Strange & Charmed

My #BossBabe Biz Travel Essentials

This weekend I’ll be traveling to Atlanta for the Southeastern Planner Convention as one of the speakers for the event! I’m very excited and thankful for the opportunity and I can’t wait to meet some of my long-time planner friends in person. Since this is the first time I’ll be traveling exclusively for business, I thought I would share some of my travel essentials with you that I plan to pack in my carry on. Since this is going to be an overnight trip, I’ll be packing one large tote bag as my carry on and I’ll also bring my small rolling luggage with my clothing and toiletries. For a quick trip like this, I’ll end up packing very light, but my carry on must include my airline essentials because whenever I fly, I like to be comfortable.

#BossBabe Biz Travel Essentials

Comfortable, easy-off, shoes: Since I’ll be flying to the event, the first essential for me is a comfortable pair of shoes that is easy to take on and off! I’ll most likely wear a pair of slip ons or mules so I’m easy on my feet while traveling but can deal with security quickly.

#BossBabe Travel Tip: Never wear heels or lace-ups when traveling, they are just too cumbersome!

Large executive style tote bag: For my carry on, I’m planning to use my Gigi New York Gates Satchel because it’s large enough for all my essentials, but also structured enough to carry with me as my purse for dinner and events. I don’t want to bring an extra bag with me so my carry on needs to do double duty.

#BossBabe Travel Tip: Choose a structured bag to act as carry-on, briefcase, and purse while traveling for business!

iPhone + Headphones: I always keep my smartphone and a pair of earbuds with me whenever I leave home, but they are especially important when I travel because I usually pop in my earbuds and listen to a book on tape when I travel. It’s a great way to pass the time and as someone with a lot of books on their TBR (to be read) list, I find travel downtime to be the best time to jump into a good motivational or business book!

#BossBabe Travel Tip: I subscribe to Audible.com and I highly recommend them! If you have a trip coming up and you want to test out the service, click here for a special offer to get 2 FREE audio books when you sign up for a free trial of the service!

Universal Back Up Battery Pack: Whenever you travel with gadgets in tow, I highly recommend bringing a universal back up battery source. That way you can plug in any USB charger for any device and you can manage multiple devices at one time!

#BossBabe Travel Tip: Don’t let yourself get stranded with a drained battery!

Macbook Air: Since I’ll be giving a speech with a slideshow presentation, I will be bringing my Macbook Air with me on the flight. That way I can review my information and make any last minute tweaks! Depending on the nature of a business trip, I will normally bring my Macbook Air, but for longer trips I may also pack my iPad, which I will not need on this trip.

#BossBabe Travel Tip: Don’t leave home without your important digital business materials!

Air travel essentials pouch: Whenever I fly, I keep a pouch with special essentials for airline travel. Inside the pouch I keep medication (allergy, pain, nausea, etc), an Evian spray mist, Caudalie hand cream, Dior creme de rose lip balm, Caudal facial moisturizer, wet-wipes, and an eye mask. Air travel really dehydrates the skin and I already have very dry skin, so I need to make sure I add some extra moisture during the trip. Before I board I will apply moisturizer and if I take a bathroom break after the drink service, I will also reapply and freshen up. For longer flights I also suggest doing a quick re-fresh with 30 minutes of landing. If I can’t get to the bathroom to do my routine in private, I will do so at my seat. Either way, I love to do my pamper routine on the plane because it’s a great way to treat yourself and relax during a period of down time that we normally don’t have during the day.

#BossBabe Travel Tip: Use travel time to relax, pamper yourself, and take care of yourself so when you look and feel great on arrival!

Those were my #BossBabe essentials for when I travel for my business! I hope you enjoyed this post and I’d love to hear what your essentials are when you are traveling for work, so please tweet me or leave me a comment below!

xoxo,

Blogging

Write Better Blog Posts with these 3 Tools!

Write Better Blog Posts with these 3 Tools!

For those of us on the internet who manage a blog, either as a marketing tool or a creative outlet, we know that creating great content week after week is hard! Even for the most talented among us, writing blog posts can be tricky, and let’s be honest, most of us could use some help improving our writing process as well as writing skills. So today I want to share with you three tools that have helped me to become a better blogger and a better writer of blog posts.

Scrivener

Scrivener is a software application that I use on my computer to write, edit and organize my blog posts. I’ve been using the program for years to keep my content in order and to organize my ideas. Although you may not be thinking of a word processing program as a tool that can help with writing better blog posts, it can really streamline the process of creating content. Ask yourself, where do you write your blog posts? Do you use a dedicated word processing program or do you write your posts inside the text editor of your blogging platform? Unfortunately, if you aren’t using a word processing program to organize your writing, you are missing out on a lot of great word processing features like word count, spelling and grammar check, and a built in dictionary/thesaurus! But Scrivener is also more powerful than your standard word processor because it also has great tools for outlining and organizing content ideas within the application. I also love that I have all my blog posts organized in one place, so I can refer back to old posts and I have a record of my content in case something happens to my blog or my website crashes while I’m adding a new post. So, if you aren’t using a dedicated system for writing, editing and organizing your blog posts, I would highly recommend checking out Scrivener. You can read more about how I use Scrivener here or visit their website for more details!

On Writing Well

I’m often asked by other bloggers if there are any courses or books I recommend that can teach you how to write better blog posts. Unfortunately, I am not familiar with any on the specific topic of writing blog posts, however, I do highly recommend a book called On Writing Well to those who wish to improve their writing style! On Writing Well is a classic book that teaches how to improve nonfiction writing, which is what blogging is most of the time. What I love about this book is that it’s an easy read but filled with practical tips for improving your writing, and it even dispels the notion of some long-held “rules” of writing that just aren’t applicable anymore (i.e. ending a sentence with a preposition- you can if you want to!) It’s a very practical guide to writing that has been revised and expanded to include more modern examples of writing, and I think it’s a great place to start if you are someone who’s interested in become a better writer.

Flesch-Kincaid Readability Score

As I was researching ways to improve your writing, I came across the Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test that actually scores a piece of writing for how easy it is to understand. This sort of test is frequently used in teaching settings to understand the reading level of a specific written work (think grade school reading levels and such) but I noticed that the SEO Plugin that I use for WordPress, called Yoast SEO, included this score as part of the SEO grading of my post. Now, the idea behind using this test to determine the readability of your post is that your blog posts should be fairly easy for people to read. Blog posts with long sentences and complicated grammar may be harder for most people to understand, so you want to use this score to help you simplify your writing so that more people are able to understand and enjoy your content. As I already mentioned, my blog has a plugin that generates this score for me when I’m formatting my posts for publication, however, if you don’t use WordPress and have access to this Plugin, don’t worry because I found a free web-tool that you can use to check the readability of your blog posts. All you need to do is click here to visit the website and paste your blog post into the text editor on the page and it will generate your readability score! Definitely check it out and see what level your content scores at in terms of readability and perhaps use what you learn while reading On Writing Well to help you simplify and clarify your writing style!

So those are three tools that you can use right now to help you improve your blog posts! I’d love to know if you have any other suggestions if you have experience with any other interesting books or tools that you would like to recommend to the community. If you give any of these tools a try, I’d love to know about it, so please feel free to message me or leave me a comment below to tell me about your progress!

xoxo,

My Productivity Playlist

Who Run the World? {April 2016 Productivity Playlist!}

Hey Strange & Charmed Friends!

As you may remember reading from my latest installment of Entrepreneurial, last month I learned a valuable lesson that progress comes from taking action! In my situation, last month, I waited around for a while hoping creativity and inspiration would strike me, but it never came. So, this month, I am taking things into my own hands and taking action to stay inspired in whatever ways I can. Of course, since I am an audiophile, one of the first things I did was create a fresh Productivity Playlist for April filled with some action-packed and inspiring music that I’ve been loving lately. If you want to check out my new playlist, you can click here to visit Spotify or you can click the audio player below to enjoy the music as you catch up on my blog posts!

Well, let me know what music you have been listening to, or feel free to tweet me a link to your latest Spotify playlist @MissTrenchcoat!

xoxo,

Productivity

The Essential Business Planning Inserts that Keep Me Productive, Organized & Stress Free!

The Essential Business Planning Inserts that Keep Me Productive, Organized & Stress Free!

I get a lot of questions from people in my community about the best planners and inserts to use, especially from current or aspiring business owners who are looking to streamline their planning system, so today I want to share with you the inserts I use in my planner, why I like them and why they may be a good option for you if the standard planner insert options aren’t cutting it for you!

My Business Planning Inserts

The calendar inserts that I use in my (self-made) planner are the A5 Charmed Life Planner Inserts from TheCharmedShop.com. They are printable planner inserts that combine month on two pages, week on two pages, monthly task and expense sheets in a continuous monthly format. These inserts work well for me for a number of reasons:

1. The inserts are a complete, all-in-one system that work together beautifully with a dedicated place for everything that’s important to me. I can track my business goals/marketing/editorial calendar on the monthly calendar, keep track of my project tasks on the monthly task list, track income and expenses on the financial log, and plan my day to day in the weekly spreads.

2. The weekly spreads are vertical list style, which works best with my list loving brain! The weekly pages include a dedicated top 3 space, a good sized ruled center column for lists/schedules/notes/etc and a open lower flex section to be used as I see fit! The clear planning hierarchy built into the weekly spreads almost forces you to prioritize your day and “work smarter, not harder” as I like to say!

3. Because the inserts are so well designed and utilize space seamlessly, I find that I don’t feel the need to dress them up with decorations, but there is room to do so if I choose! Obviously, adding stickers and washi tape don’t make your planner more useful, however, there is something to be said for the fact that it does help you feel more motivated when you are looking at a well designed “pretty” planner spread. Well, these inserts are beautiful with or without added decor which is a major plus for me!

Now, other than my calendar pages, I also have a section in my planner that contains my business projects. In this section, I use inserts from the project planning bundle also found at TheCharmedShop.com. Specifically, I use the Yearly Goal Planning Tracker and the Project Planning Pages. On the Yearly Goal Planner, I map out my business and marketing goals and outline promotions, projects, and areas of focus for different periods of the year. So, it’s essentially a year at a glance business plan! Then, on the Project Planning Pages, I break out each promotion, project and initiative into the manageable tasks that I will need to perform in order to see the project through to completion. Using these project planning pages is excellent because it gives me enough space to outline a full project which I would not have the space to do in my calendar pages, and then I can transfer individual items from my project planning pages to my monthly task lists in the calendar section so I know what items I need to focus on for the month!

Will these inserts work for you?

When it comes to finding the best inserts that work for each of us, the struggle is certainly real! There are so many options out there when it comes to planner inserts, and options can be good or they can be paralyzing to some. For obvious reasons, its impossible for me to determine whether the inserts I use will work for you, however, if you identify with any of the situations below, I think these inserts may work for your life as they do for mine!

1. If you find that your current inserts don’t keep you organized because they lack structure, the Charmed Life Planner inserts may be a welcome change for you!

2. If you find that your current inserts don’t seem to work together, perhaps you have created your own system by curating inserts for a variety of places but they don’t feel like they interact with each other properly, the Charmed Life Planner inserts may be a solution that will work for you!

3. If you have a hard time prioritizing within your planner and find that although you make a list of tasks each day, that few of the important tasks get completed, the Charmed Life Planner inserts should solve that problem for you!

Do you need a Business Planning Bundle?

One of the reasons I feel so confident and successful with my business is that I have confidence in my business planning system! Not only does my calendar system, the Charmed Life Planner, work seamlessly to ensure I am able to prioritize and focus on my business activities, but having a dedicated project planning section gives me the space I need to break down key business activities into a clear plan of action! So, I thought to myself, why don’t I put together a Business Planning Bundle that includes the Charmed Life Planner AND my essential Project Planning Inserts?

So, I did!

I’m pleased to introduce you to my two NEW Business Planning Bundles, one in A5 equivalent size and the other in Filofax Personal equivalent! These bundles are a $48 value and include, not just my Charmed Life Planner Inserts and projecting planning inserts, but also an EXCLUSIVE Printable Business Planning Sticker Set design that I personally use to help me organize key business activities in my planner as well!

If you are looking for a complete business planning solution, pick up your Business Planning Bundle for just $35 today and you can get started immediately printing out your inserts and getting them organized into your planner!

xoxo,

Business

Entrepreneurial: March, a Month in Repose

Welcome back for another installment of Entrepreneurial, my monthly journal entry chronicling my experience as an entrepreneur, my victories and failures each month, and the lessons learned along the way.

March, a Month in Repose

I started off this month on vacation, and I’m ending the month in what can only be described as a state of repose. This month I challenged myself to work a little differently, to hustle less and focus on just the essential business activities that I thought would move the needle so I could make more room for my life and the things I want to do more of. It was an interesting experiment. I ended up working far less than I normally do, to the extent that I actually got a little scared I wasn’t doing enough of the basics to get by. However, I think I discovered some great insights that will help me to be more strategic with where I put my time and energy in the future. Let’s run down what I did and didn’t do this month and what I’ve learned from this little test!

What I Didn’t Do

1. I didn’t create heaps of new content! I only really wrote a few new blog posts for this month and then reposted or updated old content. I also didn’t stress about YouTube videos, only posting three videos that are public on my channel, although I did also host a live webinar which was by reservation only. I’m beginning to think that perhaps I’ve been putting out much to much content and that it’s really not moving the needle for me anymore than some basic updates might.

2. I didn’t create any new products. This marks month number two without new products. Now, part of this is because I’ve not been feeling the creativity juices flowing, and part of this is because I know I have been creating new products month over month for over a year and it’s time for a rest! This month I focused more on promoting my existing products, which is an essential activity I tend to forget about.

3. I didn’t allow distractions. Okay, so this doesn’t mean I was able to avoid all distraction, but I did a good job distancing myself from the things that distract me regularly. This month I turned off certain notifications that always seem to sideline me, I ignored emails until I was ready to deal with them, and I stopped letting certain things steal my time. When I worked, it was in short bursts with just a few things to do, and when I rested, I turned my brain off from work. There was actually a few instances where I went a period of days without my mind turning to business while I was “out of office”. I think that’s a win!

What I Did Do

1. I thought about where I want to focus my effort and for me, that’s marketing. Like I said earlier, I have been creating products for a while and haven’t been spending enough time promoting them. So this month I created a valuable new marketing asset for myself, which is my new 5 Pillars Webinar that outlines my personal business strategy of Empire Building.

2. I took time off. Again, this month started on vacation, and is ending on a period of rest. I think I realistically only worked two weeks this month, and then spent the rest of the time “in repose” as I like to call it. I also got sick this month, but luckily it only ended up eating into my plans for rest and personal time, so it wasn’t a major inconvenience. I also spent a good amount of time this month cooking delicious dinners for my husband and myself. Cooking is one of the things I enjoy doing but I haven’t seem to have the time to do recently. So, in cutting back on my work, I am opening my time to do more things I love, like cooking!

3. I interacted and shared with my community. This month, I have been on SnapChat A LOT! Although I haven’t been creating new content to share on my site or channel, I have been doing a lot of impromptu content creation and sharing with my community which I think has really supplemented my normal content creation. I’ve always been of the mind that time spent talking to my audience and helping them is better than time spent on a blog post because I really value that human connection, and SnapChat has really opened me up to my followers in a way that allows them to see more of me and my life, and have easy access to me.

What I learned

1. Content is great, but once you have built up a massive library of posts, videos, etc, you don’t need to continue to produce lots of new content every week. Reworking old content or taking one content idea and breaking it into smaller pieces to share can keep you from overloading your audience with new ideas.

2. Progress comes from taking action. Of course this seems logical, but for myself, and perhaps for some of you, I know that I keep thinking things will change on their own. I tell myself “Once I get to this point, I’ll be able to take time off,” or “If I finish this project, I’ll have time for that.” The problem is, unless you take action to change your routine, once you get to whatever point you expected would be the tipping point, things just don’t change on their own. That includes things like wishing for a creative streak to hit. I spent a good amount of time this month waiting for a creative streak to hit me and it never did. That wasn’t because I’m out of creativity, but it’s because I needed to take action and stimulate my creativity in order to see the result. Sitting around watching TV isn’t going to inspire you to do your best creative work, but taking action and making progress will!

3. It’s really important to trust in the process. The idea of trusting the process is almost like a canned business concept that I have memorized and on repeat but goes in one ear and out the other. Obviously, with taking a good amount of time off this month, I was worried that I wasn’t doing enough to ensure my business would survive the month, but it did, and that’s because I did the right things instead of doing all the things. Once you know what the right things are, you can execute and then just trust in the process that they will work. Spoiler, if they don’t work, you either having given them enough time to work or they weren’t the right things. This can be hard to distinguish so I advise patience! Everything in business is trial and error, and I’ve spent enough years ‘doing and failing’, and ‘doing and progressing’ to know when I’m doing the right things for my business.

I hope you have enjoyed this months edition of Entrepreneurial. I changed the format around a bit with this post, so let me know if you like this better or if you prefer the old journal entry style better! I’d also love to hear from you and what you learned this month in your business, so please feel free to share in the comments below!

xoxo,

lifestyle

Recharge this Weekend with these Tips

Since we have a holiday weekend coming up this week, many of us are likely enjoying some extra time off. So, I wanted to share with you some tips for recharging over the weekend because as an adult, it’s so easy to run yourself ragged during the week and then repeat the process over the weekend, when you should really be focusing on rest. Hope these tips help you as much as they help me!

1. Go to Bed Early: I know it’s the weekend and you are probably thinking you can stay up later and then sleep in, but often this plan makes you less productive and gives you a less rested feeling, especially if you sleep in a room with a window where your body can tell when it is day time! Try getting to sleep a few hours early and see how it makes you feel in the morning. You will most likely find that you will wake up earlier and feel the need to be more productive the next day!

2. Avoid Salty or Fatty Foods: Again, the weekend is notorious for being the time of the week when we like to “cheat” by eating take out or fried foods, but that extra salt and fat can make you feel dehydrated and worn out. It’s almost like giving your body a hangover once Monday comes! I’m not saying that you have to eat super healthy, but just eat normal foods that have been prepared in a healthful way!

3. Drink Lots of Water: During the week we are often too busy to drink all the water our bodies need to remain properly balanced and hydrated, so make a conscious effort over the weekend to drink more than enough water. Start your day with a big glass of water or two and replace soda’s or other drinks with water during meals and throughout the day! Your body will thank you!

4. Get in some Meditation: Meditation is a great way to relax and recharge your mind and body! It doesn’t have to be too intense, but just take some time in the morning when you wake up or before you go to bed at night and just sit or lay down on your bed and breathe consciously. Listen to your breath and even throw in some positive thoughts while you are at it and in about 10-20 minutes you will feel a real difference!

5. Turn Off things that Beep: Sometimes I think that our notifications are slowly driving us insane and making us all way to tense. Think about it, your body knows there is going to be some notification or call that comes in from your phone at least once or twice an hour so it’s secretly bracing itself! Let your body and mind fully relax for a while by spending the weekend with your notifications off. I think you will reach a new level of peace you never even knew existed!

xoxo,

This post first appeared on Strange & Charmed on January 23rd, 2014 and is being reposted for your enjoyment!

lifestyle

Winter Skin Hydration

I don’t know about you, but I suffer from terrible dry skin in the winter! I have naturally dry skin, so it gets worse when the weather is cold and dry and the wind is brutally whipping around on my face! Ugh! So, naturally, I have an arsenal of products that I use to help combat that extra dry winter skin and so I thought I would share those products with you! Oh and lucky for you, all these items can be found at Sephora!

1. Caudalie Grape Water: This is basically an aerosol can that sends a mist of hydrating grape water onto your skin. In the summer, I use a variation of this available from Evian, but for the winter, nothing is better than this extra hydrating grape water. It refreshes your skin and coats it with nutrient rich grape water that locks in hydration. Apparently, it makes your skin 127% more hydrated, but stats aside, it’s a great product for daily use!

2. Korres Greek Yoghurt Sleeping Facial: This Greek Yoghurt line from Korres is relatively new and immensely hydrating. If you are not familiar with the idea of a sleeping facial, this is basically a very rich night cream that you put on before bed and it super hydrates your skin while you sleep! An excellent overnight remedy for dry winter skin!

3. Dior Creme de Rose Lipbalm: I am a major fan of the Creme de Rose and I wear it day and night! It’s a thick and luxurious balm that has a nice rose scent, but it’s not overly sticky and it lasts all night long! And I mean all night long! You go to bed in this, and you still wake up with a nice layer of it on your lips! Very hydrating and nourishing!

4. L’Occitane Shea Butter Hand Cream: L’Occitane probably makes some of the worlds best hand creams, and their Shea Butter formula is probably the best all around. The shea butter is a nice scent without being overpowering and the quality of the hand cream is lasting and healing to dry skin! An overall great product!

What are some of your winter must haves or dry skin cures? Have you tried any of these products and perhaps had a different reaction? Let us know in the comments!

xoxo,

This post originally appeared on Strange & Charmed on January 27th, 2014 and is being reposted for your enjoyment!

lifestyle

Building Self Confidence | 3 Steps to Self Love

Self love is something that many people struggle with throughout their lives. Women especially, find self acceptance to be a challenge in a world that is constantly sending them the message that they are too fat or not pretty enough or not smart enough or spend too much money on shoes! Through all the noise the world throws at us, we must learn to listen to our inner voice and drown out the external crap! One excellent way to understand your positive qualities or learn to accept your not no positive qualities is through affirmations. Telling yourself everyday that you are a beautiful and unique person, or that you have an opinion that matters in this world is a very powerful tool to increase your self love and self awareness.

So, today’s post is going to walk you through identifying the areas in your life that need highlighting, creating your own self love speak, and keeping up with the self love talk as a daily reminder of your awesomeness!

Step 1: Identifying the Opportunity for Self Love

Do you find yourself thinking negative thoughts about yourself often? Do you get embarrassed to do things or wear things or say things because you think others will put you down for it? Well, the first step to giving yourself the love you deserve is to identify those things you are afraid to do and understand what the issue is behind it. Do you perhaps not like to wear short sleeves in public because you don’t like the way your arms look? Well, thats a body image issue, particularly pinpointed at your arms. Are you afraid to give your opinion on an issue at school or at work or with your friends, afraid that you will say something that sounds dumb? That’s a confidence issue aimed right at your intellect. Spend some time thinking about what you are afraid or hesitant to say or do and identify the root of the issue. Once you have the root or roots (because most people have more than one issue) you can move on to step two.

Step 2: Sweet Talking Yourself

Once you have identified the sensitive issues in your life that you want to work on, write them down in a notebook or on a piece of paper and sit or stand in front of a mirror. Imagine that you didn’t have the issue and you were the positive mirror image of it. If your issue is that you have a problem with your body weight, imagine yourself at your goal weight and with the body of your dreams. Imagine that version of yourself looking back at you in the mirror. What would you say to that person? Give that person every compliment you can think of, every positive thought you wish you could give yourself if only your flaws were wiped away. Write down all those compliments in your notebook.

Step 3: Read the Writing on the Wall

At this point, you should have a page or pages of compliments that you gave your positive mirror image self. Reread through these compliments and find two or three that really stand out and strike a chord with you. Then, take out a bright shade of lipstick or a dry erase marker and write those compliments on your mirror. Condense the wording if you need to, combine them to get them to fit, but pen those words directly in front of you on that mirror and leave them there. Everyday when you go to that mirror to put on your makeup or evaluate yourself, you will be face to face with that positive mirror image of yourself in words. Read your compliments everyday as often as you can. Read them when you wake up in the morning and when you go to bed at night. Eventually, you will start to believe what you are reading!

xoxo,

This post originally appeared on Strange & Charmed on August 18th, 2014 and is being reposted for your enjoyment!

Business

How to Execute Business Plans!

Last Wednesday I hosted a solo episode of the #GLAMPIRECHAT where I discussed my process, systems and tools for executing business plans. Getting things done for my business happens to be one of my strong suits and in this hour and a half long live chat, I explained my methods and answered your questions live. If you weren’t able to make the chat, you are in luck because not only do I have the replay up on my YouTube channel, but I have also put together a recap of the chat that I am sharing with you today!

Who is this information for?

Anyone who has a hard time executing on projects and plans for their business, whether that’s a full time or #sidehustle situation. Also, hopefully this information will jumpstart you and inspire you into action. My hope is that this post and the coordinating video become a resource for you, that you save it, bookmark it, and come back to it anytime you need inspiration to act and start or complete a project!

What will you learn from this information?

How I get things done and execute consistently. My process, systems and tools for getting things done for my business. If you have a business project sitting on the back burner, or want to accomplish a major project for your business but aren’t sure how to go about starting, this information will provide a blueprint of sorts for you to follow through on your tasks!

1. You need to have plans to execute on & an organization method to keep track of them.

Brainstorm your plans and projects: Start with a question you would like to answer or a problem you would like to solve and brainstorm possible solutions that you can turn into a plan for a project! RESOURCE: Watch my Project & Goal Planning Video for a How-To!
Keep a designated notebook or section in your planner where you can keep track of your ideas and plans: Keep track of all your ideas and project plans in this dedicated spot. RESOURCE: Need a project planning kit?
Frequently refer back to this information: Keep this list up to date and relevant. You want to ensure you are executing on your best ideas!

2. Choose from your best ideas so you know what projects to execute first.

Define your values: What values do you want your project to embody? Are you concerned with cost, environmental impact, timeliness, or accessibility? Are collaboration, joy, or simplicity things you want expressed by this project? RESOURCE: Understanding how to establish focus through values.
Rate your ideas: Grade your ideas A, B, C, D & F based on which ideas embody your values and feel like the best ideas for you.
Make your A list: Don’t discard any of your B-F ideas, but make a new list with just the A ideas. These are the ideas you will want to start with.
Extrapolate action steps for each of your A ideas: For each A idea make a list of all the steps you would need to take to execute the idea and any plans or ideas you may also have that go along with it.
Ask yourself, which idea feels most complete: After making the lists for each, decide which idea feels most complete and you are most excited about getting started with. If your project doesn’t ignite a passion within you, it’s probably not worth the time to execute it!

3. Make a project plan.

Set a time frame for your project: Err on the side of caution and be a little more liberal with your time frame, but also keep in mind Parkinson’s Law which states “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”
Define what it is that you are trying to accomplish: You want to be very clear as to the purpose or mission of this project so that you don’t get derailed or wrapped up in items that may not be as important for its completion.
Keep track of the resources you need: Make a list of the resources, people, places, books, or tools that you may need to have on hand. If you can assemble these resources ahead of time, even better!
Define your reward: Any incentive you give yourself to complete your project is a good idea. Choose something that will motivate you but is also reasonable to the task at hand.

4. Schedule it + Do it!

Schedule blocks of time to work on your project: I find that 2-4 hour blocks are best. Stealing an hour here or there may work for small tasks, but overall, give yourself a scheduled block(s) of time to work on your tasks.
Get an accountability partner: Find someone, either a friend, coworker, or family member to keep you accountable for your tasks and plans. RESOURCE: Empire Building includes a built in accountability system, consider signing up to have a supportive community for your business goals!
Track your work & successes: When you do complete blocks of work, make sure to track it and keep track of the items you completed. This will help you in two ways. First, it will help you to stay motivated as you complete your project because it will be harder for you to forget all the progress you have made. Second, it will help you to understand the time it takes you to complete certain tasks. Having this information will make it easier for you to understand your time frame for completion and make adjustments as necessary.

5. Get out of your own way!

Perfectionism has no place in business: Try not to let any perfectionist tendencies get in your way. Things can always be done better and improved upon later. Don’t dwell on this and just make steady progress to completing your project.
Pull down roadblocks & excuses: Many people find it hard to get projects completed because they are putting up a number of blocks to their own path and make excuses for why they can’t do this or that task necessary for their project. If you find that you are making excuses or listing reasons for you to avoid doing your work, you need to acknowledge this and move past it. RESOURCE: 3 Ways to Overcome Resistance.
Believe in yourself, your abilities and your business: In order to be successful in any endeavor, one must have a sense of confidence. If you don’t believe in yourself and your abilities, you won’t get far in completing the tasks necessary for executing your plans. I firmly believe that if you have confidence in yourself and give a committed try to your tasks, you will find success in all that you do!
Have fun: If you aren’t having fun with your work, there is a problem. Starting and running a business isn’t for everyone and it’s important to know yourself and to understand when hesitation is occurring out of fear of failure vs out of lack of interest in your project. Get real with yourself because going down a road you weren’t meant for or don’t enjoy won’t make you happy. Their are much easier ways to make money than starting and running your own business venture.

Now, if you found this information to be helpful, you may also be interested in watching the full episode of the #GLAMPIRECHAT here! In the video I cover this information, as well as a number of excellent questions from my community, which you may find helpful!

If executing your business plans is a priority to you, I also want to let you know about my upcoming Free Webinar on my 5 Pillar System for Building a Successful Online Business! I’ll be reviewing the 5 Pillars of my Empire Building Program and giving you strategies and insights you can use immediately to start building your brand online, PLUS I’ll be sharing a special limited time offer for the 1 Year Birthday of the program that you won’t want to miss if you are interested in signing up!

Click here to reserve your spot for this informative FREE Webinar Training Live coming up and to also access the replay and downloads! Hope to see you there live!

xoxo,

This post first appeared on Strange & Charmed on July 2nd, 2015 and is being republished for the 2016 Empire Building Relaunch!

Business

The Steps Every Business Owner Must Take Before Going Full Time

Last week I shared the story of how I left my job, built my online business and replaced my salary all in six months and many of you told me that you wanted me to share some more details on how you could make the transition to full time for yourself. So, today I am sharing some steps that I believe you must take before you make the leap!

1. Become financially stable: Thankfully, my husband and I have been prioritizing our financial situation since the first day we started living together. I don’t think I could have gone full time for my own business without knowing that our finances were in order, and I would never advise anyone to leave the security of a full time job to work for themselves until their debt to income ratio was balanced. As a business owner, the amount of money you tend to make reflects the amount of time and effort you are putting into your business and knowing where you stand financially and how much money you need to bring it each month to live comfortably is crucial.

2. Have a savings cushion: When I went full time, my husband and I made sure we had enough money in the bank so that we could live comfortably in the event that my business failed and he lost his job. Now this may seem like an extreme scenario, but in today’s economy, nothing is guaranteed, and we needed to make sure we would be okay in the event of a catastrophic emergency. Obviously, the amount of money you need in the bank and what I need may be different, which is why you need to make sure you are financially stable and have a strong understanding of your finances before making the leap to a full time business owner yourself.

3. Establish income proof: As I discussed in my personal story, I set a goal for myself to hit with the income I was generating from my business. I wanted to make X amount of money a month in order to prove to myself that my business would work and that I could succeed. So many people think they should concept a business, leave their job and then get to work on their idea, however, I think it’s important to start your business while you have the security of a full time or part time job so that you can prove that your idea works and that you have a sense that you can indeed make money from your business.

4. Have a financial plan: I would like to go deeper into this idea of financial planning as a small business owner at a later time, but I do believe that having a financial plan in place for how you intend to save for retirement and even cover the cost of health insurance for yourself or your family is very important. Since my husband does work full time, his job did cover our health insurance so I knew that wasn’t going to be a problem for me when I made the transition, but you need to evaluate your own situation and understand what financial strain your transition could have and make a plan to combat it!

5. Find a support system: Whenever you are trying something new in life its great to have a support system in place to make sure you continue to stay inspired and feel like you and your work matter. You have two ways to approach this. If you are lucky enough, you may find real life support, this could be a spouse, partner, family or friends, but for many of us, our friends and family don’t always understand or relate to our entrepreneurial goals. If this is the case for you, you can always look to finding support online through business coaching programs and groups where like minded entrepreneurs can gather together to support each other. My online business program, Empire Building, has really been that support for me and the dozens of members of the program as well who are committed to building their business and community online by supporting each other! If you are looking for a supportive entrepreneurial community, I invite you to take a look at Empire Building to see if it fits your needs and learning style, but whatever you choose, I do suggest having that system in place to keep you mentally strong for the long and hard journey of small business ownership that you have in front of you!

If Empire Building sounds interesting to you, I want to let you know about my upcoming Free Webinar on my 5 Pillar System for Building a Successful Online Business! I’ll be reviewing the 5 Pillars of the Empire Building Program and giving you strategies and insights you can use immediately to start building your brand online, PLUS I’ll be sharing a special limited time offer for the 1 Year Birthday of the program that you won’t want to miss if you are interested in signing up!

Click here to reserve your spot for this informative FREE Webinar Training Live coming up and to also access the replay and downloads! Hope to see you there live!

xoxo,

This post first appeared on Strange & Charmed on August 13th, 2015 and is being republished for the 2016 Empire Building Relaunch!