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Why trying it on before you make an investment in your online business is smart…

When we’re considering making an investment in our online business, sometimes we have to “try it on” first.

I was shopping with my daughter recently and she saw a piece of clothing that could be worn as either a skirt or a dress. She really liked it so I suggested she try it on.

Once she tried it on, though, she said she liked it, “…but not enough to get it.”

The same is true as we build our business. There are so many options and opportunities to grow our business that sometimes it overwhelms and immobilizes us from making a choice or moving forward.

So sometimes we just need to make a choice and ‘try it on’ – and only then can we truly decide if it’s right for us.

I’ve been lucky in the sense that, in 20 years of investing in different programs and coaches/mentors, I’ve only once felt that the program I invested in wasn’t right for me. And I think part of making the right investment in my online business all the other times came down to knowing what I really wanted and needed at that time.

Here is the first question I ask myself:

Is this program/product/service what I need to learn/know/do next to move my business forward?

And I don’t let myself off the hook with an easy “yes!”.

I look at my plan, what I’m focused on right now, and if it’s really truly the very next thing I need to move the needle.

I actually started doing this process of decision-making when we were buying our current home in 2014. We were trying to keep as much cash in the bank as possible for our deposit (and I try to run my business as cash-only as much as possible), so this was the yardstick I used to make investing decisions – and it has served me well ever since.

So what is just the next thing you need to know, learn or do to move your business forward?

Is there a program/product/service that you could try on to see if it’s right, and if it’s right, right now?

I’d love to know… tell me here

 

make an investment in your online business

The #1 thing that enables me to take a lot of time away from my online business while still making money

So many people have asked me how I work less but make more, so I wanted to share with you the #1 thing that enables me to take a lot of time away from my online business while still making money.

When I first started my online coaching business in 2006, I had already been working for myself for about 5 years. In that time, I learned a lot about how I wanted to run my business and also how I didn’t.

That was before we had kids, so I had a lot more time availability and flexibility. But I also knew that once children came into the picture, that was going to change everything, and mostly it was going to shift the time and energy I had for my business to caring for a baby.

My goal was to create something that could run mostly without me. To offer something that only required me to show up in the tiny pockets of time I had to focus on my business and my students.

The first thing I created was my 21 Easy & Essential Steps to Online Success System, which was a digital course. Then I put together my very first recurring revenue stream, a monthly membership called the Client Abundance Coaching Cafe.

The digital course only required me to create the content and market it. The membership only required me to create the content and deliver it on a specific date and time once a month. Anything else I needed to do to generate sales or new members joining or answering questions in our community groups were things I could do during naptime or nightime.

And that’s what I did for the first three years in growing my business.

It’s also when I had my first 6-figure year.

The #1 thing that enabled me then – and today – to take as much as 16 weeks away from my business every year is having offers that don’t require me to show up live.

Offering products or programs where the content can be created in batches well before I take time off, or where there isn’t a promise of my teaching or coaching live, is how I’ve been able to work less but make more.

I’ve always approached my offers this way – to keep my Family First – and to build a profitable business around my Life first. And it’s worked out quite well over all these years – to the tune of over $2 million in sales.

And approaching your business this way isn’t just for vacation time. I’ve been especially grateful having created a business model like this when I’ve needed to focus my time and energy on personal situations even more so than for holidays.

And it’s why I always encourage my students to have at least one recurring revenue stream that’s set up in this way so that they have cash flow even when they need or want to step away from their business for a bit.

The peace of mind that brings is priceless.

So, if you want to generate income while you take time away from your business – to truly work less but make more – consider how you could create an offer and deliver it without require YOU to show up live, something that can be put pretty much on auto-pilot, a product or a program that leans more towards a do-it-yourself model, vs a done-with-you or done-for-you model.

It doesn’t have to be complex to make it successful either – in fact, the simpler you can make it – the better for you and for your perfect people.

This is how my Family First online business started…

It was our daughter’s 1st birthday.Family First online business

And I remember sitting in the truck with James outside the aquarium where we brought her to celebrate for the day. We were taking a break and she’d just nodded off for her mid-day nap.

Once she was asleep, I pulled out my Blackberry to check my email because I’d just opened registration for my very first digital course that morning – 21 Easy & Essential Steps to Online Success System.

(tip: don’t launch on a special day ;-))

To my delight and chagrin, there were loads of messages – many were orders being processed (yay!) and some were questions about the course while others were about issues with trying to purchase. But the bottom line was – people were saying YES to my offer.

It was January 31, 2006.

It was my very first offer online.

My email list was tiny (77).

My offer was just $47.

But I made $1447 that day – and that’s when I knew I had just changed my life, and life for my family.

Because my goal in going into business for myself a few years earlier was to be home to raise any children we were blessed with, and to contribute financially to my family.

One of my top values has always been Family First – and that hasn’t changed in the 20 years I’ve been operating and growing my own business.

That daughter is now 16, she’s about the enter her junior year in high school, and we are already deep into the college process (and what an eye-opening process it is!).

If you have kids who’ve gone the college route, then you know that it financially changes the game. Even though we’ve chosen to send both our kids to private school their entire school careers (at a current tuition rate which rivals college tuition), it is still a whole other level of financial contribution when it comes to college.

But as overwhelming and stressful as figuring out this next piece of the puzzle can be, I know we’ll be ok. Because I’m an Alchemist. For 20 years, I’ve turned straw into gold.

And I’m no one special. We can all do that – yes, even you. 😉

All you need is one idea, one person to offer it to, and a way to reach them.

What do you think? Are you an Alchemist too? Do you believe you are, but something is keeping you stuck? Is it the idea, the person, or the way?

Tell me here 🙂

How to Unhook from the Future

less stressed online businessChloe has a children’s book (which is now a movie) titled Milton’s Secret: An Adventure of Discovery through Then, When, and the Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle and Robert S. Friedman, which really simplifies the concept of living in the present moment, and how the practice of that will, for the boy in the story, eliminate fear and worry.

I wanted to explore that as it pertains to your business, with a slightly different slant. I wonder if you, like so many of my clients, and myself as well from time to time, are so hooked into the future that we’re missing the NOW and not fully enjoying the journey?

So how do we unhook from it to allow what we truly want to come to pass without always feeling like we’re striving for it?

Here are 5 ideas:

1. Let go of the goals that take you away from the present.

Let me say first that you can have everything you want – and there’s no judgement here on what those things are.

That being said, do you want a mansion, to be the #1 speaker in your market, to be the one with the biggest email list in your market, to be a New York Times bestselling author, to make a million dollars? There’s nothing wrong with any of those lofty (yet completely attainable) goals.

And, what happens is when we’re so focused on the sexy dream we tend to get ourselves so riled up about getting there that we miss all the amazing stuff happening NOW.

What I’ve noticed is that people get impatient, sad, frustrated, and even angry when they’re so focused on the future goal that the present seems uninteresting at best, despairing at worst. The antidote? See #2.

2. Polish the present

I want to encourage you to stop striving so hard and thrive in your present. What I mean is that if you make what you already have better, and polish what’s already good and working, you uplevel your life without expending that energy on something that doesn’t exist yet.

Yes, it’s about appreciating what’s already good and right in your world and in your business AND it’s about how you can make what’s already there fulfill you even more. It’s true that if you make the most of what you already have, you’ll get more and better of it with a lot less effort on your part.

3. Don’t plan so much

I’m all about having the big picture plan down to the day-to-day details, and yet I know that most of the time, the plan changes.

One of the reasons we – as business owners – plan so much is because it gives us a sense of control and it helps to alleviate the fears and doubts we have about knowing what we’re doing.

So have the plan and be willing to be flexible with it. Let it be a guide but not the only way. If you get wrapped up in THE PLAN you’ll actually hold yourself and your business back from being able to adapt quickly when things change – and they always do.

Assess if you spend more time planning than doing – and if you do, stop right now. And if you tend to fly by the seat of your pants more often than not, you might want a lightly-built framework around you to give you some sense of stability.

4. Get out of the striver’s club

Stop trying to acquire a better future with others who are striving. It’s just too exhausting. I’m not saying to surround yourself with lazy folks, but get out of the overdrive club if you want to relax into a currently compelling present instead of an exhausting still ‘out there somewhere’ future.

5. Get off the ‘if/when’ rollercoaster

I admit this is a pet peeve of mine. Not from people who are decisive, but from people who use it as an excuse to not be happy now. When you make ‘if/when’ statements, you’re living in the future. Dreaming and visioning is one thing; otherwise it’s a holding pattern for you but even worse, you’re not enjoying where you’re at right now!

Now take and implement these five ideas to unhook from the future so you can enjoy the present – I promise you’ll thank me for it. 🙂

Ready for more? Join us for my upcoming free 1/2-day workshop coming up very soon!

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