Balance and Success Blog

I’ve been pondering a lot lately about this current life situation I’m in: called “Living in the Meanwhile.” Actually, I’ve been re-vamping and re-launching Balance and Success for several months now. I started doing this because I found myself faced with being in a J.O.B. in order to pay the bills. My resources for making money in real estate had dried up. Fortunately, I was able to get a job which does pay the bills. Hallelujah!

However, I quickly became discontented with the whole affair. After about 6 to 9 months I was really ready to return to my own lifestyle of working at home, finding new dreams, aspiring for bigger and better things. The J.O.B. was/is still fulfilling the purpose of paying the bills, but it is not filling my life purpose by any means. I’m not one to settle for the hamster wheel of working, living for the weekends, and merely enjoying the small amount of time each day which does not involve getting ready for work, or maintaining the work lifestyle.

While making a lot of progress on my new business foundation and structures (and acknowledging them, too), I vacillate from gratitude and excitement to impatience and frustration. I feel so ready to be out of my current environment and really living my new lifestyle which I envision daily. So the times when I have to abandon my business and home to travel to work, on the same road, at the same time, can be really difficult for me. I go through a lot of agony sometimes. I know this kind of energy is not healthy and will steal my power and movement forward away from me. It will drain me of anything good and productive. Not to mention, it steals my joy and playfulness. Life truly is a journey and not a destination.

As a result of pondering this notion, I came up with “Living In The Meanwhile.” I have dreams, aspirations, and specific milestones in mind. By acknowledging this IS ALL part of the journey, I can re-frame my so-called misery in a job, to something more positive and uplifting. I can live my joy now. I can be playful with my “now.” My intention is to immerse in joy and gratitude, rather than pain and misery. As a result, my path will unfold easily and more timely. Time flies when you’re having fun, right?

Here’s what I do with this “Living In The Meanwhile:”

Each day I fill my morning with a beautiful routine which has yet to be named, but is filled with magic and glory. I love this time because I’m by myself, enjoying the absolute miracle of life: the birds, the gardens, my pets, and my thoughts. I write down the things on my mind and what I’ve recently accomplished. This helps get anything irritating or distracting out of my mind and on paper. By acknowledging my accomplishments, I can bask in what I have done instead of focusing on everything that needs to be done. At this point, my mind is already starting to become happier and clearer. This is the point when I write about “Meanwhile.” I put down on paper all the reasons why this current situation is good, what it’s actually doing for me. For example, this morning I wrote “Meanwhile, I’m still paying my bills and living where I want and buying things I want.” How great is that? “Meanwhile, I’m building a strong business foundation.” See? By re-framing this situation, it’s no longer agony to come to work. I know I’m on my track I know what I want and where I’m going. I can trust in myself and the Divine that all is well and moving forward.

That’s when I move into writing my Gratitudes and Affirmations. I’ll write more on that another time. The message I want to give you is that “Living In The Meanwhile” is valuable and precious. It’s a time to store and re-store your power. Don’t let it out by living in misery. Know that you will need that power and energy later.

It’s like a squirrel that collects acorns for winter. Its work to go find the acorns, then they have to carry them to the storage place, dig a hole in the ground or climb a tree, and then they don’t even get to eat them yet. But, the day comes when they can turn to that storage spot and know they will not go hungry. When you’re living in the meanwhile, you’re storing your energy up for later when you can luxuriate in your accomplishments.

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Entrepreneur-Style
In order to have success in your business, you must be grounded with structure and practicality. This often means being disciplined and mindful with your time. Distractions can be the biggest barrier to your success. Too often when we work at home our friends and family perceive us to be “available” to their needs and wants. Or, if we’re working a job and a business, time becomes even more valuable and must be utilized to its optimum. You can create a schedule which will allow for efficiency and balance in your time.

Planning Really Does Help
I try to plan at least once a week. Sometimes I miss a week or two or three, but I always do best when I sit down for my weekly planning. When I do this, my life goes better, I get more done, and there’s an overall level of higher fulfillment. Sit down and plan your big vision and your upcoming week at least once a week. You’ll be amazed at how much it can change your life.

Focus = Timer
If you’re the type that gets distracted easily, or you can’t seem to start that project that seems overwhelming, then the timer is the secret for you. The timer can be your best friend. Simply set your timer for 5, 15, or 20 minutes and just start that task or project and solely focus on just IT for the duration. This will help you stay on task and keep you from being distracted because anybody can do anything for just 15 minutes.

Where the Rubber Hits The Road
Are you working IN your business or ON your business? When you’re working IN y our business, you’re actually spending time doing what you do. When you’re working on marketing, websites, planning, administrative, etc, you’re working ON your business. It’s best to use the 80/20 rule and spend 80% of your time IN your business and 20% of your time ON your business. While just starting a business, it’s usually flip-flopped, and that’s okay. Just make a deadline to switch the habit the other way around. Otherwise, you won’t be making the money. If you’re not making enough money, ask yourself how much time you spend on your genius work, the work that’s actually bringing in money – “face-to-face” work.

Importantly, if you take the time to plan your week and your year, including vacations, work days, product launches, services, etc. you’ll notice a lot more success coming into your life. Focus in and ground yourself to discipline when necessary. Take the time to enjoy your life and make miracles happen in your life. You have something very special to offer in this world. Use your genius work to make it happen.

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Would you like to use this article? You can! Please include the following paragraph at the end of this article, in its entirety:

This article was written by Lisa Hines, founder of Balance and Success, helping people move from job, laid-off, or retired into a successful home-based entrepreneur, turning their winning talents into money-making opportunities. You can subscribe to Balance and Success’ FREE Ezine at www.BalanceandSuccess.com.

Are You Addressing Their Pains?

You may have a great business idea and even know your target market really well. However, the biggest thing to consider is your niche, and if what you’re offering is needed/ wanted right now by your market. Are you really addressing the needs and the pains of what people want? Your answer will be the factor that decides if you’re going to attract a lot of people into your business. There is so much information out there and there are so many competitors. In order to stand out, you want to be authentic, unique, and really addressing the needs of the masses. How do you know what they need? Partly it’s based on the zeitgeist of the times, and the other part comes from your target market. You don’t want to launch a business which has no room, or no demand for what you’re offering. Are people really paying money for what you have? If so, who are those people? If not, what does your target market really want?

How to Get the Info You Need

One very simple way to find out what your target market really wants right now is simply to ASK. Before you ask your customer base or target market, really do some research on the best questions which will give you the answers you need. Open-ended questions vs. questions which have yes or no answers are the best for attracting more information. You can ask your friends, family, and mentors to give you feedback on refining your questions. Then, you can use venues to pose the questions, such as surveys or social networking sites, along with your primary method of contacting your target market. If you’re giving a presentation, use that opportunity to get some interaction with your audience by asking them. Get enough feedback from people so you can effectively determine the direction of your business. This is a dynamic process, and should never be complete.

Zeroing In

Once you have all your feedback and ideas collected, you can then tool and re-tool your business so you’re offering something which addresses the pains/needs of your target market. For example, I thought I might like to shift my Balance and Success Coaching business from Real Estate (very few Realtors were looking for a coach to be profitable) to a “green” coach and teach others how to live from the earth. I explored coaching organic gardening, green living, and self-sustainability for a couple months, given that it’s been a passion of mine for a long time. I have a lot to share in those areas. But, I realized that many people were getting laid-off from their jobs, or were having to find jobs which they were not happy in, or retired and needed extra money. Many people were focused on basic survival skills, and also wanted to create their own income by using their skills and knowledge. I recognized a great opportunity to share my business start up know-how, and teach others how they can have a successful business, even if they’re working a job right now; just as I have. I will still weave in my love for taking care of the earth, along with self and others. Once you can identify what people really want you can re-tool your services to address their pains by offering something very specifically and you’ll attract many more followers; just like a magnet.
You want to stay really focused here and not allow yourself to be all over the map. Don’t get distracted. There are plenty of ways to weave in your creativity to catering to their needs. You’re not giving up your authenticity or even your creative dream by doing this. You’ll attract them by addressing their needs, but you’ll keep them by delivering your authentic and unique content. Stay unique, be different, but address the general needs which your followers want.