The new “good”  word =  NO. 

Because women tend to be helping and nurturing creatures, we often find it hard to say no.  We often end up wanting to help everyone, while sacrificing our own needs.  When this happens consistently, we find ourselves overwhelmed, crabby, short tempered, or exhausted.  Learning to prioritize what’s important, combined with the ability to “say no” without guilt or bad feelings are essential skills. 

This is stating the obvious, but bears repeating:  it is impossible to say yes to everything we are asked.  We are not Super Woman, though we see her depicted on TV.  I’m  going to help you learn an easy way to say NO to requests you cannot or do not wish to do. 

Here’s an example: A client of mine was struggling with one of HER clients.  Her client wanted her to turn an emergency project around over the weekend – and didn’t let her know this until 4 PM on Friday!
 
My client had plans to take her children to the beach for the weekend.  She wanted desperately to help her client, but didn’t want to spend her limited one on one time with her children on her Blackberry or laptop. 
 
I recommended the “USA METHOD.”  It’s easy to remember, and easy to implement!

THE USA ACRONYM STANDS FOR:

U=Understanding.  Empathize with the person asking you for something.  In this case, my client told her client that she understood the emergent need of the project and reiterated the deadlines the client wanted her to meet. 

S=Situation.  She then explained her situation briefly, but honestly.  She stated she was unavailable over the weekend and why.

A=Alternatives.  She then told her client what she could do for him.  She suggested blocking out Sunday night when she returned for the project, and committed to meeting the deadline by Monday afternoon. 

In my client’s case, she took control of the situation before letting the client stress her or get her to agree to something she knew she wouldn’t be able to complete without sacrificing something important to her.  We don’t always have to say no, but we do need to take control of what is realistic for us to complete, and without the guilt!  In many cases, the “Alternative” in the USA method works for both parties.   

Without being able to be honest about your needs and say no, you are making the needs of the other person more important than your own.  Saying yes without considering the real cost behind it is a trait of passivity, and often leads to resentment and anger.  The USA method is a strategy for assertiveness. 

Share your success stories, a time when you needed to be assertive and say NO!

I’m working with a group of small business owners and new entrepreneurs going into business for themselves.  As they develop their business plan with me, I can sense their excitement as well as fear.

Because I have years of experience, I am able to quickly pinpoint what their strengths are.  I can also spot areas where they will struggle. 

I ran across a self assessment test for small business owners titled “Is Self Employment for You?” by Paul Casey. It’s a quick test to see how many skills you have that generally point toward being a successful entrepreneur. I scored 94; this is the “good to very good” scale. It also pointed out the areas where I need improvement.

Personally, I need to work on making decisions more quickly and easily, including executing tasks and organization. One message I consistently give to my clients is to focus on their strengths, outsource what they don’t do well, and improve on the core business competences they are missing. I’ll take my own advice and work on the areas where I need to improve. 

Take the test yourself here (it takes just a few minutes) and let me know how you did.  I would love to hear your comments and feedback on what you discover. 

Jane Morrison, Certified Coach & Trainer, teaches success programs to women entrepreneurs. She empowers women to live their passion and effectively promote themselves. With their improved sales and marketing skills, they become the success they deserve. Let her help you make your dreams come true with confidence, courage and clarity of vision.

Look for her signature program “The Ultimate Step by Step Business Building Success Guide for Women Entrepreneurs” on her website, www.janemorrison.com

Jane Morrison, Certified Coach & Trainer, teaches success programs to women entrepreneurs. She empowers women to live their passion and effectively promote themselves. With their improved sales and marketing skills, they become the success they deserve. Let her help you make your dreams come true with confidence, courage and clarity of vision.

Look for her signature program “The Ultimate Step by Step Business Building Success Guide for Women Entrepreneurs” on her website, www.janemorrison.com

I finally got wise to my own advice about asking for help and decided to hire another team person.

In retrospect, I asked myself what the struggle was all about.  My stumbling block was believing the myth that I could – and should – do it all.  I began to make progress when I became willing to admit I cannot – and should not. 

You see, I don’t mind working hard in the winter, but now the Minnesota sun is beginning to shine, melting snow and ice into puddles of water. Although we may have a few more weeks of hard winter, the birds are beginning to sing a bit more and I can feel in my blood that spring is right around the corner.

With spring, the fun begins. Pruning bushes, throwing down new grass seed, cleaning out garages, hanging birdfeeders, trips to the nursery to pick out plants to fill the empty planters, getting out the bicycles and motorcycles… after a very long and very cold winter, we are all ready to let the fun begin. 

My goal is to be as efficient as I can so when that beautiful time of the year comes, the time we long for all winter, I will have a team that supports me.  Getting myself organized so I am able to delegate work is extremely important.  Being a great Life Coach means delicately balancing businesswoman and Jane. 

Are you feeling spring in your blood too?  What do you need to do to get more free time on your plate?  Are you ready to let go of something?  What can you let go that will allow you to pursue your passions more directly and efficiently? 

Making Twitter Easy

One of my goals for my personal business development is to increase
my use and get savvier with social networking, especially Twitter.

I’ve admittedly been a “lurker” on the twitter scene especially,
because the feeling I got is that these “tweets” are a bunch of
hyped up vendors trying to sell me something.

But after taking several classes to really learn more about
social networking, and by seeing how the people I admire
“tweet”, I’m convinced that it has incredible power, when
used in the manner that makes it most effective – and that is
“being a resource and giving to others.”

It took a bit of practice to shift my mindset, but
once I started to think about how I could be helpful to someone,
or connect people with each other, it felt really good to be able to
solve a problem or provide resources that helped them out.

I’ve practiced this “giving, connecting and helping” philosophy from the in-person network groups I’ve belonged to. The more I tried to connect people, be helpful and give them business leads, the more satisfied I was with the networking experience. And I saw the
success others received by also being a resource. The ones who only had their own self interest in mind most often annoyed others.

Remember, in order to build your business, you must practice
the “KNOW, LIKE and TRUST” factor. Online social networking
is an effective strategy to do just that.

A quote from Mitch Albom says “The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.”  We can all do that!

Have you ever wanted to get something done but kept putting it off?

Do you get frustrated by your own need to make things just right?

 Do you start out and easily get distracted and never finish what you intended to do? 

I’ve suffered from all these procrastination descriptions, and I guess I’m not alone, because according to the Procrastination Research Group at Carleton University, up to 70 percent of North Americans struggle with procrastination.  

But I’m finally in a groove where I accomplish what I intend to do. 

So how do we accomplish what we really want to do? 

I’ll share my secrets and solutions with you, so you too can move forward with your dreams and goals. 

Join me in this hands on seminar where you will finally figure out:

1)  What’s REALLY important for you to get done

2)   What is your “prominent procrastination” profile

3)  The strategies and solutions you can use to overcome your suffering and guilt

4)  Easy steps to cure your  particular procrastination habits

5)  What’s really getting in the way of your procrastination

This “Class in Action” that will provide powerful worksheets that we’ll use during the class to get to the heart of your procrastination. You’ll also receive personal coaching from Jane to be able to get the breakthrough you need to move ahead. .

If you are FINALLY ready to break free of your procrastination bad habits…..then join us to discover solutions that really work! 

This class will be conducted by telesminar. That means you get to join us in the comfort of your home or office. All you need is a quiet place free of distraction, a telephone, and be ready to make some changes in your life.

Here’s an easy sign up link:  http://janemorrison.com/events

Just call at the designated time (1:00 PM Eastern; Noon Central; 11:00 AM Mountain; and 10:00 AM Pacific) and enter your pin number. It helps to have a headset. Please call from a landline since cell phones can cause distractions.

If you’d like to join us, but cannot make the date, be sure to register and we’ll send you the recording and worksheets that you can do on your own.

 DON’T DELAY, DON’T PUT THIS OFF

ANY LONGER…SIGN UP NOW!

P.S. This class is F*R*E*E to my “Boost your Business Mastermind Group”. Check it out at http://www.smartsavvysuccess.com/boost

 I got to thinking the other day about people who lose themselves, lose their sense of self, rarely take chances, stay stuck in a rut, play it safe.   If it’s ever happened to you, you know what I’m talking about.

I think this happens to both men and women as we travel into adulthood and take on more responsibilities. Responsibilities that take us away from ourselves like making a living, raising children, getting the kids off to school, taking care of bills and appointments. Somewhere we stop being “me” and end up being an extension of all sorts of people and responsibilities. We discover that we’ve lost sight of our dreams, and in the process, lost confidence in ourselves.  It’s no longer clear to us that we CAN be that high school cheerleader or football player, and we begin to doubt ourselves.

On a recent  Oprah show, she sought out women who had lost their sense of self, and had them participate in 3 activities they knew nothing about ahead of time. For the first activity, they put on roller skates, became a bad-ass team, and played against a professional roller derby team, getting knocked down, bruised and walloped in the process. But the women were exhilarated afterwards because they did it! They had a huge sense of accomplishment.  

Next, they were taken up in an airplane to sky –dive, fear of heights and all. They were shaking, scared, crying, and lightheaded but they jumped and landed safely on the ground, once again thrilled they had faced their fears.

For the last lesson, they shed all their clothes, and ran into the cold ocean, sharing the thrill of letting down   pretenses, self judgment and  being naked in front of others, accepting themselves in the process.

All these women claimed they were greatly impacted by these activities, changed profoundly by these experiences,  and claimed they had regained their confidence!

What will it take for you to reclaim your confidence? Each year, I make myself go waterskiing when at my parent’s cabin; for I know that once I say “no” to that activity I’ve always loved since I was young,  it will be the beginning of saying “no” to things I and they become things I am afraid of.

When I turned 50, I got my motorcycle license, challenging myself to do something I’d dreamt of but had feared. I  went to class that included all young men (and me) tipped my motorcycle over in front of them, dusted myself off and got right back on it.  I DID learn how to ride a motorcycle. I felt accomplished and proud, and yes, it I DID boost my confidence.

The fear of falling does conflict with the thrill of soaring, but the accomplishment is so worth the effort.      

What would you do if you knew you could not fail?

 Jane Morrison, CLC, is a small business marketing expert who works with women owned companies, teaching them how to effectively promote themselves and their business. With an improved knowledge about sales and marketing, her customers stop stressing about getting clients, finally earn the money they deserve and feel confident to achieve their dreams. With this newfound energy, they take time for themselves and what’s important to them.

Her signature program, “10 Essential Steps to Wise Women Marketing” is a powerful 3 part comprehensive program that takes you from where you are, to where you want to go!

Check out her group coaching mastermind program launching in December  at  http://www.smartsavvysuccess.com/boost

Jane Morrison

Welcome to the Smart Savvy Success Blog. This is the place where I post my thoughts on all things to do with your Business Development, which of course includes your personal Development! There are two ways you can use this blog, either by visiting this page as often as you can to find out what’s new, or by clicking on the subscribe button below. This will allow you to subscribe to the blog via your  choice of RSS feed readers, which means you will automatically get to read about all my future postings.