5 Essential Steps For Launching A Life Coaching Business

What is life coaching?

It’s motivating people to change something in their lives so they can experience greater joy and less pain. It can be in any area of a person’s life, and different areas of life overlap and influence each other. A relationship problem can affect finances, and vice versa. A health problem can affect a career issue, and vice versa.

So, probably he first thing to consider once you’ve decided to become a coach is:

“Do you want to be a general life coach, or do you want to specialize in one area?”

The main areas of a person’s life are:

· Health

· Relationships

· Personal Development

· Career

· Finances

· Spiritual Development

If you have experience in one area of life where you solved a problem that many others have, then you might want to specialize in that area. For example, if you taught yourself some ways to get through a divorce amiably, you could coach others on how to do that. Or, if you developed a technique for recovering faster from cancer treatments, you may want to share that with others.

Or you may have training in a specific area. For example, you took a training in how to help someone change their diet by using specific techniques you are now certified to teach. Then you may want to use a specific title for your coaching, such as “Massey Method Coach.”

But if you want to coach a person in all areas of their life, then you may want to call yourself a “General Life Coach,” a “Personal Growth,” or a “Personal Development” coach.

No matter what you choose, your job as a life coach is to motivate people to take action to change their lives for the better. You do that with methods, processes, accountability and inspiration to do the work. The problem is that most people want change, but they don’t want to do the work. So they hire a life coach to help them stay motivated while they do the hard work.

In fact, about 90% of people pay for life coaching just to hold them accountable. But they also want you to be an expert in the area they are working on. So it’s important for you to get proper training.

Notice I didn’t say get “certified.” There are many certification programs for life coaching. But there are also courses that aren’t for certification but may be helpful. So just be aware of that.

What’s important is that you get the necessary training, so you know how to deliver life coaching to clients. And, if it’s a certification program, that will just add to your credibility. Or you may be someone who has had a lot of experience in coaching already, and that in itself may be enough credentials.

Most people won’t ask for your credentials, but if you have them, it’s good to display them on your website and in your email signature.

Launching Your Coaching Business

Starting any kind of business can be fulfilling, but it also can involve hard work, difficulties and challenges. Having an awareness of where the obstacles in the road lie in a life coaching business, gives you an advantage. So I’ll share some basic information you need to know when launching.

There are several components that need to be in place in order to start and run a life coaching business:

1. An entrepreneur mindset

2. A coaching process/program to offer

3. Basic bookkeeping skills

4. Business systems

5. Tools for running a business online

Let’s dive a little deeper into each one of these.

1-Mindset is half the battle.

When starting any kind of business, you need to have an entrepreneurial mindset. That means making decisions based on statistics and not on emotions. It definitely means doing income-producing activities such as, market research to determine the needs of your audience, rather than only doing easier and more fun activities.

Most of the entrepreneurs I’ve met who are not having the kind of success that they desire, have a problem with their mindset. I can sense it when I hear them talk about their business. Unfortunately, they aren’t aware of their mindset, so they don’t know that it’s the problem. Before their finances improve and their business thrives, their attitude toward business needs to improve.

Mindset is something quite intangible. You can’t just say, “Oh, you’re spending too much money; that’s your problem.” Or “Your conversion rate isn’t high enough to justify your advertising expenses.” Those are tangible problems. Mindset is illusive, and harder to pinpoint.

One way to discover if your mindset is aligned with your business is to try to uncover any hidden beliefs that are holding you back. Beliefs that don’t support your desires are the main culprits that can keep you stuck in an undesirable situation. But beliefs are just thought patterns that are habitual. This is good news because habits can be changed. The best way to change a belief is to substitute a new one that’s more in alignment with your desires.

Just like being in any long-term relationship, as an entrepreneur, all of your issues will come up and need to be dealt with. One common issue is your relationship with money… how much you think you deserve, how much you can ask for, how much you can keep, and how you treat money in your personal life.

Another major issue that comes up is lack of self-confidence. The best way to handle this is to coach 10-20 people. It doesn’t matter if it’s a practice session or a 6-month program. You will learn a lot from your first coaching clients and it will also give you the potential for referrals, more confidence, and possible revenue.

A third issue that can come up is in how you handle stress. Do you stay calm and strong when a client is venting on a stressful experience, or do you get caught up in their drama? Do you leave the office and your business behind you at the end of the day and relax with family/friends, or do you tend to “take your business with you” and think and strategize too much on your off time?

One thing that happens when running a life coaching business is that you find you must adapt and evolve with it. Things happen that force you to either change something in your business or change something in yourself in order to move forward. And it’s helpful to know how to keep a positive attitude.

2-Your Life Coaching Program

Besides developing the right mind-set, you need to develop a program to offer clients. It may be the process you developed when you solved the problem that you now can help others with. It may be a method that you got training on. Or it could be a combination of the two.

Planning out your program in advance is necessary in order to have something concrete to offer in enrollment conversations (discovery calls). And you need to plan out what results your clients can expect to have from your program.

Here are some steps to consider:

· How long your program will last? One-to-one coaching programs range from a few weeks to a year or more, depending on the depth of the information and the outcome clients will achieve.

· What steps does the client need to go through to achieve the desired results?

· What tools will need to be included in your program?

· How will you connect with your clients, and when and where will the contact happen? Will you deliver via phone calls, zoom calls or email support?

The bottom line here is:

What will make your clients feel supported, without causing you to burnout?

Pricing your services

Perhaps the most difficult decision to make when it comes to your private coaching program is pricing your services. That may take market research.

Beginning life coaches might charge as little as $97/month, while top business coaches can easily command $40,000, $50,000 or even $100,000 per year. Where will your program fit? It depends on a variety of factors:

· Niche

· Duration

· Outcome

· Your experience level

Once your coaching program is planned out and priced, you will be ready to market yourself.

3-Bookkeeping

Every business owner needs to know how to determine whether they can stay in business, i.e., if they are making a profit. Life coaches are no exception. That’s where basic bookkeeping skills come in. Keep track of both expenses and income on a spreadsheet, or (I suggest) in a simple software program such as, Quicken . Quicken is inexpensive and is all you need for a small business.

Then you need to keep accurate records and track where your money is going and how much you are actually earning. Income always starts slowly, and you may have more expenses than income at first. But there are so many low-cost or even free tools available that you should be able to keep operating costs to a minimum.

4-Tools for running a business online

The Internet has opened up a “world” of opportunity for life coaches. You can coach anyone anywhere in the world. But that means knowing how to use online tools to market and run your business. Fortunately, there are many helpful tools, resources, and software to make your business life easier. Earlier, I mentioned having a bookkeeping tool.

Here are 5 other essential ones:

a) Website

b) Scheduler

c) Autoresponder

d) Delivery Platform

e) Documents

Website

Some coaches have asked me if they need a website. You don’t necessarily need a website—I have members in my life coaching association who don’t, and they have other ways of getting clients—but it does look more professional to have a website. A simple one is a WordPress site. You’ll need to get a domain name for it and a hosting service. You can start out with a one-page site that just has information about what you do, and your contact info.

There are a number of tools associated with a website. For example, if you want to track how many people come to your site, you can install Google Analytics. There are also a number of WordPress plug-ins that make the operation of your site more efficient. Your webmaster will know what you need.

Scheduler

You’ll also need a way for clients to book appointments with you. Don’t get caught in the “email tag” game! Get a scheduler with a link that you can send to any client or prospect. Basic free tools include Calendy, Setmore, and Squareup.

Autoresponder

If you are running an online business, and are sending traffic to your website through your marketing, not everyone who comes to your site will be ready to hire you. So, you need a way to stay in touch with those people. An easy way is with an autoresponder, such as MailChimp or AWeber. It’s a tool that sends out emails automatically to people who sign up on your website. You write up the emails once, and they go out without any more work on your part. Usually, you’ll need to offer some kind of “freebie” (or “lead magnet”) to get people to sign up for your emails.

Delivery Platform

If you have materials such as PDFs, templates, checklists, or recordings, you’ll need a way to deliver them to your clients. For documents, it can be as simple as using Google Docs. You upload the document and give the link to your clients. But if you want something fancier, you can use a platform such as Teachable, LearnDash, Kajabi, or OptimizePress Member. Using one of these software programs ensures that your materials are only available to people you designate (password-protected).

Coaching Documents

You will also need some coaching documents such as a client agreement, client feedback form, Wheel of Life chart, intake session form, invoice form, client action sheet, and client info form. There may be others that you’ll need depending on your topic.

5-Business systems

You will need to set up several systems so your business runs smoothly.

Here are the ones I recommend:

a) Content Creation system

b) Lead generation system

c) Social media marketing system

d) Sales conversion system

e) Onboarding clients system

f) Client retention system

g) Follow-up system

Content Creation system

The first system you will need to set up is content creation for your business. That means creating valuable content that educates people, tells them what you do, and how to hire you. As you market your business, you will always be creating content. This includes content in your branding, your blogs, your website pages, and your email campaigns, and it all supports lead generation. You will always be creating content to keep your name in front of the people in your audience.

Lead generation system

How will you find prospects to talk to about your services? That’s what we call “lead generation.” Leads are potential clients who are attracted to your content. So you need to have a system for attracting them.

There will be people who are attracted to your content and consume it, but aren’t ready to hire you yet. And if you don’t have a system for staying in touch with them until they are ready, you’re leaving money on the table. That’s where your autoresponder comes in—you can use it to build a list of leads that you can keep in touch with.

It’s helpful to have a gift of some kind to offer potential leads, so they get on your list. Called a “freebie” or “lead magnet”, this is a small piece of content that your audience wants and needs so much that they are willing to give you their email address, knowing that you will be sending them more content.

The lead magnet leads them to an email series that you have on your autoresponder. These emails educate your leads more about the problem they face and how you can help them solve it. Your autoresponder email series leads to an enrollment conversation, a free consultation or “discovery call,” where you enroll them into your coaching program.

This system also may include using ads to re-target people who clicked on your links to encourage them to connect with you.

Social media marketing system

A necessary part of lead generation is marketing on social media. It’s a whole system in itself! You will need to make social media posts, which include content and graphics, to distribute to the platforms you are using. Part of this system involves having a regular time for engaging with people on social media who are potential clients. You will have to do more market research to find out where to find your ideal leads on social media.

This system can also include advertising on various platforms. Each one is different, and, to stay organized, you should focus on one platform at a time, so you can get a steady stream of leads from it before you start working on another one. Also, there are ways to automate your social media marketing.

Sales conversion system

Once you get a lead into a free sales conversation, you need to have a set of steps to take them through to see if they are right for your program or service.

Here is a sample conversation formula:

a) Warm Up Questions – icebreakers

b) Setting Expectations – your agenda for the call

c) Making the Promise – what they will get out of the call

d) Qualifying Questions – their ability to invest

e) Personal Questions – their reason for consulting with you

f) Offer – your solution

g) Close – your call-to-action

h) Technical Questions/Objection handling – help them make a decision

There are many courses available on sales conversation techniques and formulas. Know that salesmanship is an acquired skill that anyone can learn.

Onboarding clients system

Once you have enrolled a new client, there needs to be a procedure or onboarding process that they go through. This can include a welcome letter or welcome package, registration on your delivery platform, getting their personal information, or filling out a questionnaire.

Client retention system

It’s a lot easier to reenroll a current client than to find a new client, so it’s a good idea to have a client retention system. Current clients have already been sold once and they know and trust you. So it doesn’t take as much work to convince them to buy again. Part of this system is how you treat your clients while they are working with you. The other part is keeping in touch with them after their program is over and introducing them to the next step or another program. This can be done through an email series or phone calls.

Follow-up system

One more system a life coach needs is for following up with people. There are 4 follow-up series that you need to create:

a) People opting in for your “lead magnet

b) Prospects you meet on social media platforms

c) Current clients who are in one of your programs

d) Past clients who need the next step

The thing to keep in mind is that people are more likely to buy from you if you follow up with them regularly with courteous, helpful, non-pushy contact via email or phone calls.

In Conclusion

Becoming a life coach can be as exciting as it is formidable! And as a life coach you may run into some unique challenges. But there are ways to deal with it. We discussed what life coaching is and the 5 steps that need to be in place in order to launch a coaching business.

There are other things you can do too. You can hire a coach to help you. You can take extra trainings. And you can become a member of a life coach association, such as the International Association of Professional Life Coaches®. Membership will give you visibility, credibility, and business and marketing training. Visit the website to see if it’s a good fit for you!

Fable Offers Solid Steps for Success in Business and Life

The Granite Steps is a short book, but one big on wisdom. Best of all, it is an enticing parable about a young boy without a father who is trying to make some extra money selling newspapers to help his mother and sisters. Kempton has the desire to succeed, but he doesn’t have the know-how. Fortunately, one day he meets a man, Sir Granite, who takes him under his wing and guides him. Sir Granite doesn’t seem to do much except sit around the park all day, but Kempton soon learns his new friend has a fascinating past, having had many adventures and even having been knighted by a queen; in his travels, Sir Granite has also gained a lot of wisdom and advice to offer Kempton.

The book’s title refers to the wisdom Sir Granite imparts to Kempton. The advice begins with tips on salesmanship that help Kempton become the best paperboy at the newspaper. From there, Sir Granite guides Kempton in his career choices as he outgrows selling papers and begins thinking about his career. Kempton eventually becomes interested in education and in helping children. He also falls in love, goes off to college, and begins to make the difficult life decisions that can make or break a person.

While the book begins as an innocent enough fable, by the time Kempton reaches early manhood, he starts to think he knows better than Sir Granite, and he makes some decisions that cost him dearly. I won’t give away the ending, but it’s sufficient to say the book teaches good lessons while always keeping the reader interested in the storyline.

The lessons the book offers are sprinkled throughout, each being a success principle. The first one appears when Kempton is involved in a contest to get newspaper subscriptions so he can win the prize Thanksgiving turkey for his family. Beginning to feel he will fail, Kempton receives the following advice from Sir Granite when he considers going to knock on someone’s door:

“Go up to the door and ring the doorbell,” he said. “You’ll have a moment before he answers the door. While you are waiting, say these words to yourself: ‘Mama, this sale is for you and my sisters, and I am going to get you that turkey for Thanksgiving.’ Repeat this over to yourself as many times as you can before the door opens. Then, when the door is open, ask for the guy to subscribe. Now you go do it, boy, and then hurry back here. Go on now.”

This passage is a good example of Allen’s comfortable, down-to-earth style. The small town setting, the characters, and the book’s overall tone reminded me a bit of The Andy Griffith Show. The reader feels like he’s being guided along by an omniscient narrator who is assuring us everything will turn out all right, although the narrator is actually Kempton as an older man looking back on his life.

The book can be enjoyed by readers of all ages, but I think it would actually be the perfect gift for the young reader first engaging in business-perhaps getting his or her first job, like a paper route, or a job flipping burgers, as well as the person ready to go off to college or to make a major career choice or change. Allen puts a lot of wisdom into a nutshell with each of the principles that Sir Granite offers, and the principles are easy to remember so the reader is more likely to apply them. Every reader will find something thoughtful to learn from and act upon in this book. It’s a great granite foundation to build upon.

Dubai – Full of Life, Entertainment and Lots of Opportunities for All Nationalities

Dubai being the world renowned place for tourism, investment, job opportunities etc! There is a lot one can say about Dubai, but feeling the excitement is different and that cannot happen unless you visit Dubai once in a lifetime. There is a lot to do in Dubai if you are visiting the place just for fun. Accommodation in DXB is not a problem, there are a bazillion hotels round the corner at every street you walk down. Furnished hotel apartment’s are comparatively cheaper and a better place to live in and gives you a homely feeling as well.

My personal experience of staying at Imperial Residence Hotel apartments was just great! The environment was just great with the housekeeping staff just being overly courteous with the best of the customer services & of course the pricing was just within my budget, 270 AED per night for fully furnished one bedroom apartment! Isn’t that just too great? Living in Hotels is just not a good idea because you will have to pay extra for every single facility you use such as Laundry, tea etc, at hotel apartments you will get a furnished apartment with a installed equipments like washing machine, microwave, electric grill, etc. So it will just be your another home in DXB giving you the best of the feelings. I strongly recommend Imperial Residence hotel apartments to travelers planning a trip to Dubai. The best part about Imperial Residence is that it’s just 5 minutes walk away from the shopping area and the Metro station as well as all the clubs for party people! Giving you all the options just a walk away.

Dubai whole heartedly welcomes travelers from round the globe be it India or Uganda, Dubai is the place for you! Be it a fun trip or a business trip, Dubai welcomes you and is the best host country for any traveler. Getting a visa to Dubai is not a problem, for some countries Dubai visa is available upon arrival such as American citizens don’t need a visa prior to travelling to Dubai. There is a lot to do in Dubai such as, Desert Safari – the most renowned adventure to do offering free drinks, BBQ dinner, ride through deserts with dune bashing and the very best of the belly dance! What more would you want? There are quite a lot of malls which are definitely worth visiting such as Mall of Emirates, Dubai Mall etc. The newly built Burj Khalifa – the world’s tallest building is now the best attraction for tourists. The building is prominent from any corner of the city, you can view the building and the lightings and the view is just amazing. Visiting that place is not costly and the view from the top floor of the building of Dubai is just fantastic, Worth visiting! Apart from malls, movies, desert safari, city tours, Dubai’s night life is definitely the best offering a all kind of beat’s to move your step’s on with a wide variety of drinks to drive you crazy. The most happening clubs are but not limited to Keva, Elegante and many more!

Dubai welcomes all nationalities for employment opportunities, if you want to take up a job in Dubai, thoroughly go through Khaleej Times classified & appointment’s page to find yourself the best job! Visit Dubai once for a month or more and keep dropping your resume with the most recent passport size photograph and a copy of all your educational documents and certifications at different organizations, I am sure of you getting a quick response from employers soon! There is a constant need of man power in Dubai and all nationalities are more than welcome, you just need the right move and luck to be on your side to find yourself a suitable place.

There is a lot more to know about Dubai, this is just a bit of it! Visit in person and feel the excitement yourself; there is no other place like Dubai, Racism free, cheaper beyond imagination with a lot of opportunities to be explored! Enjoy.

Personal Goals Achieved Easier For A Better Life

Having measurable planning with goals and objectives are so very essential to living a life of purpose and passion. Far too often in life when we are ambitious to reach a dream, perhaps it’s setting goals at work, or other personal goals, we reach far too high too quickly.

I’m going to share a quick scenario I heard told at a recent transformation conference that one of the other speakers talked about in his discussion about objectives of planning.

Before a commercial plane takes off, the pilot has a really clear location in mind, and a flight plan to get there successfully.

The plane leaves at a particular time, and begins towards a specific destination.

The plane is off track, though, at least much of the time, while climate conditions, turbulence and other factors trigger this.

Feedback is given to the pilot constantly.

The inertial guidance system of the aircraft continuously assists the pilot to revise the airplane and examines the position to reach the anticipated destination on time.

The plane takes off on time, shows up on time, and yet is off course 90% of the time, but the passengers never realize this.

Now envision you are the airplane, and do you have measurable goals and objectives?

Exactly what is your destination, and do you have a flight strategy?

One of the common qualities of highly effective people all over the globe is that they are extreme at having measurable goals and objectives.

Effective individuals understand where it is that they wish to be in life, and they have a clear strategy to get there.

Their “destination” is the list of personal goals that they have actually jotted down, and their “flight strategy” is the measurable goals and objectives.

It’s how successful people grow!

I do a lot of discussion with my readers and listeners about the objectives of planning, and often get feedback concerning the successes and obstacles in setting and attaining goals.

The concern that I am most often asked in this area is “How do I set measurable goals and objectives if I have no idea exactly what I want to do?”

In response to this concern, here are a few personal objectives and goals where you may want to chart some objectives of planning.

– Setting goals at work or career

The late Wayne Dyer was high recognized for telling us that, “What we think about we get more of.”

Preferably, you are positioned on a positive career course, leading to increased chances and raises.

Hopefully, you also eagerly anticipate going to work virtually every day, and your incomes are commensurate with the effort you take into your job.

You invest a great deal of hours into your work, so it’s essential that you are doing something you are happy with.

The Course in Miracles states, “You can not be happy unless you do what you will truly, and you can not change this because it is immutable.

– Self-Growth and Personal Transformation

The world is growing more intelligent and changing faster than ever, so in order to prosper, we should transform along with it.

The method for personal transformation is by self-growth individually. Read every day in your decided passion.

Next, pay attention to audio tapes, CD’s, watch videos, and get a hold of all the self-growth material you can.

Attend or take classes lectures and workshops, perhaps join a master mind group.

Establish a support structure to hold you responsible for the measurable goals and objectives that you are dedicated to in your life.

Working with a personal coach is a great method to do this.

– Financial freedom

In its most basic kind, financial liberty means having freedom from financial tension of any kind in your life.

Practical methods to get to this point, if you aren’t there currently, consist of saving a percentage of your earnings, having a reserve of six months living expenditures in the bank, and so-forth.

It’s a huge challenge for some, but a worthwhile personal goal.

In a previous discussion I went deep into how to attract wealth and financial success involving spiritual metaphysical principles.

– Have right-minded Relationships

How are your relationships with your family (kids, partner, dads and moms, siblings)?

Do you have a close circle of personal friends?

Don’t forget relationships within your professional network (lawyer, accounting professional and yes, it’s good to know a handy man for around the house.).

– Health/Physical fitness.

Health is exceptionally crucial, and yet we seem not to put much emphasis there, but we need to do so.

Exercise at least 3 times per week, even if that suggests bicycling or walking for 15 or 20 minutes. Get plenty of sleep each night.

Be kind to yourself, don’t crucify or self-criticize yourself for errors, as humans we must learn from our mistakes and move forward in life.

The Course in Miracles asks us in one of its many spiritual metaphysical principles, “Would you join in the crucifixion or the resurrection.”.

– Spiritual or mindfulness peace.

There is no substitute for peace of mind, and the way to obtain this is through a relationship with God, or the spiritual equivalent for you.

Be involved in ongoing spiritual growth. Contribute both time and kindness of heart to charitable associations and/or your formal place of worship.

– Setting Goals at Work and for Fun, too.

It’s great that you have measurable goals and objectives for your career and/or job, but be sure to do the same for having fun and relaxation.

This is about requiring time on your own, enjoying whatever it is that you prefer to do.

Regularly take weekends, holidays and evenings off.

Take a vacation or two, or three, or more, every year, to refresh/energize/nourish yourself. Yes, I mean be 100% committed to relaxation.

While this time may appear unproductive to some, it will cause higher performance in the long run. And it will be more enjoyable, too!

(I also invite you to look further at other sessions I’ve had on steps to achieve goals and accomplishing your dreams regardless of the naysayers.)

To meeting your personal goals!

Drama Queens – Do You Attract Drama in Your Life Or Business?

One of my incredible mentors raised an interesting question in a teleclass this week: Do you attract drama in your life or business?

Your first impulse might be to deny it. But what is drama really?

The dictionary definition of “drama” is a state, situation, or series of events involving interesting or intense conflict of forces, or excessively emotional performances or reactions.

Well, I don’t know about you, but if that is how drama is defined, I certainly can’t say that I haven’t experienced my fair share of it.

And if you are launching or running your own business, it is likely you have too.

What does drama do to us? Well, drama creates stress. And unless you have been living under a rock for the past few years, chances are that you have heard about what stress can do to your body. A quick refresher:

“The body doesn’t distinguish between physical and psychological threats. When you’re stressed over a busy schedule, an argument with a friend, a traffic jam, or a mountain of bills, your body reacts just as strongly as if you were facing a life-or-death situation. If you have a lot of responsibilities and worries, your emergency stress response may be “on” most of the time. The more your body’s stress system is activated, the easier it is to trip and the harder it is to shut off.

Long-term exposure to stress can lead to serious health problems. Chronic stress disrupts nearly every system in your body. It can raise blood pressure, suppress the immune system, increase the risk of heart attack and stroke, contribute to infertility, and speed up the aging process. Long-term stress can even rewire the brain, leaving you more vulnerable to anxiety and depression.”

Yuck, right? I know that none of us want to face these physical and emotional risks.

So, how do we prevent ourselves from becoming another stress-related statistic? The answer lies in the simple question: Do you create drama, attract it, seek it out…Are you a drama junkie?

This takes some real soul-searching to get to the answer.

The first place to look is your past to see if there are patterns that you can see in your life – patterns in your relationships, your work experiences, your family, your money situation, etc…. Most of us continue in the same kind of cycles in life until we become aware of those cycles and make a firm decision to change their experiences and the results of those experiences.

Remember that famous quote by Albert Einstein about cycles? He said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

I am here to say that drama is just about the most destructive cycle you can get caught in as a business owner. Besides the awful physical and emotional havoc it can wreck on you, it can also undo all of your hard work, make forward progress difficult if not impossible, and can even ruin valued relationships.

Any way you look at it, drama can hurt you, your business and your bottom line.

So, where is YOUR drama?

In your environment? Is your office a mess? Do you have clutter in your workspace? Are you months behind on your filing?

In your wallet? Are you up to date on your bookkeeping? Do you have a box, file or pile of receipts building up that you keep forgetting to do something with? Do you have unpaid bills or an unbalanced bank account?

In your relationships? Do you have someone in your life who sucks up all of your energy? Someone who discourages you or actively criticizes you? Do you have a relationship that is riddled with arguments, resentment or weighty expectations?

Can you see where I am going with this? I think if we are all honest with each other, we all have some area or areas where there is drama. In fact, many of us have likely learned to live with it day-in and day-out, the weight of it pushing down on us. We have learned to tune out the warning bells, the adrenaline rush, the frustration and to just live with the drama like it is an inevitable part of our lives.

Drama should not be an inevitable part of our lives on a regular basis. True, life always changes and always sends us curve-balls and tragedy. We all have our crosses to bear at one time or another.

But accepting daily drama and pain isn’t healthy and it will keep you from true success, true happiness and living your truth.

If you are on this blog, chances are you want success, happiness and the chance to be your true self, so it is time to address the sources of drama in your life.

Some of them are easier to deal with than others, but you really can deal with any kind of drama.

If your office is a mess, you can devote an afternoon to clearing it out and getting organized. Better yet, pay someone to do it for you on a regular basis and devote your time to activities that move you forward. It is also much easier to quickly eliminate the chaos and drama when you bring someone in who isn’t emotionally connected to your drama. She can be unemotional and efficient about clearing the clutter, whereas you might be bogged down in the emotional connection to the things you need cleared out.

If you face money drama, that can be overwhelming, but it can be eliminated. For starters, hire a good bookkeeper to handle your books and to enter receipts on a weekly or monthly basis. She can also balance your accounts for you and keep you on top of bills that need to be paid. Pay her to do her job, and focus your time on what you do well, which will in turn result in more revenue and less money drama. That does NOT mean ignore your finances, though. Make sure you stay connected to what is happening and that your bookkeeper educates you weekly on all of your accounts.

If you face drama in your relationships, that one can be harder to deal with, especially if the person who brings drama into your life is a spouse, parent, child or best friend. This is a very complicated subject for a blog post, but I urge you to think about ways to eliminate the drama in those relationships. It might require counseling, or carving out space for yourself each week, or it might ultimately require that you (sadly) end the relationship. If you have people in your life who are toxic, that is always going to undermine your attempts to achieve your dream life. You need to surround yourself with people who believe in you, who are your fans and champions, and who give you honest feedback that builds you up and helps you progress (honesty is NOT the same as criticism or harsh words).

I know a lot of this is easier said than done, but all you have to do is just START. You just need to take baby steps and make sure you renew your commitment on a daily basis to eliminating drama in your life and business. Taking the first baby step is a movement towards breaking the cycle of insanity. It will open up your horizons, free you to a new future and you will find that you have renewed energy, enthusiasm and strength, all of which you need in order to find your business brilliance!

Good luck and let me know how it is going for each of you!

p.s. If you need some direction, you might want to consider my programs. My clients who want greater support and a tribe of their own often seek out my coaching programs and bootcamps, which provide the tools, support and encouragement that accelerates them towards success and turbo-charges their journey towards bliss and business brilliance. http://www.jessicaeavesmathews.com

Domain Names Are the Life Blood of Your Online Business

When you decide to start your online marketing business, you need to create a business plan to help you stay organized and on track just as you would with any conventional business. But, one thing that is of immense importance to your online business is your domain name. Finding the right domain name for your online business is as important as wings are to a bird. When you have the right domain name, you will be reaching the right customers, you will be able to build up your business, and your website will be easy to manage because you will be able to target the right market.

Domain names nearly always fall into one of these two categories; short and catchy or long and wordy. The name you choose will impact your website and your online marketing business in a very major way. Spending time creating a great website will be wasted if you do not have the right domain name. You must develop your business plan, determine who your customers, contacts, or viewers are and then choose the perfect domain name.

Test it first

Once you have chosen the right domain name, it is of great importance that you test it. There are so many different variations for a domain name that you may have to test it many times before you get it right. You want a domain that is not too common and most importantly, one that is not too confusing. Be very cautious when using domain names with numbers in them. For example, the domain name – products4less.com will probably get confused with productsforless.com and productsfourless.com. Don’t get yourself to locked onto one specific domain name. In this instance, you would want to make sure you own all 3 domain names. There would never be any customers lost to the other websites if all three of them were owned by you and leading to the same website.

Another thought to keep in mind is if you are selling a particular product, search for it on Google and other search engines. See what the top four or five things are when you search for that product keyword. You want to create your domain name based on that keyword search so it will be at the top of the search engines. Think about when you do a search for a business. How do you search for it? What keywords do you type in the search engine to help you find that business or the products that business sells? Think of yourself as your customer. You are no different than they are. Put yourself in their shoes. What would you be searching for when looking for your online business.

What do you do if the.com is not available?

This is a very tough situation. Some marketers, including myself, feel that a.com domain is the most important domain name to own. Others, however, feel that you can be just as effective with a.net or any of the other domains available. Sometimes the domain name you like is not available with the.com but it may be available with the.net. You will have to do a little research and determine if the person who owns the.com is going to pull too many of your customers away. You may want to consider a new domain name instead.

You also have the option of buying the domain name from the person who owns it if they are not using it. Be careful here, though. Sometimes they will command a price tag that is just plain ridiculous. I have seen some domain names go for more than $50,000. That’s just plain crazy.

When searching for the right domain name, you may want to consider a few other options and number them in the order of importance. Decide which is your top pick, second choice, third choice, and so on.

Your online marketing business does not REQUIRE a.com domain name, but it is the most common and easiest for people to remember. There is such a presence on the internet these days, that.net domain names are becoming nearly as valuable as their.com counterparts. When you have made your final decision and purchase your domain name, I would strongly suggest that you not only get the.com, but also the.net and even perhaps the.info or.biz. You never know when you might use these extra domain names. I use my.net and.info domains nearly as much as my.com names whenever I am running a campaign on the internet. This is a great way to split test your ads and see where the majority of the leads are coming from, allowing you to fine tune your expenses.

Website SWOT Analysis – A Real Life Example

Do you wonder what is happening to your Internet Business? Why is that you cannot get traffic to your website; the conversion rate is too low; or opt-in visitor is too few?

I was faced with a similar situation lately and I attempted to use what I knew about SWOT Analysis into my Internet Business. I use the same technique to perform a SWOT on a website and had surprisingly discovered some valuable facts for my Website

In this article, I share with you my real-life example of my Website SWOT Analysis. You are invited to use it as a reference to your won Internet Business.

Below is a sample website SWOT Analysis performed on my own Total Quality Management website I published in year 2001. It was written based on a knowledge-based approach. The ranking for this website is on Google page # 9 and has a PR=2. After 8 years published, it has never moved up to within Google page#3. Some of you may know that my newly published 3 months old SWOT analysis Blog has ranked Google page#1 for the last 3 months. This success story has prompted me to wonder why my Total Quality Management website page ranking is so far behind.

My objective is to move my Total Quality Management website to Google page# 1 – 3 and I performed a Website SWOT Analysis using the SWOT Analysis template and example as my guides. Below are sample my Website SWOT analysis:

The SWOT Factor – Strengths

S1 – 8 years old website – matured

S2 – website contained focused practical examples and case studies of Total Quality Management

S3 – website ranked Google page#1 on Google.com.my with single keyword – “tqm”

The SWOT Factor – Weaknesses

W1 – design of the website is not professional

W2 – website content remain static for several years

W3 – navigation of the website is not comprehensive

The SWOT Factor – Opportunities

O1 – online research on Total Quality Management has high demand

O2 – availability of TQM case studies and report are limited on website

O3 – online website builder software are commonly available

The SWOT Factor – Threats

T1 – website with fresh contents and blogs have moved up to top Google page

T2 – visitor to this TQM website is very low (from awstat)

From the four SWOT factors, I continue to evaluate the seriousness and impact of each factors as a way to prioritize as I continue to use the SWOT template to formulate strategies. Once the strategies are formulated, then only I can take action. I encourage you to take this sample as a case study for your own Internet business or website and Application SWOT Analysis

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learnings Are Changing Our Life

Last month, I was discussing with one of my customers. During the discussion, I found that Cloud and SaaS applications have changed the business landscape and helping Business Owners. Post Cloud ERP solution, my Customer was saving around USD 2000 per month by not having Hardware and it’s maintenance, IT Persons etc.

I was just wondering how Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) could change the life of Business Owners and industry? Today we see them in every stages of our life, but can’t distinguish them separately. They are part of our life.

How AI and ML are disrupting the industry?

AI, in manufacturing industry along with IOT tools, is suggesting CNC Machines on what to produce, when to produce and how much to produce. This has improved the efficiency and usage of machines, manpower etc. The production line has become smooth without many surprises as the Demand and Supply are met by ERP and IOT as this decision information are passed to different touch points that would execute the same. Define a standard patterns and rest is done automatically. Hardware and its preventive maintenance are controlled and maintenance to AI, its Data Centre issues and maintenance are impacted.

AI and ML are changing the way we are buying items, doing Sales, Buying rental or selling houses etc. Even dating applications are helping many to match and find the right partners. AI and ML’s are controlling Amazon’s recommendation of book, Google’s suggesting right information or pushing Ads etc. Jobs market is shrinking. Lot of mundane work is replaced with technical tools.

AI and ML have improved the life of online shoppers with right messages, supporting information on the additional items etc. Now ML is automatically learns the user patterns and suggest what to purchase. These tools have helped many online eCommerce companies to target the products to right cohort of Customers and learn more about their purchase habits, when and where they can purchase etc.

Based on your “social” credit history few companies helps to get you Loans or ensure that you get housing etc (Ant Financials)

AI tools have disrupted Agriculture sector too. The activities that are too data sensitive, difficult to sit and analyse have been simplified now. Now we can measure and monitor crops yields, productivity, soil fertility and lack of nutrition etc. Many Agritech companies are depending on the AI and ML to feed the data back to algorithm and see what happens.

How our personal life is disrupted to make it simple?

Earlier, we use to hail for the taxies by roadside or call Taxi Companies to book a Taxi. Now we use Apps and no more hailing by the roadside. UBER, Ola, GoJek have changed the need to own a car and pay for the maintenance. Money saving is huge considering savings in car maintenance cost, insurance and parking charges etc. This reduced the traffic on the road and getting blocked during peak hours, saving millions of Dollars in fuels.

Google is releasing the Driverless Car economy. AI’s supervised learning helps to check the car movement; it’s surroundings, nearby cars or any other vehicles etc. This is helping to protect the passengers and other surrounding properties. Already UBER is talking about buying these cars for their fleets and also developing its own Driverless Cars.

AirBnB and Oyo have increased the quality of the hotel’s experiences, while prices are pushed down. OYO redefined the End users experience at Hotel by uplifting the standard of rooms and services. Guest is ensured to receive the same treatment across multiple hotels. Now a day customers are NOT checking Hotel name and its credibility etc. Customer is checking whether the hotel is qualified by OYO or not. That assures the quality and minimum standard of services.

Many large companies that don’t own any thing, but they are controlling the majority of our life

1. Uber, Ola – Car services company, that integrated the distributed taxies

2. AirBnB and Oyo – Helped to integrate the smaller hotels and increased customer experiences.

3. Google – Search engine and Ads

4. Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud – Provides the infrastructure to manage and run the applications at the fraction of original cost of buying a server.

So what is happening here?

Many IT Jobs are already suffering. Development tools are reducing the number of Developers required, Selenium like tools are replacing the Manual testing. We have built the tools that reduces the web application testing duration by 80%.

But the side effect of this is, many have lost jobs and income generation opportunities.

How Machine Learning works?

If you see the above business they don’t own any properties, but they control the activities as they use AI and ML that gives the information back to the application. One of the ways ML works is, it need a huge amount of transaction data to analyse and arrive at the patterns and learn from it.

To make the Machine learning’s Algorithm to work it requires a huge amount of data and feedback for it to create its own patterns, test, learn and deploy new ones. Many healthcare start-ups are using the AI and ML to scan the digitized the reports and it feeds the data to AI and its recreating the models to analyse.

Numbers Play a Significant Role in Every Man’s Life

Numerology is the branch of knowledge that studies the occult significance of numbers. Numbers play an important role in a person’s life as creation itself, can be explained in mathematical terms. When you make a conscious effort to look around you, you will notice that numbers appear everywhere around you; be it nature, music, art, architecture etc. Everything is based on numbers as codes for you to discover.

There are the ten most important figures in math, of which all the larger numbers are made. Numerology is based on these magical figure. The single digit are the building blocks of numerology and each number gives out its own particular energy in a magical way. The numerology bridges our spiritual world with the visible, touchable world.

Numerology can be applied to understand all aspects of our individual existence; right from our personality to our love life, career or business, health, family life, relationships, to our spirituality and even leisurely activities.

Of all the numerology, our ‘Life Path Number’ and our ‘Destiny Number’, are the most important. Your Life Path number will give you an indication of your life’s purpose and warn you about the challenges and obstacles that may come your way. Your destiny number symbolises the opportunities you have at your disposal. While the life path number is calculated using the date, month and year of your birth, the destiny figure is calculated using the numbers assigned to the letters of your full name.

Another numerology number, the ‘Soul Number’, reveals about what you want to be and do in your life. This is calculated by adding the numbers of the vowels in your name. Some numerologists total the life path number and the destiny number, to arrive at another important number called the ‘Maturity Number’.

For a native to have a successful life, these four numerology should match and be in harmony with each other. Since you cannot control your life path number, the destiny number can be adjusted to the life path number and thus the soul number and maturity number can get adjusted to achieve the correct harmony. It is not that one number is better than the other. Each number has a personality of its own and has its strong points and its weaknesses. But when these figure are in harmony with each other, life moves smoothly for the native.

Numerology can be used for guidance in almost every sphere of life. For example, it can be used to check compatibility between two people. Numerologists can help see if the numerology number of the two people in a relationship complement each other or not, if they can help each other understand themselves better.

Similarly, numerology can help one decide which days are better to sign contracts, make new investments, start a new project and even determine if the people you hire will relate well with you or not.

You can use numerology to see which number plate on your vehicle can bring you luck and so on.

Top 10 Tips to Balancing Work and Personal Life

In the Knowledge Age in which we live, it is easy to be consumed by work and forget our personal life. After all, there’s always more to do, right? But as the old saying goes, “No one ever lay on their death bed and wished they’d spent more time at the office!”

Following are some tips for striking the right balance between your work (especially for knowledge workers and infopreneurs) and personal life:

1. Decide what is most important to you – long term – in your life. One exercise that can help bring this into focus is to write your eulogy – really! What would you want people to say about you when you are dead? Whatever that is, notice how much you’re pursuing that quality or goal or cause in your life. If you aren’t doing it now – or not as much as you want to – how could you begin pursuing it more?

2. Create a vision for your ideal lifestyle. They say “if you don’t know where you’re going, any path will get you there.” Unless you create a vision statement for your work and your personal life – just the way you want it to be – you won’t know when you have arrived! You’ll find yourself “striving but never arriving.” So write out a descriptive statement of how you want your schedule to be, your work space, your home, your clients, your relationships, your body, everything in your life – just as though you were writing it for a movie producer. Then, get about the business of producing your life!

3. When you’re working, work; when you’re playing, play. If every time you leave your office (even if it’s in the spare bedroom!) you continue to think about work, leave your work cell phone on, or check email later in the evening, you are failing to mark boundaries between work and play. That means you don’t get the full benefit of your “down” time…and you don’t recharge the internal batteries that allow you to do what you do well. Dedicate work time to work and play fully when you’re off work…you will have more energy and more joy this way.

4. Avoid multitasking. I know, it’s hard! But studies show that people are only 40 percent as productive when they do more than one thing at once than if they focus on one thing at a time. Give whatever you’re doing – or whoever you’re talking to (!) – your full attention, then move to the next task. Live intentionally, one task and segment at a time. The quality of your life will improve, you’ll get more quality work done and you’ll build quality relationships that flourish under the light of your undistracted focus.

5. Plan your time off in advance. How many days a week would you like to work? How much vacation will you take this year? If you don’t set it aside in advance, chances are that work commitments will eat up the time you would have taken off. Most infopreneurs should plan on a minimum – even the first year – of two to four weeks off during the year. Build it into your fees and block it out in advance. You’ll be glad you did!

6. Implement at least two or three “power hours” each work day. The typical coach and infopreneur is distracted much of the day. “Power hours” are when you write a list of at least 5 priority tasks, set a timer, and focus on nothing but those tasks for that hour. No email, no phone calls, no distractions. And you get them done! Start with a goal of at least two of these each day.

7. Set goals for both your work and your personal life. Take a moment to review your day planner (Palm, Outlook calendar, wall calendar etc.) for the past month or year, notice how many of the entries relate to your work. If you’re like most people, 75 to 90 percent of the content will be business or work related! Start a practice of setting at least one goal for your personal life and one for one of your relationships each day – along with the work goals. That in itself will increase the balance in your life right away!

8. Delegate everything you can. If you have used our fee setting formula in my book, Launch Your Practice to set your fees, then you know what your time is valued at – it’s your Hourly Labor Rate. To the extent you are doing anything that could not be billed at that rate, you should be looking for a way to delegate it as quickly as you can! That includes running to the post office, office supply store and Fedex; updating your web site; answering routine inquiries; clearing spam out of your email account; answering the phone; and numerous other tasks. Your goal is to have as much revenue-producing time as possible during your dedicated work hours.

9. Exercise regularly. When I interviewed people who had mastered transition for my Simon & Schuster book on the subject, one theme stood out: each of these people exercised regularly during normal times in their lives, and even more during times of stress and transition. Virtually every successful infopreneur shares this trait – and that is why the major hotel chains have improved their workout facilities so significantly for traveling infopreneurs.

10. Meditate and activate a connection with the God of your understanding. Feeling connected to something bigger than yourself can help put the challenges of everyday work and life into perspective in a way nothing else can. By implementing a daily practice of meditation to achieve a calm, centered state and connection with your Higher Power, you will find you are able to maintain this state even when life becomes difficult. It is proven to improve health too!

For more about life/work balance and the other 8 components of Career Infopreneur Success, look for Marcia’s new book in June and plan to attend her Career Coaching Boot Camp June 22. See [http://www.careercoachingbootcamp.com] for details about the event and the next two complimentary preview calls. To learn more about career coaching, visit http://www.careercoachinstitute.com

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