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Business Blogging Entrepreneurship

6 Bull$h!t Free Success Hacks

Let’s say you’re still working your regular job, but you’ve started offering your professional services on the side.

Your clients are people you know, such as neighbors and friends. Although making some money, you don’t believe you’ll ever close new clients because you’re less than stellar at sales. You don’t think you’ll make any money because talking about money is too scary. You don’t believe anyone would want to work with you over your competitors because they’ve been in business longer.

Spoiler Alert: You’re gonna need to believe in yourself. The survival of your business depends on it.

If you don’t believe in yourself, why should anyone else? Of course, it’s normal to feel like you won’t make it sometimes. It’s normal for your competitors to kick your ass, or a global pandemic to turn everything you thought you knew upside down. Sometimes “believing in yourself” really DOES feel like a bunch of BS.

Here’s a list of non-negotiables to manifest success, and NONE of them are BS. Pinky Swear.

1. Rest

Have you ever been on a roller coaster? Can you focus on anything other than the immersive experience you’re having?

It’s nearly impossible.

On the other hand, have you ever been to an amusement park and watched a roller coaster? You can sit on a bench, snack on some chips, fill a toddler’s sippy cup, talk to your Mom on the phone, and make a decision about dinner that night.

When you’re in the throes of entrepreneurship and self-doubt, you’re on the roller coaster. Take some time on the bench. You’ll make clearer decisions and be better equipped to manage emotions.

2. Embrace Discomfort

When did being uncomfortable become such a deterrent? Discomfort is a sign of progress. Discomfort can show you your boundary so you can find the best way to expand it.

When you’re faced with the discomfort of pursuit, focus on what you’ll miss if you don’t go for it, not what you’ll risk if you don’t make it. 

3. Honor Your Dreams

Many people send their dreams and goals away in the name of helping or pleasing others. This can feel like the right thing to do.

Spoiler Alert: It isn’t.

When we don’t honor our dreams, we demonstrate to ourselves and others that they don’t have value. This is a breeding ground for bitterness and resentment. It will also keep your entrepreneurial goals completely out of reach.

Honoring your dreams isn’t just an activity to get you started. You must practice and honor your dreams every day to make them a reality.

4. Take Radical Accountability

Famine, drought, hurricanes, global pandemics, a new Google Algorithm (this one may be just us). All of these things can potentially blow up your business.

You think, “Why me?”

Totally understandable to feel that way. None of the above roadblocks are your fault, but now your business is in shambles. No one will make it better for you. It’s still on you to take responsibility. It’s not your fault, but how you choose to manage difficulty is your responsibility. 

If you want your business to succeed, you need to maintain the mindset of radical accountability. When you practice radical accountability, trusting and believing in yourself becomes much easier.

5. Practice Active Gratitude

This step is crazy easy when things are going well, and wildly difficult when they are not. Active gratitude check-ins are a foolproof way to find calm, grace, and cultivate a healthy state of mind. 

The best way to manage chaos is to avoid becoming a part of it. When you’re feeling down, defeated, foolish, or failing, start counting the things that you’re grateful for. If your mind is racing, be thankful for air in your lungs and food in your belly. Be grateful for access to coffee, a blue sky, or the opportunity to go to the beach that one time you and your friends had a blast.

Gratitude isn’t just for greeting cards and kitschy coffee mugs. Gratitude is literally fertilizer for the life you want.

6. Be Passionate and Optimistic

Passion is one of the most powerful emotions available to the human soul. Passion builds relationships, launches careers, and inspires those around you. Finding your unique passion can be difficult and can send you down that path of self-doubt if you don’t take the time to find it. 

Get quiet. Write lists about things you love about yourself and about life. Cultivate optimism. Optimism helps us see the beauty of our dreams and all that is available to us.

The list of non-negotiables above aren’t meant to be exhaustive or executed perfectly. It is in the wandering that we find the path directly. It’s absolutely possible (and even commendable) to implement everything above flawfully and still absolutely believe in yourself, even while battling your own moments of doubt.  

Success is within your reach—let these mindset hacks help you on your way!

And while you’re cultivating your passion and building your belief in yourself and your business, schedule a free strategy session with us at GoBeyond SEO to learn how we can help you implement the right digital marketing strategies to support your business’ success!

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Entrepreneurship GoBeyond Leadership

How Female Entrepreneurs Went from Scrappy Underdogs to Fighting for the Heavyweight Title

For a long time, women have the disadvantage of being, well, women. Business was always done a certain way by certain people and big business wanted to uphold the status quo. However, female entrepreneurs having been coming out with both hands gloved, ready to fight for their business ventures.

When you are fighting what seems like an uphill battle, remember that you’re fighting the good fight. Yes, women entrepreneurs are like boxers busting their way through the business world. No one sees that powerful left hook. All around the world female entrepreneurs are taking the world by storm and changing at the same time.

Powerful Left Hook: Equality in the Numbers

We all know that women make up over half the planet, but now the numbers in business and education are starting to reflect that. Women are investing in education and with that education comes more women in the workforce and more business owners. According to The Atlantic, for every two men who earn bachelor’s degrees, three women are doing the same.

Pow!  Women also earn 60% of Master’s degrees, 50% of law and medical degrees, and 42% of MBA’s. Pow! Pow! With just under 50% of PhDs earned by women, it seems that, finally, education numbers reflect society.

Also, for the first time ever, women make up over half of the U.S workforce. We’ll call it the old one-two. First, we get educated, then we show up to work. Not only that, but the United States ranks number one for the best business environment for female entrepreneurs. (Of course, that doesn’t mean it still doesn’t have a long road ahead of it. The U.S. only scored a 71 out of 100 across the categories analyzed.) Female entrepreneurs represent 48% of the market and 40% of new entrepreneurs are women. Thank you foremothers for fighting for equality!

Surprise Right Jab: Women-lead Businesses are More Valuable

When it comes to women and entrepreneurship, women are a proven better investment.  I can see you nodding, ladies: you knew it all along, and here’s why.

Successful U.S. venture-backed companies had twice the number of women on the founding team. In a study of 1,500 companies, it was found that those firms with the most female executives also tend to perform better. Companies with more women at the top are more innovative and offer a wider set of influences on decisions. More diversity leads to better decision making across the board.

Ready for the jab? Not only are women important to have on the decision-making team, but it’s proven that women-run businesses are an overall better investment. Data from 350 micro institutions showed that lending to women was associated with lower write-offs and lower portfolio-at-risk.

In Kenya, for instance, it was found that women are trusted in their communities and therefore, their businesses are more successful. When you add to it that women-owned businesses created or maintain 23 million jobs and perform twice as well as those led by men, investing in women is just a smart option.

Now we’ve done a blow-by-blow of stats and numbers at you, let’s talk about how all of this leads to female entrepreneurs fighting for the heavyweight title.

The Uppercut: Reinvesting in the Community

When women are successful, their community is more successful. Their kids are better educated, their families are healthier, and the society they live in begins to thrive. Working women reinvest 90 cents on every dollar back into their community, wherein their male counterparts only invest 30 to 40 cents. Working women are like a strong uppercut to boosting the economy. By supporting working women, we are supporting the community, the world, and our futures.

The Haymaker: Creating Jobs

With women owned businesses creating a platform for success, it only makes sense that their new ventures would create jobs. In the U.S., more than half of the 9.72 million new jobs created in small and medium enterprises were by female-led companies. In the next ten years, there are 15 categories that are expected to grow the fastest.  13 of those are jobs held in majority by women. More jobs spur the economy, which means local and country economics do better. Like a haymaker, women are desperate to create new niches and new opportunities which knocks out unemployment and gives hope to the community.

The Bob and Weave: Innovation

All over the world, women are finding niche businesses created from necessity. They are innovating and inventing, filling voids and finding ways to fix problems in their communities. For example, Fereshteh Forough has founded the first all-girls coding school in Afghanistan, arming young women with in-demand skills to solidify their futures. Elena Shkarubo founded MeetnGreetMe, a place for global travelers to find concierge and lifestyle management services delivered by locals.

In Estonia, a hub of entrepreneurship in Europe, Kristel Kruustuk formed Testlio, a company that connects enterprises to software testers which leads to amazing customer experiences. These are just a few of the rockstar women seeking out problems, finding their niche and owning it. When problems come to from the left, women bob right and find solutions. Female innovators and entrepreneurs are turning around the economies in their communities and contributing globally.

So, what can we take away from this? (Besides, of course, that women are killing the game right now.) Female-led businesses are the future of our local and global economies. If you are considering starting a business or already have one, this is your time to take action and go for it. Women entrepreneurs are proven good investments who create jobs, innovate, and make their communities better. Fight the good fight and help female entrepreneurs secure that title!

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Kristy is an Assistant & Coordinator of Awesome. She has worked extensively in academic administration and brings a varied wealth of knowledge. As a self-starter, she is ready to take on news projects and see them through to completion. Always curious, Kristy is an avid researcher and delights in the challenge of learning new skills.

When Kristy isn’t organizing or researching something, you can find her listening to a true crime podcast, re-watching How I Met Your Mother or The Big Bang Theory and coming up with some crazy shenanigan for her family’s next adventure.

5 INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT KRISTY

  1. Kristy prefers the Harry Potter books over the movies. Her favorite book is The Prisoner of Azkaban and her favorite character is Luna Lovegood. Ravenclaw house. She just started her 8-year-old son on listening to the books.
  2. Kristy has a nail technician license, esthetician license, medical assisting certification, associate degree, and bachelor’s degree. She didn’t get her full cosmetology license because she can barely do her own hair, she shouldn’t be trusted with someone else’s.
  3. She doesn’t know how to gamble but is originally from Las Vegas, Nevada. She moved to Colorado three months before her 21st birthday.
  4. Her high school graduating class consisted of only 20 people.
  5. Kristy loves gift giving. One of her great joys in life is finding the “perfect” gift.
Kristy Elias