Carolyn Ellis: » Confidence

Business Goals: 3 Keys to Make Powerful Course Corrections

Carolyn — Thu, 26 May 2011 16:57:03 +0000

“The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.”

William Faulkner

As we approach the half-way mark of 2011, let me ask you a blunt question today, namely:

How well are you meeting or exceeding your goals set forth at the beginning of the year?

Is your business exactly where you projected it would be by early June? Or when you take an honest look at things, do you find that you’ve somehow veered off course and wandered painfully far from your desired destination?

If you resonate with the latter, try to put your inner perfectionist to rest and don’t get too upset over it. The road to success hardly ever runs in a straight line and these things happen frequently in business and life.

Take for example the first mission to the moon. Did you know that the spaceship was off course over 90% of the time en route? Yet despite all of these errors and problems along the way, we celebrate the fact that the spaceship landed precisely at the targeted destination, just at the right time. In fact, the need to course correct along the way to adjust for different variables was built into the flight plan.

The same can still hold true with your business. You can be woefully off course today and still make or exceed all of your expectations by December.

The key is making swift and honest course corrections now so you can get back on track tomorrow.

Course corrections don’t necessarily mean you have to scrap all of your plans for the year! In fact, you may find that the answer was as simple as making a few price adjustments or simplifying a process that was way more complicated than it needed to be. You just have to be flexible to identify what’s throwing you off and make tweaks accordingly.

Here are 3 key questions you can use to guide you to make any powerful and needed course corrections to ensure you have a brilliant and successful year:

What is Working Brilliantly? Take an honest assessment and figure out what IS working well in your business. What efforts are bringing in the most money? What brings the most referrals or repeat business? Once you identify what’s working, start to think about how you can build upon your existing strengths to duplicate these results.
What is Not Working So Brilliantly? It’s hard to admit that what we thought was a brilliant idea turned out to be a flop. It’s a blow to the ego and to the soul, especially when you’ve worked so hard to bring it to life. But to get back on track, you need to identify such things so you can either adjust your plan or scrap an approach that doesn’t seem to be working.
What Brilliant Course Corrections Will You Take Now? Now it’s time to make course corrections based on your honest evaluation. Where can you make an adjustment that gets you better leverage and better results? Perhaps it’s time to spruce up that sales copy or block time off to connect with former clients. Maybe you need to delegate some tasks so you can get the job done right and done with better speed. Or maybe you need to conduct more market research to determine what potential clients really want from you. Small, consistent course corrections along the way can get you back on track quickly so you can cross the finish line this year in flying colors!

STEP INTO YOUR BRILLIANCE

Block off 1 hour this week to do a mid-year review. Pull out the 2011 business goals you set as well as any New Year’s resolutions you made. Commit to being honest with yourself, not judgmental. As you review your plans, use the 3 questions set forth above. Once you’ve identified what needs to be corrected in your business, map out your new 6-month plan and take action.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE?  If you want to use this feature article in your ezine, blog or web site, you can! I just ask that you include this complete statement with it:

Brilliant Communication: 3 Signs Your People Pleaser Has Grabbed the Microphone

Carolyn — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 15:34:29 +0000

(If you prefer to listen to the audio version of this week’s article instead, just click “Listen Now” below!)

“First learn the meaning of what you say, and then speak.”
Epictetus

The ability of your business to grow is directly linked with your ability to powerfully articulate and communicate your passion, vision, and the value you bring to the world.

It’s like the beacon that a lighthouse casts to guide ships through treacherous waters.

But let me ask you, how many times have you backtracked or even diluted your core message out of fear someone might not like it?

How many times have you let the fear of criticism or judgment from other people (many of whom are not even your ideal clients) cause you to feel wishy-washy or just plain tongue-tied?

We all have a natural tendency to want to be liked and to please others. Yet when this desire gets so out of balance that it causes you to shut your mouth and bury your brilliance, the health and stability of your Brilliance Backbone stands compromised.

I commonly refer to the gremlin behind this spinal attack as the “People Pleaser.” Its big goal is to shatter the Communications vertebrae in your Brilliance Backbone so your message stays muzzled or mystifying.

How you communicate, whether in written or in spoken form, is what convinces clients or prospects that they need you—that they must work with you—and that you have the answers to the problems they are desperately trying to solve.

3 Signs Your People Pleaser Has Grabbed Your Microphone

If you have a feeling you’re not showing up as powerfully as you could in the world, chances are your “People Pleaser” has elbowed your brilliant leader away from the podium and stolen the microphone instead. Here are 3 signs that indicate this gremlin is hard at work:

1. Communicating what you think others WANT to hear

Instead of boldly speaking your mind, you tailor your message and your opinions based on what you think others want to hear from you. People can feel it when we waffle – and so can you. In this process of pre-judging and assessing others, we are taken out of our brilliance and authenticity.

2. Constantly Sugar Coating the Truth

You’re reluctant to express how you really feel, often sugar coating the feedback or criticism you might have offered if you felt truly free to speak your mind. Although this may feel “acceptable” and even “graceful” in the short-term, it eventually causes a major blockage in our energetic flow. Our unspoken truths become grudges, resentments and will find an outlet eventually down the road, in things like sarcasm or passive-aggressive behavior.

3. Avoid Confrontation Like the Plague

If you find yourself constantly talking around issues or being indirect, chances are you are speaking from your head and not your heart. People can’t pick up the energetic transmission you are offering and you’re diluting your truth. Remember, part of brilliance is taking a stand for yourself and the “People Pleaser” will always try to ensure you settle for less than you deserve.

STEP INTO YOUR BRILLIANCE

Ready to regain control of the microphone and kick the People Pleaser off the stage? Take some time this week to do an inventory of where your People Pleaser is showing up. Maybe it’s a conversation you’re avoiding or a situation that feels unclear. Do a gut check and identify at least one such place. Then identify the conversation you need to have and imagine handing the microphone to your Brilliant Leader instead of your People Pleaser. Notice the difference and make a commitment to reenact this scene of clarity, power and directness on a daily basis.

Can You Deliver Feedback Without Cringing?

Carolyn — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 15:00:03 +0000

(If you prefer to listen to the audio version of this week’s article instead, just click “Listen Now” below!)

“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.”

Mother Teresa

As the leader of your business, the buck stops with you. If something isn’t working to your satisfaction, if a team member isn’t meeting your expectations or standards, it’s up to you to express your dissatisfaction and request a change. But dishing out criticism, even if it’s phrased as “constructive,” isn’t always easy to do effectively.

Women, in particular, seem to have a tough time delivering the news. Sometimes we store up our unhappiness and frustration because we tend to be master conflict avoiders. However, you can avoid rocking the boat only so long until resentment and frustration builds to a point of pressure where we lose our composure.

Are there ways for us, as women entrepreneurs, to deliver needed feedback without having to cringe while doing so?

Absolutely!

Here are some ways I recommend you deliver feedback effectively and clearly, and stand in your power in the process.

1. Be Prepared

Do yourself a favor and write a few notes out to help clear your head and get clear on what’s not working. Look at the facts of the situation. Leave any judging or guessing why someone isn’t meeting your needs out for now. Get grounded in knowing what your request is and what the consequence will be if the situation doesn’t get turned around to your satisfaction.

2. See the Feedback as a Gift

When delivering feedback to someone, set an intention to come from a place of service – to yourself and to the other person. Keeping quiet and letting resentment start to brew within you doesn’t help anyone. Telling someone your truth is a gift, even if they end up being disappointed or hurt in the moment by it.

3. Speak Straight and from the Heart

If you have bad news to deliver or a request to make, get to the point. Avoid the tendency women have to start to use indirect language as a way to worm out of delivering a critical comment. Speak from your heart and invite the other person to see how your request for change is in service of the greater good of your company and the people you serve.

4. Be Prepared to Listen

When delivering feedback, it’s important that you allow space and time to listen to the other person. It’s not all about you talking. It’s also about listening. Give the person a chance to be heard and to have their views acknowledged. You may still end up parting ways, but at least you have defused any potential for lingering resentment or upset.

Using these strategies, I bet you’ll be surprised at how quickly and effectively you’ll be able to deliver feedback without cringing!

STEP INTO YOUR BRILLIANCE

Identify a situation, either in your business or in your personal life, where you need to offer feedback to someone else. Take 10 minutes to journal about how you can handle that potentially difficult conversation differently in light of these strategies.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE?
If you want to use this feature article in your ezine, blog or web site, you can! I just ask that you include this complete statement with it:

3 Tips To Get Off The Fence of Indecision

Carolyn Ellis — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 18:04:23 +0000

If you prefer to listen to the audio version of this week’s article instead, just click here:

“Go as far as you can see; when you get there, you’ll be able to see farther. “

J. P. Morgan

Decisive action is critical to creating brilliant success. In time of great change, opportunity and creativity, one of the biggest blocks to building momentum and impact is indecision.

Just ask yourself the following questions:

Are you sitting on the fence in terms of decisions you know you need to make?

Does cutting off options feel uncomfortable for you?

Do you like to hedge your bets and keep your options open, just in case your Plan A doesn’t work out?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, don’t worry. You’re not alone!

Let 2011 be the year that you take a stand for yourself and your brilliance. Jump down off the fence of indecision and make a choice. Otherwise you risk getting caught up in a swirl of overwhelm, procrastination and not creating the results and impact you are meant to deliver.

Tip #1 – Decide When You Will Decide

How many times have you told yourself, “I’m not sure now so I’ll decide later.” But then you find yourself constantly thinking about the choice you need to make for days and weeks.

When you finally do make a decision one way or the other, it can feel like more like the victory of getting all the gum off the bottom of your shoe, rather than an empowering choice to create your future.

To keep yourself on track, set a specific date when you will sit down and make a decision. Put it on your calendar. This simple act alone will save you lots of splinters from sitting on the fence forever!

Tip #2 – Get The Big Picture

One reason people stay frozen in indecision is fear. There’s fear of change or that things won’t work out the way you hope. There’s fear your life will be different and your choices put you at risk of losing the approval or love of some people who are currently in your life. We zero in right on the fear and forget to look up for the big picture.

It is true that making a decision does change things. That is pretty much the point! We all need to make regular course corrections along the way to steer the ship of our lives in the direction we really want to go.

So isn’t it more scary to have yourself feeling stuck in this same issue a year from now, or 5 years from now? Think of how much energy, focus and time it is costing you to stay there. When you find yourself on the fence, get stop perspective and remember the big picture.

Tip #3 – Create Some No’s to Make Space for the Brilliant Yes

Have you ever been to an “all you can eat” restaurant? You get excited by all the choices, and so you start to pile all the food on your plate. What happens when you sit down to eat? You have to carefully pick your way through your meal to avoid it spilling all over the table.

Life is like that fabulous buffet table. Anything we want is possible, but we need to realize we only have so much energy and focus. We need to say “No” in order make space for the brilliant “Yes” to come in.

If you’re making a decision and you catch yourself rationalizing why you give it the green light, stop. Step away from the buffet table. If you have to talk yourself into a “Yes” chances are high that the decision you’re about to make isn’t in alignment with your highest purpose. We need to say a lot of “No’s” so we can gracefully and clearly feel our “Yes!” when the purposeful, soul-fulfilling choices come our way.

STEP INTO YOUR BRILLIANCE

Take 15 minutes to brainstorm a list of the different ways you know you’re sitting on the fence somehow. Be sure to scan around in all areas of your life – your career, money, relationship, health, social, spiritual. Read your list slowly and feel into how much of your life force and energy is being tied up in those various places of indecision. Now, pick one item from your list and make a clear decision – Yes or No – right away. If you decide “Yes”, write down the next actionable step you can take to start to breathe more life into that choice. If you decide “No,” cross it off your list with a big red marker and give yourself a pat on the back. Pick at least three more items off your list in the next 7 days.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE?

If you want to use this feature article in your ezine, blog or web site, you can! I just ask that you include this complete statement with it:

3 Keys to Transforming Your Relationship with Money

Carolyn — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 22:39:11 +0000

If you’d rather listen to the audio of this post, click below to listen!

I want to ask you a blunt question today, namely, “If money was your friend, what would it say about you?”

I know this may seem like an odd question, but I really want you take a moment and think about it because the answer means everything as it relates to your business success this year.

Would money describe you as a caring and compassionate partner, one who is fully committed to her growth and sustainability? Or would it have more complaints than praises about you, asking:

“Why do you only call me when you need something?”

“Why are you so ashamed of me that you refuse to deal with our issues in an open, honest and forthright way?” or

“Why are you so selfish with me that you lock me up like a prisoner and keep me away from the rest of the world?”

If you decide you’ve been energetically giving your money the cold shoulder somehow, it’s time to take some immediate action to bring confidence, clarity and your brilliance to how you handle your money and abundance. This is especially important if you are committed to taking your business to new levels of financial prosperity this year.

Remember, your business will only grow as big as you grow yourself. Therefore, it’s critical that you do whatever it takes to make sure your relationship with money is healthy, supportive and primed for lasting growth.

Otherwise your lack of clarity and struggles in this area will sabotage your cash flow every single time. You’ll ramp up your marketing and start making more money only to see it flow out the door faster than ever. You’ll never truly get the revenue you deserve from your clients because of that pesky voice that says, “You’re not worth that much” or “You don’t deserve that much”. And of course you’ll take ride after ride on the cash-flow rollercoaster until you’re physically sick, exhausted and ready to call it quits for good.

I don’t want to see that happen to you or your business! Fortunately, the tools to make a difference are right at your fingertips. Put the following 3 keys into action and you’ll be well on your way to transforming your relationship with money as we go into the New Year:

Key #1 – Give Loving Attention to Your Money

Like any good friend, we need to pay attention to our money regularly. As one of my mentors, Kendall Summerhawk, likes to say money loves attention. Money will get it your attention one way or the other, whether positive or negative. The simple act of tracking your income on a daily basis is a great step to shift your relationship with money.

Key #2 – Stop Your Money Leaks

Think of money as simply a form of energy that flows and circulates in the form of green paper. The more we can focus our energy and attention, the more powerfully we can direct it towards creating and receiving abundance. Things like unpaid bills, uncollected invoices, unopened piles of mail or unfiled paper work nag at our attention and create energetic leaks. When we stop the energetic drains we tolerate around us, our sense of abundance grows and manifests.

Key #3 – Climb on Your Own White Horse

The brilliant entrepreneur shows up as a spiritual grown up around her money, not the little girl who waits and hopes for somebody else to come along on the big white horse to rescueher. Educate yourself and get whatever support you need. Realize it’s time to saddle up and that you are the only one who can take charge of your life.

So instead of beating yourself up or sticking your head in the sand, I encourage you today to get honest about your relationship with money. Start taking the steps necessary to iron out the areas where you aren’t feeling confident or clear so you can create space for abundance and total prosperity. Show the Universe you mean business and watch 2011 become your best fiscal year yet!

Step Into Your Brilliance

Stop to review the state of your current relationship with money and your feelings about your finances in general. Feel whether your energy feels expanded or contracted. Brainstorm a list of any area where you feel like your relationship with money and finances is not fully in alignment and support of your brilliance.

Be specific. Some examples could include seeing where you have bills that need to be paid, revenue to collect from others or your filing system needs to be uplevelled. Choose the area that feels most stuck for you and block off 15 minutes this week to focus on taking care of that specific situation.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE?

If you want to use this feature article in your ezine, blog or web site, you can! I just ask that you include this complete statement with it: