Are you clear on what you want from life and out of your business?
“On Wednesdays, we wear pink”. That line will be forever associated with Wednesdays for me. But no. I don’t wear pink on Wednesdays as a rule. On Wednesdays, I take time to make sure my weekly and monthly goals are still in line with my vision. It’s my time to check in and make sure I am on track. Part of that process is to focus on what I have going on with my vision board. I believe majorly in the power of visualization and setting goals. When I first started my business, and for years after, I had no concrete vision of where I wanted my business to go, where I wanted my life to go, or what my definition of success was. I also didn’t make any money. Or much money anyway. I highly encourage you to get clear about what you want from your business and from your life! I have my vision board right above my desk so I can look at it every day and remember my ‘why’ in business. It is one awesome feeling to see goals reached and get to create new ones.
I believe in three main points when it comes to life and business.
Where focus goes energy flows.
Thank you, Mr. Tony Robbins for that quote. And as simple as it sounds, it is true. If you focus on the negative, you tend to accumulate more negative. If you put your focus on problems, then your energy is going toward those problems. If you focus on solutions, instead, you are going to get a different result than if you just focus on problems and the negative that surrounds them. Once I started focusing on gratitude and being thankful for what I had, I felt a rise in my day to day life, and I started noticing I was getting more. So I intentionally set my focus on everything that was good in my life, and being grateful. It is a simple shift but the impact is huge. Once I started getting serious about my goals in business, I put my focus there and noticed how my business did better, especially financially, and I had a clearer purpose.
You don’t get what you don’t ask for.
Now it took me awhile to get this one. It’s easy to think business is all about marketing, strategies, social media, email lists, and on and on… And while it is, mindset is a HUGE factor in a successful business. Stay with me, grasshopper. If you don’t know what you want, you are going to have a hard time finding it. One of the best things you can do for your business is to get intentional about it and ask yourself what you want. Include God in on your plans and the desires of your heart. I knew I wanted to make money to be able to support myself and my kids, and I liked designing things for people, but beyond that I had no clear goals. But it came to a point where I was tired of waffling through business, and not seeing enough return for my efforts. I started to get serious and ask myself what I wanted. I prayed about it and started making plans. I spent a good year getting really intentional about what I wanted out of life. And that is when things started changing for me majorly. I remember reading on Pinterest one day something about once you ask the universe for something it starts working in your favor to make it happen. And that just makes sense to me. I started presenting my plans to God, praying about it, and I started working toward it. If you keep moving forward, and have a plan, God is going to bless that plan somehow – whether it be moving you toward it, or away it from it if it’s not where you are supposed to be. I read an article by Deepak Chopra that said something along the lines that when we keep moving forward in our lives that is when blessings show up.
Not too long ago I found a book thru my church called The Circlemaker: Praying Circles around Your Biggest Dreams and Greatest Fears (aff. link). And in the book, it talks about how “God honors bold prayers because bold prayers honor God”. That really blew me away. Well, the whole concept of the book did. Anyway, don’t be afraid to ask for the BIG stuff.
Trust your business to provide.
I had to learn this concept in a somewhat scary manner. For years, the income from my business did not really provide for me. It did to some degree but I also relied on my children’s father to make up most of our income. Until one day it no longer did. He got laid off from work and things got ugly. We parted ways for the most part, trying to work at it somewhat for months, and I was left to figure it out for myself. And I had no idea if my business was going to be able to meet my financial obligations. And I had no idea if I was going to be able to feed my three children, pay for my house, car, utilities, etc. Oh. My. Gosh. I was terrified. But then I was also really determined. I had been wanting my business to fully provide for some time now and I was about to see if this little bird was going to fly or fall hard. (I still get butterflies in my stomach just thinking about all the emotions I was feeling at the time). Long story short – I got really courageous -the kind of courageous where you are gritting your teeth through the fear and pretending you are brave to get through it. I worked my butt off, invested in business coaching, listened to Youtube videos of business gurus every morning (I still do this every day), made goals, prayed, and prayed some more and… it worked.
This I attribute to God because I don’t even know how it works to this day. How do the sales show up month after month? I sure as heck didn’t know how it worked back then when the month before I couldn’t have paid all the bills. But I put my focus toward making it work, and asked for it to work, and trusted it would. And it did. Please don’t think it’s all gravy for me every day because I still run a small business and it is a continual roller coaster. BUT I know the money will show up when I show up. I work toward big goals, and I ask God every morning to take the lead.
So, in conclusion, I encourage you to:
- pay attention to your focus and get it where it needs to be (start with gratitude).
- ask yourself what you really want out of your business (and life).
- start trusting your business to provide (take a leap of faith).
Not sure you are on the right path with your dream business? Read this.
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