Category Archives: Your Personal Development

Your Personal Development

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The Coach Series: Signs of a Great Life Coach: Part 2

once uponPeople spend much of their time wondering whether or not they need help. At some point in all of our lives, we need to take a step back and ask others for help. I believe we all have a purpose—but to achieve our purpose we need help.

Moving Forward

Time is the scarcest resource that exists.  You can always make more money, but you can’t get more time.  Yet, when we attempt to do things on our own, we’re taking the long route and wasting that time.  This is simply because we don’t know the path ahead and what to expect. With a coach, you can take a journey and know that you aren’t taking it alone. You will have the support to make the journey and achieve what you thought was impossible. If we do things alone, we stand a chance of getting lost, becoming frustrated. But with a coach, you will find that those things are less likely to happen.

Save Yourself the Stress

I’ve already somewhat mentioned above how having a life coach will save you stress and frustration.  Why try to re-invent the wheel?  It’s already been invented, and it’ll be so much easier to just learn from someone who knows what they’re doing.  The stress, pain and frustration that you’ll go through trying to figure things out on your own isn’t worth it.  Trust me.

Being Accountable for Your Actions

All of a sudden, YOU become more accountable to follow through on whatever you’re procrastinating, and stopping yourself from doing.  We all place limits on ourselves.  We all have limiting beliefs and patterns that are holding us back, preventing us from fulfilling our true potential.  When you have a life coach who is there to push you beyond your limits and what you thought was possible, a breakthrough happens.  Your entire belief system changes, and you take your life to another level.

Know Thyself

One of the most valuable parts of coaching are the lessons and insights you will get about yourself.  You’re always getting feedback and discovering more about yourself in the process.  A coach is able to point out all kinds of things and help you become aware of them, so that you can change them.  Often it is just the little things that make a massive difference.  I’ve seen incredible transformations within people just by making small changes to their way of thinking. Most people you’re around on a daily basis won’t point out these things to you or give you feedback, but a coach will.

Belief, Purpose and Confidence

There are so many ways that we limit and hold ourselves back.  There’s things that we WANT to do but often aren’t doing, simply because we don’t have the belief or confidence in ourselves.  When a coach proposes something, you might be hesitant. You might believe you can’t do it. You might believe that it takes a different kind of person to achieve—what seems to be—the impossible. The truth is that normally you are just afraid, and that fear takes over. A coach can recognize this, and help you get past it. Give yourself a pat on the back, and know that sometimes we need someone else to help us achieve our dreams.

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The Coach Series: Seven Signs of a Great Life Coach: Part 1

coachKnowledge and Know-how

Look for a coach who has experience and who has been working within the industry that you want to be part of, or achieving the results you desire. Ask yourself if he has worked with anyone like you and helped them succeed. Make sure that the coach has the right skillset to help you achieve your goals. Don’t assume that a successful businessman makes a great coach. Your coach should have a proven track record working within the industry, but should also have a track record of being able to help others.

Communicate

The coach should have an open-door policy. The coach should be accessible. You should be able to ask questions via email and get responses that are not only timely but also detailed enough to answer your questions. Emails should be returned within a business day.

Interact

How does the coach interact with her/his clients? Is this person accessible to each client? Is this coach positive and a great role model and mentor? How does this coach motivate his/her clients? Make sure you ask for referrals and ask their current clients how the coach interacts with them. Some coaches are hands off – sends tasks to do and then they are done. Some are extremely involved with their clients on a daily basis. You may lean more towards one of those options. It’s important that you get the right match for your skills.

Goal Setting

Make sure your coach asks you what your goals are and what you want to accomplish, both short- and long-term. The coach should be able to set up a day-to-day plan for you, but also be able to see the big picture, set up a macro-plan and be able to explain to you why the exercises and challenges are structured like they are to help you achieve your goals.

Feedback

Ask the coach how they will provide feedback to you on your exercises and challenges you are working toward. Progress is the name of the game. For example, if an athlete does not feel they’re making progress, they should be able to ask the coach for feedback on how to change things up. Also, the coach should be able to provide feedback on your progress, and tell you how to adapt things for your particular circumstances. They should also be able to give you specific feedback such as how to improve your skills, for example. Some ways that a coach can provide feedback is in person, via Skype, via email, or via social mediums like Twitter and Facebook.

Honesty

This is a tricky one, but one that I find is absolutely vital to success. It’s also one of the harder issues to address between coach and client. When looking for a coach, spend some time asking this coach how they can explain to you how realistic your goals are and what you need to do to improve. Honesty sometimes hurts, but it is critical to improvement and setting realistic goals.

Balance

A good coach understands life. They realize that down time is a must for most people and it is absolutely critical to maintain balance with work, family, social life and business. Find a coach that emulates this in their life and leads a similar lifestyle to yours. If you are a full-time working parent with four kids, hiring someone who has similar life experiences or works with clients like you will help in their understanding of the schedule you need. A good coach will help you sort through these life-business balance issues daily.

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Publishing Your Book: Preparing Your Book For Createspace: Part Eleven

once uponAfter writing a book, many people want to know how one goes about publishing a book. A well-known author once said recently that “it’s no great feat to get one’s book published—it’s no great mountain to climb.” He is right, but his opinion is subjective. To you, reading this blog, it is a huge mountain to climb to get your book published. There are many paths you can take up that mountain, but it is still a huge feat.

This week we are going to look at using one of the most common paperback publishing platforms, CreateSpace. Let’s take a look at some of the basics of uploading your book to CreateSpace. You can hire a professional to do this, but more than likely you will want to do it yourself.

Planning

This might seem obvious, but a little planning can go a long way to getting best result for your book. I’m not talking about the actual writing of it – you’ve probably got that under control.

Things to think about when you’re planning your book:

Opening and setting up an account with CreateSpace
What size do you want your book to be?
Have you purchased your own ISBN? If you haven’t, don’t worry. CreateSpace will assign an ISBN to your book.
Has your book been formatted?
Now take a few minutes to think about what you’re going to need on hand to complete the publication of your book. You will more than likely want to work all of this out before you even start.
Title of the book
Author name
Series title, if applicable.
Publication date
Description: How are you going to describe your book to prospective readers?
Author biography: What are you going to tell readers about yourself?
Category: Which category are you going to assign your book? Is it inspirational? Is it a romance? What is it?
Keywords: 5 terms that you can input that will help people find your book—for example “western.”
Price: How much is your book going to be to purchase?

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Learn The True Power of #Hashtags This Warrior Wednesday!

once uponTo be a true entrepreneur, you have to keep yourself ahead of the trends, and that’s part of what our Warrior Wednesday is about. We want to inspire you to achieve the very best you can, and we want to give you many of the tools that you will need to get there. This week, I’d like for us to continue looking at #hashtags. In recent years, the #hashtag has become important to marketers at every stage. Some of the biggest companies in the world have used #hashtags to the greatest effect on #Twitter.

Let’s see how they did it…

#TweetFromTheSeat—Charmin

Just to prove that even a mundane company like Charmin can compete—we are going to start this list with one of their most successful campaigns. This is a prime example of a company really getting to grips with their product—and it was surprising to see such innovation from a toilet paper manufacturer like Charmin. The tissue company broke out of its ‘boring’ niche with the campaign #TweetFromTheSeat, which had people use that hashtag when they were, well… most likely to use it.

#PutACanOnIt—Red Bull

Recently popular drink company Red Bull came away with the prestigious “Best Use of a Hashtag” Shorty Award with its #PutACanOnIt campaign. Though the hashtag was created by Red Bull, it was inspired by a photo the company found on Twitter wherein the photographer is seen holding a Red Bull can above a Mini Cooper to make it look as though it was a trademarked Red Bull car.

#OreoHorrorStories—Oreo

Oreo, a company notorious for a fantastic social media presence, really outdid itself when it created one of the most fun Halloween hashtags of all time. The cookie company created quick, Oreo-themed parodies of popular horror films. This campaign helped the company maintain their position with today’s buyers.

#ShareaCoke—Coca Cola

Coca Cola has had some seriously amazing marketing initiatives over the years. From the classic “I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke”—all the way through to the Twitter age. One of the best examples of their advertising genius in the modern world is the unique way they rigged their vending machines to interact with customers.

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Holding Back the Fears: Conquering Fears — Part 17

fear1The only thing normally holding many people back—and away from their dreams—is themselves. They suffer from terrible fears when they try to better their lives. Inner fears like frustration, failure and lack of confidence allow some to be talked out of success by their own demons. These fears control the lives of many people but can be conquered. This new series of blog articles is all about fears that will hold you back—and how to conquer them. This week we are going to take a look at the ways entrepreneurs overcome fear and succeed through sheer mindset.

Entrepreneurship Is a Lifestyle:

Entrepreneurs wake up as entrepreneurs, go to work as entrepreneurs, come home as entrepreneurs and go to bed as entrepreneurs. There is no nine to five. There is no “work life” and “home life.”
The advantage of this is that you have total control over your business and your professional choices. The disadvantage of this is that you carry your business with you everywhere you go. Entrepreneurship becomes your work and your life, and you need to be prepared for that if you’re going to survive the lifestyle.

Opportunity Comes from Challenge:

Setbacks, obstacles and challenges are painfully common elements of entrepreneurship. Most people react to these hurdles with stress and pessimism, with an attitude that obstacles are negative experiences that only hinder progress. As an entrepreneur, you encounter so many challenges, you simply can’t afford to react this way.
Instead, successful entrepreneurs view challenges as opportunities. Each challenge or setback reveals a key opportunity to grow — either to improve upon an existing weakness or take measures to avoid experiencing a similar setback in the future.

Competitors Are Your Research:

Rather than viewing competitors as a threat, like most people would, entrepreneurs see competitors as enriching opportunities to learn more about their industry and target market. By looking at your competitors’ business models, you can learn what makes yours unique and embellish that uniqueness in your branding and marketing efforts. Studying your competitors’ emphasis on customer experience can teach you how to make yours better.

Mistakes Are Success:

The popular vision of massively successful entrepreneurs such as Steve Jobs or Jeff Bezos illustrates them as infallible leaders. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Successful entrepreneurs, even the rock stars among them, often make mistakes. Furthermore, they aren’t afraid to make mistakes, and they know how to learn from them.
Making mistakes is healthy and normal, and the sooner entrepreneurs realize that, the better.

Perspective: 

Many business owners keep their business models and directives too rigid, ultimately restricting their ability to grow and leading to failure. Successful entrepreneurs, on the other hand, are constantly searching for individuals and experiences that will challenge their way of thinking and lead them to see things from a new perspective.

Discipline Is Everything:

For most people, it takes extra thought and effort to exercise, wake up on time or do anything other than spend leisure time. To successful entrepreneurs, discipline is normal. It’s a part of their inner training that carries into all aspects of their lives. You have to know what you want and be prepared to do whatever it takes to get it.

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Achieve Your Dreams, Ignite Your Vision, & Re-engineer Your Life Purpose

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Publishing Your Book: Websites That Help Promote Books: Part Ten

once uponAfter writing a book, many people want to know how one goes about publishing a book. A well-known author once said recently that “it’s no great feat to get one’s book published—it’s no great mountain to climb.” He is right, but his opinion is subjective. To you, reading this blog, it is a huge mountain to climb to get your book published. There are many paths you can take up that mountain, but it is still a huge feat.

This week, I would like to look at some of the places you can list your book for free to get noticed. These five sites have been proven to be some of the most effective free promotion in the book world. But even with these sites there are some ups and downs. The downside is that you will still be fighting for places on these sites with thousands of other authors. The upside is that once you get listed on these sites they may well help you create sales.

All of these sites give your book potential—the potential to get a huge dose of publicity and a run of strong paid sales. These paid sales will drive your rankings and will turn into more sales. People always say that the free stuff isn’t worth it—but sometimes it is.

Addicted to eBooks

This website is perfect for readers who love cheaper books. The website also allows authors to rate some of the content of their book. If you want to know the level of sexual, violent or rude content before you buy a book, this site will appeal to you. I’m excited that authors can now rate their books for the readers.

Author Marketing Club

One of the best resources for writers. You don’t have to chase around the internet trying to find sites to submit to. You can just go to the Author Marketing Club and see which sites are available to use.

Books on the Knob

Bargain reads, free ebooks and book reviews for the Amazon Kindle, nook, Kobo, Sony and other ereaders, Kindle Fire, nookColor, Kobo Vox, and other tablets, along with some games and other stuff. A useful site for authors to know about.

Digital Book Today

Includes both free and paid options for writers looking to promote. A great place to promote your book, and a place that you may have to work to get into—but once you are, you’ll reap the rewards.

eBooks Habit

Each day, this site brings you 20-30 great ebooks that are free at the time of posting, as well as some bargain ebooks with reduced prices. If you have a promotion going on—a free giveaway, etc.—then this may be the site for you.

YOUR VISION TORCH Series
Achieve Your Dreams, Ignite Your Vision, & Re-engineer Your Life Purpose

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Holding Back the Fears: Conquering Fears — Part 16

fear1The only thing normally holding many people back—and away from their dreams—is themselves. They suffer from terrible fears when they try to better their lives. Inner fears like frustration, failure and lack of confidence allow some to be talked out of success by their own demons. These fears control the lives of many people but can be conquered. This new series of blog articles is all about fears that will hold you back—and how to conquer them. This week we are going to take a look at six fears that stop would-be entrepreneurs from succeeding.

Where Do You Begin

Most entrepreneurs don’t actually know where to start when first setting their ideas in motion. Start out by finding someone who achieved the goal you’ve set for yourself.

Read about the person, the structure of her business, and reach out to see if she can offer advice or information. Even if the businessperson doesn’t have the time or an interest in speaking with you, you’ll know that she has achieved success so it’s possible for you. Just take a first step forward, and do what makes sense. The path will unfold as you continue to walk.

Apparently, You’re An Expert…

You probably know enough about your product or service to answer the lion’s share of questions and solve most issues that may arise. So don’t worry if you don’t feel like a complete expert in the field yet.

For the things you don’t yet know, you can find answers. There is no shame in continuing to learn. In fact, this is a requirement for continued growth. You will never be finished learning: Wear the “expert” label anyway, and commit yourself to excellence.

Too Crazy

Some people will think that you’re crazy to start a new business, and they will be correct. The safe and rational thing to do would be to never take a risk and work for someone else for the rest of your life.

Believe you are a bit crazy to step out on a limb, believe in your talents and convince others to believe in them, too. Accept your craziness, and then appreciate that it’s the crazy ones who end up making a difference in the world.

Not Having Any Money

Being a business owner would be so easy if every person with an idea could wander into a bank and receive a loan straight away. Since this is not a dream world, entrepreneurs without investors must jump-start their businesses anyway. Even if you don’t have the necessary capital at first, you’ll soon learn that a slow and steady process of building the business may be the best thing, after all.

No Belief

Even if you have doubts that people won’t react well to your business because of your credentials (or lack of them), skin color or gender, show up anyway and deliver outstanding service. People might be influenced by a physical appearance, but no one can argue with a solid work ethic. Even if at first no one believes in you, people will believe in your results.

No Customers

It’s terrifying to take the risk of offering your skills to the world, wondering if they’ll be valued. Unless you start your business with an established audience of people ready to throw money at you, a bunch of would-be customers won’t immediately swarm to knock your door down.

If you approach your business with joy, you may very well experience a turn of the tide. In the meantime, work your marketing plan feverishly, study to increase your level of expertise and be kind to yourself because you’ve already made it further than most.

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Holding Back the Fears: Conquering Fears — Part 15

fear11The only thing normally holding many people back—and away from their dreams—is themselves. They suffer from terrible fears when they try to better their lives. Inner fears like frustration, failure and lack of confidence allow some to be talked out of success by their own demons. These fears control the lives of many people but can be conquered. This new series of blog articles is all about fears that will hold you back—and how to conquer them. This week we are going to take a look at Hypnophobia, a crippling fear that can stop you reaching your full potential, and can even stop you from living a normal, everyday life.

Hypnophobia, clinophobia or somniphobia, as the condition is often called, is the irrational and excessive fear of sleep. It may result from a feeling of loss of control, or from repeating nightmares or anxiety over the loss of time that could be spent accomplishing tasks or maximizing leisure time instead of sleeping.

Recognizing Your Phobia

Hypnophobia, known as fear of sleep and fear of being hypnotized, can significantly impact the quality of life. It can cause panic attacks and is often defined as an abnormal, persistent and unwarranted fear of sleep or being hypnotized. Rapid breathing, shortness of breath, sweating, feelings of dread and nausea are all symptoms of hypnophobia. Every year, hypnophobia causes distress to countless people. Most hypnophobia therapies take months or years, and sometimes require the patient to be exposed repeatedly to their fear. Therefore, it makes the condition even worse.

Focus

Focusing on your mind can tell you a lot about your fears. The way you describe things that happen to yourself inside your own head can be very telling. What really scares you about sleep? Try to focus and discover what the problem is. Are you afraid of nightmares? Do you think you won’t wake up? Do you feel it’s wasted time? Once you know the problem, you can start to fix it.

Relax and Breathe

Try heading to bed with a book. Lie on your bed until you begin to get drowsy and linger in a state of drowsiness. You are not asleep, yet not awake. But is there anything scaring you? Try to take notice of the world around you while you are in that state. If you start to feel uncomfortable—open your eyes. You can leave at any time.

The Positive

Singing your favorite song, watching your favorite movie, spending time with your friends, family and loved ones can all put you in a positive frame of mind. Perhaps organize a sleepover with friends who will be at your side throughout the process of sleep. If you can’t do it alone, do it with others—that is, after all, what friends are for.

A Positive Spin

Waking up all refreshed, relaxed and happy can be the end result of sleep—you know that. Why don’t you try giving sleep a positive spin? Tell yourself all the reasons why you should enjoy sleep, and try to keep them in mind—sleep is an enjoyable thing. Just try telling yourself that it is.

YOUR VISION TORCH Series
Achieve Your Dreams, Ignite Your Vision, & Re-engineer Your Life Purpose

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Publishing Your Book: Covers: Part Eight

fear1After writing a book, many people want to know how one goes about publishing a book. A well-known author once said recently that “it’s no great feat to get one’s book published—it’s no great mountain to climb.” He is right, but his opinion is subjective. To you, reading this blog, it is a huge mountain to climb to get your book published. There are many paths you can take up that mountain, but it is still a huge feat.

This week we are going to look at some pointers about cover design. Covers are a selling tool like no other. They are usually the first thing people see, and they are usually the thing that makes someone buy or not buy. Covers capture interest—so it’s important for you to have the right one.

The wrong cover can be devastating to your sales. A poor cover can turn off readers and can even cause your book to be returned by customers. Bad covers can also lead to poor reviews. But what do I mean by a bad cover? Let’s look at the four biggest problems we see on covers. You can see covers that have these problems all over Amazon.

• Spelling errors on the cover
• Poor punctuation
• Pixelated images
• Poor name and title placement

But these are not the only things you have to think about when putting your cover together. You also have to become an ad-man and create a cover that looks good as a thumbnail. I bet you didn’t think about that! Yes, your cover has to stand out as a thumbnail on Amazon. So keep that in mind and test your covers. Shrink your cover in size and spend some time looking at it. Can you still make out the image on the front? Does it still look as attractive? Would you buy that book?

Give it a try—and see for yourself!

YOUR VISION TORCH Series
Achieve Your Dreams, Ignite Your Vision, & Re-engineer Your Life Purpose

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How Much Can You Do During a Warrior Wednesday?

fear1“Do more, see more, feel more, achieve more… make Wednesday YOUR day for achievement!”

Have you ever wondered about the people who seem to zoom through their day and achieve everything they started out wanting to achieve? Have you ever wondered how they do it? I’m sure each of us knows someone who can get much more done in a day than we believe possible. The super filer, the busy typist, the amazing salesman. What gives those people such drive?

It really comes down to the need to meet goals. Some people have an inbuilt need to achieve everything straight away. But there are ways for you to also help yourself make more from your days. This week, we will be talking about increasing productivity during our days, so our evenings can be less stressful.

Make Notes

The most successful people in the world always carry a notepad in their pockets to make notes. Many of us use our computers or phones and make notes on the diaries we have there. But this doesn’t seem to cut it for many people—it’s better to write it down and refer to something that is real—a piece of paper.

Time Management

Those who are super achievers know that time is a finite thing. On a daily basis, we only have so much time to do things. That’s why it’s important for us to make the most from our time. Try timing your activities, multi-tasking or combining tasks. This will help you cut down on the time you are spending on an activity and will cut the number of things you have to do.

Relax…

Even during the most stressful day, successful people find the time to wind down. Even in the office, you can spare a few moments every day to take your mind off work, meditate for a few minutes or read the news. Relaxation is part of what makes us successful. We have to know when to turn on the standby button.

Colleagues Can Be Fun

Try to be as social as possible. The more social you are at work, the more you feel like part of the team. Try interacting with as many people as you possibly can—and make friends. Working with friends is much better than working with people you hardly know.

Wake Up, Gotta Get Out of Bed

What can really set back our days is being late for work. Once you are late for work, you can expect your day to become sluggish. Try heading to bed earlier, waking up earlier, watching the news, having a relaxing breakfast and then heading to work. There’s no reason to rush anything in your life—take it at its own pace!

YOUR VISION TORCH Series
Achieve Your Dreams, Ignite Your Vision, & Re-engineer Your Life Purpose

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Dear Princess Column at: www.sentimentalnursewriter.com

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