Business

Feeling a little scattered? Not sure when to do what? Not sure how to achieve optimal time management for your business but also be present and in the moment?

I. Hear. You.

Some days, I really just want to go with the flow, and some days - I can't get through my list of to-dos fast enough.

What I'm learning to do is really lean into that and have the exact kind of day that my body, heart and mind are telling me to have.  Why? Because my inner knowing is right every time.

There's A LOT to be said about how we spend our time and the shape of our lives. They are one full circle.  Sometimes we take the hours, minutes and seconds we have for granted, and sometimes we PUSH through them with HAVE TOS and SHOULDS that end up depleting us.

Yes - master your minutes and own your time, but also know the difference between force and flow.

One of the first questions I ask when I'm working with someone on this: Who's owning your time? If you're struggling with focus and unable to grow in the areas you're intending to...chances are you're allowing other things/people to own your time.

We have 1440 minutes given to us in each day. How do you spend yours? I'm not suggesting you track each second - but an awareness is key - yes, even in the flow.

Here are 5 ways to keep the focus and achieve optimal time management in your business...WHILE being present, in the flow, and living a life you love.

1. Set up your day the night before with an openness to change as needed - lists are great...but also be open to those lists shifting and carrying certain tasks over to the next day. For example, if you're not feeling the highest vibe in the moment...is that when you REALLY want to be reaching out to potential clients?

If those tasks continue to move to the next day for a week - you may want to look a little deeper and ask yourself why that keeps being postponed. A little work may be required to move past that block.

2. Time block a digital calendar with reminders - Include the to-dos for your business, and also the things that bring you JOY. Love naps? Add those in. Things that bring you joy are ESSENTIAL to your productivity - and if you have things on your list to look forward to - you're going to be in a way better state than the "all work - no play" lifestyle many business owners get trapped in.

3. Eliminate distractions, time wasters and vibe-killers. You'd be surprised how much a casual conversation here and a scroll through social there can add up to hundreds of minutes lost every week...if it's not contributing to your happiness, health, or success, how much time do you really want to be giving it?

4. Schedule HIGH VIBE time! Get outside, move your body, feel good, eat well, turn on your favourite songs and dance. High vibes will help you be way more productive!

5. Constantly remind yourself of your ultimate goals, while being happy in the here and now. What are you working towards that makes that consistency so worth it? Reminding yourself of the goals while prioritizing your joy NOW will keep your heart feeling happy as you move closer to them.

The more we take full ownership of our time, the more empowered we feel and the better everything becomes around us.

Being able to ROCK time management for intuitive business owners and entrepreneurs is essential for productivity, self care and growth!

We have a whole session on this in the Beautiful Business Program, and it's one of my favourites to teach on. If you're looking to take your business to the next level - this program may be perfect for you. Find more here!

In Happiness & Health

Natalie Colalillo

Founder & CEO Happy Healthy Women

Plant-based Wellness and Business Coach

Instagram: @happy_healthy_nat

More and more women are deciding to make big change in the way they live out their lives and are moving toward entrepreneurship as a way to achieve the freedom they have been longing for. Nothing makes me happier, and it's a big piece of what we discuss in the Wellpreneur Club Mastermind Meetings and on our Monthly Leadership Calls.

While entrepreneurship is beautiful and can provide so much more opportunity, joy and creative freedom, it also requires a different skill set, mindset and discipline. The good news is, it can all be learned!

Below, I offer 5 ways that I believe are HUGE in moving from that place of part-time business or "side hustle", into a full-time, thriving business that generates a salary (yes - it's possible - with benefits) for you, and multiple team members to come.

Here are 5 ways to start making your part-time "side hustle", a full-time thriving business.

1. Develop a CEO Mindset – First and foremost, someone wanting to take their part-time business to a full-time, thriving company, has to start seeing their business in a whole new light.

Are you looking at your business from the inside of it, as a sole proprietor doing all the things, or are you looking at it from a bird’s eye view, at all the moving parts and thinking about how to optimize each?

It doesn’t matter if you’re the only person in your organization right now. The minute you start seeing your business as a growing empire that is making space for multiple employees and an abundance of clients, is when you’re business will start attracting that.

2. Get Clear on What You’re Selling – Another way of looking at this, is what is the biggest problem your potential clients have, and how are you helping them solve that?

In addition to that, how is it packaged? This sounds like common sense, but you’d be surprised at how many business owners aren’t clear enough on this, and they end up creating content around the topics that their passionate about, without any real ways for their clients to enroll in what they’re offering. This has to be clear, concise and simple. A confused mind will say no.

3. Get Clear on Your Business Funnel – Now that you’re clear on what you’re selling and how it’s packaged, how are you moving people from their first look at you, toward becoming your client?

What does that journey look like? Envision yourself taking a potential client by the hand, and walking them through your offerings. Does it all make sense? Does one offering lend itself to the next, or do you go from freebie to a $10,000 package with noting in between?

Having a clear business funnel is absolutely essential in giving you a realistic visual of what is currently happening in your business, and providing a much clearer path for both you and your potential clients.

A funnel also allows you to automatically walk people through toward making the decision that’s right for them, and will also show YOU where you need to be spending the majority of your time.

4. Consistent Action in the Right Places – Speaking of where to spend your time, my two biggest questions for the women who feel challenged in this area are a) where are you spending most of your time?, and b) how consistent are you in that?

Quite often when we start a business, we imagine ourselves doing the thing we are selling. I.e., coaching. We envision ourselves with clients, on coaching calls and invoicing for our services. And yes – it's important to visualize those things for SURE, however, it’s also important for us to realize that at the beginning, 90% of our time will be spent on doing the things that actually help us get eyes on what we’re offering, not necessarily on doing the actual thing we are offering.

If you’re in this place, trust that you’re doing things right and that you’re not FAILING as an entrepreneur. You have to SHOW UP in order to GO UP.

5. Multiple Sources of Passive Revenue – You’ll probably hear me talk about this in every single piece of content I put out there, because I believe SO STRONGLY in being smart and creating more than one way for your business to generate revenue.

Creating revenue streams that continue to flow while you’re working on other things, is the key to creating not only a full-time business but a solid, deeply rooted business that can withstand the stormy seasons. They WILL happen - but you can do something about it before they do!

Being able to even out the roller coaster ride of business, especially when it comes to revenue, is essential and requires a different mindset and skill set, but it’s completely doable. After all, you got into business to grow, and have a life of freedom and choice - so let's make that happen, shall we?

If the above resonates and you'd like to be in on conversations where we talk about these things as they specifically relate to YOU and YOUR business - you'll love the Wellpreneur Club! We have weekly Mastermind Sessions and High-Vibe Business chats that are there to help women get out of their head and into their heart-centered success!

In Happiness & Health

Natalie Colalillo

Founder & CEO Happy Healthy Women

Wellness & Business Mentor

Instagram: @happy_healthy_nat

I know - many of us don't even want to hear the words "Fall" or "Autumn" as we're still Summer Lovin', but what if a few tweaks over the next few weeks could make all the difference in the abundance that comes your way next month and into the 4th quarter of 2021?

A popular topic these days in our community has been about how to create a successful 4th quarter.

Here are 5 Simple things you can do NOW, to create a successful fall in your business.

1. Get Dreaming - lie in the sand and soak up the sun...and while you're at it, let your heart and mind do a little dreaming. What does the rest of the year look like for you if you had your way? Because guess what, Lovely - you do!

2. Brand/Website Check-Up - Does your website, brand, colors, social media, newsletter etc. all speak the same language and provide a cohesive feel for your business? Do you still have classes from 2020 on your website? Look through it all as if you were a potential client. If something feels off to you, it likely needs a little refresher.

3. Create Your Roadmap - Where are you now and where are you going? We offer a free business roadmap template to our Collective Members that I myself designed and used to create Happy Healthy Women. I complete this roadmap once every 6 months, and it has been a game-changer in mapping out my dreams and making them a reality.

Grab the free roadmap template by signing up for a 30-day trial of the Wellpreneur Club!

4. Get In With a Community - Who are you running your ideas by? Expressing your challenges to? Learning from? Growing with? These are all really important things for women entrepreneurs, which is why I created this community. It's a must!

5. Trust - Yourself, others, the process. I fully believe the Universe is constantly working in our favor to create exactly what we're wanting, and the more you trust your inner guidance, the more will come your way.

These are just a few of the things that have been coming up lately in our Collective Mastermind Meetings about creating a successful fall in your business! And yes, you can and totally should join us!

In Happiness & Health

Natalie Colalillo

Founder & CEO Happy Healthy Women

Wellness & Business Mentor

Instagram: @happy_healthy_nat

Writer’s block is a real thing. I suffer from it frequently, and I have 20 years of experience as a professional writer. Fortunately, though, there are ways around it.

If, despite your best intentions, you struggle to get your thoughts down in writing, I invite you to consider three barriers that may be standing in your way.

1. You feel you have nothing original to share.

A topic pops into your head and you’re about to start writing when your inner critic jumps in with, “that’s been done before,” and you’re probably right. Pretty much every idea in the universe has been covered before – but not by you, and that’s what matters.

Your prospects aren’t simply people who need your services. They’re people who need your services and resonate with you as a human being.

Your packaging is what makes you unique; your language, your opinions, your insights. So own them and delve into a topic, even if it’s been covered 150,000 times before. If anything, a topic’s popularity proves there’s an audience eager to receive a fresh perspective on that very subject.

1. You have A+ aspirations.

Raise your hand if you’re a perfectionist? (Thanks. You can lower your hand now.)

When I’m writing for my clients, I labour over every sentence I write because I’m being paid to deliver high-quality work. It’s my job to deliver an A+.

As a blogger, though, I aim for a B-. Why? Because my goal isn’t to win people over with my writing skills, and neither is yours. Your goal is to demonstrate your expertise while building or strengthening your rapport with people who matter.

So, follow a few best-practices, like keeping paragraphs short and proofreading your work (always), and trust that if you miss a comma here or there, nobody’s scrutinizing you because they’re not interested in your writing skills; they’re interested in your content.

1. Everything else is more important.

If any of the above resonated with you, this may sound familiar.

You sit down at your desk, straighten up your keyboard, take a deep breath, and prepare to write. A few seconds later, you realize you haven’t eaten lunch so you stand up and head to the kitchen.

Or perhaps you think about writing a post but hey, you have a business to run, which means you have calls to make, invoices to issue, courses to take, and networking events to attend.

I get it, but here’s the thing: if you really want to write, you need to commit to the goal of writing and hold yourself accountable to that commitment. If that means setting aside an hour a week and publishing one article a month, then do it.

Commit to that hour. Put it in your calendar and show up for it as you would if you were giving that hour to a valuable client. Alternatively, join our co-writing community. We meet for two hours every second Friday and we get some serious blogging done.

Perhaps I’ll see you there!

Viv

Viv Singer is a Toronto-based freelance copywriter with 20+ years of experience helping solopreneurs and businesses of all kinds and sizes express themselves through the written word. Whether she’s writing newsletters, websites, announcements, advertisements, blog posts, or social content, she’s passionate about crafting words that capture the attention of their audiences and compel the right readers to read on.

Check out Viv’s professional copywriting portfolio, explore her personal blog, or email her to learn more about her copywriting services.

The current health crisis has caused a lot of uncertainty ⁠— from stock prices to daily routines. This, in turn, has forced people to rethink their finances and focus on long-term plans.

Indeed, 4 out of 10 Canadians are anxious about how COVID-19 will disrupt their lifestyle in the future and are thinking of postponing their retirement plans, as many haven’t been able to contribute to their retirement savings since the pandemic started. Despite this, we believe that you can still plan for your future even if you are currently experiencing financial setbacks due to COVID-19.

In this post, we’ll discuss how you can successfully plan for your retirement during times of crisis.

Understand Your Finances

It’s incredibly important to evaluate your finances and gain a full understanding of them ⁠— especially when faced with tough predicaments. In order to be aware of where you stand financially, you should learn the basics of personal finance such as saving, budgeting, and investing.

For instance, learning how to create a detailed budget and sticking to it can help you avoid spending too much money, as well as guiding you to adjust your expenses, so that you can pay more towards your retirement contributions. Additionally, getting a grasp on your financial standing can also help you sort your short-term and long-term goals ⁠— whether it’s paying your debts or using your RRSP to finance your future home. By mastering these concepts, you can help to manage your finances much better and prepare yourself for the future.

Avoid Dipping Into Your RRSPs

It might be tempting to break into your RRSP piggy bank ⁠— especially if you’ve lost your source of income due to the pandemic. However, it is important that you think long and hard before you take any money out of your RRSPs.

Additionally, withdrawing your RRSP early has a lot of implications not just on your future retirement fund, but also on your present tax bill. For one, you’ll have to declare the full amount withdrawn as income in the year you withdraw ⁠— and this can end with you paying a sizable tax bill during tax season. Moreover, you’ll have to pay a withholding tax when you make a withdrawal from your RRSP. Your withdrawal tax varies depending on the amount you took out and the province where you live in, so be sure to look into that before using your RRSPs. You run the risk of losing the benefits of RRSPs and possibly face harsh penalties for dipping into them, so as much as possible, try to avoid prematurely withdrawing from your retirement funds.

Invest in the Stock Market

If you have plenty of savings, now might be the right time to invest in stocks for your retirement. Compared to a savings account, you can reap bigger profits over time to use for your future as stocks can rise significantly over a long period of time. And even if things aren’t looking up for the stock market right now, whatever you invest in it has a lot of time to recover.

So although it seems irrational, you should start buying stocks now while we’re still in a crisis. When choosing where to buy stocks, be sure to look for an organization that has a record of responding and adapting well to market changes. Furthermore, make sure that you diversify your stock investments across industries, locations, and asset classes to mitigate any losses.

Facing a crisis shouldn’t stop you from achieving your long-term plans. Through meticulous planning and smart money management, you can find ways to contribute to your retirement plans and secure your future.

You get it.

Setting your business up with the right foundation and multiple sources of revenue flowing through is key...but I have seen this backfire for many that move with an idea, and forget to take these three things into consideration.

1. What's your mission? My philosophy: one mission, many vehicles.

Your business serves a purpose. You've likely figured out your niche, who you're serving and what problems they need to solve. You're likely on a mission to serve as many people as possible who have that same issue. So the question becomes - is this new project/source of revenue in alignment with your mission? You'll have a much easier (and way more genuine) time implementing it if it is!

2. What's the model? Does this new stream of revenue require you to trade your time for money? Is it a set it and forget it type deal? Does it grow exponentially over time? Looking closely at these areas is going to help you assess whether or not it's a fit for you. If you're looking for a life of less work and more freedom, you'll want to keep that top of mind when making decisions.

3. Will it flow? Is this new stream of revenue a natural fit into the sales funnel/process of your current business?

For example - A Personal Trainer who is always recommending people head to the nearest health store to pick up supplements, could instead consider aligning with a supplement supplier and making those recommendations for their own line. It flows naturally and saves the client time and energy as well!

There's so much more to consider but these three are biggies! Are you in the midst of creating additional sources of revenue in your business?

I talk and coach on these pieces and more in the Beautiful Business Program - so if you're ready to level-up and scale your business - we're now accepting applications for our next cohort!

Wishing you so much love and abundance!

xo

Natalie Colalillo

Natalie Colalillo is the founder and CEO of Happy Healthy Women, a global collective of women entrepreneurs who see happiness, health and success as one full circle.  Her heart's calling lies in bringing amazing women together and empowering them to step into their greatness. With over 20 years of experience in both wellness and business, Natalie is also a Plant-based Lifestyle & Business Coach specializing in empowering Solopreneurs to establish and succeed in their dream business. Starting Happy Healthy Women and coaching others to success has been the most fulfilling of her projects, as she feels fortunate to work with such incredible women who are living their dreams and changing lives.

If you asked me what being an entrepreneur is like I would have to say, “It’s hard. Plain and simple, being in business for yourself takes effort, a lot of time and it’s can be lonely.”

On the outside, it’s portrayed as all rainbows and unicorns. On the inside, it’s exhausting and, at times, discouraging. “Will I ever be successful? Do I have what it takes? Can my adrenals survive this?” are just a few of the questions that take up my headspace. 

Let’s be honest, most of us are drawn into becoming an entrepreneur under the guise of the freedom it will afford us. Entrepreneurs are driven. It’s the double-edged sword that lends to no boundaries between our personal and business lives and before you know it, we’re working all the time. 

Been there, doing that.

With a few years behind me now, I see what’s really been going on through this entrepreneur journey; my business has been a chrysalis of healing for me. I fled the corporate world of money and security to follow my dream and find my purpose. Except I didn’t really know what that was. I just knew on a deeper level to take one step at a time towards my interests and passions and the journey back to me began. 

I believed I had to let go of the money to do meaningful work; that it was an “either/or” choice.

Interestingly, the constant thread in both worlds was my need to strive and work hard. The common denominator was me and the deeply rooted belief that my success was defined by my external world.

Funny enough, I recreated the same situation except I was no longer making a lot of money!  I thought I had to choose one over the other and now see how my lack and scarcity mindset of climbing the corporate ladder transferred over to battling it out in the trenches of entrepreneurship.

My goal as an entrepreneur was to create an abundant life with my business. I believed that if I led a spiritual life, had meaningful work that gave back to others and set up the right systems and processes, that I would make money while I slept which would allow me the freedom and balance to do whatever I wanted to do. Except it hasn’t worked that way and it has almost killed me trying to get “there”.

Fast forward to today, I see clearly that lack and scarcity thinking and an abundant mindset are nothing more than different sides of the same coin; fueling the “either/or” mentality. Ah, that’s the missing link! I haven’t been living from my heart. I haven’t been living a life in alignment with what I truly valued. Instead of spending time with those I love, I’ve been taking myself away from them. 

Now begins the big work of sifting through what is important to me so I can powerfully create my life one empowered decision at a time. Success isn’t defined outside of ourselves; it comes from within ourselves. I am now choosing to live in a “Both/and” reality versus and “Either/or” and asking myself what do I value and leading my business and life from there.  

There IS middle ground between lack and scarcity and abundance and it’s called enough; enough love, enough money, enough time, enough doing and all the excess is just fluff. 

What is enough to me however, may not be enough for you. That’s why each one of us needs to go inward and connect with our hearts to see what we truly value. 

Living between the lack and scarcity and abundant thinking creates a striving energy that reinforces the societal belief that we are not enough. This striving shows up when we are going against the current. Yet, when we decide what is enough in each area of our life, it creates an allowing energy which puts us in the flow and life unfolds with grace and ease. 

I never imagined that this whole journey of being an entrepreneur was really all about a journey back to me. It’s not what I expected or planned, it just happened. And like the caterpillar that’s in the cocoon, it cannot comprehend the possibility of becoming a butterfly; it’s totally out of its realm of possibility and yet, it just happens.

All the trials of entrepreneurship have led me to my wounds and as a result, I’ve uncovered the gifts that they hold. It’s been a wild ride that’s for sure. Recognizing that my business and myself are really one in the same. Doing the inner work IS hard. It DOES take effort. And…a big AND here, the lessons ARE worth it.

I’m choosing to relax into who I am and trust the process. I am choosing to strive less and be more. I am allowing…and I’m grateful for it.  

Leigh Ann makes her home with her family in the Canadian Rocky Mountains where they enjoy the outdoors, community and small town living. Best known as a Transformational Leader and Intuitive Change-maker, Leigh Ann is on a mission to uplevel women’s lives through feminine leadership and entrepreneurship. 

With a unique blend of credentials in Business, Feng Shui and Life Coaching, Leigh Ann inspires women with new skills, new thinking and new hope to transform their lives to become powerful creators of a life they love.

If you are ready to take the next step towards a life you love, connect with Leigh Ann for a free 40-minute clarity call by clicking here. You are worth it!

Leigh Ann Betts

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Stress can be crippling when it gets too much. I've been there. I've been burnt out. I know what it feels like to be crippled by your own stress.

Just under a year and a half ago, I experienced burn out due to stress. I was overworking and underpaying myself. But more than that, I believed that I had to overwork to get paid. I bought into the mindset that you need to overwork yourself to achieve anything. What happened to me was that I cared so much about my business and spent so much time on it that when I didn't do it perfectly or when things didn't go the way I had planned, I blamed myself. 

That sense of failure crippled me.

And I couldn't have been more wrong.

I'm not perfect and I'm not a guru or psychologist of any kind - I'm just a person who's been through this and had to learn - so here are my top three tips for getting over stress as a business owner.

Aim for 80%

I learned this from a friend of mine who is a doctor. I asked him, "isn't med school hard?" And he said, "No. Everybody thinks it's hard because they want to be at number one. But you just have to be good enough to get into med school."

That was the most liberating thing I had ever heard from a casual conversation. We all aim for 100% but we really don't need to. The pressure of 100% can be overwhelming. 

We will never be perfect. You just need to be good most of the time. Sometimes you will fail yourself, your clients, your suppliers, your boss, your colleagues. It happens. But remind yourself that you've been good to them 99.999% of the time. Disappointment isn't the end. Forgive yourself for not being perfect 100% of the time. Also, forgive others for not being perfect.

I used to believe that "you are your brand" - but I've learned that you're not. Even if your name is on it. Your brand is what you tell your clients to get them to buy from you - but it's not the real you. Can you honestly say that you live up to your own brand standards 100% of the time? No. It's healthier to separate yourself from your business.

Take your mind off it

I like to walk when I'm stressed. It takes my mind off the issue and I get a new perspective, which gives me a chance to re-frame the issue in my head. I hate waking outside when it's cold, so I do circles around the mall. Other times when I'm too lazy to leave the house, I just change tasks so I'm concentrating on something else.

Talk it out with someone or write it down

You'd be surprised how cathartic it is. Many of us are afraid to share our struggles because we think others don't care - and it might be true. So if people don't care about what you're going through, then take control and care about yourself. Write down your feelings to yourself so you can work it out. The goal is to get out of the mental loop that we often put ourselves in. When you see the words you put down on paper, ask yourself, "what would I say to my friend to help them out?" Be your own best friend. 

I believe in being honest with ourselves, forgiving ourselves, and not expect perfection from ourselves.

If you enjoyed this article, feel free to share your thoughts with me at cindy@tribalistco.com - I’d love to hear from you!

Cindy, our North York, ON Branch Director, is a multipreneur and marketing professional who helps small businesses with acquisition and retention through inbound marketing. She has spent the last five years living and working abroad because she wanted to understand the other side of the world. In her spare time, she enjoys learning new skills and reading. She also does a bit of yoga from time to time :)

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