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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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: , , , ,

Success and Strategy

May 26, 2016 By

BLOG letters on corkboardIn this blog, I’d like to share with you a couple of ways for you to bring about accomplishment and success.

A startling opportunity to your monumental success
Early on in my business I had no idea what I was doing so I tried doing what other “successful” business owners were doing. I was pretty good at copying what they were doing, but I wasn’t getting the results I wanted (or that they had). It was only after much ado (lots of frustration, overwhelm and tears) that I knew why I wasn’t getting the results that I wanted. I wasn’t them. Click to read more…

 

There is more to getting things accomplished than just having a strategy
Do you like to strategize? To plan? I love to do both, it’s the execution I can get stuck on. What I have come to realize is that sometimes I don’t have the right tactics or the step by step action map that I need in order to execute to completion. And in business execution is paramount to having things completed. Click to read more…

Did one of these blogs resonate with you?  If so, I’d love to hear from you. Post to one of the blogs above or email me personally!

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Just What The Heck Are You Waiting For?

May 12, 2016 By

Recently I was on a group training call and my coach (I work with her privately too) said to me something that was sweet to my ears.  She said: “Kim, you always show up.” I was the only one who did. Because I showed up, I was able to have additional coaching as if it were a private 1/1 session. I walked away with new knowledge and a plan about how I can take my business to a new level that I wouldn’t have gotten had I not shown up.

Question mark

Why was I so happy to hear her say that? Well…I never used to show up! I used to be that person who would say I wanted to do something then not do it, I’d sign up for programs and classes and either not show up (hey, I was busy) or show up but not do the work (I was busy, remember)! I hate to admit it but it is true. I let myself down all the time.

I’d say I wanted to do x, y and z and then I wouldn’t do it. I’d let other things get in my way, other people, other priorities (other people’s priorities), you name it, I did it.

One day though it hit me (think 2×4 across the head — ouch), I was only letting myself down and that was no longer ok with me. It definitely had something to do with the dwindling bank account and wondering how I was going to pay my bills for my business and live my life but it also had something to do with seeing other people be successful in business.

I stopped and asked myself what they were doing differently than I – lots of things I know, but one thing that I kept seeing is that they weren’t waiting for anything, they just kept showing up and so I decided that’s what I’d do.

To this day, I’m constantly in awe of the way people let themselves down. Let’s take business. Are you someone who signed up for things, a program, a coach, a class yet don’t get the results you want?

If you said yes, ask yourself if you are showing up and by showing up I don’t mean to the class/call, etc. I mean fully, participating, doing the homework, the next actions, asking questions.

And if you aren’t, keep in mind that when you don’t show up you simply cannot get the results you want.

“Want results? Ya gotta show up.” –Kim Ravida

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As someone wanting to be successful in your business, tell me:

  • Why would you let other things constantly get in your way if you are serious about getting results?
  • Why if you sign up for a program that would help you and that you paid for, wouldn’t you make it a top priority to show up?
  • Why would you sabotage yourself that way?

The funky thing is that when people do this they complain or are pissed off that they aren’t getting (or didn’t get) the results they wanted and will blame others. Come on, if you don’t want to show up for whatever reason, that’s on you. I show up because I’m all about being at the cause of change and my success (and because one 2×4 across the head was enough for me to get it).

What will it take for you to get it?

I’d love to hear your comments on this, pop over to my Facebook page and answer me this: what the heck are you waiting for?

Feel free to share as much or as little as you’d like! And if you want to share privately, I’d love that too. Email me at kim@kimravida.com

Filed Under: Business Mastery, Empowerment, Personal Development, Reaching Goals Tagged With: , , ,

It’s all about the plan

May 5, 2016 By

Do you remember when you were younger and getting together with your friends you’d ask “hey, so what’s the plan?” And usually there wasn’t one but you’d all come up with something.

It’s not a bad strategy when you are a teenager but it’s a terrible one if you are a business owner. No plan, no success. I should know, I spent a lot of time doing things with no real plan. Oh sure, I thought I had a plan, I would do a little social media, blogging, networking and other business building tasks but that was only because that was what I thought I should do because others either said to do it or were doing it. (Gee, as I write this I’m realizing I wasn’t that far removed from what goes on in high school.)

Then one day it hit me, I wasn’t getting where I wanted to go because I didn’t have a plan. I didn’t have a step by step plan of the things I would do that would bring me what I wanted. When I think of the elite athletes and successful business owners and businesses each one had a plan that laid out what to do first, second and so on.

I realized that building a business was much like building a brick and mortar building. There are separate contributions from many areas and they all need to fit together as one. And to do that, each has to be executed precisely in coordination. In some cases, in order to reach a goal there are certain pieces that need to be done before others.

Once I realized this, that everything comes together to make the whole the results start happening. Oh and another thing I learned was that I wasn’t necessarily the best person for all of the jobs. In order to reach my goals I needed to delegate, sometimes delete and always be open to course correcting.

Now, to this day, before I do anything in my business I either get out a checklist (if it’s something I’ve already done) or I create a step by step plan (and turn that into a checklist) so that I always know what to do and when to do it. This helps me reach my end result faster and with a lot less stress.

It’s become a game of sorts, I love to plan so I get to do what I love and then I love to see results of that plan, so by taking the steps in between (the meat of the matter so to speak), I work my plan and see my results!

“He who fails to plan is planning to fail” …Winston Churchill

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Where are you failing to plan? And more importantly, what do you want to do so that you succeed? As Winston Churchill said, “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail”. I know you don’t want that. So hop on over to my Facebook page and tell me your tips for planning or what one step you will commit to after reading this.

 

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