Limiting beliefs are beliefs about yourself that hold you back from from doing what you want to do. In this blog post I share with you ways you can identify and expel limiting mindsets. Many entrepreneurs struggle with the impostor syndrome, holding them back from living the life of their dreams.

If you ever struggled with limiting beliefs and realize they are the culprits that keep you from stepping out into your “zone of genius“, then you will want to implement these action steps today.

#1 Identify and Expel Limiting Beliefs and Mindset

Start with understanding what a limiting mindset is.

The human mind has an amazing ability to come up with infinite reasons why you can’t do something. There is a good chance you have limiting beliefs stopping you right now and you don’t even realize it.

Limiting beliefs come in a variety of shapes and forms.

The very familiar one is our THOUGHT PATTERNS.

Limiting beliefs might be thoughts like:

• “I always mess up when I try this.”
• “I’m not good at this.”
• “It’s selfish or immoral for me to succeed.”
• “I’m not meant to be successful at this.”
• “If I try this, people will judge me.”

It could be any negative recurring thought that stops you. Regardless of what the specific thought it, this type of negative thinking will hold you back from achieving your goals.

To eliminate them, you first need to identify them.

#2 Calling out Your Limiting Beliefs

You can dispel these negative beliefs by calling them out and telling yourself they’re not true.

Each of us has a different set of recurring negative thoughts.

What are yours?

Simply realizing when this is happening is a great first step for combating them.

How I call out my limiting beliefs is by starting to filter through TRUTH and LIES.

By knowing who you are, what you are capable of and what you have already accomplished, will help you discern the lies you tell about yourself.

Use these steps to help you practice calling out your limiting beliefs:

Rely on Examples

How do you tell yourself a belief isn’t true?

A great way is to use examples.

• Look at your own experience and times when you’ve overcome challenges.
• Look at the lives of others to see how they overcame obstacles they were facing.
• For example, think of a time you were successful before.
  • Did people judge you?
  • They were probably quite happy for you.
  • This helps you to realize that this limiting thought isn’t valid.

Practice Positive Affirmations

Limiting beliefs are a habit of the mind.

You can create new habits through positive affirmations.

Instead of repeating to yourself that you can’t do it, tell yourself you can.

If you suffer from a fear of success, tell yourself,

“I am successful. I will succeed and this will help and inspire others.”

If you’re not good at something, tell yourself,

“I am learning this, and I can master it just like any other skill.”

Simply repeating positive phrases can combat negative self-talk.

#3 Adopt the Growth Mindset

The growth mindset is a way of thinking that helps you re-frame negative thoughts like these into positive ones.

It asserts that we aren’t static and fixed but change and grow over time.

This can be applied to any area of your business and teaches you to defeat the “inner critic” that tells you that you can’t do something.

#4 Revisit Your “Why”

It can help you see things in a positive light by going back to the “why” that lies behind your current efforts.

Reconnect with your original vision and goals.

Where would you like to be next year? See how far you’ve come and use this to fight back negative thinking. The importance of self reflection is often neglected by entrepreneurs.

Self reflection is a great tool to combat negative thinking and it helps to adapt a growth mindset. As anything in life, practice makes perfect. Learn how to succeed by succeeding.

#5 Visualize a Positive Outcome

The reward of what you try is well worth the risk.

The worst that can happen is that you make a mistake.

But a mistake is a great learning experience.

If you grasp this, you can defeat the inner critic’s limiting beliefs and take action.

If you could partner with someone that can help you to overcome your limiting beliefs, would you invest in such a partnership?

You are welcome to apply for the $1 Business Coaching program that might just be the breakthrough you are looking for!

If you need further advice on how to take the next step, or if you just need a helping hand to show you how to move forward, do reach out to me for a FREE discovery session.

You are also INVITED to join my FREE Facebook Group, PROFITABLE ONLINE CREATIVES, for a community of Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners to help, support, and empower each other!

See you online!

In this blog post, this one simple rule to finding your true purpose in life, will help you understand how to live a more fulfilled life. You will identify your passions that can be monetized and turn into a sustainable business by using the Japanese concept, Ikigai. In sharing with you my success tips and one simple rule to finding your true purpose, you can live a more fulfilled life while impacting others.

Some of the most important questions you can ever ask yourself on your journey through life are questions such as:

• “Why am I here?”,
• “What do I really want?” ,
• “Where do I want to be?”,
• “When I achieve my goals, what would it look like?”,
• “How will I get to where I want to be?”,
• “Who will I have to become to live a life with purpose?”

Some Success Tips for finding your true purpose

The most successful people are invariably those people who are spending the most time thinking about who they are and where they are going.

A consistent self awareness and a journey of evaluation about what you really want contributes to reaching your success goals.

The starting point of great success, in business and in general, is realizing that you are truly unique, extraordinary and different than anyone in the entire universe.

You do have remarkable abilities, skills, aptitudes, insights & ideas that contributes to your indifference. In some way, you are superior to all other people who have ever lived. Inside of you, you have the capacity to accomplish way more than you have ever dreamed of in the past.

You are engineered and designed to live a life filled with purpose, meaning and fulfillment.

The great tragedy is that most people go through life and die with their music still inside them.

They react and respond to:

• pressures and events,
• parents,
• bosses,
• bills and responsibilities

without ever taking the time to sit down and think about what it is that they really want for themselves.

I am a strong believer in purpose.

So it will not come as a surprise when I tell you that you were put on this earth for a reason. To do something wonderful, extraordinary with your life. But it is YOUR job to find out what that wonderful thing is and then find a way to doing it extremely well.

You even might only have a single purpose, like that of Mother Theresa of Calcutta, or your life may have multiple, sequential purposes. As you evolve, grow and develop into the best version of yourself, you will discover more things that leads you to living with purpose.

Using questions and prompts can help you finding your true purpose in life.

The ONE simple RULE to finding your true purpose

In any case, the one common characteristic of the most successful men and women is having clarity.

Having an absolutely clear understanding about what they stand for, believe in and how they will get where they are going are great attributes of success.

Let’s start at the beginning.

What is your heart’s desire?

To define your heart’s desire, you need to find what you believe you were put on this earth to do.

That something special inside of you that is unique and can only be done in the way you do it. Your job throughout life is to discover your true heart’s desire. Only then will you live a fulfilled life, reach complete success and like most say, find your “sweet spot” in whatever you do.

So, what is yours?

• Is it a passion to help others?
• Even a longing to write novels?
• Or teaching others how to bake bread?

The One simple rule to find your true purpose : Find Your IKIGAI

It does not matter how stupid, how unimportant or needless it sounds, you have a drive inside you to reach full potential. Finding purpose in life is one of the most fundamental human needs. By our very nature, we seek meaning and validation of our place in life.

Feeling like your life makes sense, feeling you have direction and that you are motivated by valued goals and feeling that your existence is significant (George & Park, 2016) is how we debate the meaning of life.

Thorough research proves that a high sense of purpose is associated with a reduced risk of all-cause morality, higher daily positive affect, lower daily negative affect and improved longevity across diverse cultures, genders and age groups (Cohen, Bavishi & Rozanski, 2016).

In Japanese culture, to find meaning and purpose in life is to find one’s ikigai (ee-key-guy).

Even though no definitive translation exists, ikigai, which is a combination of the Japanese words ikiru, meaning “to live”, and kai, meaning”the realization of what one hopes for”, can be understood as a reason for being, or that which makes life worth living.

Research suggests that having ikigai facilitates the integration of stressful psychological events from the past, present, and future with less conflict or confusion. (Ishida & Okada, 2011)

Further, ikigai has been shown to influence immune function and increase life expectancy (Hui & Fung, 2009), reduce anxiety and improve resilience (Ishida, 2008), act as an intermediary between flow experience and sense of coherence (Iida & Oguma, 2013) and enhance self-esteem and acceptance of adversity (Kamiya, 2004), amongst many other favorable outcomes.

Having ikigai means that each day is infused with meaning and reflects not only psychological factors, such as wellbeing, hopes and dreams but also an individual’s consciousness of their motivation for a living (Sone et al., 2008)

Your discovery of your own ikigai is attainable with:

• Patience
• Commitment
• Introspective exploration

The Four Ingredients of Ikigai

While this concept is personal and specific to individual self discovery, ikigai is consistently found at the convergence of four fundamental elements (Garcia, Miralles, & Cleary, 2017), namely:

• Passion (What you love)
• Mission (What the world needs)
• Vocation (What you are good at)
• Profession (What you can get paid for)

The goal with this tool, is to help you use the one rule to finding your purpose and meaning in your live.

By engaging in the Japanese practice of ikigai, you can explore and connect with what is most meaningful by discovering the point at which your passions and talents converge with what others need and are willing to pay for.

How to use the Ikigai Chart

Use these steps to help you complete your own ikigai chart:

• Finding one’s ikigai requires a commitment to action
• Determine what it is you value most – it is not likely to be discovered overnight
• Your ikigai is something that will unfold over time and changes as various aspects of your own life changes
• In other words, finding your ikigai is about lifelong self-reflection and experimentation
• Carefully consider each of the four circles and allow yourself time to respond to each question
• Answer as honestly as possible and writing down whatever comes to mind at the moment
• Use prompts to help you answer each question
• You can use your answers as a source of inspiration
• There is value to be found in any overlapping response
• Overlapping answers will provide clarity on other aspects of your life and therefore, lead you closer to discovering your ikigai
• Focus on active actions and activities that manifest in observable outcomes. For instance, activities such as painting or gardening should be prioritized over passively watching television
• You might identify more than one ikigai and discovering that your ikigai may change as your circumstances change.
• Revisit this exercise regularly as well as every time you feel a sense of misalignment between your values and your actions

The secret to a long and happy life is to live with purpose every day.

Living a life with meaning and value can make you happier, more content, more resilient through hard times and more likely to influence the lives of others.

You can find meaning from many different sources, such as:

• Relationships
• Work
• Religion
• Hobbies
• Your Job/Career

What gives you a sense of meaning or purpose in life?

There you have it! My ONE simple rule to finding your true purpose in life.

You now have a tool to start working on those hearts’ desires so you too can find your ikigai and start living a purpose-driven life!

Wondering how to use this one simple rule to turn your purpose into profits?

I show you how to find your purpose (ikigai), sweet spot, calling or “Zone of Genius” and also how to turn that into a monetized solution so you can even make money from living a fulfilled, purpose driven life.

I created a mini-course to help you find your Zone of Genius (ikigai) & monetize it inside the B.O.S.S Society, a business membership created for creatives, coaches and educators.

JOIN today to start finding your true purpose, turn it into profits and live a life of fulfillment!

I truly hope you will take this time, invest in yourself and truly live a life of impact!

To your succes!

The Importance of Charting Your Progress

To succeed with the growth mindset is a way of thinking that says we evolve and develop over time.

It states that we are not fixed and static.

To be successful at business (or anything in life), you need to adopt the growth mindset so that you can continue to learn and grow.

An important element for the success of a growth mindset is charting your own progress.

A Feedback Loop for Success

How do you know if you’re growing?

One of the key ways to succeed with the growth mindset is to chart your progress.

This means identifying each milestone and recognizing when you’ve reached success.

This milestone offers proof that you’re growing and shows that you can change over time, while at the same time showing that you’re making progress towards achieving your goals. It serves as a kind of positive feedback loop. Each milestone provides you more evidence of your growth; this in turn helps you keep pushing ahead and setting the next milestone.

Create a Digital Success Folder

How do you chart your success progress?

When teaching students to learn how to succeed with the growth mindset, teachers encourage them to keep a success folder.

You can do this too with a digital success folder.

Save screenshots or files somewhere for completed projects you’ve done. Include anything you consider an achievement. You can use this material for motivation when you need it. It offers evidence of how far you’ve come.

Learn to Set Better Goals for Success

The way you set your goals can make a difference in your development. In order to set a milestone you’ll achieve, it has to be SMART:

Specific – Identify exactly how you will know once the goal is achieved.
Measurable – Attach some numbers so you can easily measure it.
Actionable – Break it down into the steps needed to reach it.
Realistic – It needs to be something you can achieve.
Timely – Set a deadline for when you’ll do it.

With clearly defined milestones, you’ll know for sure when you reach them, and they’ll be more effective in both reaching your goals and charting your progress.

Re-frame How You View Mistakes

A key to the growth mindset is re-framing how you think about mistakes.

Mistakes aren’t failures; they’re learning experiences.

They don’t impede your growth. They’re a necessary part of growth just like successes. If you understand this, you can take action toward goals and more easily reach your milestones.

Charting Your Progress Is Important Work

Successful people chart their progress as a matter of course. It becomes a habit. But if you want to adopt the growth mindset, you have to make it an intentional part of your business. This means setting aside time for strategic planning and taking the time to learn new skills and techniques.

Put time on your calendar to

• set goals,
• review results, and
• remind yourself

how far you’ve come by referring back to your digital success file.

Do you want to learn more about charting your progress and growing?

I show you how to succeed in your business with a growth mindset and how to turn your efforts into passive income.

I created a mini-course to help you adapt a success mindset inside the B.O.S.S Society, a business membership created for creatives, coaches and educators.

JOIN today to start succeeding with a growth mindset for fulfillment!

See you online!

In this blog post, I share how change happens & how to accept it for your entrepreneurial success.

Change is the only constant in life.

So why do we fear it so much?

We often see change as something negative or risky, failing to see that it is also a great opportunity.

In fact, there is no growth without change.

Why We Need to Embrace Change

We grow through facing challenges and handling them in creative ways.

Whether it brings short-term advantages or disadvantages, in the long term, each change is just one step in our development.

In addition to the opportunities it offers, change also presents a challenge to your skills.

To be successful in business, you must be flexible and adaptable.

Your negative limiting beliefs tell you this is bad because it’s a shift away from the status quo.

How you meet these challenges can determine how you meet the next one.

You’ll have a list of successes you can draw on for motivation when you face the next obstacle.

Embracing change and seeing it as something positive is essential for cultivating a success mindset.

There are specific techniques you can employ to help you make this shift:

• Make a List of Successes and Positive Changes
  • Go back over big changes you’ve faced in the past.
  • Look at how they impacted you.
  • You’ll find a few that you wish would never have happened. But most likely, the majority ended up benefiting you in some way in the long term.

• Write down a list of the positive results of changes and successes you’ve had meeting them. Refer to this list whenever you find yourself facing a new challenge you’re not sure you can overcome.

• Predict and Prepare
  • Sudden unexpected change is shocking.
  • So, take a proactive approach and get ahead of any potential challenges you might face.
  • Set aside time regularly to strategize.
  • Consider anything that might happen and develop a plan to deal with each contingency.
  • When there is a big change, even something negative, you’ll be able to face it prepared and with confidence.

• Banish Your Inner Critic
  • Get rid of negative self-talk and limiting beliefs that are destroying your confidence.
  • We each have an inner critic who tells us we can’t do it.
  • When you’re facing a sudden change, it’s a perfect situation for this inner critic to come along and derail you. This is a bad habit of thinking and like any other habit, you can break it and replace it with another.
    • Create some positive affirmations that you can use to combat it.
    • Learn to rephrase negative thoughts into positive ones.

• Surround Yourself with Positive People
  • How we feel about change is an essential part of our mindset.
  • The way we think rubs off on others, so surround yourself with people who are success and growth minded and approach change positively.
  • You can draw on their positivism for inspiration whenever you need it.

• Look at the Big Picture
  • Change is usually just a bump in the road.
  • It means you might have a tough time this week, this month, or this quarter.
  • But if you look at the big picture, you will often see that this change opens the door to new opportunities.
  • Try to foster this perspective the moment change strikes, and you’ll deal with it more calmly.

Do you want to learn more about embracing change and making it work for your SUCCESS?

You are invited to work with me for $1 inside my Coaching Program!

That is 20 Hours of mindset coaching, profit planning & advisory with strategic marketing that can help you elevate your business efforts and reach your success goals faster!

You can APPLY here!

To your success!

In this blog post, I will cover and share my secret weapon to keep inspired while working from home.

When times are tough and you find yourself needing to work from home, it can feel like you have limited options. As an entrepreneur, mom of two, and passionate creative, I had to find several hacks to help keep me inspired. Working from home can be challenging, but it is not impossible!

You may also have to settle for things to fit around your “work-from-home” schedule.

Believe me, I know!

After the pandemic forced us into lockdown my inspiration took a huge dive. I soon needed new ways to keep inspired while working from home. It is a real challenge to keep inspired while trying to keep all your priorities in balance. And to top it all, needing some extra income soon too!

The problem?

To be stuck behind your home office desk while trying to homeschool your children. It is not exactly practical trying to clean the house while growing your business!

Working from home, especially if you are not used to it, can also impact your sense of purpose. An organizational psychologist, Dr. Amy Wrzesniewski, confirmed this.

As soon as I realized this, I turned my attention online. I discovered several ways to get more peace and structure while working from home.

The workplace itself, brings focus, interaction, and a sense of belonging. This acts as an important input to the meaning and purpose of the work itself.

The following 6 “hacks” as I like to refer to them, allowed me to find inspiration.

Through these, I still enjoy the benefit and purpose of being able to work from home:

Let’s look at how I dealt with it:
1. Figure out what you’re missing
Identifying which aspects of your in-office, pre-pandemic job you actually miss. This will help you focus on your work. It also brings a sense of purpose to where you are right now.

2. Have a dedicated workspace

It does not need to be a huge space, but I found it great to be able to close a door. To avoid distractions, try to be farther away from the humming noises of a busy household. It is important to create a separate and exclusive space to claim a tax deduction.

3. Create (and stick to) a routine
Create a routine to demarcate work time from personal time. Even if you’re not moving between locations. Entering a different level of focus helps to be able to switch off from work. I practice boundaries between my workspace and personal space. I also practice knowing when to stop working.

4. Find a network of remote workers
Expand your circle and connect with other individuals with similar routines. Other connections whose working requirements are the same keeps us connected. Social skills remind us that we’re not alone. LinkedIn is a great place to start and maintaining your network should be on your to-do list every day.

5. Reconnect with the purpose of your work
Finding ways to connect to why your work matter to you is essential. It will help you to find purpose in your daily routine. If having food in your fridge and the ability to settle your bills are not good enough reasons already.

6. Manage your distractions
A huge risk of working from home is that it’s so easy not to work. A winning strategy I use is to accept that I will never be 100% productive. It makes it easier to be in control of my “mind-wanderings” at work and it is manageable. I can also recommend using a timer when you have to be 100% focused on one task.

So, from these “hacks”, I declare my own “secret weapon” for keeping inspired while working from home to be:

I do this by asking myself these three questions every morning:

1. Why do I do this?
This question takes me back to my vision board and the goals I would like to achieve. All my goals are set within timelines. I know there are certain goals that need more time and others are achievable right now if I am committed

2. How will I do this?
Here I revisit my habit tracker and my daily affirmations. I don’t need the motivation or encouragement of others as much as I need it from myself! I need to be able to look at what I have accomplished already. Then I need to look at what I am able to still do and this motivates me to move forward. By understanding what I need to research before I can complete a task, helps me to get it done.

3. What will I focus on today?
This is a reminder to look at my daily tasks and my calendar. Time blocking is essential to help me focus on what is important. Prioritizing taking time off for myself and when I do get lost in a project, it is easy to find my way back.

Looking at these hacks, it’s important that you actually put them into practice.

Try implementing at least one tip now and once you’ve mastered it, choose your next one.

Avoid the overwhelm of trying to do everything all at once. Your results will be falling back into bad habits sooner than later.

Simple, small steps are how you will see success in keeping inspired while working from home.

Share with me how you will start to do things to keep you inspired while working from home in the comments below!

Your story might very well be the secret weapon that others need to keep inspired!

Want more money, mindset, and marketing hacks?

Check out my brand new mini course, “Building Online Sales Solutions in 5 Steps“, which teaches you the foundations of creating your brand and helps you build a strong profitable online empire.

Hope to see you inside!

In this Blog post, we look at the 8 benefits of coaching for entrepreneurs.

Let us define the term Coaching before we look at the benefits of Coaching:

  “Coaching is the act of giving special classes in sports, a school object, or a work-related activity, especially to one person or a small group.”

– According to the Cambridge Dictionary –

According to Google coaching has many definitions – but the definition that really speaks to me is the one found in Wikipedia

Coaching is a form of development in which an experienced person, called a coach, supports a learner or client in achieving a specific personal or professional goal by providing training and guidance

wikipedia

Because of this definition, I strongly believe that EVERY person can benefit from Coaching.

But to be specific, let’s focus on Entrepreneurs who are business owners and driven to reach their goals.

Let’s dive deeper into the 8 Benefits of Coaching for entrepreneurs…

How can entrepreneurs benefit from coaching?

Coaching is an informal relationship between two people. One has more experience and expertise than the other, and offers advice and guidance as the latter learns. Coaching differs from mentoring by focusing on specific tasks or objectives, as opposed to more general goals or overall development.

In my blog post, Key differences between Coaching and Mentoring, we dive deeper into each definition and the benefits of each type of service.

As an Entrepreneur, managing your own business and wanting to do things smarter, you will definitely benefit from any type of Coaching.

8 BENEFITS OF COACHING

1. IMPROVEMENT of your self-confidence and relationships
2. CLARITY on your wishes and goals you would like to reach in your life, business, or projects
3. DEVELOPING the ability to create new solutions and new ideas
4. INCREASING your productivity to improve your work-life balance
5. ACTIONABLE steps to changes create personal development
6. RENEWING your perspectives and insights into yourself
7. BECOMING more accountable get results faster
8. LEARNING how to take advantage of your strengths and resources so it will bring you closer to reaching your goals

The benefits of coaching alone should empower you to choose to hire a coach, but I know not everyone understands how these benefits could make an impact in their lives.

So let’s look at the reasons why you should consider hiring a coach:

10 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD HIRE A COACH

1. If you want to achieve your goals and be successful but you do not know HOW to do it
2. Are you struggling and lacking the self-confidence to do things that move you out of your comfort zones?
3. Do you feel constantly stressed and are going through big transitions in your life, career, or business?
4. Or you want to understand yourself better and identify blind spots that can help foster greater relationships?
5. Perhaps you want to make better use of your time, resources, and abilities?
6. Maybe you want honest feedback and new perspectives?
7. When you want to reach your full potential
8. Definitely when you want to make more money or take the next step in your business or career
9. Consider it when you want to boost your overall thinking, mindset, and well-being
10. You want to be better and do things easier, differently and make an impact

As with many things in life, not one single type of Coach will bring you all these results.

There are many different types of Coaches and we all could benefit from at least one type of Coach once in our lives.

While the focus behind coaching differs, all coaching is typically reflective rather than directive in a manner.

The Business Coaching category for entrepreneurs includes:

• Executive Coaching
  • Enhancing performance
  • Taking talents and abilities to a new level
  • Helping someone to adjust to new situations or a transition
  • Reflect and develop a personal awareness of their strengths and work on weaknesses
• Career Coaching
  • Skills assessments
  • Understanding the job market
  • Understanding organizational processes
  • Identifying opportunities and career-based roles and how they are good fits
  • Developing career transition plans
  • Helping understand the world of work and their own personal development
  • Enhancing employ-ability
• Skills Coaching
  • Identifying and refining career goals
  • Flagging objectives within existing roles
  • Recognizing personal and career development needs
  • Up-skill to enable better performance linked to achieving specific tasks
  • Achieving both individual and company objectives

Relationship Coaching focuses on everything from:

• Communication
  • Questioning Assumptions
  • Conflict resolutions
  • Effective communication techniques
• Stress Management
  • Identifying behavioral patterns & triggers
  • Setting clear and healthy boundaries
• Emotional Wellness
  • Uncovering new listening mechanisms
  • Assisting with ways to better express feelings and views

Life Coaching focuses on:

• Personal outcomes
  • Explore what you want in life
  • Define attainable dreams and aspirations
  • Find answers and ways to achieve their goals
  • Highlight and understand their own potential, skills and talents

SOURCE: https://www.sacap.edu.za/blog/management-leadership/types-of-coaching/

If you need further advice on how these benefits of Coaching can help you to take the next step, or you need a helping hand to show you how to achieve your end goals, do reach out to me for ways how I can help you move forward.

You are also INVITED to join my FREE Facebook Group, PROFITABLE ONLINE CREATIVES, for a community of Entrepreneurs and Business Owners to help, support, and empower each other!

See you online!

In this blog post, I share how business coaching help your business grow.

After reading this post, I hope you will have more clarity about the key differences between:

• Teaching,
• Coaching,
• Mentoring, and
• Counselling.

This will help you understand how to choose the best solution to reach your business goals.

You will also be able to identify the 8 Benefits of Business Coaching. To clarify the reasons why you should invest in a Business Coach.

In coaching, the coach is helping the individual to improve their personal development and performance.

How can Business Coaching help your business grow?

Whether you are a novice, experienced or established entrepreneur, a business coach will assist and guide you.

Business Coaching is a valuable resource used to helping entrepreneurs to clarify their vision. Clarity on their business vision helps align their passions and purpose with all their business goals.

The main aim of Business coaching is to improve performances and focuses in the present rather on the distant future. To truly understand and define Business Coaching, we need to first understand coaching.

“Coaching is unlocking a person’s potential to maximize their performance. It is helping them to learn rather than teaching them.”

John Whitmore

Let’s go back 26 years.

Many of us, at one point or another, experienced the resistance to learning. For me, it was mostly the 5 years of High School. The root behind my resistance was mainly my inner voice. I just never believed that I could be good at learning something and excel in it.

This was part of a real self-sabotage thinking way. Only in my late thirties I discovered the true power of knowledge. To learn a new skill or improve a skill, it’s much easier to find a teacher than to teach yourself.

As a solo entrepreneur, I never really invested in any type of coaching. I paid for many self-development courses, but I soon realized that great coaches are a much quicker route to success. I can confidently say, investing money into coaches are priceless.

There are various models of coaching besides business coaching. The key element is considering the coach as a facilitator of learning rather than as an expert.

What is the difference between Business Coaching and Mentoring for your business?

If your business is struggling, a business coach is one of the most effective options to invest in.

Business coaches serve as both trainers and mentors.

Timothy Gallwey and his insights into “the inner game” revolutionized thinking about coaching.

In his book, The Inner Game of Tennis, he suggested that the biggest obstacles to success and achieving potential were internal, not external.

His insight was that coaches help individuals to improve their game by distracting them from their inner dialogue and the critical voice that said “Not like that!”

Gallwey’s real insight was that this didn’t just apply to tennis, but that individuals generally have the answers to their problems within themselves.

The essential part of coaching is to help people learn to silence that inner voice and allow instincts or their subconscious to take over. Sometimes that means distracting it, sometimes it’s about exploring the “worst-case scenario” and removing any fear.

Coaches identify the stage at which an individual is at and use the right sort of language to help them move to the next stage. After all, it’s difficult to try to improve a skill if you don’t know that you lack it.

Many coaches will recognize the significant overlap between their role and that of a teacher.

Much like any other type of coach, business coaches align your talents, goals, purpose and visions so your overall business efforts are successful.

Here is a summary of 3 different “learning methods” to see how Business Coaching can help your business:

All these learning methods have key characteristics and is important in their own way.

Teaching and Training

Teaching and training involve an expert teacher who imparts knowledge to their students. Although the best teachers will use participation and interactive techniques, like coaching, there is very definitely an imbalance of knowledge, with the teacher as expert knowing the ‘right answer’.

Coaching

Coaching involves the belief that the individual has the answers to their own problems within them. The coach is not a subject expert, but rather is focused on helping the individual to unlock their own potential. The focus is very much on the individual and what is inside their head. A coach is not necessarily a designated individual: anyone can take a coaching approach with others, whether peers, subordinates, or superiors.

Mentoring

Mentoring is similar to coaching. There is a general agreement that a mentor is a guide who helps someone to learn or develop faster than they might do alone. In the workplace mentors are often formally designated as such by mutual agreement, and outside of an individual’s line management chain. They usually have considerable experience and expertise in the individual’s line of business. A mentoring relationship usually focuses on the future, career development, and broadening an individual’s horizons, unlike coaching which tends to focus more on the here and now and solving immediate problems or issues.

Counselling

Counselling is closer to a therapeutic intervention. It focuses on the past, helping the individual to overcome barriers and issues from their past and move on. Here, the focus may be either internal or external.

My conclusion

The term “coaching” means many different things to different people, but it is generally about helping individuals to solve their problems and improve their performances.

It doesn’t matter whether coaching is used in sport, life or business, the good coach believes that individuals always have the answer to their own problems. They just need help to unlock them.

Business coaches are typically expert entrepreneurs who know what it takes to make a business successful. Much like any other coach, business coaches work to refine your talents, hone your goals, guide your decisions, and do everything else that they can do to ensure that you and your business are successful.

Business coaches start by learning everything that they can about your brand, from its value propositions to its target customers to the challenges it will face and beyond.

Next, a business coach will work with you to set beneficial and attainable goals for your team. These goals will be ones that you need to hit to efficiently grow and achieve the vision you lay out.

Throughout this entire process, business coaches serve as an invaluable source of personalized information and advice.

I like to refer to Business Coaches as your flashlight towards thriving.

Here are 10 Benefits of Business Coaching to help your business:

• Improve your self-confidence
• Elevate your relationships
• Gain clarity on your dreams, desires, and goals
• Develop a growth mindset to find better solutions
• Create new ideas, perspectives, and habits
• Enhance your work-life balance and increase your overall productivity
• Helps you to take actionable steps to create real changes
• Find new insights and become self-aware
• Become more accountable and get real results faster
• Learn how to take advantage of your strengths and resources

Business coaches can also help you to build a new business from the ground up, advising you as they go through the process of setting up your business. Defining your mission and goals, and putting in place both long-term and short-term strategies for your business.

Likewise, a business coach can help you in growing your empire as they figure out how to take your business to the next level. Along with improving the operation and growth of your business, though, such coaches are also able to ease some of the burdens you experience and will help to make your journey easier and more enjoyable.

When should you consider investing in a Business Coach to help your business?

• Ready to achieve your goals and be more successful
• When You’re struggling and lacking self-confidence
• Feeling stressed or you’re going through a big transition
• Trying to understand yourself better and identify blind spots
• Want to make better use of your time, resources, and abilities
• Need honest feedback and new perspectives
• You want to reach your full potential
• Taking the next steps and ready to make an impact by leaving a legacy
• Boost your overall well being, live a purpose driven life and reach your freedom goals

Overall, in 2018 I decided to invest in a Business Coach to help me live my best life!

And since then, I also invested in becoming a business coach to other entrepreneurs.

Business coaches are typically experienced entrepreneurs and business owners themselves who decide to use their talents for building and growing a business to help other business owners reach their goals.

This just seemed to be the natural next step for me.

For a fee, a business coach work alongside executives and entrepreneurs to help them define their goals, polish their vision for their business, and set in place a series of strategies that will help them achieve their goals and live a purpose driven life.

While running your own business can be very rewarding, there’s no denying that it can be very demanding and stressful as well. This is doubly true if you are running an entire company all on your own. I know, I have been doing this for more than 16 years now.

So, when you are ready and do decide to work with a business coach, you will have someone in your corner who assists you through challenges and serve you with experience and expertise you can rely on.

In this way, business coaches make the lives of entrepreneurs much less stressful, which is a priceless benefit in and of itself.

Common Business Coaching Questions

If you are considering hiring a coach, you might have a lot of questions. While we’ve already covered many of these questions such as what business coaches do and how they can be of help to you and your business, here are a few more frequently asked questions to help you:

Q: What is the first meeting with a business coach like?

A: When you first meet with your business coach, the number one priority is going to be for the coach to learn more about you and your business so that they can specifically tailor their advice to help you. You can expect a friendly encounter and an enjoyable discussion about your business that will eventually transform into your business coach offering you specialized advice about the goals that you should set for your business and how you should go about meeting those goals.

Q: Can business coaches help me grow my business?

A: Business coaches can certainly help you put strategies in place to grow your business if that is your goal. However, growing companies is not the only service that business coaching provides. Such coaches also work to help make you more productive, make your job and running your business easier, and help you achieve all aspects of your vision for your company, including but not limited to its growth.

Q: Can my small online businesses benefit from business coaching?

A: Small online businesses are certainly able to benefit from business coaching, perhaps even more so than large corporations.

The issue is that many small business owners are not able to afford or access top-quality coaching. This is why I help 5 entrepreneurs for one month, or 20 hours, for $1. I designed this $1 Business Coaching to be a program that is affordable and accessible to all types of entrepreneurs.

Since working with many heart-centered entrepreneurs, I came to the revelation that people who pay, pay attention. During my journey as entrepreneur, I received many “coaching” & “mentoring” sessions for free, but I never took my homework serious and implemented what I learned until I started paying for coaching.

If you could partner with someone that can help you to build a profitable online business, grow it into a successful empire and help you live your best life, would you invest in such a partnership?

You are welcome to apply for the $1 Business Coaching program that might just be the breakthrough you are looking for!

If you need further advice on how a Coach could benefit you, or how to take the next step, or if you just need a helping hand to show you how to move forward, do reach out to me for a FREE discovery session.

You are also INVITED to join my FREE Facebook Group, PROFITABLE ONLINE CREATIVES, for a community of Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners to help, support, and empower each other!

See you online!

In this blog post, I share the 7 Things people don’t tell you about starting a business.

The first one no one talks about is our expectations!

“Expectation is the root of all heartache” – William Shakespeare

Although, preparation is the key to breakthrough!

If you expect a certain outcome from your efforts, but you do not prepare for it, you might as well expect heartache and disappointment to be the outcome.

Early on in my business journey I learned, there is a lot of stuff I did not know. Things I never even thought about and things no one ever told me about starting a business. It took me much longer, with many disappointments and heartache. I made many mistakes and endured many failures.

But I did realize things can be different, it did not have to be this way for others.

Fortunately, now years later, I know the key elements to starting a business.

Planning and preparation empowers our expectations so the outcomes are positive.

Since starting my first business more than 16 years ago, I learned a lot and I am sure to keep learning.

That is why I decided to share the 7 things people did not tell me about starting my business.

(don’t worry – it’s not all negative!)

1. Starting your business might not be a success

We became entrepreneurs to make money, gain more freedom, and enjoy the luxurious things in life.

When starting a business, be prepared to make very little to no money in the beginning. Even be prepared to lose money after you factor in startup costs. Knowing this ahead of time is going to help you get through the initial rough patch and actually give you a chance to succeed.

Allow yourself at least 3 years to break even.

That being said, not all ideas are money-making ones.

Sometimes, the success of starting your business comes down to

• the timing of your business launch (you may be too early or too late),
• current demand in the market, or
• stumbling blocks

Or, you may not be able to give this particular business the attention it deserves to make it work.

Validating your business idea is essential and an exercise you need to do before starting the launch of your business. Then crafting a proper Business Plan will help with starting a successful business.

2. It might be necessary to tweak your business idea

In order for your business to be successful, you might need to choose the following first:

• Choosing the correct business model,
• Finding the right pricing, and
• Deciding on the right target market that matches your resources and goals are all VITAL decisions to make to run a successful Business.

If you don’t have a ton of capital to work with, going with a brick and mortar business model with lots of overheads will pretty much be setting yourself up for failure.

But perhaps that same service or product could have been sold differently?

Or priced and marketed to a higher-income level demographic?

If you can’t get an idea out of your head and you just know it will work (even if it’s already failed!) don’t give up just yet.

Thomas Edison failed ONE THOUSAND times before making the light bulb work.

These three quotes from him sum up this section perfectly:

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”
“We often miss opportunity because it’s dressed in overalls and looks like work”

Thomas edison

You may think, “Well I’m not Edison.”

But even if you tried an idea a fraction of the times he did, you’d be way ahead of all the people who stopped as soon as they failed.

Do you want to make your Business idea successful?

Put in the work to make it happen and don’t EVER give up!

Find ways to do things differently and learn from those who have done it before you.

I am still learning from others!

3. You need to measure your business success and business failures

I quickly learned that if I do not find ways to measure my success, I cannot determine if my efforts were bearing fruit.

Learn to ask yourself TWO important questions:

• Am I doing something to help others?
• Can I manage to pay myself a reasonable income?

When starting out, you might not be earning a decent personal salary, but if you’ve been at it for a while (years) and you’re still not able to turn a decent profit, you may have a hobby on your hands – not a Business.

One VITAL thing to remember:

” SALES are just the revenue you bring in “

The profitability (and success) of a business is determined by what’s left after you deduct all expenses and costs to perform the services or make the products (materials, labor, overhead, marketing costs, etc.)

Many of those just starting out may factor in the obvious stuff like costs of materials, but it’s the little things that can add up and kill your profit margin.

Don’t underestimate the impact part as well – if you are helping others and making a difference, that is important. But if you have to make a living too, you may have to change course to make it worth the effort.

One of the 7 Things people don’t tell you about starting a business is the importance of tracking your efforts.

Don’t miss this important step!

4. Passion is the KEY element!

Entrepreneurial fatigue is a very real thing, and it happens to people incredibly passionate about what they do.

So imagine how quickly you’d burn out and be run down working at something tirelessly (sometimes without pay) that you’re not at all passionate about.

Passion is VITAL in a any business!

Running a Business takes perseverance, endurance, and dedication.

Passion leads to joy and if you can’t be super passionate about your Business Idea, then focus on the impact and the other benefits that having a business provides, such as freedom and flexibility.

How you start turning your ideas into a business requires a great deal of passion!

This is probably the most vital thing you need and people don’t tell you about it before starting a business!

5. Be willing to adapt

Starting your own Business is a great way to monitor ambition.

Lately, anyone can come from knowing nothing and be wildly successful (just take a look at most of the sharks on Shark Tank), or you can be born with a silver spoon in your mouth and fail miserably.

Money won’t make people buy your products if you don’t know how to interact and engage with your clients. 500 Business classes are not going to prepare you for the day to day situations you’ll face in your specific business.

It’s a theory – not real-life challenges.

We are fortunate to be living in the age of information, where a kid can upload a video to YouTube and be a millionaire pop star a year later.

All the information you need to run a successful Business is out there, as well as access to various Business coaches and other support from entrepreneurs and business owners who achieved their goals.

Many entrepreneurs make the excuse that they’re unqualified or won’t be taken seriously because they are bootstrapping and don’t have much experience.

I was stuck here for way too long!

You may be in a better position than those who come into a business thinking they know everything and throwing a bunch of money at it (a great book on this is “The Power of Broke” by Daymond John).

They have an ego and false sense of confidence that will likely get them in trouble, if not immediately.

Business is about providing a service or product that people want.

NOT what you think they want.

Choose to be a good listener, willing to take feedback (negative and positive), and adapt your ways to think beyond just profits, then your target audience will be putting their money on YOU!

By selling an experience, rather than a product, will help you to turn those ideas into profitable products.

6. Perfect the Basics of Business

Most Business Owners and Entrepreneurs think if they just get more people in the door or more leads, or if they had more money to advertise that everything would explode.

But the fact is, all the money in the world won’t help if your business is broken.

Things like:

• Poor customer/client service,
• Spending money on the wrong tactics, or
• Developing products without sound research and feedback are just a few examples of doing things incorrectly and this will hurt your Business

Developing a sound business first, then promote it.

Your Business Plan should explain these pillars:

• The basic foundations,
• Company Core Values,
• Business Basic Principles

so you will not need to, in 10 years, turn around and go back to change your basics.

You will want to do it right, from the first go.

Understanding your foundations and building cornerstone pillars in your business will help you eliminate future setbacks.

7. Your Business Breakthrough might not feel like one

Going back to William Shakespeare’s’ quote

“Expectation is the root of all heartache”,

William shakespeare

I can explain why this hits home.

No one ever told me that not everyone is going to love what I have to offer or how I offer it.

I also had expectations from people that did not deliver.

The fact is, not everyone is nice about telling you so.

For the haters, it often comes from a place of jealousy and insecurity. They don’t dare to do what you’re doing so they want to bring you down to their level.

If it’s family or friends, they often don’t understand your reasons and they don’t want to be left behind.

To succeed when starting a business, you’re going to have to accept that this may happen.

Learn how to tune it out and do what you do, and keep pursuing the way how you want to do it.

When you are close to your breakthrough, it hardly ever feels great, positive, or even like a breakthrough.

It might feel like you are alone, unsure if your decisions are good ones or it might even feel like you are not moving forward at all.

Breakthrough is sometimes just around the corner of giving up. So choose to believe in it, and it will reveal itself!

Fear is the major reason people never get their business started.

Only recently I realized how often I choose to wear the shoes of Fear:

• Fear of criticism,
• Fear of failure,
• Fear of rejection,
• Fear of missing out on the next new and the best thing
• Fear of being left out

We all like a safe space where everything is stable and predictable.

If you haven’t figured it out already, running your own business can often always be the opposite of that.

But I do promise you, it is definitely not boring! And very, very rewarding both personally and professionally.

There are a million quotes about why you should chase your dream, take the risk, be courageous, and do what you feel you are called to do.

But the truth is, Entrepreneurship is not for everyone!

These 7 Things people don’t tell you about starting a business can really make a huge impact for your growing a successful business.

The purpose of this post is to keep it real and give you a little preview of what it’s like starting a business – the good,  the difficult, and the reward!

I truly hope after reading this, you will still choose to charge ahead!

The world needs YOU and what YOU have to offer!

Are you ready to start your business?

Join my business membership, the B.O.S.S Society, where I teach all the ways you can start a successful online business, implement effective income strategies and learn how to build profitable funnels.

I also created a 6-Step Framework to help you create a game plan for your business.

See you online!

In this blog post, I share 7 simple steps to make 2022 your best year yet.

How are you doing in reaching your goals for 2022 so far?

Are you the type of person that sets massive goals with enthusiasm, excitement, and optimism? Or do you approach goal setting with a more reluctant, cautious, and seemingly ‘realistic’ manner?

Neither approach is right or wrong. I genuinely believe that however you choose to set your goals for the year is completely up to you. However, I also believe that if a goal does not challenge you, it will not make you change anything.

The point of setting goals is to create change in a certain way.

A very dear friend of mine recently shared this with me:

“It is a sure thing that in 10 years from now I will arrive, but how I get there and where I end up is what truly matters”

I always tell my clients it is your journey to success that is the key, not the end destination.

I am confident that you are familiar with the importance of setting S.M.A.R.T. goals by now.

But if you’ve never heard of this goal-setting system here’s a quick rundown:

S – Specific – The more specific the better.
M – Measurable – How will you know that you have reached the goal?
A – Attainable – Can this be realistically attained?
R – Relevant – Is it relevant to you and your business?
T – Time-bound – Is this a goal that can be achieved promptly?

In the case of setting goals for the year, can this goal be reached within 12 months?

The S.M.A.R.T goal that I want you to focus on is ‘A’ – Attainable.

Be sure that the goals you set are attainable. Ensure they do not hold you back from reaching your potential by being too attainable. Make sure that they still push and challenge you along the way, this will cause you to make certain changes.

Now, let us see how this goal-setting method can help you make this year your BEST year in Business Yet:

Here are 7 Simple Steps to Make 2022 Your Best Year in your Small Business Yet:

#1 – Choose 3 goals you would like to reach in your Small Business

• Do not take more than 30 seconds to do this. Seriously!
• Once you have your top 3 goals listed, ask yourself:
• “If I had achieved these 3 goals last year would it have been my best year yet?”
• If you answered YES! then continue to step 2.
• If you are not sure then take another look at those goals. Make some changes so that you can answer YES! to all of them.
• By doing this in 30 seconds or less you eliminate the risk of overthinking. Second-guessing can ‘water down’ your goals.
• By going with the first thing that comes to your mind, the ones that are the most important to you.
• And if they seem a little scary to you – even better!

#2 – Now turn these 3 Business goals into your priority goals for 2022

• If they cannot be achieved in 1 year, then break them down until they can. But be sure you do not break them down too much. Remember, challenge = change.
• By taking bigger goals and breaking them into smaller, more attainable chunks makes them seem less scary and unlikely.
• As you start achieving the smaller goals, you are getting closer to reaching the big ones. This is super exciting!

#3 – Choose 3 people to hold you accountable and provide the support you need

• When you only have yourself to be accountable to achieve a goal, it is easy to not make any progress.
• But, when you know that you have someone else keeping an eye on your progress, assists with reaching your goals.
• Choose 3 people that you trust and that you know will motivate, encourage, and support you along your journey.
• If you need to understand the type of support you need, find my latest article here.

#4 – Write a message to each of those people you chose

Write something like this:

Dear [Name]
I, [Your Name], commit to making consistent progress on [Your Goal] this year. You will receive monthly updates on my progress. I would appreciate it if you would hold me accountable for reaching this goal.
Sincerely,
[Signature]

#5 – Print out your goals keep them where you can see them daily

Putting your goals in a place that you can constantly review them is a great way to stay focused. It helps to reinforce them and helps you stay on track with your daily tasks. As you are planning your days and weeks, ask yourself, “Will this help move me closer to reaching my goals?”.

Early morning affirmations, only 10 minutes, will keep you focused on making better decisions. This assist in attracting skills to reach your Business Goals.

#6 – Now Plan your year, keeping these 3 Business Goals as a top priority

Brain dump all your strategies, planning, and focus points for the year.

Take key points and align them with the 3 Priority Business Goals you chose for the year. If some of these strategies do not assist in reaching any of your Business Goals, remove them from your priorities. This way you will find a strategy that prioritizes key points to help you reach your Business Goals as planned.

#7 – Measure your success

• Planning and strategy are both great. When you cannot measure your strategies to find what works you might end up with goals still underachieved.
• Accountability partners help us measure our successes. It also provides different perspectives about our strategies, and it is the greatest key to achieving goals within time frames.
• Support from others, especially Successful Business Owners who already made the mistakes we ought to make, really makes the difference of a 1-year strategy versus 5 years.

Choose your support wisely!

I found that these 7 steps helps my business enjoy success on a more secure foundation.

You are ONE step closer making 2022 your best year in Business yet!

• By taking the time to write down your goals,
• creating a system to hold you accountable, and
• finding ways to keep you focused,

making it possible to reaching your goals. Also in helping you having your best year in your Business yet!

You are invited to join the B.O.S.S Society.

This business membership gives you access to various online marketing strategies, mindset coaching, and money mastery. Helping you Build Online Sales Solutions [B.O.S.S] with purpose and recurring profits!

As a member of the B.O.S.S Society, you will gain access to our online community, Profitable Online Creatives. Inside we are networking with like-minded creative entrepreneurs to help you turn your game plans into purposeful profits.

You will also receive valuable online business resources, tools and discounted offers every month right in your inbox.

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