Be Clear on Your Outcomes

November 7, 2013 By

Car on mapDo you know what your desired outcome is?

There is a saying, “If you don’t know what road to take, any road will take you there.”  And it’s true.  I’ve experienced it.  Sometimes I just jump in and start something… and then I start again and again when it isn’t working right because I haven’t spent time to do any planning.

Determining what you are doing and why you are doing it—in advance—goes a long way to getting your desired outcome.  Most of my business clients want to make more money.  OK, great, that’s a fabulous outcome.  But when I ask them what they are doing to get more money, they often can’t answer me right away!  They just know on a vague level they want and need to make more money.

So the good news is they know their outcome.  Next they need to break that down to specifics.  Once they are specific it’s easy for them to plan out how they will go about making more money.  Do they need to raise their rates?  Do they need a better way to collect on their invoices?  Do they need to do some inner work on themselves so they stop sabotaging their own efforts?  Do they need money systems and a solid foundation in order to reach their goals (a topic I’ve talked about before)?

Planning is often thought of as boring and so many people skip it.  Yet, planning is an essential part of any success both in business and in personal life.  Planning can be fun, it can be energizing and it can be easy.  Sure it takes time but anything worthwhile does!  Changing a bad habit to a good one, obedience training your dog, and preparing Thanksgiving dinner all take time, but would you not do them simply because you have to put forth some effort?  Of course not!  Not if you want results and success, that is.

Take the time to plan and you will achieve your desired outcome.  There is another saying, “When you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”  I don’t know about you, but I’d rather plan to succeed!

Filed Under: Personal Development Tagged With: , ,

Just What ARE Systems, Anyway?

October 31, 2013 By

Woman holding a skeleton key over white backgroundI’m sure you’ve heard other entrepreneurs talk about “systems”… but just what are systems anyway and how will they fit into your life and business?  To begin with, I love to use the Thesaurus and here are some alternative words:  organization, arrangement, structure, method, procedure, practice, usage, and approach.

My favorite words out of that bunch are procedure and approach.  Systems are a way for you to approach your business so that your procedures help you reach your goals.  With systems in place, you will build and lead a successful and profitable business.

Key systems for your life and business are time and money management.  They are crucial because if they are out of whack, it is really hard to be successful.   

What do I mean by a time management system?  Using a calendar to schedule appointments and tasks so that you know exactly when you need to do something.  A step up from that is time blocking.  Take a look at your schedule and block out several hours for important tasks.  Nothing else happens during this time.

Now on to money systems.  Remember, you want to manage it, not damage it… and in order to do that you must pay attention to it.  So often people bury their heads in the sand and ignore what is going on around them when it comes to money.  Look, in order to make it you must know where it comes from and where it goes.  Finding a great money system that works for your work style is essential to your personal and professional success.

There are many other systems you can (and should) put into place, but when you put time and money management in place up front, you are setting a solid foundation for leading a successful business.

Of course, if you want to know more… we should schedule a chat!

Filed Under: Reaching Goals Tagged With: , ,

Whose Life Is It, Anyway?

October 23, 2013 By

stamp guaranteed authenticAre you living your life the way you want to?  Before you switch to autopilot and say yes… pause and think about that question.  Are you living your life the way you really want to?  If you can honestly say yes, I congratulate you!  Yet, if you are one of many who hang their head and say “No, I’m not” then I am happy to tell you that can change.

You’re not alone.  I have worked with women who went to school for a degree they weren’t even interested in just because their parents insisted.  I have worked with women who got married to a man they didn’t love just because it was expected of them by their families.  I have worked with women who had no idea what it was they wanted, but knew they are tremendously unhappy with who they became and where they were in their lives.

This is common because most women like to please.  And if you are anything like I used to be, not pleasing someone else is so painful that you just don’t let it happen.  Yet, who suffers when you are not even trying to please yourself?  You are!

First, you need to understand you are entitled to have the life you want; a life which is agreeable to you and supports you and your desires.  You just have to take the action to get it.

The first step is a matter of knowing who you are.  And that might be really hard especially if you have been pretending to be someone else because you don’t even know who you are or what you want.

So, get to know who you are.  Who are you when you are being your true, authentic self?  Seems easy on the surface, right?  Not necessarily.  In order to work toward getting to know you—to really know yourself—spend quiet time alone with paper and pen to answer the following questions (schedule this on your calendar if you have to):

  • What makes me smile?
  • What excites me?
  • When do I feel the most joy?
  • What makes me feel good?
  • What are my favorite hobbies or past-times?
  • What am I really good at doing?

Don’t hold back your answers.  Let them flow.  This is for you!   However, if you feel that you are holding back, it is a telltale sign you are possibly afraid you will be judged by others.  Stop!  This is what got you in this position in the first place; it only leads to you behaving like someone else.

So now you have your true answers to the questions above.  Think about how it would feel if you pursued them and didn’t have any fear of being judged or questioned.  (Yes, you can do this. You must do this in order to have the life you really want!)

You would feel great, happy, free, liberated, justified, excited about life and maybe many other feelings, too!  And ultimately…you would now know the real you, right?

Remember, the first step to being yourself is to know yourself.  And just like when you meet someone new whose company you enjoy and want to know more about them… getting to know yourself is like gaining a new best friend. 

Let me know how you make out, and also, feel free to share your thoughts, insights and revelations below or post to my Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/KimRavidaCoaching page if you are willing to share with my community.

Filed Under: Self Worth Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

What Type of Business Plan Do You Need?

October 17, 2013 By

Businesswoman standing on a ladder looking through binocularsWhen I went to business school, a business plan was a detailed manifesto stating exactly what you were going to do and how.  It was pages and pages (and pages) long.

Do you need one?  Yes, you do.  Do you need one that is pages and pages long?  It depends.  If you are a solopreneur (another word for sole proprietor) you may not need a business plan that’s as detailed as you think.  That’s great news because a lot of time the business plan will be what holds you back from actually starting your business!

What you need, though, is a business plan that makes sense for you.  I have worked with clients drawing up business plans that are long and lay out specifically what they will do and how they will do it.  I have also worked with clients and drawn up one-page business plans that concisely list their objectives.

The important thing to note is that even if you are “just a solopreneur”, in order to reach your goals you need to put your business plan on paper.  No, in your head does not count.  You need to make sure your plans are attainable and know what it is you will do in order to reach them.  It’s about writing down what you plan to do for and in your business.  That is its purpose; it’s really that simple.

I often do a year-long plan and then a quarterly plan and yet again another one monthly.  I like that system because it keeps me up to date and I can make changes without any stress or frustration.  It works for me and I’m all about making things work as easily as possible!

My suggestion for you is to determine exactly what type of business plan you need.  Then, spend an afternoon writing out a plan (or several) that makes sense to you.

Of course, if you’d like a little guidance… I’m here to help!

Filed Under: Reaching Goals Tagged With: , ,

Lead Yourself to Mastery in Your Life & Business

October 10, 2013 By

MasteryAs business owners (and especially soloproneurs), it is easy to fall into this trap of “jack of all trades and master of none”.  Yes, it is a trap and no, it doesn’t have to be this way.  True, you don’t have to be a master at everything, but it is important to be a master at a few things that will lead and drive you to a successful and profitable business.

I love the word “mastery”.  It sounds powerful and it makes me feel good.  Mastery as defined in the dictionary means:  1) expert skill/knowledge or outstanding ability and 2) complete control.

Well, I don’t know about you, but early on in my life and business I had absolutely no control and did not feel as if I had any expert skill/knowledge or outstanding ability.  So, had I heard the term ‘mastery’ back then I would not have liked the word as much as I do today.

I was a jack of all trades doing everything by myself and also doing everything that sounded like a great idea.  And guess what?  Doing it all myself and doing everything that sounded like a great idea actually wasn’t!  When I decided to only work on things that I either had mastered (coaching my clients) or was in the process of mastering (networking/connecting), my life and business became joyful, profitable and fun!

I’ve recently titled a program with the word ‘mastery’ in it because it gives my clients a feeling of anticipation.  It’s the anticipation that will help them be motivated so they too can master the skills they need to be in complete control of their lives and businesses and to take action to reach their goals and have what they want for themselves.

Motivation is a key factor in running a successful and profitable business.  What it boils down to, though, is leadership of oneself and perhaps others.  So if we are to reach a place of mastery, what are some things that we might have to master?

I’m really happy to tell you that it is not as painful as you might think and it can be used for business owners as well as anyone wanting to improve their lives.

Here are three ways in which you can lead yourself to mastery in your life and business:

  1. Get a clear focus.  Decide what it is you want to accomplish.  When you know what your outcome is, it is easy to know what you need to do.
  2. Be specific.  Now that you have your focus, the next step is to decide how you will get there.  This is the time to be specific.  Is there something you need to do, have, or find in order to get started?  List out what you need and must do to reach your goals. Until questions are answered, it’s impossible to lead yourself to completion.
  3. Put your specific action steps in your calendar.  Without this last step, all the focus and planning in the world won’t help you, you need to set aside time to get it done.

When we master something we get a sense of satisfaction, we feel proud and we are excited about it.  I know I want to shout “I did it!”  It is such a great feeling.  That is why aiming toward mastery gives you the anticipation that you are working toward controlling your life, your business and ultimately your destiny.  Wouldn’t you want to hold the position of mastery in your life?  I know I sure do!

You know I love to hear from you, so please feel free to email me at kim@kimravida.com or share your thoughts, insights and revelations below.

 

Filed Under: Personal Development Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

What Do I Do?

September 25, 2013 By

What do I do?I get asked this a lot!  I get it from my business clients and from my fitness clients – and it is usually after someone has said yes to something but now wants to say no. They feel that they can’t change their mind and ask me “Ya, but what do I do?”  I know, it’s a real loop, isn’t it?

It is important to understand and realize that just because we said yes in the first place does not mean that we can never go back and say no.  We agree to do things for many reasons which are usually valid at the time when we say yes.  However then often we have time to think about it and realize a no would have been the best choice.  We genuinely want to help so it’s uncomfortable because we don’t want to disappoint or not be a team player.

Don’t get me wrong, there are times we want to change our mind because we are afraid or are out of our comfort zone and think we can’t do something.  That is not what I am talking about.  I’m talking about things we have said yes to that take us away from our desired outcomes or goals.  Like a client who signed up for a weekly networking meeting and later realized that it was taking her away from running her business and impacting when she could see her clients.  This ultimately led to impacting her money-making abilities so she needed to say no after saying yes.

Where in your life do you need to say no after you have said yes?  Trust me; it isn’t as scary as your gremlin is making it out to be.  We aren’t talking about being mean.  We are all entitled to change our minds and we do not need to offer a great detailed explanation as to why.

You probably think if you say no then:

  • people won’t like you
  • you’ll let others down and they’ll be disappointed in you
  • you’ll look like a failure or worse, you’ll feel like a failure

I am here to tell you that the above are not true!

What is really happening is that you are telling yourself a story about what you think will happen.  You’re talking yourself out of doing what is best for you.  If you aren’t true to yourself, what will happen is that you end up full of resentment, frustration and—even worse—anger at both yourself and the other person.  Let me ask you, do you think this is a good thing?  No, of course it isn’t and you know that.  Which is why you have such an internal tug-o-war; your inner guidance knows it needs to say no and your ego is saying that you can’t.

Saying no authentically and with compassion for both yourself and the other person is the only way to honor yourself. 

I remember the first time I said no after saying yes.  Was I nervous and afraid?  You bet I was.  However, it felt so good that I spoke up for myself and for what I wanted and needed!  Did the world end?  Of course it did not, and it won’t when you do it.

Is there something or someone that you said yes to that now you want to say no?  I encourage you to speak up confidently and say “I know that I said I would do xyz, but I realize that I won’t be able to.”  Sometimes you may be able to make a recommendation or suggestion for a replacement, and if you are by all means please do; just don’t do that in order to take the pressure off of you.  Come from a true place of self-empowerment and you will always feel good about yourself. 

Also, feel free to share your thoughts, insights and revelations below!

Filed Under: Personal Development, Self Worth Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Are You Kidding Me?!

September 11, 2013 By

Are you kidding me?!As business owners we often try lots of things to build our business.  We go to networking events, meet new people, and try marketing different ways.  Some things work and some do not.  This is the same for health and fitness; in our quest to be healthy, lose weight and get off medications, we try lots of things.  Some stuff works and some stuff doesn’t.

To be successful in both business and health we need to do what will work for us… and what works for us does not necessarily work for others.  We get disappointed when we try something that someone else swears by and we don’t end up with the same results.  We usually find ourselves saying “Are you kidding me?!  I just spent all this time or all this money and it didn’t work!”

Well, in my book that’s actually a good thing!  Why?  Because now we know what doesn’t work so we can move on to something that will.

Sure, occasionally it means giving stuff up.  A business client of mine joined a networking group that met weekly in the early morning.  She hadn’t wanted to join this group because she wasn’t a morning person (especially when having to be somewhere early), the meetings were a regular set-in-stone routine (which she didn’t do well with) and it was all for in-person work (she actually did lots of virtual and over the phone work). But because she was told by others that this was the way to build her business, she did it and went against what she knew to be true for her.

She told me how miserable she was after “spending all this money” to join and how it was actually taking her away from growing her business and her clients.  I asked her what she wanted to do about it.  She said she couldn’t drop out because of the money she invested and the commitment she made.  So I pointed out that it was working against her and costing her time and money.  That in order for her to do what she wanted to do, and what would be more in line with what would work for her style, “dropping out” didn’t seem like such a bad idea.

Her response to me was (you probably already guessed), “Are you kidding me?!  And waste it all?!”  No, I wasn’t.  She didn’t waste a single moment; she actually gained a whole lot.  She now knew that this type of activity was not for her and did not do her business any good – in fact, it held her back.  There is such value in that!

When you sell yourself out, you can pretty much count on stress, frustration and overwhelm to be at your door.  On the other hand, you will never disappoint yourself if you follow your heart and do what makes you happy.  It’s really quite simple: when you honor yourself and what you want, and do what you love with enthusiasm, and it will all be effortless.

Are you still skeptical like my client was?  Here are several tips to help you:

  • Know what you are doing and why you want to do it.
  • Know your likes and dislikes because when you know yourself, you never have to second guess yourself.
  • Trust you are the best judge and no matter what anyone else has to say, you are the only person that knows you and what pleases you.

If you are still saying “Are you kidding me?!  I can’t do this or that because (you fill in the blank)”, I want to know why.  Email me personally or share your thoughts, insights and revelations below. Let’s get you past this hurdle!

 

Filed Under: Personal Development Tagged With: , , ,

Wonder Why You Can’t Reach Your Goals?

July 22, 2013 By

goalThere was a long period in my life where it seemed to me I wasn’t reaching my goals.  What I didn’t realize at the time was that I was out of alignment with my values, so reaching my goals was next to impossible.  And why I didn’t realize this was because I didn’t even know what a value was!  Oh sure, I knew the ‘value’ of something I was buying:  was I getting a good value on the new car or was that a good value for the dinner I wanted.  Stuff like that.  However, I had no idea that lacking my own personal values was causing me to be so unhappy and never attaining what I wanted (aka my goals).

OK, so what is a value?  Well you know me, I like to pull out the thesaurus.  When it comes to your personal values, some of the words that come up are: importance, worth, significant, and meaning.

A personal value can easily be defined as your preferences.  I have a very high value for freedom and fun and, yes, those are my preferences.  Maybe you can relate.  I like to have fun and when I have fun, I feel really good… and since I like to feel good, fun, therefore, is important to me.  I also like not being told to do things – one of the reasons I decided to quit working for someone else and go out on my own.  I get to create the freedom I want (and really, ultimately need).

If you are having a hard time getting results and reaching your goals, check in with your values.  Chances are your values are not being met… or, like I used to be, you really don’t even know what you value.

So to give you an idea of what values are, here is a short list:

  • Compassion
  • Comfort
  • Ease
  • Energy
  • Faith
  • Freedom
  • Fun
  • Intellect
  • Love
  • Mindfulness
  • Perfection
  • Professionalism
  • Respect
  • Sharing
  • Thoughtfulness

Personal values are internal and act as a reference for what is good, beneficial, important and useful for us… no one else.  They generate behavior.  For instance, let’s say your top three values are:  fun, ease and love.  You have decided you want to get in shape.  If you incorporate your top three values of fun, ease and love into your workout plan, you can bet your behavior is going to bring you success.  You would find something you really have fun doing like taking a dance class, that fits into your schedule with ease, and you show your love for yourself (yes, you can love yourself just like you love the others in your life) by committing to going regularly.

Another example: you are a new business owner and trying to figure out how to run your business.  You value compassion, professionalism and respect.  You would set up your business by creating systems that support your top three values.  To satisfy your value of compassion, you would speak kindly to your prospective and/or current clients.  Your value of professionalism would show up in being timely with invoices, paying bills and returning calls/emails.  Your value of respect shows your clients that you have a high opinion of them and you genuinely care and are authentic.  As a business owner, these all will lead to prospective clients getting to know, like and trust you.  Not only are you able to help more people, but you are able to generate more income all while honoring your values.  It’s a win/win situation all around.

Once you know your values, your life becomes simply the best with grace and ease and you find that you are in a flow.  You get what you want quickly and your goals get accomplished faster.  Everything comes easy.  And one other thing happens, you know what goals you want to work on and how you are going to reach them!

You know I love to hear your success stories, and this one is no different.  I would love for you to shoot me an email or share on my Facebook page.  I always love that because then you get to help others just by sharing your success!  Also, feel free to share your thoughts, insights and revelations below!

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

How Independent Are You?

July 8, 2013 By

flag and fireworksWe just celebrated Independence Day in the United States and it got me thinking about being independent.  Many of us think we are independent yet we really aren’t.  We are often driven by outside influences, some people refer to them as ‘outside forces’, that work against us… or so we believe.  Truth be told, we have all the power to be independent right within us.

What does independent mean anyway?  Some other words are:  self-governing, self-determining, self-regulating and my favorite, free.

How many times have you made a decision based on how it would positively affect those around you?  Think about it.  You believed if you made a certain choice, something you truly wanted to do, that it would upset or inconvenience someone else… so you didn’t.  You didn’t go out to dinner with your girlfriends because your spouse would have to prepare his own dinner on the fly.  You didn’t attend a one-day seminar on a topic that really interested you because your mom wanted you to help clean out her closets that day.

Is that being independent?

It’s true, we think we are acting of our own free will but instead we often put our own wants, desires and needs aside to please someone else.  Now I’m not saying for you to stop doing that, what I am bringing to the table is to think about how many times you are acting independently.

Dependency is sneaky; sometimes we don’t even know we are being that way and falling into the trap.  We think we’re doing something nice for our spouse, our children, our parents, or our friends but then we get annoyed at them because—for goodness sake!—we are doing it for them and they don’t even appreciate what we’re giving up.

When you decide to lose weight for someone other than yourself, you are being dependent.  When you say yes when you want to say no, you are being dependent.  If you truly want to be independent, you must start speaking up and making your needs and wants known.  You will also have to be prepared for someone to get upset with you or inconvenienced.  It’s how it goes.  You can’t please everyone all the time.

Some very simple (yet not often easy) ways for you to empower yourself are:

  1. Say YES when you really want to.
  2. Say NO when you really want to.
  3. Don’t be afraid to say NO after you have said YES.

It’s absolutely amazing when you empower yourself, those around you are both inspired and empowered, too.  Don’t you think you deserve that?  Don’t you think your loved ones deserve that?  Absolutely, you all do!

In the end, the true independence you give yourself will be well worth it.  You will be happy with your life and your decisions.  You will wholeheartedly be there for those you love, while allowing them to become independent also.  Together you will create unity, freedom… and justice for all!

I would love for you to share what you have done to assert your independence and inspire it in others. Please share your thoughts, insights and revelations below!

Filed Under: Personal Development, Self Worth Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Want to Expand Time?

June 24, 2013 By

turn time backIs there a little voice in your head that seems to repeat “I don’t have enough time to get everything done” or “I wish I had more time to do other things”?  We always want and need additional time, yet if time is the one thing that is equal to all, why do other people seem to accomplish more?  Why can’t we get done what we want to in the time we have available?

Now first, I want to tell you that I struggled with time for years.  I was constantly late for everything (just ask my supervisors when I worked in corporate or my family).  I didn’t mean to be late; it just happened I never had enough time to get ready, to arrive on time, to be prepared.  Time was my enemy and we battled frequently.

I believe, as a whole, we think it takes too much time to get in shape, to live a healthy lifestyle, to work enough to support our families, or to sit down and plan for our future.  Shoot, it just takes too long to get through the grocery store once a week!  Right?

Well… no.  I have learned we actually have all the time that we need.

Here are three key lessons I want to share with you to release all the stress and overwhelm related to time.

Lesson #1:  Be clear about what you want to accomplish.  When you don’t know exactly what you want to accomplish, you can’t have a true idea about how long it will take.  However, knowing what your goal is gives you a starting point from which to plan what you need to do, assess how long it will take, and what you need to have in order to reach your goal in a timely manner.  So whether it’s to arrive on time somewhere, have more down-time or lose 10 pounds, know what you want.

Lesson #2:  Be realistic about how long a task will take.  How many times have you said something like “I’m going to quickly balance my checkbook” only to experience a string of problems that take far too long to fix?  Maybe you found a discrepancy in your accounting or realized you forgot to pay a bill.  When you are unrealistic (i.e. “quickly”) with how long something should take, time seems to shorten.  In order to expand time, you need to be practical. 

Lesson #3:  Plan your steps.  Here’s another one:  You found a great healthy recipe online and decide you are going to whip it together one evening for dinner.  When that evening arrives, however, you realize you don’t have all the ingredients on hand you thought you did.  Or by the time you dash into the kitchen and read the recipe again, you discover you were supposed to marinate something for a few hours first.  However, if you take the time to create action steps for this new recipe, you will have all the ingredients beforehand and allow the proper time to complete it.

In essence, once you take to heart the lessons I shared above, you will stop adding too much on your To Do list and putting undue pressure on yourself.   You’ll be much more at peace and find that you will have way more time than you thought.  I promise you will reach your goals and feel good about yourself again!

I’d love to hear your experiences.  As always, I invite you to write to me or feel free to share your thoughts, insights and revelations below.  You never know how they may help someone else!

Filed Under: Money Habits, Reaching Goals Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,
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