Have you ever felt like you didn’t belong? Like you were an intruder or that the way you did life was just so different than others? If you have felt this way, how did you handle it when times started getting harder and criticism started swirling?

Well for me, when I feel this way, I put up a wall. I found the more successful I become the more petty criticisms and rejections increased from people I thought were my friends and from jealous associates. I have felt myself become robotic, resisting connecting on a friendship level with others, until I flew to California for a business meeting.

I was there for business–to be professional, get business done, but the people there thankfully wanted more connection from me. They chipped away at my wall until I just had to believe in humanity again, well most of it anyway. They were so embracing of me and my quirks that an eternal flame of hope sprung again.

Although try as I may to make business professional, I’ve realized underneath it all there is still a big need for relationships and everyone, including me (ouch), has needs as simple as finding a place of resting from the storm.

I was blessed with some respite and now am ready to go back into the storm clothed with an extra layer of humanity.

This post hasn’t been easy for me to admit to. I feel much more comfortable being the chick with attitude. It would really help me if you comment and let me know that I am not alone in this or that you disagree. Please comment below. Love to hear your stories.

Posted in: Business Mastery, Self Improvement, Step It Up Living at 5:24 pm | Comments (0)

So sometimes life gets crazy. What do you do to make it through? See what I have to say about my rocky road and how I am making it through. See if how I am making it work is what you do. Love to hear your comments.

Posted in: Business Mastery, Self Improvement at 9:43 pm | Comments (0)

Ever had a hard event in your life? Of course you have. We all have. What did you do about it? What I love about children is when hard things happen they have the great ability to find the power of the possible in the situation–no matter what is thrown their way.

This ability to bounce back and get creative is a great talent that if applied to business more often the hard times wouldn’t last as long and the hard times would be more enjoyable.

Checkout the experience my younger kids were able to create for themselves after hanging out in the hospital room for five hours. Of course I think they are funny.

I’d love to hear how you are able to find the fun and be creative when the hard times hit you.

Posted in: Business Mastery, Self Improvement, Step It Up Living at 9:51 pm | Comments (0)

Sometimes it isn’t easy to do what you say we are going to do to grow our business. I know this first hand. I have had a very challenging week personally and yet a great week business wise. How do you balance when some life situations throws your a curve?

Posted in: Business Mastery, Self Improvement, Step It Up Living at 10:44 pm | Comments (2)

Are you guilty of these mistakes?

Posted in: Business Mastery, Self Improvement at 2:15 pm | Comments (2)

Are you not moving forward on your business out of fear of technology?  It has definitely slowed me down.  I am trying to figure out how to do videos on YouTube on my blog.  I love to hear what you have to say.

Posted in: Business Mastery, Self Improvement, Step It Up Living at 3:55 pm | Comments (6)

Are you experiencing too many pressures at once? Do you have a gnawing, sickening feeling that if you just had a little more confidence you could make better strategic choices, manage your stress better, and could attract more customers authentically?

Failure to step up and start addressing some of these concerns can stunt your business growth immediately. You’ll start noticing a spiraling affect backward, not forward! Business growth will never remain consistent if you don’t pay attention to nurturing and aligning your inner self. That’s because your business success or failure is ultimately dependent on how aligned you are from the inside out.

The fastest and best way to become aligned within yourself and have the confidence to take your business to the next level is to hire an experienced life and business coach. This person should be a trained professional who doesn’t sit back and tell you what to do, but dive in from a place of inquisitiveness and intuition. The first steps should attempt to discover your strengths, check any blocks that are holding you back, and decide what action steps will help you step forward with confidence – without any hesitation.

Finding a coach that believes in you, your mission, and your purpose – more than you believe in yourself — has a powerful affect that can literally transform your job and your business performance over night. It doesn’t require guilt, shame, or doing a bunch of stuff you hate to do. It does require your willingness to explore and be coached.

I have seen business owners increase their sales by 200% in less than two months once they plugged into their confidence and focused on a deeper level than they had ever done before. I have also seen sales reps work 30% less and make more money in a few months of deep level focus. I have also seen marriages improve, headaches decrease, and a rebirth of business excitement and passion.

Is it time for you to step it up, and propel into greater business success? If so, make sure you are aligned with your core values, beliefs, and strengths. What are your core values and beliefs and strengths? Love to hear. Please comment below.

Posted in: Business Mastery, Self Improvement at 12:40 pm | Comments (3)

Insecure. Photo: Kaitlyn Nicole Photography

by Dr. Joe Rubino

Studies show that at least 85% or more of the world’s people suffer from some degree of lacking self-esteem. Although one might think that such challenges are only characteristic of the poor, uneducated, or lower socio-economic members of society, people from all walks of life can suffer situational or more widespread challenges with their levels of self-esteem.

Many very successful business people lack self-esteem in some areas of their lives. Perhaps they feel socially challenged or they have difficulty establishing close or intimate relationships. Perhaps they experience low self-esteem with regard to their physical appearance or their health. Perhaps they are not having any fun in their lives, maybe devoting too much attention to their work. Many “successful” people are driven to succeed. They compensate for feeling deficient in other areas of their lives by working harder and finding a place they can excel through their work. This provides them with a new focus where they can win but it doesn’t fulfill their neglected needs in other areas like relationships, recreation, personal and spiritual development, health and appearance, and their ability to lead balanced, fun, and fulfilling lives.

Many of those lacking self-esteem in other areas find themselves driven to accomplish, driven to prove their worth. Since business is an area where they can shine, they neglect other areas to focus excessively on business. (more…)

Posted in: Business Mastery, Guest Post, Self Improvement, Step It Up Living at 1:17 am | Comments (3)

I have been so excited.  My husband finally got a job out of the house.  That means the kids are home with me.  I wanted that.  I have two younger kids that need my attention and the best way for me to give it to them is for me to be the one home adoring them.  BUT, as I realized the first day my husband was gone, that means I am the one doing everything.  Naturally, I am not giving up my job as business coach nor am I going to stop writing and speaking so how to balance it all?

Whether you are going through a new transition like I just jumped into, or whether you are dealing with the normal life this balance it something that has no magical answer.  Also to make it tricky what works now won’t last.  Kids naturally grow into different stages. What was required from me when my older kids where young is different now that they are teens.  What it required of me now with my little ones is different than it was the first time.

So how does one at least achieve some sort of balance so they don’t feel overwhelmed, depressed, or unmotivated?

I am sure that there are many different answers to this, but I will tell you how I climbed out of my overwhelmed box. At this moment I am currently rocking as a mom and in my business.  First, I took a breath.  My husband got his job on a weekend I was out-of-town.  I flew in late Sunday because of plane delays (got to bed at 3 AM) and work up early Monday morning to my husband leaving for work. I was expected to figure out my business and tending to the little ones.  Overwhelm.

Step 1: Baby stepping to sanity

So I took baby steps.  I first attended to the “Must does.”   I didn’t do anything else but the things that absolutely had to be done.  I told everyone that requested something that I today was “must dos only.”  Their requests would go to a list and I would get to it when I had better idea of how I would balance everything, okay, not everything but most things.

It is amazing how many people struggle with this step of saying, “No” or “I can’t get to that right now.”  When questioned they often feel like they must be there for the other person.  It is hard to put themselves first.  This is a very important step to take.  If taken it is amazing how much our children, spouse, or clients will understand and be willing to take their turn for your attention as long as you do get back in a timely manner.

Step 2: Pay attention to the AHHH’s

After putting out the biggest fires, it was time to tune-in to the ahhhh’s.  Now there is a lot of variety of ahhhh.  There is the ahhhh’s: how I am going to do this?  There is the ahhhh’s: how am I going to adjust and what this is going to mean to me?  And there is just simply ahhhhh.  That Monday the biggest ahhhh I felt was: How was I going to go on the business trips I wanted and needed to go on since now husband couldn’t babysit?  Despite all the pressure and being exhausted from travel and all the things screaming to pay attention to, I came up with a plan for the trips.  I immediately called my sister to see if she was up for watching my darlings.  I gave her the dates for the whole next year and WOW did I feel better when she said, “Yes, for now.”

After that call I was able to chip away at all the rest of the stuff so much easier.  To be truthful the idea of being home all the time with my little darling and staying in the snow without any trip or seeing my friends that I have from all over was just well—depressing.  More than depressing.  Really really really depressing.  Once I knew that I was going to have my outs, I was much happier chasing the kids around the house hearing them squeal in delight.

My second ahhhh was the car pool that I just realized (when the kids called asking where I was at) that I was expected to do.  Well car pool is wonderful thing, but when I am hauling babies through the snow and getting in the car when I could be coaching—well the math didn’t add up nor did my excitement.  I rolled up my work sleeves and looked for a solution.  I believe that there is always an answer and this time the answer had to be me not doing the driving.  I did come up with an answer.  They kids get where they need and I do very little of the driving.  Happy times.

As you look at your work/life balance, what is having you go ahhhhh?  What is having you feel trapped?  Depressed? Not excited?  What step can you take to make it better?

Step 3: Identify where is the energy drainers or the anxiety increasers

By week two I had caught up with the travel hanger over and work pile.  Now it was time for me to tune in again and identify when I was feeling more agitated and what I could do about it.  After two days, I realized I was really happy and hit flow until the older kids came home.  I looked at why that was causing stomach problems.  It didn’t take long to identify the problem.  I actually thought that when the older kids got home they would help.  I would get a lot of my business work done.  Now that is funny!  What was I thinking?

Teenagers are addicted to drama.  They want their stories heard, boredom fixed, and their friends, not to help Mom.  Okay some of that they are going have to learn how to roll up their sleeves and work anyways.  Other part of it Mom is going to have to learn to get her work done before they came home.  Easy solution.  Hire a babysitter for two hours twice a week while the older ones are at school and work then.  That has worked like a charm.  There is so much peace of mind in a babysitter.  I can actually schedule when my work is going to be done and now all I have to do is honor the schedule.  Brilliant.  I wish I would have thought that one earlier.

I have to tell you it was hard to admit I needed the babysitter.  I actually felt guilty for being away from the kids eight hours a week.  Where is my head?  I had to talk to myself about how eight hours working strictly on my business is not being a bad mom.  Where did I get that idea?  I had to do some serious coaching on myself.  Hate that.  Sometimes I think I should know better and would get it faster since I help so many others with it.  But that is not loving and so I accept that I am human and I need help and sometimes I even need to coach myself.

That’s all the solutions I have for now.  I would love to hear from other mother’s out there on what solutions they found in work life balance and what things are they still struggling with.

Posted in: Business Mastery, Family, Self Improvement, Step It Up Living at 2:53 pm | Comments (0)

What is a leader?  That sounds like a question and I am sure that you have heard many different answers too.  Here’s mine.  I believe that everyone has the potential and the capacity to be a leader within them.  In order for a person to truly live their life purpose and do what they were sent here to Earth to do, they at some point in their life need to find that leader within them and let it step forth and shine to the world.  When I talk about stepping it up in your life this is the exact stuff that I am talking about–stepping forth in your brilliance.

Okay before the panic button gets pressed by all you introverts out there that believe I am saying that in order to live your life purpose you have to go way out there and do a lot of stuff that is extremely uncomfortable.  Wrong.  Not what I mean.  There are all types of leaders and all types of ways to lead.  Yes, there are the loud powerful ones that are in front of the pack and often make a lot of noise.  Love those types and believe we should empower as much as possible to make the right choices.  There are also the quiet leaders that lead softly with gentle words and kind gestures that often hit people in the core and make lasting change with little effort.  Love those types too and we shouldn’t over look them.  Then there are the cheerleaders, of course my favorite since that is the type that I am.  Cheerleaders believe in others and their capacities and they will see other’s potential that sometimes others can’t see for themselves.  Of course there is the ones who lead by serving and they uplift all they come in contact with.  There are leaders that somehow transform everything they come in contact with into beauty and on and on we can go.

Leaders lead.  That simple.  They let their light shine and sometimes they are really scared and take big steps and they fall or they succeed but they go on doing the things that they know in their core is the right thing that will make this world a better place.  Of course there are the bad leaders that get groups to do things that are terrible, but I am not going to waste my time on those leaders unless they are willing to self-examine and transform their ways to be about building others.

Each one of us has a longing a desire to do or be something that will have an impact and make a difference.  Those who listen to that longing and start taking steps to make the longing a reality are the leaders.  I don’t care if you take the steps in a loud fashion or ever so lightly.  Each and every one of us has the ability to look inside and listen to what’s next and to take that step.  What’s your next step?  How do you best lead?  I’d love to hear from you.

Posted in: Business Mastery, Self Improvement, Step It Up Living at 11:29 am | Comments (0)