In May 2014, I left my very secure career at a Fortune 50 company to go full time for my own online business.
I truly can’t believe it’s been over 7 years full time for myself!
I bet many of you who were subscribers of my YouTube channel or readers of my blog at the time also didn’t expect my business would survive this long.
I’m sure some of you may have thought it was a cash grab. Perhaps some of you thought it was a fad that I might get bored of. And I’m certain some of you believed that I just wouldn’t be able to make it work for the long haul.
I wouldn’t blame you if you had your doubts!
The truth of the matter is that the vast majority of businesses fail.
They fail at the 120 day mark.
They fail at the 1, 3, and 5 year mark.
Statistically, every day a business operates, the odds are it will not make it through the day.
So, I completely understand why it feels scary to start a business with such high odds stacked against you.
But I also know in the depths of my soul that I will never go out of business unless I decide I no longer desire to run a business.
And trust me, I never want to work another 9 to 5 again, so it’s unlikely that I’ll ever stop being an entrepreneur.
I’m so certain of this because I now have the knowledge and experience of what it takes to build a business, and even if the industry I am currently working in fails, I know I can start another business and it will be successful.
Although I do not buy into the idea that there is a blueprint for success in business, I do know that there are elements of digital marketing, that once you understand them, you can apply them to any online business venture.
It took me a long time on my own to put all the pieces together!
Remember, I started my first blog in 2008, I started YouTube in 2009 and it look me another 5 years to understand on my own those essential elements that I know are what always create success in business when implemented strategically and consistently.
I’m not going to sit here and tell you the last 7 years have been all roses. I certainly had points where I let my business slip, or I tried a new strategy that didn’t really work for me and I had to readjust course.
But I’ve always been able to right the ship, get back on course and produce a full time income for myself.
I’m no 35 year old millionaire, but I do well enough for myself through my business that I lead a comfortable life.
Entrepreneurship and running my own business online was something I intentionally chose for myself so that I could live the life I wanted.
I truly desired the time, financial and location freedom that I enjoy today and it was something I was able to accomplish for myself very quickly once I had all the pieces of the puzzle worked out in my mind.
But the problem with those puzzle pieces, is that I can tell you about them all day long!
In fact, in my previous email I laid them all out for you, but there is a difference between knowing a thing and being able to apply that knowledge to your own situation.
It’s the reason why most businesses fail, even though there is such a plethora of information you can access free on the internet.
I saw from experience working with the ambitious women in my community that it wasn’t enough to know the information, but that they often needed help applying the knowledge to their own business idea.
Isn’t it so often the truth that we can see how something works for another person, but not how that works for ourselves.
So, I put together the Business Accelerator as an affordable business coaching and consulting opportunity where I guide you through the information and help you to see how it applies to your own circumstance.
That sort of support is invaluable! Having a mentor who has been there and done that before can be a major difference in the trajectory of your success.
I welcome you to join me for the EMPIRE BUILDING 6 Week Business Accelerator so that we can do this essential work together to give your business the best possible foundation for success!
Although the online business world can often seem very crowded and competitive, believe me when I say, I want to see you succeed!
I want to see you reach your goal and live your dream the way I get to.
Helping to free other women from the 9 to 5 system so that they can live and experience life on their own terms is why I do what I do!
I need to ask you a serious and somewhat uncomfortable question about your business idea.
Are you building a business or is your idea just a hobby?
I ask because there is a fine line between creating and building something as a hobby and creating and building a business.
There are two differences that set them apart:
First, is revenue.
Second, is commitment.
First and foremost, a business is intended to earn revenue. No matter if that business is a side-hustle, a service you may do only part time, or is intended to serve as a passive income source, all businesses aim first and foremost to earn money.
But, I hear from a lot of women in my community who have been working on their business idea or various ideas for years, and they have struggled to get to the point where they are offering something for sale.
If you have been blogging, posting on social media, or sharing videos on YouTube sharing your knowledge and craft with others, but you aren’t really offering anything for sale, your business is just a hobby.
So, if you are wondering what you’re doing wrong, because you are creating all the great free content that you see other online business owners creating, and you have a platform, and maybe even some followers… what’s missing here is a significant revenue source.
You can’t live off free products that other brands send you to promote, and you won’t build a sustainable business of any size from dismal Google Ad revenue.(Read that line over a few times until it sinks in)
So that is first, but the second issue is commitment, which is many ways might actually be a bigger issue for an aspiring business owner.
You see, if you started your online brand, but you haven’t really been fully committed to it, you’ve likely only been building a piecemeal version of a business.
You’ve been dabbling, experimenting, and hopefully enjoying yourself in the process.
But if you haven’t fully committed to your idea and declared to yourself that this idea is going to be a business that earns money and has success, then you’ve likely only been putting in a half-hearted effort.
If this is you, I see you!
I totally understand and relate to that feeling that you don’t want to get yourself too invested because you aren’t even sure things will work out.
Here’s the truth though: If you want a business that succeeds in meeting your needs and expectations, you need to get invested and you need to decide that your business is going to work out.
Doing this doesn’t have to be challenging or have to come down to a tremendous investment.
Enrolling in the EMPIRE BUILDING 6 Week Business Accelerator is your opportunity to commit to your business idea once and for all. To make a relatively small investment in yourself and finally put the necessary pieces in place that transform your idea from a hobby to a real business.
I’ve put everything you need to get started into EMPIRE BUILDING.
Everything you need to know about how to create a brand online, how to choose and use platforms, how to attract your ideal customer, and yes, how to sell and earn real revenue for your time and effort! It’s all there in the EMPIRE BUILDING course, ready for you to hit play on the video modules and start following along with activities intended to help you decided and build out each aspect of your business.
In this offer, I’ve included bonuses to help you solve some of the most common business issues:
→ How to create an actionable creative business plan
→ How to spend your time as a business owner through the various stages of business
→ How to manage your mindset and tap into your internal guidance as a business owner
→ How to save time, effort and money on marketing your business through FREE content marketing
And on top of that, during the 6 Week LIVE Business Accelerator, you’ll be getting business coaching and consulting from me everyday through homework, additional content, mindset shifting, Q+A and more!
We even have 3 Live Classes including 2 Hot Seat Coaching Calls where we can talk face to face about your business struggles and get you immediate actionable solutions to help you push through your obstacles.
An opportunity like the Business Accelerator doesn’t come along very often, and it never comes along in this price range.
Six weeks of group coaching with a digital marketing program often costs $2,000- $3,500.
This offer and experience is comfortably under $1,000!
And the reason I can price this experience so well, is because unlike some other online business owners, this work isn’t my only source of income.
Over my past 7+ years as a full time business owner, I’ve built a mostly passive income business that includes numerous products including digital planning tools, workbooks, classes, courses, plus various advertising and affiliate marketing income streams.
So, I’ve been where you are before, and I know how to shift that situation from a fun online hobby to a legitimate revenue producing business.
Let me help guide you and be your on-demand business consultant!
Or perhaps you struggle with these common limiting beliefs that plague aspiring digital entrepreneurs..
😕 Does the world even need another business idea like mine?
😕 I’m not even sure what business to start
😕 I’m still researching what I want to do and how to make it happen
😕 I’m afraid to put in all this work and then fail anyway
😕 Who am I to start my own business?
😕 I’ll start a business one day but I don’t have the time right now
If any of those limiting beliefs resonate with you and are currently holding you back from starting a business online, I have a new FREE Business Training that you should see called START YOUR BUSINESS NOW!
The training itself is jam packed with information- you know me, I always overdeliver when it comes to content, and I covered a lot of topics:
✔︎ Why you’d want to start your own business
✔︎ Common reasons that hold people back from starting a business
✔︎ Why your business idea is necessary to the world
✔︎ The revolution that female entrepreneurs are leading in a global paradigm shift for work life balance
✔︎ How to know the right business for you to start
✔︎ Why most business advice isn’t helpful for ensuring your business success
✔︎ The two reasons businesses ultimately fail
✔︎ My complete journey to entrepreneurship with milestones and lessons
✔︎ Six common mistakes that lead to business failure
Yes, it was a lot of value packed information, and throughout the class I shared mindset shifts to help you find clarity on what is holding you back from finally starting the business you’ve been thinking about and planning out for years!
I’m telling you- there was so much good information and actionable strategy in the class…
We are officially half way through 2021 and hopefully each of us has made the time to perform a Mid-Year Review.
I’ve done two at this one, one for my business which was streamed live on YouTube as the last CEO Power Hour and one for my overall goals, which happened on Saturday inside the Productivity and Planning Mastermind.
Now, after doing my reviews, I personally felt a little meh about my goal progress. Yes, I’ve made progress in most areas, but some goals were a challenge for me during the first half of the year.
Obstacles are a natural part of life and goal setting, so we don’t need to feel bad about them. Life happens, after all. However, the mid-year mark is an excellent time to remind ourselves that we have much more control over obstacles than we like to admit.
We can’t stop obstacles from coming, but we can do a few things to manage them better.
First, we should acknowledge that anything we allow, persists. This includes obstacles. I’m sure you have some obstacles that you’ve allowed to continue affecting you, even though you do have the power to remove them from your life.
For me, a major obstacle that stood in the way of one of my goals this year was Uber Eats LOL! I know, it’s a little funny that a food delivery app was an obstacle for me, but as I explained to the Mastermind, ever since the pandemic began, I had become comfortable using the app more and more often and now, no matter how much great food I have prepped in the house, I still default to Uber Eats when I have a craving. It’s been an obstacle for me to remain fully committed to my weight loss, so on the suggestion of my Mastermind sisters, I deleted the app off my phone along with all the other miscellaneous food delivery apps that give me the ability to easily cheat on my diet. Now, I have the obstacle removed. And if for some reason I download them again, this is a situation where I am keeping an obstacle and allowing it to sabotage my success, so I’ll be thinking long and hard before I re-download them for sure.
The second way we allow obstacles to remain in our lives is by failing to set boundaries. Sometimes, obstacles pop up in our days that we react to even if we don’t need to. How many times have you gotten involved in a situation or offered to help someone else with their problems and then you took on a burden that wasn’t your own? When we fail to set boundaries with others or even boundaries to prevent ourselves from going out and getting distracted by external issues, we are really stealing time and energy from ourselves and our own goals. This includes us being distracted by social media or other fun entertainment activities that aren’t part of our daily plan. Until we set good boundaries, we are allowing obstacles in our lives.
The third and final way we allow obstacles to remain in our lives is by failing to plan for them. We each have a certain set of obstacles in our lives that we can anticipate and plan for if we want to. This could have to do with protecting our time, minimizing distractions, and paying attention to our energy patterns. Many obstacles we face in the day are things we might be able to plan to avoid completely. If you have kids or co-workers who interrupt your productivity, there are things you can do to plan to avoid those situations. If constant emails and calls interrupt your work, you can put an out of office on your email and voice mail and let people know you’ll get back to them when you have the time. We need to have some plans in place for the obstacles we know we face or else we are allowing them to continue.
Taking back control of the obstacles you face in life is a key element to finding success with your goals and desires. So, no matter how well you made progress this year, or perhaps you faced a lot of obstacles that prevented you from making process, I want you to remember that you still have six months to do some focused and intentional work on your goals.
Believe it or not, six months of hardcore focus and alignment can put you five years ahead in life!
So much can change in half a year. You can decide to shift out of a negative mindset riddled with limiting beliefs and see immediate results in your life. Most of our goals can be reached in far less time than we imagine, because we are basing our expectations on what other people have done. Yes, there are a few examples of goals that do take time, and if you have set any like that, get focused and started right now, and you will be six months ahead by the end of the year!
But if you are like me and most of your goals are based on your effort and intention, now is the time to look forward, establish personal accountability and build your self-discipline muscle.
You can have a completely different life by December 31st, 2021 if you choose to show up and do the work today, and tomorrow, and each single day you wake up. Take it one day at a time, that is my plan and I hope to see you at the finish line with me by the end of the year!
STAYING ACCOUNTABLE TO YOUR GOALS ISN’T EASY
It’s not easy being an ambitious working woman in today’s society. Women have more responsibilities on their shoulders now than they ever have that can make getting organized and motivated feel impossible and overwhelming, which is why goal getters like you and I need to stick together!
To be a safe space for women like you and I who see beyond the surface of our societal expectations, challenge the accepted norms, and know there is a better way to live.
It’s a place for support, encouragement, accountability and ongoing personal development for us to continue challenging accepted norms and choosing our own unique path to success.
→ The Mastermind includes so many resources to help you on your journey, from multiple live calls each month, to on-demand strategies, tools, and even a complete course on productivity!
→ We have our own private chat forum where we connect and discuss topics ranging from planning, metaphysics, mindset, and wellness.
→ We have a monthly book club to help nurture a growth mindset and continue to learn.
→ We even have a dedicated group for small business CEOs to learn and connect as well!
→ The best part is, when you join the Mastermind, you get immediate access to the entire library of resources, masterclasses and bonus materials that I have been creating since it’s launch.
→ There is no waiting, content isn’t dripped to you, it’s all there for you to explore and access on-demand as you please.
→ And of course I am there as well for guidance and to answer your questions along the way.
When you know better, you do better.
Are you ready to do better for yourself, your family and your future by committing to your personal development to become the best woman, mother, spouse, sister, daughter, aunt and friend that you can be?
It’s officially mid-year and as an entrepreneur or fellow business owner, we have a few housekeeping things to get in order! I find that now is the best time to take a moment to reflect on your business, projects and progress so far this year and make any necessary adjustments.
As business owners, it’s very common that the plans we start the year off with end up changing for various reasons.
In life and in business, I think too many of us try to push on and finish what we have started, even when it’s not working for us, and it takes a lot of courage to really stop and evaluate your progress to make sure you are still on the right track.
Likewise, you may feel inspired to take on a new project, but because it’s not the start of the New Year, we think we don’t have enough time to execute it. Realistically, the six months we have left in this year is plenty of time to make adjustments to our plans and still end the year off successfully. In fact, sometimes making necessary changes helps you to find success and clarity where there was once only confusion and resistance.
#3. Take time to Refresh and Review your life as well as your business! To help you with this, I have compiled a list of 31 Things To Do in July to get your life in order and on track now that we are half way through the year. Go through this list and make sure to get yourself reset for the second half of 2021!
31 Things To Do in July to Refresh Your Life & Plans
Journal about your year so far
Review your goals
Analyze your progress
Redefine your priorities
Write down your victories
Realign your goals to new targets
Outline your monthly objectives
Reverse engineer goals into projects
Track your habits
Define your routines
Perform a braindump
Set up your project plans
Outline your next action steps
Schedule deadlines for projects
Check on upcoming special dates
Confirm necessary appointments
Communicate your schedule to others
Identify a poor habit to replace
Choose a new habit to build
Review your systems
Clean out your planner
Write out a new personal mantra
Identify an obligation you can end
Refresh your self-care routine
Schedule some time off
Create an inspiration board
Select a motivational book to read
Choose something new to learn
Clean out your email
Start a gratitude practice
Relax and get into a positive mindset
CEO Strategy | Mid-Year Refresh & Review
If you’d like to follow along with my complete CEO Strategy Mid-Year Refresh & Review process, check out the replay of my recent Live Business Strategy Session.
In this workshop, I am going to walk you through a series of questions and activities to help you celebrate your wins, set intentions for the next six months, and get clear on the objectives and tasks you need to work on in July to make progress on your annual goals!
We are going to be doing some goal setting and planning together for a more balanced life and business, following my CEO Strategy methodology.
If you already receive my weekly email, then no need to sign up again, you will receive an email the morning of the live workshop with the direct link + free worksheet.
STOP CHOOSING BETWEEN BUSINESS SUCCESS AND A BALANCED LIFE!
Do you every feel overwhelmed by all the tasks you have to manage for your business and personal life?
If you’re like me, you started your own business in order to live a different lifestyle than the norm. You wanted the flexibility of time and location freedom, being able to work when you wanted, where you wanted, so you would have time to prioritize other areas of your life. Breaking free of the 9-5 life was freeing until I realized without a solid time management strategy and strong prioritization skills I could easily work on my business 16 hours a day, 7 days a week!
Does simply looking at your to-do list give you anxiety? Like tasks are multiplying faster than you can complete them and you are continually sacrificing time with your family, self-care or sleep in order to simply tread water in your business. With so many tasks to finish, how do you what you should be working on each day?
Has the overwhelm of managing your business caused you to slow or completely stall progress on your business goals? You are afraid to take action on your projects because nothing works out the way you expected it would and all you see are problems that you don’t feel capable to address.
Are you constantly stuck on what types of content marketing you should be doing to grow your audience? Your content calendar is usually empty, you wait until the last minute to write your posts but come up blank or you completely skip out on content creation all together because the process is just too time consuming.
What if there was an easier way to run your business?
Imagine waking up in the morning after a full nights sleep, rested and ready to take on the day. You are excited to start work on your business because you are clear on your priorities and have systems in place that make your work much more manageable (and, dare I say, even fun?)
Imagine waking up to a business reality where you feel in control and in charge of your business, like the inspired and aligned CEO you always intended to be.
Your business is thriving, you have time to take your work slow and get the results you are looking for. Your home life is well-managed and your personal relationships are thriving.
At the end of the day, your head hits the pillow grateful and content, knowing that you created this reality and that you can create whatever else you desire tomorrow!
If you are struggling to plan and manage a balanced life and business, I have the solution for you!
Introducing the CEO Strategy Bundle:A three masterclass series covering time management, mindset, and marketing strategies to streamline your business, so you can finally live a balanced life!
The CEO Strategy Bundle is designed to equip you with the tools, strategies and lessons that you need to intentionally create a balanced and profitable life + business…
So you can:
✔︎ Take Charge of Your Time: Clearly understand your roles as a business owner, the specific tasks to focus on through each phase of your business and to set reasonable expectations to achieve true work/life balance.
✔︎ Master Your Mindset: Get into alignment with your purpose, identify and overcome limiting beliefs holding you back from showing up for your business, and master the energetic secrets of productivity that help you triumph over your to-do list once and for all.
✔︎ Expand Your Marketing: Develop your unique messaging to stand out in your niche, quickly create a full calendar of impactful content marketing that sells in just a few hours per week, and show up on purpose and on message to grow your brand and audience.
Here’s what you’ll get:
→CEO Strategy Masterclass: Learn how to manage your time, energy and expectations as a business owner so you can lead a balanced life.
→CEO Mindset Masterclass: Become a master of your own mindset, overcome and reprogram limiting beliefs holding you back from taking action on your desired life + business.
→CEO Content Calendar Masterclass: Streamline your content to keep your audience and revenue growing without overwhelming your schedule or spending money on ads.
RUNNING YOUR BUSINESS IS YOUR DREAM, NOT YOUR NIGHTMARE
Take back control of your life + business with proven strategies that will keep you balanced, focused and on track!
Stop choosing between your business and your personal life, and start embracing the strategies that can keep you balanced and successful in all areas of your life!
The other week I took part in an interview with one of the members of my community who was working on a school project pertaining to the Business of Influencers!
I love to share my interviews with you all because I think there is often a lot to learn about the process of starting and running a successful business and although you may know some of my story, it’s always great to learn more. Since this interview was for a school project, it’s not going to be published for me to share, so I wanted to share the questions and my answers with you here on my blog!
Question 1: What were you doing before you became an influencer?
Alexis: I’m not sure at which point I officially became an influencer because being an influencer was never actually my goal. My goal was simply to run my own business online. Before going full time for my business, I worked a 9-5 job in Fortune 50 Sales + Marketing. Even while I worked my 9-5 I had been building my brand and influence online. All of this really started after college. When I graduated college and wasn’t financially able to pursue the graduate school of my choice, I started a blog and youtube and redirected to running my own business online.
Question 2:What were the biggest hurdles for you to become a full-time influencer?
Alexis: The biggest hurdle for me to becoming a full-time influencer was having a following large enough to support my minimum income needs. When I left my 9-5 job, I did so only after having saved a comfortable amount of emergency money, and once my monthly income from being and influencer (ad revenue, sponsorships etc) reached a specific point I had defined for myself. Once I hit that income mark, I took the leap and left my job to pursue this business full time.
Question 3: What is your “influencer stack”: the primary/critical tools you use in your day to day work?
Alexis: MyMaster Planner + CEO Strategy Planner Bundle of course is the first! I think having a clear, simple plan of action for the day is the most important part of building anything. I also use WordPress for my website, YouTube for video marketing, Instagram for social media. I use MailChimp as my email marketing provider that helps me send marketing emails to my list. I use a MacBook Pro laptop, an iPhone 8 Plus to do most of my work. I shoot a lot of my images on my phone or on my DSLR Canon 80D. I’ve been using an HD Logitech webcam to film most of my videos recently. I use the program Apple Notes to organize a lot of info between my phone and laptop. I love Dropbox for storing and transferring files. I do use a bit of Google Drive/ Google Docs to organize information as well. And I’m in Adobe Creative Cloud everyday in Photoshop, Illustrator or Indesign for my work. I edit videos on Final Cut Pro X.
Question 4: What part of your work gives you energy?
Alexis: I get the most energy from the creative part of my work. When I get a clear idea for something I want to create, either a product or a piece of content, it energizes me and I can create super fast.
Question 5: What saps you of energy?
Alexis: Comparing myself to other influencers. I try not to do this often, but every so often it happens and it can make you feel so low. But then I do some self-care and mindset work and it pulls me out of the slump. Also, working non stop can sap me of energy, I have a tendency to let that happen to often especially when I have a lot of great ideas I want to act on. My creativity gives me energy but when I abuse it, it can take it away as well.
STOP CHOOSING BETWEEN BUSINESS SUCCESS AND A BALANCED LIFE!
Do you every feel overwhelmed by all the tasks you have to manage for your business and personal life?
If you’re like me, you started your own business in order to live a different lifestyle than the norm. You wanted the flexibility of time and location freedom, being able to work when you wanted, where you wanted, so you would have time to prioritize other areas of your life. Breaking free of the 9-5 life was freeing until I realized without a solid time management strategy and strong prioritization skills I could easily work on my business 16 hours a day, 7 days a week!
Does simply looking at your to-do list give you anxiety? Like tasks are multiplying faster than you can complete them and you are continually sacrificing time with your family, self-care or sleep in order to simply tread water in your business. With so many tasks to finish, how do you what you should be working on each day?
Has the overwhelm of managing your business caused you to slow or completely stall progress on your business goals? You are afraid to take action on your projects because nothing works out the way you expected it would and all you see are problems that you don’t feel capable to address.
Are you constantly stuck on what types of content marketing you should be doing to grow your audience? Your content calendar is usually empty, you wait until the last minute to write your posts but come up blank or you completely skip out on content creation all together because the process is just too time consuming.
What if there was an easier way to run your business?
Imagine waking up in the morning after a full nights sleep, rested and ready to take on the day. You are excited to start work on your business because you are clear on your priorities and have systems in place that make your work much more manageable (and, dare I say, even fun?)
Imagine waking up to a business reality where you feel in control and in charge of your business, like the inspired and aligned CEO you always intended to be.
Your business is thriving, you have time to take your work slow and get the results you are looking for. Your home life is well-managed and your personal relationships are thriving.
At the end of the day, your head hits the pillow grateful and content, knowing that you created this reality and that you can create whatever else you desire tomorrow!
If you are struggling to plan and manage a balanced life and business, I have the solution for you!
Introducing the CEO Strategy Bundle:A three masterclass series covering time management, mindset, and marketing strategies to streamline your business, so you can finally live a balanced life!
The CEO Strategy Bundle is designed to equip you with the tools, strategies and lessons that you need to intentionally create a balanced and profitable life + business…
So you can:
✔︎ Take Charge of Your Time: Clearly understand your roles as a business owner, the specific tasks to focus on through each phase of your business and to set reasonable expectations to achieve true work/life balance.
✔︎ Master Your Mindset: Get into alignment with your purpose, identify and overcome limiting beliefs holding you back from showing up for your business, and master the energetic secrets of productivity that help you triumph over your to-do list once and for all.
✔︎ Expand Your Marketing: Develop your unique messaging to stand out in your niche, quickly create a full calendar of impactful content marketing that sells in just a few hours per week, and show up on purpose and on message to grow your brand and audience.
Here’s what you’ll get:
→CEO Strategy Masterclass: Learn how to manage your time, energy and expectations as a business owner so you can lead a balanced life.
→CEO Mindset Masterclass: Become a master of your own mindset, overcome and reprogram limiting beliefs holding you back from taking action on your desired life + business.
→CEO Content Calendar Masterclass: Streamline your content to keep your audience and revenue growing without overwhelming your schedule or spending money on ads.
RUNNING YOUR BUSINESS IS YOUR DREAM, NOT YOUR NIGHTMARE
Take back control of your life + business with proven strategies that will keep you balanced, focused and on track!
Stop choosing between your business and your personal life, and start embracing the strategies that can keep you balanced and successful in all areas of your life!
During my last live CEO Power Hour on YouTube, I mentioned that one of my major intentions for the month of June is to Rest + Manifest.
Rest + Manifest means that I am going to intentionally slow down each day, focus on self-care and the way I feel, and through the cultivation of more ease into my life, manifest more abundance, expansion, and opportunities.
Although I know I do a good job of keeping my business and daily tasks simple and streamlined, I have been feeling the desire to go bigger with my business this year. Bigger in terms of impact, but of course, bigger in terms of income as well.
My word for 2021 is E X P A N S I O N (written out that way for extra effect) and part of my expansion for the year was to go bigger with my business, to reach further, to grow in new directions, to take on more and show up more for my community.
I still hold true to my core desire NOT to hustle and work all day.
But, as of late, I’ve been feeling like I have to do more and work more to reach this level, and it’s causing me to feel burnt out by the end of the week.
I don’t like this feeling, I know it’s not necessary. I know I can have the expansion and continue to work at my usual leisurely pace, but I’ve been getting so caught up in doing that I continue to do more and more.
And something I’ve found to be very true, is that when we are focused on tasks and what we have to get done, tasks end up being a never ending source of work.
I hate planning based on tasks because whatever you focus on expands, so focusing on the tasks you have to complete each day just brings more and more tasks, which brings the need for more and more hustle.
I really need to slow down.
Hence Rest + Manifest.
Building Business Systems to Simplify Sales & Marketing
Slowing down doesn’t mean I won’t continue to expand, and it doesn’t mean I won’t continue to do my work, but I need to take the focus away from my tasks and start converting my work into building more systems.
Systems make tasks disappear, and when tasks disappear, I have less work for the same impact, which means I can expand away without needing to hustle.
So here are the systems I plan to put in place this month:
→ Live Launch/Promotion System: I am going to create a complete process for my live promotions or launches, including templates for marketing materials, emails, and content marketing.
Many businesses have a team or bring on specific support for launches and promotions. I don’t have or desire a team, and I’ve successfully completed many 5 figure campaigns without assistance. I just need to sit down and map a system for them with templates to help me batch this type of work in the future so I am not scrambling around doing extra work every time I decide to run a promotion.
→ Instagram Marketing: I am going to create a turn key system for creating content and also for marketing/selling via Instagram.
For years I’ve been pretty lax about my Instagram content creation. Having an editorial calendar with my ideas planned out was the extent of my Instagram strategy. Again, this served me well enough for a long time, but I think it’s time for me to start treating Instagram the way I treat my blog and have templates ready and a system for what I am going to post when.
→ YouTube Marketing:I am going to create some simple video ads to market specific products and opt-ins through my YouTube videos without having to record individual CTAs for each video.
YouTube is without a doubt my biggest source of sales when I actually take the time to sell in my videos. But, I don’t want all my content to revolve around selling per se. So, I think that by creating a few short video ads for products, it will make it easier for me to sell via YouTube more often without turning the entire video into a contrived sales pitch. I can just edit the ad into the video at the appropriate point without ruining the flow of my filming.
Rest & Manifest
Another element that will play a key role in my Rest + Manifest intention for June is to upgrade my Morning Routine into a Morning Ritual.
The two terms may seem interchangeable, but to me there is a significant difference in a routine and a ritual.
The intention of a Ritual is much more potent than a simple routine.
And for my new Morning Ritual, I will of course be focusing much more on my self-care and mindset work.
Now, I plan to outline my new Morning Ritual in a dedicated post on Thursday, so if you want to learn more about creating a high vibe morning ritual, you’ll have to come back then!
STOP CHOOSING BETWEEN BUSINESS SUCCESS AND A BALANCED LIFE!
Do you every feel overwhelmed by all the tasks you have to manage for your business and personal life?
If you’re like me, you started your own business in order to live a different lifestyle than the norm. You wanted the flexibility of time and location freedom, being able to work when you wanted, where you wanted, so you would have time to prioritize other areas of your life. Breaking free of the 9-5 life was freeing until I realized without a solid time management strategy and strong prioritization skills I could easily work on my business 16 hours a day, 7 days a week!
Does simply looking at your to-do list give you anxiety? Like tasks are multiplying faster than you can complete them and you are continually sacrificing time with your family, self-care or sleep in order to simply tread water in your business. With so many tasks to finish, how do you what you should be working on each day?
Has the overwhelm of managing your business caused you to slow or completely stall progress on your business goals? You are afraid to take action on your projects because nothing works out the way you expected it would and all you see are problems that you don’t feel capable to address.
Are you constantly stuck on what types of content marketing you should be doing to grow your audience? Your content calendar is usually empty, you wait until the last minute to write your posts but come up blank or you completely skip out on content creation all together because the process is just too time consuming.
What if there was an easier way to run your business?
Imagine waking up in the morning after a full nights sleep, rested and ready to take on the day. You are excited to start work on your business because you are clear on your priorities and have systems in place that make your work much more manageable (and, dare I say, even fun?)
Imagine waking up to a business reality where you feel in control and in charge of your business, like the inspired and aligned CEO you always intended to be.
Your business is thriving, you have time to take your work slow and get the results you are looking for. Your home life is well-managed and your personal relationships are thriving.
At the end of the day, your head hits the pillow grateful and content, knowing that you created this reality and that you can create whatever else you desire tomorrow!
If you are struggling to plan and manage a balanced life and business, I have the solution for you!
Introducing the CEO Strategy Bundle:A three masterclass series covering time management, mindset, and marketing strategies to streamline your business, so you can finally live a balanced life!
The CEO Strategy Bundle is designed to equip you with the tools, strategies and lessons that you need to intentionally create a balanced and profitable life + business…
So you can:
✔︎ Take Charge of Your Time: Clearly understand your roles as a business owner, the specific tasks to focus on through each phase of your business and to set reasonable expectations to achieve true work/life balance.
✔︎ Master Your Mindset: Get into alignment with your purpose, identify and overcome limiting beliefs holding you back from showing up for your business, and master the energetic secrets of productivity that help you triumph over your to-do list once and for all.
✔︎ Expand Your Marketing: Develop your unique messaging to stand out in your niche, quickly create a full calendar of impactful content marketing that sells in just a few hours per week, and show up on purpose and on message to grow your brand and audience.
Here’s what you’ll get:
→CEO Strategy Masterclass: Learn how to manage your time, energy and expectations as a business owner so you can lead a balanced life.
→CEO Mindset Masterclass: Become a master of your own mindset, overcome and reprogram limiting beliefs holding you back from taking action on your desired life + business.
→CEO Content Calendar Masterclass: Streamline your content to keep your audience and revenue growing without overwhelming your schedule or spending money on ads.
RUNNING YOUR BUSINESS IS YOUR DREAM, NOT YOUR NIGHTMARE
Take back control of your life + business with proven strategies that will keep you balanced, focused and on track!
Stop choosing between your business and your personal life, and start embracing the strategies that can keep you balanced and successful in all areas of your life!
There are just a handful of days left in May before June begins and so now is the time to get started on your monthly business planning!
If you are like me, creating your monthly plan can take quite a bit of time over the course of a few days. During my monthly CEO Strategy planning session:
I schedule out my monthly events
Populate my editorial calendar with great content ideas across all of my platforms
ID and break down my objectives
Compile a complete list of tasks I need to work on
Allocate time for each of my objectives and all of my work across the month
So, it’s a lot of work that I often start on a few days before the new month begins. I realize, I could cut down on this work by planning out certain aspects of my monthly calendar on a quarterly basis, but with the way I run my business, I know I’d be making multiple changes to a more long term plan, so it’s better for me to stick to monthly planning.
CEO Power Hour: June Business Planning
In this workshop, I am going to walk you through a series of questions and activities to help you celebrate your wins, set intentions for the next month, and get clear on the objectives and tasks you need to work on in June to make progress on your annual goals!
We are going to be doing some goal setting and planning together for a more balanced life and business, following my CEO Strategy methodology.
At the end of the session, I even do some live business coaching!
If you already receive my weekly email, then no need to sign up again, you will receive an email the morning of the live Power Hour with the direct link + free worksheet.
I don’t have to tell you that there is a lot of work that goes into running your own online business, but what you may not realize is that there are two types of work to do.
One type of work you are already familiar with. It’s the practical strategy and management of setting objectives, making plans, creating the offers, doing the marketing, managing customer service, balancing the financials, etc. Essentially, it’s the tasks that make up most of your day to day work as a business owner.
The second type of work you may be less familiar with. It’s the mindset and personal development strategy of feeling into your desires, stepping into your purpose, identifying and overcoming limiting beliefs, trusting your intuition and facing down your deepest fears. It’s the metaphysical work of running a successful business. The faith and prayer and belief. And out of the two types of work you can do as an entrepreneur, it’s the more important work.
I know you might be thinking, mindset work couldn’t possibly be more important than the practical strategy of running your business. I thought that way too for a long time. But there is a point where doing all the things for your business isn’t enough. There is a point where strategy itself fails you and you need to surrender yourself to greater possibility.
You mindset will always be your upper limit.
You cannot out work or out strategize a poor mindset.
And when I reached a breaking point where I was willing to try anything to solve the stagnancy in my business, I committed to trying mindset strategies, despite my skepticism, if for no other purpose than to say I tried it all.
That’s when everything turned around for me.
I can’t say for certain what it was exactly that caused the shift, but I can say that as soon as I started implementing a regular mindset practice that included daily manifestation journaling, my business broke through to another level. Where I had been stuck for years practicing all the strategy I knew and believed in, strategy that had grown my business from the start, I was suddenly at a new level of income and of ease with my business.
Because the most interesting thing about the mindset strategies I used was not simply that my revenue started increasing, but it was that I was able to pair down my strategy to do less and it was still growing. I was truly able to do less, make my business easier to run and it was working better than it had been before.
And I am confident that it is the mindset work that made the difference, because when I got into periods where I stopped it for some reason, things began to get tough again. But like clockwork, as soon as I turned to the mindset work again, the flow of ease and money came flooding back in.
There is no substitution for doing the work
Mindset work, of course. Because even in times when I have fallen short of completing the practical work of my business, if I had kept up the mindset work, it didn’t matter that I skipped content or removed systems I had been using for years to generate income. The mindset work filled in the gaps for me.
Now I understand why so many people in the mindset, personal development and law of attraction space say that you need to show up everyday to do the work on yourself. It’s the most important work you can do for your life and business success. The work they are talking about is the mindset and belief. The claiming what it is you want and believing you can have it. It’s showing up with open arms ready to receive what you ask for, and although the strategies may be very simple to execute, I know first hand how challenging it is to do this work everyday. Because you will get distracted by the practical and put aside the mindset work, just for today, and then it turns into a week and a month and then suddenly things stop working in your business.
You have to show up to do the mindset work everyday, or most days at least, to keep a consistent rhythm and build upon new levels of success.
Monthly Manifestation Journaling for Business
Today, I want to teach you a little more about my regular mindset work that helps me to keep my business growing at its new level consistently. Specifically, I want to guide you through the Monthly Manifestation Journaling I do at the start of a new month to get into alignment with my business goals and objectives. Grab a pen and paper and write this out:
What I am achieving in my business for May
→This month I am receiving…
→This month I am creating…
→This month I am attracting…
→This month I am doing work on…
→This month I am releasing…
→This month I am showing up to…
→This month I am honoring myself by…
→This month I am valuing myself by…
→This month I am resting…
For each line, fill in as many items as you would like. Feel free to make it a complete wish list of everything you desire to happen in the month. But try your best to fill in something for each line. I find that these prompts are a very powerful combination, and I don’t even have to write very much, I just bullet point my desires and that is enough to get into alignment with them.
I know it seems simple, but writing out your intentions this way can bring about a very powerful shift and you really don’t have much to loose except for perhaps 10-15 minutes of your day just by trying it.
Give it a try and let me know how it goes. Of course, for best results you will want to journal your intentions everyday. Perhaps not all of these monthly plans at once, but choose a handful to focus on each day to get into alignment with them.
STOP CHOOSING BETWEEN BUSINESS SUCCESS AND A BALANCED LIFE!
Do you every feel overwhelmed by all the tasks you have to manage for your business and personal life?
If you’re like me, you started your own business in order to live a different lifestyle than the norm. You wanted the flexibility of time and location freedom, being able to work when you wanted, where you wanted, so you would have time to prioritize other areas of your life. Breaking free of the 9-5 life was freeing until I realized without a solid time management strategy and strong prioritization skills I could easily work on my business 16 hours a day, 7 days a week!
Does simply looking at your to-do list give you anxiety? Like tasks are multiplying faster than you can complete them and you are continually sacrificing time with your family, self-care or sleep in order to simply tread water in your business. With so many tasks to finish, how do you what you should be working on each day?
Has the overwhelm of managing your business caused you to slow or completely stall progress on your business goals? You are afraid to take action on your projects because nothing works out the way you expected it would and all you see are problems that you don’t feel capable to address.
Are you constantly stuck on what types of content marketing you should be doing to grow your audience? Your content calendar is usually empty, you wait until the last minute to write your posts but come up blank or you completely skip out on content creation all together because the process is just too time consuming.
What if there was an easier way to run your business?
Imagine waking up in the morning after a full nights sleep, rested and ready to take on the day. You are excited to start work on your business because you are clear on your priorities and have systems in place that make your work much more manageable (and, dare I say, even fun?)
Imagine waking up to a business reality where you feel in control and in charge of your business, like the inspired and aligned CEO you always intended to be.
Your business is thriving, you have time to take your work slow and get the results you are looking for. Your home life is well-managed and your personal relationships are thriving.
At the end of the day, your head hits the pillow grateful and content, knowing that you created this reality and that you can create whatever else you desire tomorrow!
If you are struggling to plan and manage a balanced life and business, I have the solution for you!
Introducing the CEO Strategy Bundle:Learn the time management, mindset, and marketing strategies that will streamline your business so you can finally live a balanced life!
The CEO Strategy Bundle will teach you how to manage your time, energy and expectations as a business owner so you can work less and earn more without sacrificing your personal life, family or sleep!
Here’s what you’ll get:
CEO Strategy Masterclass: Learn how to manage your time, energy and expectations as a business owner so you can lead a balanced life.
CEO Mindset Masterclass: Become a master of your own mindset, overcome and reprogram limiting beliefs holding you back from taking action on your desired life + business.
CEO Content Calendar Masterclass: Streamline your content to keep your audience and revenue growing without overwhelming your schedule or spending money on ads.
EMBODY THE CONFIDENT CEO ENERGY INSIDE OF YOU
Take Charge of Your Time:As the saying goes, either you run the day or the day runs you! But, you don’t have to hustle and grind 24/7 to balance your life + business, in fact, doing less often helps you to achieve more!
Master Your Mindset:Your mind creates your reality, so if what you see around you isn’t pleasing to you, the first place to look is inside yourself to your thought patterns and beliefs, and start intentionally choosing better thoughts that will lead you to better results.
Expand Your Marketing: Content creation may seem daunting with multiple platforms and posts to create, but as someone who built their business on content marketing, I have the strategies to share with you that will save you time, energy and ensure you always have the right content to post to drive sales.
RUNNING YOUR BUSINESS IS YOUR DREAM, NOT YOUR NIGHTMARE
Take back control of your life + business with proven strategies that will keep you balanced, focused and on track!
Stop choosing between your business and your personal life, and start embracing the strategies that can keep you balanced and successful in all areas of your life!
April is quickly coming to a close and now is the time to start making your monthly plan for May.
If you are like me, creating your monthly plan can take quite a bit of time over the course of a few days. During my monthly CEO Strategy planning session:
I schedule out my monthly events
Populate my editorial calendar with great content ideas across all of my platforms
ID and break down my objectives
Compile a complete list of tasks I need to work on
Allocate time for each of my objectives and all of my work across the month
So, it’s a lot of work that I often start on a few days before the new month begins. I realize, I could cut down on this work by planning out certain aspects of my monthly calendar on a quarterly basis, but with the way I run my business, I know I’d be making multiple changes to a more long term plan, so it’s better for me to stick to monthly planning.
The C.E.O. Power Hour
As a first step to my monthly planning routine, I have started executing on the idea of a C.E.O. Power Hour to be dedicated time where I review the previous month and start planning big picture elements of the next.
This is a LIVE workshop I intend to host on a monthly basis for the last Saturday of the month to help myself and fellow business owners get organized and begin strategically planning the month ahead.
