Many people seek entrepreneurship as a way to achieve success and money, both professionally and personally. Some have the dream of undertaking from an early age; others discover it in times of need. However, what most entrepreneurs have in common is that they did not always know if this was really the best choice for their lives. You may be going through this now. You may be wondering if entrepreneurship is the best way to realize your dreams or not. Fortunately, there are some signs that will help you find this answer. 3 Signs that your ideal path may be entrepreneurshipSuccessful entrepreneurs have some common behavioral traits. From this, you can identify signs in your own behavior that will help you recognize if this is the best way to lead you to professional and personal fulfillment. Here are some of them: 1. You bother with the traditional employment modelHave you ever worked in one or more companies and felt that it was not for you? Do you think this life is summed up in waiting anxiously for the weekend to be happy? Some people believe that they do not fit into the traditional employment model; Do not want to work at set times, receive the same salary at the end of the month, or have a boss. Many feel that they are killing themselves from working for the benefit of others, not themselves. If it is so with you, it may be that your professional achievement is far from traditional employment. Having your own business, working for yourself, and receiving according to your results, seem like a better alternative? So maybe entrepreneurship is your way to success. 2. You have the desire to make an impact in the worldEngaging is a way to impact lives and make your mark on the world. Many successful entrepreneurs started their business to change the lives of at least one person. This change can be anything that brings a positive result and helps someone. If you are motivated to look for results above average and “not just another one,” entrepreneurship can be one way to accomplish this. 3. You like to take responsibility and fulfillAre you happy when you reach the end of the day and see that you have done your homework, whether large or small? And when the days are unproductive, and you can not get anywhere, does that bother you? If you feel that way, it is because you have a passion for accomplishing. You like to chase after your goals and fulfill your responsibilities. This is an essential characteristic for those who want to undertake entrepreneurship. When you start a new business, you take on responsibility. Entrepreneurship is a daily quest to achieve the goals for which you are responsible. If that motivates you and makes you feel that life is going forward, the undertaking can be your way to success. If you have identified with these signs, you are in the right place. A venture can really make sense for your life. Now, if you identify with any of the signs I’m going to talk about below, you better be careful because you may be making a hasty decision. Continue reading the post to understand. 3 Signs that entrepreneurship may not be for youIf any of these characteristics have to do with you, entrepreneurship may not be the best option, or at least not now. See below: 1. You want to follow the easy wayThere’s nothing wrong with wanting things to be easy. So much so that we have a biological tendency to seek the least effort possible to spend less energy. However, if you search for business ideas by researching “what to sell to make money fast and easy,” entrepreneurship is definitely not for you. This path is difficult, tiring, and the results can take a long time to appear. So if it is so difficult and time-consuming, what is the advantage of undertaking? What is easy to achieve generates common results. Already the difficult road can result in extraordinary things. If you have real motivation to choose entrepreneurship, keep in mind that it is they who will lead you forward. Your motives will make you not give up, however difficult the situation may be. It takes persistence. 2. You just want to create a job for yourselfMany people begin to undertake entreprenurship when they lose their jobs, and at first, there is nothing wrong with it. The problem is to think that entrepreneurship is a substitute for a traditional job. If you want to undertake to create a new job, do not do it. You will regret it because working in your own business requires different challenges, different efforts and brings results in a different way. According to experts, 50% of micro and small business owners run their business for a good job. Do you think these people will become successful entrepreneurs? Because there is no motivation to undertake, they do not believe that entrepreneurship is the best way to achieve success. They undertake because they want to create jobs for themselves. These people do not feel fulfilled with their business. If you think about entrepreneruship but would trade it for a job, quit this post and find a job. It is best for you because entrepreneurship would only bring you disappointment. 3. You only want to be an entrepreneur to be richIf you seek entrepreneurship only as a way to get wealthy or rich, I need to tell you something. Most entrepreneurs are not rich. A study called Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, pointed out that in 2018, only around 15% of the entrepreneurs had a family income greater than minimum wages in the USA. If you consider this to be wealth, the other 85% of entrepreneurs are not wealthy. Even worse, the eagerness to get rich is a big reason for bankruptcy in new businesses. Many entrepreneurs believe their business exists to give them money, so they take the company’s profits for personal use and do not reinvest enough. So your business breaks even before you can get established in the market. So you mean entrepreneurs do not make a lot of money?Just as most employees do not get rich, most entrepreneurs do not. It is only you to think that wealth only exists because it is an above-average result. If everyone were rich, no one would be. Money is the result of hard work and sound financial management. Successful entrepreneurs know they need to wait for their business to grow and establish themselves before earning a greater amount of money. And this is crucial for anyone who wants to undertake. Entrepreneurship is not a magic formula to get rich, and if you start a business just thinking about money, you probably will not have enough motivation to continue. If you have not identified with any of these signs, you are on the right track. Entrepreneurship should really be for you. So, to follow the next steps and take action on the right time to form your own business. from https://addicted2success.com/entrepreneur-profile/is-entrepreneurship-the-best-way-for-you-the-de-facto-behind-to-be-or-not-to-be/
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Are you finding life more of a struggle? With more distractions, more bills, and more choices, it can feel as though we’re not making any progress. As technology disrupts multiple industries, many people are trying to build their own business or start the much talked about side hustle. The struggle is real, and after a few years, we can start to wonder why our goals haven’t come to fruition. The networking, upskilling, and hustle might not have paid off. We can question and throw blame, but in truth, our failure to progress is often because we need to be someone new, in order to achieve something we haven’t achieved before. If you are in this situation, feeling exhausted of the grind, and wondering why you’re not getting your break, then it might be time to change who you are being. What are you willing to sacrifice? Here are the 3 things you need to stop doing immediately if you want to be successful:
1. The Clothes Maketh The Man: Stop owning so many clothes.We understand the power of what we wear, and how it can impact the first impression that we make, but do we have too many choices? Over the years, our wardrobes have grown to the point that the idea of moving house fills us with dread. We have lost count of just how many items we have, as each year they are added by the various holidays and celebrations that suggest clothing as a quick and easy present choice. Buying clothes can be fun too, and we all like to wear new items. The problem is that in our fast paced, multiple choice, lives, it’s all too easy to suffer from decision fatigue. It takes energy to make decisions, and we can be assaulted by choices every moment of the day. We need to limit this by building habits such as the route to work we take, what we have for breakfast, and what clothing we wear. You probably have a style that suits you, and an outfit or two that makes you feel confident and attractive. So why not replicate that every day? You will not be alone. In fact, you will be in the company of Presidents and CEO’s. Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, and Barack Obama, all had a small interchangeable wardrobes. Your aim is to limit the choice, know you will look good and be comfortable, and as an added bonus, you will be adding to your personal brand.
2. Body Eating Spirit or Water Of Life? Stop drinking alcohol.Alcohol can be seen as a great way to relax, network, or deal with imposter syndrome. It can calm the nerves, feels like it boosts creativity, and help us de-stress. Sadly, it can also get out of hand, cause regret, waste time and money. Alcohol does have an impact. If you’re not happy, or are struggling to achieve your goals, it may be time to quit drinking and see what happens. Recently, Justin Kan, the 35 year old that sold Twitch to Amazon for $1 Billion, has stated that he has given up alcohol as it was preventing him from being fully in touch with his emotions and his experience of life. Other big names such as Warren Buffet, Tyra Banks, and Jennifer Lopez are also teetotal. It might be a struggle at first, but there will be many benefits that begin to appear over time. Even in the short term, you will have better quality sleep, more energy and focus, as well as a fighting fund of additional cash. Giving up alcohol may just give you that slight edge you need to win. 3. Your Life Is Not A Soap Opera, Stop with the drama.As human beings, we are natural storytellers. We can be happily productive and going about our day until we hear a colleague telling a story. It might be meaningless, and have nothing to do with our lives or our work, yet we need to know what happens! As the characters fall into place and the drama unfolds, we begin to get involved in a narrative that has nothing to do with our own journey. We want to be part of the fairy tale, with the villain, the hero, the overcoming of obstacles. Sadly, what we often end up with is merely gossip. Gossip that often has nothing to do with reality.
We know our goal and what we want to achieve. The drama is a distraction pulling us off target. It is another form of procrastination. We may even be attracting it by mind reading and creating fictional motivations for those around us to cause us stress. We need to remove the drama from our lives and focus on creating a calm and conflict free environment that prioritizes effective communication and the reality of the situation. Try stopping these 3 things for a month and see what happens. Will the more streamlined and focused version of you be more successful? Let us know below!from https://addicted2success.com/success-advice/if-you-want-to-be-successful-stop-these-3-toxic-habits/ Growing and scaling a business has become a monumental task for entrepreneurs. Competing with established companies on a limited budget presents a host of challenges, however, embracing some growth hacking tips can significantly increase your chances of success. Unfortunately, many people are still unaware of what growth hacking is and how it works. To help you understand the relatively new concept, we have compiled this post where we will share some strategies that can help businesses scale and move forward. Before we walk you through the process of growth hacking your business, it is important to define this concept and eliminate the confusion around it. What is growth hacking?The phrase ‘growth hacking’ was first coined by Sean Elis in his blog in 2010. It refers to experiment-driven techniques and the most effective ways of growing a business. Growth hacking involves a mix of marketing, design, innovation, engineering, and analytics. Growth hackers look for innovative and cost-effective methods to attain growth instead of resorting to traditional methods. Growth hackers use a combination of tools, including content marketing, SEO, A/B testing, and leverage their strategies to achieve the desired results. Below are some of the most important growth hacking tips and strategies that you can follow to expand your horizons:1. Focus on qualityAlthough growth hacking can maximize your revenue to a great extent, you would never succeed if your product or service does not add value to your customers’ lives. A great product or service helps businesses build trust, which is imperative for success in today’s competitive environment. Quality also results in satisfied customers and retains their loyalty so that they get back to buy from you again and again. Customer satisfaction is quickly overtaking price as the key factor in customer’s decision making. Additionally, satisfied customers tend to stick around for the long term and contribute considerably to a company’s revenue and profitability. 2. Automate your tasksOne of the ways to maintain high levels of productivity is to automate all your manual and time-consuming processes. This is probably the most critical growth hacking practice both for small and large businesses. Assess your needs and implement software that will fulfill your business’ requirements. Two of the most widely used automation software are customer relationship management (CRM) software and marketing automation. CRM automates manual tasks and allows the teams to access the same data. It also provides project management services, improves collaboration within teams, and saves time and money. Many all-in-one CRM software offers a built-in marketing automation solution; however, you can also acquire the service separately. The marketing automation solution streamlines marketing processes, increase brand awareness, and makes it easy for brands to attract new leads. With built-in features like email marketing, lead generation, and metrics, the solution offers excellent growth hacking services for early-stage startups.
3. Have a referral program in placeDropbox jumped from 100,000 users to four million users in just over four months by implementing a simple referral program. That is a growth of 3900% or doubling its user base every three months. Similarly, Airbnb grew and tripled their daily bookings with their referral program, which brought in millions of dollars in revenue. These two examples highlight the importance of referrals for the growth of a business. Dropbox offered more storage space to their users while Airbnb provided cash bonuses to referrers after they went on their first trip or hosted a guest for the first time. 4. Offer a freemium modelAn effective way to hack your growth is to offer basic services for free. Users have the option to apply for a premium membership to access advanced features. This was the hack behind the success of Spotify. The company earned money from cash subscriptions and in-app ads. Users were offered free streaming services for which they had to listen to ads. The freemium model also contributed a lot to Slack’s overall success. They offered a freemium option which allowed users to use the platform before deciding whether or not it was right for them. The users could upgrade to a feature-rich platform that offered more storage and deeper message archives. Today, the platform has over ten million daily active users. 5. Focus on content marketingContent marketing is a long-term process that has the potential to grow your business over time. Research of “Kapost” revealed that companies that have a business blog generate 97 percent more leads as it enables them to reach billions of users that use the internet. Blog regularly and create content that solves the problems of your readers. Use content creation tools to produce content that drives engagement and social sharing. Also, make sure that your blog includes a subscription form so that new users can sign up and receive your blog posts via emails. This not only increases your readers’ club but also provides an opportunity to maximize lead generation.
6. Influencer marketingInfluencers are industry experts who are considered as authorities in your space. They have already garnered huge followings, so if you have good connections with them, you can potentially increase the reach of your content exponentially. You can use tools like BuzzSumo to get a list of influencers who take an interest in content similar to what you produce. Collect the contact details of relevant influencers and try to contact them. You may send personalized emails explaining why your content will appeal to their followers. These are some of the tried and tested growth hacking strategies that will set you apart from the competition. Follow these tips and see what your brand can really do in the highly competitive market. Which of the tips stated above was your favorite and why? Share your thoughts with us below!from https://addicted2success.com/entrepreneur-profile/6-growth-hacking-tips-thatll-show-you-how-to-grow-your-business-as-fast-as-possible/ It was late as we arrived home. I was exhausted from a twelve hour drive back from my parents’ house. The garage door got stuck, didn’t open, and I broke. I began beating on the door in every way possible. My mind was set on one thing and one thing only, I was going to prove to the door that I was smarter, stronger and more determined. Between the punching, elbows, and kicking, a warning sound was signaling me from deep inside. I was doing something that I knew better than to do. Slowly, the realization of the fact that my wife and kids were all still sitting in the van watching me act like a raging animal, beating on an inanimate object and acting the part of the fool. This is the lesson of how to journey back from a break down. Living Life with BalanceThe challenge of understanding how to live your life in balance is a popular topic for those that have experienced any type of success. Many experts talk about how to spend time equally, or how to balance priorities or how to keep your life in line with your goals. All of this sounds like solid wisdom but often this wisdom doesn’t always come with practical application. The idea that you’ll be able to spend time equally on all fronts is physically impossible. Every business has a busy quarter. The pressure and demands are intense and the stress seems to just pile on in endless truckloads. On top of that, add the multiple requests from family wanting more time and demanding well deserved attention. It was at this point I realized I needed to find out what real life balance looked like. A balanced life is determined by a razor thin line. That razor thin line separates the path to success from the path to a nervous breakdown! How does this apply to living a life in balance? How do we keep our lives from breaking down both emotionally and physically? Most of us look at keeping balance as two sides of a balance beam. On one side you have family and friends, while on the other side there’s business and networking. We get all the pieces arranged so that we can walk that beam, keeping everything perfectly balanced… But what happens when there is a disruption? When we encounter one of life’s storms? A sickness? A death? A business partner’s betrayal? These are the impossible situations that will never allow you to keep your time and energy perfectly balanced. By attempting to keep them balanced, you sacrifice your own energy, eventually getting to empty, unable to serve or help any of those that surround you. Instead of the balance beam illustration, think of keeping your life on a balanced scale. Think of those older scales, the ones that used a fulcrum to balance the weight of items on the scales. On each of the sides of the fulcrum, there will be loads of responsibility. As we walk on our adventure, we balance the scales of life. We know the events and the demands of time for each. So we create balance and live in that balance.
Life changes! Our journey has a switchback or storm that interrupts our steady pace. We experience an incredible amount of success in business. All of these create the disruption of our patterns, and increase demands on our time and energy. It is at this time that we look at our balanced life, and move the fulcrum to adjust for the heavier load and greater demand. By moving the fulcrum, it allows us to keep our life in balance, and not feel guilty that we’re dedicating more time and energy to where the demand is greatest during that season of life. Are you paying attention to the signs in your own life? If you do, you will find that there are times when you’re just about ready to breakdown. For all the success you’ve had, you’re still miserable because you know that something is missing. You don’t have the strength to handle some of the minor challenges, and so you ignore them. Those minor challenges add up into major life changing challenges. Take the time to analyze what you spend your time on, not just within your business, but in your personal and family life. Here is the lesson that I learned. Make sure that you are taking time to do the following activities:1. Personal timeEach twenty-four hours has 1,440 minutes. Are you willing to spend .01% of that time on your personal life? Here is a plan for fifteen minutes you can take to help restore your energy.
2. FamilyMake sure you prioritize spending time with your family and putting it on your schedule. Go on a date with your wife or significant other. Spend time with your kids.
3. CommunityOne of the most common points of frustration for every entrepreneur is the feeling that they are alone. One of my mentors encouraged me to look for tribes. What tribes am I developing to stay connected? The only way to break that lonely feeling is to purposely seek out those who are like minded and do this in two ways.
Business will always be there for those that have this entrepreneurial spirit. There will always be more demands and time commitments. The principle of balance will give you the ability to walk the path of success, rather than the path to your nervous breakdown. How do you find balance in your life? Share your advice or thoughts below!from https://addicted2success.com/entrepreneur-profile/how-an-entrepreneur-can-create-a-truly-balanced-life/ So you’ve got an idea. You know it will work. And, it means the world to you. You are an entrepreneur and you think you can rock the world with this one idea that matters to you the most. And, you set out to form the idea into a startup that you are going to nurture and develop into a blooming business in the upcoming years. However, I don’t want to throw water over your dreams but, I do need to bring this “optimist” you into the hard and cold reality…….. the reality which says that 90% of all startups fail. Of course, this can bring a great deal of uncertainty into your life and you got to be prepared to deal with it. You are also going to face a ton of challenges in your life which will force you to grow as an entrepreneur. But, the important thing is that you stick with it. Of course, as Charlie Munger (Warren Buffett’s friend) once said, “All I Want to Know is Where I’m Going to Die So I’ll Never Go There”. No entrepreneurs want their startups to fail after putting in days and weeks of effort into it. So, a lot of research has been put forward into knowing what does actually sabotage a startup? Fortune reported that the single biggest reason startups fail was because they do not identify what the market wants before setting up their startup. However, it isn’t as simple as that. An entrepreneur needs to perform a comprehensive business plan before he sets out with his business idea. Also, you have to know whether your business idea actually suits you or not. If it doesn’t then, you either you need to fine-tune yourself with your business idea or you need to change the business plan so that it suits you. And, it is only after that, should you venture upon your startup. That’s where they tend to make a series of mistakes that may cause great harm to their startup. That’s why I scoured for successful entrepreneurs to provide me with information on what they think were the most common mistakes that startups do. Plus, I also got tips on how to avoid these mistakes. You can check out the original article here: 70 Mistakes Startups Make And Tips On How You Can Avoid Them Now, it’s your turn to do some work. Let me know what you thought of these mistakes and tips that entrepreneurs commit. Do you know of any other mistakes that entrepreneurs do? Comment below! from https://addicted2success.com/startups/51-mistakes-that-can-sabotage-your-dream-startup/ 5 Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Transition Your Side Hustle Into a Full-Time Business7/26/2019 After selling your one-of-a-kind jewellery on Amazon or helping small business clients with their IT needs, there will come a time when an entrepreneur asks themselves whether their business has what it takes for them to leave their full-time job and operate their business on a full-time basis. More often than not, the response to this question is met with a strong fear of leaving a consistent pay check, leaving them with unfulfilled dreams they will continue to obsess over for years to come. Instead of counting yourself out before the game even starts, let’s create a strategic plan of action and examine some key topics one should consider when you start to get that itch to become a full-time business owner. Here are five questions you should ask yourself (and be willing to solve if you don’t have an answer) before you transition into the trenches of sole entrepreneurship:1. Do You Have Repeat Customers?Initially, after you go full-time, you will have to rely on repeat customers to fuel your business. Repeat customers are what help to maintain the vitality of your business from year to year; not the one-time users. Is your product or service on the tip of people’s mouths? Will they want to (and are they able to) utilize your business again and again? Review sales from past customers to determine how many repeat customers you have from month-to-month. If you don’t have repeat customers often, work to assess the scale of your business. Can you acquire the interest of a new group or subgroup of customers? Can your business increase its exposure on social media sites, such as Instagram? Create more buzz about your products to drive attention to the business to increase your customer size before transitioning full time. 2. Do You Have a Focus Before Your Transition?If you had more time to work on your business, would that automatically equate to you selling more of your product? Transitioning to full-time status with your business usually doesn’t mean you are going to make a million dollars within the next 6-9 months. What it should mean is you took the time before you became a full-time business owner, to assess what impact it would have on your business. It’s not enough to be able to “work on your business more,” once you quit working at XYZ Corporation. Is your focus on doing more research, heavier marketing, offering a better quality product? Don’t just start working aimlessly on everything you couldn’t because you were juggling between two jobs. Use your time wisely before the move to assess what key issues need to be addressed as soon as you leave. 3. Do You Truly Have a Passion to Develop This Side Hustle Into a Full-time Business?Do you have a passion for talking about your product or service for hours at a time? Sharing cool content about your product or service on social media is necessary however, the offline talks you have with potential clients about the urgency they need to have with obtaining your product, needs to be a constant additive to your weekly routine. Initially, you are most likely the only representative of your brand. If you can’t sell yourself day in and day out to people outside of your friends or circle, you won’t be able to sell your brand. 4. Will Sales From My Side Hustle Be Able to Equip Me With Paying for My Expenses?If your product or service is too unique that a substantial number of people would not benefit from it and/or very expensive, your hustle may be unable to handle the terrain of a full-time business launch or taking care of paying your electric bill each month. Calculate how much money you will need to handle living expenses for a month (which should also include the cost of health insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, and your 501k), plus current business expenses. Use the total from these two figures to determine how much you will need to sell to keep your business afloat (or break-even). 5. Are You a Doer?Once you head into full-time entrepreneur mode, there is no human resources department, supervisor doing performance reviews, or team meetings to strategize how to remedy certain business issues. You will need to perform the work, follow up with clients, discover new customers, promote your business, research and attend additional training programs, seek out key players to help your business succeed, etc. For the business to thrive, you must be willing to do and do so with finesse, Monday through Sunday. Before you leave any well-paying full-time job, I highly suggest you assess your will and desire “to do” (regardless of the fact you will reap the benefits of doing); which will without a doubt impact how long you will be in business and how successful your business will be during that time. Stepping into the unknown and transitioning any side hustle into a full-time business will always be a risky decision. To lessen the plunge into uncharted territory, one should always merge their fears with a well thought out strategy. By determining before the transition whether your business model is capable of providing an adequate need to consumers on a recurring basis, in addition to solely supporting you on a financial basis, you’ll be better prepared for those first six to twelve months of full-time entrepreneurship. Lastly, you must gauge how well your personality will mesh with the passion, grit, and sense of urgency needed to cultivate and manage a successful business, from year-to-year. from https://addicted2success.com/entrepreneur-profile/5-questions-to-ask-yourself-before-you-transition-your-side-hustle-into-a-full-time-business/ Working alone at home might sound like a nightmare to some, but as a fully signed up introvert, working alone at home is an absolute dream. No energy-draining small talk, no noisy distractions, just peace and quiet to complete deep and focused work. Well not quite. Working alone at home has more challenges than you might expect. Boredom, lack of focus and lack of motivation to name a few. When you start working for yourself, you quickly realise that one of the biggest problems you face isn’t the job itself. Maintaining your motivation poses a potentially huge difficulty. Much of that difficulty stems from working alone, rather than in a traditional office setting. There is also the challenge of staying focused on the task at hand. With no boss or supervisor looking over your shoulder, social media can distract or cat videos interrupt you. But the greatest problem by far is a simple lack of motivation. There doesn’t seem to be a pressing need to finish this project right now, making it far too easy to put it off until later. Left unchecked, a lack of motivation can cripple the work you are trying to accomplish. Over the past few years I’ve developed a few go-to tactics to improve my lone working motivation. Here are some of the tools I’ve used to stay motivated and on-task. These first few tips focus on using different tweaks in your personal work schedule to provide some variety and maintain your focus. 1. Include short breaksMy eye doctor once told me that for every 20 minutes of staring at a computer screen, you should look away and focus on something across the room for 20 seconds. This gives your eyes a chance to reset. Do something similar with the rest of your body; don’t just look across the room, walk, jog, or run across the room. Give your body a break, and try to reset your thoughts. If you don’t have the discipline to take regular breaks, use an app to remind you. 2. Block out an afternoon for social activities and networkingSet aside one afternoon a week for your social life. Friday afternoon works best for me. If you feel guilty about not working, think of it as a chance to network. Either way, be sure to spend this section of time with other people. Socialise and network. 3. View your personal schedule as your work scheduleA 9-to-5 job requires getting up every morning, preparing for the day, leaving the house, and commuting to your workplace. In other words, it requires going to work. You want to recreate the same rhythm at home. You may not actually need to leave your house in order to work, but try to stick with the schedule. Filling the old job timeslot with your new work helps to keep you motivated – you can’t clock out early! These next few tips are little things you can do to trick yourself into staying focused! 1. MusicThis tip may sound cliché, but try listening to an upbeat song loudly whenever you feel unmotivated. It’s a simple trick, but a surprisingly effective one! 2. Have somewhere else to work for a change of sceneryWhen procrastination sets in, sometimes a quick change of scenery is all you need. If you work at home, going to your favourite café can be a huge help. Other freelancers I know have even gone so far as to hire office space outside the home, and rotate between the two to help stay on-task. 3. Love what you doThis is arguably the most critical point on the whole list. If you don’t love what you do, it will be hard to keep yourself motivated – particularly long-term. Sure, you may be able to push on through sheer force of will for a while, but sooner or later you’ll lose motivation entirely. Do something you genuinely enjoy, and you’ll find it much easier to stick with it for the long haul. These last few tips are Industry-related! 1. Make sure you have fun projectsNot all of your work projects will be fun, but fight to make at least a couple of them fun. These might even be personal side projects, not particularly related to your main job. Or they might be in the same general field, but not your specific focus. 2. Attend industry events a couple of times a yearNearly every imaginable industry has an organising body of some kind. Find the local branch, and use it to keep tabs on industry-related events. Attend some seminars, network, and maybe even glean some new tips and tricks from industry insiders. 3. Schedule at least one call a week to learn something within your industryView this as an opportunity for personal development. At least once a week, try to learn something new about your industry. For me, this might mean calling a new tool provider to demonstrate their gadgets. Whatever your industry, try to expand your horizons a little bit every week. You’ll learn new methods and make new connections at the same time. These tips worked for me, hopefully, some of them will help you out as well. Above all, strive to enjoy what you do, stick to a “work schedule,” and look for opportunities for constant self-improvement. With those ideas in mind, you’ll find staying motivated much easier to do alone or in a group! from https://addicted2success.com/motivation/the-guide-to-staying-motivated-while-working-alone/ Mindset is key for success. Without supportive belief systems backing you up, it’s easy to run into challenges that can make your mind spiral fast. These three mindset reframes will help you create powerful and practical habits in your business that make success much easier to attain. Reframe #1: You’re Not Alone
Success is a community effort. It’s not done solo. When you take on all of the responsibilities in your business, you inadvertently create roadblocks to your success that don’t need to be there. In the beginning, it’s easy to fill every role. You play accountant, marketer, project manager, salesperson, administrative assistant, service provider, and more, just to make it all work. The key is making sure you don’t stay there too long by avoiding this one mistake. In the world of bootstrapping your business, it’s easy to look at all of the money coming into the business as income. But there’s a better way to view it that will serve your business long term. Instead of viewing the revenue (all of the money from the sales you make) your business is generating as personal income, start seeing it as change-my-life cash. Change-my-life cash is all about using the dollars you earn to create more dollars and more freedom in your business. Chances are that you’re not that great at a few of the hats you’ve been wearing, and someone else would do that job much better than you. When you take some of the money you earn in your business and invest it in brilliant team members, you make your job easier because now you can focus on what you’re really good at and what makes you money (instead of wasting time on things that are a time suck).
Here’s what happens when business owners try to go at it alone for too long — you hit an income ceiling because you haven’t had the time to put the systems in place to create more automation. That leads to working 60+ hour weeks (if you’re lucky), hustling and grinding your life away (without enough left over to even rent a movie on Prime with a $2.79 Kroger frozen pizza), feeling trapped and isolated. It sounds like an exaggeration, but it happens all the time because of two mindsets: All the money I make in my business is my income and I can do it all on my own until I make more money. To avoid this trap (or redirect it if you’ve fallen prey to it), replace those beliefs with these success driven mindset reframes: My business thrives faster when I have help and I invest the cash my business makes wisely to make it grow. Reframe #2: Speak It Into BeingWords have power. That’s why famous quotes can last for thousands of years. So when it comes to your business, your clients, your team members, and yourself, you want to speak with positivity instead of negativity. The truth is, there’s few things more repelling than negativity. It repels people, opportunities, success, money, and more. Why? It’s the energy of constriction. When things are constricted, they’re limited. But a positive outlook, mindset, and language pattern will prepare you for expansiveness because it’s the energy of magnetism—meaning more opportunities, money, success, and people in your corner. In cultures around the world, you’ll hear the wise crones give this advice, “Speak what you want into being.” This is how neuroplasticity works. If you want your business and success to stall (or crash and burn in a blaze of not-so-glory), keep telling yourself how terrible you are, what a failure this will turn out to be, and how you can’t get anything right no matter how hard you try. If you want your business to thrive, do this exercise: Write down 5 to 10 positive mantras to speak each morning (or if you’re feeling the gratitude movement, write down the things you are thankful for). Put your positive feelings behind these mantras. Let it be a whole body experience. The results will be a direct correlation of the intention and intensity you put into this exercise.
Reframe #3: Accept, Adapt, & Adjust Your Way To SuccessPlans are great! That is, when you realize a plan is like using Waze when you’re driving cross country. The GPS will give you the best route, but there are extenuating circumstances beyond your control that will likely and unexpectedly reroute you. The purpose of a plan is to generate an idea of how to reach a goal. The information you have available to you when you create your plan is limited at best. Those first few steps you take get you in motion, but accomplishing your goals is rarely ever the perfect progression you laid out. It’s vital that you learn to accept, adapt, and adjust your way to success. The first step is accepting that change is inevitable, with a side of understanding that when things veer off course, it’s nothing personal. There are things involved beyond your control that are influencing your journey. For example, if you had a goal to follow up with five people to hit your sales for the month, and the first person you called was rude and hung up on you—don’t take that personally. You have no idea what happened right before that call. They could’ve just discovered their spouse was cheating, someone they cared about passed away, or that their child was being bullied in school. That doesn’t exactly put someone in a talking mood. If you took that personally, you could end up in an emotional tale spin, afraid to reach out to the next person. But if you’re maintaining your awareness, you might be able to follow up with your leads via text first to see if they’re free for a chat instead of calling first. The destination is the key. The journey is always up for negotiation. The faster you adapt and pivot when things don’t go according to plan, the faster you’ll resolve issues, overcome challenges, and surpass your goals. Which one of the above 3 mindset reframes resonated with you the most and why? Share your thoughts below!from https://addicted2success.com/success-advice/3-mindset-reframes-business-owners-can-use-in-5-minutes-or-less-for-greater-success/ I was only 21 when I started my entrepreneurial journey. As a freshman in university, I knew little about business, but I was pumped with energy and determination to make it work. 7 years later, I have built a remote team of highly sought after talents in Southeast Asia. We lead multi-million dollar marketing campaigns for some of the largest education and training companies in the world. During this time, we also landed once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to work with world-class brands like the Golden State Warriors and the Economist. Looking back, we made many mistakes, but there were also things that we did right. Here are 3 things that I believe any entrepreneur can accomplish which will give them a leg up in their business early on:
1. Become Your Own PublisherGetting published is probably one of the most valuable things you can do as an entrepreneur early on. It gives you instant credibility in the eyes of potential customers and partners. But it is easier said than done. Most publications will not consider featuring your work if you do not have verifiable proof of your expertise. However, you can work around it by becoming your own publisher first. Pick a few interesting topics in your industry and write about them. Then publish them on your own blog as a start. I wrote about 100 blog posts in my first year as an entrepreneur. Those blog posts landed paid writing gigs with the likes of Agorapulse and Postplanner, two fast-growing SaaS companies at the time. I was also invited to write for Social Media Examiner, one of the largest social media marketing publications. Eventually, people started seeking me out as a consultant and that was how my company started. Becoming your own publisher doesn’t mean that you will become an overnight success. It takes time and patience, but you will be duly rewarded when the time comes.
2. Build Your NetworkAs the adage goes, “it’s not about who you know, it’s who knows you that matter.” Your network is extremely valuable as a founder. When you are starting a new business, hardly anyone knows about you and what you do. Your professional network serves as an extension of your business. They are like additional eyes and ears. People will look out for you and send business your way. A few years ago, I was introduced to Noah Kagan. Noah Kagan founded several successful companies and he was employee #30 at Facebook and #4 at Mint. At the time, Noah was hiring a paid traffic director for one of his companies. A friend of mine thought of me and introduced us. Although I did not take up the job offer, this shows you just how powerful your network can be. I have landed several 5 and 6 figure deals through my network in the last few years and it remains as my top priority in business. 3. Lend Your Expertise To An Industry Superstar (Even If It’s For Free)Have you ever considered reaching out to the most prominent people in your industry? Most people do not even think of doing so, because they feel inferior compared to the industry heavyweights. But this is nothing more than a self-limiting belief. There is a lot we can offer to anyone as an entrepreneur if we have developed an expertise. A few years ago, my business hit a road bump, so I reached out to Dennis Yu, a renowned speaker and marketing agency owner. Coincidentally, Dennis was looking for a consultant to come into his firm and groom his team. They landed numerous deals with Forbes 500 and Inc 5000 brands but were not able to keep up operationally. So, we teamed up and I led his team to run multi-million dollar marketing campaigns for insurance carriers, education companies, and I even had the chance to consult for the marketing team of the Golden State Warriors. If I had not reached out to him, the trajectory of my business would likely have looked very different today. So, if you are struggling to gain traction in your business as an entrepreneur, consider reaching out to those who are well-known in your industry. Share why you look up to them and ask if there are any opportunities to help them out. If one rejects you, go to another.
Don’t give up!
Building a business is not easy. There are many things you will try that will not work, but don’t let those failures discourage you. The difference between businesses that succeed and fail is only a matter of determination. If you are struggling in your first year of business, I hope these tips I’ve shared today will help you notch a few victories in your entrepreneurial journey. Which one of the tips shared above resonated most with you and why? Share your thoughts below!from https://addicted2success.com/entrepreneur-profile/3-impactful-ways-to-building-a-successful-business-in-your-first-year-as-an-entrepreneur/ Meditation was first developed in India many years ago (around 5000-3500 BCE). It took quite some time to become popular in the western world, but today, it is celebrated as a therapeutic tool to ease stress, anxiety, depression, and addictions. In the past years, it has also become recognized as helping to improve mental performance, and consequently became a multi-billion dollar business. If you’ve never tried it, you may be wondering how something so simple as sitting with your eyes closed could deliver such incredible benefits. How meditation worksMeditation is about training in awareness and getting a healthy sense of perspective over one’s thoughts. Many think that meditating is about trying to achieve a zen state of mind, but that’s not the point. Observing one’s thoughts, and then letting go of them so that eventually you may start to better understand them, is the real goal of each meditation practice. There are different techniques to go through this mental process. Some focus on the breath and bodily sensation, others make you visualize an object, and others help you to channel your thoughts towards acts of love and kindness. A typical meditation session involves you sitting on a chair or cross-legged on the floor with your eyes closed. Once you assume a comfortable position and focus on your breath, you should start noticing your thoughts. At this point, according to what type of technique you’re using, you will try to let those thoughts go away by focusing on something else (this could be your breath or a mental image you created). With time and practice, you may be able to reach a state of mind where very few thoughts (or none) are present. Despite the simplicity of this process, meditating for more than ten minutes is extremely tough for most. Many people that try meditation get discouraged by the fact that “they can’t stop thinking.” In fact, it has been proven that people spend most of their days being anything but mindful and peaceful. In a 2010 study, Harvard researchers asked more than 2000 adults about their thoughts and actions at random moments throughout their day via an iPhone app. People’s minds wandered 47% of the time, and mind wandering often triggered unhappiness, the scientists reported. They also observed that spending time observing our thoughts without getting stuck on them, may help to better understand oneself, and possibly being able to reduce the number of negative thoughts one experiences.
What science says about meditationPeople have practiced meditation for thousands of years, but scientists have studied its effects for only a dozen. In the past few years, many studies have been published about the neurological benefits of meditation, proving it to improve brain function in many different ways. Meditation’s benefits range from preserving the aging brain, to improving happiness by reducing the activity of the brain’s “me center” (monkey mind). A more recent study has even proven that meditation is as powerful as antidepressants in treating depression, anxiety, and pain. Many more studies are being conducted every day on meditation, and we can expect to gain a lot more insight in the near future. Can anyone meditate?Millions of people are practicing mindfulness meditation every day with great results, but there are also as many people that have tried meditating and didn’t like it or didn’t manage to be consistent with their practice. The most important part of developing a meditation practice is consistency. You don’t have to meditate every single day, but the benefits are tied to regular, consistent practice. Some studies claim that some benefits of meditation such as improved mood, decreased stress and decreased blood pressure, can be felt after a single session. Some other benefits like increased focus and decreased anxiety may be experienced after a few weeks and others take longer to develop. Some people claim that as little as five minutes of meditation per day can make miracles, but research shows that a regular practice associated with benefits involves 10-20 minutes of meditation at least three times per week.
What’s the best way to begin a meditation practice?A good place to start for aspiring mediators is Headspace. Andy Puddicombe, a former English student in sport science, dropped his studies to travel to Asia and trained as a Buddhist monk. He created Headspace with the goal of helping millions of people to live a more mindful life. Over 30 million people have downloaded and use headspace. This is due to his simplicity and its beautiful design and animations. Do you meditate? If so, what’s your favorite aspect of it? Share your thoughts below!from https://addicted2success.com/life/meditation-for-beginners-how-it-works-and-where-to-start/ |
ABOUT USHi I am Stacy Klein. I like swimming and i enjoy being organized and strive to become more efficient every day. Archives
November 2020
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