It’s all about the money

August 12, 2016 By

Money, money, it’s such an interesting subject

Mention the word money to someone and see what their reaction is. Then ask them how much they make a year and watch their reaction. Ask them if they think they are great money managers and listen closely.

Money is a touchy subject. Often we look at things in black and white. Those who have it and those who don’t.

Are you someone who wants to have more money? If you answered yes (and I can’t imagine that you wouldn’t) what is it you really think about it? Do you love money or do you hate it? Are you thinking “of course I don’t love money”? And if you said “I love money”, are you feeling excited and elated about that or are you secretly thinking “um, that feels really strange”?

The importance of your relationship to money

The way you feel about money is the way your relationship is with it. Yes, you do have a relationship with money. As a business owner, this plays a huge role in your success and of course, in your profitability.

If you have a negative relationship with money you might bury your head in the sand when it comes to knowing your financials. When you do that, that just leads to disaster.

As a business owner, not knowing your numbers means that you cannot create a healthy business. It means that you may even be working for free. Now I know you don’t want that to happen, so it’s imperative that you know your numbers.

How to know your numbers

Here are simple steps to get your started:

  • Gather your income figures for the last 12 months
  • Gather your expenses for the last 12 months
  • Add each of them up to get a 12 month total and then subtract your expenses from your income
  • Ask: what do these figures mean for my business?

After you get your figure, hopefully you’ll be in the green, but if you aren’t take a deep breath. This may be the first time you have seen everything in one place.

The reason you want to ask what does this mean for my business is so that you can take a look at what is going on. You may need to go through your expenses to see what needs to be eliminated but you also may need to increase your income. If you do this, one thing is for sure, you will have a good financial picture in which to begin to make changes to lead you to profitability.

Can you see how knowing your figures will help you determine your outcomes? First you need to see what is going on, then you need to make adjustments and then from there you can begin to work on making a profit.

Give yourself a pat on the back for doing this. This may be a new behavior for you and you want to make sure you congratulate yourself for taking this action!

 

My free e-book will give you a step by step guide to creating a successful and profitable business as well as a life! Download my free e-book now! It even has a companion workbook that you can use to get starting immediately.

Filed Under: Business Mastery, Money Habits, Profits, Structure Tagged With: , , , ,

How to be a time producer instead of a time waster

August 4, 2016 By

How you handle your time will = your outcomes

“I’m late for a very important date” said the rabbit in Alice in Wonderland.  He actually said more than that it went more like this:

“I’m late, I’m late for
A very important date.
No time to say hello, good-bye,
I’m late, I’m late, I’m late
I’m late and when I wave,
I lose the time I save.”

And just like my blog last week about creating your roadmap quoted Lewis Carroll who wrote: “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” The same thing will happen for you if you haven’t gotten a hold of yourself when it comes to time.

Not only will you not get to where you are going, you’ll never have the time to get there.

Time Management is a real farce

There is no way you can manage your time, but you sure can handle your time. Are you someone who knows exactly what you need to do as well as know how to do what it is you need to do? Are you someone who has clear priorities and accomplishes a lot in a short amount or time, or are you well, just all over the place?

What to do to get a handle on your time

First, you need to know what you are doing, how much time you think it will take and then how much it actually takes. Once you know that then you need to schedule it to get it done.

That was a struggle for me. I wasn’t always so great at time. I was a total time waster! I struggled so much with time. I worked with productivity experts, coaches, accountability partners and I read practically every book (yeah, not kidding) on time management as well as any blog I could find to help me and I just couldn’t figure this time thing out.

I started to think something was wrong with me. It wasn’t until I realized I didn’t have a clear idea of how much time something would take that I had my “V-8 moment” and I finally understood how I could handle time and be a time producer!

Become a Time Producer

A time producer is someone who gets a lot done without a lot of chaos, stress and mess! A time producer knows exactly how much something will take, knows when they will do it and does it.

“Are you a time waster or time producer?” – Kim Ravida

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This might sound like a no-brainer but you’ll be surprised how many people tell me they have no time to do what I’m recommending.

Take the time to figure out exactly how long something will take you to do so that you can know when you’ll be able to get it done.

If you would like a time tracker sheet, download my free e-book 5 Essential Steps to Creating a Successful Business That is Profitable. It comes with an accompanying workbook where you’ll also find step-by-step instructions on how to track your time to know your exact figures to be able to put more time in your day, because for a business owner, more time, equals more money!!

My free e-book will give you a step by step guide to creating a successful business as well as a life! Download my free e-book now! It even has a companion workbook that you can use to get starting immediately.

Filed Under: Business Mastery, Profits, Reaching Goals, Structure Tagged With: , , ,

Why it’s important for your business to have a roadmap

August 2, 2016 By

Do you know where you are going?

Lewis Carroll wrote: “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.”

It’s very true in business. If you haven’t laid out your path, chances are you’ll do a little of this, a little of that and end with with a whole lot of nothing.

I know because that’s exactly what I did when I started my business. Truth be told, I really didn’t have any idea what I was doing. I didn’t have a coach or a mentor to help me, I just dove in and thought I can totally do this.

I didn’t really know what “do this” was until it was almost too late. Luckily, I found a coach who had been there and done that. She helped me get on the right road.

What to do to get on the right road.

One of the things I did was to create a road map. I developed it out of my why I went into business in the first place. You can read about the why in my previous blog article: Do this important step when launching your business. In my road map I laid out my #1, 2 and 3 goals.  I then created the specific steps I would take in order to reach my top 3 goals.

It isn’t enough to say I want to increase my revenue or I want to grow my business. You have to have the specific steps that you will take to get you to that goal. The more specific you, the better!

“In order to be successful in business, you need to be very specific of your steps.” – Kim Ravida

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Take the time to plan out what you will do specifically to get to your end result, those who fail to do this step, well, fail. My free e-book will help you get started, download it now – it is named 5 Essential Steps to Creating a Successful Business That is Profitable because that’s what I help my clients with and that’s what I want to help you with. It’s free to you for now and all you have to do is to put the time and effort in to make your business successful!

My free e-book will give you a step by step guide to creating a successful business as well as a life! Download my free e-book now! It even has a companion workbook that you can use to get starting immediately.

Filed Under: Business Mastery, Profits, Reaching Goals Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Do this important step when launching your business

July 14, 2016 By

There comes a time in every business owner’s existence when they start to wonder just why they thought they wanted to own their own business.

That time is usually when the money is running out, or there is no money coming in. It’s a holy-“youknowwhat” moment.

AND It’s always a great moment for you to remember why you went into business for yourself.

ebook - your why

One essential step in launching a business is to know your why. The reason that you went into business for yourself in the first place. It’s super easy to get caught up in the doing of getting a business started and running. That’s why when you lose focus of your reasons why remembering them can bring you back to your center and help you get on track.

In my 5 Essential Steps to Creating a Successful Business That Is Profitable e-book I lay out 5 essential steps, and the first step is to Know Your Why. It’s what keeps everything in perspective for you. It’s what keeps you honest, focused and motivated.

If you are feeling as if you have lost your focused, are frustrated because you aren’t making the money you thought you would, or just down on yourself, it may be time to come back to your why.

Check in to see if you are on target with what your vision was for your business. And if you skipped that part, not to worry, take 5-10 minutes of quiet time to sit and think about your reasons for opening your business and then think about the future and what you want your business to be like.

I guarantee if you do that, you’ll find your why and your motivation will return and you’ll be able to get back on track!

If you’d like a step-by-step guide, download my free e-book now to get started, it has a companion workbook that you can use to refocus your vision or even create a brand new one and it’s free for a limited time.

In the meantime, if you’d like more specific-to-you help, let me know and I’d be happy to set up a complimentary time to talk with you to get you started, simply email me at kim@kimravida.com.

I’d like to leave you with this:

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” –Winston Churchill

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Which one do you want to be?

 

 

Filed Under: Business Mastery, Profits Tagged With: , ,

How to avoid going down the rabbit hole

July 7, 2016 By

As entrepreneurs and business owners, it is easy to just jump in and get caught up in the doing or running a business.

e-book 5 Essential Steps

Believe it or not there are essential steps that you can take in order to create a successful and profitable business. Here is a brief overview of those essential steps:

  1. Know your why. Why did you go into business in the first place?  Was it to make more money, have more time, be your own boss, be in charge of how things were handled? What was your reason for going into business. When things get going and sometimes they get going fast and become out of control, when you can remember your reasons for wanting to go into business for yourself you’ll be less likely to give up and throw in the towel.
  2. Create your roadmap. The saying is true, if you don’t have a plan, then any road will get you there and usually not the “there” where you want to be. What is your outcome, then what is your first step to getting you there, your second, and so on. When you have a well thought out plan you will be able to reach your destination with a lot less pot holes.
  3. Be a good time user. When in business for yourself time is usually not on your side. Being very clear about what you will use your time for is a key component for success in business. Otherwise you’ll be that person who never seems to be able to get anything done or relied upon to come through and that is not a good place to be in your business.
  4. You must understand the financials. Not knowing your numbers means that you can definitely kiss a successful and profitable business bye-bye. Your numbers do not lie. They tell a story, it’s up to you to decide if you want that to be a happy story or a horror story. Tracking your income and your expenses at the very least is an absolute must. Do not underestimate the power of knowing your numbers inside and out.
  5. Mindset Mastery. A strong, positive mindset is the biggest key to a successful and profitable business. Your mindset will either propel you forward or hold you back. And my guess is that as a business owner you want to be propelled forward. When you are feeling as if you do want to throw in the towel, ask yourself “what is one thing I can do to change my thoughts right now?” It’s a powerful question and you will receive an answer, once you do, take action as if your business depended on it, because it does.
While pain may be impossible to avoid, suffering indeed is optional, why let yourself suffer? Kim Ravida

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I suggest you begin at #1 and start to implement that this upcoming week and then go on to #2 and so on.  Whether you have an established business or just getting started each of the essential steps will help you become extremely skillful in your business so that you enjoy more of what you want, money, success, joy!

Love those steps and want more to help you succeed? Download now my free e-book 5 Essential Steps to Creating a Successful Business That Is Profitable. It’s normally $7.99 but it’s your’s for free for a limited time so don’t delay, get it now! The e-book comes with a companion workbook for you to use to put each of your steps into action.

I know that by taking action, you will receive amazing results!  Once you read it and take action, be sure to email me at kim@kimravida.com and let me know what step made the most difference for you.

 

Filed Under: Business Mastery, Money Habits, Reaching Goals, Structure Tagged With: , , ,

Do you wish you had more time?

June 30, 2016 By

When I first began my business, one of the things that I used to say was “I wish I had more time.” Here is the kicker though, no matter how much time I had, I never felt that I had enough of it.

TimeAre you someone who constantly feels as if you never have enough time or wonders where your time went?  One thing that might help you is to learn how you use your time that will make the biggest difference for you.

Have you heard of Parkinson’s Law where work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion? It’s so true!  If you have an hour to get something done, it will take you an hour and if you have 15 minutes, then well, it will take you 15 minutes. So you can absolutely create more time simply by completing your tasks faster.

So that said, some tasks need to be done faster and some do need time to unfold and to build.  A key for your success is to know without a doubt which tasks need to be done quickly and which tasks need more time.

Most people struggle with the challenge of trying to figure out what is a priority because they think that everything is a priority. Stephen Covey created a Time Management Matrix to be able to help you prioritize better and have a better understanding of what is truly important and needs to get done and what is just urgent and has you hopping around putting out fires.

If you find that you are putting out more fires than you are getting to your important things, learning to implement time producers and eliminate time wasters is something that you can benefit from. In my brand new e-book 5 Essential Steps to Creating a Successful Business that is Profitable I have a section that will help you become a master of your time.

Download the e-book now and get started on being a master of time. After you have downloaded the e-book and taken action on creating more time for yourself, I’d love to hear your thoughts, comments and victories, email me at kim@kimravida.com to share!

 

 

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Are you piling on the bull?

June 23, 2016 By

Did I get your attention? I hope so, that was my intent.

Pile of booksAnd so the next question is, are you? Piling on the bullsh*t that is. Making excuses, having “reasons” for not getting things done? Telling yourself you’ll get to it later and then later never comes? You have probably read other posts from me regarding excuses, and it’s a theme that continues to plague people, but why?

Reasons

Many reasons, self-doubt, fear, worry, and concern which all point to f-e-a-r! Fear of success, fear of failure, fear of what other people will think, will say and more things than I can name in this one blog post. The interesting thing is most people won’t say they are afraid of something specific, fear shows up in very interesting ways.

Fear can show up in ways such as piling too much on yourself to do. If you have big to-do lists and a jammed packed schedule you’ll never get to anything and that actually keeps you safe. However, when you have too much to do, it’s almost impossible to finish any one thing.

Ask yourself are you keeping yourself (because make no mistake, it is you that is doing this) so busy because you absolutely have to do these things or are they holding you back from achieving what it is you want? Be completely honest with your answer here because often we think we have to do things or should do things when we really don’t.

“Do not plan for ventures before finishing what’s at hand.” — Euripides

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What to do

And if you find that you are doing things that you really don’t have to do (or at least do right now) ask yourself what you are a avoiding, it’s a great question because if you ask what you are afraid of more than likely you won’t be able to answer that question -it’s too big and elusive.

By asking yourself what you are avoiding, you’ll be able to reach what it is that you are afraid of in a roundabout way. When one of my clients asked this question of herself she realized that she was afraid of saying no to others both in business and in life. So by keeping herself so busy she never had to say ‘no’ since she had other things she could cite as her reasons why she couldn’t do something.

Here’s the trick, learn to say no and feel good about it. That’s a whole blog for another day (we’ll get to that soon). Right now, take a look at where you are piling on the bullsh*t on yourself and then you can look at how to let it go.

Come on over to my Facebook page and share your experiences and any tips you have used to eliminate your stress.

 

Filed Under: Empowerment, Personal Development, Reaching Goals, Self Worth Tagged With: , , ,

Do you know when is when?

June 16, 2016 By

I had two conversations recently that gave me food for thought.  One day a friend said to me “I can’t help myself, I keep taking things on and it’s stressing me out.”  Then right after that, a client said “I have a hard time saying ‘no’ to everything and I’m totally stressed.”

My first thought was “Oh good, I’m not alone!” because I do the same thing.  My second thought was “Oh dear, there are others who don’t know when to say ‘when’, too.”  So I have decided to share my story with you so that if you are challenged by taking on too much too, maybe you’ll take something away from my experience to make your life better.

I have this habit of pushing myself a little too far. It shows up in ways like (and you may have the same issues):

  • putting too many to dos on my to do list
  • taking too many business-building classes
  • saying yes way too many times

When I do this I’m always in a mode of rushing around trying to get things done.  Of course, because there is too much to get done nothing ever feels like it’s coming to an end.

I recently finished learning how to be better at social media, but wanted to learn Instagram, so I signed up for a class for that. Then I saw an ad for a class to grow my email list and that is of interest to me as well, so I signed up.  Next I stumbled across an Ed2Go class for online businesses and thought this course would fill in the missing pieces that I felt I needed – so yes, I signed on for that one, too.

Now three classes isn’t really a lot (or so I think, you may think otherwise; it’s all in the perception) but that’s if you haven’t another thing you are doing … and in my case that isn’t so.

I run two businesses — my coaching business and my fitness business.  Plus, I am part of a group coaching program (where, yes, I’m learning in that as well) and I’m also in a private program that has group components, too.  So honestly, adding on even one of the classes above (and if I’m really being honest all of them) wasn’t in my best interest.

Can you guess what happened to me? If you guessed that I had stressed myself out beyond measure, you would be correct. Now let me tell you that it’s a negative self-sabotaging pattern that leads me to defeat not victory.

Can you relate?

I’m ambitious, I like to get things done, and I like to be constantly moving forward.  Yet what I’ve done with this pattern is make myself come screeching to a halt.

And that’s when I realized that I need to know when is when – when enough is enough, when too much is too much.  So I have decided that once all of these courses are complete, the new boundary for myself is to only take ONE course and be enrolled in ONE program at a time.

Truth be told, I don’t know how I’ll do with that (I’ll let you know though), because it’s such a different behavior and way of being for me.  However, I’m game to see how my life changes because of it!  

I wanted to share my story so that you can see you aren’t alone and you can do something about it.  Stay tuned to next month’s article where I’ll give you several tips to break your patterns and start recognizing when is when.

Your turn!  Hop on over to https://www.fb.com/KimRavidaCoaching/ and share your experience, what you have done to overcome the do-itis or what you’d like to know about recognizing when is when.

And of course, if you’d like to keep it private you are welcome to email me personally at kim@kimravida.com to share.

Filed Under: Business Mastery, Empowerment, Personal Development, Self Worth Tagged With: , , , ,

Want results, set a powerful intention.

June 9, 2016 By

When it comes to results, there is more to it than laying out goals. It’s about setting powerful intentions.

What is your intention?

How many times have you said or even heard “It wasn’t my intention to do that.” For the most part those words are uttered after something happened that either didn’t go well or wasn’t something that you wanted.

Create Your Future

When that happens usually it is because there was no aforethought. It’s usually a dive in and get going. Kind of like driving blind, you just get going and hope for the best. Well that isn’t any way to get results.

 

Setting an intention means to have a purpose, an aim, to have meaning. Yes, it is important to quantify your results. Writing down I will make $10,000 by June 30, is a powerful goal and adding a powerful intention in terms of purpose to go along with that means that you will see results.

Let’s take a look at setting an intention for the $10,000 by June 30.

Goal:

  • To make $10,000 by June 30 (quantifiable)

Intention:

  • I will show up for my business in a confident and assertive way.
  • I will hold myself as powerful no matter what.
  • I will take powerful actions:
    • To speak to 10 previous clients about working together again.
    • To follow up with potential clients to make an offer to work together now.
    • To track and keep all income and expenses up to date.

As you can see, there are some intentions that are focused on your way of being and then there are intentions that are focused on actions. The things you will do that will help you attain your result.  Each one is an important part of the result equation, to have one without the other results in less than what you want out of your goal.

The best way to be productive, purposeful and profitable is to:

  • Set specific intentions
  • Write down your specifci intentions
  • Review daily
  • Take consistent action

Here is the beauty of setting goals with powerful intentions, you immediately set yourself up for success. You will know exactly what it is you will do in order to work toward your goal throughout the time frame you have given yourself.

So many people let themselves down by choosing general goals without intentions, when they don’t reach them they feel like they have failed. When you set those powerful intentions, write them down, review them daily, and take consistent action you have no choice but to succeed.

Even if let’s say, you did not make $10,000 by the end of June, but you took specific action daily, you have won. Can you see that failure is not an option?

The other thing that happens when you set and follow your intentions is that you give yourself some insight into what perhaps didn’t (and of course, what did) work  so that you can easily course correct. The ultimate end result here is to continuously stay on target by taking action,  reviewing the results that come out of taking action and course correcting accordingly.

Are you ready? Good! I’m excited to hear how it goes for you. Email me your goals and intentions at kim@kimravida.com along with the time frame you set for yourself. I’ll be here to support you in any way during your goal time and after the time frame is over, you’ll be able to write again to share your results!

Here is a resource for you if you are truly interested in reaching your goal, it’s called the Freedom Journal. Click here to go to the website and order your own copy.

 

 

 

Filed Under: Empowerment, Personal Development, Reaching Goals, Structure Tagged With: , , ,

How connected are you to your money?

June 2, 2016 By

Is money an important aspect of empowering yourself?

If you said yes, then you are connected to your money.  Whoohoo, more than likely you are in the green and doing well with your business.  More than likely you are making a lot of money and feeling great about yourself. Congratulations!

Now I say more than likely because sometimes while you may feel that money is an important aspect of empowering yourself, there are things inside you that speak to the contrary. When that happens, you aren’t connected to your money in a strong enough way. It means that you may be struggling to make ends meet, pay the bills and earn the income you desire.

Connect with money

When you are not connected to money there are many challenges you face. A few that show up are:

  • Lack of financial independence
  • Not feeling empowered with money
  • Feeling overwhelmed with basic financial details

Let’s take a look at each one a little more closely and then learn what you can do to empower yourself to be strongly connected to your money.

Lack of financial independence.

You may blindly trust the handling of financial details to others. You may be happy when someone else is making financial decisions for you.

If you are lacking financial independence you in essence give your power over to someone else. You avoid making decisions that you need to make, you choose to ignore certain steps that you need to take and it’s a place where you may be letting others run the show rather than you. This gives you less than stellar results making you feel like you have let yourself down.

Not feeling empowered with money.

You can easily allow others to make you feel disempowered or inadequate about money. When you aren’t connected to your money, it’s hard to be empowered with it. You can be taken advantage of financially. This shows up when you negotiate your fees and walking away feeling as if you got the short end of the deal or that you didn’t get what you are worth. It shows up by you spending too much for products and services for your own business and in your life. And it shows up by you not taking steps to ensure your financial security.

Feeling overwhelmed with basic financial details.

You may wish you didn’t have to think about making or managing money.  You may avoid facing your own money situation, hoping it will improve on it’s own. You may pay your bills late or even forgo certain services that you need to have for your business. You may have a hard time balancing your checkbook, or not even keeping one. When this happens you may cause a lot of financial stress for yourself and your loved ones.

If you see yourself in any of the above, first let me tell you that you are in a great place! Awareness is everything. Next you can begin to create a stronger connection to your money.  It’s never too late to start!

“When you connect with your money, you connect with yourself” –Kim Ravida

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Creating a connection to your money.

Ask yourself the following questions:

  1. If you were solely responsible for your money management, what are 8 financial details you need to know?
  2. What are 3 qualities you appreciate in the people who have assisted you financially, and in what specific ways would your life change if you adopted these qualities for yourself?
  3. What beliefs would you have to acknowledge and transform in order to empower yourself to be independent financially?

Take a few moment to sit and ponder the questions and then journal them in a notebook. From there what one step are you willing to take right now?

I’d like to offer you an empowering money mindset as a take-way today.  It is:

“The more comfortable I get with money, the more I empower myself.” Say it outloud 3 times and notice how you feel. Then write it down and use it as your new money mindset.

If you are game to empower yourself, why not empower others, jump over to my Facebook page and share the one step you are willing to take right now to empower yourself and by doing so you’ll empower others..

Filed Under: Empowerment, Money Habits, net worth Tagged With: , ,
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