by Luci McMonagle | Creative Women Entrepreneurs
Usually, it is really boring and difficult to write blogs on these topics because they involve some cheesy advice which is not practical to follow in this messed up world we are living in. Day to day life feels surreal, but when I pinch myself, I realize that I am living my dream life. After using the advice I am going to give you today, you will be able to break free.
The most important thing you should keep in mind is that there is not a single solution to what each of us is experiencing in our life. What we do have is a choice. We can either choose to accept our circumstances or we can choose to make an effort so that we can rise above those challenging circumstances. This choice normally begins with what you believe about yourself and about the dreams you have.
Wherever you look you will see despair and disappointment. Every day there is something in your life which is not working out the way you hoped it to. You can either let these circumstances break you or make you, but most often we are broken. Despite whatever you are going through or where you are currently standing in life, you can still live a life which for most people can only be a dream to talk about. Here are some important tips you can start living your dream life today.
1 Be honest about what you want from your life.
It is very frightening to accept what you want from your life and what you want to do. You might desire something which is well outside of your comfort zone and can even scare the people in your life. But what you have to realize is that those dreams are in your heart and in your mind for a reason. Never hide from what you want, it is something which you want and you know that it will make you feel good, so sit down and say it out loud. No matter how unusual it sounds, be honest with yourself. You want it you have to get it.
2 Take internets help to research about your dreams
We are living in a time where information is available to us in a matter of seconds. If you have a smartphone or have easy access to the internet, you can easily do research about what it would take and what you can do to make your dream life a reality. And the best part about this is that you don’t have to guess what you need, someone might have already mapped out a plan which is best suited for you and with the help of that plan you can create a life which is best for you.
3 Create a plan and take the first steps.
If you want that your dream life turns into a reality, you are going to need a plan. It is really fascinating how many people wing it and then usually end up failing. If you want to quit your job then you have to have a backup job or business or you should have an emergency fund which you can use during the time when you are unemployed. Similarly, if you want to lose weight you should make a diet plan and a healthy diet routine which you can follow. Do you get what I am trying to say, it is important that you make a plan and start implementing on it over time because that is how you will reach your goals.
4 Learn to ignore self-limiting beliefs and negative people
Along with this journey of yours, you will witness different things. You will encounter fear, doubt and self-limiting beliefs. There will be some people in your life who don’t get what you want and will try to make their opinion. If you will listen to negative people and their demotivating talks, you will then eventually feel and you will get convinced that what you want is impossible and then you won’t take the essential steps to make your dream life a reality. It is better to be distant with those who are just there to tell you that it can’t happen. When you keep negativity away from yourself then automatically positive feelings will grow more inside.
5 Choose to live life every day.
You can very easily miss out on so much that life has to offer due to the chaos and busyness of life. It is very easy that you get caught in routines and what feels comfortable. The obstacle is that all anyone is promised is this moment. It is very important to live each day as if it were your last because it can be. So live life to the fullest and enjoy every day so that you do not have any regrets that you did not do something which you really wanted to.
Conclusion
There will be times when you will feel like giving up, don’t. Your dream life is attainable but more than that, it’s important. Life is really short and each of us only gets one chance to live. So it is better to believe in yourself. You should believe what is possible and then do something about it. So start today and you should not give up until you wake up experiencing true freedom in every area of your life.
by Luci McMonagle | Creative Women Entrepreneurs
Do you feel at times that you don’t fit in well with other women entrepreneurs? Do you think that your creative and innovative side is stronger than your business acumen? Women into creative businesses and enterprises are a tad bit different than the traditional entrepreneurs. They are creative entrepreneurs i.e., bohemians, and soulpreneurs, writers, artists, designers, songwriters, music makers, speakers, trainers, consultants, and what not.
Creative entrepreneurs do not follow the beaten path of traditional entrepreneurs and have unique systems that work for them. They also find imaginative ways to sell their services to people who find them appreciable and valuable. More often than usual, such businessmen are not ruthlessly practical and business minded, thus they face the constant challenge of staying inspired, focused, motivated, getting recognized for their talent, getting paid for their work, and keeping their business afloat. If you too find yourself struggling as a creative entrepreneur, then here are a few tips to help you stay focused, productive and commercially successful:
Dream and Do
Creative individuals dream a lot. They have dreams, vision, wishes, hopes, and aspirations. But sometimes they fail to give these reveries a tangible form and make them profitable. On the other hand, truly successful creative entrepreneurs are the ones who achieve the perfect balance between dreaming and doing. If you find yourself in the dilemma of getting lost in your dreams and not acting upon them quickly enough, here is how you should try to ground your creative spirit in reality:
- Dream up to a certain point, then switch into the action mode.
- Take the leap and work towards creating that dream into a possibility.
- Write down your dreams, and then translate them into workable and measurable goals.
- Find resources that can help you turn your dream into a reality.
- Make a schedule that you can follow on daily, weekly, monthly basis.
- Set milestones and gauge your progress accordingly.
Find Your Creative Fuel
It is very hard to find true inspiration in today’s mechanized and fast paced world. Creative entrepreneurs need consistent stimulus and creative fuel. Creative fuel can be different things to different people: for writers, its reading; for speakers and trainers, it can be meaningful interactions, conservations, etc; for artists, it can be stimulating engagement with nature, music, colors, etc). If you run out of creative steam often, then do the following:
- Subscribe to blogs of creative entrepreneurs and find motivation in what they are doing and how they are doing it.
- Listen to music or podcasts daily.
- Be on the lookout for selling ideas at unlikely of places and adapt them to your own domain.
Be in the Right Company
Creative entrepreneurs are introverts, as solitude helps them dream, create and focus; but being too introverted leads to stagnation. If you are shy by nature, then here is how you can seek meaningful interactions and engagements:
- Hang out with people who are also creative like you.
- Make yourself open to ideas and doing things differently.
- Be willing to learn as well as teach.
- Join online communities and forums related to your field.
- Get yourself enrolled in a coaching session, a workshop or retreat for creative entrepreneurial women like yourself.
- Try to find joint venture and collaborative partners and co-create with them.
Are you ready for your own breakthrough from being a creative to a creative entrepreneur? Join me, Luci McMonagle, a personal and business development coach. I hold over 20 years of experience of training and mentoring aspiring women entrepreneurs through programs like Abundance Breakthrough Coaching, the Money Movement and the Wealthy Wednesday Show. Book a complimentary session with me today and break the creativity and profitability shackles that are holding you and your business back from reaching their full potential.
by Luci McMonagle | Creative Women Entrepreneurs
Women entrepreneurs often complain that they feel held down by their circumstances and obligations, such as managing family, juggling household responsibilities, etc. However, the fact is that more often they are deeply impacted and chained down by their own traditional mindsets. These traditional mindsets are the product of the society they live in and their upbringing and they influence and minimize the chances of their own success and that of their business.
Following are the four major traditional mindsets that need to be broken by women entrepreneurs and to be replaced with growth-oriented ones:
If I Am Unsuccessful, I Can Always Go Back To Whatever I Was Doing Or Just Be A Housewife.
Giving yourself the option to go back to your old job or becoming a homemaker again means giving yourself the space to fail at the very start. Giving yourself wiggle room or alternates like just in case things do not work out is one way to minimize risks, but it also means a partial commitment to a dream project on your part. Partial commitments and success don’t go together.
I Cannot Network. I Am Not a People’s Person.
Not everyone is outgoing and social by nature, but if you are starting out as an entrepreneur then you absolutely have to network because networking means linkages, introductions, generating leads, marketing, selling, raising capital, finding a community of like-minded people, sound advice, partnerships, and joint ventures. It is one skill that guarantees value and return on investment in the most subtle ways.
I cannot sell. It’s Above or Beneath Me
Selling is another important skill for an entrepreneur. In fact, the survival and success of every entrepreneur and business depends upon this. A product, no matter how innovative it happens to be, won’t sell by itself. You have to get the idea, the innovation out of the door and turn it into a sellable business. Despite the thought of yours being unable to do it, you are already in the selling mode and doing it all the time. Every time you are convincing someone to do something, you are selling it to him or her! You sell your idea and vision to your team, your investors, and your vendors before you even get to selling to your customers. Ideally, you have an elevator pitch ready for your business all the time. If you lack in sales skills, then invest in learning it, which brings us to our next point.
I Don’t Need Personal Development Or Professional Training
A growth oriented mind seeks personal development opportunities. It understands that the claim to be sufficiently knowledgeable and perfect means being vain and basically, is setting oneself out for failure. Being an entrepreneur means the ability to evolve that you have to constantly upgrade your skills and learn newer things. The other alternate is learning through trial and error, but it takes a lot of time and wastes a lot of energy and money. Now a days, learning doesn’t mean going back to school but also going to a women entrepreneur retreat, getting in touch with a career coach or personal development trainer, finding a mentor, subscribing to a virtual workshop, downloading an e-tutorial, watching a ‘how to’ YouTube video. The thing is that learning no longer has to be long, in person and costly.
Luci McMonagle is a personal development coach and trainer who has been teaching women entrepreneurs to break through their self-limiting and self-sabotaging beliefs and replace traditional mindsets with growth-oriented ones. Follow Luci McMonagle to get more on how to be a better businessperson.
