I’ve been engrossed with the Occupy Movement like many folks.

It’s great to see so many people speaking out about topics that effect everyone’s quality of life.

Last night I heard a man, who identified himself as a community activist,  interviewed about Occupy Portland. He said that Occupy is not about one particular issue, but many and all are important. Makes sense!

Wanting to make a difference is an inherent entrepreneurial trait, regardless of your specific points of view. It’s about listening and giving value to people.

As small business owners, you are in a unique position. You are an integral part of your community and within your businesses you face many of the same issues yourself everyday, including health insurance, social security, retirement and other financial issues. You also want to have a sustainable business.

Here are a few things you can do right within your own world that can make a huge difference. It is not all about camping down in the park. It is about fully occupying your own business in a more conscious way.

1. Be an excellent listener. Listen to your clients, their issues, concerns and desires. Your business is all about them and how you can help them. In order to give them excellent service, you need to hear what they have to say first.

2. Be open-minded and accept new points of view. Most people begin their business with knowing a lot about their product and service but very little about how to be a business owner. Let go of your subjective ideas and get help so you can really lead your business.

3. Present yourself as a professional. Acknowledge your self doubt and share that with your mentor but make decisions from a place of empowerment. Build a professional website and see yourself as a successful person.

4. Get out of your office and connect with other entrepreneurs in your community. Find a variety of business groups and people. Staying in your comfort zone won’t help you to grow.

5. Create a plan and keep updating it. New business owners waste a lot of time going around in circles and then feel frustrated. A good plan for marketing and growing, will keep you focused and on track!

These five things might be obvious but it is easy to forget how important they are. Doing each of them will keep you grounded and you will be able to help way more people and make a much bigger change in your community. Can  you see how they will make a difference?

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Don’t get me wrong, I love working with my male clients. But- women have a special place in my heart.

There are so many issues that are “women’s” issues.  Not to say that men never feel similar ways, but they are – different. I am not an expert at men. They are often a mystery to me. However, I do understand women entrepreneurs.

At one time I thought all the issues I had were unique to me. I realized that many, many women felt the same way and they could understand and empathize as well. What a gift.

There are some common things that block women from being a strong leader of their businesses and as a result, being wildly successful! Have you ever felt any of these ways?

1. Self-doubt that makes you either freeze or make really poor decisions.

Not being sure about something is not the same as self-doubt, which is all about you and your ability, your skill or your basic worthiness.

2. Afraid to take risks in your business. You don’t want to get more into debt or are unsure of being able to handle whatever it is. Without taking risks you stay stagnant and then wonder why your business isn’t growing.

3. You become emotionally attached to doing what you love and your identity is tied up with your profession. Instead you need to identify as a business owner first and then do whatever it takes to get yourself and your business strong.

In order to feel highly confident, take risks to shift and change and to wear the hat of a leader of your business, you need to find those cool new boots and step into them with a strong purpose.

One thing that can help to do that is to amass a strong team of other women in business who understand and will challenge, support and celebrate you and your success. Women are community oriented and need to connect with other women. Women who will see the strong leader in you!

If you work alone this becomes even more essential.

Does this resonate with you? If it does you and I are on the same wave length!

Do you have a team of women on board to challenge and support you and to offer you really good feedback?

If you are searching and wanting to find that community with a group of other strong entrepreneurs then say YES and make it happen. Take the risk, listen to truth instead of self-doubt and decide you are worth it.

Awake Women Visionary Mastermind Program
If you feel a strong YES!

Self-doubt is actually like a parasite that gloms onto your body and short circuits your wiring.

It leaves you feeling confused and off-track.  It is actually a perfect metaphor for Halloween week!

When I began my very first small business many moons ago, I was sure I was the only one who had such huge self-doubts that rumbled around in my head.

I questioned my ability and secretly thought I was a fraud.

At the same time I wanted people to buy my products. I wanted to be successful.  I was like a yoyo.

Some of the ways that self-doubt manifests include:

•  Not knowing how to charge the correct price.
•  Worried that people won’t like your work.
•  Afraid that clients will reject you.
•  Comparing yourself to others who you think are better.
•  Feeling guilty for investing in yourself.
•  Not knowing how to make good decisions.

The list can go on but you get the idea. If you feel even some of the things on this list, your business has got to be suffering. It’s like running a race with your shoe laces tied together. Self-doubt ties you up and then you have to spend all your energy to just not fall over.

Luckily there are cures for this ailment. Are you willing to do whatever it takes?  Are you desperate enough to get help?

1. Find a mastermind group of other small business owners. As you share, you will discover you are not alone. You will also realize that your assumptions are all wrong when you begin to hear from others.

2. Find someone who sees more in you than you see in yourself. That person will challenge you and get you to stop making decisions from your self-doubt. When you are in a low place it can feel very real. Someone else can shake you out of your trance.

3. Develop a business vision/plan based on what your confident-self feels is possible. It might look scary but the plan can over-ride some of the doubts.

4. Begin to notice the two parts of your psyche. One feels unsure and the other feels confident. Focus on doing things to make the confident part larger. This can include the way you dress, how your office feels,  the people you hang out with and more. Choose things that are positive and supportive.

5. Take a risk to do something to invest in yourself. Make it something big. The bigger the risk, the larger the pay off.

By the way, self-doubt is like an addiction. You can gain mastery over it and then you have to keep on doing these five things for the rest of your life.  Are you willing?

I just spent the weekend with a group of solo business owners who are all highly skilled and experts in their field; people who offer great services that help people.

Their problems were also similar; not making enough money, not enough clients, working too hard, out of balance, overwhelmed, frustrated and unsure.

I’ve been there myself so I could and can empathize completely!  It takes more than having a great skill to develop a great business.

It takes determination, focus and following a clear plan. When I encourage people to get help it’s not because I am trying to sell my services it’s because I really care and hate to see people struggle and make the same mistakes I made.

I tried to figure it all out myself in order to save money and all it did was help me to lose more money.

Blind Spots

I had blind spots ( I still do). What that means is I can’t see what I can’t see!  I was making major decisions in my business based on what I could see and that was a distorted and incomplete picture. Once I  had someone help me see past those blind spots it was like taking off a blindfold and seeing a rainbow!

Accountability

It is easy to think I will stay on track all on my own with no one to check in with. Not true. I am a creature of comfort and I shift right back into my rut of doing what I know how to do and “forget.” my new plan. Why? The new plan is hard work and it requires me to do things I feel less secure about.

From that place of insecurity I question whether it’s even important. Time goes by and I miss huge opportunities. Having someone to stay accountable to is huge to my success.

Right Steps

I remember the first month I brought in over $10,000. I was ecstatic. I thought, “If I can do this every month and increase it, I will have a real business!”  In truth, it was about looking at what I did and learning how to develop my business so I could do that every month.

It isn’t rocket science. It is figuring out what the steps are and then doing them consistently and with commitment every month.

If you put these three pieces into action you will be on the road to success and will avoid the biggest mistake most solo business owners make.

Ask me questions about any of these areas. Just put them in the comments below. I am happy to help! It is so gratifying to me when I see people “get it!”

Years ago when I was struggling there were times I felt I was missing the entrepreneurial and wealth gene.

I thought if I had only been born into a family of successful people, those mindset values would have been passed down to me and I would automatically be able to make the right decisions, take the correct risks and turn mud into gold.

Maybe you’ve had similar thoughts.

I wondered if my fate was pre-determined by my genes. But there are people like Oprah, who are born into poverty and are able to develop those leadership and traits in themselves by pure determination and focus.

I do think there are some characteristics of an entrepreneurial mindset. They can be developed! One of those is the ability to intuit or trust information or feelings that come to you even if you don’t see any visible truth.

I was moved by this quote by Steve Jobs and it reminded me one of the most important and essential entrepreneurial traits; that aptitude to trust your gut feeling and nurture the ability to listen on those deeper and less visible levels.

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

I got a buzz when I read this because it gave validity to what I know I can do. When I began to trust that those dots would connect, it changed the whole way I ran my business.

I know that what I am doing now and how I do it, will make a difference in the my future and what I did in the past  has helped me to be where I am now. Steve reminded me to strengthen my commitment is to listen more and take heed to what I hear.

Move past your self doubt and begin to trust yourself!

How much do you look connect your dots?
Are you able to trust that those dots will appear in your future?

I would love to hear from you.