by Amy | Mar 10, 2017 | business
I don’t want to brag :), but I am SO happy with my progress on my business this week! First of all, I took the leap, and I’ve been taking not one, but two online courses simultaneously:
- Courses that Convert by Amy Porterfield – a step by step approach to creating courses that will SELL!
- LIGHTS, CAMERA, BRANDING! by Tiffany Lee Bymaster (aka Coach Glitter) – a guide to being the best you can be at video — whether live or prerecorded.
I know…pretty crazy! But the courses seemed to compliment each other so much and each had specific content that is directly related to the business I’m trying to create, so regardless of the workload, it just seemed right! And can I just tell you…I’m learning SO much! And I’m motivated to do the work, ya know? Before I enrolled in Courses that Convert, I felt like my wheels were spinning. I knew I needed to do something, but I didn’t know what to do first. Since this course was not cheap (around $1000), I gulped when I signed up. But I now know I did the right thing. If I am able to do the work and get this process underway in less time and with less headache and mental and emotional mindgames, I know I can make this business happen and set attainable goals for myself along the way. This feeling is such a good one for me to have, because I know that it isn’t just hype and emotion, but the actual doing of the hard work that gives me perseverance to go on.
So yesterday, after getting my daughter off to school, I finished Lesson 2 of my coursework and decided to just dive in and create my course outline. I was so focused it was unbelievable! I was able to rip out my course outline in less than 2 hours and have a much clearer vision for how I wanted to structure the content! This was a HUGE stride for me and my business yesterday. I had been feeling so defeated, like I just couldn’t get the things done I wanted to do. And all of a sudden, it was SO clear and borderline EASY! Now it was only that easy because I had been laying the foundation and doing the little things that I needed to do leading up to yesterday. But, it was effortless and so rewarding!
Everyone says that, once you get into the habit of exercising, running, practicing or any other kind of discipline, it becomes addictive. You can’t live without it. I never really understood that until recently. I’ve never considered myself to be a runner, for instance, but after months of running on my treadmill every single day — whether it was just a few minutes or a half hour, rain or shine, feeling good or not — I ran! And now I can honestly say, “I love running!” and I miss it when I don’t do it. It’s also opened the door for more kinds of workouts that my body needs and made me not as timid to jump in and try new things. Weird how that happens, right? And very early on, when I began singing, I wasn’t that good. I tell my students this all the time. I mean, I had a raw talent, but it wasn’t anything like what it is now. My teachers had their work cut out for them. Many didn’t even take me seriously. I was refused by some prestigious vocal coaches I wanted to work with, because I wasn’t good enough to work with them. But I kept trying. I kept practicing. I never lost my zeal for learning and trying to find the answers. And even though I never had the “career” I initially thought I wanted to have as a singer, I still went a long way with my voice and can do things I never thought possible when I sing. The same is true for me and my business. What used to be a dread, because it was overwhelming and I just couldn’t grasp all the seemingly endless processes and things to learn, it is now something I can I honestly say I wake up looking forward to working on! From the moment I get my coffee, I find myself drawn to my computer to see what else I can learn or create. This is when I know I’ve formed a habit worth hanging on to. A long time ago, I heard the quote that has been attributed to George Washington, “It’s wonderful what we can do if we’re always doing.”
So there you have it! It’s the doing of the things. Not all at the same time…but day by day by day…that eventually get us to our goals. But just like the doing can take us to our goals, the choice not to do will also take us somewhere. And that somewhere is not a good place for me. And I suspect it isn’t for you either.
Have you ever read the book, The Slight Edge, by Jeff Olson? It’s such a timeless and true book about success…in virtually any aspect of our lives. I resurrected this book recently just to thumb through it and get inspired, and I was immediately hooked back in. The premise is simple: do little things every single day and you will get results. Whether those little things are good habits or bad habits, they will eventually have an outcome. The outcome is never today or even tomorrow. Very rarely is the outcome even a week from now or a month from now, but slowly and steadily, progress happens. And that, my friends, is the underlying impetus for me. I know that, if I’m always doing, I will eventually achieve my goals. I will eventually have the life, the voice, the business, the body, or whatever it is I’m aiming for.
I said all that today, because I want to encourage you, friends. If you are struggling, feeling down, feeling defeated, feeling OVERWHELMED, just know that your consistency in the doing will pay off. Your perseverance when times get hard and you wonder why you’re working so hard will eventually lead to something you can be proud of and feel good about! I also wanted to encourage those, like me, who have a very limited amount of time and resources to accomplish your goals. This may not apply to everyone reading this, but I can say that it takes a Herculean effort on my part to do a n y t h i n g of significance. And I’m talking about even getting laundry folded or a room vacuumed. I have 3 young children ages 8, 5 and 3 currently as I write this post. And up until last month, I had a full time job at Apple. And for years, I never knew how to carve out time to actually create or make something happen for my business. I felt trapped — and even paralyzed — like my hands were tied and there was nothing I could do. Ever feel like that? Like you want to make something happen, but overcoming the odds against you just feels too hard and exhausting to even begin? Well, I can relate.
It actually wasn’t until I quit my job that I realized how much time I had had prior to working — time that I didn’t even know I had! You know that old folk tale where the guy complains that his house is too small and prays for a bigger house, so the next day, he acquires a roommate, and then two cows, and three goats, and 10 chickens (I’m probably getting this wrong because I have a terrible memory about stories), but the gist is that his house was filled up with all these things, and when he finally got rid of all these things after a month of living with them all, he all of a sudden had the HUGE home he desired (and he probably enjoyed the smell of it again too)! I find this to be true for me. I had ALL this time that I didn’t know I had before I worked full time. Then I worked full time and had no time at all — not even enough time to SLEEP. So now, I’m not working full time and I feel like I have SO much more time available to create the business I want because I know what it was like not to have any time. Does that make sense? I hope so!
So, if you don’t feel like you have any time to create the business of your dreams and make the kind of progress you want to make with it, maybe it’s just time to reassess what’s on your plate. Do you have too many goats and chickens and cows lurking around? Do you have time you don’t even know you have? What if you got up a couple hours earlier? What if you went to bed a couple hours later? What if you took advantage of a sitter a couple days a week or took a break from social media or t.v.? I know there’s no ONE FORMULA FOR ALL, but here’s what my work schedule currently looks like:
Tuesdays – Fridays
- 4:15am – wake up and drink coffee 🙂 and have some quiet time
- 5:00am – start working (either in my home office or at a coffee shop, since they open at 5am and my house can sometimes be crazy in the morning)
- 7:00am – eat breakfast and help get my kids ready for school (if I choose to stay home)
- 8:00am – work out for 30 minutes and shower
- 9:00am – get my daughter ready for her preschool
- 9:30am – 11am – get back to work and start working on my courses
- 11:00am – grab a snack and take a walk or do something I need to do around the house
- 11:30am – work on my social media sites and wrap up day’s work
- 1:30pm – pick up my daughter from preK
- 2:30pm – pick up my sons from school
- SPEND REST OF THE DAY with my family!
Now, I’m totally not suggesting you get up at 4am! (actually, I kinda am) But that works for me, and I can tell you that I don’t miss the sleep! Sure, I go to bed earlier than most people (usually around the time my kids go to bed) on those nights before I work, but I have other nights where I don’t. The point is, I made a shift in my schedule that automatically carved out a time for me to work. Even if my kids were home — which they will be in the summer — I can still carve out this early time from 4am to 9am and spend the rest of the day with them without having to hire a sitter most days. That’s 5 hours a day!!! Who knew I had that kind of time??? And sure, it takes discipline to get up at that time every morning, but you know what? I’m addicted. I’ve done it for so long now that my eyes automatically open at that time and I couldn’t sleep much later if I tried.
I just want to encourage you and help you find time for yourself and for the things you want to do. If you don’t start actually carving out the time and doing the things you want to do, how can you ever know what you are capable of? What’s the Dave Ramsey quote? “Live like no one else NOW, so you can live like no one else LATER.” And that’s what this is all about: making necessary sacrifices now in order to build the business of your dreams. The sacrifices won’t last forever. And truthfully, they won’t even feel like sacrifices, because you’ll know where you’re headed. Ya just gotta start. Now. Go on…No buts!
Please comment below and tell me how you’ll carve out extra time for yourself and your business this week.
Look forward to hearing from you!
xoxo,
Amy
by Amy | Mar 8, 2017 | struggle
Hi Friends! I have to admit to you today that I am down-trodden x 10 today! I knew it was going to come this week. After all, I have never had Premenstrual Syndrome, but rather…POST-menstrual Syndrome. Is that TMI? Well, sorry if it is, but it’s true. I don’t get down and depressed during the days leading up to it but rather during the days following. And here I am. My energy level is low. I’m feeling blah. And I just can’t seem to get any traction with the IMPORTANT things I need to do for my business. Does this sound familiar to you?
I guess I need to give myself a break. After all, I am just human. But I feel like I’ve been operating in superhuman mode over the past few weeks and trying like a mad woman to get websites and social media set up so that I can just plunk information into them. I’m also in the process of creating courses, which is the main goal for my online business…but there is just so much work involved. It’s also not easy to do the bulk of the work unless you have a dedicated, rather large chunk of time to dedicate to do just that. I have also kept my energy flow pretty high over the past few weeks, so it is totally normal and actually pretty predictable that they would plummet right now. But still…
I’m also just struggling in general with creating the community that I am going to need for these courses to be successful. I have a Facebook page. I have a blog. I want to start a podcast. And there’s the courses I want to sell (my ultimate goal)…but WHERE oh WHERE are the people?? Today, on my way home from the cafe where I was working early this morning, I was just feeling so down. I don’t take it personally when people don’t engage with my posts. I’m past that. I just want to know WHAT to post to make them engage. And no, I don’t want to download any more plugins or pay anymore money to ensure that that happens. Isn’t there another way? How can I engage people and get information from them to help me build my courses in the process? I know there are people out there who want to learn how to sing. Why? Because I’ve taught many of them and literally everywhere I go, people are telling me they’ve always wanted to learn how to sing. Why then, is it so hard to get people to respond to my posts about singing?
My only conclusion is that I need to have content and notoriety before I can have the respect and following I need to have. But how do I get that??? How do you get your foot in the door and get people’s respect so that they will spread your name like wildfire and shout it from the mountains that everyone interested in what you teach should come to you???
And when? How long will this take? weeks? months?? years????
So what will I do? Well, my tendency is to plow right through it all. I know I will probably stay with that tendency. But in the meantime, I just don’t feel like I have time to lose. I quit my job to invest all my would-be-working time to get my business off the ground, but some days I just don’t feel like I’m getting there quick enough. On top of that, I have Mommy guilt. And I don’t even know if I would call it that really. I feel less guilty and more…just sad about having to put my 3-year-old daughter in preK 4 days a week so I can figure all this out. After all, she’ll only be little once, right? And I feel like I’m missing out on being with her in order to figure all this out and try to (at SOME point) generate some income through all this.
Anyway…I don’t necessarily share this post to vent with you. I do have bouncing boards and people I can go to for things like this. But I do want to let you know, if you are struggling, that STRUGGLE IS REAL and it’s all part of the process when you are trying to create the business of your dreams. And I am. I want to figure this out. I am DETERMINED to figure this out. But the groundwork laying part is hard. All the setting up and days you feel like time is just flying by and working against you are hard. And have I mentioned HOW MUCH INFORMATION there is to learn???
I’m literally taking 2 pretty big courses simultaneously. Yep…that’s right. 2!! I don’t know if I’m ambitious or insane or both. But I just feel like I need to learn and this is the quickest way to get there.
YOU: What 2 courses are you taking, Amy?
ME: Well, glad you asked. I’m taking “Courses that Convert” by Amy Porterfield and “LIGHTS, CAMERA, BRANDING” by Tiffany Lee Bymaster. Both ladies are fabulous and the content is incredibly rich. So it’s inspiring me. There’s just not enough time in the day.
Speaking of which…gotta go listen to another lesson and GET ON IT!
Have a great day!
…and thanks for listening.
P.S. – Please feel free to comment below on some of the areas you are struggling in with your business.
xoxo
![Posture vs. Body Alignment]()
by Amy | Mar 8, 2017 | singing
So which is it?
Is it posture or body alignment?
I’d like to think it is a mixture of both. But for the sake of this post, I’ll talk mainly about body alignment. Posture, for me, always brings up visions of a military officer. It makes me immediately feel stiff, tense and somewhat stressed. It gives me the feeling of being upright, unnatural and serious. For years, none of these mental images and perceptions made sense to me as a singer. I did it, because I was told to. But I didn’t know how it made sense and fit together with the idea of being relaxed as a singer. So, with that in mind, the idea of replacing the word “posture” with “body alignment” was a breath (no pun intended) of fresh air to me.
So when we talk about body alignment, we are referring to the way we stand or the way our buoyant bodies move in place. It’s the way we energize the voice while we are in an energized but stable position.
We begin with proper body alignment by standing against the wall with our heels, buttocks, shoulder blades and head touching the wall. When we walk away from the wall, we have more awareness of where our head should be in relation to the body. But this is the part where we relax the shoulders, breathe and allow our bodies to be relaxed but energized with our sternum high and our feet placed slightly apart with knees slightly bent. We’ll talk more about the bent knees in a moment, but the point is this: we want to stand tall, but never, ever stiff. We want to be in a noble posture that emphasizes height but never tension.
After we find this tall, noble posture with the sternum high and shoulders relaxed back and down. Oh…by the way…did I mention we don’t want HIGH shoulders when we sing? I didn’t? Well, anyway…we don’t want high shoulders. And then, after all that…(are you still with me?) we want to make sure our back and hips are properly aligned and our feet are hips’ width apart with both knees slightly bent and one leg slightly more forward and bent than the other.
What is the point of all this? Well, we want to have stability. We want to be able to stand without falling over. When our knees are straight and too close together or the body isn’t properly aligned, we run the risk of our knees locking and losing balance. With nerves already in place during performance, our sense of balance is already threatened. And if we are standing with our body properly aligned and our feet at a hips’ width apart with knees slightly bent, we are able to sing with balance and stability.
Now back to the high sternum. When we raise our sternum (the bone in the center of our chest) toward the ceiling, we are physically encouraged to stand in a noble position. This high, noble position allows our rib cage plenty of room to expand and our lungs to inhale to their full capacity.
So, this. This is the body alignment we need and want as singers. No stiffness. No pretense. No high shoulders. But we do want high sternums. Make sense?
Here’s a wonderful diagram of how the body should look when it is properly aligned.
Enjoy!
![Posture vs. Body Alignment]()
by Amy | Feb 25, 2017 | business organization, mama work
I had an epiphany this week about how my wheels have literally been SPINNING since I quit my full time job on February 4th of this year. I knew it would be difficult at first to get things rolling, but I didn’t know how difficult it would be to actually GET ORGANIZED. I tried with all my might to focus and get things done, but as I looked around me, everything was utter chaos. Some might think that’s just how I am. I am a creative type. They may think I like disorder. But for me, that’s not the case. I actually CRAVE order. And even though my life doesn’t always reflect that in how I organize my pantry or do my laundry, I still want to have some sense of what I am supposed to be doing, where I’m supposed to be, and how I’m supposed to be doing it. And friends, this was NOT happening those first few days of being a solo entrepreneur. To say I was spinning my wheels was an understatement of the year. I was flailing and walking in circles. I was so determined NOT to waste time, that I was, in fact, wasting it by not getting super clear and super organized in my business and personal life. Does that sound at all familiar to you?
So I literally pressed pause on everything I was trying to do and decided to dedicate the month of February to GETTING ORGANIZED. It started with sitting down and writing on a blank piece of paper (I love blank paper!!) what I needed to accomplish in my business. At this point, it wasn’t in any particular order. It was more of a brainstorm of all the things, processes and ideas about what I wanted to do written out in front of me.
- Get my domain registered
- Get my domain hosted
- Pick a website theme
- Create logos and graphics
- Find out about course creation platforms
- Set up my social media accounts for my business
- Year Plan
- Month Plan
- Daily Plan
- Budget personal expenses (aka Family Budget)
- Budget business expenses
- business schedule
- family schedule
- grand schedule (combination of two schedules)
- studio (office) cleaned up and organized so I can think clearly and get things done
After I did this, I began taking these steps and putting them in order of importance. In other words, what needs to happen before this happens. Now, as you can see, there was a LOT to be put into place BEFORE I could actually BEGIN the steps of creating my business and working on it. And like you may be thinking, I was admittedly a bit overwhelmed by the thought of having to put all these things in place. But I also knew that I needed to set myself up for success and these steps were super important in order to do that. For instance, if I didn’t have my family budget in place, how could I do my business budget? And if I didn’t know what I wanted to accomplish this YEAR, how could I get crystal clear on what I wanted to accomplish this MONTH, this WEEK and ultimately TODAY???
After I wrote that all out, I made myself another cup of coffee and started to get really excited! I pulled out my Erin Condren calendar/planner to the month and day I was in and began to map out what days I would spend working. At this point, I’m not thinking about specific tasks, but rather, what TIMES of what DAYS will I allot to my business. I made a decision that I would be working on my business from Tuesday to Friday, 5am to 1:30pm. That may seem random to you, but that is the same schedule I had at my full-time job at Apple, so I was already used to this schedule and so was my family. After I made that decision, I opened up my Google Sheets (have I mentioned how much I love love love Google Sheets??) and began to make columns for MONTHS horizontally like this: January (already over but still)…February…March…April…(got it?) Good. I then took my business checklist I had just written and organized on a piece of paper and wrote the checklist items under each month with things that needed to be done in THAT month. So under February, I put: Develop Yearly Plan, Monthly Plan, Daily Plan, Get budget in order, register and host website. Then in March, I wrote some of the other things I knew I wouldn’t be able to fit in February. Now, this step was super important because it gave me GOALS to reach and it forced me to be realistic what I could and could NOT accomplish in each given month. And can I just emphasize that BEING REALISTIC is half the battle for us as business owners–or maybe even more like 98.2%. For instance, I was already IN February when I began to write out this schedule, so I needed to realize that I would have a shorter time frame in the month of February to get certain things done. I also knew that, in March, I would have an entire week of not working over spring break, so I had to factor that in as well. But right now, all I was doing was taking one column per month and writing out an ESTIMATE of what I wanted to do in that month. Realize that it may change and that’s ok. This is not a time to be perfect. (is there ever a time for that?) This is a time to just start the infant phases of getting a skeletal framework in place and give yourself a visual picture of what you are going to achieve in your business. Before you do that, you are just spinning. Does that make sense? So we’re not even talking about DAYS or WEEKS yet to be clear. At this point, I was simply just writing out what needed to be done under each month.
After I clarified what it was I needed to do in each month, I then backtracked a bit and wrote out what was compromisable and uncompromisable for me in my life, or, a grand checklist of everything in my life if you will. Now this step is SUPER important, so please don’t skip this step. If we don’t take the time to write out what we will and what we won’t compromise, we will be unclear as we go along and make necessary sacrifices in our lives. This is vital in getting clear as to our understanding of what we’re doing so we can make CONSCIOUS SACRIFICES and not feel GUILTY when we do what we need to do. I remember, when I had my son, I would get really upset when I would have to go to the bathroom and he would start crying. It would make me so crazy that I would end up bringing him to the bathroom with me and holding him while trying to go. Great mental image, I know. So, my wise sister, seeing how miserable I was said to me, “You need to make a decision about what you will and won’t do as a new Mommy, and stick to it. Give yourself some groundrules right from the gate.” This was the best advice I ever got. From that point on, I decided that I would not be carrying him to the bathroom with me. If he was upset about my leaving the room, I could put him in front of the open door, but he would not be held while I was going to the bathroom. It was such a simple decision, but it made such a huge difference and it freed me up and eventually trained him, too. Miraculous!! I said all that to say, making a decision on what you will and will not do is necessary for every part of our lives, and our business and family life are no exception. So, to break this down, here’s what your compromisable and uncompromisable list might look like:
COMPROMISABLE
Sleeping a full 8 hours.
Spending time with friends.
Getting my kids dressed and fed in the morning and kissing them goodbye.
Decorating my house.
Shopping.
Calling people to “chat”.
Spending time on Facebook that doesn’t involve business.
Extracurricular Activities with school, church and community.
Couponing or bargain hunting.
UNCOMPROMISABLE
Picking my kids up from school.
Cooking and eating a healthy, satisfying dinner with my family.
Helping bathe my children and putting them to bed.
Having quiet time in the morning that is just for myself and spending time with God.
Spending quality time with my husband.
Working out every day.
Reaching out to people in need.
Keeping my house picked up and clean.
Paying close attention to and adhering to our family budget.
The important part of making these lists is to get really specific here. That way, you can always come back to this list and say, “Oh, yeah…I said I wouldn’t compromise that, and it looks like I am. Time to change gears!” It’s a guide. And that guide is based on who you are and what you are about. It is the heart of what you do and how you do it! Don’t skip this!
So…moving on! After I had created my business checklist of all the things I needed to do, I knew what days and times of the week I’d be working on that and I knew what was important to me and what I would and would not compromise to make it happen, THEN and ONLY then could I get clear on how I was going to go about all of it. And that meant some really explicit and detailed scheduling — sometimes down to the MINUTE — so that I could make sure it all happened according to the plans I had laid out. I began the scheduling with a GRAND SCHEDULE which I will provide. This schedule literally maps out my entire week and it includes my family and personal commitments. I have half-hour times in the first column and then, I have the days of the week horizontally on top: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday…, and then I have half-hour time slots for each activity. This looks a lot like a calendar or a day planner. But the difference between this and your day planner is that it is specifically laid out in time slots. My biggest piece of advice on this is to get really specific about how you are breaking it all down in terms of when you’ll do what. Now, this is not the schedule to get super specific about work tasks, but it is merely a framework and screenshot of what your week will look like. Here’s why this is important: If you can have a mental image of what your week needs to look like, you won’t be pulled in 10 different directions and you can easily go back to that GRAND SCHEDULE and say, “Nope…I committed to this at this time on this day and it’s happening come hell or high water.” I have included a downloadable sample of my GRAND SCHEDULE for you to customize and personalize for yourself in this post.
Now, (are you still with me??? please don’t check out YET) after I’ve done all of those steps and made my GRAND SCHEDULE, I then start breaking up tasks and determining when I will do what in my business. Again, this is not hard and fast. You can always go back and tweak things and change them as you need to, but it is awesome to have it in writing. Something about having it in writing keeps you on track and helps you focus on what is important. The BUSINESS SCHEDULE looks almost identical to the GRAND SCHEDULE except for the fact that I’ve left out the personal details. This is the schedule to get REALLY specific about how I will break down my business tasks that I had laid out for each month earlier on. I will still have the time slots in the first column and the days of the week on top, but I will break down my tasks into slots that include specific tasks I will perform on those days at that time. OH. MY. GOSH. you guys! Doing this has CHANGED MY LIFE FOREVER!! Knowing what I’m supposed to be doing and when has made my life so much easier. When someone sends me a text and says, “Hey, you wanna meet for coffee?” I can look at my schedule and say, “You know what? I’d love to do that, but I have this to do at that time.” or “You know what? I would love to! I have from 11am to 11:45am and then I have to get back to work!” Talk about DERAIL PREVENTION!! That’s what this is. It is DERAIL PREVENTION. We are preventing ourselves from getting derailed in our dreams and pursuits and we’re planning for our success.
Now that I’ve laid out for you how I got ORGANIZED ABOUT GETTING ORGANIZED in my life and in my business, I want to briefly (this post is already long enough) just talk about some of the fears and hesitation you may be having in even reading this.
…I’m not that organized…
You may be thinking, “Great for her, but I’m just not that organized!” Well, neither am I, truthfully. Yes, I have it in me. And I believe YOU do too. But it wasn’t until I began to get really serious about my goals for my business that I began to realize the importance of breaking all this down and making it doable for myself. And here’s the bonus of this: I did all the heavy lifting FOR YOU! I created the schedules and laid it out so that all you have to do is put your specific information in there.
…I don’t have that kind of time…
Another thing you may be thinking is, “I don’t have that kind of time! I work full time. or I have 3 kids that need me 24/7! or I am a single mom. or I have so much to do!” You know what? I get it. I may not be a single mom, but I am a mother of 3 young children. I don’t have any family members closeby who can help with the kids. I was working full-time up until now. I have quite a few responsibilities. But you know what? Nothing in this life is easy. I know that’s harsh, but it’s true. If you really want to achieve some goals and make some things happen, you HAVE TO GET ORGANIZED. Sacrifice is inevitable. Something will always have to be sacrificed. Whether it’s sleep…time with your kids…time with your husband…time with friends or extended family members…watching t.v…being on FB…SOMETHING has to give. And this is merely an exercise in figuring out what you can afford to sacrifice and making it happen intentionally. Again, I’ve laid out the groundwork for you to do this, so you don’t have to invent the process like I had to, AND I have to remind you that your schedule may look much much different than mine. You may have only 2 hours a day 4 days a week that you can dedicate to your business…or perhaps even LESS. The point is, make this YOURS!
…this is a lot of work…I’m not ready for this!
Another thought you might be thinking is, “Wow…this is more involved than I thought it would be! I’m not ready for this!” And you know what? That information is really good to know. If you aren’t in a position where you are ready to get all of this in order, then you can know that you’re not ready to go into business for yourself…right now. That doesn’t mean you won’t be ready a few months from now or sometime down the road. If this is you, don’t be discouraged. I beg you!! If you feel like this is just too intense, that is your call. And I will not hold it against you. I have had business ideas for YEARS, but I would be lying to you if I told you I was ready to do it before now. It just wasn’t a priority for me. But I’m going to be tough love on you again here. If you are saying this to yourself, you need to ask yourself if you’re just feeling afraid or you are just being lazy. I know…again…I don’t want to offend you here, but I want to lovingly say that you need to decide what is holding you back. If you truly don’t think you’re ready, that’s a legit feeling to have. But if you have an inner nudge that says you need to do this and it keeps coming up for you over and over again, FOR THE LOVE!!! Just do it!! And don’t resist this step in getting organized about HOW you do it!! It is so important for your success.
There’s so much more to say here, but I will leave you with this information for now. My sincere hope is that it is helpful for you, and I hope that you would share this post with people you know who are struggling with getting organized in their business. Also, take a moment if you will to subscribe to my email list so you can get more information like this. And lastly, please comment below. It helps me to know your feedback and how this has or has not helped you along your journey.
…here’s some FREE stuff for you!!
I’ve included a My Schedule printable download for you to customize to fit your business and schedule. Like I said, I use and cannot speak highly enough about Google Sheets to help me get really clear on what I need to be doing and when. Google sheets is great for creating spreadsheets, and if you have a Google account, it can be found in all the extras like docs and photos that you can use with Google. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s like Excel and it’s free. You can also share your google sheets with others if you are collaborating.
Enjoy!!!
(and don’t forget that feedback!)
xoxo,
Amy
Get your printable “My Schedule” download by signing up below!
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by Amy | Feb 18, 2017 | business organization
Before I began working full time outside of the home, I always thought my lack of success in business or even things at home was a direct reflection on me. I would beat myself up about the fact that I could never figure out how to find time to do anything. And I’m not even talking about BIG THINGS. I’m referring to small things like: getting laundry folded and put away, cleaning out clutter, organizing my pantry, cleaning up my backyard, putting up picture frames, or (gasp!!) filling out even ONE word, let alone a memory, in my children’s baby books. Now, I’ll be real with you. I didn’t lose sleep over any of that. Truthfully, I’m not that ambitious of a person by nature, and I knew if I let myself get obsessed about ALL THE THINGS I simply couldn’t find time or energy to do, I’d lose my mind. So I didn’t obsess. I didn’t let myself go into deep depression over it. But I did feel frustrated. I did feel like I didn’t measure up in a lot of ways. Sure, my kids were happy…I was somewhat happy on the surface, but a big part of me felt disheveled and completely chaotic.
Then I began working. Full time. Outside the home. From 5am to 1:30pm. Every day.
I tell you that because it was a complete shift in my perspective of what I could accomplish and what I could not do. And the list of things I could not do were FAR greater than the things I could do. I could: get groceries from the grocery store. I could put those groceries away. I could cook a simple dinner. I could clean up the bathrooms. I could throw laundry IN the washer…and later IN the dryer. I could KISS my kids goodnight and hug them as much as I could when I saw them. I could briefly chat or text my husband about his day. I could write a check to my daughter’s preschool and sometimes even put that check in her school folder so it got to the school’s director without a late fee.
I could not, however:
- Scrub my kitchen floors
- Cook yummy dinners
- Blog about my day
- Keep track of our family budget
- Call friends or family members and chat
- Spend quality time watching a great show in front of the t.v. with my husband and a glass of wine
- Shave my legs
- Wash my hair frequently
- Go out with girlfriends
- Spend lots of quality time taking my kids places
- Deep clean my bathroom
- Make sure my house was “presentable”
- Organize my photos
- Backup my harddrive
- Backup my phone storage
- Take long baths
- Clean up junk mail
- Sift through all the paperwork
- File away important documents
- Get laundry from dryer and fold it
And oh…the list goes on, but I will spare you ALL THE THINGS I COULDN’T DO WHEN I WAS WORKING FULL TIME.
So, this shift…this mental shift I had when I was working, helped me to realize that all this time I once THOUGHT I had was a myth. It simply wasn’t true. Now, yes, I was home more when I was a stay-at-home Mama, but the time I had to actually DO things was zip, zilch, nada, nil.
I said all that to say, that once I decided to quit my job and start working for myself FULL TIME, I quickly learned, once again, that even though my kids were not with me for a good portion of the day like they had once been, I still was racing the clock and spinning my proverbial wheels and finding that I wasn’t getting anything actually DONE in my day.
I think the concept of TIME is a real, booty kicking interesting concept, don’t you? I think we always THINK we have more time than we do, and we’re always SURPRISED when we discover that we’ve RUN OUT of time. I firmly believe that this is why the Apostle Paul warns us in Ephesians 5:15-16 to “Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk—not as unwise people but as wise—making the most of the time, because the days are evil.” (HCSV) In the King James Version it says, “Redeeming the time…” and I like that word “redeem” because it really hits the nail on the head. If we don’t pay CAREFUL attention to our time, it will POOF!! be gone!! In an instant. In a heartbeat. Not only is LIFE itself super short, but our days are SO MUCH SHORTER. So it’s unbelievably vital for us to KNOW EXACTLY what we need to be doing with every moment of our every day. We don’t have time to waste.
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