I have been an entrepreneur for most of my life. I have had the opportunity over the years to start and scale many businesses myself and coach hundreds of my clients on how to do the same. Over the years I have learnt so much on what it takes to be successful in business and how you can fast track your success by understanding how powerful of a creator you are. Looking back when I first started in business, I wish I had a better understanding of why these 3 strategies are so important before even starting. I am going to share with you the 3 things I wish I knew when I was starting my first business.
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Crystalize your Dream
Before starting your own business crystalize your idea, crystalize your intent. Like a foundation when you are building a house, it’s what keeps it solid and keeps you on track. The clearer you get the easier it gets. Clarity allows us to speed up how we manifest and create every day. For most people this is the hardest part because they don’t know what they want. You are worth spending time to get really clear on what you want. The following exercise will help you crystalize your dream.
Exercise:
- Have a journal – call it your dream book or idea book. This is your safe place to do brain dumps on all your ideas. Get creative and dream big. Ask yourself and write down your answers to the following:
- What I really want is . . . (Allow this to be something that you love to do and that does not feel like work because it makes you happy.)
- My dream business is . . .
- What does your dream business look like? (Size, number of employees, location, online or in person.)
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Define your ‘Why’
Part of the cement that is going to hold your business true and strong for the long run is understanding why you have decided to open a business. It’s an important step that you must go through mentally and emotionally to identify “Why I want this”, because when things get challenging, you want to have a solid footing reminding you why you are starting your own business
Exercise:
- Dig deep, finding the emotional component gets you closer to your true why. Physically write down your reason. It’s also useful to know what this business will do for you. Be specific and describe how owning this business will make you feel once successful.
- Take a look at what motivates you to start your own business. In fact, think about what you would be doing in a year from now, if you weren’t starting your business. What career would you be doing otherwise? Fast forward 10 years, and if you didn’t open your business for whatever reason, think about how your life looks like and how it feels?
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Align your mind and your heart for success
Now that you have identified your ‘why’ and understand your passion, you must get your mind onboard. Our minds and our beliefs can be our biggest passageway or obstacle to success. The key is to have your mind believe in your success as if it has already happened.
Exercise:
- To get started, let yourself envision your future self as you manage a successful dream business. Envision that you have clients and that you are making money. Practice this imagery.
- As you imagine your successful future self, write a paragraph from that place, describing your business. It will become the foundation for what you can tell a client “this is what I do”. The paragraph you write, must be written in the present tense. Do not use phrases such as “I hope to” or “I want to”. It is an affirmation in the present tense. This is part of the process in building and growing and creating the foundations for your business to come into fruition.
- Have fun with it, be concise, clear, specific and be in the present tense.
In summary it is worth spending some time in the beginning to really crystalize your dream – get clear on what you want, identify your ‘why’ to keep you on track and motivated, and work on your mindset to align with your heart and believe in your success. This is where the true magic will happen!
Want to make the process of starting a business easy? Want to learn all the business fundamentals plus how to achieve a successful mindset to really propel your success?
We have made it simple and accessible for you to start. Join our on line program ‘Leap to Freedom’. It gives you 6 weeks of instructional videos, workbook exercises and downloads to help you navigate from conception to successful launch. It even includes meditations on how to remove money blocks and generate abundance. As a bonus your will get 2, 90-minute business strategy sessions with me to help you fast track success in your new business.
Julie Cass, founder of The Positive Change Group, shares valuable information across media platforms. She has appeared on Global TV, CHCH, and CP24 speaking on issues of physical and emotional health, relationship building, and women’s empowerment.
Julie is awaiting the release of her newly written book and is published in several magazines including Canadian Living and Canadian Business Journal covering topics of leadership and personal fulfillment. She has also made appearances on a variety of podcasts and engaged with audiences at numerous public speaking events.
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