re trying to accomplish.

I’m starting out broad, but not vague I promise! The answer to this is likely something different for each of you, because we all have different business ideas. We also have different reasons for starting those businesses. No matter what it is that motivates you, I’m not judging! Whether it’s pure, unadulterated passion for your industry or making a large profit, you need to be honest with yourself about your overall goal. Then, you need to make sure that “bigger picture” is always front and center in the decisions you make for your company. Narrow it down to one goal and work from there. Establish two goals (maximum) to complete in the next 90 days. These tasks should be rooted in your “bigger picture,” the central point that you’re working to accomplish. 

2. And WHY you are trying to accomplish this

It’s not to be trite or cutesy. Self-reflect on the roots of your overall goal for your business so that you can then go about formulating your plan of attack. Your WHY will help answer future questions about priorities, company direction, and production– and will always drive you to the best choice. 

If your ambitions are mostly monetary, you’re going to want to add a broader customer base so that you’re taking on as many new clients as possible. You will also have to get aggressive about your margins, meaning finding the best wholesalers and haggling them down to the lowest price, fastest production time, etc. A profit-driven goal should also be looking to expand into other markets and developing new versions of the original product. 

If you realize that your goal for your business is more about satisfying a personal or emotional interest, then you will be headed off in a completely different direction. You want the niche. Your hard work is aimed at a specific market, and more time will have to be spent nurturing those customer relationships than in a more commercial setting.  

No matter what you’re trying to accomplish, you still need to grow, but your path toward new revenue will be shaped by your goal and all answers will come from your WHY. 

3. Write a list

Remember those two goals you set for the next 90 days? Put them in writing. Make a list of what needs to happen for you to check off those goals. Do a little at a time so that your progress remains steady in the face of school drop-off traffic, last-minute dinner obligations, and the mornings where you just need one more tap on the snooze button. Each list item or task item is less than 6 hours of time.  By having this list in front of you, you can then focus and work step by step, action by action to reach your goal. 

Forcing yourself to focus and produce for large, cumbersome blocks of time isn’t sustainable (or enjoyable.) Work on quick sprints of productivity and do. not. stray. from your list. 

5. Audit your activities

It’s unbelievable how much time we inadvertently waste.  We can very easily start the day by getting sucked into email, Facebook, then Twitter.  Then we have a few meetings and there went the morning.  Now you need a break, a snack and quick chat and there went the day.  You’re sure you did some actual work but really, how productive were you? 

Take a look at where and how you spend your day.  Does it seem like you’re taking more steps than necessary to accomplish everyday tasks? How often are you leaving to go pick up coffee instead of sending someone else or making it in your home or office? These things add up!

A huge one is checking email! I would had never considered this to be a progress inhibitor before. In fact, I had figured that checking my email every few minutes translated to how committed I was to my customers and employees. Wrong! Every time you pick up your phone, read through emails, and then think of a well-worded response, press send… is all time that you’re distracted from what you need to do!

Tweet: How the Other Are Making So Much Money & Why You're Not 1 Of Them http://ctt.ec/_47LC+ #entrepreneur #solopreneur via @ashleighblatt

4. Break it down into a plan

Break your list down even further and sketch out your goals for the month, followed by your goals for the week. There is no rule against having too many lists! It’s important tobe able to see your pyramid of tasks and goals visually in front of you. Just the simple act of writing everything out forces you to mentally untangle and reorganize all of those little– and large– want-to-do’s and “ugh, need-to-do”… and “uh-oh, should’ve-done-last-week’s!” 

A little bonus: when you really feel lost and unsure of your next move, no worries! Everything you need to do has already been written down and scheduled out so that you have a few less activities, timelines, and deadlines to keep track of. The mind is an amazing entity, but a hardcopy backup never hurts. 

6. Delegate and outsource

You want to be hands-on and involved in your company, but your time is valuable and your expertise must be well-spent. If a task can be taken care of by another, then hand it off.  Delegating more work out can be a little tricky.  It doesn’t come naturally to all of us, but a request for help is just that, a request for help.  No one will be offended when you step into that leadership role of your business. Whether they’re being paid or are just helping you out, that is what they are there for! 

Don’t fear outsourcing either! For tasks that require a specific skill set– possibly one that you don’t have or don’t have time for– hire a freelancer on a per diem basis. You don’t need to worry about adding them to payroll or taking out taxes with an independent contractor, and websites like upwork.com and Freelancer.com take care of the annoying paperwork. They also ensure that neither party gets duped– either left unpaid or unsatisfied by the finished product. 

Focus on your 90 day goal, and delegate or outsource the activities that don’t directly benefit that goal. Help is there, you just need to ask for it. An Online Business Manager can help get everything organized for you.  

7. Host effective team meetings

Early and often! A few times a week, round up your entire crew for a quick 20 minute meeting to make sure everyone is on the same page. These are the perfect time to set your expectations for the week.  Give each person a turn to update the group on what they have recently completed and what they’re working on. Besides keeping the group up to date, this can be a subtle tactic to keep your folks interested, on task and yes, motivated too! 

Sometimes, when I tell people how I do what I do it seems too basic for them.  But basic or simple is good.  Simple processes with clear intentions is what makes sh*t happen.  It's how they are making type of money you are not.

"There was so much work that needed to be done it was overwhelming. We had a hard time getting things done.  Now, we have 2 courses that are selling, signed partnership agreements, will be doing a speaking tour and have a book coming out next year.  It's unbelievably exciting!" - Beloved Reality Star

"We wanted to tap in to a new market and needed to know how the others were so successful.  I don't understand how Ashleigh knows so much.  Now we have hired designers and manufacturers, have 2 stores opening and have our website up and running. I carry Ashleigh's recommendations with me everyday." -International London-based Guru

Click here to sign up for my Make Room for Revenue 8 Step Checklist.  No joke.  It's real and it's possible for you too.