Position Yourself for Change

Second Article in the series by Patricia Thibodeau

We know what we want to accomplish. We have a dream. But how do we get from here to there? How do we find what Joseph Campbell calls “our bliss.” First and foremost is to believe we can do it. Second is to position yourself for change.

Look hard at what you enjoy doing. But be realistic. Not just anyone can be a pilot at age 50. But if flying is your bliss, take those lessons, and get your license. You may not do it for a living with a major airline, but you can still hire yourself out for friends.

Not everyone, even though the spirit is willing, can design clothes for the masses. But if fashion is your bliss, make your own clothes (and be sure to sew in a label with your name on it). And then don’t be afraid to tell people you did it yourself. People who cannot sew are always looking for someone who can.

If travel is your thing, work part time for an agent; you’ll learn the business and may just wind up with a full time job.

If you enjoy talking on the telephone, sign on as a fundraiser. The pay isn’t much, but ASPCA and several other non-profit organizations in our area have yearly campaigns, and are always looking for help.

If you enjoy meeting people, go to work as a greeter at Walmart. I’m serious. Those people want to be there, and it shows in their smiles.

If you like tools, if you are a weekend carpenter, if you can teach someone to make cabinets, then Lowe’s or Home Depot is calling your name.

If you enjoy gardening, buy a good lawn mower, print up some business cards and drop them on doorsteps in your neighborhood.

If you like makeup, sell Avon.

True, working at a hobby is different from working to earn a living, but you still should find something you love to do. Find something that lets you feel after 8 hours just as good as you did when you started the day. Work is a four-letter word, but if it’s not work, then it’s bliss. If you had your dream job, what would it be?

If you like cutting hair, get some good shoes with strong supports, and go to technical college for a degree.

If you love to tinker with cars and have an innate sense for what “that strange little noise” is, search out automotive courses at the community college and start your own business working nights and weekends for people are off only during those hours.

If you love to make jewelry, do it in your spare time. There are several shops throughout the Metroplex that will agree to furnish an outlet (on consignment) for your merchandise.

If you simply love cleaning houses, do that. I’m serious. There is always a market for someone who doesn’t mind dusting and mopping and washing windows and doing laundry for someone else who doesn’t have the time, the patience, or the want to. Now this one will probably involve you being bonded, and that costs money; but there are cleaning services in our area that are currently hiring, and they’ll help you with it.

Are you an out-of-work accountant with tax experience but can’t find a tax service to hire you? Call your friends. Tell them you are available. At discount rates. You’ll be busy at least half the year. Matter of fact, if you’re an out of work accountant with tax experience, call me and I’ll hire you.

OK, so maybe you need something a little more lucrative than part time or minimum wage. It’s hard to feed a family of four on a fast-food-window salary. But without training, that’s about all you’ll ever have. But if you truly enjoy food and like people, take courses in restaurant management at the community college. Did you know that the D/FW area has more restaurants, per capita, than any other area in the United States? Get the training, and then get the job.

And that sounds pretty good, but what if you quit high school before graduation? GED classes are offered at regular intervals in our communities. The cost for the test is $65. After you’ve passed the GED, you can pursue higher education.

Do you like computers? Would you enjoy being an admin or an office manager? Again, community college.

But what if you like computers and would enjoy working with them daily but simply do not have the time (or money) to take formal classes? There’s an answer for that, too. Ask a friend to teach you. And then if you don’t have one at home, use the computer at your local library to practice what you’ve learned. Be diligent about it.

The rule for learning is this: tell me what to do and I may remember; show me what to do and I will remember; let me do it myself and I will not forget.

No, it’s not going to happen overnight. But it will happen. You just have to have a dream, dare to believe in it, and then position yourself for the change.

Blessings and Hugs,
Patricia Thibodeau

Keys to Breaking Through

Third and Final Article in the series by Patricia Thibodeau
OK, you have a dream, and you have positioned yourself for change.. So what’s stopping you? You don’t know what to do next? You just can’t seem to get it in gear? Well, let’s look at the keys to breaking through.

But before we begin, let me say that if you don’t believe in a Higher Power, you might as well stop reading right now, because the rest of this message is contingent on that belief.

1. Pray. Open your heart and ask for guidance. Ask for grace. Grace is God’s free gift, to do to us, through us, and for us, with love, what we could never do for ourselves. But we have to ask for it. It doesn’t have to be a long prayer, and don’t pepper it with thees and thous, just talk to God the way you would an earthly parent, or a close friend. God loves us and wants the best for us. Ask for what you want. And then listen for the answer. Too often prayer is me, me, me, mine, mine, mine, now, now, now, and then it’s off our knees and back to the same old thing. Prayer is us talking to God. Meditation is us listening for an answer. Spend time each day in both prayer and meditation.

2. Face the truth about yourself. The word of God confronts us. “So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.” (Rom. 14:12). Do you drink too much? Stop. It’s not easy, but it can be done. Don’t be ashamed to ask for help. You can’t save your face and your ass at the same time. There are any number of support groups in this area that are willing to help. Ask your minister. If you don’t have a minister, ask your doctor. If you don’t have a doctor, google “sobriety.” And then go to a meeting and listen with an open mind to what they say. Are you mired in an addiction of another kind? Get help. Are you lost in grief and feel like you simply cannot live another day without that spouse, or that child, or that job? Get help. Are you so depressed in general that you have lost the will to live? I don’t believe it. You wouldn’t still be reading if it was so. Depression is anger turned inward. Get help with your anger. Facing the truth about yourself, your circumstances, your part in it, and your world in general may be the hardest thing you’ll ever do in life. But you can do it. You must. And then don’t repeat the old behavior. You keep doing what you’re doing you’ll keep getting what you’re getting.

3. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Poor me, poor me, pour me another. Pity parties are the easiest kind to throw but self-pity is idolatry. Guard against emotional impulses. Do you spend too much money when you’re feeling blue? Stay busy and out of the mall. And off the internet. Freeze (literally) your credit cards. By the time they’re thawed out, you’ll probably have realized that you really don’t need whatever the impulse drove you to buy. Volunteer at a hospital. Volunteer to teach English as a second language. Volunteer to type resumes for people who are looking for work. If you have the time and resources, volunteer to go on a mission trip. Help with Habitat for Humanity. Deliver meals on wheels. But whatever you do, take the focus off yourself.

4. Stop blaming everybody else. Ooooooooooooh, tough one. Oh, if only he hadn’t left me for another woman. Oh, if only they hadn’t laid me off. Oh, if only she hadn’t died. If only, if only, if only. Did you do something to cause the layoff? The death? The leaving? Then take responsibility for your own actions. I’m not saying you have to look like a fashion model, but quite frankly, ladies, if you can’t remember the last time you combed your hair, if you can’t keep yourself clean, if you can’t put a smile on your face, if you can’t be a “helpmeet” then don’t blame your significant other if they look elsewhere for those things. And gentlemen, you’re not off the hook; if you can’t treat your loved one with the same respect and consideration and admiration you want for yourself, don’t be surprised if that “loved one” turns into an “unloved one.” If the situation is something simply beyond your control, see step 3. If not, read step 4 again.

5. Don’t make a geographic change the answer to your problems. Because if you pick your troubled self up and move it someplace else, all that baggage will go with you, and you’re just the same old tired troubled person in a different location. And before you know it, it’s all back again. Doubled. Changes in attitudes, changes in latitudes works fine as a song, but only the change in attitude will get you where you need to be. Stop running from responsibility. You can’t repent if you won’t admit. Know the real problem. If you truly believe that a change in attitude will not help, that your problems are not of your own making, see step 1. If it’s you, say you’re sorry; mean it; and then resolve with everything that is within you to do better next time. And then do better.

Blessings and hugs.
Patricia Thibodeau

A Good Memory Equals Greater Success

If you can learn how to improve your memory you will certainly be able to become more successful. Just think of how nice it would be to be able to recall little nuggets of information from your last business trip. Sure you can write down a lot of information so that you can refer back to it later, but you will not always have the ability to take notes. In a face to face, personal conversation with a prospective client, you may not want to take notes. In this case you will be relying on your memory until you can translate the information onto paper.

There are two important parts to your memory: concentration and recall. These are the two areas that you are going to have to improve upon if you want to have a top notch memory. There are a few ways that you can improve your concentration and recall skills.

The first thing to do is make sure you get the information correct the first time. It is very difficult to obtain bad information, and then replace it with the correct information. Pay attention to the speaker carefully so that you get everything right the first time.

Next, make sure that you understand what you are learning. If you do not have any concept as to what something means, you are going to have a very difficult time recalling the information. If you do not understand something the first time, go over the information again until it is thoroughly understood.

Also, being selective can also help you recall information. Instead of trying to recall the entire conversation that you had with a business associate, concentrate on trying to remember the important points. The less information that you have to remember, the easier it will be to recall it at a later point.

Concentrate on what is important, and try to test yourself as you move forward. If you are reading a manuscript and want to remember the main theme of every page, test yourself at the end. This will let you know if you have fully understood the page. If you have trouble recalling the information read it again.

Finally, remember to take everything that you have memorized and write it down. The second that you leave a meeting or classroom you will want to translate your memory onto paper. This way you can repeatedly study the information at a later date.

A good memory can go a long way in achieving success and reaching your goals. You need a good memory for everything from the business world, to the classroom, to social situations. The above tips are a very good place to start if you need to improve your memory skills.

Goal Setting - Why You Should Do It Now!

The only way to ever get what you want in life is by setting goals. Whether it is in the business world or in your social life, if you set goals you will have a much easier time getting what you want in the end. A lot of people do not set goals because they are afraid that they will never be able to reach them. But this is nonsense. If you know how to set a goal, and what to do to reach it, you will be able to accomplish what you set out to do. By following the five steps below you will be able to set effective and achievable goals.

1. Make sure that when you set a goal you know exactly what you want. It is helpful to write your goal down on paper so that you can outline the details of your goal. One of the biggest mistakes that people make is setting a goal for something that sounds good in theory, but would not actually fit their lifestyle and current situation. Be realistic.

2. More than likely you will have more than one goal in your life at a time. You have to remember that one goal cannot prevent your from obtaining another. If your goal is to buy a home on the beach it would not make sense for another goal to be receiving a doctorate degree from a university in Wyoming. Make sure that one goal does not contradict another.

3. Staying positive is an important part of writing any goal. Be sure to write your goals as something that you are striving to reach, not something that you are hoping to leave behind. Without recognizing it, many people set negative goals and while they are trying to achieve them they are just adding more negativity to their life. It is imperative to set positive goals.

4. Research every single detail of your goal before starting. Write down details. Instead of writing that your goal is to have a home on the beach, write down what beach you would like to live on, and how much you want your home to cost. This way you have exact details to work towards, instead of just a general idea. General goals are easier to abandon than detailed goals.

5. Even though you want to start out with goals that are attainable, you also want to make sure that you are getting something that is worth your time. It may be exciting to reach smaller goals, but after a while you will crave bigger achievements that make you feel like you are really getting somewhere. You owe it to yourself to aim for the stars. There is a great websit to help you get started on your succes oriented journey, it is just click away:
http://shortcut2success.subuilder.com

Hope is Not a Strategy When Your Trying to Start a Business!

Everyone throughout their life has incorporated a belief in hope, or a chance that something desirable will occur to them or is possible. We all hope for things, all I’m trying to point out to you is there is no strategy behind hope when you are truly trying to get something tangible to occur. For instance, everyone can lose a little weight right? Well sitting around *hoping* the weight will trim itself from your body without you exercising or changing some eating habits is a great delusion we all share. Same theme translates to starting an online business to make money, money management or even trying to make sell a product you have created. Without a strategy behind what your expectation is, your chances of gaining a desirable outcome are negligible.

Ok, so what happens, next? We need to get you started with a strategy; it is all about defining what it is you want. Sounds simple, but in fact this is the hardest part. Why? Because you have to put down in writing exactly what it is you want to achieve, and then set out a tactical strategy to accomplish it.

Let’s focus on one aspect; you’re interested in trying to identify an alternate source of income on the internet because you hear all he success stories about internet millionaires. The first place to start is exploring what you think you’re strong and not so strong points are for accomplishing you desired state. Here are the basic 10 questions you can ask yourself when you are about to get started (I suggest you type or write this information out, because specific tasks will be needed to get started and you can refer your responses often):

1. Do I currently have the resources (computer, basic skills, subject matter knowledge) needed to start this project?
2. What type of online business are you thinking about? eBooks, affiliate programs, selling your product, creating a service … you get the idea.
3. How much time am I going to commit to this effort? This is very important; time is your Number 1 Allie or your Number 1 Enemy because you manage it!
4. How much money can I dedicate to this/? Yes, initially there may be some purchases you have to make depending on what you choose to do.
5. Do I try and set things up myself or outsource/purchase some of the items? This can be a simple as website design, initial set-up and linking, seeking out online experts. This can be frustrating and confusing for most people who do not know how to perform this task. I strongly suggest you research and find someone to help you with this.
6. Where do I go online to find out about my area of interest? forums or basic key word search engines are a great place to start.
7. Is the amount of time I have allocated sufficient to support my strategy?
8. Am I committed what are my desired outcomes or goals?
9. What will I do if this does not work out? (Try again is the only answer!)
10. What mistakes I have made in the past that I will not repeat again?

I have been through this process and will give you some sites I have found helpful that may expedite your success.

Product to reality site:
http://CafePress.com

Online magazine Directory:
http://Directoryezine.com

Online Outsource resources:
http://elance.com
http://guru.com

Resource and affiliate start-up:
http://start.successuniversity.com./specialoffer.aspx

Start Building Confidence Today!

Are you reading about building confidence because you seek
to improve your situation? Just remember, reading about
confidence will not gain you any confidence, action will.
You can read about it your entire life, but you won't have
it until you make a move to achieve it. Confidence is not
something that comes easily to a lot of people. Building
confidence is all about making mistakes, learning from them
and moving forward. You should want to make mistakes, that
is how we all learn remember … by doing, this is the way
towards building confidence and this should be expected.
Just like trying a new receipt, exploring the internet,
creating a business or riding a bike again, you'll burn a
few main courses but who really cares, scrap the pan and
start over.

Just jump in and do it, I don’t care what it is. Do not
become one of the outsiders looking in at all the fun … come
on join in! Watching and reading about it won't do any good
at all if you want to have confidence in life. The real deal
is that you're going to have to get on the saddle and start
to paddle. Why, you say? Confidence is not speculation, but
rather a sensation and state of mind. Start out with simple
confidence building milestones in a subject matter of your
choosing, again I repeat just do something.

Experience builds confidence, reading about it, asking
people about it or spending money on it won't buy get you
the truly innate confidence you desire. The only person who
can give you confidence is.... you got it right, yourself!
You see, the more times you do something (it doesn't matter
whether you fail more times at it than you succeed), the
more you try something the better at it you get. Writing is
a great example, people think sitting down and writing even
a simple article is easy, I challenge you to pick a subject
and write a 500 word article! Then send me your *Easy*
steps, I think writing is challenging, I’m not great at it
but I like doing it. Time and experience are in your
control, utilize them wisely.

I'm just starting out in this Internet world to see if I can
create content for people to use and benefit from. There are
unlimited resources we have available. My confidence is
growing through development of my Blog, what is next maybe
my own website … who knows. How confident you want to become
depends on yourself. You're in charge; you decide when
you're confident enough to take the next step in a career
or personal life, ultimately it boils down to experience.

Can you Fake confidence to build confidence and be
successful? Sure, if you fake it enough, your effort turns
into confidence, I don’t think you really want to go around
faking confidence but, role playing is sure fun sometimes.
And the behavior and feelings become so real and so natural
that you are confident by default!

Remember, whatever that is in your mind will one day
transform into something real and propel you into a
successful life.

Has Personal Responsibility Disappeared?

Where has responsibility disappeared to in your life and those around you? Do not cop out and say it is the societal norm … please. It is time for you to stand up and take responsibility back in your life and mentor those around you! You hear about responsibility every day, or better yet, lack there of. All we hear about is how no body takes responsibility for their actions … or their children have no responsibility or the parents take no responsibility and on and on.

I have not heard anyone to date offer up techniques to teach and mentor responsibility, so here here we are. Because I feel so strongly abut this, I offer to you my five simple techniques to re-train your self and teach those around you to be more responsible. These proven techniques cross all gender lines and age groups. Integrating these five proven techniques will foster discussion, action and ultimately greater responsibility for everyone involved.

Let’s start by grounding ourselves in what responsibility truly is. Responsibility is defined as; 1: answerable for acts or decisions 2: able to fulfill obligations. Wow, how much more simple can it get? Are you with me on this!!

Five Techniques to get responsibility back:
1. Start with yourself, baseline you daily tasks and conversations as well as commitments you engage in. Do you meet definition 1 criteria? Are you truly answerable for everything or do, or did you make up reasons why something did not get taken care of. Maybe you have too much on your plate and you over commit without realizing it; this is not an excuse but often a reality for people …simplify.
2. Simplify your commitments and responsibilities as much as possible. Start slow, take the time to recognize the signs that you are slipping out of the responsibility mode. This technique may require a little time, and only you can evaluate and eliminate the non value added portions of your day that my hinder your progression towards complete fulfilling the goal of *Taking Responsibility Back*.
3. Recognize the negative leading indicators in conversations or actions that drive you towards the *I’m not responsible for that…* plateau. These indicators are any action or decision you do not stand behind, go back to definition number 1. Remember how simple the definition is; guess what it still…is just practice it.
4. Lead by example, words are cheap. Live up to your commitment and commit to yourself to meet all the expectations. Act accordingly and you will soon realize people around you will follow your example. If they do not, don’t hesitate to call them out in a professional and non derogatory way. Simply reminded them of their decisions or commitments and if circumstance have changed fine, just communicate.
5. Mentor those around you who do not take responsibility as so defined in the dictionary. Professionally and non-derogatorily point out the facts (not your opinion) on a given decision or commitment. The person may deny your statement and become controversial, just state the facts and carry on. You can not make a person more responsible than they want to be.

Maybe the response to those without responsibility could be to send them a coy of this article. Best of luck and much success!

Never Settle for Ordinary

I have discovered a common attribute among successful people no matter the age, profession or location in the world … they never settle for ordinary.

Successful people in all walks of life at various ages discovered ordinary is not going to get them very far in life. Sure, being ordinary provides stability and the ability to fit in or adapt, but not get them ahead. If getting to the front is what you strive for, then stand out and never settle for being ordinary. Of course you are not going be the front runner in every venture you try, but the important aspect of your life is having the drive to not be ordinary.

Easier said then done? Sure it is, it is true that everything comes at a price, wow how many cliché’s can I get into one article, you get the point. Ok, here are my 6 how not to settle for being ordinary self checks for you.

Self Checks that will not allow you to settle for ordinary:

1. Take on a Leadership role at any age, task or activity. Step-up and start learning about your leadership skills. You probably already have a pretty good idea at this point what type of improvements are needed, this major step that takes experience and time.

2. Learn from your mistakes; do not make the same mistake over again.

3. Continuously Improve yourself mentally and physically. Find new and interesting subjects to learn about, searching out information online or better yet, reading a book provides a foothold into a wonderful habit.

4. Mentor those around you by exhibiting positive behaviors and habits. By teaching those around you about subjects within your span of knowledge you gain even more subject comprehension.

5. Set goals for yourself. Short and long term goals, easy goals or stretch goals … just set them and post them somewhere in writing on your computer, on the fridge in your office or car. Check yourself periodically on progress or lack there of.

6. Be Driven; do not let yourself become complacent or satisfied with where you are at or what you have achieved. When you reach some of your goals set new ones, tougher goals or some people refer to them as stretch goals.

If you do not know where you are going, how will you ever know when you get there?

Let me remind you what E.M. Cioran wrote – We are all geniuses when we dream!

Do Not Post Your Resume' Online - Until You Read This!

Do not post your resume' online until you understand exactly what you may be getting into. The internet is a wonderful tool to utilize when and if you are looking for a job or a change of career. However, there are some consequences of putting your resume’ out for the world to look at that you may not be aware of.

Some of these consequences has to do with the format of your resume’ and the content you include. Here are my top five items to address before posting your resume’ online and why.

1. Get a unique email address for your resume’. Why? Because you do not want you primary email account tied up with the responses or the spam spiders out looking for new email addresses. You can get additional email accounts from your current service provider or online for free most of the time. Believe me, if you do nothing else, take get a different email account and you may even want to consider getting a different account for each type of career you are searching for.

2. Include a professional summary at the beginning of your resume; the statement is about your qualifications and accreditations to date. This summary should be well thought out and only be two to three sentences in length. Why? In this summary you want to target the career specific key words appropriate for the job you are seeking.

3. Do not embellish or inflate the content included in your resume’. Be accurate and concise. Why? Simply you do not need too, just be yourself and promote the qualities and qualifications you have. Also you can be inundated with potential jobs that you may not be qualified for but have to sift through anyway. The resume’ is a first step in introducing and promoting yourself, do not jeopardize a great job because you fibbed a little…you will get trapped eventually.

4. Make sure the last page of your resume’ includes an additional 5 to 10 key words; hide the viewable color by changing the text to white (so these are not printed out). Why? The search engine spiders will find these key words, but they will not show up the print copy.

5. Keep the content specific to the career you or job you are seeking. Why? The effort to sift through the jobs takes time and you do not want to utilize this time wisely. I suggest if there are crossover jobs you use separate resumes for each and set up different email accounts to keep you organized.

One final piece of data you should be aware of, only 20 % of people actually find a job via the internet. Guess how the other 80% got their job? Through personal and professional networking! Think about it, the Human Resource person may get up to a hundred resume’s a day for internet posting, would it not be better to have someone on the inside that allowed your resume to be reviewed by the hiring manager and let them consider your qualifications first! Good luck and keep up the positive attitude on your path to success.

shortcut2Success.subuilder.com

Create a Business Website Using These Tricks of the Trade

More and more businesses are finding it easier and more profitable to sell on the internet. The internet automatically lowers cost of workforce and overhead expenses, and the pool of customers to which to sell is virtually limitless. If you want to take your business to the next level, you need to start selling your products on a website and expand your local customer base to a national and even worldwide level. Of course, running a good website requires a whole new set of skills apart from the ones you might have used to make your business a success on the local level.

While service and pricing still matter, you’ll have to find new ways to go about providing them. Also, simply having a website doesn’t automatically mean people will come visit it. You won’t have the luxury of walk in traffic the way you might in your brick and mortar store. Here are some ways to produce a quality website in such a way that people will want to visit, purchase, and return.

One of the best things you can do with your website is make sure there is a place on the site where customers can get hold of a live person. This could be through email, telephone, or simply a form, but you’ll have to provide some form of customer service. Displaying a business address and a telephone number also helps to assuage customer concerns about buying online. Though internet shopping is an industry that is experiencing unprecedented growth, there is still a great deal of hesitation out there from certain people when it comes to buying online. You can help them get over their fears if you provide some proof that your company is not a fly by night, scam
organization.

With a website, as opposed to a published catalog, it won’t cost you anything to provide as much information about your products as you can come up with. The more information you can provide the better. Customers won’t have the luxury (or the inclination) to seek you out to ask questions, so you need to make sure you’ve provided them with all of the information they need to make a decision. Customers will leave a website and never return if they get frustrated with the lack of
available info on the business at hand.

Take the time to write up a history of your business, and a short informational biography about yourself. This is another tactic to make customers feel at ease when shopping with you. The more they can feel like they are dealing with a real company and a real person, the more likely they are to purchase from your online store. Not only will they feel as though the risk is lessened, they will feel good about purchasing from a company that, at root, is simply a mom and pop store in cyberspace.

The internet is the new frontier when it comes to retail sales. Don’t let the myriad opportunities pass you by. Create a great website and you will have revenue streams you would have never thought possible.

New Product

New Product For the Internet Newbie!
What spits out cash 24/7 on the internet?

Go here now and you will see… Just have some fun!

Just a Click Here : http://shorty2007.newbiecash.hop.clickbank.net/

Family Business – Why Some Work and Others Fail

Running a business with members of your family is a desirable prospect for a lot of people. I have found out Five (5) key tasks you need to consider and plan on completing. These tasks must be well on their way to completion before you get to a point of no return in you endeavor because any shortfall may influence the chances of you business being successful and possibly straining your family relationships.

Today more than ever, home based and centralized businesses have become a traceable place in many peoples mind, for families and extended family members to begin their entrepreneurship expedition. As in the world of business, each family member should contribute a different skill set for the successful start of a business. However, extensive deliberation and pre-planning must go into the business plan before you launch full force or extend any money into your business project.

Five (5) tasks you need to review and ideally complete prior to committing to your *Family Business*
1. Develop a Business Plan. The business plan as a minimum should describe the Mission and Vision of the business, product or service to be provided, long and short term goals (include financial expectations), roles and responsibilities. This needs to be completed independent as possible of family member role allocation. Why, because you do not want the beginning of your business to get bogged down because you are still in the planning phase.

*Note: The plan can of course evolve as you get farther and further into the process, my point is to have a structured way to start planning and discussion, especially if you are going to seek institutional funding, they will require a very formal business plan. You may seek out professional help in this area.

2. Define Financial Commitment and Goals. How much money is going to be required to start the business, maintain overheads (standard recurring expenses) and of course expected salaries. Where is this money coming from? There needs to be some real sole searching done in this area, benchmarking of other similar companies and a careful look so you do not impoverish your family if things don’t start as fast as expected. The financial plan should extend a minimum of two years, with a goal to break even the first year. Seek out financial professionals to help you with this if there is any doubt what amount of money it may take to start your business, better safe than broke!

3. Schedule Major Milestones you expect to achieve during the first two years. You can be as detailed as your personality allows. The Milestone chart needs to be a large visual reminder to every one of expectations and what you all are working towards. The milestone chart will also serve to keep everyone focused in the event *new ideas* and innovations crop up for discussion that may take peoples focus off the original plan.

4. Identify and Define the Roles and Tasks a family member may fill. This is critical for you as the business *leader* and each family member to clearly help each other and not have overlapping tasks being confounded or duplicated. You want to be as efficient and productive at the start of a business as possible. You can not afford to have any wasted effort or the potential internal conflict of who does what and when. Have a discussion on how conflicts and problems will be addressed and who will be the final decision maker. Everyone must buy into and agree to this process at the beginning because you do not want infighting to carryover into the family side of your life.

5. Disconnect Business and Family. My experience is you must leave the business out of family get together or events as much as you can. Of course there is going to be a discussion or two, but every member of the family must continue to put for the effort into maintaining the separate business & family structure. Minimize the carryover from the business to the family and deal with any conflicts when they occur. What happens a lot is the tensions of the business begin to creep into family events; you must recognize and deal with these situations immediately. I know I’m repeating this point, but it is a backbreaker of many families and small businesses.

A family can have enough of normal stresses in there day to day activities raising children, maintaining a household, paying bills, getting the kids to their sporting events…on and on the list goes let alone starting a business, give your situation careful consideration.

Planning and communication are the keys, as well as a good product or service!

A good resource for personal development is Success University, because the resources are plentiful, and the people supportive. Check it out here:
http://start.successuniversity.com/specialoffer.aspx

Your entrepreneurship and desire to be independent are great personal traits, I wish you all the success and support I can provide.

Start Building Confidence Today!

Are you reading about building confidence because you seek
to improve your situation? Just remember, reading about
confidence will not gain you any confidence, action will.
You can read about it your entire life, but you won't have
it until you make a move to achieve it. Confidence is not
something that comes easily to a lot of people. Building
confidence is all about making mistakes, learning from them
and moving forward. You should want to make mistakes, that
is how we all learn remember … by doing, this is the way
towards building confidence and this should be expected.
Just like trying a new receipt, exploring the internet,
creating a business or riding a bike again, you'll burn a
few main courses but who really cares, scrap the pan and
start over.

Just jump in and do it, I don’t care what it is. Do not
become one of the outsiders looking in at all the fun … come
on join in! Watching and reading about it won't do any good
at all if you want to have confidence in life. The real deal
is that you're going to have to get on the saddle and start
to paddle. Why, you say? Confidence is not speculation, but
rather a sensation and state of mind. Start out with simple
confidence building milestones in a subject matter of your
choosing, again I repeat just do something.

Experience builds confidence, reading about it, asking
people about it or spending money on it won't buy get you
the truly innate confidence you desire. The only person who
can give you confidence is.... you got it right, yourself!
You see, the more times you do something (it doesn't matter
whether you fail more times at it than you succeed), the
more you try something the better at it you get. Writing is
a great example, people think sitting down and writing even
a simple article is easy, I challenge you to pick a subject
and write a 500 word article! Then send me your *Easy*
steps, I think writing is challenging, I’m not great at it
but I like doing it. Time and experience are in your
control, utilize them wisely.

I'm just starting out in this Internet world to see if I can
create content for people to use and benefit from. There are
unlimited resources we have available. My confidence is
growing through development of my Blog, what is next maybe
my own website … who knows. How confident you want to become
depends on yourself. You're in charge; you decide when
you're confident enough to take the next step in a career
or personal life, ultimately it boils down to experience.

Can you Fake confidence to build confidence and be
successful? Sure, if you fake it enough, your effort turns
into confidence, I don’t think you really want to go around
faking confidence but, role playing is sure fun sometimes.
And the behavior and feelings become so real and so natural
that you are confident by default!

Remember, whatever that is in your mind will one day
transform into something real and propel you into a
successful life.

Have you ever thought about Dollarizing Your Time?

Everyday we all end up waiting … waiting … waiting… so have you thought about what this wasted time is costing you in personal and professional productivity? Better than that, how about $$$$!

If you just stop and take a minute to figure out the amount of wasted time you spend waiting that accumulates during your typical day you might be shocked. Let’s be conservative but realistic, the easiest way to do this is take along a little notepad and just record you time in lines, car trips, breaks, lunch talking on the phone, you name it. Here are the steps to calculate the money you potentially loose due to wasted time.
Step 1. Decide how much 1 hour of your time is worth. Maybe you think it is what you are paid by someone at work; $10, $20, $ 100? I suggest to begin with keep this simple and figure out your hourly wage against you current paycheck.

Step 2. Figure up the number of wasted minutes per 24 hrs, yes include sleep.

Example: Time wasted
- 2 hrs driving to and from work (listening to music not being productive)
- 45 minutes waiting in lines
- 2 hours watching TV (morning news and news at night)
- 1 hour on the phone to home
Total without trying = 5 hours and 45 minutes
My time = $35/hr

5.75 x 35 = $201.25!! * Hourly wage (x) Hours wasted = Wasted money $/24hrs (day)


Incredible! Ok, where did the money go or where will it come from if I get back my 5.75 hours? This is a great question in which you need to things figure out. What am I telling you this for?

If you are happy with a single source of income or your current life as it is, do nothing.

If you are not satisfied, you can spend this time trying to stat an online e business, create a product to sell, get healthier, take self improvement courses, learn another language, read a book, learn yoga to relax … maybe you need some down time improving yourself, just do not waste it!

Look at my example; 2 hours a day I n the car, what if I got some CDs to listen to on improving my vocabulary, or how to make money on the internet (I did this), lean a foreign language series, that is productive! 2 Hours watching TV, zero productivity, why not formulate a plan to seek out a 2nd source of income?

Time is the only boundry during the day you have no control of. There are only 24 hrs in each and every day, however … you are the only person in charge of choosing how to spend those 24hrs being productive or wasted, it is within your control!

Get Seven Steps Closer to Finding Financial Freedom

Many people make reaching a level of financial freedom harder
than it actually should be. In order to find financial freedom
all you have to do is follow a few simple steps and be committed
to the cause. Financial freedom can be achieved by people who are
not millionaires. It can be had by everyday common people who
know how to work within a system and get what they want. By
initiating these seven simple steps, you to will be on a path to
financial freedom.

1. First and foremost, you need to find out where all of your
money is going every month. You need to remember to pay yourself
first, and take care of everything else next. In other words,
make sure that you are not taking every paycheck you get and
paying off debt. You do not have to pay everything off at once.
By keeping some money for yourself you will be able to live a
nice life.

2. Stop creating debt. This is painful but a must in you gaining
the upper hand in managing your money. If you have a spouse that
spends, spends & spends … you must have a heart to heart
discussion about living within your means. Wrong, just because
you qualify for another *Free Interest* credit card does not is
not giving you anything but … DEBT! All you need is ONE credit
card to manage your expenses.

3. Use your ONE credit card for everything, but do not spend
beyond your budget, why because you see exactly what you spend
your money on and how often. If you are like I was, cash for
this, credit for that, check for groceries … No way I could keep
up with these expense sheets.

4. Invest automatically. This is one of the most time-tested to
be true but often overlooked steps people ignore. People don’t
like to not see their money for some reason, they feel like
cheated by not getting to see any of their money; but this is the
exact point. If you don’t see the money you will not be as likely
to spend the money. Make it a point to invest directly from your
paycheck and you will ensure that your money is getting to the
proper investment without any being taken up front.

5. If you have a personal portfolio, make sure you diversify your
portfolio. In other words do not put all of your money in the
same type of investment basket. You will want to make sure you
have money going to a lot of different places. The real estate,
savings accounts, stock market (small amount) or start an
internet business is all realistic options.

6. Quit procrastinating and get started today. This is the number
two problem that plagues a large percentage of the population.
Remember number one? See Number 1. They always say that they
are going to get started, but never seem to have the time to get
around to it. Remember, as time goes by so does your opportunity
to save money. Each paycheck that you spend without investing is
one that could have gone towards one of your investment option
choices.

7. Develop multiple steams of income. What is this? Quite simply
instead of getting one paycheck, figure out ways to get 2, 3 or 4
paychecks. How & where you get into multiple streams of income
is endless … I’ll simply say, write down what your favorite activity
is, or subject, maybe a hobby. Do a little research on the internet
by seeking out forums, chat rooms or similar products that cover
your subject and let the ideas flow. One other method is to get
into marketing on the internet, affiliate businesses can yield
great rewards if that is something your interested in.
Example-Click Here http://www.pluginprofitsite.com/main-16688

These are simple steps, I am not a financial expert but I think
hearing the basics again are valuable insights to get started.
Build a solid foundation, get started right away and do not be
afraid to make mistakes, they happen to everybody including the
professionals. The future is yours to grasp so take it!