Many of us struggle with business decisions, business and personal setbacks and fear of the unknown in this coming year. I use the term setbacks because it’s my belief that having something not work is just a step in the right direction to finding what does work. It’s only a failure when I choose to allow the setback to stop me in my journey rather than simply take it as information and move on. I was inspired by this letter and wanted to share it with you.

In the letter God is telling You that You are his greatest miracle and why. Here are his reasons and I quote:
“I gave you the power to think.
I gave you the power to love.
I gave you the power to will.
I gave the power to laugh.
I gave you the power to imagine.
I gave you the power to create.
I gave you the power to plan.
I gave you the power to speak.
I gave you the power to pray.
I gave you the power to choose.”

We all have these powers. It doesn’t matter if we’re rich or poor, sad or happy, in our own business, working for someone else, or without a job. We each have these same powers and it’s up to us to determine what and how we choose to use our power.

He goes on to tell us that the past is the past, we can’t change the past but we can change our future. Looking back for anything other than to teach us how to do things better in the future is a waste of our time.

One of the most important lines in the letter is this, “Use wisely, your power of choice.”
In this New Year I encourage you and me to use wisely our power of choice.

Take the Reins to Your Success!

When I ponder business strategy as an entrepreneur then life style is top on my list. I made the decision a few years ago that my business strategy had to begin with what I wanted my life strategy to be. We are so fortunate to have the option of deciding our life strategy and then from that decision decide on our business strategy. Many of us who are in our midlife years are now making these decisions.

When deciding strategy in a large corporation, they first determine their mission statement. What is the company about and what are their ethics and values. How do they want to serve their customers and what are their strengths? Well as an entrepreneur in your own business you must decide the same things.

To determine your business strategy you must determine your life strategy. Then acknowledge your strengths and weaknesses. What are you really good at? How can your strengths help you to determine the end goals in your business?  What weaknesses will come into play and how do you work around them or through them? All things you need to decide as a solo business owner.

But all things that with the right help can be an exciting adventure instead of a depressing trip. This is the year to strategize your business but first you must strategize your life.
If you’d like help in determining your life and business strategies then be sure to check out my website at www.womentakethereins.com

When you work for “the man”, I’ve always wanted to say that….then you have to focus and get things done because you have deadlines to meet and people who are always waiting for your product or service. But as an entrepreneur working alone it’s easy to procrastinate even when you’re a hard worker with a good work ethic. It’s also easy to get caught up in the things that seem more fun or are something you want to learn rather than just digging in and doing what must be done for the success of your business.

I’m an idea person so I love beginning new things, playing around with design, getting something half way done and then moving on to the next new idea and new thing. However, just having a great idea and playing around with the logo design and creating fun slogans does not bring in any money. And that is after all what we are all in business to do.

So whatever your Achilles’ heel..and we all have them.. This is your year to think strategically! Ask yourself, “What can I do in my business to move it forward?” What 1 out of the box thought can shift all the other things in my business and move me closer to my desired goals? What 1 pattern of behavior will I change this year that will guarantee my breakthrough to success?

But it’s not enough to think strategically, even though you must if you are to achieve success, you must also plan and do. The do part is the place where I sometimes fail. Strategic doing may be your weakness or it could be strategic planning. Either way in order to reach success you must accomplish all three..thinking…planning…doing. I’ll be talking more about these in future posts so be sure to look for them.

Till then..Happy New Year!

To the blog world,

I’m asking everyone who reads this message to post to your own blog. It is time for us to stand up and help our neighbors who are being forced out of their homes this winter. The US government has helped the auto industry and the banks…

Where is the help for the individual family? We need to demand that families be given time to get back on their feet. If we can do it for industry we can certainly do it for families. Families should at a minimum be given four months to get through winter before they are forced out of their homes.

We need to stand up and help! If we raise enough public outcry we can stop this!
Please please help! Blog today and every day until they help these families!

I’m amazed at what I can get done when I get focused on actions to meet my longterm goals. These long term goals and actions come from finally getting clarification on my business strategy.

Whatever success means to you, you must develop your business strategy first.

Lucky for you and I we don’t have to wait in our own business, we can take the reins right now and determine our business strategies for the coming year. For me I have learned that it’s not enough to just come up with the strategies. In order to actually make a difference in my business I need to come up with a step by step implementation plan with deadlines attached to each and every step.

As I work on my own I have found that my strengths lie in creative thought and coming up with creative and innovative ideas. But the proof is always in the pudding and it is the implementation of those ideas that really matter in the long run. So I harness my strengths and shore up my weaknesses. I set myself up for success by providing myself with deadlines. Since I know that I work better and faster under deadlines, this works for me.

When you know yourself, you can avoid many pitfalls. But first you must know yourself.

A good strategy to begin your week with…begin to know yourself more completely.

When we first saw him as a nation he was giving a speech in 2004 and now just 4 years later he is the President. It was his Leadership Presence that thrust him into the limelight. Not that all his other skills aren’t great but if on that fateful night 4 years ago he had delivered an ordinary speech or had not presented himself with Presence and Leadership Authority… it would not have mattered how great his technical skills. He would not be where he is today. Make no mistake about it….Leadership Presence is one of the greatest skills you can obtain regardless of what you want to do with your life and career.

Now I may outsource work but I still need to over see the work.

Realizing this simple fact has made a difference for me in my strategy and planning. In order to be successful in a large business each function: business planning, marketing, sales, operations and personal management must have systems and procedures in place. Then the actual work becomes performing these systems and procedures over and over again for successful business sales. Actually this makes the whole confusing aspect of running ones own business simple. You must figure out what the systems and procedures are to put in place and then once they are in place do them over and over again.

Marketing systems will make my life and yours much easier. So lets get going!