Once you get your mind wrapped around that mindset, your business can really start to take off in a big way. However, if you’re having trouble with this concept, try this simple exercise:

Write a product review of yourself!

That’s right. You know doubt have thought about the products and services you provide and the benefits that your clients can receive from them. But have you everlisted the benefits that you as a unique individual bring to them?

Ask yourself these questions:

• If I’m a commodity, a product that’s in demand, how do I present myself to the rest of the world in such a way that’s going to be attractive?
• What do I have to offer that’s a benefit to people in my client circle but also to people that I could potentially invite into a joint venture?
• What are my good qualities, the things that make me good at this business?
• What have other people said about me – about the way I do things or the things that they like about me?
• Now write your answers down objectively like a product review about your favorite body cream. Take the personal out of the equation and concentrate on what make you unique.

When you’re done with this exercise you’ll see right away where you need to improve and what you’re really good at, which is a great ego boost. Then you can use this information to your advantage when you’re working with your clients or prospects.

When you choose to buy from someone or work with someone, isn’t it the quality and energy about that person that is so attractive? It’s often not a tangible thing that they’re doing. It’s who they’re being. So use this exercise and make yourself memorable in a way that makes them want to come back and do business with you.

If you’re struggling with mindset issues like this, check out the MINDSET BUNDLE – What It Takes to Create, Attract and Manifest More Profits and Have the Business that You Really Want for 3 teleclasses filled with wisdom that will help you create a positive mindset shift. Or if you’d rather read about it, check out my ebook – The Motivated Mindset: 23 Take Action Tips on Creating a Positive Shift in Your Thinking, Your Energy and Your Bottom Line.

We’ve made commitments to our families and business. There may also be volunteer projects we’re involved with. And the older we get, the more attention we absolutely have to pay to our physical health and energy. No matter how busy you are, don’t you find you’re better able to cope with the stresses of life when you go for a walk, take your vitamins, drink more water or do whatever it is that you’ve found effective to keep your energy high?

Not only do you have to care for yourself physically, but you need to keep your mindset healthy as well.

One negative thought can spiral you into a place where everything feels awful. You can get yourself into a yuck place where nothing goes right.

The other day I found myself with a big knot in my stomach at 9 in the morning and couldn’t figure out why. I had to retrace my morning to recall what had occurred. And as I backtracked, I remembered the client email I’d received at 6 am that I completely took the wrong way.

It was a miscommunication. I got upset and I went to the place of “she’s upset. I suck. Blah-blah-blah…”

That one email spiraled into me thinking about all the doubts I have about everything in life. That one early morning email caused me to completely go into a pit, and it was just 9 am.

If it hadn’t been 6 am when I got the email, and I’d been clearer in my head, I wouldn’t have gone into all the dark mindset junk. Fortunately by 9 am, I was so aware of the knot in my stomach and was able to say, “Okay. What just happened? How did I get to this place?” I noticed what was going on, shifted my head and didn’t allow myself to stay in that negative mindset for the rest of the day and ruin everything in its tracks.

It happens to all of us. One call/email/conversation transpires and it triggers the little doubts. And then all of a sudden, if you don’t catch it, it just starts snowballing. And everything seems to be so much worse than it really is.

A negative mindset affects how we run our businesses.

You can’t get anything done. It’s really hard to pick up the phone and call a potential client or write a sales page. You’re never really effective in the work that you do because the negative energy is just going to show up in all you do.

So, you need to have tools in your own arsenal to bring your mindset back to the positive.

It could be playing favorite music, talking with a trusted friend, taking a walk, or listening to an inspirational CD. DO whatever shifts you into that positive place.

I’m curious, what works for you to shift out of the mindset yuck into a healthier place?

You may also want to check out The Motivated Mindset, my ebook that helps women entrepreneurs create a positive shift in your mindset.

The truth is I’ve always gotten things done quickly but I’d never paid much attention to it. It’s kind of just what I do.

It wasn’t until last year when a mastermind friend said in very clear words – “Kim, I’ve never seen anyone get things done as quickly as you do”, that it really sunk it. For some reason, the timing of her comment and where I was in my own personal development, allowed me to really hear her. I acknowledged what she said, internalized it and stepped into  it.

Prior to that conversation, I hadn’t done anything more with my gift. I hadn’t even paid much attention to it. I was just getting my own stuff done. I wasn’t helping others to get their stuff done.

What I’ve noticed for myself and what I want to share with you is the importance of noticing that which comes easily to you, and placing value on it. What’s easy for you probably isn’t what comes easily to others. And, if you’re like most women, you’re probably taking your gift for granted. We do that to ourselves very often. We don’t often value that which comes easily.

For me, stepping into my gift, opened up so many opportunities that I could never have imagined a year ago.

My suggestion to you is to really notice what’s easy for you. Are you valuing it? If not, take a new look through fresh eyes. See what is possible.

I’d love to hear what your gift is, please share it with me.

I

“Belief is the bridge between your dreams and your dreams coming true.”

What you believe as an entrepreneur believes will affect your habits. Then the cycle continues. Your habits will affect your choices, your behavior, and your decisions.

Belief is incredibly powerful. “If you expect to fail, in most cases you already have.” How many days have you woken up in a bad mood, thought bad thoughts and bad things happened?

What you believe does become a reality. I’ve found that subtle shifts in my beliefs can make a huge difference but it’s a daily practice.

If you take two entrepreneurs with identical circumstances and they each plan to launch identical programs it would seem that they both should be successful. But what will happen if one entrepreneur believes, “I’m going to fail,” and the other entrepreneur believes “I’m going to succeed”? Their own self-belief will affect the choices they make, and they’ll attract completely different people and their level of success will be different.

Your self-belief is greatly influenced by how you were nurtured and also by your own individual personality traits. The good news is that you can challenge your beliefs at any time.

One of my favorite quotes around belief is from Henry Ford. “Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you’re right.”

Are there areas in life and business that you feel stuck in? Are your own beliefs limiting you from fully accomplishing what you want? I’ve prepared a special report that helps entrepreneurs take these tough issues and look inside for the answers. It’s called “The Motivated Mindset – 23 Take Action Tips on Creating a Positive Shift in Your Thinking, Your Energy and Your Bottom Line.”

What I’ve shared with you is just one of the lessons you’ll find inside. If you’re ready to create a new mindset so you can grow your business and have the kind of life that you’ve always envisioned please check it out. Let me know what issues you’re struggling with as you try to move your business forward.

Rather than specific tips this time, I’m focusing more on the root causes of “time vampires”. If you can identify your own mindset issues that lead to the “time vampires”, then you can make better decisions to help you to get the important things done. Here are some of them:

• Lack of direction. If you don’t have a clear vision of what you want to accomplish in life and business you can waste so much time aimlessly pecking away at this or that project without really getting anything done.

• Limiting Beliefs. Here’s a doozy: “To be a good wife and mom I have to keep a spotless house and make gourmet meals.” Perfectionism isn’t only a problem in business. It can manifest itself in all areas of life.

• Lack of organization. Do you feel like you’re so overwhelmed and tired trying to keep up with everything? You can have so many great things you want to accomplish and by trying to do them all today you can burn out.

How can you readjust your mindset?

Prioritize. Take some time to really think about what is most important to you not somebody else. Are there events in your children’s lives that you absolutely don’t want to miss and are they needing more of your time? Or is this a day that the housework can slide so that you can focus on an important project that has to be done.

Each day that’s the question you have to ask yourself and that’s where the struggle comes in if you don’t have a clear vision of what you want to accomplish in your family and business life.

Delegate. Once you’ve established your vision, don’t feel guilty about making it happen. It doesn’t mean you’re a bad wife and mother if you need to hire someone to clean the house or help with meal preparations. If you settle for nutritious but simple meals for the family rather than designer meals, you’re still getting the job done. And if you hire assistants to help grow your business, that doesn’t mean you’re lacking in any way. It really means you’re smart enough to know what you need and you’re getting the job done.

Organize your work the way you work best. If you’re a morning person, get up earlier and get the hard work done first thing while you’re fresh. Often it’s easier to work when the house is quiet and there are no demands on your day yet. If you need a nap in the afternoon to recharge your batteries to get through the rest of the day, take a 15-minute nap and don’t feel guilty. If you’re tired, take some down time or you’ll pay with a compromised immune system down the road. You have to learn how to pace yourself.

Schedule. Know what you need to accomplish for the day and don’t procrastinate in doing it. Yes, there may be a stack of magazines you’ve wanted to go through, but the kids need clothes so laundry becomes priority. It takes work and effort to maintain your focus on what you want to accomplish. And life has a way of changing your plans at a moments notice.

The key is to have an over all vision rather than a schedule for every second of the day. That will give you the flexibility to choose at this point in time which project, whether family or business, has to be done right now. And with that clarity your focused attention will produce the most results with the best use of your time thereby vanquishing those “time vampires” once and for all.

Any other thoughts you’d like to share?

I’ve been reflecting on this question a lot lately as I see people holding themselves from moving forward because they think they don’t know enough to do that thing they want to do.

I have had many coaches and mentors throughout my career. I have read many books. I have taken many classes. I have purchased and used the content from many information products. Needless to say there’s a lot of stuff in my brain.

Over the years, key nuggets from all that learning have really stuck with me. They’ve gone through my “Kim-Filter”, gotten swirled around, and come out with my stamp on it.

When I was newer in business, I always gave credit to where I’d learned the nugget, whether it was from a book or a mentor. Then, something shifted for me. I can’t say exactly when, but I began to own what it was that I knew. I realized that if it had resonated with me, and I was speaking it naturally, and new ideas were sprouting  from those nuggets, then that “stuff” was now mine. I was the expert in what I spoke about.

Truth is there are not a lot of original ideas out there. It’s how we package those ideas and infuse them with their own experience and personal spin that matters. We are all an amalgam of the information that we have taken in through mentors,  books and study.

What doesn’t matter is how you know it.

What matters is THAT you know it and that you do something with it.

I’ve seen many sit with the limiting belief of when I know more then I can do/teach that thing want to do.

I emphatically say, do it TODAY. You know enough right now, as you are, to share your expertise with those who care. And, there definitely are those who care.

I’d really love to hear what your experience has been with stepping into your own expertise, what’s either held you back or given you the strength to move forward.

What I mean by that is the isolation we feel, or spending too much time looking at what others are doing and losing yourself in the process, and the stress of external voices questioning when you are finally going to make it.

You can’t ignore the dark side, however, there are much healthier ways to address these issues so you can move forward.

My business girlfriend Laura West, founder of Center for Joyful Business shares tools that I just love for creating awareness and shifting your energy quickly. The following suggestions come from an article she wrote on this topic:

• Morning and Evening Journaling – This doesn’t have to involve pages of witty writing. A simple list of what’s happening and how you feel will do. This reminds you to check in with your mindset, thoughts and emotions. Creating awareness of what’s going on for you twice a day will reinforce the importance of checking in with yourself. The awareness alone will create shifts in your energy and ability to shift into a more life-enhancing place if you need to.

• Conscious Breathing – Whenever you notice that you feel anxious and the gremlin is having a chat party inside, just the simple act of breathing consciously can help shift your energy. Consciously and in a relaxed way (not forced) – breathe in to receive, and breathe out to release.

• Exercise – Ask your body what it really needs. My body needs exercise, stretching and movement every day. Just moving your body will move your energy and get you out of your mind and back into your body so you can access all of you – not just your relentless analytic side.

• Guided Visualizations – I find sitting in quiet meditation difficult, so I’m a big fan of guided visualizations. I have all different types loaded on my iPod. I will often take a break in the middle of the afternoon and listen to my angels, take a guided imagery walk to my favorite peaceful location, or just relax listening to positive affirmations about my body. It’s enough to shift my energy and reconnect to my creativity and that possibility-energy.

• Business Girlfriends – Science says that women connecting to other women releases oxytocin. This feels good! Know which business girlfriends you can give a “911-call” who will let you share your gremlin thoughts. You’ll feel good releasing, you get great chemicals to support a feel-good mood, and your friend will let you know how fabulous you really are. A true win-win. Just make sure it’s a supportive friend who understands you, and you can reciprocate!

I love these suggestions! Please share what works for you when you’re confronted by negative self-talk.

FYI – This is such an important topic so Laura and I are going to host a special call on July 13^th – Candid Talk: The Conversations We DON’T Have but NEED to Have About Our Business and Life. We will open up the phone lines for an interactive dialogue between business girlfriends about the truth of what’s going on, and collaboratively what we can do to make some changes.

This call is for members of the GET IT DONE Action Club. If you’re not a member yet, you can learn more about how to receive the inspiration and how-to tips you need to move your business (and life) forward.

Most women begin as entrepreneurs

However, haven’t you had times when you’re doing all the right things (the marketing, the writing, the speaking etc.) and you still feel stuck?  You feel like you’re not getting where you want to go?

I know I have.

And, what I’ve found to be the issue is rarely the external circumstances but something deep inside.  Something that’s keeping me smaller than I know I want to be.

Limiting beliefs are what you believe to be true about yourself but really aren’t true at all.  Maybe you’ve got beliefs that that you’re the fat girl, or that other people make money, not you, or that to make X happen you have to do Y,

Your thinking gets in your way. It stops you from taking the next step. It’s the limiting beliefs that we think about ourselves, that we rarely share, and may not even know consciously know, that keep us small.

Truth is, if you’re not getting where you want to go, the best place to look is in the mirror.  This is a challenge that we as entrepreneurs face since the growth of our business is dependent on how we’re being and presenting ourselves to others.

How can you shift your thinking from the negative to the positive so that your energies and efforts are lined up to grow your business and connect with more people?

The biggest shift that allows entrepreneurs to gain a positive viewpoint is getting the proper mindset.  Mindset is the mental attitude that you have – all of your feelings and beliefs and how those feelings and beliefs affect every single situation that arises in your life. And the first step to getting the right mindset is awareness.  You need to have clarity that there’s even an issue that’s keeping you from having all you want in life.  After that you can work on it.

Thomas Jefferson had a great quote and I’ve taken some liberties with:  “Nothing can stop an entrepreneurial woman with the right mental attitude from achieving her goal.  However, nothing on earth can help the woman with the wrong mental attitude.”

It’s when you have those feelings that it’s so important to reach out to others who believe in you and support you. They can help you to look at things from a different point of view and gain clarity on what’s really happening.  They can see you as you can’t even see yourself.

Just as there are systems to handle all the every day details of running a business, I’ve discovered a simple system that helps me to create a positive mindset when I’m having those bad days.  It’s based on getting to the root of the problem and fixing my life from the inside out.  It’s not hard to learn it, either.  And whenever I have days that are just not going right I refer back to this system and get back on track.

I’ve combined the wisdom I have gained through my years of running a business with the wisdom from my good friends and entrepreneurs, Gina Bell and Laura West in a new ebook I’ve written called The Motivated Mindset – 23 Take Action Tips on Creating a Positive Shift in Your Thinking, Your Energy and Your Bottom Line. I’m so excited about making this available to you because with the right mindset you can grow your business and have the kind of life that you’ve always envisioned.

Guest post by Frederique Murphy

Your success is all about you having the right mindset. Before you can get to work on developing the right mindset, though, you have to understand what it is. Only when you clearly understand it can you become fully aware of your own.

Think of your mindset as your philosophy of life. It drives every single thing that you do in your life and in your business. Your current mindset is derived from a combination of factors – your background, culture, education, upbringing, religious beliefs – everything that has gone into creating the way you view life is part of yours.

Notice that I mentioned your current mindset. I’ve used that word deliberately, to show that it is something you can change. And in order to change something, you first need to know exactly where it is, so that you can shift it to where you want it to be.

Successful people know this to be true.  They have learned the importance of having the right mindset, and making the transition they need to achieve success in your life and in your business.

Once you make the decision to think differently, you will be on your way to acquiring a different mindset. This new way of thinking will be your key to success in your life and in your business.

Mindset is what sets people apart.

Some people have a stronger and more powerful mindset than others because they have taken charge of their own mind.

The great news is that you have the power to do the same. You have the power to change your mindset; just as you have the power to change your thoughts, your habits, attitudes and actions.

Decide TODAY to change, and get your results TOMORROW!

© Frederique Murphy, 2010 – Frederique Murphy publishes her weekly M³ Power newsletter for individuals who want to take their life and their business to a whole new level! She believes that a strong mindset gives you the power to move mountains and, shares her free tips and teaches exactly how to do that in her newsletters – Sign up now!

I am so fascinated by this topic that I recently put together a compilation of action tips  in my new ebook – The Motivated Mindset. Please check it out.

Fast forward to me as an adult with a 10-year old baseball-playing boy and my experience of the game has really changed.  It’s the one time of the day when I let the rest of my world go and enjoy the experience of his game, my spring baseball friends, and an opportunity to be present to what’s going on. I also realize that the lessons he’s learning on the field are very similar to the ones I’m learning in business.

Beck and I recently had a conversation about what makes a player good versus great. Assuming two players have equivalents skill sets, I believe the great player has the tools to shift his mindset and to visualize what he wants for himself. It’s the great player who when faced with adversity (pitching a bad game, going into the last inning losing or being injured) has to rally from somewhere deep inside to pull it together, know they want to win, and do whatever it takes.

Beck’s typically a good pitcher but in a recent game he was off and was throwing some wild pitches. He couldn’t regain his control. I felt pain in the bleachers watching the sadness on his face. As the inning ended and he slumped into the dugout, he pulled his hat over his eyes but I could see the tears washing down his cheeks. (The hardest part about being the mom of a 10 year-old boy is I can no longer run into the dugout to give him a hug, that has to wait until later).

As the next inning began and he was up to bat, the bases were loaded, and I wondered how he’d handle his previous upset. Would it continue and affect his hitting or would he shake it? With the rallying support of his teammates, he’d wiped his tears, stood up straighter, and to my utter shock, hit an incredible grand slam. The joy I felt had nothing to do with the score of the game, it was for his ability to bounce back. It was the realization that something in our good to great conversations had seeped in.

Baseball is a metaphor for business. (I actually think most experiences  are business lessons in disguise, if you’re willing to see the lesson). As I battle the daily ups and downs of entrepreneurial life throwing in a dash of family drama and the basic dysfunctional circumstances going on, it’s a real question of how will I handle it today? Will I shake the S*** or will I let the dramas permeate into my day?

Today’s gift to myself it to put the photo of Beck in his baseball outfit above my computer as a reminder that each day I have the choice to go from good to great. It’s really as simple as a mindset shift.

I’ve recently collected some of my favorite mindset lessons and consolidated them into a short eBook – The Motivated Mindset: 23 Take Action Tips on Creating a Positive Shift in Your Thinking, Your Energy and Your Bottom Line. Please check it out and I’d love to hear the impact you gain from your small daily shifts..