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Month: June 2019


Recognize Business Burnout & Recover, before it’s too late.

Recognize Business Burnout
Whether you are an entrepreneur, online or off, a full-time employee building your career, or both, it typically means working more hours than you want, at the start of your new career, as you build your personal or business brand… but what if you’re still working all those extra hours, two, three, or more years later?

That’s when business burnout really strikes.

You’ve heard the term, I’m sure, many times. So, what exactly is it, and why does it happen?

Burnout is defined as physical and emotional exhaustion that takes all the joy out of your business and saps away your ability to be proactive and engaged. In that way, it lies dangerously parallel to depression. It can manifest any time in your career, whenever two conditions creep into your work life: Stress, and the feeling that your business is controlling you, rather than the other way round.

I’ve been there, it isn’t pretty and it is an easy spiral down that is very hard to climb out of. I do not want to see anyone go through it – ever.

The moment you have burnout creeping in, the stress you are already feeling tends to magnify. Warning signs include:Recognizing business burnout isn't easy, and we usually see it when it is too late. Download 21 Ways to Take Action and learn how to recognize business burnout sooner rather than later.

  • No longer feeling energized by working long hours
  • Frustration with your inability to accomplish tasks that were once easy
  • Not wanting to come to work (or sit down at your computer)
  • Feeling angry with yourself at not accomplishing more
  • Procrastination and avoidance behaviours
  • A decline in self-worth and self-esteem
  • Resenting clients and customers
  • Feeling overwhelmed
  • Feeling hopeless

Above all, burnout is characterized by physical and emotional exhaustion. It takes a toll on your family relationships, your health, and your business … and makes a mockery of your freedom-based purpose of going into business for yourself.

In the end, each entrepreneur’s ideal recipe for reducing stress and ending burnout is different. Be sure to download the 21 Ways to Take Action –  Recognize and Heal From Business Burnout.

Or take further action by signing up for my How to Recognize and Heal From Business Burnout, available in the classroom.  If you would like to learn more about the masterclass, take a peek at the course page, here.



Recognize and Heal From Business Burnout

Join us inside the TVS Workshop and share your experience with Business Burnout. Do you have some advice you can help others with? We’d love to hear it!

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How to talk to your family about working from home.

talk to your family about working from home

When you first realize the possibility of working from home, it’s normal to get super excited and believe everyone else will be excited for you. But often, the family isn’t as happy as you are, nor as trusting.

They think it’s just a pipe dream, or worse, a scam. They haven’t done the research you have so they do not realize the true possibilities and potential surrounding the idea of working from home.

I know, for me, it was not easy explaining my new business adventure to my family. My husband was very supportive but the rest of my family…. Let’s just say it took a long, long time for them to finally see the light.

Mom working on her laptop in her home while child plays on the couch beside her talk to your family about working from home

Below are a few things I learned along the way that helped me communicate with my family on my plans to work from home, I hope they can help you too.

Show them your research.

Your family cares about you so much that they simply want to protect you, therefore they want you to play it safe and get “a real job”. But, if you show them the research that you’ve done, they may quickly realize that you’ve done your homework and that you’re not making the decision lightly. That you are taking the steps you need to ensure you are not being scammed.

Show them examples of others doing it successfully.

More than likely, at this point you have a circle of influence that includes work-at-home success stories. Let your partner and family in on the fact by talking about how so-and-so is making x dollars and all from working from home. Explain what they do, and put the bug in their ear of the possibilities and potential. Now, be sure you are not using examples of people who are trying to sell you their program. Only tried and true stories, of people you have connected with and trust.

Write out a business plan.

If you know anything about me, you know how important I feel a business plan is, this reason is no exception. Banks want business plans to ensure that you’ve looked at all aspects of the business you plan to run. They want to see the numbers, and how you plan to make more money in the short term and the long term.

Your family will feel better seeing these numbers, too. Even if you don’t plan to get a loan or find investors for your business, showing those you love the plans you have made, down on paper, will impress them.

Transition slowly, timing is everything.

Success doesn’t happen overnight, neither will 100% support. Don’t expect everyone to be on board from day one, the idea takes time to sink in for some people. Mostly out of concern for you, but sometimes also from fear. People fear what they don’t understand and not everyone is entrepreneurial or likes taking what they see as risks.

Even though telecommuting has been around a while, it’s still rare enough that people are shocked to find out that their home shopping orders, or pizza orders, even travel plans are booked by someone working in their home office.

Show them the money!

If you’re not getting any place with discussion, you might want to start working a little bit extra to show them the money. Cuba Gooding Jr.’s character in the movie, Jerry Maguire, had it right.

People think differently about many things when they see the cash. If you have a spouse or family like that, you can work around their schedules doing something to earn money and then show them by paying for something fun, like a family vacation.

Explain about “Work” time.

You’re going to have to talk to your family, a lot, about work time. You might even have to with your spouse. There is no way you can work in chaos and constant interruption, no one can. You need a place you can work, and that people realize to leave you alone when you’re doing it. Just like if you had an office outside of the home.

You can use a sign on the door, timers, and other incentives to get everyone on board and obtain understanding. As for family that lives outside your home, just don’t answer the phone or door when you’re working. Everyone will get accustomed to it eventually.

Get your family involved.

As they start to get on board with the idea of your working from home, reward them by making them part of your business. You can hire family members and spouses on a contracting basis and pay them, and deduct it from your business taxes.

Plus, they will start making money too and that will make them really get on board. Children can file, spouses can sometimes do what you’re doing or offer technical help. Family can assist with errands, deliveries, pick-ups…the list goes on.

Keep the lines of communication open, always.

The most important aspect of talking to your family about working from home is to keep the lines of communication open at all times. You want to be honest with what is working and what is not working, and you’ll be surprised at how much your family is on your side with the goal of your working from home.

Family can sometimes be a hard sell, but it’s not because they don’t love you. It’s because they do love you. Sometimes it’s just because they don’t really understand the idea of what working at home means. This is especially true of an older individual, with them, you might want to let them see you working so they get it.

Now, I would love to hear from you! Are you struggling with getting your family on board with you working from home? Or you have any tips or ideas that might help others through this time of their career? Let us know in the comments or in the Studio Workshop Community on Facebook!

Women working together with their business coach, july


Women working together on a red couch with their business coach talk to your family about working from home

talk to your family about working from home

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7 Ways to Plan Your Rate Hikes – A TVS Business Program

7 Ways to Plan Your Rate Hikes
Raising your fees and prices is a topic that many entrepreneurs find stressful to think about. So, what do we do? We put it off.

Even if you are totally ready to go ahead and raise your rates, it’s a big step. Lurking at the back of your mind are thoughts like, “What if my clients say ‘no’?” or, “What if no one signs up for my mastermind group?”

This business course will help you eliminate groundless fears by showing you how to plan your rate hikes based on solid criteria that your market can happily afford.  I am so excited about this program that I am going to share step one of seven here on the blog!

7 Ways to Plan Your Rate Hikes

Step One: Reconnaissance

The first step is to know where your services and products fit in your market. This requires not only knowing your ideal client or customer but also your competition. While you are not going to base your rates on competition alone, it’s important to know where you fit in in your market – and especially where your current pricing sits in the marketplace.

Let’s take a look at some common scenarios:

  • You’re starving for clients. You check your competition and discover you’re asking almost double their rates.
  • You’re starving for clients. You check your competition and discover you are asking well below your competitors’ rates.
  • You’re swamped with clients, burned out, and stressed: They’re just too demanding. You check your competition and discover you are asking well below your competitors’ rates.
  • You’re charging a fair market rate compared to your competitors, but you just can’t make ends meet and you can’t possibly fit in another client.

Notice that in all these scenarios, a necessary step in identifying the problem is to check out your competitors’ rates and prices – as well as what they are offering.

There’s nothing wrong with doing reconnaissance to find out where you stand in relation to your competitors. Don’t do anything questionable, like asking your assistant to book discovery calls with them, don’t be shady. That will get you nowhere fast… But DO spend some time properly researching what they charge and identifying why.

First, let’s look at why the previous four common scenarios leave you cash-starved.
If you are:

Starving for clients and charging double your competitors’ rates…

  • You may not be providing double the value
  • You may not be presenting yourself as worth the extra dollars
  • You don’t have a strong-enough unique benefit or difference to offer

Starving for clients and charging well below your competitors’ rates…

  • You’re telling your competitors’ clients (and everyone else) you’re not worth much
  • You may not be visible enough
  • You may have mindset problems

Swamped with demanding clients who never seem to progress, and you’re asking well below your competitors’ rates…

  • You’re attracting the wrong clientele completely
  • You’re not respecting your own time, expertise and expenses
  • You may have mindset problems

Can’t make ends meet, even though you discover you’re charging a fair market rate and can’t fit in another client…

  • You’re investing too many resources into your service
  • You aren’t paying attention to your expenses
  • You’re doing too much one-on-one and not enough passive income

The last scenario is really the ideal one to be in! If you’ve actually got a waitlist and you’re swamped, but you’re having trouble making ends meet, you can pretty much write your own ticket and raise your rates straight away – but first, provide passive-income versions of your services, to train and prepare the clients on your waiting list how to be your ideal client, while helping them get there!

Ditto if your programs are the best they can be and you’re providing all the value you can provide, but you’re still turning people away. Raise your rates and skip ahead to Step Five.

But don’t worry if that’s not you: 
Raise Your Rates – 7 Ways to Plan Your Rate Hikes deals with other scenarios too. In fact, by the end of the session, you’ll have a good idea of exactly what is stopping you from raising your prices, and how to correct that.

So, take action, head over to the studio and get started on the program, and the remaining 6 steps, tonight!

Don’t forget to join us in the Studio Workshop and brainstorm with other entrepreneurs on hiking your rates!

7 Ways to Plan Your Rate Hikes Women working together on a red couch with their business coach 7 Ways to Plan Your Rate Hikes

7 Ways to Plan Your Rate Hikes

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