April 22, 2007
- How Fear Impacts Your Marketing
Lately, I've been thinking about the power of fear and how fear impacts your marketing efforts. I attended a continuing education program last week which reminded me that the greatest human need is to be connected to other people, and that the greatest human fear is that of rejection and abandonment.
November 29, 2005
- Remember- feelings aren't facts.
Why make the distinction? Because, as you build your business, you will have feelings that say, "this idea is dumb." "I'll never be successful", I'm overwhelmed." "I don't know what to do." even as you may also have feelings of excitement, interest, and enthusiasm.
October 26, 2005
- Make your business work well for you.
As you grow into a more succesful and experienced entrepreneur, you will begin to realize the importance of making your business work well for you. In the beginning of a new business, you may work longer hours than you'd like, and you may sacrifice more than you prefer– all in the name of the business. After time, though, once you've reached some personal & professional milestones, you need to shift your business processes to make your business work well for you.
September 16, 2005
- Normalizing your anxiety.
So it got me thinking about the anxiety of being an entrepreneur- the constant management of cash in/cash out, balancing marketing with service delivery, and trying to be strategic for the future while dealing with whatever is right in front of you. It's a lot to balance. No wonder most of us feel anxious about our businesses. I was thinking, also, how anxiety doesn't always mean that something is wrong. If you, like me, have actively looked into your business lately, have a good grasp on cash flow, a solid marketing plan, and you show up every day and serve your clients- everything is probably running well and is stable- even when it doesn't FEEL like that.
September 1, 2005
- Stretching Yourself to Try New Things.
It's important to stretch yourself, periodically- both in your life and your business. When you are moving in new directions, it helps you gain clarity and perspective about where you are, where you've been- and most exciting- where you want to go.
June 8, 2005
- Keep expanding outward.
The best way to build self confidence is to keep expanding outward. By this I mean that you keep growing your capacity to absorb new ideas, innovation, creativity into your daily life.
March 16, 2005
- Don't fear "failure".
Over the past few days, I've been hearing some of my clients speak of "failing" to meet their business goals and of "failing" to put their business first, and of "failing" in their marketing efforts over this past week. While it's an innate entrepreneurial trait to be super-tough on yourself (at least it SEEMS innate)- you don't gain much by being upset because you 'failed' to reach a goal or attain a certain outcome
February 15, 2005
- Create a wall of fame.
Building your self confidence as an entrepreneur requires both time and experience. Like me, for instance- I've seen a huge leap forward in my personal level of self confidence when I look back to year one, and compare it to now (start of year four). One technique which can give your self confidence a boost is to create your very own personal wall of fame.
January 17, 2005
- Are you Defensive about your business?
Sometimes we want our business to be different, but haven't quite figured out (yet) how to make it work better for us. Maybe we don't quite have the number of clients we want, or we don't yet have the income we want,
December 28, 2004
- Realize you're always doing the best you can.
Realize that you're always doing the best you can. You are motivated, dynamic, and have a contribution to make- otherwise, you likely would never have started your own business in the first place.
December 8, 2004
- What's your story?
What's your story? Why did you decide to have this business, right now?
December 1, 2004
- Don't Take it Personally
Resilience refers to the capacity to bounce-back from failures, rejection, or other similar events.
November 16, 2004
- Look for contradictory evidence.
When you're building a business, it's inevitable that, sometimes, you'll feel a bit discouraged and hopeless because success doesn't seem to be coming to you as quickly as you'd like.
October 25, 2004
- Confidently stating your fees
One aspect of fee setting is being comfortable in stating your fees. If you have any doubts about what you're charging, and why- this will be the place were your doubts are likely to become evident to others. If you can't state, comfortably, what you charge, there are two ways around this: first: practice.
October 20, 2004
- Fear of Selling
As a psychologist, I'm well-versed in helping people move through fear. And fear of selling seems to grip many new business owners. It seems that most of us have had at least one shopping experience ruined by an overly zealous salesperson- and we vow never, never to become one of THEM.
October 14, 2004
- Confidence in marketing yourself…
I'm working with one client who is uncomfortable with being seen as an expert, and this is getting in the way of his capacity to promote himself and his business.