I read an interesting philosophy about living less stressful in life: “You can’t stop the Waves so Learn to Surf” and I have applied it to business. The philosophy is that the broadness of life brings unexpected things to us which are like waves.

I decided to apply this “Surf the Waves” mindset to handling the stress of the unpredictability that can show up in business and I have found it very helpful tool for Success. It was not until I decided to accept a position to manage a staff of 15 people on a $2 million dollar project that the meaning of this decision really began to make sense to me. As the project leader, I focused on supporting the strengths of the individual members. In this process, I found that inner qualities of patience and integrity Read the rest of this entry

This week I had an experience that I would have normally overlooked; however, it was an example of how I can tune into the abundance that is already all around me.

I had a particularly challenging day and I felt stopped in my life. I have been working on developing a new service and I was overwhelmed with feeling frustrated because I was not yet clear on the details of the service. I was eating dinner at a restaurant and working through my feelings and, at my lowest point of dissatisfaction, my server came bounding up to my table, placed a cookie in front of me, and said that it was compliments of his manager. Interestingly, I had not seen any manager during my visit. Read the rest of this entry

The following is a synopsis from a conversation I had with a seasoned entrepreneur, a stranger who became a friend one afternoon and whose name I cannot recall; however, the message stuck with me…

During the first year of my business, I had one question that kept pestering me, “when am I going stop struggling IN my business and be able to work ON my business.” ~Enter my world ~ A stranger that said, ”you realize establishing and operating a business is equivalent to building a plane and flying it at the same time.” At this point, I said “NOW I understand why persistence is so important in growing a business…ok, now what?” The answer I got back was that I could find the energy to continue to participate wholeheartedly in my business if I had an Unshakable Conviction. OK, so it took me a really long time to figure out what that answer meant for me. Read the rest of this entry

As a woman in business, having a sense of balance with your business and personal life is a conscious choice. It is all up to you! So, the next time you feel your day is completely out of whack. You know the kind of day when you want to go back to bed and start over?   Try this tip the next time you feel overwhelmed.

TIP:  Pick a moment in your day ~ any moment that feels overwhelming.  Now, STOP what you are doing and breathe three times deeply.  Not those short breaths that say “ok, I’ll do this but I don’t have time.”  Remember, it is your choice to feel stressed and strained?  Want to now feel peaceful and calm?  So, breathe … deeply.

I read an interesting article this week about Failure. This topic was once a big issue for me to face because I translated failure to mean that I had done enough, or tried hard enough, or worse I was not capable of getting the success that I really wanted.  And, none of those conclusions can ever support my success in business and life. One day, I was watching my friend’s son as he was learning to walk. While watching him pull up on furniture, wobble around, fall down, and wobble on his legs again as he worked to stand again, I realized that I felt like him in my business sometimes. Awkward, unsure of the next best action and forging ahead anyway without the results I set out to achieve. If any one of us had stopped attempting to walk after the first couple of failures then none of us would be walking today, right?

So, here is my question to you now … Since January 1st, where do you feel you have failed? Not enough done on your to-do list, not enough clients, not enough money, not enough quiet time? In other words, where is your business challenging you the most? Wherever the challenge is in your business, then that is likely the very thing that will get you to your success. It has been for me. Read the rest of this entry