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!

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!

Creating and sharing your core company values helps you find your ideal clients.

A core Company Culture is emergent and unique to each Company Organisation. After reading this blog post, I hope you will feel empowered by learning how to create your own company values which will allow you to share them to attract your ideal clients.

Your company culture is a combination of your

• thoughts,
• beliefs,
• behaviors, and
• feelings

Put it simply, this culture is HOW you choose to do the things you do. I personally believe people need to grow and develop and therefore certain roles and responsibilities will change over time.

Fundamentally, when looking to partner or collaborate with others, we look for a specific attitude.

Attitude determines altitude

ZIG ZIGLAR

It is also about having the right mindset on how to approach challenges and finding solutions.

My company slogan, since I started my accounting firm back in 2006, is “if you can put your mind to it, you can do it“.

Everything is possible, it just depends on how much effort you are willing to put into it.

That is why I help entrepreneurs and business owners create their own company values. Sharing your company values are just as important as it determines your core reasons for

• WHAT you do,
• HOW you do it, and
• WHY you do it

Your core values guide you to keep to the rules of HOW you conduct, interact, and engage with your clients, collaborators, family, and friends.

Part of my own core values is believing in creating real, honest, and transparent connections. My relationship building goes way further than just the basic service level agreements, to leave a positive impact of pride and trust on everything I deliver.

I encourage curiosity and a spirit of eagerness to learn and find ways to change things that are not working and to accept the things that we cannot change.  By adapting to circumstances allows for growth. Never stagnating allows for learning new things and implementing new innovative ways of doing mundane things better.

Here are the key fundamental behaviors that assists me to live out my core values daily:

• To show Compassion
• To Understand
• To be Honest
• To have Purpose
• To reflect Accountability
• To Empower
• To be Consistent
• To give Grace
• To be Transparent
• To be Dependable

It is imperative that everyone I interact with, especially my clients, can see these behaviors throughout my team and receive services that reflect these core values.

My purpose is to make a positive difference in people’s lives. I look at how to create more beneficial value for all my current and future stakeholders.

This includes

• my clients,
• collaborators,
• employees,
• local and global communities

I always try to partner with charitable organizations and to find ways to assist for making an impact on our local and global communities.

My mission is to help entrepreneurs and business owners enjoy the benefits of a fulfilled life. A life of freedom, impact and purpose.

Part of my company goals are based on these 3 Freedom Pillars:

• Freedom of Time
  • Saving time through innovation, technology, automation and streamlined processes
• Freedom of Location
  • By being virtual or mainly running an online business, allows for helping more people
• Freedom from Financial Stress
  • Implementing business strategies to increase revenue, profit margins and reach profit goals faster

Sharing your core values assists with attracting your ideal clients who shares the same values, beliefs and attitudes.

I believe, when your personal needs are met, business success with follow!

There you have it! My core company values, how my Company Culture is defined and how to share it with others. You now have the foundation to create your own core values! If you need further guidance on how to create your own Company Culture, come join me inside B.O.S.S Society, a business membership designed for entrepreneurs to start, grow and scale an online business.

See you online!

As an entrepreneur or new business owner, you might wonder when do you need a roadmap for your business. I know you are facing various challenges and pains. After reading this post, I hope you will feel motivated to implement a game plan that will allow you to enjoy more clarity about the direction your business is headed.

When you are at cross roads or particularly stuck at any of the below stages in your business, you might be ready for a Roadmap or Game Plan for your business.

• Client Dependence
• Money & Financial Management
• Fatigue & Overwhelm
• Founder Dependence
• Balancing Quality and Growth
• Your Bottom Line
• Day-to-day Bookkeeping and Accounting

Implementing a step-by-step Roadmap could help your business grow.

Business Coaching is a value-added service to help Entrepreneurs who needs direction, clarity and guidance to reach their success goals.

Unfortunately, most entrepreneurs and business owners hardly ever realize the need for business coaching until receiving them. Because it is a high-end value service, not all entrepreneurs and business owners who run their businesses on tight budgets, can afford it.

Sadly, it is exactly these type of businesses who desperately needs it.

Let’s look at what a Roadmap or strategic Game Plan can mean for your business:

1. Helping you find and retain your Ideal Customers/Clients
2. Increasing Your Brand Awareness
3. Assisting with Lead Generation and building your lists
4. Diversification in your Brand Messaging
5. Guidance on Hiring a Talented Team
6. Managing your Cash Flow & Finances
7. Financial & Tax Planning
8. Developing Technological Skills
9. Scaling your Business to its full potential

A complete Roadmap is a strategic business game plan.

It is designed to help analyze problems and find potential risks your business might face. A proper Roadmap helps your business find the right solution that is practical, immediately implementable, and effective. It is like having your own Business Coach directing you to growth. By having a strategic game plan for your business helps you to receive in-depth insights into your numbers.

To be more specific, when a Roadmap is implemented, your business immediately benefits from various strategies.

• This strategic business game plan prepares your business for managing finances through targeted Budgets
• It positions your business for marketing your services through certain organic Strategies
• Then it improves your day to day operations through operational systems and Automation
• It assists with the planning and execution of your business strategies to improve overall efficiency in the operational and financial management of your business

Let’s look at the overall approach on HOW we craft your unique Business Game Plan.

This approach can be identified in the following steps:

• Asking and Answering Questions
  • Your WHY,
  • Your HOW,
  • The WHO,
  • WHEN, and
  • WHERE
• Brainstorming Ideas
  • What you want to achieve
  • What gap or need your business fills
  • What your goals/dreams/desires are
• Finding your Compass
  • Your ideas will guide us to map out your business journey
  • Defining where your business is heading
  • What strategies are required
  • How to set S.M.A.R.T goals to reach your final destination
• Implementing your Action Plan
  • Finding the best lead generation strategy to align with your brand goals
  • Implementing the best content and marketing strategy to attract your ideal clients
  • Developing a launch and promotional strategy to attract subscribers into buyers
  • Managing your business through systems, solutions and support

Most Business Owners fail at planning and that keeps them stuck and not reaching their success goals.

The strategic roadmap or game plan approach is not a quick fix but rather a slow, consistent elevation to reach a steady ongoing movement towards success.

Using your strategic roadmap helps prepare specific financial plans, advise on projects and marketing opportunities but most importantly, analyze and measure your risks.

Having a business game plan is also similar to having access to a business coach. It directs, guides, instructs and aligns your business with your visions. It is specific advice that is usually important and in business should be treated as a key principle or foundational element for deciding on a specific route or path.

In your business journey, you will need help to define your Vision, Values, Mission, and Purpose. A strategic roadmap helps to align your priorities with your business goals.  This process requires a highlighted focus on your daily, monthly, and annual goals. A strategic roadmap typically provides a long-term plan and assist with reaching business success goals within specific time frames.

When you recognize your business is in need of a strategic roadmap or business game plan, you are welcome to get FREE access to my 6-Step B.O.S.S Framework to help you create your own business game plan.

See you online!