When I work with clients, I push them to determine who their ideal clients are and identify what it is about them that makes them unique. This is all part of branding.

In an article that John Quelch wrote (How Michael Jackson Became a Brand Idol Icon) he addresses branding.

Once you figure out who you are and who you want to attract, you then have to ’show up’! Michael is not the only person who did this well: Madonna is another example of this.  She was also good at another strategy, reinventing herself.

Now, you may not aspire to the fame that Michael Jackson (or Madonna) have had. And I doubt you want to achieve one of John’s other factors that helped Michael build his brand (die young), but I do challenge you to look at what lessons you CAN take from his article, today! Let us know what you come up with!

Margie

We have lost a lot of well-known people in the last few weeks. Although death is part of life, those of us who are left behind are the ones who grieve.

It makes me realize, again, just how short life is, AND that you never know when your days may end.

Since we’ve been discussing controling ‘white space’ and what we do with our time, let’s address these deaths from that perspective.

What are you not doing right now that could a) help you enjoy life more, and b) help you grow your business in the most time-efficient and productive way?

Many of my clients actually struggle with these two issues all the time! Heck, don’t we ALL?

Let’s first look at how to enjoy life more.

One of the first things I did when I finished school in March is start gathering up friends to hike with. If I don’t have more ‘free’ time, I have to MAKE more free time! It’s not going to drop into my lap. This means making free time a priority.

The question to ask is this: When you look back at your life, (let’s say you’re in heaven, looking down at the ‘movie’ of your life) will you wish you had done more or less ‘fun’ things?

Hm; yea, a leading question, and if you say you probably would wish you had done LESS fun things, then perhaps we should talk…

Second, let’s look at how you can grow your business in the most time-efficient and productive way.

Do you have your marketing plan in place? Where do your ideal clients hang out? Do you even KNOW who your ideal clients are? What are their issues, their pains? Why would they come to you instead of someone else?

These are some of the main questions you need to address. Only when you have these answers can you develop a comprehensive and effective marketing plan. And the marketing plan spells out the most time-efficient and productive way you will grow your business!

As a life coach who works with health and fitness professionals who wish to start or grow the business of their dreams, we address each of these issues all the time.

Where are you? I challenge you to get control of these two aspects as soon as possible. Although we sometimes live life as part of a destination, it’s actually a journey, and where you are is in RIGHT NOW! Don’t live for tomorrow. As these last weeks have shown us with the people we have lost, we may not HAVE tomorrow!

If you need help with any of this, call or email me about my coaching services. Come visit my website, MEG Enterprises, or check out my book, Just Jump.  Be in control of your destiny!

Margie

I received quite a few comments after last week’s post about adding white space to my life, so I know many of us all struggle with the same challenges.

Just today I read a great article by Nour El-Zibdeh, RD who provides readers with ten lessons on how to enjoy career and family. Anyone can benefit from what she has to say, and it goes well with what I just wrote about.

I have been quite successful in the last week by putting all my lists into one major list, and then prioritizing that list each day. Now, I can’t say I have been as successful at NOT adding more things into my schedule, but I am doing so with a more conscious awareness of when it’s ok and when it’s ’squeezing just one more thing in’.

We all must keep in mind that to help us be as productive as possible also means ending each day with a sense of accomplishment. We can’t do that if we look at our ‘to do’ lists and see we’ve either not accomplished much or avoided the most important things. Again, this happens when we have TOO MUCH on that list. And this is where controlling our own destiny comes in; we have the CHOICE of how we organize our days. We have a choice of multiple lists, one list, or even NO list!

How must you organize yourself so you feel productive and accomplished at the end of each day? Even if it’s just ONE step, that’s progress! Maybe Nour’s words will spur something for you.

And so, with that all said, in order to add more white space to my life, and to take Nour’s advice, I’m off to take an afternoon nap this Saturday afternoon!

Margie

PS: Make sure to check out my new Just Jump into Business Coaching Membership program!

I attended the American Dietetic Association’s Leadership Institute this weekend in Dallas. I was sent by my Dietetic Practice Group (DPG) because I am the new Chair-elect of the Nutrition Entrepreneur’s DPG.

Wow, what a wonderful experience! I also have to say I so appreciate how ADA appreciates US! And it further reinforced my opinion that the NE DPG Board is top-notch! Some of the sessions discussed what is WRONG with boards and none applied to ours!

Although those first two paragraphs have nothing to do with ‘white space’, it is part of what will occupy my time, which I also realize I need to keep space open for, in order to really do my job to better help others do theirs!

So, what is white space? If you are used to putting website text or flyers together, you know what it is. It’s space that helps calm the eyes between the text we want our readers to see.

And there’s the definitive word: Calm.

This concept is NOT mine: One of our amazing sessions was by Juliet Funt (remember Candid Camera and Allen Funt? His daughter! http://www.julietfunt.com/), and her specialty is speaking to people who would like to slow down their hectic lives. Hm; sound like you at all??? Yea, I know; me too, it turns out.

As I’m sitting there, listening to her, and doing the exercises she had us do, I was thinking “Oh, I do quite well with this because I don’t work weekends and I stop working by 4pm each night.”

But then it dawned on me that since finishing school, just in March, I HAVE managed to cram 15, 000 things INTO those 5 days and roughly 8 hours.

And I’m huffing and puffing thinking about it!

Sound like you?

So, what can we do about it? Here’s what I’m doing: I’m a big one with lists, but as my lists are growing, I’m doing exactly David Allen said we do – I’m not looking at them as diligently as I used to. But, I’ve turned over a new leaf since last night. I am back to my own roots, which means prioritizing the list (yea, it’s now back to ONE list), and not doing ANYTHING else until 1 is done, 2 is done, 3 is done, etc.

Granted, moving is also on that list, so I’m taking pictures of things to sell and posting them on Craigs List, I’m cleaning out attics and closets and getting ready to put prices on things for our HUGE ‘moving sale’ over the 4th of July.

Oh, and my daughter is getting married in a little over a month.

Ok, I’m tired!

But I am also looking at my schedule and determining that, well, yea, today is full and tomorrow is full, and oh, Wednesday is full and, hm; Thursday is SORT of full, but… oh, well, Friday isn’t too bad. But I have Saturday totally off!

Sounds awful? Not really. And here’s why: Although I’m not canceling the things for THIS week, it is totally in my power to NOT fill in all that white space for NEXT week!

I’ll tell you how I do. How about YOU?????

Margie

When clients often first start working with me, they start with tons of ideas, and those ideas just keep coming! In fact, it becomes VERY overwhelming for them, because they start to stress that they will forget them all!

As a consequence, I have them create what one client coined as an “opportunity booklet”.

Developing a vehicle to capture your ideas helps free your mind, in order to think of MORE ideas!

Try it for yourself.

Your booklet can be in any form. I prefer to write things down in an actual notepad – it can be any size. But I would also suggest you carry post-it notes with you, so you can jot down a thought at any location, when it comes to you. You can then add it to your booklet.

The booklet will continue to grow. That’s fine – it’s not a system that stops, just as your ideas don’t stop!

However, in my coaching process, we naturally have to move to the next step. So, I will have clients keep this booklet for about a week before I then instruct them to look at what they have written down so far and ask this question: “Does this help me achieve my goals right now?” If  the answer is yes, they use a highlighter over that idea.

The next step is to look at all the ideas that are highlighted, and then ask yourself which is most important. This is where you prioritize. We always want to do ALL the great things we come up with NOW, but logically we know that’s not possible. But we have to take SOME action, right? Prioritizing will help us take action.

As you look at all the things you’ve highlighted, which is most important to you to implement, now? Pick the most important item and to the left of that item, put the number “1″. Which is the second most important? List that as “2″. Do the same with the third most important item. Since you will continue to add to this booklet, don’t worry about the other ideas. However, I do suggest you review your booklet from time to time. However, FIRST focus just on completing these top three before seriously considering other ideas.

Through this process of capturing your ideas, you now can start developing products and services that feel right to you. AND it feels great taking action!

Let the planning begin!

If you struggle with this process, come visit my website and see if any of my services can help move you forward – www.meg-enterprises.com

Margie