Tuesday, November 27, 2007

7 Small Business and Self Employed Law of Attraction Principles For Success

It is widely held that one of the most important ingredients in small business success is perseverance. Deciding on a strategy and sticking with it. I would agree but you need to be clear that the strategy is in alignment with your passion in business and your natural action and communication styles. It's also helpful to have effective strategies to follow through on what you set as your priorities, goals, plans, calls to action... and other components of your daily business activities. These principals will give you ideas to be effective when working on your business; so you can be persistent, passionate and productive in your small business.

1. Passion- you just can't have a thriving business without it. Being passionate and believing in what you do creates clarity, enthusiasm and focus. It will spark ideas for new products and services, it will come through in all of your marketing pieces, and it will help you keep going when you hit the occasional rough patch. Your passion will inspire your customers, employees, subcontractors, suppliers and colleagues to connect with their passion and give you 100% when you work together.

2. Law of Attraction-what you focus on with your thoughts and feelings becomes your point of attraction and creates the outcomes you bring into your business. You can get into alignment with the law of attraction by having what you say you want, what you think about what you want, and how you feel about having what you want all be congruent with each other. This reflects in every aspect of your small business so it's important to recognize if your predominate thoughts are of lack, resistance, and struggle, or of possibility, opportunities, and forward momentum.

3. Attraction Marketing in action- This is where you combine the principals of the Law of Attraction with some traditional business tools. What you get is a shift in perspective from finding business to attracting business. You do this by getting clear on what is important to you, how you want to be of service, and what success on your terms would look like. You start with the end in mind and this big picture view will give way to inspired actions that you can follow through on to make you very effective, productive, and attractive in all of your business activities. Instead of making one sale you are connecting with a perfect customer and creating a customer for life.
Tip! The Language of Attraction- is about our choice of language with others and especially with ourselves. It doesn't matter whether the communication is verbal, written or just a thought the quality of our language will effect the quality of our results.

4. Natural Action styles- Everyone has a natural action style that gives them powerful results when they honor it. Some people are Decisive: they gather information weigh the important factors for them and then make a decision. Some are Inspirational: the can see the big picture and create the steps to get there. Some are Conservative they look at what they are currently doing and look for ways to improve it or to build on existing structures that others have created. Some are Selective they like to take time to do research, try things a little at a time and then move forward. Within these four main action styles how people gather and process information will differ. All of the natural action styles have preferences about list making or brain storming, visual cues or verbal cues... You can explore this a bit more on your own by writing down your answers to these questions. In what forms do you like to take action? Do you like to make lists, brainstorm, free associate... do you read or listen for inspiration. If you are not sure of this; reverse the question in what forms do you dislike taking action? This will get you started and your natural action style will become clearer.
Tip! I understand and accept that Law of Attraction is a process. It is a process of gradually reducing the negative vibrational patterns I have towards some areas in my life and replacing them with positive thoughts.

5. The Language of Attraction- is about our choice of language with others and especially with ourselves. It doesn't matter whether the communication is verbal, written or just a thought the quality of our language will effect the quality of our results. When you begin to put this strategy into action you will want to start with your choice of language. Being conscious of the language you choose means you stop stuff from falling out of your mouth or your thoughts without realizing what you are saying. An example: I need to find more people to buy our products we're not doing well. Using the language of attraction you might say, I am thrilled with the customers we have, revenue is coming in and I want inspired actions to help me increase the number of perfect clients I have and increase the volume of profits flowing in. Its subtle I know. But the main difference is that you are acknowledging and appreciating the customers you have that are flowing money into your business, you are standing in the space of appreciating what is working in your business and this will allow you to attract more ideas, tools, resources, referral sources to bring in even more revenue. It's like compounding interest, the more you appreciate what is the more your business grows. And the sooner you start the sooner you feel things flowing.
Tip! Choosing Free Will- Free will is about choosing to open your connection to Source or to pinch yourself off and be resistant to the brilliance of who you are. The simplest answer to “How” you accomplish success is to say “Yes” to Source and allow the Law of Attraction to work with great abandon.

6. The Myth of Procrastination- Procrastination is not something to blow through or move past, it is a message from your self to pay closer attention to what you are doing. There are two reasons procrastination shows up. 1. Because you are not in alignment with what you are trying to do. Or 2. You are not honoring your natural action style with the actions you are taking. An example for #1: You are trying to create a website by yourself, because you think it will save you some money but you can't ever seem to get it accomplished. One key component in your natural action style is focus on your strengths and move forward once you have made a decision. In this case getting clear on what business you are in will help you move forward immediately. Hire a web master to do what they do best and get your website up attracting more clients for what you do best. Honoring your natural action style will show you trying to do both is false economy and not attracting the success you want.
Tip! The Law of Attraction teaches us that everything vibrates and every vibration affects all other vibrations. I like the way Abraham-Hicks put it: 'Everything vibrates and is communicating, reacting, responding and integrating with other vibrating things.

An example of #2: You are working on writing a book, you are passionate about the subject, and very interested in getting the project finished and out to your audience to build sales and credibility but you just can't seem to make any progress. One key component in your natural action style is to listen for inspiration and to create word pictures with the language you use. In this case recording your thoughts on tape and transcribing them or starting with an audio version of the material you want to create will honor your natural action style and allow you to move forward. Once the resistance is gone you can build on your momentum.

7. Fun- Is your business giving you the profits and fulfillment you envisioned it would? Do you wake up in the morning excited with the prospect of what the day will bring and the passion you have for your business? When you think about your customers and clients does a big smile spread across your whole being? It is time to put fun back into your life and your business. Isn't that one of the reasons you started your own business in the first place? Using the principals above will help, investing in yourself and your vision of success will make it happen.

~~~ Resource Box

©BZ Riger-Hull. Powerful solutions for Small Business owners, Self Employed Women, Professional Women in midlife… so you can THRIVE in your Business, Bottom Line & Life. Free Teleclasses for small business and self-employed success, monthly Answers & Resource call for attraction marketing. Visit http://www.allowingprosperity.com She is a certified Strategic Attraction Coach, Prosperity Guide, and Author of The Soul of Success. mailto:BZ@allowingprosperity.com

Networking And Attraction

I meet a lot of different people both socially and professionally. Being self -employed, I'm at many business mixers and networking events. Whether for professional reasons or casual conversation, the question "What do you do?" comes up. The answer is usually your 30-60 second elevator speech... Hi, My name is .... I work for/my company is ..... I help people.......Sometimes the response goes on for more than 60 seconds.

Last week I was at a mixer and was called over by a colleague to meet a gentleman to whom she was speaking. With my name tag on, I walked over and extended my hand. Next - the question " So what do you do?" I have several short responses that invite questions if people want to know more. He didn't. My turn came up to ask him the same question. After learning about his profession (financial services) in about 6O seconds, I asked him a question to learn more about who he was. His answer was to tell me about how good he was at his job, how happy his clients were with his services and so on for 10 -15 minutes. I stopped hearing him after the first few minutes as I looked for a polite way to excuse myself. Know what I mean? During the entire conversation he never asked me anything that showed any curiosity in knowing who I am. It felt more like listening to an advertisement instead of having a conversation. It was all about HIM! Then he gave me his card, asked for referrals and said he'd get in touch with me. It was a total turnoff. Sound familiar?

Here's my 64 cents. People like to be talked to not talked at. If your focus in networking is only to get clients to build YOUR business, that's what people will pick up. That may work with some people. Remember, the first thing people buy is you not your product or service.

Have you met people who have shown a genuine interest in you/your needs? What was that like? Did you feel a connection or want to affiliate with them? Would they have been people you would want as friends? And if that person had a service or product something you needed, would you want to buy from them? If your intent is to forge strategic alliances and build relationships with people, take a look at the way you're coming across and the agenda (expectations, desired results) you bring in meeting people in any situation. Creating connections naturally opens the door to referrals. If you knew of someone great who would be of help to folks in your life, would you keep that person a secret? This is Attraction not a technique to be more effective in business.
Tip! An Enjoyable Personality- If your leadership flows with the Law of Attraction this will be very easy for you. Because your focus will be on possibility not problems, abundance not lack, intention not expectations.

Three Attraction Tips:

-- Be real - be yourself with people. * If you don't know who you are or how to be real, contact me. I'll help you figure that out!

-- Be genuinely curious in learning about people in casual or business situations. Listen for how many times you make "I" statements to draw the focus consistently back to you. Good conversations have a back and forth flow vs. being a captive audience.

-- Really listen by staying present to what's being said. Practice active listening. Asking question that refer to people's comments invites conversation.

Three Networking Tips:

1. Only offer your card when someone asks for it. Ask for their card if you want it.

2. If you want to give your card but haven't been asked - you can say " May I give you my card?"

3. When given a card, hold it in both hands and say something about the card ( I like the color, very striking) before putting it in your pocket or purse.

-- If you meet someone you'd like to know better, invite them for coffee!

Last comment.....I'm a big believer in forging relationships and building a community of support. You can quote me - "What we can do alone is nothing compared to what we can do together" - Lorraine Cohen

Copyright 2004, Lorraine Cohen

Lorraine Cohen of Powerfull Living (http://www.powerfull-living.biz) is a Business Coach and Life Strategist and Team Member of Solo-E (http://www.Solo-E.com). Lorraine Cohen is a Business Coach & Life Strategist who brings more than 25 years of experience in life coaching, counseling, and sales. She helps people through career change, life transitions, and the process of breaking through FEAR and removing barriers to success.
Tip! The habit of Going beyond Expectations- Going beyond what you are paid to do, what is expected of you or what you want for yourself will be effortless because all of your actions will be inspired actions. The ideas, creativity, solutions and opportunities will just flow because the Law of Attraction is like a big photocopier; it brings you more of what you set out.

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