The fundamentals of getting time on your side

June 8, 2017 By

roman-bozhko-251947

Do you follow a schedule? Do you get things done? Or do you wonder what happened to your time and why you always seem to not have enough?

I could go into telling you that we all have the same amount of time in a day, but you’ve heard that before and I’d like to tell you something new (or at least a new spin on it).

There IS a better way to finally getting things done.

The better way is to schedule it. And I’m not talking about scheduling your appointments with other people. More than likely you already do that (or at least that’s my hope) so that isn’t a problem.

What I’m talking about it to schedule your tasks and activities. To give you an idea of what I’m talking about, here are a few examples:

  • Planning time
  • Writing your blog
  • Specific times you set aside for phone calls and follow up
  • Social Media Marketing (and let’s not confuse this with socializing)

Moreover, knowing what you are doing and how long it takes you makes is simple to put it into your calendar. And to that end, get it done. I wrote about this in a previous blog, which you can click here to read if you don’t know what you are doing and how long it takes. As long as you already know what you are doing, you can then schedule it and get it done!

Trick to getting things done.

Because I’ve had many trials and errors when it’s come to time and getting things done, one trick that I have learned is to use the time blocking method. It’s blocking off the time that I know I have to work with and scheduling in my tasks and activities into that time.

Here’s what it looks like:

  1. Look at your day (the night before is preferable) and get clear on how much time you have to work with. Since you already know what you are doing and how long it will take you, you can schedule appropriately.
  2. Enter that task/activity into the time you have for it.  Example: Writing a blog takes 1 hour, enter ‘write blog’ into the appropriate time slot on your calendar.
  3. When that time comes, you know what you’ll be doing so you go and do it.

Where most people go wrong is that they have a laundry list of things they want to do, are going to do or even need to do and they never seem to get them done. Whenever we fail to schedule, we fail. Plain and simple. I know this because a) it’s happened to me and b) my clients were doing this before starting to work with me and once they created their time management system they got things done – even those that they had had trouble doing.

“Action is the foundational key to all success.” –Pablo Picasso

Click To Tweet

Your Next Step – Take Action.

Give it a try and see what happens, my guess is that when you put what you need to do in your schedule and follow it, you’ll be getting many things done, feeling pretty great about yourself and reaching your goals!

And if you are still struggling and would like help. Schedule a 30-minute complimentary Business Strategy Session where you’ll walk away knowing specifically how to set your schedule for your optimal results!

We respect your email privacy.

Filed Under: Business Mastery, Empowerment, Reaching Goals, Structure, Time Management Tagged With: , ,

When you have clarity, you have a winning chance

May 18, 2017 By

5-18-ezine-blog

Why it’s important to focus on winning (especially for yourself)!

Winning feels great, it gives you such a boost in your life! However, so many of people set themselves up for failure. And when it comes to managing our time, well, while you might not be truly able to “manage” such a thing, you can absolutely use it wisely.

Do you remember the rabbit in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland?

Do you remember how he was running around saying how late he was for a very important date?

Do you find yourself acting like that and saying similar things?

You are not alone.

That’s the good news. The other good news is that it doesn’t have to be that way any more.

Women are famous (if that’s even the right word to use) at being able to do a lot of things at one time. And often some wear it as a badge. Can you relate? Now, for some things that may be an appropriate behavior. Though when it comes to creating and running a successful business, it more than likely is what is holding you back from reaching your goals.

Running around creating chaos?

What I find happens with my clients and other business owners that I talk to is that they are running around going here, doing this, that and other things and basically creating chaos for themselves. When this happens, what normally is happening is that they aren’t clear about what they are doing. They get an opportunity or an idea and they are off with it (kind of like the “off with his head” mentality the Queen of Hearts had). There is no plan, there are no action steps and no clear path to get to where they think they are going.

What usually happens next is they utter (often in despair) “I don’t have enough time”, “I didn’t have enough time to do what was important”, “I kept getting caught up in this or that”. Maybe this sounds familiar. Well, to give yourself not only a fighting chance, but a winning chance, you need to get clear of where it is you are going and what it is you will do to get there.

Getting there from here.

The fastest way to get results in less time is to be clear on where you are going and exactly what you will do (not can do, but will do) to get there and then go and do it. Meaning, plan it and then schedule it.

It may mean you need to figure out how long something takes to do, it may mean that you need to eliminate things (oh my) and it may mean you just get off your butt and do it (thank you Nike) and so be it. If you truly want to get to where you are going, you just have to do it! Trust me, you won’t be sorry in fact you’ll be doing the Snoopy dance.

Watch my Facebook Live video on just how you can get there from where you are.

We respect your email privacy.

Filed Under: Business Mastery, Empowerment, Reaching Goals, Structure, Time Management Tagged With: , ,

How to win at the game of time

May 4, 2017 By

5-4-17-blog

Who doesn’t like to win?

I know I like to win. I especially like to win when it comes to time.

Time and me, we go way back and time usually won. To put it another way, I had no idea how to manage my time. At the same time, I knew that I had to figure that out.

Time was not on my hands.

The saying “time on your hands” definitely fit here. And if I wanted to have more time, sooner or later I had to figure this out. Ever since I started my coaching business I never (and I do mean never) finished my work on time. I was always racing to start making supper before my husband came home (he actually does our cooking. I’m the prep-chef) and I never ever got there.

That was until I finally figured out how to beat it. It was (and still is) such a great feeling. I remember the day exactly. I had finished my work and closed up shop only to find myself standing in the middle of my kitchen wondering what to do next. That is to say I actually had time to prep for dinner. All things considered, it was an awesome feeling.

Time was winning.

It’s important to realize that before that day, I couldn’t seem to get my stuff done. There was always so much more to do, something I never got to and wanted to get done. Something that I just had to do. It was frustrating to every day end up with more to do and not enough time.

Until one day when I finally said enough. And decided to learn how to win at this (as I called it) time thing. As a result things changed in an instant for me.

To explain, I was working nights and weekends and not having much fun in my life because I always was doing one more thing. I felt I was playing catch up and that I was behind the 8-ball almost constantly. It was time to stop.

Those who make the worst use of their time are the first to complain of its shortness. Jean de La Bruyère

Click To Tweet

Game changer.

With this in mind, I decided that I had to get a handle on this time thing. For this reason, I did some research. I read many books, blogs and worked with my coach on my schedule, priorities and tasks. As a result, I came up with specific steps that work for me. And that’s how I now find myself with time on my hands.

Want to be the one with time on your hands?

To put it another way, if you are looking to win at time, get very clear on what it is you are doing, whether or not you need to do it and if you need to be the one doing it. Ask yourself: does it fit into your big outcome of what you want for your business and your life? Click here and read how to clarify your own priorities and tasks so you can win at time.

And if you are like I was and thinking to yourself, I so need help with this then you are in luck! Click here to set up your free 30 Minute Get Clear with Time Management Session with me. You will walk away with specific-to-you steps so that you win at time and find yourself with time on your hands time and again!

 

We respect your email privacy.

Filed Under: Business Mastery, Empowerment, Reaching Goals, Structure, Time Management Tagged With: , ,

Does It Feel Like Time Just Evaporates On You?

April 20, 2017 By

Time is elusive.

Do you ever say to yourself “where did the time go?” or “I didn’t have time to do what I wanted to do” or “I didn’t think it would take that much time”?

If so, you are not alone. One of the biggest challenges I faced when I began my business was time. I uttered all of the above and then some. The biggest one though was that I didn’t think things would take as much time as they did.

Time threw me off path many, many times. Time felt so elusive to me. It was a challenge finding time to get the things I wanted to and needed to get done. That meant I wasn’t achieving a whole lot – oh wait, let me rephrase that, I was achieving a lot – a lot of nothing! And once I was able to solve time being elusive to me, I was then able to achieve the results that I wanted – which was to start my business and work with amazing people like you to help you reach your goals and dreams.

Time=life; therefore, waste your time and waste of your life, or master your time and master your life. –Alan Lakein

Click To Tweet

How to get time on your side.

You need to know what it is you are doing each and every day and yes, practically each and every moment.

My clients do not like to hear that. They like to work in a free-flowing way. And when I tell them that they can do exactly that and be productive when they get time on their side, they are excited to get started.

Also, it’s the time piece that often throws people off. That place of not knowing how long something will take or how to be efficient with your time so you are completing things, moving things forward and seeing the results you desire. This is why it is important for you to get time on your side.

First of all, before you do anything, the one thing you need to do to get time on your side is to list out everything that you are doing.

Create a list of everything you do.

If you are struggling with time, it may be that you don’t 1) really know what you are doing and 2) have no idea how long things take to do. Since figuring out what it is you are doing means you’ll easily be able to figure out how long it takes let’s first get clear on that.

  • Get out a piece of paper or use your favorite electronic device and start listing everything you are doing in your business – don’t edit just write.
  • Categorize your list – you can use headings such as working with clients, marketing, administration and so on.
  • Drill down within those categories – marketing may mean networking, writing, creating copy, things of that nature – get clear on exactly what it is you are doing.

Establish a timetable for getting things done.

Then, once you have your list, estimate how long you think it is taking you to do each task, make sure you write it down. From there before you begin that particular task, note the time (I like to write it down) go to work and when you have completed it check the time again and note exactly how long it actually did take you. As a result, you now  know exactly how long it takes for you to do a particular task!

Finally, another thing you’ll do is to assess how you did. How close were you to your time estimate? If you were spot on, awesome – if not, you now know exactly how long it will take you to do your task – make sure you mark that down too so you never need to say again “I had no idea how long this would take” because you will know!

We respect your email privacy.

Filed Under: Business Mastery, Empowerment, Reaching Goals, Structure, Time Management Tagged With: , ,

Do You Have a Client Attraction System?

January 12, 2017 By

7-day-challengeIn order to be a Client Attractor, you need to have a system for attracting clients.

If your business is one of the many that just “wing it” when it comes to knowing their client, you are leaving lots of opportunities and money on the table. Practically every business owner I talk to says that out of their goals for the year they want to make more money. And who doesn’t? Yet when I ask them how they are going to do that they aren’t sure.

A Surefire Way To Make More Money In Your Business

Click To Tweet

A Surefire Way To Make More Money In Your Business.

One of the best ways to make more money in your business is to increase your client base (or your customer base as the case my be). I’m not just talking the number of people you add to your mailing list I’m talking about those who buy. And the best way to find those people is to know precisely where your ideal clients are and how to reach them. And again, when I ask business owners if they know where their ideal people are and how they will reach them, I get a lot of shrugging of the shoulders!

I don’t know about you, but that is certainly no way to make more money.

How To Know Where Your Ideal Clients Are.

The best way to know exactly who will be attracted to you so you can attract them is to KNOW right down to the who they are so that you can speak their language, go where they are and attract them like crazy. Here are a few steps to get started:

  • Pick a category of people who you serve. For example, start-up businesses, sales and marketing, health professionals to name a few.
  • Get super specific within this category.  Are they online businesses, brick and mortar, other?
  • Know what they struggle with. What are their challenges that you will help them solve.
  • Identify where they are. Where do they network, what groups are they in, find where they are so you can target your efforts there.

Why It’s Important To Have A Client Attraction System.

As you might already see, it’s important that you know exactly who you serve and narrow it down so that your efforts are on point and so that you can easily know who and where to market to.  It’s important that you know what they struggle with so that you can show up and solve their problems and be their superstar and it’s important that you know where they are so you can attract ideal clients easily and consistently.

And that my friend, is what will help you make more money this year, grow your business and be able to do some amazing work with awesome clients that are just perfect for you and you for them!

Now if you liked these tips, you’ll love my FREE 7 Day Challenge:  Be a Client Attractor NOW. Sign up and in just 7 Days you will know EXACTLY what to do to be an amazing client attractor because you will have your very own client attraction system!

We respect your email privacy.

 

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

What successful people do: They keep going

November 15, 2016 By

11-15-16 used for Tuesday ThoughtThought for the day.

So often we hit a snag or a snafu and we give up.  We say that we’ll do it later but then later never comes.  We then say we don’t have the time to do it later and we can’t do it because of this or because of that.

Eliminate the excuses and do what the clock does and keep going!

You’ll be amazed at the results you get, the increase in energy and the feelings of accomplishment!

Who is with me and the clock?  If you are, please share and let’s create some success for ourselves and the world!

Filed Under: Business Mastery, Empowerment, Reaching Goals, Self Worth, Structure Tagged With: ,

Do you know your brand promise?

September 29, 2016 By

Passon - Branding blog post 9-29-16Your brand is so much more than a logo.

Your brand is the PROMISE of an EXPERIENCE.

What is the promise that you offer your clients? All great personal brands clearly answer:

  • Who am I
  • What do I stand for
  • What am I an expert in or at

Can you easily answer the above questions? If you are shaking in your boots and thinking ‘oh crap, NO I can’t’ not to worry, there is good news! With a little knowledge, you can create your very own brand promise.

What is branding?

Branding is an opportunity for you to create a meaningful, thought-provoking connection with your clients (and even potential clients), it serves as a focus, intention and energy for you in building your business.

An example of a brand that did that is Coca-Cola. When you think of Coke, what immediately comes to mind? Does “have a Coke and a smile” come to mind, what about polar bears having fun? Coke has done a phenomenal job at creating a cohesive brand, they sell good times that feel good.

What are you selling?

Next, take a moment and think about yourself. What is it you sell? By the way, if you are in business, you are selling something. So before you get all up in arms with me, just go with it because you are in business to make money and you can only do that if you sell something.

I recently wrote about creating your Unique Brilliance, click here to find out how to do that, it’s a great start.  Start thinking about what you are a stand for in your business. An example is Deepak Chopra – he is a stand for: “there is more to life than what we see.”

Then ask yourself what are you an expert at or in (hint: go back to what you are selling, because more than likely it’s what you are an expert at/in), be very specific here. Deepak is an expert at “making something esoteric understandable to mainstream America.”

Your Brand Promise

You are now ready to create your  Brand Promise. This will be something that will guide you and help you to make decisions and choices in what you put forward in terms of marketing content, what you do for people and many other things.

Your Brand Promise tells your market that you can be relied upon to deliver a consistent experience regardless of the particular of what you are delivering – be it product, service or event.

Your Brand Promise is specific, emotional and always includes naming your ideal client. You can publish it, but it truly is for you to use for yourself and for your marketing and this Brand Promise of yours should serve you for years.

Your Brand Promise tells your market that you can be relied upon to deliver a consistent experience

Click To Tweet

Take a moment and think about what it is that your business promises to deliver.

If you need an example, here’s mine:

“I teach women business owners how to succeed by focusing on specific how to steps, strategies and tactics that support their healthy business growth so that they make money and have more fun in their business.”

Your turn, what is YOUR Brand Promise?

If you aren’t sure, I have a sweet opportunity for you! It’s called Create The Soul of Your Brand Guide. All you have to do is email me at kim@kimravida.com and put in the subject line YES! Please Help Me With My Brand. It is my gift to you. Don’t wait, this offer will go fast and it’s so awesome you won’t want to miss out.

 

Filed Under: Business Mastery, Marketing, Structure Tagged With: , ,

Is your marketing right on or are you stumbling and bumbling?

September 15, 2016 By

What is marketing, anyway?

In business marketing is a BIG word. It’s used all the time, but what exactly does it mean and what does it mean to you?

Marketing as is defined by Wikipedia is: the communication between a company and the consumer audience that aims to increase the value of the company or its merchandise, or to raise the profile of the company and its products in the public mind. The purpose of marketing is to induce behavioral change in the receptive audience.[1]

The American Marketing Association has defined marketing as “the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.” [2]

And this is all fine and good, but what does it mean to and for you? Well, ultimately it means exposure, you get known, you make SALES and you have money! Whoohoo. Are you getting excited yet?

Oh but wait, there is more!

How can your marketing improve your success?

One thing that I see small business owners and solopreneurs fail at is creating marketing messages that capture their spirit, personality and passion. They fail to put themselves into.

One of my clients owns a successful hair salon and the reason it was successful was because she knew that it was her that people came into see.

In the beginning, it wasn’t always that way, she wanted to and did take a more background role. What she noticed was that she didn’t get as much repeat business as she did when she was the one greeting, setting their next appointments and conversing with them.

After she understood it was her Unique Brilliance that lead to more business, it was easy to create a marketing plan that filled in the missing pieces and gave her much success.

By identifying your Unique Brilliance and what you bring to the table, you can use it as a powerful catalyst for using your gifts and talents on your most profitable actions.

Unlock your powerful, instantly recognizable presence.

The best way to become a client-attraction and opportunity magnet is to know and strategically use your spirit, personality and passion to create hot marketing messages, create amazing images, attention-getting copy and many other marketing touch points that lead to increased clients and sales.

Knowing Your Unique Brilliance

Your own Unique Brilliance is not a skill, it’s a powerful force that describes the very core of who you are as an individual.

Here are a few questions for you to ask:

  • Write down what you loved to do as a child.
  • What are some words or qualities that describe that?
  • Finish this sentence:  My Unique Brilliance is that I _____________________

A few examples: I inspire possibility; I ignite passion and action; I empower greatness.

Keep in mind that your Unique Brilliance is just you – so it will not mention others and it does not describe steps or process.

How can you use your Unique Brilliance in your marketing? If you empower greatness how does that look? What social media messages and images are you creating; what are you talking about to potential clients; and how are you presenting your business to the world?

It’s fun and exciting! You can effortlessly create amazing marketing materials. You won’t be just creating a message you’ll be creating and building a brand!

If you are stumbling and bumbling with your marketing and attracting clients in your business and want to create amazing marketing messages that are on point and on brand, I have something you can’t say no to, it’s called Create The Soul of Your Business Marketing Guide. All you have to do is email me at kim@kimravida.com and put in the subject line YES! It is my gift to you. Don’t wait, this offer will go fast and it’s so awesome you won’t want to miss out.

Filed Under: Business Mastery, Marketing, Structure Tagged With: , , ,

How to propel yourself forward toward success

September 1, 2016 By

Secret to Success

Well, truly, it’s not a secret. It’s being talked about all over the place. It’s called your psychology. Also known as your mindset.

It is the one thing that can propel you to success.

As a business owner your success is paramount.

How to know if your mindset is sabotaging your efforts for success

There are many ways we harm our opportunities for success.  Several ways in which you may be taking yourself out from the success track are:

  • Are you using words such as “you are such an idiot, I can’t believe you did that, you are so stupid” in your self talk?
  • Do you often find yourself thinking about a situation hours or even days after it happened wishing you did or said something different than what you said?
  • Have you found yourself in the same situation over and over again, wondering what happened to get you here again?

If you said yes to any of those, you are in a negative mindset – therefore, your psychology is not one that will support you, it will actually destroy you.

Simple fix for your success – pay attention to your self talk

Click To Tweet

Simple ways to boost your psychology for success

One of the reasons you may be more negatively focused is your upbringing. While we can’t go back to the past, you most certainly can change your present and your future.

  • Pay attention to your self talk.  Are you constantly berating yourself? Are you calling yourself derogatory names? There was a great article in Psychology Today that laid out the reasons why it’s easy to be negative. Once you are aware of your pattern it is easy to learn to turn it around.
  • Change your self talk.  If you do notice that you are not so nice to yourself, when you find that you are doing it, stop, and choose something nice to say about yourself.
  • Repetition is key.  In order to begin to change your pattern, you must be on guard and be at the ready when the negative self talk shows up so that you can change how you speak to yourself.

At first, it’s challenging, you may not even be aware of it.  Once you notice what you are doing, your pattern for your negative self talk, and implement your new habit of speaking kind and supportive to yourself, it gets easier!

Your assignment is to 1) pay attention to your self talk and notice if you are being negative and mean to yourself; 2) come up with several turn around phrases that you can tell yourself to start and shift from negative to positive; and 3) make it a habit.

That’s it! You will now be on the road to speedier successes and happiness!

 

My free e-book has a section about mindset. Learn more ways to help yourself to 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, Empowerment, Reaching Goals, Self Worth, Structure Tagged With: , , ,

How to have the ability to generate your own power

August 25, 2016 By

You have the power to generate energy.

I was watching a video from Brendon Burchard and he said such an intriguing thing that made me stand up and take notice.

He said that power plants don’t have energy, they generate energy.

His philosophy is that we have the power to generate our own energy, motivation and action. That got me to thinking, so often we take the easy way out. Have ever heard someone say (or even said yourself):

  • I’ll do it later.
  • I’ll start tomorrow.
  • I will leave this here for now.

Well my friend, if you have, not to worry, but know that when you do you basically snuff out your own energy. So if you are someone who would like to have more results, notice the times that you do snuff your energy out. Recognize what is it you are doing, how are you feeling and why you are letting yourself down.

How to generate your own energy.

Another word for energy is motivation, how can you motivate yourself so that you reach your goals, get what you want and find yourself successful?

Here are several ways in which you can do so:

  • Uplevel your mindset. What you think truly impacts your energy. If you are feeling blah and dull and like a loser, you won’t have the energy or even be able to muster it in order to take action on your goals. Think about a time when you were energized and motivated, what were you doing, what were you thinking? Use that feeling to energize you to take action on your goals.
  • Stop listening to other people. Only you can know what is truly right for you. Only when you begin to listen to what is right for you will you excel and find everlasting energy within you to go after what you want.
  • Clean your environment. If you are constantly letting yourself down, it may be your environment. External energy gets stagnant. Dust your home or office, vacuum, empty trash notice how you feel, it’s hard not to feel energized after you have engaged in moving things around and cleaning. It’s a really simple way to generate your own energy.
  • Just stop. Oftentimes we get caught up in doing something that we fail to realize that maybe we shouldn’t continue doing it. If you find you are getting stuck, frustrated and angry, just stop what you are doing. You can come back to it later, if you still feel the need.
“Power plants don’t have energy, they generate energy.” –Brendon Burchard

Click To Tweet

It’s all you!

Keep in mind that only you can generate your energy and so it is true too that only you can generate your own motivation. No one else can do it for you. So what will you do to reach your goals, dreams and desires?

Decide right now on one of the above ways in which you can use to get started!

Get my free e-book and read the section on Mastering The Mindset.  It will give you more ways in which to uplevel your mindset. Download my free e-book now! It even has a companion workbook that you can use to get starting immediately.

Filed Under: Empowerment, Personal Development, Reaching Goals, Structure Tagged With: ,
« Previous Page
Next Page »