For those of you who are following along, we’ve been talking about yearly, quarterly and weekly planning.  As you move forward this year in creating the business (and life) you described in your yearly planning (your year’s success vision), here are three overarching concepts to build into how you run your business.

• Declare your Expertise
• Declare your Uniqueness
• Declare your Giving Nature

Let’s talk about that more!  I’ve created an 11-minute training video for you, titled “Three Out-of-the-Box Strategies” which will help you:

• Comfortably position yourself as an expert among the people you are most meant to serve
• Naturally draw your ideal client to you, instead of chasing after people with frustrating results
• Position yourself as an invaluable resource for your prospects and customers

Click here to watch the video!  (You don’t have to enter a username and password.  Simply enter your name as a “Guest.”) 

Talk with you next Thursday!

Till next time,
Clare ~ Your Accountability Coach
www.dreamunlimited.org

Giving you a kick in the skirt to keep you encouraged and on task…

How was your week?  Did you feel productive and focused?  Or did you feel overwhelmed and like you were spinning your wheels?

One new success habit I’d encourage you to begin is to have a weekly planning meeting with yourself.  Friday mornings are a great time to do this.  The purpose of this 30-minute meeting with yourself is to wrap up the past week and to plan for the upcoming week.  This short planning time will save you oodles and oodles of time and energy during the upcoming week

Create the meeting as a recurring appointment on your calendar.  Get it on the books now!  Figure out a way to make it as enjoyable as possible.  Maybe you can treat yourself to a Starbucks coffee, which you can enjoy during your planning time.  Maybe you soak your feet.  Maybe you’re listening to your favorite music.  You get the idea.  As silly as it may sound, the more enjoyable you make the meeting, the more likely it is that you’ll be able to incorporate it as a new routine.

Agenda
So what would you do during this weekly planning session with yourself?  Here are some ideas:

• Get your e-mail inbox down to zero.  Delete unnecessary e-mails.  Archive e-mails that you’ve already attended to, but you might want to keep around.  But get them out of your inbox!  If there are any e-mails which you still need to take care of:
  • Either take care of it right then and there, if it will only take a minute or two.  Or,
  • Pull out the “action item” and put it on your “to-do” list to take care of later.  And then drag the e-mail into your Archive folder.
• Look at your calendar.  Look at the past week.  By simply looking at the meetings and appointments you had, are you remembering any to-dos you said you’d do?  If so, get them on your to-do lists.  Also, look at the upcoming two weeks.  Are there action items which need to be taken care of to properly plan for these upcoming meetings/appointments?  If so, get them on your lists!
• Review your notebook.  I encourage my clients to have one spiraled-bound notebook for each month.  Write down EVERYTHING in this one notebook: your handwritten notes from meetings; your voicemail messages; etc.  Review everything you’ve written this past week.  Was there something you told someone you’d do?  If so, get that on your lists!
• Do a purse dump.  Go through your purse.  Are there any receipts which need to be saved and filed away….or thrown out?  Are there any new business cards which you need to follow up on or enter into your contact management system?
• Update your lists.  I’m a big proponent of David Allen’s “Getting Things Done System” and his concept of “lists.”  Learn more here: http://www.davidco.com/  Your list can be a simple list in the back of your spiral-bound notebook.  Or, you can keep your lists in manilla folders.  Or you can utilize an electronic solution, such as Outlook, like I do.  My lists are saved as tasks in my Outlook system.
• Enjoy the weekend!  By doing your planning meeting on Friday mornings, it has the potential to give you such a sense of peace going into the weekend.  You can feel like the most important things have been taken care of and you can go into the new week with a general awareness of what to expect. 

Just let me know if you have any questions about what your weekly planning meeting agenda should be.  I’m here to help!

Cheering you on,
Clare ~ Your Accountability Coach
www.dreamunlimited.org

Giving you a kick in the skirt to keep you encouraged and on task…

Are you committed to gaining these two success habits? If so, if you haven’t already created your 2012 vision and your 12 quarterly goals, how about scheduling some time on your calendar to get these things done? And while you’re at it, go ahead and schedule your 30-minute quarterly planning sessions with yourself for April, July and October.

Keep Your Vision Front and Center
The simple act of “thinking on paper” and getting crystal clear about what you want to achieve this year (and each quarter), will make it much more likely that your vision will become reality. But you still need to continually review and make on-going decisions based on your vision……and you need to take *action*!

So how do you keep your vision front and center?

First, make sure to review your year’s success vision during every single quarterly review meeting with yourself. Ask yourself:

• Is this still what I want? Is my heart in it?
• Am I heading in the right direction?
• Do I need to update my vision at all?

Second, turn your success vision and quarterly goals into your affirmations. For example, parts of your affirmations may sound like:

• I have 100 preferred customers and I’m profiting $3,000 a month in my business.
• I easily and authentically follow up with leads from networking events and referrals.
• I feel so organized and on top of things! I’ve become the sharp business woman I always knew I could become.
• I feel fit and trim at 145 pounds and I’m consistently working out at least 3 times a week. I feel so healthy and I have tons of energy.
• I love meeting new friends through my monthly Bunco and book club. I’m having so much fun!

Decide how you’re going to continually hear or see your affirmations. You can:

• Have them written on index cards left at the side of your bed.  Read and visualize them “as a done deal” before you drift off to sleep.
• Re-write your affirmations each morning during your journaling time.
• Have your affirmations recorded as an mp3 file, which you can save to your I-Pod, save to a CD you can listen to while you’re driving around in your car, etc.
  • To create audio affirmations, you can use a wonderful free tool called Audacity. Here’s a link to an external article, which describes how to do this.
• You can have bits of your affirmations sent to you for free via text message. It’s real helpful to be reminded of what you want to accomplish throughout the day. Here’s a free service: http://www.affirmationtriggers.com/
• You can create a vision board. Have fun with this activity. Find pictures which exemplify what you want your life to look like by the end of the year. Look at your vision board throughout the week.

You don’t need to do all these! Just pick one of two ways which are more like your personality and which you’re confident you can consistently do.

So…..go ahead and create your 2012 success vision, create your 12 quarterly goals, create your affirmations and determine which strategy is going to work best for you to keep them “front and center.”

I help my one-on-one clients create their plans and I actually record quarterly affirmations for each of my Elite clients. I’d love to help you! Learn more here: www.kickintheskirt.com.

Next week, let’s talk about how to plan out your month and week! My personal focus is to get more accomplished in less time. Proper planning let’s you do this….while achieving incredible things!

Cheering you on,
Clare ~ Your Accountability Coach
www.dreamunlimited.org
Giving you a kick in the skirt to keep you encouraged and on task…

2012 Success Vision
Click here if you missed last week’s message.  At the beginning of each year, I encourage you to create a new success vision.  We talked about making sure your success vision included all aspects of your life….not just your business.  Here are the recommended categories:

• Business
• Professional Development (how are you going to grow into the business woman and expert that you want to become?)
• Family and Relationships
• Health and Wellness
• Personal Growth (how are you going to grow into the person you want to become, full of life and fun hobbies?)
• Faith and Inspiration
• Finances
• Community and Making a Difference

Examples
Are you unsure what your vision descriptors may look like?  Here are some examples:

• Business: I’m profiting $4,000 a month in my business and I’ve reached the Elite Executive level.  I’ve built a team of 30 women who are sharp, supportive of each other and fun!
• Personal Growth:  I’ve started back up with my oil-painting classes and I’m having so much fun.  It’s such a relaxer for me and I’ve met lots of new friends.
• Family and Relationships: My husband and I have date night at least two times a month….just the two of us.  It’s been great to reconnect again.  Our marriage is stronger than ever and we’re truly each other’s best friends.
• Finances: I know exactly what is coming in and out of our family finances.  Each month, we create a spending plan to live by.  We’ve utilized an on-line tool, which has made this easy.  We’re feeling financial peace and it feels great! 

Quarterly Goals
After you have your year’s success vision, I encourage you to sit down with yourself for 30 minutes at the start of every quarter and create quarterly goals.  Your goals are going to include the work necessary to achieve your year’s success vision.  (This is mile-marker #8 in the accountability packages.)

I walk my clients through creating a new set of twelve goals each quarter.  They chunk down their vision and make it much more tactical.  I ask them to tell me which two of the eight categories need their most immediate focus and priority over the next three month.  In those two categories, I ask them to create three goals each.  In each of the other six categories, I ask them to create one goal.  This gives them a total of 12 goals for the quarter.

When writing your goals, keep a couple of things in mind:

• Write them as if they’ve already been accomplished
• Use positive language
• Be real specific (You should clearly be able to know if you were able to achieve the goal or not)
• Set a deadline

So in using one of the example above, the success vision described where you want to be a year from now:

Finances: I know exactly what is coming in and out of our family finances.  Each month, we create a spending plan to live by.  We’ve utilized an on-line tool, which has made this easy.  We’re feeling financial peace!

So you’ll ask yourself (when creating your goals), “what can I do in the next quarter (in Jan/Feb/March) to get one step closer to achieving my year’s vision?”  A quarterly goal may look like this:

• I’ve selected an on-line financial tool and I’ve entered in all of our key financial information by Feb. 28.

Get the idea?  Now you try.  Finish up your year’s success vision.  And then create your twelve goals for Jan/Feb/March.  Don’t hesitate to ask me any questions! (clare@dreamunlimited.org)

Next week, we’re going to talk about how to keep your year’s success vision and quarterly goals always front and center in your mind so that we make them happen!

Cheering you on,
Clare ~ Your Accountability Coach
www.dreamunlimited.org

Giving you a kick in the skirt to keep you encouraged and on task…

Successful people “think on paper” and they create plans.  This month, we’re going to talk about how to do your yearly, quarterly, monthly, weekly and daily planning.  So here goes…

Yearly Planning
At the start of each year, figure out where you want to be a year from now.  Get a clear picture of your destination.  (This is mile-marker #4 for my one-on-one clients.)

I’m going to ask that you stand in the future and to assume that your results have already been achieved.

Picture that it’s December 31, 2012 and you’re so excited that you’re glowing. You’ve had your most fabulous year ever and you’re toasting your accomplishments surrounded by friends and family.

What are things looking like?  How do you feel?

Ultimately, your vision is what you’re setting your sites on. This is your personal blueprint for the year.  And you’ll notice that your success vision will encompass your entire life…not just your business!  You’re a whole person and if you’re out of whack in one of the other categories, it most likely impacts your business success.  And I don’t encourage you to focus just on achieving business success, at the expense of the other aspects of your life.

Your year’s success vision will include eight categories:

• Business
• Professional Development (how are you going to grow into the business woman and expert that you want to become?)
• Family and Relationships
• Health and Wellness
• Personal Growth (how are you going to grow into the person you want to become, full of life and fun hobbies?)
• Faith and Inspiration
• Finances
• Community and Making a Difference

Include at least three descriptors in each of these eight categories and make sure to include an emotional component.  You’ll want to be able to read your vision and be excited for your future.  You should be able to really picture it all becoming a reality.

Next week, we’ll go into greater detail about how to do this.  But get started now.  Get your creative juices flowing.  Here’s a sneak peak into what someone’s “Business” category may look like:

Example: Business

• I’m profiting $6,000 a month in my business and I have 45 new clients.  I love working with my clients and we’re building such incredible relationships.  They feel like family to me.
• I’m only working twenty five-hours a week in my business.  I have set work hours so my family knows when to expect me to be working and when I’m off to enjoy time with them.  I get such a sense of accomplishment knowing that I’m able to get so much done in such a short period of time.
• I’ve hired a part-time staff of two people and we work so well together.  They allow me to do what I do best and they handle the things which weren’t bringing me joy.

Feel free to e-mail me with any questions, as you start drafting your 2012′s success vision!  And if you’d like to work one-on-one, so we can create a great plan for your business, I’d love to help!  You can learn more here: www.kickintheskirt.com.

Cheering you on,
Clare ~ Your Accountability Coach

Giving you a kick in the skirt to keep you encouraged and on task…

I’ve always loved this time of year, even as a child.  There’s something magical about a whole new year, fresh of possibilities, right around the corner.  I’ve always been a goal-setter, creating yearly goals for myself for as long as I can remember…..well before becoming a business woman.  I know – I’m a dork!
 
How are you feeling about the New Year?  Are you optimistically looking forward to having one of your best years ever?  My goal for you is that you’re able to look back at this upcoming year, in December 2012, being blown away by all that you ’ve achieved in your business (and in your personal life.)  And I want you to be proud of the business woman you’ve become!
 
Now, I’ve got a secret for you….  You most likely won’t achieve that level of success, if you keep doing the same stuff you did this year.   If you keep on doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep on getting what you’ve always got. 
 
Your Habits Will Determine Your Success
Your everyday choices will ultimately determine the level of success you achieve.  Successful business women don’t drift their way to the top.  Instead, it takes focused action, personal discipline and lots of energy every day to make things happen.
 
So that’s what I want to help you with through my Thursday ezines in 2012.  Let’s go beyond training content and let’s apply what we talk about and make some significant changes to our daily routine and habits.
 
We’ll talk a lot about how to create a focused plan for your business, so you know exactly what (and when) you should be doing in your business.  Let’s stop feeling overwhelmed because there’s so much to do that you don’t even know where to start.  Instead, let’s give yourself the gift of focus and clarity.
 
We’ll also create new success routines and habits in our businesses (and lives.)  Each month we’ll focus on gaining a new success habit.  One which will have a significant impact on your business (saving you time; money; and giving you more of a sense of peace, freedom and achievement.)  < /span>
 
Are you ready to consistently:

• Set work hours and work on your highest priority items….and feel super productive at the end of each day?
• Market you business using your daily marketing activities?
• Follow up with leads and keep in touch with clients?
• Manage all your “to dos,” so you know things aren’t slipping through the cracks?
• Focus on one important activity at a time…and not be distracted by e-mail, personal Facebook, phone calls and “life”?
• Get more sleep; eat healthier; exercise more and have plenty of family and relaxation time…so you have the energy to “get more done in less time” in your business?

We’ll do it together….one new success habit at a time!

Free Training Video
Until we kick this off in the New Year, here’s a 12-minute video I recorded for you to help you start thinking differently for 2012.  It’s titled: “Three Out of the Box Strategies….to set yourself apart in this loud and crowded marketplace.”  Click here to watch it!  (You don’t need to enter a username/password.  Simply enter your name as a Guest to enjoy this video.)

For those who would like one-on-one support to gain this focused action and personal discipline for 2012, I’d love to offer you a “kick in the skirt!”  See how you can have one of my limited personal coaching slots….to get direct access to coaching and on-going accountability to create massive results in your business this year: www.kickintheskirt.com.  Let’s get started today!!
 
Cheering you on,
Clare ~ Your Accountability Coach
www.dreamunlimited.org

I’ve seen a lot of creative holiday ideas for decorating the table and for unique table settings.  Even though I appreciate these ideas and think they’re beautiful, I’ll probably go with the more-simple, easy-going approach.  My focus will just be on enjoying time with family, around a table of wonderful food, remembering the reason for the holiday.  No stress; no worries; no “sweating the small stuff.”  That’s what it’s all about for me!

Setting the Table

Transitioning to work, do you have stress and worries?  Maybe you’re struggling with procrastination?  Maybe you’re not getting as much accomplished during your work hours as you know you should (and could?)  If so, maybe you’re not “setting the table.”

Goals.  Do you know exactly what you want to accomplish this year, this quarter, this month, this week and today?  If not, that could be your problem.  Successful people are crystal clear about what they want to accomplish.  The process of annual planning and goal-setting is a simple system which isn’t hard to learn, but I’d wage a bet that more than 80% of you aren’t consistently doing this.

So make a commitment.  Make 2012 different.  Think on paper.  Lay out your plans ahead of time.  Write down what you’re going to accomplish this year!

Your Desk.  When it’s time to work, do you work at just one thing at a time?  Is it the only thing on your desk?  Do you have everything you need to take care of this project at your fingertips?

If not, what’s stopping you?  You can learn to be organized.  It’s not hard to set up a simple organization system to keep your desk and office clean and for it to become an efficient space.  I love the simple filing and folder process outlined in David Allen’s “Getting Things Done.”

New Success Habits

Are you committed to gaining new success habits this year?  Will your “work table” always be set, so that you know what’s most important for you to work on….and so that you can work in a focused, productive way?

If so, I’ll make sure to record a special training video to share with you next week to help you “set your work table” in 2012.  Please e-mail me with specific questions or challenges you’re facing and I’ll make sure to include them in my training video!

Here’s to an incredible year!

Cheering you on,
Clare ~ Accountability Coach
www.dreamunlimited.org

Giving you a kick in the skirt to keep you encourage and on task…

P.S. Don’t forget to e-mail me with your specific questions and challenges!  I’ll make sure to include solutions in the training video I’ll record for you. (clare@dreamunlimited.org)

There’s no magic secret to success. Successful people have successful habits. They consistently have a success-routine that they do almost daily.

Consistency is the key. The good news is that we can all do this! It’s all about slowly, but surely, replacing our unproductive habits with new success habits. Are you ready for a new success habit this month? If so, come join me…starting today….with a 21-Day Challenge.

Pick a habit…whether it’s business related or personal. What’s been nagging at you in the back of your mind? Have you not been following up with leads? Have you not been setting, or following, a work schedule? Are you not eating healthy? Or exercising?

My current 21-Day Challenge may sound simple. For twenty-one days (from Dec. 1st through Dec. 21st) I’m going to drink 70 ounces of water and eat no sweets (except for my healthy, Xocai chocolate.) If I miss a day, I have to start all over. After 21 days, I’ll have enough self-data to know if this is a new habit I want to keep, throw away, or tweak.

Look back to this prior post to learn even more about 21-Day Challenges. What’s your challenge going to be? Please share!!

Cheering you on,
Clare ~ Your Accountability Coach

Businesses are not get rich fast schemes. So sometimes it’s not actually a lack of confidence, but a lack of patience. Or a misunderstanding of the business model we’re in and the level of patience (and length of time) it may take to get the results we desire.

Confirm that you’re in the right business

Some of the self doubt may be coming from a misalignment between what you do best, and what it takes to succeed in your current business. Every job takes different skills, talents and attributes. It’s no different with your own business. You must find the career or business plan that most suits your Brilliance. Then you’ll know beyond a shadow of a doubt, even during your toughest days, that you have what it takes.

Here are some things to consider. You may choose to:

• Confirm your Brilliance. And know that generally it takes time to figure out your true path. Many of the biggest entrepreneurs in the world tried many different things before they found the right business model and had their success breakthrough.
• Research other business models. There are so many business options available to us today. So talk with other business owners and learn more about what it takes to be successful in their business. We are confident that there is a business opportunity that will allow you to do what you do best everyday. And you may find that it’s the very business you already have.
• Tweak your business. You very well may be in the perfect business already. It may just take making small changes to your business (such as your business focus, or target market, or even how you run your business) for you to become in complete alignment with your Brilliance.

Confirm that you’re spending your time on the “right things”

In a previous training article/blog post, we discussed the concept of a “money tree.” I suggest you identify the three key ways that your business makes money (which we call your three “branches”.) Next, I’ll ask you to identify three activities (“leaves”) related to each branch, which become your nine essential elements to earning money in your business.

I encourage you to spend 80% of your working hours “watering your money tree” (meaning spending 80% of your time on these nine activities, or your nine “leaves.”)

Sometimes our doubt comes as a result of not seeing the money from our business, based on how much time we feel like we’re giving to our business. But many times, after we analyze where we’ve been spending our time, we find that we were spending more time on “administrative” activities instead of our “money-earning” activities.

Here are some things to consider. You may choose to:

• Draw your money tree. Track where you’re currently spending your time.  Move towards spending 80% of your time “watering your money tree.” In other words, spend 80% of your time on money-earning activities.
• Time yourself. If you know that you’re spending 80% of your time on money-earning activities, but your time gets away from you, go back to the idea of setting a timer (as we discussed earlier.)

Let me know how I can help you overcome this obstacle!

Cheering you on,
Clare ~ Accountability Coach

For some women, we avoid doing the work because we don’t want to take action until we feel like we can do it perfectly, so we never even get started at all.

But taking some action, even if it’s the wrong action, is better than inaction. You may have heard this saying before that successful people “fail their way forward to success.” It’s through their efforts, and even mistakes, that propel them forward.

I recommend that you replace your perfectionist mentality with a “test and tweak” mentality. You don’t have to do it perfectly – just do something!! You can tweak it and change it as you go along. At least you’re moving in the right direction.

Many perfectionists have the hardest time to delegate work to the experts because they feel like “no one can do as good of a job as I can do.” Therefore, they’re in this vicious cycle.

Here are some things to consider. You may choose to:

• Ask yourself “what is the easiest thing I can do to move this project or idea forward one step that I know I can do without fail?” And then do that one step. And then ask yourself again, “now what I can I do? What’s the next easiest thing I can do to continue to move this forward?” And so on and so forth….
• Find someone whom you trust enough to outsource some of your workload to. I understand that you may need to ease yourself into the process of giving over some of your work. So you can use a similar approach as above. Give them one small task at a time, starting with the task that you most avoid. You can also use a “swapping technique” where they help you with a piece of your work and your help them with a piece of yours (which are more aligned with each others’ passion and skills.)

Avoiding the work that you don’t like to do

This is a big thing I hear from ladies. They avoid doing some of the core work in their business because they simply don’t like doing it. Where this can be a possible problem is if those activities are money-earning activities for your business.

For example, this can be an issue if they want to have an on-line blog presence, but they don’t like to write articles. Or if they have a direct sales business, but they don’t like making the booking calls to schedule the parties. Or if they have a business that encourages building a team, but they don’t like holding team-building appointments.

The question I always have you ask yourself is: “Is my career aligned with my Brilliance?” When women absolutely love what they’re doing, they’re more likely to accomplish the tasks required to get the work done. It’s not a constant struggle. For the most part, it should be enjoyable.

Also ask yourself if it’s a flat out fear of doing it, or just a dislike of doing it, that’s holding you back.

Here are some things to consider. You may choose to:

• Outsource some of the tasks that you keep avoiding.
• Improve your skills in the particular area you’re avoiding. For example, if you’re avoiding making the booking calls, improve your skill in this area. Find words that work for you; practice it over and over again; get feedback from a friend on how you can improve; and just go do it!
• Find ways to make the task more enjoyable. In the same example as above, how about you find a booking partner where you make calls together, or you can even swap the booking calls. One person calls “on behalf” of the other person and vice versa. Or why not make the calls while you’re sitting in your most comfortable chair, or while you’re soaking your feet? This may not be applicable to you, or your task, but you get the idea.  Brainstorm ways to make it more fun to do what you know you’re supposed to be doing.
• Work with a professional coach to help you past the fear. Feeling fearful when doing something new is normal.

Let me know how I can help, through my Accountability Packages! 

Cheering you on,
Clare ~ Accountability Coach