Yes!

Love is the most powerful of emotions… we also know it as joy, passion, inspiration, connection, flow, beauty, creativity, and leadership.

We are literally yearning for more love in our businesses. We are tired of the same old sales letters and boring products that lack creative fire and beauty.

Love in your business makes your day feel full of joy. You are engaged and alive. You feel like you just resuscitated lives by helping make someone’s life better through your product or service. Love is that spontaneous flow of inspiration and ideas that you don’t know where it’s coming from, but you trust it for how awake and engaged you feel and the impact you can see you have on others.

Here are 5 ways you can consciously practice infusing love in your business:

1. Love Your Creativity – Freedom to creatively express yourself in your business is one of the highest values for most passionate entrepreneurs. If you find yourself nodding in agreement, then you want to make sure you schedule time for your creativity. As your business grows, it’s easy to lose touch with your creativity if you aren’t consciously giving it attention and time. Schedule creative retreat time each week to get out of your office. Spend some time journaling and mind mapping and reviewing what’s working in your business and where it needs to go. Then use some of that scheduled time to create the program, project or article ideas. Put your attention on what you want to grow!

2. Love Your Marketing – Let go of old stereotypes about marketing and what it means to market your business. These old-style limiting beliefs will just hold you back. Today’s marketing is all about creating relationships with your clients, potential clients, and potential collaborators. The more creative, fun and authentic you are, the better you’ll connect with your clients and grow your business. Successful marketing is also about having a generous mindset to help each other increase visibility and success. So… love your clients, love your colleagues… and focus on loving them in success. While you do, you’ll find you’ll be more successful too.

3. Love Your Money – Money loves being paid attention to. That means learning about money strategies, keeping your Quickbooks™ up-to-date, and knowing how much money you’ve spent and created. If you ignore money, then don’t be surprised if you aren’t making very much! Spend time nurturing your money and its flow in your business. Welcome sales into your business as a sign that you are getting your purpose (your love) into the world!

4. Love Your Life and Relationships – If you are like me, you started your business to have more freedom and flexibility in your life. So make sure that you build a business around your life, not the other way around. You want to love your life – your family, friends, hobbies, travel – whatever you love. Your personal joy is to make room and time in your life and let your business support your life.

5. Love Yourself – As your business grows, you’ll keep running up against your upper limits of success. Those beliefs that will limit how much joy you’ll allow into your business as far as money, success, recognition, great clients and enjoyment. Be aware that everyone hits upper limits of how much success they’ll allow into their businesses (think lottery winners who lose all their winnings within two years). You have to love yourself enough to allow the success in.

Where in your business can do you need to make room for the love? Which area do you need to start with first?

Award-winning entrepreneur, Laura West is the President and Chief Creative Officer of the Center for Joyful Business. As a certified business coach, author and speaker, she specializes in supporting creative lifestyle entrepreneurs in crafting a successful business that is “holistically joyful” – it’s meaningful, makes money and allows entrepreneurs to enjoy lives they love!

She is known for making marketing simple for passion-based business owners. She takes the confusion and fear out of promoting business and making money. Author and creator of Joyful Business Guide™ system, which combines law of attraction principles with smart business strategies, Laura is a contributing author to The Spirit of Women Entrepreneurs and Emerging Trends Every Entrepreneur Should Know, an Association of Web Entrepreneurs Guide for 2009. Laura is also the Attraction Marketing Expert at www.IdeaMarketers.com, as well as a member of the expert panels at www.solo-e.com and Association of Web Entrepreneurs.

Ms. West has been published in Motto, Simply Home, Choice, Connections (published by the Association of Image Consultants) magazines and is frequently a guest expert speaker for teleclass programs, Internet tv, radio and blog programs. She has spoken at standing-room-only workshops for organizations such as the International Coach Federation, Georgia Coach Association, and the Association of Image Consultants.

Website: www.JoyfulBusiness.com
Blog: www.CafeEntrepreneur.com
Twitter: JoyfulBiz
Facebook: Laura@JoyfulBusiness.com

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/entrepreneurship-articles/5-love-practices-for-your-business-1623869.html

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Over the last few months, I’ve been going through testing at UCLA Medical Center here in Los Angeles to determine if I might be a possible match to donate one of my kidneys to my husband, Greg. Greg has Polycystic Kidney Disease and one of the affects is possible kidney failure over time. His kidney function has steadily been declining and we’ve known for some time that this day would come. What we didn’t know until now, is that I am, in fact, a match! On Tuesday, December 1, we will go together to UCLA Medical Center where I will undergo a procedure to remove one of my healthy kidneys and Greg will receive that kidney so he can feel healthy, energetic and enjoy life to the fullest once again.

Why do I tell you this story? Because what I’m going through right now holds many similarities for women. Women love. Women give. Women have fears. Some days I want to go jump in my bed, pull the covers over my head, go to sleep and wake up to realize that this has been a bad dream. Do you think I’m scared? You bet. Do I have anxiety? Of course. Will I feel the fear and do it anyway? Absolutely. How do you feel the fear and do it anyway? I’m sure, as you are sitting here reading this, you are thinking about some fears that you have, right? And it’s possible that you haven’t been able to overcome that fear yet.

My definition of Fear is…

Feeling
Emotions
Appearing
Real

Because they are real—right? When you feel your own fear, it seems almost impossible to move through it. And this is what keeps you stuck and trapped.

What do you fear that keeps you from stepping into who you really are? Do you:

~Fear cultivating a loving relationship because of past hurt and emotional pain?
~Fear letting go of a relationship that’s toxic and no longer serves who you are?
~Fear leaving a job or career that you’ve outgrown long ago?
~Fear taking on the idea of starting your own business even though it’s always been a dream?

These are just a few of the “fears” that women may have at different times in their lives. Fear is natural, it’s healthy and it’s never going to go away. The key is to find solutions to “manage” your fear so that you can move through it. Fear is a natural partner to your creativity. Anytime you have a new idea (or in my case, a health crisis that needs to be handled) you have the opportunity to take the pieces of the idea or situation apart and make choices about how to move forward in a way that serves you and will be in your highest good.

Here are some of the ways that I’m “managing” my fear and doing it anyway:

1. Create an air-tight support system – I’m so blessed to have an amazing support system around me. By the way, it’s not by accident. I seek out positive, nutritious people to be a part of my life and my families lives. I’m intentional about decreasing the amount of toxicity and negativity in my life as much as possible.

2. Become “Curious George” – Recently, I had a very Smart Woman explain the difference between “healthy anxiety” and “unhealthy anxiety” to me. “Healthy anxiety” propels you into asking curious questions of people who can help you break down the fear barrier and move toward positive resolution. “Unhealthy anxiety” keeps you stuck and trapped—unable to move at all. Yes, I’m driving the doctors crazy with all of my questions and I’m sure my family is a little crazy with all of the planning I’m doing but it’s what I need to feel clear and calm.

3. Create a Vision of What’s Possible – Instead of focusing on the fear of not being able to do something, focus on what will be possible for you on the other side of the fear, once you conquer it and move through it. Think about how your life will open up to new beginnings once you take that first step.

What’s possible for me once my husband has a new, functioning healthy kidney? Our family can begin a renewed life and fully embrace living whole once again.

What’s possible for you once you feel your fear and do it anyway? Loving relationships, a Renewed life, a new business?

I share this article with you in the hope that you can take my current situation and look at your own life with a critical eye. Explore what’s holding you back in different areas of your life. Every time fear rears her head, use these solutions to help you move beyond your fear. I’m a woman just like you who loves, gives and feels fear…..and I’m doing it anyway. You can too.

Whether you’re donating a healthy organ to a loved one or making a decision to have more of what you want in your life and less of what you don’t, feel the fear and do it anyway. I’m doing it and you can do it too. I believe in You.

Anything is possible. Everything is waiting for you.

*****

© 2009 Joy Chudacoff

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Joy Chudacoff, ICF, PCC, is the founder of Smart Women Smart Solutions(tm), a Professional Certified Coach to 1000’s of women, Motivational Speaker, and Entrepreneur. She publishes a weekly buzz generating ezine, Reflections On Life and Business for Women Entrepreneurs. If you’re ready take your life and your business to the next level, get your FREE Tips, 2 FREE Reports and FREE MP3 now at Creating The Spark .

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/entrepreneurship-articles/smart-women-love-giveand-have-fears-1533179.html

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As freelance accountants and bookkeepers we work in a profession that deals with one of the most controversial, emotionally charged subjects – money! There is no getting away from it. We deal with numbers and are the messengers that tell a business owner (client) how well or not well their business is doing. Not only are we privy to the private information of the business we are working with, we are also experiencing their emotions around money as well as our own. When you put that all together, it can be pretty rough waters to navigate!

That is why two of the most important skills you can adopt is deep listening, (really hearing and understanding what your prospective and current clients are saying) and remaining neutral or non-judgmental to what you are hearing.

So let’s start to dispel some of the emotion around money. Money is a transaction tool that is given in exchange for a service or product. It is neither good nor bad. It something given for something received – a balanced relationship. When this relationship is out of balance, emotions are then attached and money becomes a highly charged subject!

Our relationship with money is a fragile one and there are innumerous ways in which it can become out of balance and when it is out of balance, emotions, whether we realize it or not are always attached. Some of the more common emotions around money that we experience are guilt, shame and anger. That is why, when speaking with a prospective client it is important to really listen to what is being said and peel back the layers.

Here’s what I mean…

Last week, I was speaking with a prospective client who very clearly stated that I would not want them as a client. She went on to further say her books and records were anything but stellar and that she keeps her receipts in a shoebox.

On the surface, my initial reaction to that statement would be “they cannot afford my services.” I am judging the prospective client and adding the emotion of being disappointed that I will most likely walk away from this meeting without signing a new client.

But when I did some deep listening and peeled back the layers here’s what I heard, “I’m not sure I can afford your services and I really need them because my books are a mess and I am ashamed that I cannot handle my money.”

By deep listening, I am now in a place of compassion and seeking a solution. In order for this prospective client to speak with me, they had to become vulnerable and trust that I would not judge them harshly. When someone is experiencing guilt or shame around money, like this prospective client they are usually very hard on themselves and make the assumption that everyone else is getting it right, which couldn’t be further from the truth.

Had I stayed on the surface thinking this prospective client could not afford my services I would be missing out on the opportunity to really help someone who needs it, whether or not I am the right person or service to assist them.

The reality of the matter may be that this prospective client cannot afford your services which is why it is important to perform deep listening and contrast that against the criteria a prospective client must meet in order to work with you.

When you master the art of deep listening, qualifying prospective clients and working with your existing clients becomes magical. Here are some tips on how to know you are performing deep listening.

•It’s Not About You – unless the conversation is specifically directed at you or your services that conversation is not about you. Don’t take any of the comments your client or prospective client says personally.

•Be Neutral – Listen to what is being said and regard it as neither good nor bad with the caveat that it is bad if it is illegal!

•Show Acknowledgment – Most people just want to be heard and acknowledged. During your conversations with your clients or prospective clients, acknowledge what they are saying by meeting them and their issue where they are.
Deep listening is an art form that once mastered will help you in all aspects of your business and personal life.

Copywrite 2009 SUMSOLUTIONS LLC.  All Rights Reserved.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE?  You can, as long as you include my bio with it.

Linda A. Hunt, the small business accounting expert teaches bookkeepers how to create a 6-figure freelance practice. To learn how to create a freelance practice that supports you body, mind and spirit, register here for her free bi-weekly newsletter at www.sumfreereport.com.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/entrepreneurship-articles/the-art-of-deep-listening-money-1484559.html

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The truth is when I first started my business I just wanted to make as much money as I had when I was at my j-o-b.  Believe me, that number wasn’t even close to 6-figures, much less 7.

But something shifted when I saw that 6-figures was possible. I became intrigued to figure out what it would take to reach that magical milestone.

The biggest “A-ha!” came when I started including Divine Guidance (read, intuition) in every marketing or business decision.

Now, remember that intuition is not fear or self-doubt. Those emotions are just trying to sidetrack you from stepping into your place of power. You can tell if it’s fear or self-doubt because you’ll find yourself saying things like, “It’s not the right time” or “I don’t think I’m ready yet.”

Sorry, gals, that’s fear speaking. How do I know? Because fear gives you reasons not to do something, while Divine Guidance places opportunities at your feet.

Okay…so, what does Divine Guidance have to do with reaching 6-figures and beyond, all with grace, ease and simplicity?

Plenty!

After coaching thousands of women business owners I’ve discovered that there are four key areas where you may be letting fear make your decisions, instead of tapping into the grace and ease of Divine Guidance.

If you’re serious about creating a 6-figure business (or beyond), here’s a simple checklist you can use to make sure you’re connecting with the full power of Divine Guidance, instead of playing small due to fear or self-doubt.

I recommend printing these tips out and taping them to your wall or bulletin board as a daily reminder to integrate Divine Guidance into your marketing. This, more than anything else, will help you leap into 6-figures (or beyond) in a way that is powerfully authentic for YOU!

Tip #1: Choose Your Tribe of Ideal Clients

Getting crystal clear on who your ideal client is will help make your marketing fast, easy and powerful to implement. Understand that a “refuse to choose” attitude is simply fear holding you back.

Don’t make choosing your niche a big deal, okay? Simply look at the people most like you, who want to know how to do something that you find simple and easy. Ask Divine Guidance to make this clear for you. Just be sure not to discount or ignore the answer that your intuition gives you!

Hint: if your current ideal client hasn’t been responding well to your marketing then chances are good you’ve been playing small. Now is the time to specialize. Don’t ignore how important this is because specialists make a big impact for others, and make big money!

Tip #2: Stop Trying to Grow Your List by Dribs and Drabs and Instead Grow Your List by the Hundreds, Even by the Thousands

If you’re serious about creating a 6-figure business, you’ll need to step up and make yourself known to others who can direct hundreds, if not thousands, of people to you.

Ask your intuition, “What do I need to do to create a powerful, confident presence with the people who market to my ideal clients?” For example, the action my intuition guided me to take was to ask famous people in my industry for testimonials for my info products. I got nearly all of the ones I asked for, which led to JV opportunities. In one month alone I grew my list by over 25%!

Tip #3: offer a System, Not Just a Service

If you haven’t yet offered a system then you’re going to be shocked at how much easier it is to sign up new clients! People love systems because they offer them a feeling of security and reassurance that you know what you’re doing and it will work for them.

The power of offering a system will give you immediate attention and credibility. So, whether you create your own or find it’s faster and easier for you to get training and use someone else’s, just do it.

Tip #4: Stop Being Afraid of “How You’ll handle More Business” and Start Seeing Opportunities to Expand Your Impact

Feeling fearful about how you would handle more business simply means you have the desire to have more business, but don’t just yet have the specific know-how or strategies to make your business expandable. No worries. All you need to do is find a mentor who’s walked the path you want. Your mentor will help give you answers, resources and tools to make your business simple, easy and fun to run while it grows.

The trick is this:  Do not let FEAR of growth keep you from taking action to expand your business (or yourself).

If you look at every obstacle as an opportunity to request help from Divine Guidance, you’ll quickly find yourself, as I did, moving easily into 6-figures.  You will then find, just as quickly, yourself expanding effortlessly into even greater amounts of money, marketing and soul!

Kendall SummerHawk, the Million Dollar Marketing Coach, is an expert at helping women entrepreneurs at all levels design a business they love and charge what they’re worth and get it. Kendall delivers simple ways entrepreneurs can design and price their services to quickly move away from ‘dollars-for-hours work’ and create more money, time, and freedom in their business. For free articles, free resources and to sign up for a free subscription to Kendall’s Money, Marketing and Soul weekly articles visit www.kendallsummerhawk.com.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/entrepreneurship-articles/4-marketing-basics-will-get-you-to-6figures-and-beyond-1292654.html

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Working Your Way Through

Rita was experiencing intense grief emotions. Seven months earlier, her daughter had been killed in an automobile accident. Rita was still finding her way along the road of grief, through a void that could never be filled, to a life that would be forever different. Intense grief emotions such as those Rita experienced are not a sign of psychological problems, mental illness or an inability to cope. They are a natural response to a loss that goes deep, such as the death of a family member or other loved one. Though they are painful, the good news is that they do pass, and in the meantime you can listen and learn from them, and even heal and grow strong through them. Here are a few ways to do so.

Realize There Is Nothing “Wrong” With You

Intense grief emotions are difficult to describe to those who have not experienced them. They can and often do come to us at unexpected times, sometimes with no warning and with no evident “trigger”. They can be frequent in the days, weeks and months immediately following a severe loss, usually lessening in frequency and intensity with good grieving and the blessed passing of time. Difficult as they might be intense grief emotions are not uncommon, nor are they cause for alarm. In her book How to Go on Living When Someone You Love Dies, Dr. Therese Rando notes that grief can be severe and might make you “conclude that you have lost touch with reality and are going crazy.” And she offers assurance: “you are not.”

Do Not Try To Escape Or Avoid Intense Grief Emotions

Intense emotions can be frightening and exhausting and they can immobilize us for a short period of time. They can also be awkward, depending on where we are and who we’re with when the emotions flood through us. But they are not abnormal; they are not permanently debilitating. “I was in a restaurant with my brother about seven weeks after my wife died,” recalls Brent. “I had to excuse myself from the table and go outside to the parking lot for a while.” Especially in the early weeks and months following a loss, be aware that your experiences of grief may be especially intense at times. Be patient and flexible with yourself; respect the emotions, take the time you need to allow them to be -and to pass.

Listen And Learn From Your Intense Emotions

“Grief work” is often an “inside job.” After an experience of feeling intense grief emotions, take a period of quiet time to go “inside” your thoughts and see what your emotions might be telling you about the challenges and changes you now face. Perhaps the void left in your life suggests you need to take greater responsibility in certain areas. Perhaps your intense grief emotions are pointing you in the direction of a deeper experience of faith. You may find that your loss has left you questioning your sense of worth. Listen well to what your intense emotions are teaching you about good grieving, healing and identifying and accepting the changes you now face. “No matter how much it hurts and it may be the greatest pain in life-grief can be an end in itself, a pure expression of love.”

Talk And Talk Some More

Talk about your loved one. Telling stories about your deceased loved one is a way to process the new reality of that person’s physical absence. Those who care about you will listen with attentive love. Bob Deits, author of Life after Loss, says that talking about a deceased loved one “helps every bit as much as having air to breathe and food to eat-and for basically the same reason: survival. The parent who has lost a child or the widowed person who is alone for the first time in 50 years is terrified that they might forget the smallest detail of their lost loved one. I hear such people begging just to hear the name of the one who is deceased.” It also helps to talk about your intense grief emotions. Say the words out loud: “I sobbed until my body shook.” “I had to lean against the wall for support.” “I felt like the grief was actually physical.” Share these experiences with a trusted friend, a professional counselor, or those in a support group. When you hear your own voice put into words how you survived an experience of intense grief, you see and name your own healing strength.

Take The Time You Need

Grief knows no timeline. Do not impose on yourself a schedule based on previous experiences of grief or what well intentioned friends and loved ones might suggest. You will face these emotions as long as you need to-and the time you need often depends on variables such as what or who you are grieving, the details of the loss, your support systems, childhood memories, guilt and fear associated with your loss, and your current relationships, health and lifestyle. Let time-all the time you need-be a gentle and healing friend. In her supportive book The Mourning Handbook, Helen Fitzgerald emphasizes the importance of taking the time you need. She is forthright about time and offers hope: “Keeping in mind the definition of grief as “intense emotional suffering,” you can look forward, at some point to an end to these over whelming emotions.”

Reach Our For Support

It was a decisive moment in my life. I sat at the kitchen table crushed with loss and overwhelmed with sadness, fear and anger. As I looked around the kitchen, I could hear all the familiar household sounds the purr of the refrigerator, the tick of the wall clock, the television in the living room. In that moment when the world around me seemed oblivious to my emotional death, I desperately tried to locate something that would offer a harbor or relief from the pain. Anything I just wanted to stop hurting. Then I saw it: the bottle of scotch behind the toaster. I stared at it for a long moment, imagining its burning taste and longing for the tranquil sea of numbness I would find at the bottom of the bottle. I also looked at the telephone. “Or I could call Jean.” I called Jean. She said she’d be right over-or I could grab a toothbrush and come to her house. I went to her house. I will believe for the rest of my life that the power of grace and my willingness to reach out for help kept me from taking a detour in life down the road toward alcoholism and hopelessness. I recall that moment with tremendous humility and gratitude-the night grace and friendship took my hand to steady me through intense grief emotions toward the path of healing. In addition to friends and loved ones, people in grief support groups are some of your best allies when you experience intense grief emotions. These companions are treading the same painful path you are. The details of their stories might be different, but the emotional void and struggle they face every day are basically the same as yours. Unlike anyone else, they can hear your anguish and identify with what you are enduring. Margo Steinberg, M.S.W., L.C.S.W., notes that bereavement groups have a strong, positive impact on participants and provide a “safe haven…for emotional expression and release of feelings.” Reaching out to the members of a grief support group is not an act of weakness; it is a choice for healing. Over time, you will find that the give and take of sharing with others in a bereavement group is one of the greatest satisfactions along your healing path.

Take Heart

In companion through the Darkness: Inner Dialogues on Grief, Stephanie Ericsson names grief as the “constant reawakening that things are now different.” The loss of a loved one leaves everything different -except love. Our intense grief emotions are the result of equally intense grief emotions of love. We would not feel the pain of loss had we not loved deeply. Rita had given life to her daughter. She had cradled her precious child in her arms, held her hand as she took her first steps, guided her through school, and wept tears of joy at her wedding. Like Rita’s experience, your intense grief emotions are normal and natural result of your love. And the power of that love lives on to help you heal and grow strong.

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