What to do when you feel overwhelmed by running your business
Next week’s radio show is with Lisa Hanna, the Mistress of Money and Mole of Management! This week’s radio show didn’t happen, because I was overwhelmed…appropriately, today’s blog focuses on that topic.
What to do when you feel overwhelmed by running your business
There are days, like today, where I feel as if I’m running around trying to bail water out of a sinking ship with a pail full of holes. Ok, that’s probably a little melodramatic, but sometimes I really do feel overwhelmed by running a business. There are so many things you need to do and only so much time to do it. And if you’re like me and you have a to-do list, it seems like everytime one item is crossed off three more appear to take its place.
Very quickly, a person can feel overwhelmed by running business and this can lead to burnout fairly quickly. So what do you do to avoid that, to recover , recharge, and refresh?
First, recognize that everything you think you need to do will still be there the next day, if it isn’t done today. It won’t go anywhere, and in fact, you know you’ll eventually get to it.
Second, if you can afford it, hire an intern to do some of the busy work for you…or develop some strategies to cut down on the time you spend doing busy work. For instance, check your email only twice a day, instead of once every hour.
Third, give yourself time off…whether it’s part of an evening, or a weekend camping trip. Go somewhere, do something else, get away from your office…You need time to do fun activities, and that means leaving your office.
Finally, be gentle with yourself. Don’t judge yourself if you don’t get everything done. Appreciate what have you gotten done, and put the rest aside until the next day.
You’ll feel less overwhelmed and more focused if you can give yourself time off.
Upcoming Event
Bravo Portland, Association of Bridal Consultants, Imagine Your Reality Business and Writing Coaching, and Black Belt Business Solutions Present:
Why do I need Social Networking for my Business?
Yes, you can do it less than one hour a week.
Social networking is a hot topic in businesses today. Many of us are not sure how it helps grow our business or acquire new clients or where we will have the time to add one more thing to our hectic lives. However, one thing is for sure, if we don’t come and find out, we will never have answers to these questions.
In this program, Taylor Ellwood will explain what social networking is, why it’s important to be on these sites, and how it can benefit you and your business. Hew will explain how to automate your social networking presence so you only need to spend one hour a week and still have time to run your business and live your life.
In this class, you will learn:
What Linkedin, Facebook, Biznik, Twitter are and why it’s important to be on these sites or some of them.
How to get clients and business from these sites.
How to automate your online presence so are spending minimum time and effort, yet getting maximum returns.
What a status bar is and why it’s a good idea to update it regularly.
How these sites can be used to obtain recommendations and testimonials from your clients.
The do’s and don’ts of Social networking and how to maintain a professional profile on each site.
Taylor will not only explain, but also demonstrate the benefits of social networks, and show you how you can attract more clients to your business.
Date: Thursday, May 7th 2009
Time: 11:30am to 2pm
Price: $35.00 per person (Special pricing due to sponsors listed at the top)
Location: Bravo Conference Room, 630B Street
Lake Oswego, or 97035
To register call Denise from Bravo @ 503-675-1380 or email: denise@bravoportland.com
Check and credit cards only please, when rsvping.
Money and you
This week I interviewed Intimacy Coach Angela Wilkinson about what intimacy is and how to achieve it with yourself and other people in your life. Next week I will be interviewing Kare Anderson of Say it Better Coaching.
Money and You
With the economy sliding into a depression, money is obviously one of the biggest concerns on anyone’s mind. Even in the best of times, money is usually a concern, because it is our survival ticket. We pay money for almost everything we acquire. Money is the both the life blood of a business and the life blood of a family. At this time, we can’t really live without it.
Lately I’ve been reading The Analects by Confucius and one of the points he makes is that people will spend three years studying for a salary, but that studying for a salary is not a good reason to study. I agree with his perspective. Doing anything for money ultimately treats money as an end goal and in the process makes it more important than anything else in your life. At the same time, the main purpose of money is forgotten. the main purpose of money is to facilitate a means to an end. In other words, money in and of itself only has value when it is used to secure goals that enrich our lives. If you work all the time and hoard your money, is it really useful? This isn’t to say you shouldn’t save money or have some put aside for hard economic times, like the current ones. But the point Confucius makes is applicable to this time as was in his. Studying with a salary in mind ignores the potential unhappiness you may feel doing that job.
The same is true for business owners. Getting into a business solely to make money is usually an equation that leads to unhappiness. People can tell if you are or are not passionate about what you are doing. And that dictates whether or not they will spend their money.
The relationship you cultivate with money is about attitude. Lots of people have written about how important it is to have a healthy attitude about money and it is important to have that healthy attitude, but part of finding that healthy attitude involves recognizing that money isn’t an end in itself. Study for three years for something you are passionate about and that passion will show up in the quality of work and consequently manifest in the money you earn.
Review: Guerilla Marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson
This is a must have book for anyone who’s starting or running a small business. Levinson includes tons of tactics and strategies that any small business owner can benefit from and best of all can personalize to their own advantages. I have lots of pages dog tagged in my copy, because I know I’ll be referring to them again and again and again. I also like Levinson’s style of writing; he makes readers instantly comfortable with the concepts, while also urging them to incorporate those concepts into how they do business. You can’t go wrong with GuerillaMarketing…what you can learn is how to make your business successful while spending as little as possible.
5 out of 5
The role of Meaning in Attitude
My Interview with Abigail Doherty of Radiant Animals. This was a fascinating interview about the consciousness of animals, contemporary energy work techniques, and how animals can help us be more aware of our effect on the environment.
****** The role of Meaning in Attitude
How to use Fear to succeed
On Thursday, Imagine Your Reality Radio will be interviewing Abigail Dougherty at 9PM Pacific Standard Time. Tune in to check the show out and call-in.
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The last couple of newsletters have focused on attitude and how important it is for running a business. Today I’m writing about fear, and how much fear can either motivate us to fail or motivate us to succeed.
When fear is usually written about, it’s written about as a negative experience that causes people to fail. The image we get of fear is someone who lets that fear control him or her. The person shakes in fear, and stops whatever tasks and gives up. It’s certainly true that fear can motivate us to fail and give up. Who hasn’t felt a moment of fear and wondered, “Can I really do this?” When we encounter fear in this way it can certainly be daunting to experience and may cause us to question our ability or sense of self.
However fear can motivate us to succeed. When a person feels fear because s/he doesn’t have a job, that person can be motivated to go out and apply for jobs. When a person feels fear because his/her business isn’t doing as well as s/he wants, that can also motivate the person to get creative about to promote the business.
Fear only becomes an obstacle when let it become an obstacle. We have control over fear, precisely because we do feel it and it is a reaction. When you feel fear, stop yourself from immediately reacting and ask yourself, “How can I use this fear, this emotional energy to my benefit?” Undoubtedly you will think of something that you can put that emotion toward that is healthy and beneficial.
In fact, this principle is true with emotions in general. Every emotion a person feels is a two-edged sword. Even happiness can sometimes result in a negative experience. There is no definite standard for when an emotion is positive or negative. If there is any standard, it is the actions we take, the choices we make, which determine the good or ill an emotion can cause us. So the next time you feel fear, don’t let it stop you in your tracks. Use it to motivate you to success!
Taylor Ellwood
Imagine Your Reality Coaching
503-869-0163
“I help Writers get published and small businesses attract great clients!”
"Excellent"
“Excellent!”
The other day, I was talking with Tony, a friend of mine who also sells cars. He’s just started out, but he’s already pretty good with his job and one thing he told me about the training was that if he’s ever asked how he’s doing, he should say, “Excellent!” The reason for doing this is to convey an attitude of wanting to be there and also set the customer at ease.
This weekend I was at the Body Mind spirit Expo offering readings for interested people and every time someone asked me how I was doing, I always answered, “Excellent!” and smiled at them. I noticed that people’s spirits would perk up a bit and more than a few times my response drew people to my table where they would look at the books and sometimes have me do a reading. And throughout the day, every time I said I felt excellent to someone, I also felt excellent and upbeat. I had more fun at the expo that I’ve had at many other events and the main reason, I think, is because of choosing to say excellent, and consequently telling myself I was excellent as well.
This relates to my previous post where I discussed how attitude is central to making a business successful. While attitude doesn’t guarantee success, it does do a lot to attract people to you. The next time someone asks you how you are doing, instead of saying the traditional response of fine, try excellent or some other very positive term. You might be surprised at the response you get, both from yourself and from the other people.
Book Review: Ultimate Leadership: Winning Execution Strategies for your Situation by Russell Palmer
This book really impressed me. I liked Palmer’s style of writing, which was direct and to the point, but also very approacheable. His use of anecdotes to explain his various experiences, both good and bad, with different styles of leadership also made me very comfortable with the subject material of the book. Additionally, he wasn’t afraid to use the stories that other leaders had to offer.
However what really makes this book work is Palmer’s diverse experiences with different styles of leadership. From his suggestions about academic leadership, to the rigors of being and entrepeneur, to corporate leadership, Palmer shows what works and doesn’t work in each style of leadership.
This is a very valuable book for anyone who wants to be a leader or is a manager. Additionally, it is useful for entrepeneurs and small business owners who want to gain insight in how to best direct their efforts when deciding to lead others. Pick this up book and you’ll get some good perspectives to consider in your journey to succeed with your business.
Upcoming Class!
Inner Alchemical Balance and Healing Through Energy Work
Would you like to achieve balance in your life? If so, learning energy work can help you achieve balance in your mind, body, and life. Published author and life coach Taylor Ellwood, will teach you the basics of energy work, the connection between breath and energy, how to combine hermetic principles of the elements with energy work, secrets of Taoist and Yoga energy work and much more so that you can achieve balance in all aspects of your life.
INSTRUCTOR: Taylor Ellwood, Author of Inner Alchemy: Energy Work and the Magic of the Body
DATE & TIME: Starting Friday Oct 24st (7-8:30) through Friday March 27th (every other Friday)
PLACE: At the Guiding Tree at 4831 SE Division St Portland OR 97206
WHAT will you learn if you show up?
* How you can use energy work in your office or home to dissolve tensions and create a harmonious atmosphere
* And more!
Is this class a good use of your precious time? You’ve got Taylor’s Guarantee: If you don’t feel that you’ve learned anything knew about energy work and how it can be applied to your life in the first hour and a half class, he will gladly refund you your tuition, minus the ten dollar classroom fee.
Register at The Guiding Tree at 4831 SE Division St Portland OR 97206 or call (503) 239-7458
Your attitude is the center of your business
On Thursday, I presented a workshop at SECP on How to Market Your business using podcasts and internet radio. Before I did that, Kaya Singer briefly spoke about marketing small businesses and showed us a diagram of how to build a real business. And she remarked that at the center of the diagram there should be an additional circle, for Attitude.
I couldn’t agree more. You can have a wonderful marketing plan, great products to offer, and a good organization, as well as other facets that make a good business, but if you don’t have a good attitude, then you will defeat yourself everytime. You will find reasons to tell yourself why your business isn’t growing or why you aren’t finding clients and the entire time this is happening, you won’t realize the one factor that is really stopping you is your attitude.
A lot of my work with my clients isn’t helping them set up the practical details. It’s helping them work through underlying beliefs they have about their business. We sometimes end up doing a lot of attitude adjustment before we even begin doing the practical work of creating a marketing plan or discussing how what policies to implement in the Business Operations Manual. Changing your attitude can change your business. It can either make your business fail, if you don’t believe in it, or yourself, or it can make it succeed because you see all the opportunities just waiting for you to help them manifest.
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Thankful Thursday:
I am thankful for the success of my speaking engagement and my audience interest.
I am thankful for excellent communication between my wife and I
I am thankful for love
I am thankful for my clients.
Conscious Committment
I Consciously Commit to manifesting new clients, while retaining current clients.
I consciously commit to honoring my boundaries, while also recognizing the boundaries of others.
I consciously commit to honoring my relationships
Why Failure can be such a benefit
When people think of the word failure, negative connotations are usually associated with it. In general, a person does not want to be a failure, because failing carries with it a stigma of that person not being good enough at whatever s/he failed at. And yet the reality is that everyday we encounter the risk of failure, and probably do fail at something, even if it’s something minor. I think, in this culture, it is easier to succeed then fail, because success is something we constantly shoot for. Failure, on the other hand, is something actively discouraged and frowned upon.
I think, however, that failure can be more than just a negative experience. While I wouldn’t go out of my way to fail, when it does occur, after my initial reaction, I welcome it, because failure is an excellent teacher. Failing at something can teach you a lot and not just about the mistake you’ve made. Learning what you did wrong is the most obvious lesson of failure, but you also learn how to fix the mistake, how to adapt the situation to rectify the mistake made and how to accept constructive criticism.
These are valuable skills, no matter what context they occur in. Whether you are apologizing to your partner, or working a little extra time to fix a mistake, or figuring out how to get that potential client to consider working with you a bit more effectively, these skills can help you grow as a person and as a professional. Failure does not have to be defined by what we haven’t accomplished or done right. Instead it can be help us define what we can do better, as well as learn how not to make a particular mistake the next time we have to do a similar process.
Failure is only a negative when we refuse to learn or adapt. At that point, failure becomes a negative because we’ve made the choice to let it define the situation and the self, instead of choosing to define it and the situation with the actions we take. So what actions can a person do to benefit from failure?
1. Be open to constructive criticism and suggestions. If someone offers a suggestion that can help you, be open to listening to it. Find out what you could do differently to ensure that the mistake doesn’t occur again.
2. Take a deep breath and center yourself. When you first realize a failure has occurred, it’s easy to react or get defensive. Take a deep breath and center yourself. Ask yourself what you’re feeling and acknowledge those feelings, but also ask if expressing them in a negative manner will benefit you or the other people involved in the situation. Do your best to listen to what others are saying and focus on what you can learn from what is offered.
3. Ask your self what you could do differently next time to avoid making the mistake. Also ask yourself what you can do now to rectify the situation. By looking at your process, you can learn a lot about how to change a situation into something more favorable, because you can account for where the failure occurred and look at possible ways to change the process to avoid that mistake in the future.
Failure can benefit you. It all depends on your attitude about it. While none of us want to fail, sometimes failing can teach us more than succeeding would. By doing your best to acknowledge how you feel about failing, but also accepting that it can happen, you can change a situation from a failure into a success.
Radio Show Reminder, an upcoming interview, and a book review
Hello,
It’s September, and the leaves have slowly been changing color the last couple weeks in Portland. I’ve been going through some changes myself, and I’m sure all of you are going through changes as well. One of my changes is a realization that I need to be really authentic about where I’m coming from in order to be a great coach for my clients. Since I started this business in April, it’s gone through some changes as I’ve been trying to figure out what my niche is and how I should represent myself. This last week, the universe seemed to engineer a couple of different occurrences that showed me that I needed to by more authentic about what I’m doing, by drawing on the experiences I have. So what does that mean?
The fact is I’m a published author and magician. I don’t feel those need to be divorced from my life coaching business in order for it to be a success, but in the past few months I’ve hesitated to draw on some of those resources because of a concern that if I did so it would alienate potential clients. However, as the last few months have progressed and especially given what has occurred over this last week, I realize that denying part of who I am and what I can serves no one at all and ends up (as the saying goes), “cutting off my nose to spite my face” I want to be able to give my clients my all, instead of providing some convenient image that fits in with mainstream culture, but doesn’t let any of you really see who you are working with. So while this newsletter, blog, or whatever you wish to call it will still continue focusing on life coaching especially in regards to creativity and marketing, I am going to mix in a bit more of my personal practices as it pertains to writing and my life to help you and myself achieve success and be more authentic.
sincerely,
Taylor Ellwood
503-869-0163
http://www.imagineyourreality.com
My Own Radio Show
I recently decided to start up my own radio show, through the medium of Blogtalk Radio and it’s Called Imagine Your Reality radio (after my life coaching business). Below are details for the show
Imagine Your Reality Radio Show
When: Wednesday September 3, 2008 at 3pm-4pm Pacific Time
Topic: What is the connection between Imagination and Reality?
Summary: In this show we’ll explore the connection between imagination and reality as well as show you how consciousness awareness and intention can be used to direct your imagination and shape it into reality. The focus of this first show and subsequent shows will show how you can apply spiritual and psychological techniques to improve your life and business. Listeners are encouraged to call in to the show. It will be broadcasting on blogtalkradio which can be found at http://www.blogtalkradio.com. Here is my blogtalk radio profile page
Call in Number (646) 652-2830
I’ll be being interviewed on Thursday on the Ascending Way show via blogtalkradio. Details below
Taylor Ellwood; Nationally Renown Author, Magician and Life Coach
joins Host Al Anderson on ´the Ascending Way
September 4, 2008 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern
Highly respected writer, painter, collage artist, life coach and magickian will discuss
his extensive writings, on-going projects and upcoming activities
Ridgewood, N.Y. — September 1, 2008 — Nationally renown and respected Author, Visual Artist, Magician, and Life Coach Taylor Ellwood, will appear on BlogTalkRadio’s show ´Ascending Way http://blogtalkradio.com/Ascending-Way with host Al Anderson on Thursday September 4, 2008, at 2:00pm Eastern. The Exclusive Interview will examine Taylor’s outstanding contribution to the Metaphysical/Occult community and the world-wide pursuit of Ascension.
Callers are welcome to join the conversation during the show by calling 
(347) 426-3835
. The live, Internet talk-radio show will stream from the Ascending Way program?s host page: http://blogtalkradio.com/Ascending-Way .
Taylor Ellwood, describes himself as a writer, painter, collage artist, and magician. Most people who interact with him describe him as prolific, insightful, wise, generous, and powerful. He and his wife Lupa, are an integral part of the Portland Spiritual & Magickal community.
As an author he has written the following books; ´Pop Culture Magick, ´Space/Time Magic, ´Inner Alchemy, and ´Multi-Media Magic. He has also co-written; ´Creating Magical Entities (with David Michael Cunningham and Amanda Wagener) and ´Kink Magic (with Lupa). He has served as Editor of; ´Magick on the Edge: An Anthology of Experimental Magic, ´Manifesting Prosperity: A Wealth Magic Anthology, and various other books by solo authors.
Taylor has written numerous articles for magazines, websites, blogs and ezines, which have appeared in, Rending The Veil, Witchvox, Key 23, Key 64, Disinfo, Spiral Nature, newWitch, Konton Magazine, If…Journal, and many others.
As prolific as Taylor is, he still finds time to pursue the vocation of Counselor and Life Coach; certified in Whole Person Design Life Coaching. He provides services as a creativity and marketing coach, accessible through his website: http://www.imagineyourreality.com
An archive will be available at the same link immediately following the show or listeners can subscribe to the archives via the RSS feed located on the host page. Read more about the host on the ´the Wizard Phaeron tab at http:AscensionHouse.org.
About ´Ascending Way¡
´Ascending Way is an interactive, live Internet talk-radio show which focuses on Practitioners and Organizations of all descriptions who are committed to the Healing of the World and Humanity’s Great Adventure of Ascension. Host Al Anderson explores the Mission, Vision, History, Vocation, and future Plans of each guest and/or the organization which they represent. The Stream and Archives are available at http://blogtalkradio.com/Ascending-Way.
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Book Review: Nature and the Human Soul by Bill Plotkins
My wife Lupa really liked this book and I was curious myself to see what it was about. Nature and the Human soul examines nature and how it informs and otherwise nourishes the human soul. The author breaks up the human life into eight stages and relates a concept of nature to each stage of human development. The author’s argument is that we need to cultivate an ecocentric relationship with nature and each other as opposed to a selfish egocentric relationship.
After reading this book, I will say that I have a renewed appreciation of nature and why it’s important to have activities in one’s life that involves doing something to foster a relationship with nature. I’m not talking about a walk in the park or even a hike in a forest either…I’m talking more along the lines of actively being a steward of nature. In this book, the author argues that we need to bring nature back into our cultural practices so that we can build spiritual and community practices that focus on the well-being of all, as opposed to the material well-being of humans. The author uses different stages of human development to show what can be done during each stage of development to build such practices.
One thing which works against the efficacy of this book is the lack of exercises. While the author makes an excellent argument for integrating into a person’s spiritual and community practices, he doesn’t offer much in the way of practical exercises to show how this can be done. The theory is in place, but the practice also needs to be instituted to really make the concepts in this book workable.
Four out of Five stars.
Attitude Frames Your Reality
Attitude Frames your Reality
On Monday afternoon, my downstair neighbors and friends were moving. They’d hired a couple of movers to help them move, but halfway through loading up the truck, the movers quit, because of some dust and cat hair agitating the allergies of one of the people. My friends were stuck in a bad situation and immediately asked us for help. Even though my wife and I were busy that day we both realized what a jam they’d been stuck in. We called friends and also got ready to help. Even after our neighbors were able to find two replacement movers we stayed on, just in case.
Now our friends/neighbors were pretty unhappy. But everyone who came and helped them move, also helped perk their spirits up. And throughout the time I helped them, I kept a cheerful attitude. Sure I could’ve been somewhere else, working on something, or doing something else, but right then my friends needed me. And I chose to have a cheerful attitude because I realized that attitude frames the reality you experience and display to others. By choosing to be cheerful, I chose to display a reality where a situation was working out, where my friends knew I was there for them, etc. I knew that by displaying a good attitude, I was framing my reality so that I could get the most out of the experience I was having. In this case, I got share in the fellowship of friends.
When you are in a situation that doesn’t seem very good, consider what your attitude about the situation is and whether or not that’s a factor in why you are unhappy with what’s happening. while you may not have control over everything, you do have control over yourself and how you handle what life provides you.
Book Review: Your Money or Your Life
Out of all the financial books I’ve read so far, I believe this one is the one that speaks most to my values and beliefs about finances. Instead of preaching about how you can have it all, the authors discuss the value of frugality and recognizing when a person has enough. The authors have nine steps in their program and each step is designed to help you make your way to financial independence and intelligence by asking yourself what your really getting out of your spending habits, and also the way you live your life. The authors posit that it is entirely possible to retire earlier in your life provided you know how to live frugally, and I believe this is entirely the case. I’ve already been modifying how I spend money, thinking carefully about what the benefit is of buying a particular item, as well as what my overall goals are. I’m already noticing some effects and I’m willing to continue comitting to a program that ultimately could lead to satisfaction in terms of having enough time to really do everything that I want to do.
Workshop Reminder Open Yourself to Wealth
Open yourself to Wealth Pt 1 of 4: What You Think is what You Produce
The thoughts you think and emotions you feel are powerful tools that you use everyday to determine your wealth or lack thereof. You will learn how to consciously take your thoughts and emotions and turn them into wealth generators that help you find opportunity in every situation you are in.
When: Tuesday July 29th, 7-9pm
Where: The Guiding Tree Holistic Community Center 4831 SE Division St, Portland OR
Instructor: Taylor Ellwood
Registration: http://imagineyourreality.com/schedule.html
Tuition: $30 for this class or if you sign up for all four classes $90 (a 25% savings!)
So WHO is this class for? Anyone who wants to improve the wealth in his/her life and is willing to explore the mental and spiritual mechanisms that are integral components to wealth.
WHY would anyone attend this class? Because it’s an excellent opportunity to learn how to claim the wealth you want in your life, while learning to recognize what has held you back from achieving that wealth before.
WHAT will you learn if you show up?
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Turn a scarcity mentality into a prosperity mentality
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Manifest your emotions into energy in motion that propels you to success.
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Recognize how your thoughts can sabotage you with reactions
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Create actions that enable you to find success.
Is this class a good use of your time? You’ve got my guarantee that if you don’t feel that the two hours you spend in this class helps you get clear on what is blocking you from achieving your wealth, I’ll refund you your class fee, minus the ten dollar non-refundable classroom fee.
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“I connect Creatives, Entrepeneurs, and Professionals to Wealth”
