Success in Business, Effective High Performance in Business, Remove blocks, Make Money, Get Ahead, Be Your Best

FEATURED ARTICLE:

The Struggle of a Creative Businessperson

A Creative Businessperson is a crossbreed. You’re part artist and part moneymaker.

As an artist, you are driven to express your authenticity. To do that, every artist necessarily opens him or herself up… to feel.

Moneymaking, on the other hand, is all about being a pragmatist, a strategist and a go-getter. There’s not much room for emotions except perhaps that of motivation.

An artist goes inward; a pragmatist shoots outward. An artist pays attention to his or her reactions and feelings, and finds ways to deliver them; a pragmatist figures out what the market wants and supplies it.

Somewhere between the artist and the pragmatist, conflicts invariably arise. At the center, it’s an epic battle between your emotional self and your utilitarian self.

The selves are two opposing archetypes, giant stonemason statues pillaring two ends of the human experience. Neither side budges. And neither side alone is enough for the successful expression of you and your business…

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Can’t Keep Up? 5 Steps to Simplify Your Work/Life Balance

I had the a really fun time writing an article for Karen Gunton over at Build a Little Biz. She has a great sense of humor and an awesome website that aims at helping entrepreneurs, particularly mompreneurs.

So what better to contribute but the thing that moms need the most: TIME. The article was well received and I promise you, the steps work well for everyone.

So have a read:

Can’t Keep Up? 5 Steps to Simplify Your Work/Life Balance

And don’t forget to trotting around Karen’s site. You’ll find TONS of great information especially if you are an entrepreneur.

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The Minimalist Guide to Staying on Track with Your Goals

I had the fantastic pleasure of writing a rather extensive piece on how to stay on track with your goals for my dear friend Joyce M Washington, the owner of The Common Cents, an accounting service for entrepreneurs. She’s kind of a rebel herself when she talks about the prevailing accounting practices:

“Just because that’s the way it’s always been done doesn’t mean that’s the ‘right’ way for everyone, for every business. One size does not fit all… every business is as unique as their founder/owner.”

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Discover the Most Coveted Secret to Your Success

Adele can be fat. Obama can be black and have a Muslim name. Madonna can sell her sex. Monks can eat meat. My name can start with an X!

I have been giving this bio forever: My name is Xin Gu. It’s pronounced SHIN. I am Chinese. I came here when I was 12. I’ve been in the US for 21 years now.

It never ceases to surprise me when people ask why I didn’t change my name to something more Americano. Why? Because my mother didn’t see anything wrong with my name, so Xin it was.

Just today, I got a message from this girl on a forum I belong to. She goes on about how she Anglicized her name, and how that was so great for her business. In a backhanded way, she suggested that I’d consider it too.

Look, I know she meant well, and I understand her points about conformity yaddi yadda (sorry for the uber sophisticated English here).

I’m not going to judge how anyone chooses to live their life. It’s not my job. Even when I coach people, it’s about finding out what works for them, not necessarily I would do.

As far as I’m concerned, it’s all about AUTHENTICITY. It allows you to be the BEST of who you are. So what I’m saying is: give yourself and others the permission to simply be.

To borrow the urban prose from Jay-Z:

No matter where you go, you are what you are player
And you can try to change, but that’s just the top layer
Man, you was who you was ‘fore you got here

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How To Stay On Task Even if You Get Distracted?

One of the hardest things to do is to stay focused when you have a ton of tasks competing for your attention. We all experience this from time to time, though this plight hits creative folks and entrepreneurs a bit harder.

Why? Because this is the same brain process that facilitates the creative process. To dream something up is all about lateral thinking, making seemingly odd associations and brainstorming. In other words, it’s about keeping options open.

Flip the coin, and suddenly you run into a big problem: how do you use the same brain that likes to jump around to actually carry out tasks?

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Why I Know What You’re Thinking Right Now?

So one of the things I tout in my biz is I can dissect your blocks very quickly. People think it’s quite amazing that I have that ability. It’s actually something you can train yourself to do too. It’s just a matter of really listening.

I’ll give you an example. Last night I was in the weight room at my gym. Two guys started talking to each other within my earshot. They were quite loud to my dismay. That also meant, I had to hear what one of the guys said, “So did you find any hot chicks on New Years Eve? Did you find your future ex-wife?”

My immediate reaction was, “What happened to the neighborhood? Is my rent going to drop now?” Next, I could hear a few things about the loudmouth.

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How to Flash the Trump Card that Lets You Win at Life

There are books out there about success, products out there promising happiness. In my humble opinion, there is a much more direct route to obtaining all these good stuff in life by going deeper.

You see, I’m a bang-for-your-buck kinda gal. In my model of the world, efficiency comes high on the list. If I were to spend time on something, I want RESULTS. For you biz whiz, I’m talking about maximum ROI (Return on Investment). I am downright greedy when it comes to time and effort I need to expend.

My M.O. is “Let’s get get it done and move on.” That’s what I do with myself and that’s what I do in my coaching practice. So one of the first questions I ask all my potential clients is simply:

If you can do one thing to ensure success and happiness, would you do it?

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