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Archive for the ‘Productivity’ Category

5 Keys to Your Visibility Plan

Tuesday, January 31st, 2012

No matter who you are or what your soul-centered project is – entrepreneur, writer, teacher, artist, etc (even if your project is attracting a romantic partner!) – a powerful visibility plan is essential to being able to get seen, be prosperous and get what you want.

When you don’t have an effective visibility plan, then chances are you are under-earning, not getting the acclaim or acknowledgment you want, or doing work that doesn’t fully satisfy you.

I hear this time and time again from women who come to me for help – you have a service, product, artwork, idea that you are in LOVE with. Yet, the clients aren’t coming, or the agents aren’t coming, or the press isn’t coming, or the prospective employers aren’t coming. And here’s what usually happens next: you start beating yourself up, or judging yourself, or feeling victimized or in despair. Not a great way to move forward!

Instead of re-acting in these ways, I want you to take action! And the best way to take action is to create a visibility plan that is effective, soul-centered and powerful.

For my business, as well as the businesses, career changes, creative careers, and world-changing initiatives that I support women with, your visibility plan is one of the most important foundations for success.

Here are 5 Keys to creating & executing a powerful visibility plan:

  1. Have a plan in advance: Ok, I know for some of you this might be obvious, but it is important to mention. You need a plan. Not just a plan in your head, but an actual, concrete visibility plan that you’ve written down, plotted and calendared out. My recommendation is to plan out at least 6 months in advance (but no more than 12 months in advance) so that you have time to prepare, time for contingency, and time to re-work any new ideas into the mix.

    If you don’t plan in advance, you’re going to find you’re always rushing to catch up, or two days too late for that conference application, press release submission, networking event, or community email.

  2. Make it Personal: I meet way too many rising leaders out there who write marketing copy, create video or prepare talks that speak to what they think people are looking for and what they assume people might want from them. Instead, I want you to share your message from a place of what is true and authentic for you and who you are, as well as speak directly and personally to your audience.

    Your clients, viewers, readers, and press will be much more likely to walk through your door if you reveal YOURSELF through your marketing and speak directly to their hearts and souls (not their minds).

  3. Choose Visibility Strategies that Match Your Strengths: There are so many awesome visibility strategies out there: newsletters, email, video, in-person workshops, Facebook, networking meetings, blogs, audio, referral program, Twitter – this list goes on and on. This is one of the things I absolutely love about visibility and marketing: the sky’s the limit on your creativity and how you choose to make yourself known, and nothing is pre-set or cookie cutter.

    But here is an important tip: choose those strategies that make the most sense for you and your soul-centered project. For example, if your newsletter and blog are your biggest visibility strategies, but you just hate writing and it takes you hours to write a paragraph – choose a different strategy! Or, if you’ve been mainly focusing on social media, but you’re the type of person that folks are immediately attracted to when they meet you in person, go to more networking events or do in-person presentations. The most effective visibility strategies are the ones that match how you show up best as well as how your ideal clients HEAR your message best.

  4. Enlist Partners: You can’t bring your big message and vision to the world alone. There is not one single person (unless they’ve already reached Oprah status) who has so many people in their sphere of influence that they can attract in visibility without creating partnerships and joint ventures.

    Partnerships are one of the best visibility tools out there. When you enlist other individuals, organizations and businesses to help promote you and spread the word about your project, your ability to reach your ideal client increases exponentially.

  5. Activate “P.C.A.”: P.C.A is a beloved Soulful Coaching acronym for Persistent and Consistent Action. P.C.A can make the difference between a successful and non-successful plan.

    Consistent Action = taking at least 3 actions towards your visibility strategies each working day. If you aren’t taking consistent action, then even the best laid plan in the world isn’t going to work. Think about it in terms of a flower: you need to water that flower regularly in order to keep it alive and see it grow.

    Persistent Action = following-up. I know – for some of you, this is the “F” word of marketing. It feels way too scary to follow-up on an email you sent out with a call to action or a talk you gave where you want to send folks more info about your work. Yet, often times folks don’t “buy” or “connect in” on the first bit, so follow-up is 100% necessary in order to reach your visibility goals.

Now that you’ve got the 5 Soul-Centered Keys for Visibility, have fun letting the world know about your sacred purpose and message!

Guest Post - Gratitude for the Little Things

Wednesday, November 30th, 2011

africas_blogThe Gratitude Project may be completed but I still have some very inspirational stories left to share! I love getting the chance to showcase new voices on my blog and I am so excited to introduce you to Debbie Mc Loughlin. She is the owner of Africa’s Blog, which can be found at www.africasblog.com. She’s a 30-something Soul African exPat living in Minnesota who enjoys blogging about life and whatever comes her way! As a permanent American resident, she has a unique view on life. Debbie is also a hockey player, hockey referee, CPA, CMA, MBA student, blogger, mommy to 2 fur babies (min pins) and is happily leaving in the mid-west with her partner. You can connect with Debbie through Facebook and Twitter!

Gratitude for the Little Things
by Debbie Mc Loughlin
As I’ve aged, and yes I’m only 31 but still, I’ve realized that in life there are so many things to hold dear, so many things to cherish and so many things for which one should show their gratitude. I’ve definitely learned that this gratitude thing should not only be thought of once a year during Thanksgiving week, but that we should really value all that we have on a daily basis.

I think we often sit and think of the things for which we should be grateful and we default to our families, our life partners, our children, etc. What I have started to do is to let these “big picture” individuals know that I am extremely grateful they are in my life, and for all they do or have done for me, as often as I can.

However, I now also take time out of my day to think of the “little things” I have in my life to show gratitude for. There are so many things and without daily (I try to do it daily) reflection time I wouldn’t remember to be grateful that I have remained injury free with regards to my playing/officiating hockey, that although my little dogs barking is annoying it means that they are healthy and love me enough to want to protect me, and that after a long hard day in the office, a friendly chat with a stranger on my way to the car can really brighten up the evening!!

These are just examples of the “little things” in my life, but I really do feel that our lives are much happier when we take time out of our busy lives to truly reflect on all that we in our lives that we really should be showing gratitude for.

Re-Write Your Money Story and Live By It

Thursday, October 27th, 2011

money-wipeMoney – we want it, we don’t want it, we have it, we need it, the other person has it, we love it, we hate it, we lost it, we made it, we deserve it, we don’t deserve it, we know how to attract it, we’re not the kind of person who attracts it. We each have a very unique and important relationship to money and beliefs around it.

Everyone has a money story, rich or poor, and it’s your money story that either allows you to attract in prosperity or completely blocks you from having what you want in your life.

If you are in a place in your life where your bank account doesn’t reflect what you want, or you have to skimp on what you buy for yourself, or you simply feel as if you’ve gotten a rotten deal and you should have more, or that everyone else around you has more than you, then you can be 100%, absolutely sure that you are operating out of a personal money story that is sabotaging you.

At its heart, your “money story” is a series of beliefs and fears that you have developed about money and your personal relationship to money. These beliefs and fears may or may not be based in fact. However, because you have thought them over and over and over again, your mind comes to believe these messages as truth.

It is absolutely vital for you to get very acquainted with – to actually “Befriend” – your fears about money. Why? Because when you avoid your fears, they take over your actions and thoughts and the result is that you sabotage yourself and your ability to create for yourself.

This happens in a variety of ways: anything from avoiding your work by spending too much time on email to telling yourself that you’re not good enough to apply for a certain grant so you wait until the last minute to do it, to telling yourself that no one will buy your services, so you undercharge yourself to telling yourself that you don’t have enough time to accomplish everything you need to and over-scheduling yourself to the point of exhaustion.

The first step to Befriending Your Fears about money is to become aware of what your fears are. Here are the top 8 fears that come up around money and abundance:

  1. Fear of not being good enough to have money & abundance – “I’m scared I’m not a good enough writer to make a living from it”
  2. Fear of not knowing how to earn money – “I’m not good with numbers” or “I don’t know how to run a business” or “I’m not the Wall Street type, therefore I’m scared I’ll never make money”
  3. Fear of the success and visibility that comes with money & abundance – “If I’m rich, then people will notice me and see I’m a fraud”
  4. Fear of not deserving money & abundance – “I’m scared I’m not the type of person, or my family isn’t the type of family, that can make money”
  5. Fear that it will take up way too much time to make good money – “If I really go after my dream and make it work, I’m scared I won’t have any time left over for anything else”
  6. Fear of losing connection with self or loved ones bc of money – “If I am rich, my sister won’t be able to relate to me anymore”
  7. Fear of surpassing loved ones because of money – “I am betraying my father by being more successful and prosperous than him; I’ll be leaving him behind”
  8. Fear of getting hurt, used or judged – “My friends will think I’m shallow if I buy a beach house in the Hamptons”

Take a moment now and get clear for yourself – what is the thing you are scared of most around money? Go with the first thing that comes to mind for you, and I want you to write that down, star it, underline it, do whatever you need to do so that you remember it.

Whatever this fear or fears are, once you are clear on them, then you can begin to really work with them and move through the process for Befriending Your Money Fears – leading you to open new doors to creating abundance for yourself on all levels!

Serenity Now! Moving Through Stressful Situations with Ease

Thursday, October 6th, 2011

stressFall seems to be an insane time of year for everyone. Kids are back in school – so the school year is in full swing; the holidays are coming and people are planning and saving; and work just doesn’t seem to let up. Have you ever felt like this?
Stress sometimes seems to come out nowhere sometimes! Have you ever been in a situation where everything is going well – you have time to finish that big project at work, play with your kids, and spend time with your loved ones! It seems almost impossible that you have this abundance of time and energy. Then, one day, something happens and everything is turned upside down. It doesn’t matter what triggered that moment – what matters is you’re a big ball of stress now and you’re plagued with worries, fears, and stress!
Stress happens to all of us but you have a choice to make: do you freak out, worry, and let the fear grip you? OR do you respond proactively?
The choice is yours and how you respond will have an impact on how the situation is handled. If you don’t know how to manage your stress, it will start to affect your body, mind, and soul.
Which choice would you rather make? If you stay calm and centered through a crisis, just imagine how different you’re going to feel. Sometimes all it takes to stay calm and serene is to listen to that little voice inside of you that tells you to “calm down”, “relax”, and take it “one step at a time”. Your intuition can help you go from stressed out to sane and centered! There are a few other tools to help you stay relatively serene when life gets crazy:

  • Take Care of Yourself – we usually forget that we are our #1 priority. When we’re stressed out, taking care of ourselves gets thrown out the window because we falsely believe that it’s a waste of time … and when the clock is ticking, who has that kind of time!?! YOU DO! Make sure you’re getting enough sleep, taking your vitamins, eating well and drinking water, finding time to exercise (both your mind and body), and occasionally taking some extra steps to make you feel good. When you’re stressed out, it’s imperative that you take care of yourself. If you don’t, no one else will and you’re going to need to be at the top of your game to deal with a stressful period.
  • Tell Stress to Take a Hike From Your Body! It’s human nature to internalize stress but when we internalize, all that stress gets stuck in our body and creates physical pain and discomfort! Think of the last time you were stressed out – was your back tense and did your shoulders ache? That’s stress! Tell stress to take a hike by being active! Work out the stress by kick boxing, running, dancing, or even screaming into a pillow! Do it regularly when you’re starting to feel stressed out and your body will thank you for it by turning stress into energy!
  • Take Time to Connect with Yourself – With so much emotion running through you during stressful times, it’s important to really understand what’s going on with your heart and soul, so take a moment to check-in with yourself and maybe ask yourself how you’re doing! There’s a danger in forgetting about yourself when you’re stressed – you may start lashing out at loved ones and go through periods of low self-esteem. Avoid this at all costs by reconnecting with yourself. You can do this through meditation or, my personal favorite, a writing exercise where you take around 10 minutes of quiet time and start off with “I feel like…” or “I find myself…” – then just write. Don’t stop writing. Don’t edit, don’t proofread. Just write. Getting your thoughts out will help put things into perspective on how you’re really feeling.
  • Listen to Your Intuition – we often forget about that little voice inside of us that helps guide us. You need your inner voice more than ever so take the time to listen when it’s trying to guide you. If you’re stuck at a cross-road and feel like something is pulling you in one direction, go with the flow, it’s likely your gut is trying to lead you in a good direction.

Remember: YOU have control. You have control over how you respond. You have control over how you move. You control how you deal with a stressful situation. The choice is yours. Will you allow yourself to become drained and tension filled or will you be leading yourself to a more centered and balanced experience? It’s your choice – choose wisely.

Brain Science You Can’t Afford to Ignore

Thursday, June 30th, 2011

brain-lg

Have you ever sat down to write an article or to do something really important – only to get up two minutes later to do something like get a glass of water? You might then go back to the important thing you were supposed to be doing but another minute later you drift off to make a shopping list for later in the day. Eventually you remember to get back to the task at hand, only to forget and make a doctor’s appointment instead. You try and try to get back to the task you’re supposed to be doing but then you decide that updating your Facebook status is a much better idea. Eventually you probably give up – throw in the towel for the day and you probably feel awful … like you just wasted your entire day.

Sounds familiar, right? We all do it.

We’re prone to distractions and all those little things that we distracted ourselves with is actually a form of self-sabotage! No one wins when you are sabotaging yourself and you have only yourself to thank!

Self-sabotaging makes everything feel longer, harder, and it becomes exhausting! Most people even berate themselves into oblivion – which just makes the whole situation worse. Fear not, I have some interesting scientific information for you about distractions and self-sabotage.

Neuroscientists recently discovered just how deeply the brain holds the patterns that eventually lead us to distraction and sabotage! There’s good news, though! Apparently, the brain can also re-wire those patterns so that we can take consistent positive action in our lives.

I often write about re-patterning and breaking away from self-sabotage – I even teach a free teleclass on it! If you identified with the person I described above, don’t worry – there’s hope!

It’s time to stop feeling stuck, exhausted, frustrated, and angry at yourself AND others – it’s time to set yourself free to accomplish YOUR goals! Take a moment to visualize your current project and really take notice to what your brain is telling you isn’t working. Your brain can help you unlock the major steps that you’re missing or overlooking but you need to sit down first and take a moment. That moment helps.

Aside from taking moments to breathe – so you don’t become overwhelmed, you may want to consider your self-sabotage. If you want to learn step-by-step how to re-wire those negative patterns, stop thinking those thoughts like “I’m not good enough” and “I don’t deserve this” – and learn how to start believing that you ARE worth it because you ARE good enough! Negative thoughts will keep you from getting what you want.

I teach a lot of great tips like this in my Re-Patterning Your Negative Thoughts and Habits teleclass. My next class is coming up soon! If you want to learn how to eliminate those distractions that stand in your way of success, join me and register for this complimentary class on July 13th! To register, simply go to http://soulfulcoach.com/innerwisdomteleclass.php. Your future is yours, let me help you on your path to success.

This is the most personal post I ever wrote…

Thursday, March 3rd, 2011

I want to tell you about an incredibly powerful and transformative breakthrough I’ve recently had in my life.

This is probably the most personal I’ve ever gotten in an email to my community, and I feel a little vulnerable sharing it with you. However, my inner wisdom keeps telling me that it is really important that you hear it.

So, it’s a little longer than usual, but it’s INCREDIBLY important, so here it goes…

Many of you have noticed that I have new headshots. (Thank you for all of the loving compliments and well-wishes you’ve given me on them!!!!)

Here’s what you don’t know about my headshots: it took me TWO WHOLE YEARS of contemplating getting them before I was actually ready to do it.

I knew I needed headshots because I hated the photos I had up on my website and marketing materials. Every time I looked at them I cringed because they just didn’t feel right.

And yet, I still didn’t make time to call a photographer and schedule a photo shoot.

For a long time I thought I was just too busy to get them done. Or, I told myself, I needed to wait until my hair grew to a certain length. Or, I told myself that it was the wrong time of year. Or, I told myself that it wasn’t a worthy investment.

Well, this went on for a while until I started getting unsolicited feedback about my photos. I was told by quite a number of people - some that I had just met! - that those old photos looked nothing really like me, that they didn’t convey my soulful and transformative energy and abilities, and that it looked like I was hiding from the camera in them.

To be honest, at first I was kind of insulted by those comments. Then one day it hit me - I WAS hiding from the camera in those photos, and not just from the camera, but from my community, my current and future clients, my partners, my mentors, and anyone that would come across them.

I was scared of being visible. I was scared of being truly seen and noticed by others. I realized that by not featuring headshots that showed the “real” me, I was allowing myself to stay small and to stay safe and to stay comfortable by not really letting my photographs convey the power of my work and my incredible ability to help women heal their wounds and move forward radically with their businesses, careers, art, relationships and so much more.

Why? ...keep reading

The Key to Managing Your Time (It’s NOT what you think it is!)

Thursday, November 18th, 2010

Time for ChangeDo you have a challenging time with your schedule?

Well, you’re not alone! Nearly everyone I know and nearly everyone I’ve ever coached can relate to this in some way. This includes: feeling like there is too much to do, feeling like there is not enough to do, feeling overworked, overtired, not knowing how to fit everything in, not leaving enough time for important things, getting places late, and so on.

Most people have at least one obstacle or challenge around how they use their time and manage their schedule.

And here’s the good news!: There are a lot of wonderful, useful tools out there for time management and schedule creating. There are in fact a number of Woman Wisdom Time Management Tools I’ve developed myself that work wonders for people who are ready to move through their lives at a different pace and in a different way. They can be really helpful in allowing you to prioritize and make space and time.

However, before you dive into the practical how-tos of time management, there is a VERY important yet nearly always overlooked first step to managing your time and schedule. ...keep reading

Have You Created a 3-Tiered Support System for Success?

Sunday, September 12th, 2010

Delegating is so incredibly important because the more successful you become and want to be, the more responsibility there is. You are not supposed to be doing it all on your own! In fact, any good leader knows that the way to accomplish all that you want to accomplish is by enlisting others to help you out.

By asking for support on your projects, soul-centered goals, and in your life, not only do you achieve what you want to achieve more quickly and easily, but you also avoid exhaustion and overwhelm. And here’s the added bonus: when you enlist others to help you out, you are empowering those support individuals by putting responsibility and power in their hands.

What I’ve found is that, for the most successful results on any project or goal, it’s important ...keep reading

Are You Forgetting to Prioritize for Success?

Monday, July 19th, 2010

How we spend our time is essentially how we spend our lives. It’s a very big deal.

For those of us that have busy lives, time is incredibly precious. Sometimes time can feel like the biggest thing you are fighting against. It’s that feeling of rushing to get things done, or confusion and inactivity from having too many things to do and not enough time to do them, or feeling dissatisfied because your life isn’t in alignment with your heart.

Know what I mean?

One of the most common mistakes that I see people make when trying to create balance, time, and energy in their life stems from not being clear on their priorities.

Each and every day, we are presented with endless possibilities of things to do, see, and hear. Often, we aren’t clear on what is more important to do and what is less important to do - both in terms of our Overarching Priorities and Day-to-Day Priorities. This lack of clarity leads to ...keep reading

The Power of Mini-Action Steps

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

Today I want to share with you an important piece of information that may seem very obvious. The truth is, though, most people don’t utilize this incredibly effective tool for moving forward and getting unstuck instantaneously! The powerful tool I’m talking about is the mini-action step, as I like to call it.

Without mini-action steps, it’s very easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer size and extent of your dream goals. While dream goals can create excitement and enthusiasm, if you aren’t sure how to make those dream goals happen, or don’t know what your next steps are, you can end up very stuck.

In contrast to the enormity and greatness of your BIG Project or dream goal, the mini-action step is ...keep reading


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Joanna Lindenbaum is a life coach, wedding officiant, and inspirational speaker.
She helps women in the following areas: work/life balance, career change, prosperity,
time management, creativity, leadership, and spirituality.

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