Are You Where You Want to Be?

Regardless of the time of year, it is always a great time to review your business and look inside of you (mostly the latter).  As a small business owner, I AM my business so the better I make myself, the better I am for my business which in turn means I am better for my clients.  Win-Win-Win  So, how do we go about doing this?

I am usually most focused in the am and dwindle as the day goes on. I workout in the am too, because as the day goes on, my excuses get bigger and I find ways or things to do that cause me not to. So, it’s clear to me, for me, that starting my day out right is gold.

The Miracle Morning revelation

I was on vacation/business trip/shooting match week out of town recently and my friend, Meghan, mentioned a book she thought I needed to read. She knows me and as a small business owner we have to help each other grow, brain storm and create new ways for growth.

The book she mentioned was The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod. He has various versions but I chose to read the “The Not So Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life” version.  Sounds amazing, right?  That title right there is surely to peak interest, and it did. So, while I as at the airport, on the plane, before bed or enjoying some rays on my time off, I would read it and within a few days, I had finished it.

I shared it with a Mastermind group I’m in and wanted to share it with you.  Side note: no affiliate, just sharing tools to help fellow business owners, if you are interested, it’s up to you. But anything that can help me grow my personal and business life is important to me, what about you?

Which would you rather be?

“According to the Social Security Administration, if you take any 100 people at the start of their working careers and follow them for the next 40 years until they reach retirement age, here’s what you will find:

• only 1 will be wealthy
• 4 will be financially secure
• 5 will continue working, not because they want to but because they have to
• 36 will be dead
• 54 will be broke and dependent on friends, family, relatives and the government to take care of them.”

Monetarily speaking, that’s only 5% of us who will be successful in creating a life of freedom, and 95% who will continue to struggle their entire lives” (pulled from Hal Elrod’s book)

I don’t know about you, but it’s crystal clear where I want to be. And as you know, it just doesn’t fall in our laps so we have to work for it… so how do we do that? That’s always the question, right? Well, I don’t know yet, but I will keep working until I am in that top 5%.  How about you?

What is The Miracle Morning?

The Miracle Morning entails using his S.A.V.E.R.S. process – to which each letter stands for something.

• Silence
• Affirmations
• Visualization
• Exercise
• Reading
• Scribe (Writing)

I mean, that sounds simple enough, right?  You can get the book if you are interested in how you can incorporate SAVERS into your morning routine.  And something this simple that could potentially transform my life, which in turn can turn up my business is definitely something I am interested in. He also has a starter Miracle Morning website and a Facebook Community you can join if you are interested.

I haven’t done so well with silence (shocking right?) or meditation, or affirmations or visualizations for that matter. But I know that it can’t happen unless I SEE that it can happen, and I THINK it can happen and I SAY that it can happen. We all know how quickly negativity can take us over.

Whatever you do, just do!

I can’t speak to what works and what doesn’t work for you because each one of us has different motivations, different businesses, different family/home situations, different financial situations and the list goes on, but unless you are happy with where you are right now and that will be okay for the rest of your life, you need to do something.  It’s not necessarily WHAT you do that matters as much as if it’s changing you and making you a better person.

For example, Elrod suggested 10 minutes of Silence, and first thing in the morning with someone who’s mind never shuts up let alone her mouth (don’t laugh.. okay, go ahead), this is a feat, so I managed to do 2 minutes and while it may not have done much for my “meditation” journey but it gave me a mindful start for my day, along with some of the other SAVERS.

Your Circle of Influence/Friends

Another thing that was brought up in this book, but also something we must consider is our circle of influence/friends.  Neither of these are a new concept but have some validity in our growth.  Each are a little different.  My first recollection of our circle of influence was in The Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey in 1989 whereas we are to continually work to expand our influence and not wait for things to happen to us. Guess I need to reread that one. 😉  The other influence (with out friendship circle) as the late Jim Rohn said – that we are the average of the 5 people we spend the most time with. Elrod, in his book, calls this the Mediocre Circle of Influence – that who we spend our time with is the single most factor determining the person we become, at that time.

I loved what I saw on Peter Voogd says about your circle of influence – the wrong group of friends can poison your mind, drain your energy and kill your ambition. That’s crazy, but true. He goes on to say that if you are surrounded by those that motivate you, inspire you, support you and lift you up, that you’ll grow your impact, your income and influence faster than you can imagine. Who wouldn’t want that?

So, take a look at how you act or react with the things in your life (self-reflection here! 😉 ) and a look at those you hang with most, are these people who you want to become like, or rather, turn into?  Let’s take it a step further – are YOU the person that you want to be and would like to see in those around you? Maybe YOU need to make changes. I sure know I could use some more positive reactions and affirmations, which is another reason I picked up this book.

Focus on Your Now

We can hem and haw over the past and what we should have done different but what is important is what we are doing NOW to make our lives, and thus our businesses, better today. We surely can not change our past, but our future will be the same if we don’t make those changes.

Crazy how we usually know what we NEED to do.. but, don’t. Or we do it once a week and don’t keep up with it. I mean, it’s not any secret to do the right thing, to be happy, to be happy with yourself, but it’s work, right? We know we need to get up in the morning and hustle our work, take care of our families, give back to ourselves or whatever. But do we? Well, let’s get over what we haven’t been doing, or what we are doing wrong and start focusing on doing it right, right now.

It doesn’t have to be Perfect

We know of “perfect”, it doesn’t exist yet we still strive to be perfect, or don’t start something until it’s perfect. So, we are creating these excuses not to do something, we are pointing out our mistakes and focusing on the very few things that went wrong versus that many of hundreds of things that went right. Change your mindset, change your perception and we can change lives – ours and our circle – wouldn’t that be great?  I know, I am guilty of this too… but it’s all work in progress!

We just need to create quality habits that can and will change our mindset and our lives. If we don’t control these habits, good or bad, they will control us. Is this what we want?

Bottom Line – Wrap Up

I set out to write this blog because I was empowered by what I read and wanted to help other business owners out there. I know how hard it is to have my own business and be the only one running it. We don’t have to do it alone. I mean, sure, I do the work and I get paid, but we can help each other out when able.

So, what I want for you, is to look at where you are and see if you are 100% happy with where you are and if there are areas you can improve. And I hope you are happy but realize there is always room for improvement and growth and put those pieces into play for yourself.

• Find out where you want to be in 5 years and/or 20
• Find motivational books that can help your grow
• Start your morning off with gratitude, a vision, affirmations and growth
• Whatever you need to do, be sure you start and do it
• Create good habits in your life and business
• Be sure your circle of friends are where you want to be and if not, make a change
• Be sure you are worthy of your circle of friends and giving them the empowerment they need
• Find an accountability partner to journey with you – help each other
• Know it doesn’t have to be perfect
• You don’t have to do it all, just do one thing, for you

How I can help

No, I am not switching to a business coach, but was really empowered to write this blog. If one of those things you need to work on is to start or finish that website you have been meaning to build, to run those ads on Google you’ve been thinking about, to get to blogging that you’ve been talking about for years or to get your social media set up and running, I am here for you. I offer these services and I can be your go to for your marketing needs.  I offer my hourly rate for consultations where I tell you what you need to do, how your website is doing or other marketing needs as well as hourly teaching consultations showing you how you can do many of the above marketing. Contact me for more information or to get started.