Tag Archives: Entrepreneur

How to Become Focused as an Entrepreneur

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How to Become FocusedWhy is being focused so important in today’s world? What results happen when you learn how to become focused? Does being focused make you less stressed? Happier? If it’s so important, why don’t people focus more?

When you understand  how to become focused on one thing for a certain period of time this allows you to do a better quality of work, more work gets done quicker, and your creative ideas flow easier. Being focused on one task at a time is less stressful on your mind. And being less stressed allows you be happier.

It’s difficult for people to remain focused on one task for a variety of reasons. For one, we live in a world where we are constantly bombarded with TV, radio, cell phones, Internet social media, as well as a much larger population that lives closer together than ever before.

It’s difficult to get completely away from all these distractions. One way is to go to a room where you can shut your door and turn off your phone and email notifications.

  • When you focus on a single task, avoiding distractions, your brain becomes focused on that task alone. This lets you complete that task much more quickly than if you are trying to complete two or more tasks at once. For instance, let’s say you need to write a blog post, do your bookkeeping for the week and research information for an upcoming speech. The best thing to do is to set aside all but one task. So, for this example, you want to give all your attention writing your blog post. That means turning off the TV, cell phones, social media pings, closing your door and putting all your attention on writing.
  • By giving all your attention to the task without distraction, you can get it done much more quickly and with fewer mistakes. Your work will be higher quality as well. Another benefit to learning how to become focused is that your creativity will kick in too. You’ll come up with new ideas associated with the task at hand.

This is great if you are someone who creates in some way. This includes traditional creative types like artists, writers, photographers, designers and musicians, as well as online entrepreneurs who create products or services, teachers, researchers, executives, bloggers, and anyone who needs ideas. This means just about everyone can benefit. How to Become Focused

  • Being constantly connected to others and having many distractions that take away your focus can affect your stress levels as well as your productivity. When you aren’t focused, you don’t get as much done as you could if you were truly focused on the task you’re doing.
  • Focusing on one thing for a certain period of time helps you think better. Having your mind scattered over several tasks at once keeps you from thinking about what you are actually doing. You only have time to complete a task quickly before you must move on to the next one. All the while you are trying to remember everything that has to be done. When you focus, you are able to think about only one thing for that period of time.
  • Focusing allows your subconscious to do the work. Think about when you learned to ride a bike or drive a car. It was difficult in the beginning, but when you began focusing on what you were doing, your subconscious took over and helped you learn. The same is true in your everyday tasks. Once you begin focusing solely on one task, your subconscious helps you do them quicker and easier.

It’s important to focus on one task at a time to become more productive, do better quality work and be less stressed. Making the effort to learn how to become focused can help you be more creative and have more happiness.

I’m Connie Ragen Green and I work with new online entrepreneurs to help them get into profit as quickly as possible with information products, affiliate marketing, marketing for small businesses, blogging, authorship, and more. Download your Online Entrepreneur Blueprint and get started right away.

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Setting and Achieving Goals as an Entrepreneur

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Setting and Achieving GoalsThere is a well known and often quoted saying from motivational speaker, Jim Rohn that goes like this: “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” When I first heard this I thought about the people I was spending time with and realized just how true this was in my life. Instead of giving up these friendships and looking for more successful people to be around I decided to work on myself from the inside out. This began with my idea for setting and achieving goals that would help me to change my life. This is quite effective and ultimately life changing, and anyone can get started with this strategy for change.

First, decide what it is you want to achieve in your life. I wanted to leave my job as a classroom teacher and work exclusively from home. My goal was to earn income from a home-based business I could run from my computer. I wasn’t sure how I could achieve this or what the business might look like, but that was what I wanted.

The next step is one that is often overlooked by those new to goal setting and achieving and that is to write everything down. Setting and achieving goals is just a dream until your write down exactly what you want. This began easily for me because I was in a program where we wrote down exactly what we wished to achieve and then reviewed it daily. It was only later on that I realized the power this step had in my overall process of changing my life.

Then you’ll want to share your goals with someone else. Luckily I had met a couple who were very inspirational to me during this time, and they were more than willing to listen to my ideas and give their input and thoughts on what else I could do to move forward more quickly.. This was effective in that once I discussed something with them I felt obligated to achieve my goals. Even though I believed they would be supportive if I failed, it felt good to show them was I was working on and to include them in a process. And something else to note is that I no longer feel like I have failed if I do not achieve my goal. Instead, I reframe it and start over with a clear mind and stronger focus.

The next step is to break your goal down into smaller pieces. before I could resign from my teaching position I needed to do some research about starting an online business, to begin working at building this business, and to set things in place so that I could do it on a full time basis. Setting and achieving goals is just a dream until you figure out your action steps. This was actually a hundred steps over a six month period, so chunking it down was the only way I could make it happen successfully and in a timely manner.

What comes next may be the most difficult step in your process of setting and achieving goals; you must plan and take your first step. For me it was writing an article such as this one to get my blog started and to find my voice with what I wanted to achieve as an online entrepreneur. If you find yourself procrastinating on this step, do whatever you can to motivate yourself to take action quickly.

Keep going and review your goals regularly. At first I did this each day, and these days I do it once a week. I plan my life and my business at least a quarter ahead and also have a three year plan that I am continuously moving towards. And remember the 80/20 rule, where eighty percent of your results will come from twenty percent of what you take action with each day. The goal here is to figure out which twenty percent of your actions are more effective and to eliminate as much of the other eighty percent as possible. I know what I’ve written here works because this is exactly how I have continued to improve my life for more than a decade.

And those five people I used to spend so much time with? Slowly we drifted apart and these days I don’t even know where they are or what they are doing. Perhaps I should call them and find out if they are interested in setting and achieving goals in their own lives.

I’m Connie Ragen Green, online marketing strategist, bestselling author, and international speaker on the topics of entrepreneurship and inner game mind shifts. Let’s connect to see how I may best serve you in the near future. And please be sure to check out my Internet Marketing Six Pack training course.

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How to Reduce Stress as an Entrepreneur

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Reduce Stress - EntrepreneurshipReduce Stress and Soar with Entrepreneurship

Back when I was working as a classroom teacher and also engaged in my real estate business, I longed to change my life and reduce stress, or at least keep it to a minimum. In 2006 I left my teaching job and gave away my real estate clients and thought I had actually achieved my goal. But lo and behold, over the years I have allowed myself to get stressed out over a variety of issues. So once again I am seeking ways to reduce stress and enjoy my life more fully. Let’s take a look at how we can all achieve this state in our lives.

I attribute the stressful feelings I am experiencing to a combination of lack of planning, spending time with people and situations that do not serve me, and to the fact that I do not take enough time away from my business on a regular basis to keep my mind clear. Let’s take a closer look at each of these and ways to make some ongoing changes that will be effective and life changing in terms of how to reduce stress.

When I mentioned a lack of planning as one of the ways I am stressed out on a regular basis. Seeing as how time management and productivity are strong areas for me as an online entrepreneur, you may be wondering how it can be that I am not planning in a way that will lead to optimal results. I will share that many times I take on too much, both in my business and in my work with various charitable organizations. My recommendation to you and myself is to say no more often, be even more picky about which projects and tasks I will take on, and to make sure to be accurate with how much time and effort something will take in order to complete it successfully.

It was pattern as a young adult to spend time with people who were not true friends. I’m not sure why I did this, but it led to feelings of insecurity, low self esteem, and lack of confidence. I thought I was done with that forever when I started my online business, but somehow the old patterns reappeared and I slipped back into forming friendships with people who were not right for me. I have now distanced myself from these relationships, and I did so in a way that was not hurtful to others. If you have people in your life who make you feel less than you want to feel about yourself, make an effort to move away from them slowly. This has also been a huge strategy for me to reduce stress in my life and soar as an entrepreneur.

Taking time away from your business is also crucial to better life experiences. At some point I allowed myself to be bogged down with work and began spending less time doing the things I truly enjoy. These days I am back to marking off several days each month where I will be engaged in the activities I truly love, like films, live musical performances, sailing, and being in the outdoors to enjoy nature. If this doesn’t reduce stress, then nothing will. Are you taking the time to stop and smell the roses throughout your life experience?

As you can see, there is always a solution to every problem in life. I needed to reduce stress and enjoy my life and business again, and by getting back to the basics of spending less time with certain people, taking time away from my business, and doing a better job of planning I have done just that. Entrepreneurship can be a wonderful and exciting lifestyle, so it’s definitely worth it to make it work for you.

I’m Connie Ragen Green, online marketing strategist, bestselling author, and international speaker on the topics of entrepreneurship and inner game mind shifts. Let’s connect to see how I may best serve you in the near future. And please be sure to check out my Internet Marketing Six Pack training course.

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Your Productivity Plan as an Entrepreneur

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Productivity PlanDo You Have a Productivity Plan?

When I came online over a decade ago I soon realized that I was a natural when it came to time management and productivity. I’ve written a bestselling book on this topic (Time Management Strategies for Entrepreneurs), as well as mentored more than three hundred twenty-five entrepreneurs on how to increase their work output to increase their bottom line by implementing a productivity plan.

I thought that I would share with you the five activities I do each morning before I do anything else.

Productivity Plan (You Decide What Time Each Day)

1) Write from five hundred to a thousand words. Sometimes this is for a new book and others it’s for my blog(s). This is what I wrote and published at the beginning of this year (2017):

http://hugeprofitstinylist.com/think-like-a-publisher/

http://connieragengreen.com/repurposing-content/

Each of these articles was also published on Medium and on LinkedIn for increased visibility. At this point I am publishing about five articles each week on one or the other of my two blogs.

2) Write and send an email to my community. Over the years I have sent thousands of email messages to my community. It is the way to stay in touch with those who trust you to provide them with the latest information about the topic or topics they are interested in learning more about.

3) Go over my daily, weekly, and overall goals for my life and business. Your goals must be specific and in written form for best results. Also, reviewing them lets you know when you need to change or at least alter them. This piece of your productivity plan is crucial!

4) Read at least twenty pages from a book that will increase my knowledge and understanding of
business and the world around me.

Today I’m reading “Be the Elephant: Build a Bigger, Better Business” by Steve Kaplan.

See my 2017 Reading List at:

http://hugeProfitsTinyList.com/reading-list/

Also, my bestselling book The Transformational Entrepreneur: Creating a Life of Dedication and Service is a free download today. Click the title to go there directly.

5) Work on a new product or course or event. Today I’m making additions to my next live event in Los Angeles during the first week of March. Check it out at:

http://weekendmarketerLive.com
(Code LIVE brings it down to $99)

So, how can you do this five activities in conjunction with your own productivity plan?

I recommend using a professional Planner like the ones I purchase from Nicole Dean and Melissa Ingold at Coaching Sticky Glue. The topics include:

* LinkedIn Planner
* Passive Income Planner
* Email Follow-Up Planner: Turn Leads into Clients
in 7 Days
* Your Amazon Author Page Monetization Planner
* How to Host an Off the Charts Book Signing Event
* Book Brainstorming Planner
* Cash Calendar: Your 12 Month Marketing Profit Plan!
* Your Keynote + Presentation Speech Planner
* Your Story. Your Brand: Embrace your Unique Story
to Create a One-of-a-Kind Business

…and many more.

Right now they are only $20 each at:

http://connieLoves.me/CGPlanner
(Use Code 2017 to Bring Them Down to $20)

And f you don’t yet know the Coaching Sticky Glue folks, start with a free download at:

http://coachingStickyGlue.com/

There are twenty in all, and if you’d like my recommendation I would say to purchase the one on “Your Story” and the one on “Passive Income”. Then your 2017 will be off to a fantastic start. Your Productivity Plan is only as powerful as you set it up to be, and as an online entrepreneurs you can achieve great things simply by increasing your productivity.

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Writing for Visibility as an Online Entrepreneur

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Writing for VisibilityWhy Writing for Visibility is So Important

Everything changed for me during the summer of 2010. That was when my first book was published and I was not prepared for what was to come. Established marketers began asking me to speak at their live events, to collaborate on joint venture projects, and to share my knowledge and experiences with their audiences. It was as though overnight I had become a different person. It was wonderful and scary all at the same time, and I was determined to learn from what was unfolding. Writing for visibility had become an integral piece of my entrepreneurial pursuits.

Soon I realized that a certain level of celebrity came along with being a published author. All of a sudden people knew my name and wanted to be associated with me. I took this all in stride and catapulted my business to the next level during that year. I also began writing my second book right away, and within another year I had three titles under my belt as my writing for visibility strategy took off.

Writing every day is a habit you want to take on. It was so difficult for me at first, but once I established the habit of writing it became second nature. Also, everything I write gets repurposed into other writing and presentations. Even a relatively short article like you are reading here will become a part of something much bigger over time. Remember that you are writing for visibility as you blog, write articles and short reports, and complete your book.

Remember that I started out as an online entrepreneur back in 2006, when there was no social media to speak of and publishing belonged to the traditional publishers. You have a distinct advantage in being able to connect more easily with people on social media and to embrace self-publishing as a means to increasing your visibility more quickly.

Choose your topics wisely, as people will tend to associate you with the subject matter you write about. I am careful to only write about the topics I have experience in and want to be known for in my online business.

The idea is that people will find your blog by searching for certain keywords on Google. They will find your book(s) by searching with the same phrases on Amazon, and they will find your podcasts by searching over at iTunes. This all adds up to millions of potential prospects and clients at any given time. I’m including podcasts in this discussion because you will always want to include your show notes so that listeners know what to expect from your call. I am not including YouTube because that is almost exclusively a visual medium.

Write every day. Write about yourself to find your voice. Write in a more determined way to build credibility. And be meaningful and purposeful as you are writing for visibility. You’ll be so glad you did this as you look back over your body of work a year from now.

I’m Connie Ragen Green, online marketing strategist, bestselling author, and international speaker on the topics of entrepreneurship and inner game mind shifts. Let’s connect to see how I may best serve you in the near future. And be sure to check out my popular training course, Really Simple Content Marketing.

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Life As An Entrepreneur: Road Trip 2016

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Entrepreneur Road TripThe Entrepreneur Road Trip

Recently I spent three weeks driving across the United States and back to visit my clients and see the country. The result was quite satisfying, productive, and joyous and I thought I’d share the highlights of this trip with you.

My goal was to connect with as many people as possible along the way, and to work closely with them while I was in their home. Originally I had planned to fly to various cities and rent a car, but my decision to drive my own vehicle from California and back worked out much better. I covered just under six thousand miles in twenty-one days, visiting a dozen people and seventeen different states in the process.

Just as when you work on your online business from home, keeping a routine and being disciplined with your time is crucial to success. I’m used to writing and doing most of my other work in the morning, so whether I was staying in a hotel or with one of my clients this was simple and easy to accomplish. It’s been many years since I waited for inspiration to motivate my writing, so before I went to bed each evening I wrote down what I would be working on the following morning. I’d have to say I completed even more work than usual during this three week trip because I did not have many outside distractions to get in my way.

Even though I travel with my own Internet connection via a “hot spot” device, almost every hotel I stayed in had a decent connection, as did every one of the homes I stayed in with my clients. I had a laptop, iPad mini, and an iPhone with me throughout this trip.

What all of this has taught me is that we are even more capable of achieving our goals than we previously thought. If I was able to do more work than I had been doing at home while on this road trip, just imagine what I’ll be able to do from home going forward.

What is your business model? Are you working strictly from your home, or are you able to work from anywhere in the world where you have an internet connection? As you can see from my entrepreneur road trip, anything is possible.

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Making The Shift From Employee To Entrepreneur

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From Employee to EntrepreneurMaking The Transition From Employee to Entrepreneur

Recently I spent time with a group of newer entrepreneurs in a workshop setting. As we sat together that afternoon the conversation turned to the idea of connecting with a non-profit group as a way to network with others. I’m a Rotarian (Rotary is an international service organization) and they were discussing the cost of being a member of this group. One woman said that she had been told that her local Rotary Club cost about seven hundred dollars a month to be a part of, and I reacted strongly to this by saying that the dues were about three hundred dollars a year and that the cost of the meal each week would run somewhere between eight and thirty dollars. I was shocked in part by the fact that information had been obtained second hand, instead of more directly from the organization itself. But I sat back as the group discussed the pros and cons of being a member of a non-profit group like Rotary. The cost appeared to be the first aspect of this that would make the difference as to whether someone would even visit a Rotary Club meeting in their local city.

I realized very quickly that I was actually witnessing a conversation about the difference between employees and employers, and what it truly means to go from being an employee to an entrepreneur. It’s a mind shift that takes some time, and cannot possibly occur until you set your intention and take action on your goals.

When I left the world of classroom teaching and working part-time in real estate behind in 2006, I worked hard at making the transition from employee to entrepreneur. Even though I owned my real estate business, I was far from being entrepreneurial in my day to day activities. The bulk of my income continued to come from teaching, and the employee mentality was a strong one I would have to overcome.

As an employee I looked to my supervisors and administrators for guidance on what actions to take each day. I had some say-so as to what I could do with the children in my classroom, but it had to fit into the structure of what the school and the school district has decided. Now don’t get me wrong here; I had lots of ideas about what would work effectively in the classroom and wanted to share and implement those ideas with others. But the truth was that I was not being paid to have what I considered to be fresh and innovative ideas. No, I was being paid to follow directions and achieve specific results.From Employee to Entrepreneur

Once I left the classroom I began to see things very differently. Soon I was thinking of myself as a creative thinker and everything began to shift. Instead of thinking about how much it would cost for me to join Rotary and be a part of a worldwide organization that could help more people than I could even imagine, I jumped in and got to work. And the interesting thing is that my business took off as a result of the people I met at Rotary and the shift in my thinking that occurred as a result.

Do whatever it takes to achieve your goals. Refuse to continue thinking as an employee who needs constant instructions and direction as to what to do in each situation. Make a conscious mind shift from employee to entrepreneur and jump in with both feet to what is possible in your life and your business. Networking with other like-minded individuals is a crucial step in this process. You can’t possibly change without changing your surroundings, and that includes the people along with the scenery.

Which people and groups do you consider to be a crucial part of your success story?

 

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How to Overcome Doubt and Fear As an Author or Entrepreneur

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Overcome Doubt and FearHow to Overcome Doubt and Fear

When people connect with me, either online or in person they tend to comment on how positive and confident I am. This observation pleases me, as I spend time every single day reflecting on my life and working to stay focused, productive, and confident. When that is recognizable by people who are actually in front of me virtually or live, it just reinforces my commitment to this process.

But if you get into a deeper conversation with me you’ll find that I experience the same doubts and fears of most everyone who is alive. The difference, I believe, is that I face these fears and doubts head on and refuse to allow them to affect my life in a negative way. Learning how to overcome doubt and fear is crucial to the creative and entrepreneurial process.

For example, during the 1990s I developed a fear of driving on winding roads in the mountains or canyons, as well as of driving across bridges. Along with this came a fear of heights. This may seem irrational, but it was terrifying to me at the time. My doctor recommended drugs to reduce my anxiety, but I did not see that as a viable solution. Instead, I gave myself as many opportunities as possible to face my fears and push through them anyway. I would drive back and forth across bridges several times, asking myself aloud what exactly I was afraid of before thinking another thought. I did the same with driving through the hills and canyons, and with going to the top of buildings to see the view from the observation deck.

When it came to my business, I had to overcome doubt and fear about my abilities to serve others as an online entrepreneur. This was especially true with my writing, when I feared what “they” would think when they read my words. I felt that the world was watching my every move, ready to pounce on even the smallest mistake or error. My way to deal with this was to just keep writing and publishing and moving forward.

As writers, we often face fears and doubt about our ability to convey our message to others. I like what Bryan Hutchinson, from Positive Writer, has to say about doubt as a part of our writing and creative side…

“Doubt not only holds us back, but it also makes us do unhelpful things:

Doubt holds us back from taking risks that need to be taken.

Doubt holds us back from thinking we’re good enough.

Doubt holds us back from reaching our true potential.

Doubt holds us back from finding our voice.

Doubt makes us uncertain if we should be writing at all. After all, the dinosaurs probably preferred extinction because they knew you’d try to become a writer.

Doubt makes us seek approval (again and again and again).

Doubt makes us wait for someone to pick us.

Doubt makes us reach for milestone after milestone, ceaselessly stalling until the next one, which will always be too little too late.

You know these are true, because you know your best work is still to come.”

Bryan has even written a book about it, entitled Writer’s Doubt: The #1 Enemy of Writing (and What You Can Do About It) that I highly recommend.

Take a look at what you fear or doubt most in your life, speak it aloud, and then move through it. From personal experience I will tell you that this simple strategy is effective, and will lead you to a place where you ca accomplish most anything you want to in your life.

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