The Letter C

It’s not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives. It’s what we do consistently.  -Anthony Robbins

 

Here is the audio version of this post. Thank you so much for listening. Enjoy!

So what does it take to create awesome? Over the last couple years, and really, over my entire career I have studied many businesses, including my own. I am one for keeping things real, and simple. While there are several ways to create awesome and people are doing it every day, it is the following traits and actions that I see which are some of the most important, and conveniently enough, they all begin with the letter C, so I call this the Creating Awesome Recipe.

Confidence

Believing your awesome and learning to love yourself and believe in you. This is absolutely the biggest roadblock to awesomeness in the professional beauty + wellness industries in my experience. You can have all the education and motivation in the world, BUT, if you do not feel deserving of success and happiness, another class or workshop will not help you. Truth.

Courage

Turning your fears into creative fuel. Learning to say YES, and more importantly, NO! It’s a decision. It’s a choice. Make it.

Clarity

Discovering your awesome and finding your purpose, promise and passion for yourself and your business. When you have clarity, those around you will too. If you want people to buy into your vision, seek clarity first, and then share it.

Consistency

Living your awesome and creating systems, processes and plans for growing your business, consistently.  This holds true in business and in life.

Commitment

Are you prepared to make it happen, even on the days you don’t feel like it? Enough said.

Connections

Sharing your awesomeness by engaging and marketing online and off to grow yourself, your team and your business.  Creating deep connections with the world around you brings so much more meaning to owning and leading a business.

Communication

George Bernard Shaw once said,” The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”  Truer words have never been spoken. Communicate with your team, clients and community. They will be grateful, and you will be a much happier owner, leader and awesomeness creator.

So there you have it. Pick one, work on it, then move to the next. Rome was not built in a day… and neither are our businesses or lives.

(shared with LOVE from Nina)

Just Ship It

You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do. -Henry Ford

Here is the audio version of this post. Thanks so much for listening.

How many great biz ideas do you have right now that you have not taken action on? How many times have you talked about doing something awesome and never followed through?

Many of us can relate to the questions above, and its what I call a shipping problem.

You see, we can have all the most awesome ideas in the world, but unless we “ship” them, launch them, initiate them; they are just awesome ideas that will never have any impact on our business or the world.

If you find yourself unable to ship, there may be a few things happening that you need to explore.

Are you afraid?
Do you not have the resources or knowledge?
Do you have too much on your to-do list?
Are you a perfectionist?

All of these things are real and worth exploring, but not always an excuse to not ship your idea.  Now I’m not talking about a $100K remodel, I am talking about ideas, programs, products or services that can bring value to your world and help grow your biz.

Typically, what I have found working with my clients and community, is it is all four that stop so many from creating awesome. So lets break it down.

Fear
Most of us fear failure to some degree. But if we are going to ever create awesome, we have to use that fear as creative fuel, bust through, and do it anyway. It’s takes a TON of courage to create stuff. And even more courage to launch and ship it.

Resources + Knowledge
In today’s world, there are a gazillion resources at our fingertips as well as information to help us ship our idea. We just have to want it bad enough to find those resources and knowledge.

The To-Do List
In order to do important things; we have to let go of our obsession with the to-do list. If we get really honest with ourselves, most of the stuff on that list can be deleted, moved or delegated.

Perfectionism
Is deadly. The idea that something is ever going to be perfect enough is one of the most dangerous thoughts we have. Why? It can prevent us from doing just about anything. And guess what? It’s never going to be perfect. Ever. Its not meant to be perfect and neither are we.

I wrote my new book, Follow Your Heart, on January 1, 2013. I sat on it for almost 9 months. Why? Fear, my perceived lack of resources, knowledge and my to-do list.  I have long lost the need for anything to be perfect, however, this did creep into my head when I recorded the audio version of the book. For real’s. Upon listening to the book, I began to judge its contents, to the degree that I had to stop listening or I probably would not have shipped.

As I prepare to finally release my book into the universe on January 26th, I see how I was 100% responsible for not shipping. Regret? Never. But what an incredible lesson it was for me, to always remember to look in the mirror, and realize my ability to create awesome and ship awesome is my choice.

(shared with LOVE from Nina)

Another Brick In The Wall

The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. – Randy Pausch

Starting, creating, owning and running a small business is not for the faint of heart. It seems almost everyday I witness hopeful, bright-eyed future entrepreneurs “start” a business. And sadly, I see almost as many crash and burn, give up or walk away.

We have all heard the saying, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it. Truer words have never been spoken.

The last few years have been some of the most difficult of my life, yet some of the happiest and most rewarding.  It seems everyday, there are more bricks, or what seems like boulders in my way.

If you are thinking about becoming a small business owner, of living your dream, here are some of my AHAS the last couple years that may be helpful for you to decide whether you want to venture into ownership.

This is not a list of how to determine if you are meant to be a biz owner, that is a different blog, I am talking about deep in your heart and soul, are you ready to do whatever it takes.

1. Are you courageous enough to stick it through, even in the worst times?

2. Are you comfortable with being insanely uncomfortable?

3. What are you willing to sacrifice?

4. Are you strong enough to bust through the bricks and obstacles that will be placed in your way?

5. Are you committed to consistently, day after day, building your dream, and not just when you feel like it?

Why am I sharing this with you? I work with small business owners every day. I am a small business owner and many times I am accused of being overly positive and optimistic.

I do choose to see the best in everything. It is a daily choice. However, that does not mean I do not have struggles. I do. Every single day.

On any given day during the week, this is what happens in my world…

“OMG what the hell am I doing” pops into my head, more often than I care to admit, but am now.
I cry. A lot.
I get stuck.
I stare into space.
I get scared.
I get insecure.
I am overly critical about my work, this blog included.

And what I have come to learn is that all of that is normal. Well, normal for someone who is passionate and ballsy enough to take the road less traveled.

The bricks are there for a reason. We can either see them as an obstacle or a gift. The gift being, each time we break through, we become stronger and more courageous.

And that is the gift. Courage. To live our purpose. Because when we do, we are giving the world and ourselves the greatest gift of all. Our happiness.

(shared with LOVE from Nina)

Until We Truly Believe…

I think the reward for conformity is that everyone likes you except yourself. – Rita Mae Brown

Here is the audio version of this post. Thank you so much for listening. Enjoy.

It’s that week, you know, the week where we either kept our resolutions or have already begun to shame ourselves because we did not. For me, resolutions are some of the most harmful processes we bring entirely onto ourselves. Why? Don’t we already beat ourselves up enough?

Here’s the deal. Until we really, deep down, inside our souls believe we deserve to achieve awesomeness, however we define it, in business and in life, we will just keep hitting a wall and feeling bad about ourselves.

Think about it. We make a resolution to lose weight. We join the gym, get the outfit, mark it on our calendars, write it down, hang up things on the fridge, then go. Day one, awesome. Day two, ever more awesome. Day three. Ugh. Its cold outside. I have to get to a meeting. I overslept. The list goes on. Why does this happen? Because we skipped the most important part? The inside work. The work on breaking free from self sabotage. The self-love part. The hard stuff.

Just because society says that we are to set goals or resolutions a certain way does not mean it is right for all of us. The more we conform to others ways of doing things, the more we may find that we keep hitting a wall and feeling bad about ourselves.

Now this applies to business as well. To me, there is no difference. Business is made up of humans. We all bring our issues, esteem, perspectives into work everyday. As business owners, the same applies. You know if you implement that referral program, and consistently manage and promote it, you will get new clients. But you begin strong, and a month later, it’s almost completely forgotten. Why? It’s just another form of self sabotage, in this case, for whatever reason, being in fear or feeling not deserving of an awesome business.

We go through life being taught all sorts of tactics, strategies, systems and ways of living. We are told you should do this. And we try, attempt, give it our best, and yet, things many times just seem like they are just not right.

If we want to create awesome in life and live our dreams, it all begins with believing we deserve it. It begins with falling in love with the most important person on the planet, ourselves.

Here are some ways that I work on my insides, if any of these resonate, you may want to give them a try…

1. Read The Daily Love blog every morning.
This helps get my head focused on self-love first thing in the morning.

2. See my therapist every two weeks.
This is my medicine for keeping my mind right.

3. Daily gratitude lists.
This process, which I have written about several times, puts things in perspective for me, and gives me energy to keep creating awesome.

4. Connecting and helping people every day.
For me, the more I reach out and help people, the better I feel inside. The better I feel inside, the more awesome I tend to create.

5. Write.
For me, writing is therapeutic. Now let me get something clear, writing this blog is not easy, but I always feel better after getting what’s in my head on paper. For some it may be journaling or vision boarding, or creating any form of art. What’s most important here is that we allow ourselves to express our creativity one way or another.

6. Get some form of exercise.
Now, this is the toughest one for me, as I am still in the process of truly believing I deserve to be healthy. I know, sounds inane, but maybe you can relate. But I swear, on the days I do Pilates, my mind is more clear and my heart is more calm, and that allows me to create more awesome.

If resolutions work for you, awesome. If you are one of the millions, like me, who they don’t work for, try taking a few steps back and begin falling in love with your insides. Feel your fears, use them as creative fuel. Stop beating yourself up and shaming yourself, or allowing yourself to be shamed by society for not conforming. It’s time to begin creating your own kind of awesome. Now that is a resolution worth keeping.

Do you have a process for working on your insides? Want to share it to help empower others? Leave your comments below or send me a love note, I’m listening.

(shared with LOVE from Nina)

Be All In

The Awesomest of 2013

“Work is love made visible.”

Khalil Gibran

 

Be All In

Here is the audio version of this post. Thank you so much for listening. Enjoy.

So here we are, the last couple days of 2013, a year that may have been your awesomest or not-so-awesomest. Which gets me to thinking about how we determine awesome. Is it based on numbers, milestones, happiness, bank balances, relationships, resolutions kept, or broken?

For me, awesomeness is how I helped empower the people who I love. How I showed up for my family, friends and community. But what is important to remember is we all define it differently.

To be able to attain awesomeness, it requires courage, commitment and consistency. A great example of that is this blog. Blogging is new to me, I wrote my first blog in March of 2012 and have blogged either every day, week or month since.

It took courage to put myself out there, not being concerned about haters, but being driven by the value I was hoping to deliver, it took commitment to be “all-in”, no matter what was happening in my life, I made a commitment and stuck with it. And lastly, it took consistency, which is one of the greatest opportunities I see for so many small businesses.

Many of us get an idea, and start strong, then over time, for whatever reason, begin to fade. Consistency is what is gonna keep us in the game. I had the courage to make a commitment to be consistent, that is how I have built Passion Squared to be the awesome business it is today.

With that, I will share with you the Awesomest Blog Posts of 2013, awesomest defined, in this case, by the most unique views.

1. Gary Vee Cares

Gary Vee Cares

2. So Much Education, So Little Change

So Much Education, So Little Change

3. I Can See You

I Can See You

4. 8 Ways To Create Awesome On Your Website

8 Ways To Create Awesome On Your Website

5. 5 Steps To Increase Engagement on Facebook

5 Steps To Increase Engagement On FacebookMany of these are my faves, which tells me that what I am creating is adding value and resonating with you. And that my friends, is the awesomest of all and I am so grateful to be able to serve you.

As we move into 2014, I want you to begin asking yourself what awesomeness means to you, your customers and your business. If it is not crystal clear in your mind, take a moment to get quiet and think. We move towards what we focus on, and my wish for you is to continue to move towards your awesomeness, however you define it.

(shared with LOVE from Nina)