The day my blog became my journal...

As you may know I spent the past 2 months backpacking through South East Asia with H, my husband. Our trip was incredible; we got to see amazing places, eat incredible foods and both felt that our adventurous sides were fed in abundance, but you can read all about our travelling adventures here….what I want to share with you today is my own little blog rethink & why rethinking your blog's purpose is well worth your time!!!

Getting away from ‘it all’ is sometimes just what we all need. And for me, having scheduled all my blog-posts in advance and sold my cellphone, I knew that this time away would give me a well-needed break from the blogging, social media world.

To backtrack a little, I used to be one those types who owned a shelf of journals, and spent at least an hour a day filling these pages with thoughts, dreams, fears and prayers…but then social media stole my heart and so what was once saved for the blank pages of a book only I would read became a bit of a free for all. Running a blog is all things wonderful but like most things in life, it can start to take up more time than it needs to and so balance once again needs to be attained and prioritized.

Before leaving Korea I bought a new journal. In true Korean style, the front page reads “Someday, Dream will come true. When you are bright eyed and bushy tailed you should try to achieve your goal.” There is no other way to explain this jumble of words and adjectives that don’t fit together at all and yet still make you smile, other than, ‘welcome to English in Korea’. On purchasing this delightful bright pink journal, I knew that deep down it was going to be more than just a travel journal. It was my time to rethink this whole blogging, social media thing and come up with a new game plan.

On the 21^st Feb, the day before we left Korea, I wrote on page 1 of my new journal, “For a while now I’ve needed a new outlet for my thoughts, ideas, longings and fears, away from blogging, facebook and coaching. And here I sit having just found it. Thank you Lord.” And so began my new little journaling journey. Over the past two months I got to rethink blogging, what the purpose of my specific blog was and distinguishing between what was meant for journal space and what for blogging. This shift in thought not only gave me back a sense of privacy in my life, but it also reawaken my love for blogging and the topics I actually want to write about. So stay tuned for mixture of inspirational living, the pursuit of happiness, career advise and tips for starting your own business.

For the bloggers out there – I challenge you to spend some time today rethinking what the purpose of your blog is, why you started your blog and who your target market is. Then, according to your answers, figure out what in-fact you should and shouldn’t be blogging about. It’s not about limiting you or boxing you in, it’s all about letting go of ‘vague’ and giving your blog a stronger voice, presence and purpose!! This may mean you buying a journal like me, or possibly the opposite and maybe you are needing to give your readers more access to you and your beautiful, but either way – a little blogging-purpose rethink will remind you of your strengths, your vision and your blogging voice.  

Happy blogging…
xC

Every journey begins where you stand...

Personally, I love writing titles like this one as it does one of two things to all of us. It either comes as a huge encouragement, a nudge in the direction you are already leaning towards, or it comes as a massive wake up call. One you want to avoid, run miles from and if all fails, just dig hole and hide from it all.

Whatever your situation is, I’m here to encourage you that today is a BIG day for you, whether you know it or not. Today, there is only a future and a present. Today, you get to remember the past, but not travel there. Today, you get to start a new journey, one that leads you forward.

It’s easy to get stuck in the past, I know I did this for years. On numerous occasions, I would find myself introducing myself to people by referring to my past…be it failures, life lessons, achievements, where I went to school…you get the gist. I’ve always been a future oriented person, but still I found that I was leaning a bit too much on my past, and not so much on what I had right now, today, in this moment.

And then one day, I hit a serious low, and landed up having to deal with all my baggage, successes {and the in-betweens of my past}, and during those few weeks I realized that as much as my past would always be a part of me, I refused to let it determine my future any longer. I’d like to say that from that moment, I chose happiness. I chose a future that would start today…but it wasn’t that simple. As with most mind-shifts, it’s taken a good couple years for me to really start living this notion out. And the closer I move to letting go of what is behind {what hand life dealt me}, the closer I get to the life I always longed for, a life with no excuses, no regrets, no what-ifs…a life where I choose to step into all that is and will be.

I’m not anti focusing on the past; memories are a gift that I deeply treasure, life-experience is the foundation of who I am, and psychology had its part to play in helping me let the past rest where it was made. But who I will be tomorrow, will not be determined by what ifs, if only’s, woe-is-me’s or worries. No…who I will be tomorrow is dependent on who I am today, what I choose to acknowledge, let go of, embrace and for me {a real biggey} allow my thoughts to ponder on.

Here is a link to a free coaching printable I created, to help you acknowledge where you are at today, and to deal with niggling thoughts that won’t seem to go away…

The best people to be around are those who embrace today, who give no excuses for who they are, what they stand for, or look like or feel. It is my hope that I will one day be one of those people…

     

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Laser Launch Blog party: Goal Setting for second year entrepreneurs!

Today I’ll be sharing a post that is part of the 'Laser Launch blog party', run by Halley from Evolve and Succeed, the topic being “Second year entrepreneurship”.

"Laser Launch blog party is a collection of stories from online celebrities about their second year experiences. Brought to you by: Laser Launch Package - a double whammy of expertise to get your next launch sold-out because your second year should be fun + profitable."

For me, just entering this phase of my 2^nd year as a business owner, I am both exciting and of course slightly apprehensive too. My first year of entrepreneurship was in every sense a roller-coaster ride. I bounced from having no clients to too many, I started new programs that got great reviews, launched big projects that never took off, and learnt so much along the way.

The first year, or season, of starting something new is always exciting, bringing with it new challenges, ways of thinking, relationships and personal growth points. Going into my second year as a business owner, the two main things that I will be focusing on will be consistency and passion.

If there is one thing that I learnt last year, it was that as much as clients/online followers love variety, they love consistency more. People thrive off stability, and as a business owner, I get to offer that to my clients. I get to present not only a brand that is consistent but a person behind the brand who remains the same. As I mentioned in my blog series post 'Tips for starting your own Creative Business' last year, people buy into who you are and why you do what you do, not what you do. Yes, they see the ‘what’ every day, but it is the ‘who’ and the ‘why’ that keeps them coming back for more. Consistency is key to success.

As much as remaining consistent will be vital for me and my business this year, maintaining passion I believe outweighs all other business goals. Getting to a point when you decide to start your own business is usually fueled by ideas, talents and a whole lotta passion. Your first year as a business-owner has you on a passion-high, with you daily coming to grips with the idea that your passion for something is now earning you money. Your passion to make a success out of something, that lies only in your hands, is so real and so tangible that you cannot but help working late nights, talking about your business in every spare moment you can sneak in a few words and filling your thoughts on your morning runs {or is that just me}. But going into year 2 means that by now things have likely somewhat settled down. Your product or programs are either succeeding or they aren’t, you've create a routine - something that works for you…and routine often has a dulling effect on passion.

In order to keep myself on my toes this year, in terms of both consistency and passion, I coached myself through 3 simple steps and it is now my hope that this will be a tool that you as well as many 2^nd year entrepreneurs will find useful.

 

Step 1: Review 2013

The first thing you need to do is to review your past year. This means finding a quiet space, taking out either your laptop or a piece of paper and realistically writing a personal business review for 2013.

Reflect on things like:

-      Is your business aligning with your values?

-      Product/ Service analysis

-      Is your business aligning with your ideal lifestyle?

-      Financial analysis

-      Marketing analysis

 

Step 2: Room for growth

Now, write down a list of things, within each section of your review, that you want to improve on this year. I.e: Financial Analysis: Expenses; Products: Revise and improve current workbooks, etc. You will use this list to help you create your goals for 2014 in the following step!

Step 3: Set goals for 2014

Use my ideas below as a basic guideline for categorizing your business goals for 2014:

- Product/service Goals {Include both improving products/services as well as what new products/ services you hope to launch}

- Financial Goals {Be as specific as possible. Personally, I break this down into months as well as sections within each month}

- Marketing Goals {This is such a vital part of every business and their success levels. Spend some time reflecting on what you can do to improve your current marketing plan, or if you don’t have one yet, then consider creating one}

- Job Satisfaction Goals {Think lifestyle, work/life balance, relationships at work}

- Personal Goals {This is for YOU, and is as important as career goals. Think in terms of your passions/ interests. i.e – run a marathon, take up canoeing, start playing the piano more, etc}

Ensure your goals are:

1.    Specific (Be as specific as you can when detailing your goals for 2014)

2.    Measurable (Ensure that you will know when you have achieved a goal, ie – create a measure for each goal)

3.    Attainable (Create goals that stretch you however still remain within your reach)

4.    Relevant (It’s easy to set a goal that you know you should set but actually don’t feel passionate about at all. My suggestion is either to scrap the goal entirely if it really isn’t for you at all, however if it just very daunting, then consider changing the wording of this goal into positive language. I.e – Instead of lose 5kg’s, rather – start eating healthy meals 5 days a week)  

5.    Time- bound (Set a time span for each goal – when you will achieve this goal by)

To all the entrepreneurs out there, best of luck for 2014!!!! I’d love to read your comments below and would be more than happy to help where I can. If you’re interested in taking this Goal Setting Process one step further, then please consider joining my Rise &Shine workshop in Gwangju, Korea in Feb 2014. I am also considering running this workshop in Cape Town and in Durban in April 2014, however this will be dependent on whether there is an interest to run it then {use comment section below or contact me directly here if you're interested}

Finally, it is not only my job, but my privilege to help people, like you, set amazing goals for both their lives and their careers. If you found this exercise helpful, and are interested in making 2014 a year that stands out from the rest, then please consider contacting me to book a trial session {free} and allow me the privilege of walking alongside you for a few months, as you set out to achieve your deeply rooted dreams!!