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More and more stay at home mothers are looking for hobbies and social groups to help them break out of the domestic routine, thus turning to the search for some of the top business ideas the internet has to offer. Others are searching for top business ideas to get that level of achievement in terms of financial stability while staying home at the same time.

Do you remember the days when our moms were purely doing domestic work and leaving the income making to our dads? Well that is no longer the trend these days.  Due to the rising cost for almost everything, keeping a house is not only about taking care of the laundry and cleaning. These days, women share the responsibilities of maintaining the household income to sustain the needs of the whole family.

When the economy went down and plenty of husbands were laid off, women have taken financial matters into their own feminine hands. Next thing we know—the quest to finding the most lucrative at home top business ideas for women is continually growing.  Notably, a lot of these women succeeded at pursuing their top business ideas from the four corners of their house.

When it comes to home businesses, we agree that there are endless options on what you can do.  Before getting yourself into any of these work from home business however, it is always best to pause and scan through the options and pick the top business ideas which are going to give you the biggest bang for your buck dollar wise and also suit your skills and personal interests.  With that said, we have laid out three crucial steps in identifying your top business ideas and how to turn them into your very own home based business:

Create a List of your strengths:

List the strengths and skills that you believe you are confident about showcasing. If it helps, picture yourself showing off your skills to your friends or neighbours. Do you always get high praises with your mouth watering desserts? Or how about when you train your dogs with a few new tricks? While it is important to be proud of what you can do, note that the skills we are talking about are skill sets that you can be proud of outside your circle of friends and family.  Once you’re done, you will use this list to evaluate your top business ideas…

Evaluate Your List:

Now that you have identified your top business ideas along with your strengths, right down the pros and cons of the home business ideas on your list. We have always used the simple technique of dividing an A4 page in half by drawing a line down the middle and one side write “Pros” and on the other side write “Cons”. Now simply fill the page for both Pros and Cons with anything that pops into your head regarding your top business ideas. Though it is always good to be motivated, the most common mistake people make is they often see their top business ideas through rose coloured glasses and only focus on the Pros of the business plan without considering at all the possible cons. Remember to keep a logical approach and look into the challenges you will encounter along the way. This will help you stay aware of situations that can compromise or derail your success.

Discuss It:

Though you have identified your top business ideas, it is still advisable that you talk to your partner or husband about your business plans.  Having a second opinion or a support group on your home business ideas will not only give you another perspective but it will give you a boost in morale and encouragement.  Discuss how your business plan can be materialized and which of your top business ideas will be more suitable for you and your family’s unique situation.

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The lovely Neil from Milk Relief Soap recently asked me this great question:

“What’s the difference between a business plan, and a marketing plan?”

I see a lot of people getting caught up in this, and often their business plan is actually more of a marketing plan.

The two are very much related; however they’re not the same.  I’ve got a different opinion from most people on what a Business Plan is and what it’s purpose is.  If you’ve looked at the Two Hour Business Plan then you’ll see that I define a Business Plan as being about what your business does, not a financial plan to take to the bank (although that’s part of it).

A Business Plan is ‘about’ your business – who your target market is, what you do (core business), your business goals, an action plan.

A Marketing Plan is how you attract customers and sell your product in order to achieve those goals – blogging, advertising, networking, attraction and conversion.

In October last year I gave a talk at The Business Mums Network Pampering Day on Business Planning.  To illustrate how the Business Plan, Marketing Plan and Action Plan all fit together, have a look at this diagram.

Make sense?  Your Business Plan is what encapsulates your entire business activities and goals, what drives and directs your actions.  Your Marketing Plan is one aspect of that, which directs your monthly, weekly and daily actions towards achieving those business goals.

In some respects your Business Plan is the What, and the Marketing Plan is the How.

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Do you have a business question that you would like personally answered?  Email me and ask away!

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Hi, My name is ‘insert your name here’ and I’m an Info product addict

We’ve all done it.  Bought great info products – ebooks, audios, pdfs, ecourses etc – that are highly recommended and guaranteed to change our lives and send business through the roof.

We all have our favourite teachers, and if they recommend something as being great then we have to get it, right?  Because it will help us grow our business, right?  So we buy more products.  And more.  And we keep on buying.  And downloading and saving them to the hard drive.

You know that folder(s) on your hard drive that’s full of ebooks, video’s, downloads, pdf’s etc that you haven’t looked at since the day you bought them?  How do you feel when you look at that folder?  Guilty?  Upset? Overwhelmed? Waste of money?

Yeah, all of those feelings, right?  Let me tell you a secret – you’re not alone.  Really.  Many, many people have a stash of info products and have never looked at them.  I’m not going to tell you how much I’ve paid over the years for courses that I’ve never started, let alone finished.  And hopefully my hubby won’t ask either….  I used to be as guilty as anyone else on this one.

There ain’t no magic bullet

People buy information products in the hope that ‘this one’ will be the magic bullet that rockets them to instant stardom, money and orders pouring in, clients on waiting lists, kudos on the ‘net.  And it doesn’t happen.

No product is going to do this for your business.  None.  Not any.  Because all those info products, they’re just tools.  You have to use them, and use them in the right way.

So why buy information products?

Because they’re useful and will really help you grow your business.  If you use them properly.  The problem is that people often don’t use them properly, if at all.  They download them, save them, and plan to get to them soon.  Unfortunately ‘soon’ never arrives, the novelty fades and the lonely product sits there unused.

So you get stuck into them and start reading

Learning is good, yes?  The more you learn the better you’ll be at running your business, yes?  Sorry, but the answer to that is often a no.

Too much information is nearly as bad as no information.  When you do decide to get stuck in and work through the courses and ebooks you end up with a head full of ideas and no place to start.

Information overload is very real and paralysing.  When you’ve got a head full of ideas all bouncing around, and more information being packed in on top, it’s like being in a room crammed full of people all talking at the top of their voices.

Step outside with me

It’s time to get out of the room.

Turn off the noise.

Focus on just one thing.

Realise there is no magic bullet.

The answer to information overload is…

Taking action.

Give your mind a break – chances are that you’ve already read enough ebooks and know what you need to know.  See, we get so caught up in ‘learning’ that we stop ‘doing’.  We think we have to do things perfectly, and know everything about it, before we can start.

It’s true that we do need to have a certain level of knowledge in order to run a business.  It becomes a problem when we think that we have to know everything in order to run a business.

Focus on one thing and put it into action

So here you are – you’ve got a stack of info products, all useful, all highly recommended, and I’ve just told you to stop reading them. Here’s what you need to do to break out of the information overload and get your head right.

Firstly do a brain dump.  Every idea, every thought about your business, get it out of your head.  Write down the ideas.  Paper or on the computer, doesn’t matter.  Mind map if it helps.  Just get them out of your head.  Then save it somewhere so you can find it later.

Back to the information products.

Pick one.  Just one.  And work through it – do all the exercises or worksheets as you go.  Apply every technique in it to your business.  Set aside an hour a day to do this.  It’s not a race, take your time.

When you’re finished with the first info product, take a break for a couple of days.  Then pick another one and work through it the same way.  Every exercise, every technique.  Rinse and repeat.

Still don’t know where to start?

If you really can’t pick just one info product or you don’t know what you’re trying to do, I recommend starting with our Quick’n’Dirty Business Plan ebook.

Writing out a business plan will give clarity and direction – and from there you’ll have a better idea of what you need to do for your business.

Leave a comment and tell me what you decide to work on and how you’re going, ok?

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To learn why a business plan will always save your a$$, let’s first go on a holiday! Read on…

Picture this:

It’s a Saturday and you’re enjoying a peaceful sleep in (you know, those things you had before you had kids).  And your darling hubby bursts into the room and says “Honey, get dressed!  We’re going on a holiday!”

“When?” you ask, as you crack open one sleepy eye and try to process the sentence through a haze of sleep-induced blurriness.

“Right now” he says “Cmon, the kids are in the car waiting”

So you get up and get dressed, he assures you that you don’t need to pack “It’s all taken care of”, hop in the car and off you go.

“So where are we going?” you ask nervously, thinking of all the appointments and plans in your calendar for the next week.

“On holidays” he replies cheerfully.  And HE sure seems to know where you’re going, even if you don’t.

“But where on holidays?  For how long?” this really isn’t feeling right to you.

“Wherever we end up.  And I don’t know, how long are holidays normally?” Hubby is starting to seem not quite so darling and a bit more annoying every minute now.

“So what are we going to do there?  What kind of clothes did you pack?” Maybe that will give a clue to where he’s taking you and for how long.

“We’ll do whatever is happening when we get to a holiday somewhere.  And I didn’t pack anything, we’ll sort that out as we go” is the cheerful reply.

Ok, that scenario is nuts

Really, nobody sensible would do that, would they?  Then why do so many businesses get treated that way, with a happy-go-lucky “I’ll sort it out when and if it happens” attitude.  Why not plan for as much as possible – both good and bad – and prevent as many problems as you can?

Approximately 98% of WAHMs don’t have a business plan.  So the chances are pretty good that if you’re reading this and you’re a WAHM then you don’t have a business plan, or at least not a current one.  Am I right so far?

And by business plan I mean one written down on paper, not just in your head.  Having a plan in your head is pretty much worthless.  It has to get out of your head, onto paper, and have foundations and business strategies put in place to execute it.

If you’re one of the rare few who DO have an up to date business plan then well done.  Pat yourself on the back and take a bow.  You’re a rarity and well above average.  It’s also likely that you’ve been around for a few years and experienced first hand the advantages of a business plan.

Why WAHMs don’t write business plans

Here’s a list of the most common reasons that I hear around not writing a business plan:

• It’s too hard
• I don’t know what to put down
• I don’t need one for a home business
• It’s in my head
• I don’t have time
• I had one but it didn’t work
• I tried and it was too complicated
• I know what I’m doing
• It started as a hobby and I never got around to it
• What’s a business plan?

Planning your business is like planning your family

Think about this – there’s a lot of similarities between planning your business and planning your family (although I won’t insist on you writing down your family planning).

• Some people plan their families years in advance and the timing works out perfectly for the families and they grow precisely in line with their plans
• Some people get a family when they least expect it – what started as a bit of playing around suddenly takes on a life it of it’s own and you’re responsible for it
• Sometimes people will have a great family, and suddenly something outside their control happens and the unit is damaged, separated and destroyed.
• Some people plan for a steady increase in their family, but nature ‘happens’ and they get double or triple what they were expecting
• Or you hook up with someone, and suddenly it’s a package deal and you get fully-developed stepkids, full or part time, thrown into the bargain
• Some people plan to have a family, but no matter what they try and no matter how much money they put into trying – nothing happens, their family never grows and they eventually give up trying and go on with other life.

‘Business plan’ is not a four letter word

All those reasons we saw above are just excuses.  None of them are valid, legitimate reasons when you really get down to it.  If you’re going to have a business then treat it as a real business, plan for growth and development and make it happen.

Want to get off to a quick start?

If you’re in the 98% of WAHMs who don’t have a current, written down business plan then check out our No-Plan-Preneur Quick’n’Dirty Business Plan guide.  Priced at only $6.95 and designed to be both fast and easy, this ebook will give you a quick shot of motivation and get you  and your business headed in the right direction.

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This is something I’ve struggled with for a long time; obviously I’m a slow learner because the benefits of slowing down have been pointed out to me time and time again. I even wrote a post that touched on this earlier this year. So what is it that I’m struggling with? It’s the fact that when I slow down I get more done yet so often I fail to remember this and keep pushing to work longer and harder.

How does slowing down help you work better?

Not only am I more productive when I slow down – I finish my work faster – I’m also a lot more creative. You see, creativity doesn’t happen in a vacuum. There needs to be life and activity to spark inspiration and creativity. However at the other end of the scale creativity doesn’t happen when your head is full of ideas, thoughts, things to do and remember, all bouncing around together and crammed in, overloaded.

You need to take time out for thinking, allow time for your thoughts to marinate, develop and mature. Your subconscious mind works in the background, constantly. However when you try and cram too many ideas in then it has to keep working on new ideas before the previous ideas are fully explored.

Allowing your subconscious to work effectively

British psychologist and author Guy Claxton wrote in his book “Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind. Why Intelligence Increases When You Think Less” that most of our everyday intelligence “belongs not to the screen of consciousness but to the invisible ‘motherboard’ behind it”. He talks about giving our brains time to pause, for our subconscious to ‘connect the dots’ and bring good, workable ideas to wholeness and fruition.

How often have you been doing something such as walking, housework, listening to music and you’ve suddenly had a brilliant ‘Aha!’ moment? An idea that bursts full-bodied into your mind? Inspiration that initiates an outpouring of a full-grown plan for growth, or the answer to a troubling problem?

That’s your subconscious at work, doing what it does best. Your subconscious loves structure and a dependable routing. It’s at it’s most creative when it knows when to work and on what.

Scheduling inspiration

The famous playwright and novelist Somerset Maughan said “I write only when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o’clock sharp”. His habit of sitting down to write at 9.00am every morning allowed his subconscious to prepare and be ready to produce ideas as soon as he sat. Do you do the same?

How many of us scorn routine as being a straitjacket that reduces creativity? How often do you brush off suggestions of writing out plans and ideas because it will take away the ‘inspiration’? What if these things actually enabled you to get more done and come up with better ideas? What then?

Take the Challenge…  I dare you!

Here’s a challenge for you, should you choose to accept it (and I hope you will). Pick something you’ve been thinking about doing or developing lately but have felt stuck on. Write it down, and then write down any suggestions, comments or anything relevant to it that you may have thought of. Then leave it. Give it a few hours and go for a walk. Take some time over the next day or two to slow down, smell the roses, walk in the rain (if you’re lucky enough to have some) and just take time to allow your brain to slow down.

Keep jotting down any ideas that come to you. Schedule a time to come back to your idea and work on it. When that time comes, take out your paper or computer doc and see what comes out for that idea that you wrote down.

And let me know how you go with it.

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We’ve recently looked at Why we systemise our business, and How to write systems. Today we’re going to look at systemising your emails.

Firstly lets be clear on one point. You’ll never be able to pass off all emails to your VA and never deal with emails yourself again. No matter how much of a Tim Ferriss fan you are, it’s just not going to happen. Think about it, if you email me with a question about your business and Coaching, do you want it answered by a VA or would you like a personal answer?

What you can do is systemise and create templates for the most common questions that you’re emailed about, and delegate those. A PA/VA can be a great help in sorting emails, dealing with the run of the mill one’s, and freeing you up to deal with only those that require your personal attention.

What can you delegate? Questions that get asked regularly, invoices, payments and other accounting emails, quotes for work if you have ‘package’ options, stock ordering and supply, appointments, requests for non-personal information, the list goes on.

What should you deal with? Anything that is a one-off email, any complaints, requests for interviews, anything that requires a personal touch.

Why create templates for email? How often do you have to answer questions via email? If you’re having to rewrite the same answer to the same question each time then you need templates. Think about the questions that you’re asked. How many of them are similar enough that you can use a template or script to answer them? How much time will you save when you don’t have to reinvent the wheel and rewrite the emails every time?

So, the How. Where do you start? If you’re like 99.9% of Business Owners you already have the makings of email templates and scripts in your email client. Look through you sent emails, emails to clients, suppliers, contacts from your website etc.

Group all the questions you’ve been asked into like topics and use the emails you’ve written previously to create a standard template answer. Write the templates in word docs, and save them using the question as the file name.

Group the docs into folders based on what they refer to, such as ‘Quotes’, ‘Ordering’, Wholesalers’, etc. This makes it easy to find the doc again when you need.

Next time you receive an email asking for information, you simply go to the appropriate folder, copy and paste the template into an email. Check that it answers the question properly and send it off.

If you have a PA, VA or Admin Asst, they can more than pay for themselves by filtering your business email. They can deal with the standard emails that the templates work with, and anything that doesn’t have a template is sent off to you for answering.

What do you think? How could this work in your business? What questions are asked repeatedly?

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Have you got a million ideas running around your head and need to get nail them down?

Do you know what you’re doing but have so much to do that you don’t know where to start?

Have you got several projects running at the same time and need to schedule your work so they all get the attention they deserve and none are forgotten or neglected?

Are you a Visual learner and need a way to track past, present and future tasks?

If any of these sound like you, then you need a Project Board.

So…. What’s a Project Board? It’s a large piece of cardboard, butchers paper, or similar that you use to plan and track the tasks and timeline for a project. I use Excel for mine, firstly because I find it easy to sort tasks; and secondly because my handwriting is so messy it’s the only way I can read what I have to do. I have clients who hand write it on butchers paper, whatever works best for you is great.

Once you start using a Project Board you’ll never look back. My only complaint with it is that I haven’t worked out a way to put it on my phone yet – but I’m sure it’s just a matter of time.

A Project Board is a simple tool to get your ideas out of your head, to provide structure and a logical sequence for all the tasks involved in a particular project. It provides an at-a-glance update on how something is going, what’s been done and what still needs to be done.

If more than one person is involved in the project then it can include Who is doing What and When.

I start with listing all the tasks required for a project on an Excel spreadsheet. It’s a huge brain dump, where everything you can think of that needs to be done is written down. Larger or complicated tasks need to be broken down into the smallest possible task. Then working backwards from the completion date, I put a date for the task to be done next to each item, and who is to complete it if that’s needed.

My spreadsheet is set out with a row at the top labelling the project and the required completion date, in very large letters.

Then the columns are organised into: Date (for the task to be done), Task, Who by, and Done (or Completed).

When I’ve listed all the tasks and put dates on them I like to leave it for a few days to think about it. There’s always something that I remember later that needs to be included, or a task that I realise has to be broken down into even smaller tasks.

When I’m ready, I use the ‘Sort Data’ function on the spreadsheet to sort the tasks in ascending date order. Have a look at them and make sure that everything is in a logical order. Check to see that there isn’t a task that HAS to have something else completed first. If there is, edit the dates, add in the task if needed, and re-sort the data.

When you’re happy with it, and certain everything is included in the correct order, print it out on the largest sheet of paper you can find. Put it on your wall where you can see it easily.

From here it’s easy to start at the top and work down through the tasks. The ‘Done’ column is there to be ticked off when the task is completed.

If you’ve got more than one project on the go then I prefer to use a separate sheet for each project. If you wanted to, you could include all the tasks together, different coloured fonts for each project, and then sort them all by date. I find this hard to tell how far a single project has progressed, although I know people who use this method.

An alternative to this would be to have a master list with the tasks for all projects and a separate sheet for each project and tick them both off as tasks are completed.

When you’ve completed the project, don’t throw away your Project Board. Add a page to it, or write on the side, how well it worked, feedback you received, what you learned and what you would do differently next time. File it away somewhere safe, and next time you need to do a similar project you have it already more than half planned.

If you’ve written it on a computer as I do, you can simply add your comments to the file and save it in a particular folder for ‘Completed Projects’. You may never use it again, but if you do then you won’t have to repeat all your work and you’ll have your feedback from the first time around.

This is my way of keeping track of tasks and projects, what do you use? What works best for you?

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“If you don’t know where you want to go, any road will get you there”

The other day you worked out what it is that you want to achieve and you picked the five goals that will have the biggest effect on your business in the next year. Today we’re going to chunk them down to manageable steps, and look at ways to keep them strong in your mind.

Chunking Down the Goals

Firstly, just writing the goal isn’t going to make it happen. You need to take action, and you need to work out what has to happen first, then the next step, and the next, and so on.

Take your first goal and list out everything you have to do on the way to achieving that goal. Organise that list into a logical sequence, and then work out what has to be done on a month by month and then week by week basis to reach that goal.

Planning your goals this way makes them achievable. Instead of a huge goal in 12 months that looks enormous, now all you have to focus on is this weeks tasks. And then next weeks tasks. No task should be so large that it’s overwhelming – if you have any like that then you need to break it down to the smallest possible task.

Do this for all the goals on your list.

Keep the Dream Alive

So we’ve decided what we want, and we’ve chunked it down into easy tasks. Now what? Well, now we need to focus on the big picture – the end goal – while working on the everyday tasks. If we only focus on the small tasks, that weeks work, then we lose sight of what we’re aiming for and can find it hard to be motivated.

Every day, at least once a day and preferably a couple of times, I want you to sit down for five minutes and visualise yourself at the end of the 12 months, having achieved those five goals.

Two Parts of Visualisation

Firstly I want you to read your goals aloud. With excitement in your voice. Don’t whisper them so no-one else will hear, read them aloud in a strong voice. This uses three of your senses – eyes, mouth and ears – and implants those goals into your subconscious.

Secondly I want you to close your eyes and imagine you’ve achieved your goals:

SEE the end result of those goals, imagine you’re looking at your Sales figures printout and the $$$ at the bottom is the goal you set.

FEEL the pride in having achieved that. Allow yourself to feel the sense of achievement of having a great business.

SEE your business growing further, and being strong and successful. FEEL how that would feel for you.

Just Do It

The visualisation is the part that most people don’t do. They don’t see the point. Sadly, the visualisation is what really keeps them motivated and helps drive them forward towards the end goal. Don’t let this be you.

Practice it. Make the visualisation of your goals a habit. Trust me on this and Just Do It!

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Is Cottage Industry dead?

Well, it’s not dead at the moment, in fact, in this current economic climate it’s flourishing. There’s a huge move towards home based businesses at the moment, with more and more people choosing to either set up a business on the side or full-time.

“Cottage Industry” is defined as – An industry where the creation of products and services is home-based, rather than factory-based. That pretty much defines every work at home mum that I know.

Please note that in the following when I say ‘cottage industry’ I’m referring specifically to the manufacturing side, not service businesses. Those will be a topic for another day!

If you’re a cottage industry and you’re manufacturing a product, you may do well to look at the evolution of cottage industry manufacturing and how it tends to evolve into large-scale manufacture.

Since the Industrial Revolution, there have always been cottage industries. Historically it was the women working at home in their spare time to earn ‘pin money’ (see – the first work at home moms!) and over time that developed into full businesses located in the home.

I can see a trend that has happened in the past, and looks to continue in the future in regard to the manufacturing aspect of cottage industry. And that trend concerns me.

Cottage industry tends to be started by people who see a need for a product that they can’t buy commercially – for example modern cloth nappies/diapers. Apologies to all the nappy/diaper-makers who read this – I’m just using you as an example however I can see this happening in most of the cottage industry manufacturing ventures.

Case in point: In the past, cloth nappies were only available as the old-fashioned terry squares and roughly 97% of the population used disposables. The only people who still used cloth were those who were either too poor to afford disposables or the environmentalists living on the fringe. However in the last ten years, there’s been a huge move back towards more convenient, more environmental, easier to use, great looking cloth diapers.

Originally, these were made 100% by a few mums working at home in a cottage industry setup at home. Cloth nappies were unusual. People needed to be educated in their use, their care and their benefits. Over the years the demand for cloth nappies has increased to the point there are now hundreds of WAHMs making and selling them, all over the world.  Supply has caught up with, if not exceeding, demand.

Nowadays, I know of at least three brands in Australia that are now being mass-manufactured overseas. And I can practically guarantee that if it’s happening here in Australia then it’s happening in the US and other countries.

Please note that this is not necessarily a bad thing. Mass-producing something that benefits people is good, however if you’re a work at home mum and this happens in your industry, you need to be aware of it and plan for it.

Historically, cottage industry begins a trend in a new product and builds it up until it is commonly accepted by the population at large, at which point it is picked up by commercial manufacturers.

What does this mean for work at home moms who are manufacturing items for sale?

I believe there will always be a market for one of a kind, unique, handmade articles, no matter how much the article is also made commercially. For example, I can buy a bar of commercial chemical-laden soap at the supermarket. Or I can buy cold-process, natural, REAL soap made by a work at home mum.

There are a couple of things you can do here, if you’re a work at home mom in manufacturing:

- Be an early adopter and be one of those who outsource and begin commercial production of the product. (please, do us all a favour and choose somewhere that follows fair-trade practices in their manufacturing and the way they treat their workers)

- Ensure your product is unique in some way. If you produce an item that is unique and individual then there will probably continue to be a market for it.

- Diversify your business. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket, or all your faith in one product or product line. Look at expanding into new areas.

- Plan your exit strategy before you need it.

Whatever you do, don’t pretend it can’t happen in your industry.

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Let’s pretend.  You’re going to build a house.  A big house.  Your dream house.  What’s the first thing you do?  Start digging the foundations?  Order the bricks?  Paint the walls?  No, the first thing you do is work out exactly what it’s going to look like when it’s finished and you write (or draw) the plans for how to achieve that.  Can you imagine what your house would look like if you simply started building without knowing exactly what you wanted it to be like when it was finished?  If you dug the footings and poured the foundation slab without mapping out the layout first?

It amazes me the number of people who run their business without clear-cut, written down goals.  They generally start with a vague notion of what it is they want to do – the dream house – but they never plan the specifics.  Setting goals for your business is one the most important things you can ever do in order to succeed.

Goals and visions are about what you want to BE, DO and HAVE. It’s who you are, what you do, and what you have – both tangible and intangible.

“If you don’t know where you want to go, any road will get you there”

Plan to spend at least an hour, or more, on setting your goals. Take yourself away somewhere where you’ll be undisturbed and when you’re not trying to look after kids or be distracted by something else that’s going on around you.

Take a largish sheet of paper and do a huge brain dump. Write down everything you want to achieve in your life, both business-wise and personal. You should have around 50+ things written down before you stop. EVERYTHING you ever wanted to be, do or have.

Take another sheet of paper and divide it into four columns. Write the headings up the top: Either 6 month, 1 year, 3 year and Longer, or alternatively 1 year, 3 year, 8-10 year and Longer.

Now take every item you wrote on the first piece of paper and transfer it to the second under one of your headings. Every item should be classified under one of the time frames you’ve listed.

When you’ve finished that, choose the most important 3-5 items from each list. They’ll be the things that leap out at you, that you feel you MUST achieve.

Put your sheet of paper aside for a few days. Look at it occasionally and consider if those things you’re chosen are truly the most important for you. Think about why they’re important, and what they will do for you when you achieve them.

After you’ve considered your goals for a few days and are certain that the one’s you’ve chose are the most important for you, we need to write them in a way that is meaningful and motivational.

Take the paper with your final goals written on it, and a new sheet of paper. We’re going to write out a paragraph for each time frame.

Remember the previous post where we talked about the SMARTIE format? Just to remind you, SMARTIE stands for:

Specific

Measurable

Achievable

Realistic

Timed

Inspirational

Emotional

So if I were writing out three goals for the next year, (they’re not my real goals by the way) I could write:

“It’s December 2010 and I’m earning $80,000 a year from my business. I’m loving helping work at home mums grow their business and it’s fantastic to see how happy my clients are when they see their great results. I have well over 2,000 subscribers on my email list and they buy from me regularly. We’re flying out in January for a month’s holiday in Fiji to relax and have fun as a family. I feel happy and fulfilled, knowing that as well as the business I’m strengthening my own family’s unity.”

There are the three goals in there, the earnings, the subscribers and the family holiday. I’ve included all the components of the SMARTIE goals, the paragraph tells me how I feel, what the benefits of these goals are. Family is VERY important to me, so the last sentence is a huge emotional motivator for me.

Your goals and how you write them will be different. You may have read that paragraph and said “So what?” That’s fine. Write your own goals out so they motivate and encourage you. Note that the holiday is still in the future, after the date at the beginning, however it has it’s own time on it.

Write a paragraph for all three time periods, the 1 yr, 3yr and 10yr goals (or 6 month, 1 yr and 3 yr). Rewrite them until they motivate you and make you want to have it RIGHT NOW (you can plant a tree later to replace all the paper you’re using). You should be smiling and feel great when you read them. If you’re not, then add in more emotion and more inspiration. It’s all about ‘why’ you want this goal, what it’s going to do for you.

These goals should be incorporated into your Business Plan.  They provide the basis for what action you take in the future – “Will doing xyz help me reach my goal or not?”  If not, don’t do it.  Ensure your actions support your goals.

Next week we’re going to be looking at how to keep these goals in the front of your mind and how to use your subconscious to work on autopilot to achieve them.

A New Appointment

I’m very pleased to announce that I’ve just been appointed President-Elect for the Canberra Chapter of the International Coach Federation (ICF). I’ve been a member of the ICF for about five years and have been on the Leadership Team for the Canberra Chapter as Events Leader and Membership Leader for the past year.

This appointment was a huge surprise to me, and is a real honour. I’ve got a fantastic group of people in the Leadership Team to work with, and a great President to understudy and learn from.

My learning curve at present is pretty much vertical, which is exciting, challenging and a little scary all at the same time. Good fun!