Mother Nature is in constant change and evolution. And we as humans are part of that change. Some of it happens to us, and we need to chose how we react to it. But also, in many instances, we have the power to create change for ourselves.

Looking back at my life, I can identify 5 pivotal moments, decisions that others took, or I took myself. These moments changed my life for the better and led me to where I am today.

Even though stories behind those decisions could fill in a few books, I decided to condense them to a blog and share it with you. Why?

Because I want to help you make the decision you've been trying to make for a while. That decision you know deep down is the best thing for you, but it seems too big or scary to go after. I hope my story will inspire you to change that.

From Communist to Free Poland

This was not my decision. But without it, the others wouldn't have happened.

I was born in Communist Poland, in a small town, where freedom of thought, speech, or travel didn't exist. What existed were many absurdities that are funny now, fear, and numbness at best.

Many historical books describe these times, so if you'd like to discover that era for eastern and central European countries, "Europe" by Normal Davis is fantastic.

In 1989, when I was 11, an unimaginable thing happened, even after the years of protests and the Polish people showing their disapproval of the regime. The leaders of the freedom movement and governing regime came to an agreement. Poland was becoming a free real democracy in a peaceful way. Although not easy for many people, these times opened the portal for many opportunities for the entire nation. I happened to be young enough to take full benefit of this historical moment.

Talking About a Goal in Mind

I was always a good student. Actually, one of the best in my primary school and high school. So not getting into the University program I wanted was a blow. I chose an elite program in one of the best Polish Universities. There were over 5 candidates for each spot, and young people were applying from all over the country. I passed the exams but not well enough to get a spot. At least not the first time around. I was disappointed, discouraged, and without plan B.

What did I do? I decided to double down on prep, wait a year, and try again. It's because I felt that this program at this University was the right one for me. Not everyone in my family immediately supported my decision, but I stood my ground. In the end, my parents supported me in investing in my learning and prep for the year.

The following year, not only did I get into THE program, but my plan B was also an option (Law School). As luring as the Law School was, I went to graduate from the original program.

Welcome to Canada

You know, I never planned to immigrate from Poland. However, life tends to open different doors in front of us, and it's up to us to decide if it's the opportunity we want to grab. This one came through a friend as a side conversation.

I was in the middle of an additional undergrad program trying to make ends meet working a low paying job and tutoring kids. During a break conversation between classes, my university friend told me about the Canadian Immigration program.

At that time, the labor market for young people in Poland was tough. 20% unemployment. I was lucky to have a job that paid the bills and left enough money for food. You know that the Communist Regime collapse I described in point 1? These were times when Poland was trying to get the economy back on track.

Long story short, I decided to look into the program as an option for a better life. Because I spoke English and French and my first husband at a time had family in Canada willing to help, we figured this could work and decided to apply. After 1.5 years of the application process, we were sitting on a plane to Toronto. We had 4 pieces of luggage and a bit of saving. Before that, I'd never set foot in North America or even flew a plane.

But moving to Canada was one of the best decisions I made in my life.

As hard as it was to leave the entire family and all friends behind, Canada turned out to be a fantastic country to live in. Not only because of economic opportunities but also values of respect, tolerance, and overall mindset of the people.

Nothing of Value Comes Easy

... And without moving here, I would have never met the love of my life, my soul mate, my current husband. And without him, our precious family wouldn't have been started either.

Getting there wasn't easy.

I decided to leave my first marriage (this is the first time I'm writing about it ever). It wasn't a bad marriage at all, my first husband is a great man. Which made it so much more difficult to leave. To be the "bad and selfish person," hurt others around me for an unknown future.

Why would you leave something "safe" and "comfortable", create pain around you when you had no idea what the other side would look like.

But that's the thing, isn't it? We never know how the other side looks like until we get there. We'll never find out if we don't go after it and give it a chance to materialize.

Mid-Life Crisis or Ultimate Wisdom?

Because of life pivots above, I had my kids past 30. My daughter was born when I was 33, and my son at 35. As I was getting closer to 40, the kids grew enough to move out of the baby diaper stage.

That's when a thought hit me: at 40, I really have more than 2/3 of my independent adult life still to live. Let's not kid ourselves up until 20, or so we are very dependant on others. And given that the life expectancy will soon be 80, I have another 40 years to live!

That very thought got me thinking about how I wanted to live going forward? What impact do I want to make on the world?

I was again living in my comfort zone, making 6 figures in a good corporate job, working with great people, and being very good at what I do.

So were these thoughts a women's mid-life crisis or ultimate wisdom coming down on me?

Whatever you call it, for me, it meant starting my business coaching practice. Why? Because my passion is to empower people and help them reach their full potential. And my skills are is business.

I decided to focus on and help women. Because, as women, we have A LOT going on. We also need to overcome many things for the world to see us and appreciate us for who we are. I believe that finally, the 21st century is our time; that's why I want to help women to rise up.

Here they are, 5 decisions, 5 pivotal moments in my life. We all have them.

The moments that push us out of our comfort zones. The doors that open opportunities in front of us to create our dream life. But also require us to make scary decisions. The decisions that might have an end goal in mind, but we don't always know how to get there or what the end result will really look like.

Do you have a door of opportunity opening in front of you now? Are you scared to make the decision? I'd love to connect with you and have a human to a human conversation about ditching our comfort zones and going for the life we want.

Sharing one's own story might feel natural for extroverted entrepreneurs, but it's not that easy for introverts. And yet your story and your voice with it are the most powerful marketing tools in your business.

Wasn't part of your story what motivated you to start your business in the first place? Why not use it to inspire others, attract your ideal client so you can help more people, and grow your biz?

It's not for me to convince you to do it, but what I can do is show you four reasons you should, at a minimum, consider it.

Your story is unique to you but can be an inspiration to many.

I love Winnie the Pooh – such a wise bear he is 😊

"I'm scared," said Piglet.
"A story will help," said Pooh.
"How?"
"Oh. Don't you know? Stories make your heart grow."

(Milne, 1979)

People go thru similar things, and even though your story is unique to you, it can inspire others to change their lives for the better in ways you'd never imagine. Why do you think movies and books are so beloved? Because we develop connections with the characters, we learn from them and get inspired.

Your story is as powerful as any blockbuster movie. Through it, you can create a real bond and connection with your ideal clients. Because people buy from those who they know, connect with, and get to like and trust.

Part of my story brought me to this moment. Creating my coaching business with a mission to empower women to build wildly successful businesses with no overwhelm. Why am I so focused on eliminating the overwhelm? Because of what happened to me 3 years back. It had such an impact on me that I decided to help as many women as I can to avoid it. And here is how I'm doing it lately.

People learn best through stories

Storytelling is one of the most powerful ways to teach and learn. I remember always begging my grandmother to tell me goodnight fairy tales that she learned from her mother and grandmother. They were stories you couldn't find in books and always carried deeper meaning about values. They taught me more about being kind and respectful to others than anything else.

So what do you want your audience to learn from you? What message does your brand carry? You can use your story to convey powerful and inspiring messages.

Your story co-creates your brand.

As a solopreneur, your story helps you create your brand and be unique. It helps to cut through all the noise out there, you must stand out.

Is screaming louder, going to help you? Can you invent new colors that no one else is using? That can be a tall order. Even though don't get me wrong, the colors will enhance and showcase your brand.

Screaming only adds to the noise. Colors look great but are not powerful enough on their own. Your story is what makes the hole in the wall fo noise like a river in a hag stone and flows through to reach those who need it.

And yes, I can almost hear thoughts coming up for you now (because I had them too 😥) ...

... my story is not remarkable; who'd be inspired by it?

... what if people criticize me for sharing it?

... nothing is exciting about it ...

What I want to tell you here is that all those thoughts ARE NOT TRUE. Your story has some serious power to help others, help you stand out, and grow your business. And you won't even know how much power it has until you start using it.

When people resonate with it, they will share it with others.

I saved the best reason for last. Because you'll inspire and help others, your story will spread. People love to share stories that helped them in life.

Remember the last time you recommended a book or movie you loved to your friends? Or the last time you shared a powerful TED Talk on your feed for others to see? Yes! That was a story that impacted you, and you wanted that impact to carry on.

The same will happen with your brand story. People who will resonate with it, who will feel inspired, will share it with others. And word of mouth is one of the best marketing strategies there is.

So are you convinced now? Will you take this blog and use it as your motivation to craft and share your story? I hope that you will. If you don't know how to go about it and start, then schedule a free consult with me here. I'll give you some tips 😊.

100 blogs, 100 weeks, 100 ideas, and an average of 95,000 words written; I'm here. What's started as a thought of "I always wanted to write, so let's see how it goes" became an almost two-year journey of never missing a week. A journey that taught me a few things along the way, and today's milestone reminded me to pause and think about them. And as I was doing it, I decided I'd share my lessons with you.

1. Idea generator and content gold-mine

My commitment to writing a weekly blog generated a need for me to have a topic idea every week. This need improved my "observation" skills. I learned social listening - picking up ideas from posts and conversations I read through each week. These observations also allowed me to tune more into my ideal client's challenges, goals, wants, and needs.

Now, I have a section in my journal with a running list of ideas that indeed became a content gold-mine. Because even though not every idea I wrote down was perfect for a blog topic, but it could find its way home through a newsletter, LIVE training in my FB group, or a social media post.

Moreover, the blogs themselves became my foundation for social media posts and inspiration for other content. They became a wealth of ideas that never runs out.

2. Copywriting skills

Even though I always wanted to write, not being an English native speaker delayed me from picking up that dream after moving to Canada. But when I finally did, weekly blogs became an excellent training and practice ground for me honing my copywriting skills.

I believe that every online business owner needs to learn how to write marketing copy for their business. It's one of those essential skills that even if you outsource entirely one day, you need to know the basics yourself first.

Why? Because that's the way, you communicate with your ideal client online. This is how they get to know you, like you, and trust you. And how can you show them who you are if someone else builds your style and persona from the beginning? Authenticity means you're the one writing about who you're and your business. You are the one talking to your audience. The more you show you understand them, the more they'll trust you are teh one who can help them, the stronger the connection you'll build.

3. Discipline

Writing a weekly blog doesn't always come easy. To stick with this commitment, I developed a whole routine of writing. Each week one day, I pick a topic, do the research, outline the blog, and create 5-15 different titles for it. Another day I write the first draft no matter how shitty it is (who read Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird? …). And then, on the third day, I edit and post my blog. I've repeated this routine every week for 100 times now. I have no doubt that this routine has strengthened my ability to commit and self-discipline to do anything I chose.

4. Learn as much as you share

Research is one of my favorite parts of the process. Digging deeper into the topic I have chosen by going back to the books I read, searching more online, reading - I love all THIS. It's what keeps my eyes open at 5 in the morning when my body would instead go back to bed to sleep. Because my mind, on the other hand, is in exploration heaven saying: "Let's dig deeper, Maggie."

That brings another thought to my mind about discipline. Because I love learning, I could lose myself in research for hours on end. But who has time for that? Knowing when enough is enough, and it's time to move on to the next step and doing it is not as easy as it may seem. Having a weekly deadline on the blog motivates me not to go on reading and researching forever.

5. Boosts the creativity

The more you create, the more creative you become. The more ideas come to your mind. Creativity is like a muscle. You lose it if you don't use it, and you bloom it if you do.

Plus, learning how to put your thoughts on paper improves your overall critical thinking skills. You become faster, sharper in your thinking, and learn how to put something together logically so that your audience can follow and understand. These are some amazing skills that you can use anywhere in your life.

Over the past 100 weeks, I didn't just create 100 blogs, but also 2 weekly LIVE pieces of training on different topics, a weekly newsletter, and a few coaching courses. All this while growing my business and serving my clients, being a mom and a wife, doing an online executive MBA (that requires lots of writing as well), and having a demanding full-time corporate leadership job ... Yes, it's all possible, and that discipline from point 1 helps 😊

6. Decide if this is a lifetime commitment or a chapter in your life

After the two years of writing, I'm starting to think if I should continue and make it my life-long commitment or just a chapter in my entrepreneurial journey.

BTW do you know that Seth Godin writes a DAILY blog (yes, DAILY!) and has never missed a day for I don't know how many years now ….

Lately, I have been thinking about launching a podcast. Over the past couple of years doing LIVE video training, I came to love the idea of teaching and bringing value while talking, not just writing. But writing also has its magic that's still talking to me and not going away. So hey, maybe I can do both - work it out in a way that works for me.

What do you think?

When I started my coaching business, I was terrified of hearing a 'NO' from a potential client. I wanted to help them so bad it hurt me when they chose not to hire me.

As I have been talking and coaching female entrepreneurs, I find that most, especially at the beginning of their journey, have the same fear. And it can manifest itself in different ways.

For example, by not making an offer on a consult call because of thoughts like these coming up for them:

- 'this person can't afford it';

- 'it's not going to work out anyway;'…

... or wanting to help the other person so bad that the desperation comes through and turns them away.

The secret to booking consistent paying clients is overcoming the fear of 'NO' and leading your discovery calls as a relaxed conversation.

A human to a human conversation where:
a) you diagnose your ideal client's problem,
b) decide if they are a good fit for you, and
c) if so - make an offer without the attachment to the outcome.

Easier said than done, isn't it? I know ….

However, after this read, you'll have the tools to overcome this fear and make the consult calls much more comfortable.

Know that this happens to everyone.

One of our primary needs as human beings is to be accepted. We want to fit in, be liked, be apart of a community. Thousands of years ago, that meant safety, food, and shelter. Being rejected by the tribe meant death in the wild. That's why our brain fears the rejection so much, and it cannot distinguish a simple "No, I'm not ready to work with you yet" from the previous scenario.

That's why before any conversation with a potential client, remind yourself that 'NO' is a normal part of running a business. We all hear it, even the most successful entrepreneurs. Remember that 'NO's' are not infinite and that one more takes you one step closer to the next 'Yes.'

Be kind to yourself.

When you feel down or scared of being rejected, be kind to yourself. Acknowledge your feelings, and remember they are normal. Acknowledgment is a first step to being able to address the fear and reframe your mindset around it.

You can tell yourself:

"It's normal to feel scared right now. Everyone would. But if I don't make an offer to this client, I'll deprive them of the opportunity of receiving help, and they need it."

Or

"It's normal to feel this way right now. And my business success doesn't depend on this one individual 'Yes' or 'No'. If this person doesn't end up working with e, that's OK. The next one will."

When you offer love and kindness to yourself, you'll be able to show it to others. And that's the frame of mind you want to have when going into consuls calls.

Use it as a self-development tool.

If you're committed to attracting paying clients consistently, then use every discovery call you have as a learning opportunity. Take 5-10 mins after each and think:

• What went well, and why?
• What didn't go so well, and why?
• How did I feel, what was I thinking?
• Where was my focus during the conversation?

The more you do it, the more self-aware you'll become and develop ideas on how to improve the next conversation and address your fear of rejection.

Always keep things in perspective.

Fear of 'NO' from a potential client can lead you to be very attached to the conversation's outcome. And when you are, desperation will come out. If you're desperately trying to get a 'YES,' the other person feels it and automatically gets turned off by it.

Reframing your mindset before the consult call and putting things in perspective will help you avoid that trap. You want to start the call with abundance, relaxed, and letting go of the outcome. The one 'NO' is not going to make or break your business.

Think about it this way.

If you're new and keep taking action, you'll eventually hear a 'Yes.' 'No's are not infinite. If you're more established, you've booked clients in the past, you'll book them now and in the future. They are out there, and you'll keep attracting the right ones for you.

Face Your Fear

If fear of rejection keeps you away, even from booking the consults in the first place, face it. To paraphrase Nelson Mandela: courage is not about NOT feeling fear. Courage is doing things in spite of fear.

Here's an idea to make it easier for you. Make a contest with yourself (it's a technique used in many sales training). Create a checklist for 100 'No's'. Anytime you get a 'No' from a potential client, you'll get to check a box. If you get to 100, you win (pick a prize you'd treat yourself too with the win)! The great thing about it is that to get to 100 NO's, you'll hear some 'Yes's" in-between for sure! This way, it will be a win-win with every conversation. Either you hear a 'No' and get to check a box taking you closer to winning, or you book a client, which is a win in itself!

And if you're struggling to get fully booked with consults (so you can practice dealing with your fear of failure), then first book on a consult with me here and I might be able to help 😊.

Every one of us carries some baggage of limiting beliefs. Whether we got them through school, our parents, or society in general, doesn't really matter. What matters is that now as adults, we have the power to shed them.

Getting rid of beliefs that don't serve us and replacing them with those that do is key to your business and life success. The first step to that is awareness.

Here are the 5 most common limiting beliefs that I see in female entrepreneurs and help my clients shed through coaching.

1. Knowledge is power

As Jim Kwick said in his fantastic book Limitless, knowledge is power ONLY if you act on it. If you just accumulate knowledge and never use it, you're only gathering information that doesn't really serve you.

What I see in female entrepreneurs is that gathering knowledge is a pretext for lack of action. It's a camouflage to avoid facing the fear of rejection and not putting yourself out there. They think that "if I do this one more course, read that one more book, and review the program I took a few months ago," somehow, they'll get themselves ready to go out there and serve their clients better.

In fact, there is a 99.9% chance you don't need to learn anything new right now. Never in human history has there been so much information readily available, a few clicks away. Most people actually don't have an information problem but an action problem.

So if you're guilty of doubting your own knowledge, I challenge you today to shut down all those thoughts. Reframe this limiting belief into "knowledge is power ONLY if I act on it" and identify 3 actions you can take to move your business forward starting today.

2. I need to try everything that others are doing to be successful.

This belief is also rooted in fear of taking action and a lack of self-confidence. Our primitive brain is attracted to the next "shiny object." That's why tactics that allegedly will you make millions in three months are so popular. As humans, naturally, we shy away from hard work. We like easy solutions and fast results. And we'll happily fall prey to "get rich quick" promises, especially when other people are doing the same.

The thing is that in business, you want to stand out. You want to be different so that your ideal audience can see and distinguish you from the sea of competition. If you do everything the same as others, you're giving in your power of competitive advantage.

And yes, being different takes real work. I can take longer to figure it out, but when you do, you're the one who wins in the long term.

The point I'm making here is that you don't need to do everything that others are doing. You can have 3 simple business growth strategies that work for you, are unique for you, and focus on them. That concentrated energy you give them will exponentially pay off in much better results than anyone else around you.

3. There is nothing I can do about it.

When we start believing that there is nothing we can do about a situation, we give away our power, our control over our own business. When you do that, it's easy to fall into helplessness and procrastination.

Instead, I believe that we always have a choice.

Maybe we didn't choose what happened to our business and us (ex. the pandemic), the situation we are in, but we have a choice on how we react to it. And when you understand and embrace it on a deep level, this belief is freeing and empowering.

The thing is that when you think you can do nothing about a situation, it's also a choice. And you can replace that choice with "I CAN do something about it." "I will learn, think, and take action no matter how small," and this attitude empowering and keeps you moving forward.

To paraphrase Winston Churchill: If you're going through hell, don't stop but keep going, and you'll eventually get out of it

4. I don't know what to post.

Yes, I know this limiting belief is particular to the online world. Still, hey, I help female entrepreneurs get consistent paying clients, mostly online, so it's a big one.

My take on it is this is a bit of a lazy belief. As I mentioned above, we live in a world of information overload. A wealth of knowledge is literally one Google search away.

If you really care about your ideal client and take steps to learn what's important to them, what problems and dreams they have, you'll never run out of ideas for your content.

Yes, it's good to have some tools in your pocket to know how to design your content to convert. But once you learn the basics, only practice will make you better.

And you know what's also great? The more content you post, the more ideas come your way. If you pair that with some solid habits of consistency, you've just sped up your journey to business success.

5. If I give it enough time, it will work out.

Your business growth is actually not just a matter of time. Time in itself doesn't matter. It's what we do in that time that determines the results we get in our business.

Time isn't the only aspect to influence our results. When you think only time matters, the way you show up in your business is different, less focused, and makes it take longer. You fill your days with actions that don't lead to quick results.

And unfortunately, for many female entrepreneurs, this belief has them running out of time, money, or motivation to keep going. This leads them to give in to limiting belief # 3.

But what if you turned that around, took full responsibility for where you are, and figured out where the problems lie? You could turn things around fast. You could sign a client this week and get fully booked by the end of the year... Not by hustling, but by investing your work time only in the most effective things that move you forward.

You're probably thinking: "Yes, Maggie, all this sounds great, but it's easier said than done."

And my response is: I didn't write this blog to leave you without solutions and help. I wrote it to get you thinking. And to offer you my support to shed your limiting beliefs for FREE.

In 3 weeks, I'll be running a FREE challenge for you to Design Your Business Success in 2021. It will be filled with not only learning or mindset work but especially with action 😊.

I invite not only to join but also to design its content to address your specific challenges. All you need to do is to fill in this survey here.

I hope to you see you taking action in the challenge! 😊

"Life" happens to everyone. Even if you don't experience extreme hardships, there are still unexpected family emergencies, you or kids getting sick, smaller incidents, etc. None's life is filled with rose petals making it easy to go through it.

But somehow, some people, when starting their business, forget about that and have this "entrepreneurial ideal" of the sun always shining.

On the contrary, when you're an entrepreneur, and the business depends on you to run, such unexpected events can create a lot of personal stress and potential loss of income. Unlike in a 9-5 where maybe you have paid sick days, or even can take an extended leave of absence to deal with whatever comes your way and still have a job to go back to when running your own business, that cushion might not exist.

That's why being able to keep showing up consistently in your business in order not to jeopardize your income and with it creating more stress is so paramount.

How do you do that? Here are the 4 key steps to managing your personal stress while running a business.

Take care of yourself first.

To run a strong business and support your loved ones in any aspect, you need to be healthy and strong first. Getting enough sleep and rest to recharge, eating healthy wholesome foods, staying active, and nourishing your mind & soul are not luxuries but non-negotiables for you to function at your best.

It's much easier to handle stress and think clearly when quick decisions and pivots are needed when you're nourished, well-rested, and grounded. Establishing healthy habits in your life ill allow you to adopt and maintain all this with ease and consistency.

Develop robust systems in your business

If you've already been running your business for a year or two and haven't set-up any supporting systems, you need to start doing it now.

First, ensure you have a back-up for all the critical information.

Second, automate as much as possible so certain things "run themselves" without your constant oversight.

Next, ensure that you have great relationships with everyone who provides critical support to your business: employees or outsourced tasks, suppliers, vendors, etc. Build these relationships on mutual trust, work ethic, and integrity. With that, establish clear expectations of everyone's roles, provide them with tools, training, and clear direction.

They can help you run your business when you're unable to do so from time to time. You should take it as far as creating and training everyone on your business continuity plan. It can be as simple as a listing of who does what when unexpected events happen.

Establish an emergency fund

Unless you are already financially free, you should have an emergency fund. It's an X amount of quickly available cash that will not only allows your business function without income for a minimum of 3-6 months but also will cover your personal expenses.

And yes, I know that it might be hard to achieve but just like personal savings, but it is indispensable to get to. Having such a fund will reduce your stress and allow you to focus on whatever emergency you need to deal with at the time of need.

Become proactive and a highly performing CEO

Lastly, the same way you set up healthy habits to support your well-being, you must set-up high-performance routines and habits that will allow you to be highly effective and proactive in our business. Both support and complement each other.

Strategy and weekly planning are the first two vital must-have high-performance habits.

Why? Because strategy allows you to focus only on your business's most essential things and not give in to "time-wasters" keeping you busy but unproductive. In the time of personal emergencies, it creates time, allowing you to switch to dealing with them without jeopardizing the business as much.

Moreover, a weekly planning habit puts you in charge of your time. Days and other people's agenda's no longer run you. You control what you do when you do it, and how. So again, when unexpected things happen, you can quickly understand how this will affect your week and be able to proactively rearrange things (contact clients, suppliers, employees, or vendors) and tend to the emergency.

The next high-performance keys are your mindset and ability to make quick decisions.

Keeping your cool when "things happen" instead of panicking allows you to better assess the situation. You can better remember all the critical things you need to arrange in your business to focus on dealing with personal life. Making fast decisions in those moments is a must.

And if right now you're overwhelmed by the amount of "must have's" to set up and are not sure if it's even possible, I can assure you it is. We're capable of waaay more than we give ourselves credit for. Sometimes, we just need a little push.

Read this piece from one of my clients and see for yourself:

After trying every productivity strategy, I read about online with lacklustre results, I found Maggie. In the same month, I started receiving coaching from Maggie; I doubled my income even in the midst of a family emergency. After another family emergency came up in the second month of coaching, with her guidance, I doubled my income again. In the third month, I maintained my new income level, hired a staff member, and scheduled myself completely for the month ahead with plans to expand my business and do some more hiring. Beyond that, her insights go so far beyond building good habits. She has a way of completely shattering your perception of what you think you can achieve, then replacing it with mind-blowing possibilities that you suddenly realize are completely achievable. Those new mindsets alone have taken me farther than I could have imagined. This is how she has changed my life for the better at least three times over. It happened so often, I started losing count.

Jenni, founder of WP Pros(e)

So if you feel like you're ready to step up your game and establish proper strategy and habits in your business to grow it in the best of time and also to able to run it (and even grow it 😉) in not so great times, then we might be a for to be working together.

But wait, working with me is not for everyone. I only work with women who are ready and want to grow. If you're 100 % committed to doing the work and want to invest in yourself and your business, then let' stalk and see how I can help you. Step 1 - Click here to schedule a free discovery call with me now.

Gaining new clients is the # 1 challenge for most entrepreneurs and small business owners. Many forget, though, that even if you have a client and work hard to service them, you can actually lose money instead of making it. Setting the right prices for your offer is as important as gaining new clients. Because you didn't start your business to work for free, did you?

That's why in this blog, I'm sharing with you this 5-step process so you can set solid pricing for your offers and be confident in them without selling yourself short.

Know your cost

Even as an online service-based entrepreneur, you have costs: fixed and variable. Your fixed costs might not be as high as other businesses (for example, photographers have costly gear, landscapers all the equipment and fleet, etc.), but you still have some. Here are a few examples: annual website and domain payment, any subscription fees for the software you use to run your business like conferencing, online courses or email platforms, insurance, phone, internet charges, marketing, etc.

For your business to be profitable, you need to break even first, which means that you need to generate enough income in a year to cover all those costs. Once you know what they are on an annual basis, you can calculate how they translate to your hourly rate.

More on this below, but here is an example:

Your annual costs: $ 4,000/ # of your work hours 2,000 = $2, i.e., whatever you set your hourly rate to be, 2$ out of it goes to pay all your fixed costs.

If you have any costs specific to the service or project you're delivering (so-called variable costs), for example, an image bought on Splash for a graphic, you should charge its full price to this project.

Understand your conversion metrics

To determine your base hours rate after you know the fixed costs, you also need to understand your conversion metrics. As a service provider, you'll spend a bulk of your time in your genius zone, i.e., doing what you love for your clients (web and graphic design, admin tasks, copywriting photography, etc.).

However, it cannot be all the time you allocated to work in your business. You'll also need to invest a substantial chunk of time in marketing your business to attract and sign new clients. Plus, a small portion on administrative tasks, even if you outsource most of them.

It means that your hourly rate also needs to cover the time you spend on other tasks than doing the client's work.

That's where your profit margin % (markup) comes in. Your profit margin % is the "padding" that allows you to grow your business in terms of having financial resources to invest (marketing, better equipment, software, etc.) and an emergency fund for uncertain times.

Determine your base hourly rate

Now that you have your fixed cost and profit margin %, it's time to determine your base hourly rate.

First, do the pricing research within our niche. For example, if you're catering to affluent millionaires, this niche's pricing will be different from if your potential clients made 5 or 6 figures. And even within niches, the pricing will vary widely.

Just think about price cars: you can buy a used working vehicle for $2,000 that will take you from point A to B and a luxurious car worth $2,000,000 that will do the same. Therefore, treat your research just as an orientation exercise, stick to your niche, and don't worry much about being off by $50.

If you have a hard time deciding your base rate, there are a couple of other exercises you can do after your research. If you'd like me to help you finalize your rate, schedule a free consult here.

Decide if you're going to offer packages or per hour charges

Depending on your business, you might want to be charging your client on per hour or project/ package basis.

If you're charging on a per hour basis, add your fixed cost per hour rate to the base rate and then add the established markup to calculate the final rate. Of course, don't forget to charge any cost specific to the job.

Final rate = ($50 + $2) + markup

If you're pricing per project or setting a package – you need to have a good, fairly accurate estimate of how long each project would take you, ex: website, creation of graphics, the email sequence, etc. Also, don't forget to set boundaries on how many web pages, changes, or iterations are included in the price you provide. Otherwise, you're bound to lose money in most cases. So a simple formula for project pricing would be:

Project price = the number of hours project will take x (hourly fixed cost rate + your base rate) + markup + any cost specific to the project.

One more note here is - track your hours for projects you do to compare your estimates to your actual times and make adjustments as needed from time to time.

Be confident and clear to the client on the pricing and what it includes.

Always be transparent with your clients what the price of your services includes. Don't shy away from taking every opportunity to communicate that. People need to hear the same message at least seven times to internalize it. The better and more you communicate, the fewer misconceptions and false expectations you'll need to deal with. And always be confident in your offer!

PS. If this blog helped you share it away with others whom you think could benefit. And if you need additional help with pricing, sales, or marketing of your offer – set a free strategy call with me here.

Last week I ran a 5-day challenge in my FB group. Design Your Success: Hit Your Income Goals in 2021. Over 100 women entrepreneurs signed up for the event. Even though the majority could not make it live, those who did, experienced the power of creating time for what's important in your business.

They realized that the strategic planning of their business future isn't that hard, creates powerful breakthroughs, and can be fun simultaneously, especially when done LIVE with a community of like-minded people.

"Powerful," "extremely valuable," "super helpful," "inspiring," "motivating," "made me realize what I need to do to succeed" – are just some comments amongst hundreds that the participants shared over the five days.

Everyone took away many things that could skyrocket their business. And today, I want to share with you 5 thoughts that I noticed made an enormous impact. These 5 thoughts, one a day, if you really took them to heart and implemented in your business, could be all you need to make 2021 the best year yet!

1. No Action Is Action Too

When negative thoughts start ruling our brain, they usually lead to self-sabotaging behaviors. I see procrastination happening for women in finding "other" important things to do around the house. Or they find myriad excuses why they can't do the one thing that will move their business forward. Instead, they think they need better technology, wait for the right time, take another course, try another "magic get rich in 3 days promise," or they're actually so paralyzed by fear that they don't do anything at all.

But no action is action as well – the action of sitting and having disempowering thoughts that lead to self-sabotage and just feeling plain crappy. This type of action is often decided on by your subconscious brain, and you may not even realize why you're behaving this way. The antidote to this is making a conscious effort to turn this around.

How? This is one of the things I taught during the challenge. If you want to get replay access to all fice videos, read this blog till the end 😊.

2. Your thoughts create your results.

I know it might be a crazy concept to grasp, but it's backed by scientific research (just google). What we think about creates our feelings, and it's the feelings that drive our actions. Just think of the last time you were feeling down and what you did at that time, and then go back to times when you felt fantastic and what you did then. And, of course, our actions create our results – a.k.a, our thoughts create our results.

Now what you think about depends on your mind's input from the outside world and inside of you. That's why guarding that input like a very protective parent will have incredibly positive effects on your results.

3. If you wait for things to be perfect, you won't get far.

Perfectionism is one of the most common successes-prevention behaviors I see out there. Very often, it stems from self-comparison to others. And the worse thing is that we end to compare ourselves to people who are much more successful than us.

Ladies, all I can tell you is that those people paid their dues. They have been on their journey for much longer than you and didn't get the result they have overnight. They did the work, were consistent, went for massive imperfect action (Tony Robins 😉). They fell and gotten up over and over again.

Perfectionism is paralyzing, disempowering, and doesn't allow you to grow. Just remember that your ideal client now doesn't care about your website being perfect, or you having a professional copy. All they want is to be understood and know that you're ready to help them. And I guarantee that you can show them that right now with the knowledge and resources you have. Just go out there and do it!

Once you do, you'll learn. You'll get better and do it again. And if you keep doing it, others will start looking up to you as their inspiration.

4. If you wait too long, your brain will talk you out of even the easiest million $ idea on the planet.

Our brain is not designed to help us achieve our full potential and prosperity in life. Our brain is designed to keep us safe and alive and do it using as little energy as possible. That's why if you do not take intentional steps to learn how to command it, how to deal with disempowering thoughts, and create ones that serve you, you'll not achieve your dream goals.

Just think about it ... How many times you had this great idea to implement in your business or invest in yourself to grow, and the longer you started thinking about it, the less compelling that idea became? The longer you waited, the more "reasons" your mind came up with why it's actually a bad idea and why you shouldn't be pursuing it. Right?

As an entrepreneur, you need to learn to be decisive and act, be the CEO. And I'm not advising you to be reckless and go after everything right away. What I'm saying here is to be strategic in your business plan ahead of time – understand what you need and then either go and get it or when the opportunity presents itself on that very thing, just go for it.

Some of the best things in my life happened because of decisions I took even though my emotional fear-based brain gave me a million reasons why I shouldn't. And yet my heart, my gut, and the logical brain had this faint voice saying "YES" - this is the right thing to do it. Have guts to listen to those quiet voices.

PS. In the challenge, we also talked about what you need to do to become a decisive CEO ;).

5. Believe in yourself

When you start as a new entrepreneur, you're not alone, scared, and feeling like no one will want to buy from a newbie. The imposter syndrome is raging all over you. Even more experienced business owners go thru this fear every time they scale and uplevel.

What I learned and can tell you is that unless YOU decide to believe in yourself, the new certification, or even the first few clients, will not validate your belief. So start with your language (speaking from experience here :)). Instead of saying "I'm a new VA," "I just started my graphic design business, "I'm a baby coach," just say, "I am a VA, a graphic designer, a coach." That's it - no adjectives that diminish your confidence and your audience's confidence in your ability to deliver value with your offer.

The more you practice with people you meet, the more confident you'll feel in your own skin. You cannot expect your potential client to believe in you and your ability to help them if you don't believe it yourself.

Right? How crazy would that be? That's why the more confident you are, the more positive energy you'll have, and people will feel it. They will get attracted to you and start believing in you, your skill, and the value you offer.

All right, so now that we got to the end ...

I want to tell you that the free event - Design Your Success: Hit Your Income Goals in 2021 generated even more powerful thoughts for its participants. And the video-training from the event can do the same for you!

I didn't create an "easy" sign up page for this training because I want to start training your brain to inspire you to action. So, if you want to benefit and have your own powerful breakthroughs, send me an email here to gain access to these amazing videos. I'm looking forward to meeting you!

Have you ever felt like your workdays are nonstop "busy work"? Have you tried a bunch of productivity tips that were supposed to help you move the needle in your business and life, but nothing really worked long-term?

And now you often wonder how highly-successful people do it all: run multiple multi-million dollar businesses, are visible everywhere, seem to be happy, relaxed, and not stressed while having time for self-care and their loved ones …

What I can assure you is that high-performance is real. That you can achieve more, create extraordinary results in your business and life without being always "busy," stressed, and overwhelmed.

And today, I want to share with you 5 reasons why all the productivity tips you tried so far didn't work or bring the results you expected.

1. Approaching the tips with "it's not going to work for me" attitude

Most people do not like change. And of course, introducing any new tools ("tips") into our day to day routines means we'd need to change something and adapt. That's why many people, before trying something new, find many reasons why these particular productivity tips wouldn't work for them. The list of excuses can be long and creative.

As a result, many people never even try and stop the improvement journey at the "wannabe" stage. Or from those who do try, they approach it with "it's not going to work" mindset, subconsciously self-sabotaging themselves and squashing any chance of success. When you apply "it's not going to work" attitude to anything, it will lead to poor results so that the inner you can stay congruent with its thoughts and say, "See! I told you so!"

My advice then is, whenever you want to learn something new, have an open mind. Forget about things you know or things someone else told you about the subject. Become like a curious child that wants to explore the unknown treasure chest. Have an open mind, learn, and implement the things you learn. The real change and progress happen only in doing.

2. All or nothing mindset

Secondly, perfectionism is a killer of any new endeavor. Let's say you decided to try scheduling your tasks into your calendar. Out of the 4 times, you did it in the first week; 2 times, you somehow couldn't stick to the schedule because "life happened." Some people will adopt the "see, I told you it's not going to work" attitude and drop the tool altogether, even if the other 50% of the time it worked well. They won't even take time to realize and acknowledge the benefits those two times that worked brought them.

The thing is no one is perfect. And it's the trial and error attitude coupled with time are precisely what allows us to create long-lasting positive changes in our lives.

3. Lack of patience

Like most amazing things in life and business, high-performance is a journey. You don't just go from stress and overwhelm, continually running like a hamster in a spinning wheel to the calm, Zen, and extra productive entrepreneur in one day or after applying 2-3 tips for a week.

Unfortunately, not many people have the patience to develop beneficial things in their lives in the current instant gratification world. Many are looking for some magic "get rich or super productive or calm" quick tools that really do not exist.

John Wooden, an American basketball player, and coach, said it best.

Good things take time, as they should. We shouldn't expect good things to happen overnight. Actually, getting something too easily or too soon can cheapen the outcome.

John Wooden

4. Trying to fit your life into the productivity tips

One of the things I see and coach my clients on is that you need to see how new tips fit into your current day to day whenever you learn and apply them in your life.

It's not necessarily about you trying to fit your life into "the shoe," but actually adjusting the shoe (tips) to work with your current lifestyle. Why? Because it makes it easier to adopt and stick with it. And the key to high-performance is to slowly, piece by piece, create routines and a system that helps you become highly effective.

It's hard to do that, though, when you try to turn your current lifestyle upside down right away. No wonder people give up and drop the idea altogether. So, if you try to establish a morning routine thinking, you need to get up at 5 am, but you're a night owl and go to bed at 1 am, of course, it won't work. But what if you establish that routine at 9 am or whatever time it is you want to wake up?

5. Treating high-performance as a bunch of tips, not a system

If you treat time management techniques just as tools, loosely related to each other without an overall look at how all of them affect your life, you might become organized and productive but still not become a true high-performer.

High-performance is a lifestyle. It's creating a system of routines and habits strengthened by a proper mindset that allows you to create time for anything that is important to you at any time in your life and actually accomplish what you decided to accomplish.

And I get it that all I'm telling you here might seem not possible and out there. I was there myself over 3 years ago. I was actually burnt out, never imagining that one day I'd be helping others redefine what they can do with the time they have.

Here's a sneak peek of my story & journey to high-performance and into the details of the High-Performance Kickstart program.

If you're really serious about taking back control of your time, eliminating constant stress and overwhelm, becoming clam, and overhauling your idea of what you can achieve, then take a look at the video and the program details. The registration is open, and time to get your spot is limited!

https://youtu.be/ReKmn8Xriic

FIND OUT MORE & GET YOUR SPOT NOW!

I often compare being an entrepreneur to having children. Even though it's one of the best and most fulfilling things in the world, there are many challenges on that journey that the glorified picture in "mass media" seem to miss.

And yet, learning from and overcoming challenges in entrepreneurship makes you better not only as a leader of your business but also as a human being.

For the next few weeks, I decided to write a series of blogs featuring fantastic women business owners who, through their stories, will share the wisdom they acquired on their journey.

This week, we're starting with the entrepreneurial emotional roller-coaster that ranges from feeling fulfilled while helping your clients and at the same time doubting yourself every step of the way. Because many entrepreneurs let those two things hold them back for too long.

And if, on top, you're feeling the agony of picking your niche, this is a must-read for you!

1. If you're passionate about helping others the way you helped yourself - just do it.

When Katie Mickolwin was 13, she was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. Not fun for a young girl coming to the most challenging part of childhood: teens. It's hard to even imagine how hard it must have been dealing with pain, progressing disease, medication, and peer bullying because of it.

And yet, Katie didn't succumb to her disease and faced it head-on. In college, she decided to study holistic nutrition.

By adopting a holistic lifestyle (through nutrition, yoga, meditation, etc.), she could go off medication and start living her life almost free of pain and symptoms.

Her strong belief in the benefits of a holistic way of living and passion for helping others led Katie to start her Holistically Humble coaching business in 2014. Living in Canada, a beautiful British Columbia province, she's since been helping people like herself suffering from rheumatoid arthritis or other immune disorders to lead a more normal life.

Katie's niche came from helping herself first. So that was easy. But the fear of failure or need for perfection still came in from time to time, injecting doubt in her ability to run a business.

Having a support system of mentors, coaches, and like-minded entrepreneurs helped her tremendously on her journey. One of the biggest lessons Katie learned is this:

Done is better than perfect. Put your work out there and tweak it if needed later. Don't be afraid to make mistakes and always stay true to yourself.

Katie Mickolwin

2. Always remember your "WHY."

Across the ocean, in Europe, Amy Culliford is just starting her journey. Similarly to Katie, Amy first helped herself heal from hormonal imbalances through nutrition, yoga, meditation, i.e., a holistic way of living.

She had degrees in public health and nutrition, and chemical engineering!

At first, the thought of starting a business was scary to Amy. She was living in Manchester with her partner, having a secure and cushy government position. However, the need to share her own path to recovery to inspire others led her to start blogging.

But then the COVID pandemic hit. Amy's boyfriend is Greek, and last October they decided to move from the rainy UK to sunny Greece. It's hard to find a new job in the pandemic.

But Amy has been thinking about helping others with her knowledge for some time now. Especially women at the end of the rope with their dieting with hormonal and fertility issues. So she took the move as an opportunity to start her own coaching business.

It's still very new, and Amy is experiencing the emotional roller coaster regularly. Her thoughts bounce back between "I love what I do," "I love my clients," to "what if the business doesn't work out," "what if can't do it?". How does she deal with them?

She goes back to her "WHY" – remembering how fulfilling helping people is and how much she loves what she does. And following holistic life routines (journaling, yoga, meditation) helps as well 😊.

There is a big emotional component for many women who start their business. That desire to help others grows in you over time and overtakes everything else. It drives you to keep going.

Amy Culliford

3. You don't need to be clear on your niche right away; it can evolve with your business.

Jen Hill Myers has been a professional copywriter for over 20 years now, living in Pleasant Grove, Utah. She started her career in a 9-5 position helping non-profit organizations with their email marketing and Public Relations.

Jen, as well, has had a nagging feeling of wanting to do more for a while. More meant having a greater impact on the world. But for quite some time, she had no idea of what or how she'd do it.

Then in 2014, her husband went through a severe heart attack needing emergency surgery. He was OK in the end, but the event shook Jen to the core and triggered her soul searching.

She knew she loved writing, so as a hobby, she started writing a food blog. She quickly realized that food blogging is more about beautiful photography than writing. So, she went back to the drawing board.

That's how she decided to become a freelance copywriter. This way, in the beginning, she didn't need to worry about acquiring clients and just focused on perfecting her craft.

As her knowledge and skill improved, she realized that ghostwriting blogs or just email marketing was not as fulfilling anymore. And thus, a couple of years ago, she decided to turn her freelancing business into a full-blown copywriting agency focusing on sales copy for heart-centered coaches and course creators.

Jen didn't pick a niche from the start. Even though she had doubts about it, she allowed her experience to guide her. And now Jen is so clear on her niche that she developed a system to carefully vet her potential clients. The vetting helps her ensure that she works only with women who are in their business for impact and service to help, not just money. By supporting such clients, Jennifer makes a greater positive impact on the world.

You will make mistakes. Give yourself grace when making them and have the courage to ask for help. You don't have to do it all by yourself.

Jen Hill Myers

4. Even if you feel you don't fit in, you can find your purpose and courage to start.

We are back in Europe, UK. Nayara Alves was born and raised in a small town in Brazil, but now she lives in London. Moving to a big metropolitan city opened her eyes to possibilities. She realized that as humans, we can do great things if we only unlock our full potential.

Navara has always dreamt of doing a job she loved but couldn't find her place. She tried many things over the years and felt like she never fit in anywhere. She felt lost. Until she discovered personal development.

Personal development allowed her to discover her real strengths and purpose in life. It guided her to starting a life coaching business to help people like herself - lost and feeling out of place.

After completing the life coaching certification in 2019, she helped her friends and people from her immediate network. Like Amy, being "new" to the entrepreneurial world, she sometimes faces doubts about it.

Jen Hill Meyers cleverly called it "Rapunzel syndrome." One moment you feel on top of the world, knowing how much you can help others to only feel horrible a moment later because you took time off for self-care to have energy and creativity to serve your clients better.

What does Nayara do to keep going in those challenging moments and ensure she has balance in her life?

She intentionally redirects her negative thoughts to more positive ones. She creates thoughts that expand her and grow trust in the universe. While doing the work she needs to grow her business, she knows that the right things come to us at their divine time.

When you turn to the universe and the higher power, you can always find answers and peace there.

Nayara Alves

5. Keep your eyes open and say "YES" to the right opportunity when it presents itself.

Like Nayara, Noni Night profoundly believes that we need to nurture all aspects of our being to reach our full potential.

As much as we know about our minds and bodies, many people forget about spirituality within themselves. Yes, most of us believe in God or the Universe, the outer part of the spiritual world. But we forget that as humans, WE are spiritual beings and that inner, often very vulnerable, part of ourselves must also be nurtured.

Noni comes from a family of 8 children in Atlanta, Georgia. She is 3rd in line, having 5 younger siblings in their pre-teenage and teenage years.

As an older sister observing how much attention, help, and support teenage kids need, Noni realized that people can become lost and vulnerable to the outside negative influences without it.

But with positive influences and the right leaders, they can better themselves, be happier, and positively impact their community no matter their age.

Knowing what she wanted to do, didn't mean that Noni had her business all figured out from the start. After graduating from college in linguistics (yes, she speaks 4 languages: English, Spanish, Italian, and German) and giving an inspiring graduation speech about feminine power, Noni went to work as a manager in a restaurant.

As you can guess, COVID proved deadly to the hospitality industry. Early last year, Noni lost her job. Trying to figure out what to do next, she took this opportunity not to despair but pause and think more in-depth about her life.

She realized that she pursued a degree in linguistics to be able to understand people better. To know what they think, what drives them, and how the cultures they come from influence their beliefs. That led her to the conclusion that there are many ways to better oneself. And that spirituality is one of them.

This moment created a spark that ignited her start-up business. Noni helps teens and young adults grow their confidence, better themselves and their relationships with others through reiki and spiritual healing. She does it by translating spirituality into simple and practical tips.

How does she overcome challenges in building her young business?

By asking for help, developing and growing her expertise, and finding new ways to educate her audience on the power of holistic healing.

Be persistent, be bold and never be afraid to ask for help when you need it.

Noni Night

Quick last note.

I'd have to write a book to include all the valuable lessons I have learned from these 5 fantastic women. Yet I hope that this article has enough of them to inspire your action. To lift you up when you doubt your ability to grow your business and fulfill the dream you have.

The one piece of advice that all of us have for you is that: don't try to do it alone.

Ask for help when you need it. Hire mentors and coaches and surround yourself with supportive people who will uplift, motivate, and inspire you to action. The sooner, the better.

As Jen says, every penny you invest in a coach or other help is worth 10 fold when the match is right.

And one more thing: you don't need to be perfect. You don't need to have it all figured out from the start. Progress is what matters.

To contact my Guests:

Katie Mickolwin, Holistically Humble
BA, major in Sport, Health, & Physical Education, R.H.N., RYT 200

Holistically Humble on Instagram
Holistically Humble on YouTube

Amy Culliford, Moon Life Yoga
Masters in Public Health Nutrition

Moon Life Yoga on Instagram
Moon Life Yoga on YouTube

Jen Hill Myers, Jen Hill Myers Media
Sales copywriting services, 20 years of experience

Jen Hill Myers Media on Instagram
Jen Hills Myers Media on Facebook

Nayara Alves, Success & Life Purpose Coach
Certified Life Coach

Nayara's Coaching on Instagram
Nayara's Coaching on Facebook

Noni Night, Nonna Heals
Motivational Speaker & Writer
Holistic Healer & Life Coach

Nonna Heals on Instagram
Noni Night on YouTube

2020 has been hard for many of us. With everything going on in the world and in your own life, it can be all too easy to get crushed under the weight of it all.

I don’t need to tell you that. But, I can tell you that ...

If you put in the effort with a few key strategies, you can find an endless well of motivation and inspiration to not only see everything through but to also guarantee your own success along the way, each and every day.

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For years in my corporate job, I coached people’s success. Helped them be more productive, effective and efficient without burning out. I helped people within the company achieve more and get promotions. It’s just what I do.

Yet, I noticed an awful trend. The more I coached coworkers with elevated titles within the company or helped them get there, the fewer women I helped.

I noticed that women within the company weren’t getting promoted anywhere close to the rate men were getting promoted. Unfortunately, it had absolutely nothing to do with skills, talent, education, or capabilities.

It was bias, discrimination against gender - conscious or not, it was there.

I remember one particular meeting where my coworkers and I were meeting the new boss and we were going to get instruction on what to do next with a massive project we were working on.

In that meeting, there was me and I was surrounded by men. The new boss came in and introduced himself and as the meeting went on, he started delegating tasks to everyone.

Well, everyone except me.

The boss didn’t know any of us so the fact that I wasn’t acknowledged or assigned any work…

I was disappointed and discouraged. I didn’t feel very confident at that moment and I wondered if I was even good enough to speak up. I didn’t know if I should.

I thought about it and realized there was so much work to be done. If they were going to be successful, they needed my help and I knew I could help.

I spoke up and got a small assignment for me. When i was done with my work, I sent it back and offered some suggestions on what all of us could be looking at while working on that project. The new boss loved it. And at that moment I noticed that his perception of my ability to do the work changed.

He realized that my contributions were as valuable as those of the men on the team. And the only way I was able to help him make this realization because I got the courage to speak up and stand up for myself in the first meeting.

I overcame that fear because I knew I could help and I knew they needed all hands on deck. At that point, it felt like an obligation to speak up.

I let that feeling of obligation motivate me to do what I was initially scared to do. That’s the thing.

We often get so tied up in fear or a “right” way to do something, that we often miss opportunities for motivation to actually do it.

What may inspire and motivate me may not work for you. But the great thing is, you can find what works for you. It doesn’t even have to be the same thing every day.

Each moment, you can pick what motivates and inspires you.

You can choose what motivates and inspires you moment to moment.

As soul-crushing as that realization was in my corporate career, it also inspired me to start my own coaching business solely to help women reach the top. Especially if you have your own business, I want to help you reach your full potential, income goals, and dreams.

I let that be my inspiration and motivation every day.

If you’ve been following along with my blog posts this year, you may have noticed that I offer tips to help you be a successful CEO of your business. From finding your own motivation and inspiration through marketing, sales, and branding tips to helping you create new habits to be more productive and strategic with your time.

With each of these strategies comes the belief that you have what you need to succeed already inside you and now you also have the strategies to make sure you create that success outside.

These are all a part of my Dream✧Plan✧Do coaching system, success, and resiliency in every part of your life.

With this set of strategies comes an extra strategy already built-in: the system is self-regulating. These exact same strategies not only help you get on track with every aspect of your business (and life), but you can apply them to get back on track with the strategies themselves.

Even when you try them and they start working, but you slip up, that’s okay. You can apply the same strategies to fix whatever isn’t working about the personalized system you set up. You can do this with the exact same set of strategies.

You can create a new habit to check in with yourself every day, every week, every month, and any time you need it to proactively make sure you’re on the right track. When you realize you’re not, you can adjust your habits or create new, better ones. You know how to do that now.

Give yourself a moment to let that sink in. You literally have what you need to do whatever you want and be successful in it. Obstacles don’t have to trip you up.

You can pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get right back to succeeding at anything you want. You can do anything because you know how to do it.

When challenges come your way, you might not know the nitty-gritty details of what may happen next. But you can know exactly how to conquer them and guarantee your own success this way.

Knowing this offers an even greater gift: confidence.

Let it wash over you, inspire and motivate you. Anytime you need inspiration and motivation, you can draw on your new level of confidence knowing you know exactly what to do to succeed.

And that’s a new infinite well of motivation and inspiration you can draw upon at any time.

I know these strategies work because I’ve taught them for years and have been using them, myself. So, I hope you try them out so you can find more success, too.

If you want to go even deeper, there’s so much more you can do to gain even more momentum. You can reach out to me for a free discovery call here, where I can show you what and how you can do to create success in your business you dream about.

I wish you the very best in 2021 and beyond! May you achieve all the success you can dream up!

Best wishes,
Maggie

Women are making better and better strides in entrepreneurship. The number of women entrepreneurs is rapidly growing, including in the online world. We own 36% of businesses worldwide.

Most women entrepreneurs I talk with and help started their businesses to create a lifestyle that fits their values (family, ethics, sustainability), creates time freedom, and provides schedule flexibility. Women do not want to compromise. They want to make their own rules and decisions, even if they're shy and introverted. It's not easy to be an entrepreneur, but having your own business can offer all this.

Below, I share with you five inspiring stories of fantastic service-based entrepreneurs who are redefining business rules for themselves.

You can be a stay-at-home mom and a successful business owner at the same time.

Kayla lives in Texas, US and graduated from college with a graphic design degree. She loved the design as a process and also the creativity that it requires. After graduation, she started working for a digital advertising agency.

Then unexpected happened. Kayla and her husband were expecting a baby. This was not part of the "life plan." At least not for the next few years.

And yet, does anything ever go according to plan?

Kayla loves kids, and part of the plan was to stay at home with her kids but not at that time, not yet. When her first son was born (now 5), Kayla dove 100% into motherhood. After some time, she realized that with it, she lost part of herself. The part that loves drawing and painting. The one that loves figuring out the strategy for the website's design to tell a story that converts a visitor into a paying client.

Doesn't it happen to many of us, especially with the first child? It sure did to me.

After her second boy was born, the creative side started calling, making Kayla realize that she needed that in her life. That's how she decided to start her own web design business. At first, she was a freelancer who tried to work with any small business needing help with branding and web design.

She quickly realized that wedding photographers are genuinely her niche. Creative herself, Kayla loves working with them, designing a website and brand that reflects the magic they create on one of the most important days of people's lives. Once she niched down in March last year, her business, Kayla Sue Design, took off. Now she works only with clients of her choice on projects that excite her.

I want to help my clients thrive. I love helping them create a brand that gives them confidence and realize the value of their work.

Kayla Sue

Beginnings are hard, but when you invest in yourself, you can progress so much faster.

Chané started her business for similar reasons to Kayla. She was 4-month pregnant with her second child, living in British Columbia, Canada, when COVID hit, and she lost her 9-5 in March 2020.

When Chané started thinking about how she could support her young family while still having time to spend the most precious moments with them in person, she realized entrepreneurship was a way to go. She grew up seeing her Dad running his own business as an immigrant since they moved to Canada from South Africa when Chané was 3.5 years old.

She was thinking of starting a VA business. She invested in an introductory course first to see if VA was something she would enjoy doing. Once she decided that, Chané invested in a program that taught her must-have VA skills, helped her sign the first couple of clients, and establish a foundation. Now she's working with a coach to grow even further.

Chané helps podcast hosts to run and grow their podcasts. She takes away all the trouble of promotional graphic creations, show notes, publishing, and all the other technical aspects of running a podcast.

The accelerated growth she has been through over the past year has been tremendous. Chané believes in investing in yourself and one day wants to become a mentor herself.

Her advice? Do your research first. Understand what area you need to grow in and pick the right fit for yourself, whether it is an online course, group program, or one-on-one coaching. When the fit is correct, your investment will pay for itself ten-fold.

When you feel like you don't fit somewhere, change it. As scary as entrepreneurship may be, investing in yourself and going back to your WHY will help you thrive.

Chané Lowry

Your creativity is what makes your business successful.

Sarah lives in Wales, UK. She was always a shy child and, when at school, scared to do creative things. Why? Because she didn't understand how one piece of creative work can be judged and given a "better" grade than the other.

Math is easy this way. You either get the right answer or not. But art?

Who is the right person to say that Picasso's paintings are more beautiful than those of Van Gogh's or that one of them was a better artist than the other?

Not wanting to be judged, Sarah has suppressed her creative side for most of her school years, even though she always loved to write. And she might have never gotten back to her passion if it wasn't for the birth of her daughter. With the first baby being born, Sarah wanted to stay with her and not go back to her corporate job.

It was then when she rediscovered her passion for writing and came up with her first business ideas. She started a brick and mortar business teaching kids how to write books. They would first focus on the story, not worrying about spelling, grammar, or punctuation. That strategy simply unleashed children's imaginations, confidence, and willingness to write. Once they finished the story, then editing and illustrations would come next. Kids were able to take home a real printed book written by themselves.

The business took off and was successful until the COVID pandemic started. Since it was in person and Sarah loves this interaction, she decided not to move it online. She self-published a book, "The Ultimate Guide to Writing Fantastic Stories," that kids can now use to write their own stories.

With COVID, Sarah pivoted her business to become a writing coach. With her degree in marketing and writing experience, she decided to teach entrepreneurs how to write their own stories. Through her S.J. Design business and free Facebook group, she helps her clients to write compelling social media, website, and email content that converts.

Even if you're shy, you can help people through your business and genius zone. Every time you're scared, remind yourself: I'm letting people down if I don't get out there and do it.

Sarah Jenkins

Even when you're shy, you can run a successful business.

Sonya started her VA business in 2020 from Alabama, US. Like many others, she felt the uncertainty and fear because of COVID.

She is still in her 9-5, but she thought of starting her own business to give her flexibility and allow for freedom of time and location.

Since she's acquired strong technical skills and loves that side of the business, as a VA, Sonya specializes in automation, putting lead magnets together, online course set-up, and many other techy things.

Sonya doesn't like to be at the forefront of attention. She loves to help others from the background. In the next few years, her vision for her business is to have an agency specializing in assisting entrepreneurs with anything tech.

The advice she has for any shy woman thinking of starting her own business but feels scared?

Even when you're shy, you can be brave. Don't shy away from challenges, be resourceful and go for it!

Sonya Lee

Your business is the extension of you – align it with your personal values.

As I was listening to Claire's story, I realized that entrepreneurship was meant for her in the long run.

Born in the US with a French Mom and American Dad, she went to an international school in Houston, Texas, with kids from all over the world whose expat parents worked in the oil and gas industry.

That school represented the world in a condensed, child-friendly version. No wonder it shaped Claire's values, outlook on life, and love for travel.

She studied international business and marketing in Canada and France. That's how the traveling started. Claire worked in many positions in the marketing field, from government institutions to start-ups and consulting firms, international corporations, and design agencies. She traveled a lot.

However, such roles are very demanding. Long hours, busy schedule, and tonnes of stress. Claire's health started suffering. She developed an auto-immune disorder, and her body started shutting down. She knew she couldn't continue working like this.

Claire realized that the only way she could fully control her schedule and prioritize her health was by starting her own social media strategy and management business, The Social Palm. By doing that, she could help other businesses whose values aligned with hers: health and wellness, sustainability, and ethics.

Even though COVID put a halt to her travel plans, Claire is growing The Social Palm from her house in Toulouse, France.

She still marvels a the growth opportunities entrepreneurship brings.

Even though she grew a lot over the years in her corporate roles, it is nothing compared to how much she has learned since she started her business. The opportunities and freedom of choice it offers are mindboggling as well. She can choose to work on meaningful projects that make a REAL difference in people's lives.

Don't fear putting yourself out there and connect with real people. When you do that, you can figure out your own strategy and approach to attracting clients.

Claire Matz

If you're reading these stories on a tough day when the entrepreneurial roller coaster is real and you feel like giving up, I hope these stories are inspiring you to keep going.

Or maybe deep down, you want to start your business but don't believe you can do it. We all of us say to you - you can 100%! There are many business models to choose from.

Take all the advice from this article, and when ready, look for help.

I offer 30 mins free consults to look at your current situation, challenges, and goals, and I will give you advice that will help you move forward. If you're ready for it, click here.

MEET MY GUESTS

Kayla Sue, Kayla Sue Design
Graphic Designer for Wedding Photographers

Kayla Sue Design on Instagram
Kayla Sue Design on Facebook

Chané Lowry, Chane Virtual Assistant
Podcast VA

Chane Virtual Assistant on Instagram
Chane VA Services on Facebook

Sarah Jenkins, SJ Designs
Content Writing Coach for Entrepreneurs

SJ Designs on Instagram
Content Queen Facebook Group

Sonya Leigh, VA Sonya's Way
Tech Virtual Assistant

Sonya Virtual Assistant on Instagram
VA Sonya's Way on Facebook

Claire Matz, The Social Palm
Social Media Strategy and Content Management

The Social Palm on Instagram
The Social Palm on Pinterest