I love watching the Olympics. It’s the personal stories I love the most. These are people, from all walks of life, from all over the world, who have a dream and let nothing hold them back from striving for that dream.

What can we learn about business from this? First of all, if you have a dream, the only thing preventing that dream from becoming reality is YOU! Granted, not all those althetes at the Olympics will win a medal. BUT THEY’RE THERE! And, you know what? Even those who were NOT there, who didn’t make it, will always be glad they at least tried. No one ever looks back at their life and say, ‘oh, I wish I hadn’t tried for that dream’.

So, if you imagine starting a business, OR you have been considering taking your current business to the next step, ask yourself this question: What is the worst that can happen? Sure, you might fail, but you might succeed, too! And, when you are looking back at your life, years from now, it will at least not be something you look back at with regret. Plus, chances are VERY good that, if you believe you can make it happen, you WILL make it happen!
Margie

I watched an interesting little snippet from Neil Cavuto on Fox News the other day, and he made a comment that has stuck with me. He said everyone keeps saying how scary these times are, because people are struggling. It made sense; we all keep hearing, ‘oh, the economy is so bad right now…’

HOWEVER, he then said what perked my ears up: He said that when he asks people how THEY are doing, they all say, ‘oh, *I’M* doing fine!’

Wow! Now, granted, business for SOME people is slow, but what I am seeing is a growth in my own business, and one of the main complaints new clients have is they have TOO MUCH business and don’t know how to handle it! How is THAT a slowing of the economy, I’d like to know?

Here are a couple mistakes people make:
1- Even though not all businesses are struggling, when the economy is uncertain, a good strategy is to hold onto cash. So, make sure you have something put away for a rainy day. Don’t add more debt by buying things on time right now. Either pay cash or wait.

2 – Many service professionals are either taking part-time jobs or taking clients they don’t really want, out of fear. What this does is tie up their time and energy, leading to less ability to make money doing what they like. Plus, if you charge $X amount per hour for your services and you have just accepted a part-time job for <<$/hour, you are actually losing money! And when that perfect opportunity comes along, you won’t be able to take advantage of it, because you’re busy working for someone else doing what you REALLY don’t want to be doing, anyway!

As a life coach, I believe that we must focus on the things we want, not the things we do NOT want or are afraid of. The reason is because we will attract what we think about. So, if we think about our ideal clients swarming to us in droves, that’s what will happen! But if you worry about the bills, how you will stay in business, how you will make this happen, guess what? You won’t be able to pay the bills, stay in business and make it all happen!

So, although when we listen to the financial news lately, we have to come back and ask ourselves, ‘how am *I* doing?’ If there’s still room for growth, instead of worrying about things, put your plan together for how you will ACHIEVE that growth!

Margie