Inspiring Greatness: Michelle Phan

Michelle Phan
A decade after posting her first video on YouTube, Michelle Phan’s name is synonymous for influencer-turned-entrepreneur. I am super thrilled to add her to my Inspiring Greatness: Women who are changing the world! collection.

Michelle Phan is the first woman to build a $500 million company from a web series.

She is truly a woman that inspires greatness! She launched the beauty subscription company Ipsy at the age of 24! In June of this year, Michelle transformed her Youtube channel from the make tutorials it was known for to 24/7 Magic Hour Radio. Below read a snippet on how she speaks about her motivation to follow her passion and create a life her mom would be proud of.

I uploaded my first video in 2007. Social media wasn’t even called social media yet. It was a place where people would just go online and congregate and share ideas and videos and content. YouTube was just my creative outlet. I didn’t have sponsorship money, I didn’t have people giving me free products. I had to go out and buy my own makeup products.

I was very motivated at a young age to find a better life, for my mom’s sake. She wanted me to be a doctor, but I didn’t see myself in that future. I promised her that I would take care of her but I would still pursue what I loved.

Then I got this really amazing offer from a big beauty brand. When they told me how much money I was going to be making, it was so big – as much as a doctor would have made. The first person I wanted to tell was my mother. She’s the reason I work so hard, and she inspires me so much. I said, “What are you doing?” She said, “oh, I’m still at work, I’m doing someone’s pedicure.” I told her that it would be the last time she would ever have to do anyone’s pedicure and she won’t have to work the next day because I would take care of her. We both started crying It was a moment that I’ll never forget. I want more people to have moments like that.

To read about more amazing and inspirational women, head over to the Inspiring Greatness archives!

I would love to hear from you, who inspires you? Who do you feel is a woman who is changing our world? Let me know in the comments below or on the Studio’s Workshop Community.

How to turn a dream into a workable plan.

How to turn a dream into a workable plan
As a business mentor, it can be difficult to watch the lack of progress of so many promising entrepreneurs. They’ve dreamed for so long about creating a solid, sustainable business, and yet, all they do is dream.

You know the people I’m talking about. They attend conferences, sign up for free webinars, buy paid training, and sometimes even work with a coach or two. And yet week after week, month after month, year after year, they fail to make any progress toward their dreams.

Are they just lazy? No. It’s something worse. They don’t know how to move from a dream to a plan and they’re stuck.

It is my mission to get every single woman who is “stuck” in that phase of their business moving toward their dreams and accomplishing their goals. So, if this is where you are, here are a few tips that may help give you that gentle nudge.

Starting With the Long-Term

If you’ve ever been on a job interview and were asked, “Where do you want to be five years from now,” you might have thought it an odd question. But as a business owner, that might just be the most important consideration you can have.

Without knowing where you’re headed in the long term, it’s impossible to create a map to get there. You need to know what your destination is, so that every day, week, month, and year you can check your progress to be sure you’re still headed in the right direction.

Create Milestones

Once you know your ultimate destination, you can draft a plan for getting there, and create the interim goals that will help you stay on track.

For example, if in five years you want to be free to travel for 8 weeks every year, then you need to have a few pieces in place before that can happen:

Enough income to cover travel costs
Passive income to sustain your business while you’re not working
A staff who can manage the business while you’re away

With this list, you can then work backwards from your five-year goal, and create milestones along the way. If you know you’ll need to earn $150,000 annually in order to fund your travel plans, and right now you’re earning $60,000, then reasonable milestones might look like this:

Year 1: $70,000
Year 2: $85,000
Year 3: $105,000
Year 4: $125,000
Year 5: $150,000

With these milestones in place, it’s much easier to figure out exactly what you need to do to achieve them, by setting monthly, weekly, and daily goals.

Create Small Goals

If you have ever spoken to me, or read any of my articles on goal setting, this is given…If you say to someone, you need to move from $60,000 to $150,000 in five years, that’s a pretty overwhelming task. After all, it’s a $90,000 increase and most people will look at that and immediately dismiss it as impossible.

But when you break it down as I have above, and then again into smaller steps, it suddenly doesn’t look so daunting.

In the first year of the plan we have outlined here, your income needs to increase only by $10,000. That’s less than $1000 per month! Surely that’s easy enough to accomplish!
You can further break that down by week: $1000 per month is just $250 per week. If you sell just one more service package, big-ticket item, or five more of a $50 training program, you’ve already reached your milestone.

That might mean sending one more email to your list, or investing an additional $20 per month in Facebook ads, or perhaps reaching out to one more JV partner. The point is, reaching this much smaller goal is far easier than thinking about that five-year plan.

So what’s your big dream? How can you deconstruct it into achievable milestones, workable goals, and finally, daily and weekly tasks? Share in the comments below!

If you can do this (and you definitely can) then you can achieve anything in business and in life.

Download My Superstar Business Plan Template

If you don’t already havea business plan, download my Superstar Business Plan template. It is a step-by-step template on how to create an effective and simple plan for your new business, along with a few other great resources to turn your dream into a plan!

Why not join us inside the Studio Workshop and share your dream and tell us your plan!

How goal setting can help in the pursuit of happiness.

the pursuit of happiness
In your pursuit of happiness, you’ve likely focused on all of the obvious things – de-stressing and doing the things you enjoy. However, did you know that setting goals can also contribute to your happiness?

It doesn’t matter what type of goals you’re setting yourself, just the process of goal setting itself has its benefits. Keep reading to discover why goal setting can help in your pursuit of happiness.

Writing Down Goals Helps you Visualize a Better Future

One of the reasons goal setting can help to boost happiness is because it forces you to think of your future in a positive way. Visualizing what you want and how your perfect life looks, will automatically make you feel happier.

It’s short-term happiness, but it does help to get you started in terms of thinking more positively. If you’re stuck in a rut for example, and you’re creating goals to help you out of it, you’re going to find it great to visualize how your life is going to be once you’ve overcome your current situation.

They Help You See the Progress You’re Making

Of course, it’s not just the setting of the goals which you’ll be focusing on. You’ll also be working towards them, ticking your short-term goals off the list as you go along. This allows you to see consistent progress.

As you see that you’re getting nearer to your goals, it can have a wonderful effect on your happiness. Often, the reason we give in to negative thinking is that we don’t see anything changing. With goal setting, you get to actually see how things are changing and celebrate your progress.

Why it’s Important to Set Goals to Help Others

While personal goals are no doubt important, it’s also important to set goals to help other people. Setting a goal to make somebody smile that day, for example, will really help to boost how you feel.

Studies have been carried out over the years, which have shown those who set goals to help others, are generally happier than those focusing solely on personal goals. So, don’t forget to focus on making others happy too.

Overall, goal setting can really help in the pursuit of happiness. It keeps you focused and helps you actually achieve the things you want in life. Whether it’s relationship goals, financial goals or career goals – they’ll all help you to become a happier, more successful person.

I would also like to mention that a little TPOH goes a LONG way on a long day, so – why not hit play and listen to their album below, while checking out these goal setting tips.

P.S. Join us inside the Studio Workshop Community and share your goals! We’d love to hear them and support you on your journey to happiness.

the pursuit of happiness

Questions to Ask Before Launching Your Business

Questions to Ask Before Launching Your Business
If you have decided to launch a business, you have made a very courageous choice. There are many things you need to know before launching a new business. There is inventory to take into consideration, initial start-up cost and upkeep, hiring employees, sales, marketing…the list goes on extensively.

But first-things-first; answer these three critical questions before jumping in.

Are you doing this for the right reasons?

Sometimes an individual or a group of individuals will launch a business because they think it is expected of them or because it is a family tradition to do so. Other reasons are merely for monetary benefits. With high hopes and goals of only making tons of money, sometimes a new entrepreneur may lose sight of his or her customer.

Once you examine your motives behind starting up, go on to the next important question. Once you know what type of business you want to begin, ask yourself who your target audience is. Knowing that you want to create a business and knowing what that business is will simply not be enough. You need to know who your target audience is and who your ideal customer is.

Honing in on a target audience is something that you can delve into even deeper by creating a specific niche and then going on to create a sub-niche. In this manner, you will be certain that you have focused on a specific need for an even more specific customer.

Have you thoroughly researched your action plan?

Setting goals and measuring them is essential when launching a new business. Put a plan into motion, but allow yourself the flexibility to expand on that original plan. Ask yourself if your business plan is too narrow-minded or if it will achieve the desired outcome you seek and go beyond even that.

Make sure you research if there is enough demand for the product or service you are offering or if you will be just another company offering the same old thing. Ask yourself if you can put a new innovative twist onto something tried and true.

Do you have the time? If not, will you make time?

Ask yourself how much time you are willing to dedicate to this business. What if this business is something that you will find success with right away? Are you willing and able to put the time and trouble in if it does become successful right away?

Also, think about whether or not this is a part-time business or a full-time endeavour. Do you have enough funds to last for six months to a year until your business becomes steady enough to stand on its own two feet?

Once you can answer these critical questions, you can be well on your way to having a successful business endeavour.

Get started on your business with these free resources from inside The Virtual Studio.

Be sure to join us inside the TVS Workshop and share your expertise!

Questions to Ask Before Launching Your Business

3 Easy Steps to Creating Your First Product

For new entrepreneurs, in nearly any field, product creation is the best way to:

• Reach a wider audience
• Grow your brand
• Earn more profits

So why aren’t more adopting the product creation strategy? Like I was, they’re most likely stuck in the process, unsure of the steps to take to create a great product.

Step 1: Identify a Need

As a business owner, you already have great insight into the wants and needs of your ideal client. You chat with her on Facebook, answer her email questions, respond to the comments she leaves on your blog, you may even work with her one-on-one.
What is it she needs the most help with right now? This is the product you should be creating because you already know you have a built-in audience and there is a good chance she is not the only one out there that needs it.

Step 2: Gather Your Documentation

If you’ve been in business for more than a few weeks, chances are you already have all of the answers required—all you have to do it organize them. Some places to look for content you can re-purpose include:

Your blog
Emails, even your auto-responder
Previous client calls and experiences
Your social media accounts
YouTube channel
Your checklists and worksheets

All of these things (and many more) can be edited and organized into a comprehensive product that solves a serious issue and you can do it in less time than you might think. After all, you already have the bulk of the work done!

Step 3: Create the Solution

Now that you have your content, it’s time to put it together in a way that will make sense to your audience.

Will you…

Write a Kindle book? This is an excellent option for solving a very focused, single problem. Even better, Kindle books offer a fabulous opportunity to reach a wider audience.
Create a membership site? For a comprehensive, step-by-step course, you can’t beat the flexibility of a membership site.
Offer a group programs? Add personal time with you to your membership site and you’ve got an instant group program. Not only that but you’ve dramatically upped the value (and cost) as well.

[Tweet “”Nike doesn’t want to make products for everyone – they want to make products for champions.” Simon Sinek”]

Your choice will depend largely on the scope of the solution. Is it a simple answer that can be explained in a few pages or is it a complex issue that requires several weeks of work?

Remember, creating a product doesn’t have to be complicated or time-consuming. Sure, you can design a massive, all-inclusive course if you like, but when you’re just getting started, that’s a daunting prospect. Instead, work with what you already have and you’ll have your first product up and selling in no time.

Do You Have a Business or a Hobby?

Do You Have a Business or a Hobby
I see it all the time, someone has made the decision to start their own business, so they build a website, start selling their product, and jump right in! It is excellent, it is brave, it isn’t always the right thing. Online business owners can easily “open their doors for business” without a firm business plan in place. Some may test the waters to see if they attract any clients and some start out doing this online work as a side gig while working their full-time job.

If this is how you opened your business and now you are in elbows deep, are you able to tell if you have a business or if it is still just a hobby?

My first business started as a hobby, I loved taking photos of my kids. A hobby traditionally is an activity that pleases you and you do in your spare time. A business, on the other hand, provides a service or products to clients, has business hours, and strives to make a profit.

Do You Have a Business or a Hobby A woman's suitcase packed with a camera and a laptop ready to blog about her travels, and the quote " Every creative person's dream is a hobby they're lucky enough to get paid for." Do You Have a Business or a Hobby

Here are some questions to ask yourself to determine if you are working a business or a hobby:

Do you have firm business hours or are you working sporadic hours as your family or full-time job allows?
Do you make the most of your business hours or work time, working as efficiently as possible, or do you get distracted by social media or other behind-the-scenes tasks?
Do you have a business plan, even for one year, which includes expected profits?
Do you make opportunities happen or do you wait for them to come to you?
Do you withdraw every penny from your account after clients pay or do you give yourself a pay structure and reinvest some of your profits into software, training, or other business expenses?

If you were unsure before, you should have an idea now about if your business is indeed a business.

Hire a Business Coach to Guide You

You don’t need a business degree to start a business; sometimes a unique product idea or a strong desire to offer services is enough to get started. Hiring a business coach or mentor will be helpful. They will assist you in setting up your company to grow and generate profits. You don’t know what you don’t know. Without a business coach, you will make a lot of trial and error mistakes, some of which could cost you substantial amounts of money. I know this from experience. Instead of closing your eyes and hoping for the best, work with a coach to create a business plan. They will help guide you through the next steps. A good coach will be able to help you and provide tried and true business advice and strategies.

Also, your business coach will also serve as your accountability partner. Someone who wants to hear from you about your progress and who will call you out when you don’t do as you promised. Often knowing someone is expecting results is enough to spur people into action because they don’t want to let down the coach.

If you’re ready to work with a business coach and ready to turn that hobby into a business, I’ve got some openings in my calendar for new clients so reach out to me to book your discovery call.

Do You Have a Business or a Hobby

Inspiring Greatness: Cindy Sherman.

Cindy Sherman is the first woman to break $1 million in a photography sale. She studied painting before she became a photographer and is known for her conceptual and chameleon-like self-portraits.

Below read a snippet on how she speaks on her budding career as a female artist in Time Magazine’s FIRSTS Women Who Are Changing The World.

I never felt pigeonholed as a child in terms of my potential. But I did feel that I’d probably be expected to settle down and get married and have kids at some point. I definitely remember from all the old movies and TV shows from the time, like The Donna Reed Show and Leave It to Beaver, all these women that were portrayed as these perfect moms. I never really saw myself as that. I never imagined myself getting married, I never imagined myself in a bridal gown, and I really never imagined myself having kids – and I never did.

In an issue of LIFE magazine, I saw Lynda Benglis as a young artist throwing paint on her floor. I don’t know how old she was then. I was probably in high school, but it was the first time it dawned on me that a woman could be an artist.

When my career got started in the ’70s, I did feel like I was being taken seriously. I didn’t really notice any kind of difference between men and women artists until I would say the early ’80s, when specific men started to become very successful. Even though I was critically successful, it was definitely a big distinction between what their work sold for and what my work sold for.

As I evolved in the ’70s, I think I took for granted what the first wave of feminist artists had to go through. I never felt like an activist because I didn’t experience that kind of fighting., It’s not like I would say I’m not a feminist, I just couldn’t quite identify with those women. Of course we’re all feminists, right? We all want women to be seen as equals. I am shy and not a person who can debate and take on critical political talk. But at the same issues definitely piss me off and show up in my work, and I definitely have always used my work as a forum to address a lot of things that I can’t say, that I can’t articulate.

Cindy Sherman, American photographer and film director.

Tell me, who inspires you? Share below in the comment section or join the conversation in the Facebook group.

3 Surefire Ways to Create In-Demand Products and Services

If there’s one thing that holds promising entrepreneurs back from launching their business, it’s this: a lack of confidence in their products. Sure, you think that new product or workshop is a great idea, but how do you know it will sell?

Imagine spending weeks or even months of time—plus the cost of document design, video editing and all the other pieces that go along with it—only to discover it’s not what your audience wants or needs. How frustrating would that be?

You don’t have to leave it to chance, though. There are plenty of ways to test your idea before spending the time and energy on a full launch.

1. Ask

This is the simplest way to get a feel for what your market needs and wants. Simply ask them. Create a survey with Survey Monkey (or even a Google form) and send it out to your mailing list. For best results, keep it short, but do ask:

What they’re struggling with?
What problems are these struggles causing in their life?
How would their life be different if they had [insert your product or service here]?
What do they feel your product or service is worth (what would they pay)?

These four pieces will tell you everything you need to know to create a product or program that’s practically guaranteed to sell.

2. Listen

If you have a community (or are part of one) that is full of your ideal clients, pay attention to what they’re asking about the most. These are the things they need help with. For example, if you’re a business coach and your Facebook group is filled with questions about running Facebook ads, then clearly there is a need for some training in that area.

3. Know

Hopefully, you have a list of competitors and you’re reading their blogs and emails, joining in their Facebook groups and getting to know them. Network and build relationships with them, this is a great way to gain insight into what is out there—not to copy them but to discover what’s hot in your industry right now.

Creating products in a vacuum is a great way to waste a lot of time and money on programs that won’t sell. Instead, pay attention to what your market is asking for, find out what they’re willing to pay, and delve into your competition’s offers. The information you gain from these three activities alone will give you incredible insight. Not just into your market but what they want and need, making it easy to create your own hot-selling products.

Now you know what to creat, take a peek at 3 Proven ways to Market Your New Business to help promote your new product!

Define your own success. If I can, so can you.

Are you able to define your own success? For the longest time, I wasn’t. I am talking years, of feeling that I was not successful. Even though my business was booking 50+ weddings a year, family portraits, commercial work, corporate events… the list goes on and on. I was shooting as often as I wanted, editing and providing product and value to my clients. Every. Single. Day.

Yet, in my head, I was not successful. I could not put my finger on why I felt that way, I was doing what I loved and loved doing it! It wasn’t until I burned out that I realized what it was. I didn’t have anything to measure my success with. I had goals, yes but they were broad, vague and seemed to always be in the distant future.

At my wit’s end, I sat down and decided it was time to define what success meant to me, not to everyone else. I mean, specific goals aside, what EXACTLY did it mean?

So, I did what any reasonable person looking for answers did. I googled it.
What did I find? I learned the definition of success is:

‘the accomplishment of an aim or purpose’

That sure hit me like a hammer! I looked at my monitor and said, out loud, “So setting a goal and accomplishing it is the meaning of success? No, too easy!” I had to dig deep to define my version of success. Getting it in my head that it is not what my family and friends think or even my industry collogues or leaders think, but MY definition of success. It was vital that I stopped comparing myself to others in the industry and realize their success has no bearing on my own.

I took a few days to reflect and truly work out precisely what it is I needed to feel fulfilled and know what success meant to me. I realized I wanted to spend as much time with my family as possible. As well as continue to build my businesses and inspiring other women, like me, to follow their path. I needed to know that I was making a positive impact on the business world and genuinely making a difference. Finally, I wanted to be able to go to Starbucks or out for dinner whenever I felt like it without needing to see if I could afford it and have a Broadway Across Canada subscription. Very clear, very specific and very attainable.

So now, I work from home running two businesses, I help hundreds of women run their businesses and have the freedom to enjoy that latte whenever I want AND I have my subscription! Les Misérables in July! BAM!

For me, that’s success. For others, maybe not.

I guess what I am trying to say is, I changed my perspective on success and you can too. By no longer viewing what was perceived as success through the “glazed over” look of thinking I needed more, I was able to dig deep within myself and figure out what success meant for me. Which made it that much easier to achieve.

To help you out, if you haven’t already, download the free 2018 goal setting workbook, define your success, set and accomplish your goals!

Now I’d love to hear from you. How will you define success for yourself? Let me know below in the comments or visit V-Net and share with a community of women in business, like you.

Inspiring life quotes from Star Wars…transfered

It is May 4…

Happy Star Wars Day!

I came across this amazing infographic on GeekTyrant, who got it from Distractify.com and I had to share it with you because I just love it!

My personal favourite is:
[Tweet “”Your focus determines your reality.” Qui-Gon Jinn”]

Take a peek, get inspired then go out to the universe and make a difference!

Now, I want to hear from you!
Tell me below, what is your favourite Star Wars quote and why?

May the Force be with you!