Getting Excited For 2011

I suggest you set a little time aside to go for a walk, journal, or curl up in your favorite thinking spot to answer these questions. Allow yourself to explore to your heart’s content. When you start feeling that excitement you know you are dialed in to your head, heart and gut!

Getting Excited for 2011 Questions:

1. 1.   What 1 thing do you most want to accomplish in 2011?
2. 2.   What 1 thing do you want to let go of in 2011?
3. Who do you want to be by the end of 2011?
4. How do you want to be living by the end of 2011?
5. Who would you most like to reconnect with in 2011?

Really allow yourself to answer these questions honestly with no judgment and only love and compassion.  Once you are done exploring those questions do the following exercise to turbo charge and allow for the real excitement to set in.

Getting Excited for 2011 Turbo Charge:

Now imagine yourself this time next year, having accomplished all you wrote. Notice what you look and sound like.  Step into her, the you of 1 year from now, and notice how you feel, how you move and how you think.  Linger there for as long as you’d like.  Journal about what it’s like to be in this space.  Even take a moment to write yourself a few bits of advice from this place of wisdom and growth. Give this space a symbol, color or a name. And when you are ready take a step back into your current self, bringing that symbol, color or name back with you. Consider what you just experienced.  Reread what you wrote and notice the excitement that ensues.

You are well on your way to accomplishing many amazing things in 2011!

Happy Thanksgiving & a Quick Rant!

Hello My Friends,

I was on vacation, basking in the sun, on Kauai last week and I got to reflecting on my journey from the cubicle to entrepreneur and realized I have a lot to be thankful for.  I’ve had great support from my family, especially my husband Scott.  I have a background that has made my transition easier, especially since I spent my last years in the corporate world working at Intuit in the Small Business Division.  I have extensive training in Neuro Linguistics Programming (NLP) where I learned how to uncover the “difference that makes a difference” and I applied that concept to uncover what I had to do to create a thriving business.

Through the mixture of support and background, I’ve been able to make leaps and bounds in my business.  To hit the ground running bringing in six figures the first year I was in business. And to recover from the blow of letting some of my business go last year as my dad fell very ill and passed away.

It has allowed me to rebuild my business to be even stronger this year and to go from making $2000 per month in January of 2010 to $30,000+ per month AND take 6 vacations in less than a year! I’ve used what I learned to create a business building model that has in turn helped my clients gain exponential growth in their businesses; some of them growing 50% to over 200% and more.  Because of the staggering results I am seeing, and realized that I have truly uncovered what REALLY works in building a thriving business I am motivated now more than ever to share this business building model with as many women entrepreneurs as possible in 2011!

You see, I am tired of watching you struggle and be in survival mode.  I am sick and tired of witnessing the fallacy that is out there – that somehow if you learn one more marketing strategy or one more sales conversion technique that it will change your business.  The truth is there are a myriad of ways to bring you a long line of customers and convert them… there is no magic pill and this madness has got to stop. What I want to share with you is my formula for what it truly takes to build a business that THRIVES in any economy and to then use the marketing and sales strategies you are most comfortable with to pull yourself out of survival mode.  After you’ve got the foundational pieces in place, you are ready to learn other tools that will help you turbo charge your business, allowing you to grow it at the pace you most desire.

So I am making a commitment to you.  I will be brining you more free content and more group programs at affordable rates in 2011.  I will also be learning more about the latest marketing and sales strategies, uncovering the “difference that makes the difference” and offering that information to you too!  Your business is to help your clients not to pour over countless books, trainings, articles, etc.  That’s what I’m here for – consider me your cheat sheet for business building!

And because I’m impatient and can’t wait until 2011 to start giving you new content, I will be releasing a series of videos in December where I will share with you my very own Thriving Business Success Formula.  It is the formula I’ve used and continue to use in my business AND that I have taught countless women (and men) to help them achieve their very own Thriving Business. It is time that we stood up for ourselves and what we believe in! 2011 is the year to create massive positive change in the world through our businesses and I look forward to supporting you on your business building journey!

Together Let’s Thrive,

P.S. Keep your eyes peeled for those videos covering my Thriving Business Success Formula
P.P.S. If you know of other women who would benefit from this free content, make sure they sign-up for this newsletter and their very own 6 Figure Success Package at: http://OutsideTheCubicle.com/welcome/

Declaring my independence

Many people are becoming independent from their jobs and are living lives full of happiness and bliss. Others however, continue to torture themselves because they feel as though they have no choice.

The truth of the matter is you ALWAYS have a choice. I know this may be hard for you to hear, but you always have a choice. There was a time when I was just like you, when I felt like I did not have a choice in any area of my life. My story went something like this…

“I am so good at my job, always staying one step ahead, yet I’m always one step behind in how I’m paid. I don’t get why they can’t just pay me what I’m really worth. And I’m working so hard, so that they’ll notice me and pay me what I’m worth, that I have no time to work out, let alone time to cook healthy meals. Anyway, my kitchen is so small and needs to be upgraded, who can cook there anyway. All my friends are getting married, but who has time to date? I am working my butt off trying to get my career underway and trying to keep my friendships going. And anyway, I’m not at a healthy weight, why would anyone be attracted to me anyway.”

As you can see, everything folded in on itself, despite a multitude of choices. But then I had my breakthrough. I made the decision to look at my life as if I were looking at someone else’s. By doing this, I was able to get past my own stuff and see the choices that I couldn’t see before. It was from this point that I was able to make decisions that would eventually lead me to the life I’m leading now, a life that makes me immensely happy.

So I challenge you, take charge of your life, declare your independence from a life others have told you to lead and choose to lead the life you were meant!

Why investing in your knowledge has a good ROI

In the January/February 2010 issue of Home Business Magazine, author, entrepreneur and business coach, Brad Sugars weighed in on what it takes to “make it” as an entrepreneur in this economy. In the article “Achieving Competitive Advantages in a Recession”, Brad makes many great points about the opportunity of starting or growing a business right now, sighting “everything’s cheaper” as a key advantage. Materials and wages are down, the pool of available and qualified employees is way up. The economic decline has also forced an increased quality in products and services on the market, especially those in the business to business (b2b) arena. However these are only temporary advantages and in order to survive long term, entrepreneurs need to invest in themselves. In order to make strategic decisions about how to best invest the two biggest assets, time and money, it is essential to learn from those who have been there and successfully navigated the stage of entrepreneurship you are in. Read More…

The truth about owning your own business

Ok, so this isn’t the whole truth, but I sent this message out to my newsletter subscribers and thought that the rest of the world of would be entrepreneurs might enjoy hearing about the downfalls of owning your own business.

Yes indeed shit happens!  No matter how much you plan for, not matter how much you prepare, sometimes life seems to come at you.  If you followed my 4 Hour Work Week video blogs, you know that I was having computer problems  and on Monday if finally crashed.  Since then I’ve spent my time re-imaging, updating and otherwise getting my computer into working order.  Thankfully I suspected something was up and made additional backup files on an external hard drive.

Lesson for would be entrepreneurs: Make sure you have back up files and that you run them on a schedule so that when your computer crashes or you decide it’s time to upgrade, you have everything at your finger tips and all you lose is a little time. (Think Carrie Bradshaw of Sex and the City, she “sad Mac’d” in Episode 56: My Motherboard, My Self and lost her life’s work. Yes I know she’s fictional, but still the lesson is the same).

Lesson for Silvia: I have a back up notebook that I have yet to add all the software programs I use on a regular basis. Had I made sure my back up notebook was truly in working order, I would not have lost valuable time and missed deadlines – like sending this newsletter out on Tuesday, its normally scheduled day.

For other lessons about what it’s like when things don’t go your way in the world of owning your own business, check out some of my favorite blog postings:

• What my dad’s passing has taught me – for now
• The dream versus reality
• Does starting a new career mean starting over?
• Life happens
• Dealing with tough times

Also, I want to hear from you, so please be sure to leave comments, they help me determine if I’m providing you with the right type of information!

All the Best,

4 Hour Work Week Part 2

Concept – Relative vs. Absolute Income – Main underpinning of the book – You need to first know how much you make per hour to really start thinking about what are things you want to outsource.

Tim Ferriss compares Jane Doe and John Doe – Jane Doe makes $100,000/year and is thus twice richer of John Doe who makes $50,000/year. At least this is how we typically see this in the corporate world. Were’ all about how much we make and what’s that title we have and that’s how we measure our success.

Reality

Jane makes $100,000/year, $2000/week for each of 50 weeks she works, 80 hrs/week
Works out to – $25/hour

John makes $50,000/year, $1000/week for each of 50 weeks he works, 10 hrs/week
Works out to – $100/hour

Relative Income – John is 4x richer than Jane, especially if he knows what to do with his $50,000/year

Challenge Yourself Exercise

Take a look at how much money you actually need on a regular basis.
Look at what you’re currently at, what you need in order to make minimum payments and also throw in a few things that you would like, so you’re not feeling 100% constrained – don’t throw out all the eating out or massages, etc.
Realistically speaking, as a minimum, how much money do you really need to make in order to feel good about yourself.
Then start figuring in what are those things you really like to do, or would like to do, or would like to achieve with your spare time – how much do those things cost?
So you start to figure out truly how much you money do you need on a weekly or monthly basis in order to make those things happen – not per annum.
That is the paradigm shift in thinking – In corporate world, it’s about more money.
When time is of the essence, you have a set amount of time, how you spend it is as important if not more important than the income that you have coming in to be able to satisfy yourself

1. How much are you really making in terms of actual income? – divide income by hours of work.

2. How much money do you really need in order to survive and feel good about yourself – especially if you were able to cut out that extra time spent working in the corporate world or if you’re starting to be a business owner – how you want to spend your time in order to maximize your lifestyle.

Need the book? Get it here:

The 4-Hour Workweek, Expanded and Updated: Expanded and Updated, With Over 100 New Pages of Cutting-Edge Content.

On the Heels of Earthquakes

As those of you in the San Francisco Bay Area know, we have had a few small earthquakes in the last two days. Yesterday, after the first earthquake of 4.1, I posted this status update on Facebook, “fun earthquake… my dogs didn’t react one bit”. One of my cousins promptly responded with concerns and fears about earthquakes.  I totally appreciate the concern for my safety, it’s nice to have people around you who care, but it got me thinking.  Why wasn’t I afraid of earthquakes?  Was it growing up in California? Was it some desensitization after following all the news coverage of the December 2004 Tsunami when I was living in Singapore? And the answer just hit me… I feel fulfilled and happy with my life and I’m ok if disaster strikes.

Do I wish for a natural disaster? Absolutely not! Do I still have more to do in my life? Yes! Do I feel satisfied with how I’ve lived my life so far? Absolutely!

Then I got to thinking about what my life would be like if I was still working in the corporate world. Doing something I was good at, but no longer had real passion for. My answers to those questions might be different, and I might be super freaked out about when the next natural disaster might hit.

And just to be real, is my life perfect? No it’s not, but I’m super happy and satisfied with it, because it’s mine and I’m living it on my terms. With over 15 million unemployed and people realizing that the “stable job” is a myth, I think more and more people will find ways of doing what they love and living life on their terms. So,  I encourage you to think, if you had a magic wand, how would you live your life? And start taking small steps to get there, because you never know when the next big one will hit!

4 Hour Work Week

“The concept of lifestyle design as a replacement for multi-staged career planning is sound. It’s more flexible and allows you to test different lifestyles without committing to a 10 or 20 year retirement plan that can fail due to market fluctuations outside of your control. People are open to exploring alternatives, and more forgiving of others who do the same, as many of the other options, the once
“safe” options have failed. “

Steady paycheck people depend on such as that 401K – that day and age are completely gone
Forbes predicts there will be 10 million new millionaires by the Year 2016
You don’t need to be a millionaire to live the lifestyle you truly desire
Take a step back and really analyze what you want and how you want to do it and outsource some of your life and the things that you do in order to make the most out of the time you have
Only thing you have control over is how much time you spend doing stuff.

Need the book? Get it here:

The 4-Hour Workweek, Expanded and Updated: Expanded and Updated, With Over 100 New Pages of Cutting-Edge Content.

Push and Pull

When we work with someone to help us create big change, they often help us focus on what it is that we want. In the training I have received we spent a lot of time focusing on helping the client get clear on what is they were moving towards in order to help compel them to take action. However there are a few nuances that sometimes are left unstated that also have huge impact if you want to take real action. Below I have outlined the top three areas to consider when wanting to take action.

1. Big change requires a fiercely compelling vision. If the vision of what we want isn’t exciting enough, we have no reason to move towards it. Working with a few clients in the last two weeks, my sole focus was around what is drawing them forward, since this wasn’t clearly defined for them. Once we clarified this one component, they began making strides towards their business goals in a way that seemed almost effortless.

2. Big change also requires a movement away from something that is causing us great pain. If you recall times in your career that work was not satisfying or you felt underappreciated, this made you want to look for another job or leave to start your own business. However the moment things at work got better, and the pain wasn’t as great, you probably halted your job or business research activities. This is really common and one of the reasons some never leave the corporate world even if they really would be better off owning their own company. It can be an emotionally draining pattern. Until you get clear about what you want, and articulate the true cost or pain of not fulfilling your vision, then you will remain stuck.

3. Finally, big change requires an ability to know it’s possible, that whatever it is you want is something you can conceivably attain. I think this is why we read so many books, articles, blogs, etc. when we want to make a change. We want to know who’s done it before us and how they’ve done it, to know in our own minds that it is possible to make a change.

Dialing in these three areas – compelling vision, pain and knowing it’s possible, can happen organically. However, if in your heart of hearts you know you are meant to start your own business; having a coach or mentor guide you and help you flesh out these key components can accelerate your journey. Speaking from my own experience and working with clients who make big changes quickly, working with someone makes a huge difference. However if you are wanting to do this on your own, make sure you focus on these three areas to see optimal results!

How to succeed as an entrepreneur

If you compare the most successful entrepreneurs throughout history, there are clear success patterns that emerge. Below I have highlighted a few key components from studying the likes of Henry Ford, Bill Gates, Walt Disney, Richard Branson and others. As I have said before, modeling success is the quickest way to achieving your goals. Read on, learn and put these best practices into action.

1. A clear vision and sense of purpose – there is something to be said about having a clear vision and a great sense of purpose. Take Oprah as an example, she was transparent about her vision of a different kind of talk show. She was never guarded about her desire to create positive change in the world by empowering women. In fact, many people told her she would not succeed in fulfilling her vision, yet she has more than fulfilled her vision and purpose. I have seen the power of setting a clear vision and having a sense of purpose. It is unyielding and those that are driven by this clarity are quite unstoppable.
2. A belief in yourself and your vision/purpose- having seen this first hand, when someone is fully aligned with their vision and purpose, they get out of their own way and their success seems meteoric. This belief in yourself and what you want to bring to the world is truly what keeps entrepreneurs going at times. No one said the journey of an entrepreneur is easy, in fact there are many bumps along the way and maintaining a strong belief in yourself and what you are meant to do propel you forward and through obstacles that may come your way.
3. A group of supporters – imagine your journey from corporate to entrepreneur as traveling by boat from California to the Hawaiian Islands. As you leave California, all your friends on the shore are telling you not to go, that you are crazy, that you will never make it, that you might get lost along the way and lose everything. As you set sail all you can hear are those you are leaving behind and since you can’t see the islands yet, you begin to doubt yourself and your journey. You know the islands are there, because you’ve plotted out the course, however the journey is long and you can be faced with a ton of uncertainty on the way. Having supports becomes a necessity in reminding you of your vision and of the purpose that propels you forward.
4. A great deal of curiosity – being curious about what is, instead of being rigid is another key component. Individuals who are extremely rule bound end up sabotaging themselves because they lack the ability to adapt emerging trends and changing circumstances. Perhaps this is why some businesses end up failing over time as they grow. They lose the ability to be curious and try different approaches to the work they do, and end up obsolete. In order to not end up obsolete before you begin, you need to challenge yourself and your thinking. Be open to others ideas especially if they are different than your own. I guarantee it will open up perspectives you never dreamed of.
5. An ability to learn from mistakes- the key here is that mistakes will happen, don’t spend your time trying to avoid all mistakes because that will just keep you stuck. Also, as you make mistakes take time to learn from them. What worked, what didn’t work and why? Also, learn from others and the mistakes they made. Whether its people just like you or reading autobiographies of successful entrepreneurs, there are great lessons to be learned by what they did wrong as with what they did right.

Remember taking action is the underlying characteristic of the successful entrepreneur. Of the above best practices what do you need to work on in order to continue on your path to entrepreneurship? Make a note of it and any action steps you need to take to make it happen. There’s no time like the present, so get going!

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