Success on Purpose

The much greater joy and happiness that I find in having a comfy wardrobe likely contributed to my deeply rooted decision to “go pro” as an online lifestyle entrepreneur.

While the decision to go online may seem like a wild ride and a little risky for some people, here are 5 more blissful benefits to creating something that allows you to work from home, or work from anywhere for that matter:

You can work from anywhere (not just home)!

Let’s start with the obvious. Yes! You can really can work from anywhere with an online business! Whether you are a virtual assistant, a health coach, photographer, web designer or copy writer, you can literally just fold up your lap top and go where your energy takes you! I personally love finding super fun coffee shops to hang out in and binge create content.

You don’t have to shower (but I recommend it)!

Shower, don’t shower… the point is the choice is yours! Sometimes pajamas rock my world, other times yoga pants and yet other times… I’m rockin’ my favorite pair of overly expensive jeans. If you love being comfortable and business casual makes you feel frumpy and fake, then embark on the world of authentic living with an online business.

You are likely to be way healthier (physically fit)!

I actually have time to go the gym or for a run down the neighborhood trail and I don’t feel like poking my eyeballs out throughout the day because it’s a perfect way to break up the day! Getting the gym on your self-defined break is a great way to get the creative juices flowing and re-energize when you need to. You will notice that your mind and body are healthier overall!

You get spend more time with your family (unless you don’t want to).

By creating a business that allows your to work from home you get to spend more time on the things that matter most. And, if you are like me, that could spending it with your your family! Maybe it’s important for you to travel or volunteer or take care of someone you care about. You manage your time and because your business is portable, you can work it into the daily stuff that matters most to you.

No commute!

I don’t know about you, but commuting drives me insane and the parking lot fees downtown even more insane…. Unless it’s to drive across the city to my favorite little cafe, or the trendy furniture store… I’m out! The daily grind of spending hours in the car goes away. With an online business I don’t even have to travel from networking event to networking event and I never have to pull out the tacky power suit or appear business casual to do it.

Now, if putting on a power suit or a dress and heels is your jam, then totally do it! If you would rather rent out office space and can afford it, then go for it! The point is, you get to chose.

For many of you, you may be feeling that nudge to once and for all decide to take the leap and go full throttle with your online business idea. I will tell you this…. my heart is full when I think about how grateful I am to be able to crack open my laptop from anywhere I want and that this is my livelihood!

Let's face it! We get so caught up in the muck of too many ideas, information and inspiration, that it sometimes can stop us in our tracks. This was me this past week!

For the past week, I have been feeling super resistant and confused about my ideal client avatar and my best offering for her. I got into the comparison game and the "magic formula" game and I really had to give my head a shake and just BACK IT UP!

In this episode, I went back to fundamentals (again!) because that is really, truly, the only place I find the best answers for me.

So, I thought I would help you get back to your uniqueness in YOUR business in case you've been feeling like this too!

Let's get back into it with a PROFIT CLARITY exercise to get to the bottom of how us entrepreneurial Mommas are gonna make money and in a way the supports the LIFE we want... in a way that brings us joy, fulfillment and freedom, flexibility.... and in a way that allows us to express what we want to express!

What I really want you to do is get more clear on your A to B when it comes to how you WANT to earn money! Not the SHOULDs or what you THINK people will be buy from you. Where do you want to be in year with your business? What do you want for you and your family?

I’ve got a super awesome trick for creating way more positive experiences in your life, better outcomes and more success! AND, you can practice with a toddler! Are you ready for it?

Okay, so what happens when you tell a three year-old: “Don’t go in the pool!”? The three year old hears “Pool” and “Go in”! Rather than hearing the “don’t”. That pool becomes so compelling, they can't stand it! They have the image of the pool in their precious little brains and they are oriented toward the action, so they.... “go in!”

Here's a scenario for the grown-ups! You give your golfing buddy, just before she swings the club, the following advice: “See those trees on the right? Be really careful not to hit your ball into those trees!” Well, what do you think is likely to happen? You guessed it! The ball goes into those exact trees!

Or how about this: You are on your way to meet someone that always makes you feel very good about yourself, someone with whom you find yourself laughing with all the time, conversations are vulnerable and open and real! What do you think will happen? More of the same!

What’s happening here is the image-action connection. You have an image in your mind of what the outcome will be like based on your past experiences. A positive image is more likely to generate positive results! A negative image just messes things up!

It’s natural for our brains to connect images with action. A positive experience is more likely to happen when you connect a positive image with a positive action (and not a negative one).

For the toddler that that you are trying to keep safe, saying “don’t go in the pool” is well intended and you are setting a rule with the child, but it becomes the forbidden fruit quite quickly and then suddenly the pool is like a MAGNET for the toddler!

I really want to talk about FEAR and if you are willing take a good look at your fears… magical results can come from it!

Consider this: Fear just might be telling you exactly where you need to go or what you need to do. It really is a gift.

With any fear or resistance… and I am not talking about that real fear where your life is in danger… but the not so real fear that you can navigate through... is really never that bad. Would agree? As a coach, I may ask my clients a question like: “What’s the worst that can happen if...? If you do / don’t do... that thing? Maybe it's about going forward in your business, investing in that course, or moving cities...

Although looking at the thing you are fearing can sometimes be overwhelming… and the overwhelming part is the actual FACING of those fears. I invite you to reframe that! Instead what is really going on is an opportunity to pause and start listening to your intuition, your inner voice, or even your critical voice to find out what lies beneath the feelings of fear.

In this episode I dive into:

1. Fear as the Pull
2. Fear as the wiser self
3. Fear s our wiser self
4. Fear as a tool for healing
5. Fear vs. Faith
6. How not to judge your fear

If you are feeling STUCK IN FEAR, then give yourself a challenge!

Maybe you are scared to talk to strangers, or getting on phone calls for your business, or following up with prospects, or of showing up as who you REALLY are and not who you think you SHOULD be! Then I have a challenge for you!

Pick something and do that thing every day until you no longer fear it! Maybe you fear Facebook lives, but know you need to do it for your business…. Maybe it it asking for the sale…. Maybe it’s telling people about your business or passion project. Whatever you are fearing the most (or close to it) go toward it, move through the fear, make the hurdle, transform today and move toward self-mastery and free yourself from that fear. Got it?

Over past while, as a mom and more recently a single mom I invested time in learning how to reorganize by business. I knew I had to reorganize my time and my business because the old way of trading my time directly for money wasn’t working for my anymore. The profit models I decided to include in today’s topic had to have certain characteristics:

- They are flexible
- Allow you to leverage your time
- Allow you to work from home
- They all can be lucrative
- All have a reasonable learning
- Can apply it to businesses that you are already doing…
- Cost effective with low overhead.

I chose 10 to share with you today with a view to help you get your creative juices flowing… as maybe some of these you’ve never thought of for your business.

One on One Coaching (from your home)
Group Coaching / Teaching Online (Calls Zoom or Google Hangouts)
Selling Products Online - add it on to your in personal services (eg. Photographers can sell, art or schwag that aligns with their branding and style).
Selling Digital Products Online - e-books, meal plans,
Teaching What You Know (instead of doing what you know)
Create an Online Courses
Collaborative Partnerships (Affiliates who can promote your service through their audiences).
Run a Membership Community - out of your home
Subscriptions - Monthly meal plans, fitness plans, or workouts
Network Marketing - a side business (or your main one) to generate residual income.


OVERARCHING TIPS:

Build your email or contact list in addition to your social media following. This is where the value of your business lies.
Focus on re-focusing your time on one of these strategies and learn it well… then once you’ve mastered it, move on to the next one.

Many will sweep their finances under the rug and ignore it because the perceived pain of it is just too great. And I get that! With anything, facing things head on - while it can be super scary if it has been a while - gets much easier the more you do it.

As business owners, it can be a bit more muddy, than for those collecting a paycheque. In the single parenting world, it can be even more overwhelming not having a 2nd income or a partner as back up.

My own relationship with with money, how I manage it, and how keeping in good relationship with my finances has been fundamental to my overall health and wellness.

Here are some of my favourite lessons learned:

Learn from and forgive the struggle in my 20’s - I got my first credit card, paid my own tuition and rent, worked up to four jobs while going to university full time and by the end of it had a nice chunk of student debt. Like most, I had thought the job would come up quickly after getting my degree - it didn’t. I also travelled. No regrets! I had fun and learned a lot. In fact, I had 30 jobs by the time I was 30! Think on that!

My debt is not mine to hold - I had a business coach tell me my debt is not mine. He said to find something of value to offer for income and use that money to pay it off. It then becomes a separate bubble of money you are managing. The weight and responsibility of it seemed a lot lighter with this advice and debt is not my story. When being in debt is not your story it doesn’t stick. You can energetically let it go so that it never returns.

In my business focus on value - When I started my business in 2009/10, I needed to draw an income and FAST! But it didn’t come with the attitude of trying to figure out how to make a quick buck. I shifted my view quite quickly with a view of offering value others. I have heard the expression “do what you love and the money will follow”. Yes, but I would figure out the most valuable and specific offering you can give others in exchange for a fee. It took me about 6 months to really make this shift and the clients rolled in when the clear need, met the clear offering that was packed with value for my clients. My business sustained itself through referrals and money flowed.

Notice your energy around money and the results you seek - I started to study or notice my energy relationship with money. When I felt good about it, it flowed in! When I felt bad about it, it led to feelings of desperation and it flowed out. If I needed to take risk in life, my mind had to rise above the money risk and almost ignore the possibility of failure.

Marriage, money values and energy - My ex’s energy around money was about scarcity, control and power. My life was no longer expanding. It took a side road toward limitation rather than abundance.

Adjust to and invest in my new reality - Now as a single mom, I am recovering from legal bills and from reducing my work and therefore income to meet my daughter's needs. I had to spend more time figuring out how to restructure or recreate my business to align with my current reality. I had to shift my business model away from one on one coaching and learn how to move my business online. As a single mom, I invested my money on learning how to automate my business. Now, I can pay it forward and teach others to do the same.

If you are a single mom entrepreneur (or if you just feel like one), request to join the private Facebook group here. A community is here to support you in automating your business.

I recently picked up a copy of Mastin Kipp’s new book Claim Your Power. He uses the term Divine Storm (and alternatively I’ve heard him call it the "Divine Shit Storm") as a way to talk about rock bottom and how these “storms” are a sign that things REALLY need to change.

The storm is where a flurry of crappy events happen all at once! It is “divine" because it is the storm that paves the way to your higher self, the wake up call, the truth bomb! For real! No joke! It was meant to happen! Without it, you really can’t emerge to your purpose or your calling. In this episode, I talk about my own recent storm, the life lessons, and working my back up to my new higher self.