Is this evidence of the Law of Attraction in Action?

Yes I’m a skeptic of the Law of Attraction.  Or should I say I was a skeptic of the Law of Attraction?  Or perhaps it’s safer to say I’m withholding my verdict awaiting more evidence.

The hocus pocus about the vibrations you put out to the universe coming straight back at you like a boomerang to give you exactly what you infer you want hasn’t sat very easily with me.  I’m too programmed by life but I’m trying to change that.

We all experience those serendipity’s or syncronicity’s in life like when you desperately want that new something; you see it everywhere!  You notice it like never before because it’s on your radar.  Life presents back to you where your focus is.

So, yes, I’ve been researching The Law of Attraction.

No,  I’ve not lost my marbles;  I think it really can work.

I’m documenting a ‘happening’ here in this post as proof to myself and for you that when you state your intention and put yourself out there with full commitment it is possible for the magic to happen.

So I want to share with you what happened to me a couple of weeks ago because to be honest it freaked me out a little.

I first need to give you some context:

I just made a life changing decision to take voluntary redundancy and throw myself into my business following my personal passions.  So I’m right in there just now, giving my new venture and my new life my total commitment, energy and focus – everything that the Law of Attraction rule book suggests you should do, and low and behold;

The first crazy thing that happens is that through deciding to mix with a local MeetUp group I’d met my new business partner Mike Little.   He just happens to be the co-founder of WordPress, and he just happens to live about  fifteen minutes away from me.  He also just happens to have similar views as mine as to making the New Internet Economy accessible to all for people to achieve their own personal wealth and freedoms.  Co-incidence or Law of Attraction in action?

You also need to know that Mike and I are creating an incredibly sexy Plugin for WordPress that will make social marketing far more productive and fun with the ability to  automatically explode your traffic getting efforts through your content and networking strategies.

This Plugin is called InfinityTribes.  That’s important to the story.

We are creating a demo video for InfinityTribes and need some funky music for it.  I’ve had a track in mind and it’s been driving me crazy that I haven’t been able to recall it’s name or even the artist.

Within that context I can now tell you my little story:

It all started at 4am Friday when my toddler (unusually) woke crying.  Aaarrrgggh!  that spelled disaster for me.  I settled her and tried to go back to sleep but I had so much going around and around in my head that I couldn’t.  I was getting more and more annoyed at being awake so eventually just gave up.

By 5am I was in my trainers running up the hill towards my favourite woodland space.  I usually listen to education and coaching audios at the moment because I’ve so much to keep on top of but as I needed all the energy I could get I chose to listen to some really upbeat dance music.  I was working through things in my mind and getting my thoughts together for the day.

When I got to the top of the hill I turned onto the woodland walk that takes me towards ‘The Edge’ a cliff top that over looks the cheshire country side.  As I ran along the path I could tell I was going to be greeted by a wonderful sight as the sun was coming up directly ahead.  I was feeling good about the day.  I turned off the path and ran toward The Edge in front of me,  the cliff edge gave way to a beautiful pink sky with a soft orange globe for the sun and the whole countryside that I could see for miles was covered with morning mist.  It was an amazing experience.

Then as if that wasn’t enough, just as I needed my energy to get to the top if the cliff, the track I’d been trying to remember came blasting into my ears on my iPod!  I couldn’t believe it!  The track was called Infinity!  I stopped on the cliff edge looking out over this incredible view with my thoughts totally in order and listening to the sound track of the demo video that’s going to perfectly promote the InfinityTribes project Mike and I are working on.  (If we get the licence!).

So, if it weren’t for my toddler unusually waking me at 4am,  followed by my mad moment deciding to get out of my bed and run at dawn,  then choosing to run to dance music that I currently don’t do,  I probably would never have found the perfect track that coincidentally has the name of the Plugin I want to use it to promote!  And I wouldn’t  have had the most amazing start to my day.

All the above came about through positive choices,  my reactions to the each of the circumstances I experienced.  It could have gone a completely different way.

Co-incidence? Syncronicity? Serendipity?  I say that’s pure evidence of the Law of Attraction in action.

I want more of this please.  When I have a wobble of faith in future I’ll come back and read this post to remind myself that I am pivotal to the way circumstance transpires.

Saz Bailey\’s Crazy Evidence of Law of Attraction in Action (Excuse the heavy breathing – I had just run up a hill after all!)

What do you think of the Law of Attraction?  Any experience?  Or do you think is a load of B.S?

Please leave a comment below and let me know if you think I’m being brainwashed…….

Where did January, February & March go?

I've spent time getting my ducks in a row

Been and gone.

What did I set out to do and what did I achieve?

Quite a lot actually

Everything that I’m doing is the practice of living the life that I want to experience.  By choice.  By my design.  There are no flukes here.  So I had a plan and I’ve stuck with it, so far at least.  The good and the bad,  success and failures are the result of my choices and actions.  That’s what’s allowing me to tick off the changes that I want to see in the day to day and the long term experience of myself, family and friends.

I’ve always planned this way.   I’ve just never put as much focus on life choices before,  and I’ve certainly never blogged about it!

I’ve had an incredibly busy 12 months implementing the direction of my intent.  So much so that I’ve barely blogged, which is something I must correct.  If I’m calling myself a blogger then I really should blog!  My intention in starting this thing was to share that transitioning from current circumstances to a different, more balanced and purposeful future is just a journey, one that I’m undertaking myself.  So I really should share.

So here are the choices I made and what I accomplished:

My plan to exit my job was dependant on things coming into alignment in my internet venture…….

I gained credibility for my expertise. I ran a very successful social media marketing campaign for a high profile sporting organisation to get more volunteers involved in their local community through cricket.  This is so far removed from my normal technology business development role but very much aligned with social media marketing so I went for it.  Loved it.  They wanted me to stay and run their next project.  I had a plan to stick to.

I took voluntary redundancy to follow my plan.  I’m at the end of my first week.  Very exciting.  Very daunting.  A huge decision to make.  However, you just know when the only life path for you is to into your own.

I’m doing what I love to do, helping people achieve personally, which happens to be what they do for business.  I’m continuing to coach a handful of people who are getting their businesses up and running.

I’m mentoring through Career Academies UK to hopefully impact my mentees early successes in life.

I work from home 3 days a week.  I have 2 days dedicated alternately to each of my children.  This was a big one for me as my little boy with special needs starts school in September I have six months to give him some focused attention.

I’ve made the shift from stressed out 100 miles an hour, distracted by my commitments to only doing the things that light me up and take me on the life path of my choosing.

So, what’s the plan?

I’ve neglected my blog and driving traffic so I’ll be getting on to that real soon.

I’ve hooked up with a new business partner;  Mike Little who is the co-founder of the WordPress project.  We’re wanting to create solutions to prevent what seems to be the normal painful experience of setting up an internet or social media footprint and learning how to successfully go about internet marketing.  We have two projects underway;

Infinity Tribes (strategic networking and traffic exploding plugin)

WPcommerce (all about setting up your blogging and internet marketing really, really, really quickly and easily)

A long term aspiration of mine is to coach in schools to help career choice aged youths connect with their nature given gifts as they choose their direction in life.  I’m planning on attending Janet Attwoods Passion Test facilitator training to incorporate this into the sessions.

I’m on the look out for people who are achievers, possibly thinking of a similar transition as my own, to trial our services and mentor to success.

I’m writing a list of things I want to experience with more balance in my, my bucket list, not that I think I’m going to kick the bucket any time soon.  I do, however, plan to live life full out.   I’ve done my bunjee jump.  Next on my list is a sky dive,  although not a real one – in a wind tunnel ;o)  If you want to join me let me know.

I’ll prove I’ve done it in my next post.

Until then, follow your passions my friends,

Health and Wellness Insights:

Botox for Medicinal Use?

Well it seems that if someone looks as though they’ve had Botox we can’t assume that they had it for cosmetic reasons anymore.  It could point to the fact they suffer from migraines.

I’m a migraine sufferer.  I’ve spent years monitoring my diet and lifestyle to try to help myself reduce their impact.  I’m also in my mid-thirties and noticing a few wrinkles!  This really interests me.

The drug safety watchdog MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency) has given the NHS the nod to dispense Botox as a treatment to chronic migraine sufferers – those who experience at least 8 episodes a month.

The Daily Mail explains that the treatment is injected into the forehead and the neck of the patient with the effect of paralysing the muscles that cause the pain.  This has been reported to reduce the migraine frequency by an average of 50%. (No stats given on the reduction of wrinkles )

The drug we know as Botox or botulinum toxin was originally developed to treat facial tics, squints, writers cramp and head & neck spasms.  So, it’s not really that surprising that it’s found it’s way home to a similar use again.

Wow!  I’ll be keeping an eye on this one – maybe I’ll try it.

Here’s to a cure for all us migraine sufferers! – pass this info on if you know someone it may help.  Hit share or Tweet it on.

Thanks.

Lisa Nichols :: Breakthrough Specialist

I was recently blessed to share the company of Lisa Nichols.  Known as The Breakthrough Specialist, she transformed her own life from a broken spirit in an abusive relationship and is now passionately helping others achieve their own transformations.  She focuses her attention and energy on entrepreneurs, women & children.

Lisa has a beautiful soul and I’d like to share her thoughts on personal development and growth;

Recognise the value of partnerships:

The magic of partnerships is in the interdependency.  This is the most productive state between dependancy and independence.  Creating this environment enables you to walk the journey of your relationships with your life partner, children, family and friends.  Together you can acknowledge that you are co-creating and learning something that has never been experienced before.

Partnerships reveal opportunity for personal growth.  The way you manage conversations, events, circumstances can provide opportunity to become someone better.

All partnerships are not meant to last forever.  Some are a single moment experienced, others a lifetime. The majority last a season, which can be a month, a year or years.  The biggest difficulty we have is in recognising when a season is complete which makes it difficult to allow it come to it’s natural conclusion.  Accept as ‘complete’ rather than ‘over’, release and surrender to create far less resistance to the change.

Learn to serve from your overflow:

If you have found your passions, and with that, your calling in life then your body, mind and soul need to be able to keep up with your life’s mission.  It is your responsibility to feel so good in your own self, in your own being so that you have overflow of energy to give in service.

When we get burned out it’s because we tend to serve others needs before our own so that it becomes a chore, tiring, uncomfortable and we resent having to do it.  Realise this; it’s not that you don’t love serving any more it’s just that you haven’t served your own basic needs before doing so (check out my post on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs).  Now, shift your mindset to one of responsibility – to look after yourself first.  Taking care of your basic needs of leisure, pampering, self care and time is a responsibility not a luxury.  Fill your own cup right up to full…….. when it’s full, keep going until it’s overflowing so that you find you’re serving from your saucer.  Learn what it takes for you to serve from your saucer so that you are always serving effortlessly from your overflow.

Consider this;  if you were on an airplane in an emergency and the gas masks dropped you would be expected to ensure you looked after yourself first so that you were in a capable state to care for others.  Make sense?

Identifying and accepting your monetary value:

If you can connect making money to your mission, magnetising your unique gifts then the value in that falls into place.  That’s why it’s important to focus on both Business Development & Personal Development, to maintain and service both simultaneously.  When you are connected to your own personal value through knowing your personal gifts you will create a business enabling you to serve with pleasure.

Selling or serving?  Consider them one in the same.  Keeping things simple; making a sale means that someone says ‘yes’ to something you are offering and a fiscal exchange is their acknowledgement that ‘I value what you do’.

Ask yourself the questions; what needs can I be a solution to? what problem can I be a answer to?  where can I bring joy? how can I package this so that people know that I am the answer?  Find the answers to these and you’ll know your added value.  When you get this right you’ll find that when you touch things they turn to gold, people want to be in your space more, you become a money magnet as real heart felt service leads to greater sales.

Always know that your net worth will never surpass your self worth; if your financial worth exceeds your perception of self worth you will not be comfortable with it and something will go awry.

Allowing yourself to succeed:

Many of our biggest mindset issues are around money and success.  Give yourself permission to experience success. If you remain shackled to a past of ‘nearly made it’s', “slip ups’ and ‘failures’ then you sabotage your ability to unleash your capability.  You do have a personal capacity to think bigger and stand stronger.  A ‘No matter what!’  mindset doesn’t understand the language of excuses; fear, doubt, worry, blame.  You are in control.  You can administer choice.  You can decide your direction.

Lisa has experienced huge successes from where she started out.  Her life began in scarcity and fear.   She had to grow to be ready and accepting for each of the huge things that propelled her success forward.  When your subconscious sabotages what you are capable of you must keep believing in yourself.  Continuously expand your personal capacity to handle the abundance that comes your way with baby steps of acceptance and growth.

Lisa points out that the word intimacy can be heard as ‘In To Me I See’ and is a huge advocate of the following 30 day excercise that connects you with who you were, are and yet to be.

30 day personal ‘In To Me I See’ excercise:

Stand in from of a mirror and say;

7 different things that your proud of ~ ‘Saz, I am so proud of you for……….’

7 different things you forgive ~ ‘Saz, I forgive you for………’

7 different things you commit to yourself ~ ‘Saz, I commit to you that I will……’

Doing this honours who you are today,  releases yourself from what you have unconsciously held yourself hostage to and commits to the person you are becoming.  Once you have let go of regret, blame, shame and anger then and only then you are ready for growth to occur.

One last take away from Lisa: Save your nuggets!  Always have a key take away from any learning experience so that you can draw on it when you need it in the future.  Have you taken any nuggets from Lisa?  Please let me know if you have……

To your unstoppable entrpreneurial growth!

Maslow knew all about passion…….

Abraham Maslow :: Mr Personality

Abraham Maslow is the personality man.  He’s a humanistic psychologist who has influenced many fields including education.

I want to share his views with you because what he teaches about our natural and basic need to blossom to our full potential really explains our relationship with our personal passions and purpose in life.

Humanists don’t believe we can be effectively pushed and pulled but that we achieve when we act from our potential.  Maslow believed that we operate from an innate curiosity ensuring that we reach for high-level of capabilities, striving for creativity, our highest consciousness and a wiseness to become a ‘fully functioning person’ a ‘healthy personality’ or as Maslow calls this; the ‘self-actualizing person’.

Maslow understood our need to connect with our core to nurture our passions to enable us to realise our full potential.  I’d like to share his thoughts with you, and ask you to consider where your own personal growth compares with his model, then how you can take control to move onward and upward.

Maslow identified and encompassed our primary needs in a 5 level hierarchical structure.  Our primary needs are instinctive, equivalent of those in other creatures.  Each level over rides the next before greater levels of need become apparent.  At our highest levels we realise needs for understanding, esthetic appreciation and spirituality – the comprehensive understanding of self.  In the correct environment we will grow straight and beautiful, realising the potential we’ve inherited.  I believe the vast majority of people hover around levels 3 or 4 with aspirations to the next level but very often do not take the action required to achieve them.

Maslow’s primary requirements are as follows:

1)  Physiological need:

These are biological requirements i.e. oxygen, nutrients, water, and a comparatively constant body heat.  These are our most fundamental needs – if we didn’t have these nothing else would matter to us.

Maslows Hierarchy Of Needs :: Illustrated as a pyramid with the most basic needs at it's base.

2)  Safety:

When the first level is satisfied and no longer impact our views and behaviors, the demands for security may become active.  This is about living in an orderly predictable world where inconsistencies and the unfamiliar are rare.

3)  Love and belonging:

When safety and physiologic welfare are fulfilled Maslow says that we seek to achieve a feeling of belonging or feeling accepted.  This involves both giving and receiving love, affection and the sense of belonging in any emotionally based relationship.

4)  Esteem:

Next up, our need for regard may become dominant. Both self-regard and from other people.  We have a need to be accepted and valued by others or we experience anxiety.  Our need for self-respect translates to the need for mastery, competence, , self-confidence, independence and freedom which are based on inner competence won through our experience.  When these needs are disappointed, the individual feels substandard, powerless, helpless and un-needed.

5)  Self-actualisation:

When all of the above is satisfied then and only then are the needs for self-actualization triggered.  Maslow identifies self-actualization as our motivation to be and do that which we were ‘born to do’.  To realise our full potential.

A musician must do music, an artist must paint.  These needs make themselves felt in signs of impatience or frustration. We feel on edge, lacking something, in short – uneasy.

If we are missing one of the other levels of the hierarchy it’s really quite easy to identify the problem.  It isn’t always clear what’s missing when there’s a need for self-actualization.

Maslow suggests the only reason you won’t achieve self- actualization is because pressures applied by society.  He says that our educational methods contribute to these handicaps and that facilities should react to and nurture the potential a person has for growing into a self-actualizing individual.

Educators should be teaching us to achieve ‘self actualisation’

I’m passionate about educating our children in response to their potential no matter where that may come from.  That their fully realising identity and esteem is paramount to living as a fully functioning person.  My children attend a Montissori nursery which is very much in tune with that philosophy.

Maslow suggested education should be teaching:

1. To be authentic, to be fully aware of our inner selves by tuning in to inner-feelings.
2. To exceed our cultural conditioning and become world citizens.
3. To assist us in discovering our life’s calling.
4. That life is cherished, and there’s joy to be received, and that if we are open to seeing the good and the joy in all kinds of places, it makes life worth living.
5. That our uniqueness is a gift and we should learn our intimate nature.  From true knowledge of aptitudes and limitations we may know what to build on, an subsequently what potential exists.
6. We must see that the individual basic needs of safety, belonging, and esteem are fulfilled to free the path for personal growth.
7. That we grow our consciousness to value beauty and other uplifting things in nature and in living.
8. That controls are good, and utter abandon is counter productive. We need personal control to better the quality of life in all areas.
9. To attain the emotional intelligence to deal with troubles such as unfairness, of pain, suffering, and dying.
10. To be good selectors.  We should be given practice in making beneficial choices.

It may be a controversial statement to make but I don’t believe our educational system currently nurtures the individuals innate potential.  If anything it seeks to quash creativity in favour of enabling academic study.  I recall my school reports commenting on my ability if ‘I could just apply as much energy to my subjects as I did to my personal interests’.  I can see the same happening with my nieces today.  Something should be done about this.  I haven’t yet found a school for my children that incorporates Montessori philosophy and I’m nervous about that.

So that’s my quick delve into Maslow.   I might be blinkered by my mission but I think he’s suggesting that people operating as a fully functioning person with a healthy personality are those who have identified and are living their passions and their purpose in life.

What do you think?  I’d love to hear your thoughts on Maslow and how his hierarchy fits into modern day life.  Please comment and/or share this post with anyone you think might find value in it.  Thanks.

Here’s to finding and living your passion.

Learning how to achieve bigger things

Tony Robbins :: Looking a bit tasty!

I’d like to share with you a key learning from Tony Robbins……..

There is a perhaps much overused cliché; ‘taking baby steps’ in order to accomplish big goals.  I know I used it just a couple of days ago on Facebook!  But it’s an astonishingly powerful principle that only ‘the few’ apply in life.  I call it a principle because it’s absolute and universal.  I merit ‘the few’ because they are a school of success.

Take a moment to consider anything in nature; matured plants for example are the product of it’s much, much smaller parts.  So, it’s the culmination of all of these individual parts that make up the largeness or presence of something.  It follows that something may only ‘be’ and continue to exist through a process of continued growth.

Tony Robbins frequently discusses the power of making small incremental alterations in our lives.  Most of us never succeed in doing this.  The reason is because in all the planning on doing the big thing we want, and making the impacting changes, we never take the beginning, simple, meaningful steps in doing the small things that make the shift in our mindset.

I find it fascinating that incremental gain taps into one of the building blocks of our cosmos called ‘compounding’.  Modern science now believes the principle of compounding can be attributed to the very being of our universe.  So, the way our whole universe works through compounding means that growth is incremental.  One becomes 2, 2 becomes 4, 4 becomes 8, 8 become 16 and so forth.  This is the way our world expands and this is the way your life and my life builds.

Now, work with me here, think about a private aeroplane setting off on a 5000 mile journey halfway across the world, obviously it’s pilot would set the most direct route to follow.  Now what if it’s systems weren’t correctly calibrated?  What if his course was off by simply half a degree?  Simple answer; over that distance they would land on the wrong continent!

The lesson of this little story here is that you and I need to truly take charge of the small things.  They are not just important but they are actually everything.  What I’m directing you to here is that the accomplishment of our ultimate dreams can be attributed to the smallest of changes.  The one very important idea to keep close to your heart is the fact that it only takes one thought to metamorphous everything.

It takes just one little adjustment that over time may have a great outcome in your life.

Did you see the movie The Butterfly Effect with Ashton Kutcher?   It beautifully exemplifies the concept.  The butterfly effect is the idea that the beating of a butterflies wings has a knock on effect that ripples on through out the universe.  The first beat of the butterflies wings appear wholly insignificant and trivial, but the amazing thing is that over time by the accumulation of a small effort this may actually produce a hurricane.

It’s the seemingly trivial steps that sooner or later create the substantial leaps in your life.

But know this; surrendering, giving up, deciding something a failure likewise produces a butterfly effect.  Never undervalue the might of the butterfly effect.  Always reinforce your decisions with actions and continue taking action towards what you do want rather than moving by default towards what you don’t and fear.

Tony Robbins often discusses the same idea.  He calls it ‘global changes’.  Global changes are about the effect of making a single simple alteration that has the ability to change a bunch of other things at the same time.

Once we know what the appropriate baby steps are we frequently fail to take the very actions essential to making our lives extraordinary lives, simply because we don’t interpret their significance.  We need to take the time to contemplate  and register what we can change for impact.  Then congruent, organised and persistent action in the direction of your goal can be the key to establishing momentum.  Every small action collects and builds on the ones before till you produce a snowball that will finally be unstoppable.  How about an avalanche?!

As a student of Tony Robbins I try not to ever disregard the seemingly small things.  They all impact and they all build upon past effects to shape and direct my life.  Utilise your time and your mind wisely in ‘compounding’ like the universe does towards your desire and most especially take positive and constructive action daily towards becoming the sort of individual you ultimately prefer to be.  It’s all in the ‘baby steps’.

Do you follow Tony Robbins teachings?  I’d love to hear what you have learned from him.

If you found this post interesting please comment below,  and share or Tweet!

Thanks, I appreciate your interaction.

Laying the right foundation…

I’ve just been making some bite size training videos for Social Media Marketing just for those people who don’t have time to complete full courses and need to take baby steps.  Today was setting up your Twitter profile to lay a good foundation.  I thought it might be useful to list the very basics of how to go about setting up your Twitter account so that you don’t do anything to trip yourself up down the line.

So here you go; my 10 tips for laying a great foundation for maximum success on Twitter.

Full Name ::

This is a directory listing.   When people type your name to search for you they will put a space between first and last names so you should set your name likewise.  If you don’t have you are risking not being found.

User Name ::

This is the name people see when you Tweet.  If you are Blogging or generally branding yourself as an expert in your field then I strongly suggest you use your name here.  It’s a social platform.  People want to interact with real people.

If your name isn’t available then get creative with verbs – I use SazBaileyTweets.  I advise against using numbers as this is what spammers do.  People are wary and take a milli second to decide not to click.

Make it easy to read and connect with you by capitalise each word or placing an underscore between them.  Many user names blend together so difficult to read and get passed by.

Profile Picture ::

Again if you are positioning yourself as your brand then you need a good picture of you looking directly at he camera.  People will feel they connect with you if they can see your eyes. This equals more followers and more re-tweets!

Bio ::

Remember this is a fast paced social space.  People need to be given reasons to connect with you.  Be fresh, get creative.  You can take inspiration from other people in your field.  The more thought you give to this the more likely you are to connect with the people who are a good match for you.  Again, more matched followers and more re-tweets!

Protect my Tweets ::

I know this sounds obvious but don’t check this as it locks your profile away from view!!!!

Mobile phone ::

It’s great idea to set up your phone to use apps or text to send tweets and pictures across from your phone.  It will help you keep on the pulse and enable you to be more responsive and productive when away from your computer.  We are after all in a mobile, virtual business!

Location ::

Some Twitter applications use your location so you need to consider if this is relevant to your venture.

Your website URL ::

Twitter only displays 18 characters.  I suggest you drop the www and capitalise any individual words to massively increase click throughs.  Twitter is a very skeleton service so you get little opportuntiy to promote your identity.  Make sure your domain is as visible as possible.

Don’t use a shortened link like bit.ly or tiny URL.  Again,  spammers use this and people can be afraid of clicking through them.

Scheme ::

Make the effort to change the background of your Twitter Home page.  Remember this is a people place, so show your character.  The more authentic you are in setting up your whole profile, the more engaging you will be.  If you don’t make the effort it looks like you don’t really care when others go to such an effort.

Don’t change the colour of your links.  People are now pre-programmed to expect them to be blue.  Don’t mess with them or you’ll risk hijacking your click throughs!

Direct Message new followers ::

It’s a good idea to send a Direct Message to your new followers.  This is a good thing to do for two reasons; 1- it’s good relationship building, first contact sets a good impression and sets an expectation of your standards, 2 – it’s an opportunity to automate a message with a link to drive traffic to your Blog.

Now you’re set to leverage all the interaction you’ll be having in the Twittersphere!

Short and sweet but hopefully useful.  If it has been helpful then be sure to RT!  - Re-Tweet!

Thanks, I appreciate your interaction.

BIG easy changes to get a time advantage…

Okay so as an entrepreneur you have a natural tendency to be attracted to activities that expand the mind and create possibilities. Couple that with the fact that as an Internet Entrepreneur you are in THE worst environment for distractions, especially in the new wave of Social Media marketing where you’re attention is highjacked by people ‘connecting’ and posting (hopefully) valuable info literally right under your nose.  If your Blogging, Twittering and YouTubing then you know exactly what I mean.  Lets face it; you are highly likely to get diverted easily, immerse yourself in something you hadn’t planned for and loose track of far too much of your day.  Before you know it, it’s midday and you haven’t done a thing on your to do list.

It’s not your fault.  You’re a creative soul.  If you didn’t take opportunity to feed your creativity you wouldn’t be doing what you do.  However, you are responsible for your own direction and success.  I’m sorry but the buck stops with you matey.

In my years as a business professional I’ve read time management books, attended courses by employers, tried different software applications.  There are tons of  strategies out there and just learning and implementing them can be a major time cruncher in themselves (maybe I’ll visit in future posts if people want it).

If you just don’t have the time or inclination be a student of time management. There are some really easy chunky things you can implement that can potentially have big impact.

Here are my tips for getting on top of your game:

1) Start now

I’m not kidding.  Don’t plan to start planning and managing your time.  Do it.  Now.  Be aware of your time allocations and enemies and audit them.  Literally write a list for work and home/family/personal life and your must/should/want to do’s.  How do you really perform against these? Not only will it help you evaluate and re-organise your time but it will help you identify and focus on what’s actually important to you – maybe Facebook isn’t!  You’ll be amazed how you can kid yourself until you see the detail written before you.

2) Use daily, weekly, monthly and longer term action plans

Be strategic.  Think about the big picture.  Begin with the end in mind. Then break them down into the smaller plans based on how valuable they are to your goal achievement.  I’m talking holistically here.  The personal and business goals you have as an entrepreneur are likely to be intertwined so treat them that way.  For example if you have a personal health or family time goal that your business is supposed to be delivering then plan and make that happen.

3) Optimize your environment

Spring clean! – each season ;o)  Not for the freshness (though that can only benefit!) but to de-clutter and maximise the way you operate.  Look at your space with fresh eyes.  Clear everything out; your draws, cupboards, filing, notice board, bla, bla, bla, and only put it back if it really helps your productivity.  Recognise and systemise the things that slow you down.  Store excess materials away.  Have supplies readily available and remove distractions.   (Don’t role your eyes but I have a really bad habit of filing my nails when I’m thinking and it inevitably ends up with me giving myself a full manicure before I get back on track! – I just make sure I don’t have a nail file anywhere near my lap top – job done).

4) Consider where technology can give you time back

No – this isn’t your opportunity to go buy an iPad.  Like in the sales; it’s only an awesome buy if you needed it before you saw it.  Think about your time consumers.  Think about how much of that could be automated, structured and managed better.  Things like schedules, communication, collaboration, campaigns, contact management, project management, mobility, multi-tasking.  The list and the solutions are endless. Before you spend any money ask yourself: What are my needs from a product or software? What do I expect this particular product or software to actually do for me?

5) Decide quickly. Delegate. Say ‘No’.

One leadership trait is the ability to evaluate and make a quick decision.  It’s a core value thing.  If you have the courage of your convictions based on what your personally driving for things become quite simple.  The natural addition to that is that you will confidently delegate and reject requests of your time if the requirement doesn’t support your objectives of moving towards your goals.  Get passionate about your business (or create a business that you’re passionate about) and you’ll find this one a doddle.

6) Multi-task  – one for the ladies ;o)

It’s obvious and we may do it naturally sometimes but plan ahead and standardise the multitasking of activates that frequently either steal time from you or you don’t manage to fit in.  When you know what these things are for you, you can operate so that you just automatically do them.  Think about things like phone calls, reading, travelling, exercising, cooking, watching/listening to the news or TV in general, taking a bath –  mix it up!

7) Anticipate time high jackers

As a mother of 2 little munchkins alone with everything else I’ve got going on I know that even the best laid plans go pear shaped so that you can loose as much as whole days.  You can plan for some.

Think about what emergencies you might need to deal with for example with child care and pre plan your contingency.

Educate yourself on common technology problems and their trouble shooting.  Educate yourself proactively on other tools of your trade (eg. software) so that just working out how to do something doesn’t hinder your progress.

Anticipate failures and have duplicate items or contingency options to hand.

Don’t allow people to high jack your time through your politeness, be clear about your schedule and build time where you can anticipate its needed.  Turn off phones, instant messaging, email, PDA’s if you have a time slot to focus on.

Be clear up front in meetings and phone calls how long you have and what will be covered so you don’t go of on a tangent, then finish on time.   There are endless scenarios that you can pre-plan for.

Above all when it comes down to it these points should enable you to just focus, plan and execute – without distraction.

Really easy stuff isn’t it?   Has this helped you? Do you have any other chunky time savers to share with our visitors?  Let me know below.

Thanks I appreciate your interaction.

Online Entrepreneurship sung to me.

I think it was probably around about 6 years ago now, my mother turned up at my house looking quite excited that she had found a book that was to be the answer, the beginning of my transformation to online entrepreneurship.

‘The One Minute Millionaire:  The story that transforms your life and makes you rich’ by Victor Hansen.

Hmmm, I recall reading the title and looking at her like she had lost her marbles.  But she knew me, as mothers do, better than I knew myself.

My mother saw me struggling to motivate myself through the tiresome, mind numbing days of a corporate life I was no longer committed to.  She could see a creative soul that was drowning in the noise of everyday life.  It’s true I was on a downward spiral.  It was spreading, the boredom, the quite desperation,  across my whole life like an infection.  Yes I had a wonderful life.  I had (have) a wonderful husband, he’s gorgeous, he’s committed and he’s fun.  I had the great job with the great salary and car.  I had a fantastic home that I’d enjoyed renovating and furnishing myself, a beautiful double fronted 18th century house in country village setting with an interior that I’d included everything that made me feel good.  I had the social life, the holidays, the gym time.  My life was a huge success wasn’t it?

Then why, sitting relaxing watching TV in the evening did I feel uncomfortable, like I was wasting time?  Weekend, well most mornings actually were spent under the duvet (don’t be rude) with a hang over!  Working for my then employer seemed to be cheating me of my potential despite the fact that they are one of the most innovative and people focused companies in the country.  I didn’t understand then – I think I knew it, but I didn’t understand – that I’m an entrepreneur.  It’s something that’s in your DNA and wont go away.  It makes you twitch with an energy that you just have to use or it’ll drive you insane.

My mother, bless her, could see a yearning inside of me to BE different, DO better and HAVE more.

So I read the book.  Then I felt ashamed.  I had no excuses.

Let me explain;  imagine you had put on a few pounds that you really needed to loose and were struggling to do anything about it.  You’d thought about running but had all the excuses why you couldn’t – you get out of breath too easily, your knees ache afterwards, can’t fit it into your daily schedule etc. etc. etc. Then you meet the people who ran a marathon despite recovering from cancer, running on prosthetic limbs, being confined to a running track because of agoraphobia.  Your excuses become embarrassing.

Excuses don’t stack up, especially to those people who have taken action.  I’ll say to you what my mother said to me: ‘It’s time to wake up to your potential and just do what you would love to do.’

Online Entrepreneurship Enables You to Easily Live Your Passions.

This one book proved to be a tipping point for me to take action.  You too will probably find your tipping point.  When you realise there’s just no other road you can travel.  If you are an entrepreneur in your core your time will come when you open your mind to possibility and to your own personal capability.

You’ll find your business ideas.  Ideas are out there, everywhere.  People who take initiative aren’t.  If you have great skill and passion in something it’s your duty to share it to give positivity back to the world.  The more successful, positive, abundant acting offline or online entrepreneurs there are out there the better our world will be.

If you’re not sure of your ability to do something in your business then learn it, invest in your own personal development, fill those knowledge gaps and create a team of people to plug the skills.  Being an entrepreneur is about taking action around your creativity.  You don’t need to be the best at anything to make something happen.  You do need to create a mindset that supports your journey.  Read, network, learn, create an environment that matches and attracts the world you want to live in and the life you want to experience.

You need two things to be successful in creating success and your own wealth: a burning desire and a willingness to act.  Online entrepreneurship can expedite that.  If you make a commitment to your future that’s based on your burning desire then the law of consistency will ensure that you follow through.   Again, it’s in your DNA, you can’t help but want to stand by your decision.

As in the book, I liken entrepreneurs to a honey bee who’s primary objective is to obtain nectar to make honey.  Whilst in the process of collecting nectar it’s involved in a much bigger purpose.  The cross pollination it creates from it’s work has a far more important outcome than the honey it makes.  It results in a beautiful, bountiful garden.  This is about creating wealth where everyone wins through the value brought to every purposeful connection.

I hope this short post helps at least one person to make a commitment to change and take inspired action towards offline or online entrepreneurship.

Please let me know if that happens.

Saz Baileys' Facebook Profile

One of the easiest ways to build your seed online business is through connecting with likeminded people on Facebook.   You can do this really easily through your Facebook personal profile.  There are benefits to using Profile/Page/Groups – I’ll  cover these in another post.

Many people find it difficult to separate the personal friend aspect of social networking from the wider use for business but once you get your head around correct implementation of privacy settings you can start to leverage the awesome potential of the most amazing networking environment you could hope for.

Working from your personal profile is a comfortable environment to get yourself started from.  People will connect with you if you genuinely want to share your personal value with them. Once you have built a bit of a following, and your confidence, you can think about starting a Facebook Group or a Facebook Page to help you communicate in a more structured way.

So let’s get your Profile page up to scratch and get you connecting with people who want to here you……

Hint: don’t mix your message.  Either do it properly or don’t bother using for business networking.

1. Image ::

RIght or wrong, your Profile image is the most immediate way that people will decide if they want to know you.  You should think about the brand you are portraying.  Is it professional, fun, quirky?  People want to connect with people. The image should be of you – not a logo.   You should look directly at the camera so they can see your eyes – it appears more genuine. Once you are established you should not change you Profile shot.  People will be used to your picture and potentially ignore something they are not expecting.

2. Comment Box ::

Put a real friendly message here to connect with people.  Be explicit about what you stand for.  Be simple and direct – you only have a few words to make an impression.

If you have a web site or Blog put your URL in here. Make it a clickable link so that people are more likely to click through it by including the http:// before the domain.  You can also drop the www and capitalise the individual words to make it cleaner and clearer to read.  E.g. http://SazBailey.com

3. Friends ::

You should be networking with people who are going to support your business growth in terms of potential customers but also influencers and evangelists in your field.  Now set your friends up to permanently display those who support your brand image to your visitors to re-enforce your commitment to what you are doing.

4. Opt-in ::

Your primary goal in creating a following – traffic to your Profile, Blog or Page must be to grow a list, a database of potential customers.  You can set an Opt-in form underneath your friends list to capture Emails of visiting Facebookers.

5. Info tab ::

Create a really compelling Bio.  This is your chance to let people hear what you are passionate about.  Come alive.  Let your voice be heard.  Don’t be afraid to stand for something.  You’ll be surprised that people want to be inspired.  Your either about something….or your just not.  You either know your own mind and have an opinion…. or you just don’t.  Your either someone worth my attention….or I’ll just pass you by.  Leap into my face and tell me why I should connect with you!

Make sure you complete the likes and interests to help people identify with you, making sure that plenty supports your brand.  Facebook uses these as key words to find you if people are looking for what you are promoting.

6. Profile updates ::

If you have something quick to share or Tweet use this to keep yourself present in peoples news feeds.  Remember  profile updates cannot be ‘shared’ so your post won’t go any further.  You can use a URL with http:// to enable people to click through to your Blog if you have one or other peoples content you’re syndicating.

7. Notes ::

If you want your content to be ‘shared’ across Facebook you should be creating Notes or if and when you get to Blogging, importing your Blog to your Notes.  I have other posts that go further into the huge leverage potential of Notes.

Go now and action any of the things that you haven’t done.  Come back and let me know if you changed anything and what  difference you think it makes to connecting with people.

If this has helped you please share it with other Facebook users.  Thanks so much.