I  am doing a 30 day challenge with my mentor (Connie Ragen Green) to get myself moving and overcoming challenges.

It’s adding more stuff to do to my already busy schedule so my first thing to overcome is my mindset (as always:)

Today I am visiting three blogs written about my niche topic.  

I always want to do this but don’t get around to it regularly, so this is a good challenge for me!

Connie says:
1. Read their posts
2. Leave a comment.
3. Notice what they are doing that is similar to what you are doing.
4. Make some notes about what you liked and didn’t like.
5. Decide if this is someone who you want to connect with and why.

I love this activity and focus because it one part of creating joint venture partnerships.  

I’ve learned that it is essential to develop connections with people you can partner with.There is only so far you can go in your business without this piece.

Here are a few ways joint venture partners can help your business? 

• Building a community of peers which feels expansive. 
• Being part of a team of people with complimentary businesses.
• Offering mutual support when it comes to  promoting products.
• Creating affiliate partners income streams with people you trust. 
• Offering more resources and value to your clients.
• Developing products and programs together for higher value.

I just completed my first tele-summit which included all six points above. It was life-changing for my business and my own self-esteem as well. 

Next week I am off to Vancouver BC to attend the Midas Camp with Andrea Lee and so much of this event will be about meeting new potential joint venture partners. I’ll be writing some new blog posts from there with photos so stay tuned!

What are doing right now to nurture joint venture relationships? 
Join me in the blog challenge. If you are reading mine- you can count this as one of course!

Remember when you were a kid and during the summer your feet grew.

It was normal but the problem was that your shoes became way too small.

You needed to get new shoes to fit your growing feet, so you could run and jump. They were stiff and didn’t feel good at first, until you broke them in.

In your business it can feel the same.

Beginning as a solo-preneur, you ended up doing everything yourself.

This is okay as long as you stay small but as soon as you begin to grow bigger, your container also needs to change to accommodate and allow for more growth and  flexibility.

 If you keep the same small shoes, you will stay constricted. It’s that simple.  The shift might be in expanding your team. But how to make the transition and shorten that painful breaking in process?

This idea of adding more people might terrify you if you are used to being in control of everything,  but  in order to allow your business to grow bigger this is essential. In your old shoes, you do everything. In your new shoes, your company provides your clients with everything. It’s about bringing in partners or contract employees to do some of the work.

• You and your clients benefit from other people’s expertise.
• You develop systems so you still hold the control.
• You follow clear steps to making it easy.
• You enjoy watching your company enlarge and offer more services.
• You watch your bank account grow.

What jobs  are you doing now where you feel less skilled?
What jobs are you doing now that you don’t enjoy?

Imagine giving those jobs to someone who is a specialist in that area and loves to do those things.

Rather than focusing on the potential difficulties, focus on imagining the right people and how it would look if it worked well.

Remember, it is all about your clients and being able to offer them the highest quality possible.

Are your business toes being cramped because of your own self-doubt or lack of confidence ?  

Just think about all the obstacles you have overcome to get where you are now. This is just another jump in shoe size!

I first heard this phrase, “Pay yourself first”, about twelve years ago when I had a part time business and often felt like I was just scraping by.

I had a separate bank account for my business, however I really didn’t understand how to manage it. I never really paid myself, I just earned money and spent it. Sound familiar?

At that time just about all my earnings got transferred to my personal account and I put every little money into my business. Many solo-business owners operate this way, by juggling money because of inconsistent income.

A year or two later I moved back to USA and decided to turn my business into a full time venture. This meant building a website, paying for hosting, printing and countless other expenses. It was a big shift!

I had lots of money going out and I began to pay myself in little bits and pieces just to keep my personal account above water.

It went on like this for quite awhile. I worried about not having enough, not bringing in enough income and was anxious if my bank account dropped below a certain point.

Then I again heard this phrase, “Pay yourself first.”  I didn’t know how to do this but I delved in and began to learn more about money management and how to run a business. Now I understand  what this means and the reasons to do it.

•  It is always good business practice to pay your employees first and foremost, so why would you treat yourself with less respect?

•  It is impossible to budget and plan your personal life if you don’t have a pay day and an amount you can count on.

•  If you don’t pay yourself first, you are nurturing an attitude of lack instead of abundance.

What you need to do:

1. Come up with a figure of what you absolutely need to pay yourself to sustain yourself and to feel good!
2. Divide it into two payment amounts. 
3. Schedule your paydays and write it on your calendar.
4. On that date write yourself a check or transfer the funds online.
5. Give gratitude for your business and your abundance.

If you want to add one more positive bit, decide on your next pay increase and plan and schedule it ahead.  Watch your income increase to meet that intention. It is like magic.

Most of us who began solo have learned how to  cut dollar corners by doing virtually everything ourselves!  It is really a crazy idea but in fact almost all self-employed solo-biz owners begin this way.

The focus is on cash flow and the idea of hiring someone to do anything translates to money going out.

I coach my clients to set prices for their services that allow them to get paid what they need in order to run their business and make a profit.

I see way too many service based new entrepreneurs under-charging and falling into the trap of wanting to help everyone.  But, I am getting side-tracked here. The point is, I can never complain about anyone’s prices. If anything I know people are under-charging not over-charging.

There comes a point though, where you must bring in a team of people to help you run your business because it will become impossible to do it yourself and still grow your company larger. You need to pay people for the help they give you.

I am just in that place now and I am excited about the changes happening and the amazing people who are helping me. I feel  blessed by  my team. They are all people who have been my clients so what comes around goes around. I love hiring my clients. But I am still putting out a couple thousand dollars for  my new website and design and the help to get it all happening!

In order to do this I needed to see your return on my  investment. How do you know if money you spend will bring you more money in the long run? You have to map it out and  ask, “If I do this, what will be the expected outcome?”  Trust your instincts as an entrepreneur and get valued opinions. I did wait until it was the right time.

The biggest mistake I see people make is to wait too long and cut too many corners, not invest in their business and and end up staying small and struggling.  Here are possible issues have that I have seen:

• Your prices are too low and you are under-valuing yourself.
• You feel self-doubt and are making decisions from that place.
• Your marketing is poor and there is no plan to follow.
• You are lacking a  vision for your fully developed business.
• You are trying to to sell something that has no driving need.

There are other reasons and maybe some of you can share.  I’d love to hear from you. Really the term solo-business doesn’t truly mean  ”solo.”

This morning I received a lovely e-mail from my friend Stacy and she shared  four ways to deal with her own personal challenges. These came from  Sally Conway.  I loved what she wrote and decided to share them with all of you. They can be used in any situation that challenges your sense of power and inner balance.

You’ve probably heard me say this before, “Owning a business is like a constant personal growth process.”

I remember attending an “est” training in the 1975. For those of you born later, it was an intense  personal transformation training offered by Werner H. Erhard,  It was all about learning personal empowerment in a very charged and challenged situation. It wasn’t fun, but growthful and I came out feeling I had been rung through a ringer.

Some weeks of being a business owner can feel just like this. Certainly, most of the time I love what I do and feel grateful for what I  have accomplished.

However, other times there are inner conflicts that come up and challenges that will stretch my own sense of inner power. There are times I want to just cry and other times I feel angry or hopeless as I have to stretch beyond my own comfort zone. One thing I learned way back in 1975 is that my comfort zone can transform if I allow it to.

Stacy’s 4 part Practice

1. Remain neutral (the space within you where emotion ceases).
2. Follow the thoughts that bring you peace.
3. Remain steadfast in your faith of the highest and best outcome.
4. Disregard any and all external distractions and fear based realities.

These 4 principles to follow can be a Practice all on their own. When things are going well, they are not really an issue, but when you are challenged it is a good time to practice these four ways and make them a part of your natural way of being. It is possible to overcome any obstacle as long as you have a plan, determination and support.