Leadership

How Subliminal Affirmations Can Help Entrepreneurs

How Subliminal Affirmations Can Help Entrepreneurs

Inspiration, Leadership

It’s not woo-woo. If you think affirmations in general, or subliminal affirmations in particular, are in the outer edges of reality, prepare to be surprised.

Subliminals have a long history of use in marketing, and many scientific studies have validated their effectiveness. Positive thinking and affirmations have the power to transform thought patterns, lower stress, improve health.

Most importantly for business owners, it also increases productivity, critical thinking, and decision making. Many top performers in sports and business use affirmations. As Jennifer Lopez says, “your thoughts create your life”, and subliminal affirmations can help entrepreneurs achieve the mindset and confidence to succeed.

What are affirmations?

First, let’s clarify what I mean by affirmations. Affirmations are really just statements, or sentences, that are used to reinforce a message. Affirmations are meant to be empowering and encouraging. These can be general, like “I am successful” or “I have what it takes”. They can also be very specific, to address whatever challenge an individual is facing. So if there is some public speaking coming up, then a good affirmation is “I am capable of speaking in front of an audience and what I have to say is valuable.”

I will resist the urge to share the whole backstory of positive affirmations – which is tough for me, because I am a history geek. What is important to know is that this isn’t new, or New Age. Many people first learned about positive thinking in 2006 with the explosive popularity of “The Secret” documentary about the law of attraction. But 50 years earlier, Earl Nightingale recorded an essay called The Strangest Secret about the “truth” that “we become what we think about”. Fun fact – this album is the first to reach Gold status by selling over a million copies. Even earlier, Napoleon Hill published “Think and Grow Rich” in 1937. The power of positive thinking has ancient roots, seemingly discovered anew by each generation.

The Power of Positive Thinking

The books I mention above are just a few of the countless ones written over the years about the power of positive thinking. Many share anecdotal stories of high achieving individuals who credit affirmations for their success. 

Mindset doesn’t just impact productivity and creates success in business – it makes a difference to our physical health. Studies at Johns Hopkins in the US show that among people most at risk for heart disease, those with a positive outlook are 13% less likely to have a heart attack. In fact, there is a growing body of science supporting the link between our internal dialogue and outlook, with brain function and physical health. 

The most successful entrepreneurs I know are optimistic. It’s part of the job description.

Caterina Fake

Create the highest, grandest vision possible for your life because you become what you believe.

Oprah Winfrey

Whether you think you can or you can’t, you are right.

Henry Ford

Positivity breeds positivity.

Richard Branson

What are Subliminals?

Subliminals are messages directed for our unconscious mind to absorb. These may be a single image included in a video which our eyes don’t see, but the brain detects. Most commonly, subliminals are communicated through sound. Though the conscious brain hears music or nature sounds, the unconscious brain picks up messages being spoken in the background. This allows the information to bypass the logical, rational mind and access a deeper part of our brain processes. 

So subliminal affirmations are positive messages that are in the background, masked by music or some other soundtrack. But your brain is capable of absorbing the information, which makes this a powerful and effective way to transform attitude and outlook.

How Subliminal Affirmations Can Help Entrepreneurs

How Subliminal Affirmations Can Help Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurship can be lonely and isolating. Carrying all the responsibility and financial risk is a weight that can easily take its toll on our energy level. Which is why maintaining good health through self care, nutrition, and exercise must be a priority for every entrepreneur. But being fit and having vitality doesn’t mean that there are no doubts or insecurities. Being a business owner means dealing with many challenges, problems, and complaints. These carry their own weight and easily create uncertainty and indecision. This is how subliminal affirmations can help entrepreneurs. It is a passive way to transform our inner dialogue and support a healthy outlook. 

Are you a new entrepreneur? This affirmation is designed for you

5 Ideas for Using Subliminal Affirmations

Listening to subliminal affirmations on a regular basis can help guide thinking towards a positive mindset. Repetition is key. After all, you don’t expect to get fit after one visit to the gym. And you don’t learn a new skill by doing it once. So with consistency, over time, subliminal affirmations can transform your mindset. Here are 5 ideas for how to incorporate this into your daily routine.

Don’t listen while driving! These can have a very relaxing effect, and you want to be fully alert when behind the wheel.

  1. Listen while falling asleep
  2. Use headphones and listen when walking outside or on treadmill
  3. Play in the background while working
  4. Listen during touring tasks like dishes, meal prep, laundry
  5. Include in a mindfulness or meditation practise

Conclusion

There are no absolutes in this world. Yes, positive thinking is powerful, and it works. Subliminal affirmations are effective for helping to align the internal dialogue of our brains to the goals and actions we want to achieve. But the reality is that we all have crap days. And affirmations can’t erase challenges to our physical and mental health. Nutrition, sleep, and other aspects of self-care are critical for everyone – especially entrepreneurs who have big plans for their business. 

Want to improve your business? Listen to this to level up your mindset.

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5 signs you need to spend more time working on your business

5 signs you need to spend more time working on your business

Leadership, Operations

These 5 signs you need to spend more time working on your business can make the difference between long term success, or failure. Entrepreneurs juggle a lot of responsibilities, so it’s tough to stay balanced. It can be a challenge to make the time to review results, see the bigger picture, and check in with yourself. But it’s so important, and this post explains why. 

1. Books are not updated

Bookkeeping may be your idea of a good time, but it is a critical part of running a business. Because without updated financial reports, how will you know key metrics like profitability, and revenue growth? 

Futhermore, if books are not updated, it makes it hard to know what tax remittances to make, what bills need to be paid, and what invoices haven’t been collected. This creates stress, losses, cash flow problems, or even business failure. Given that government tax agencies have extensive power and can even close a business, clearly bookkeeping should not be neglected. Make bookkeeping easier with technology. When I ran my franchise system in Canada, I used QuickBooks. In the UK, I use and recommend FreeAgent. All bank transactions are updated so there is no manual entry. It makes reporting and tax filings so easy, with very little administration time. 

Ask yourself:

Are bank statements reconciled?

What is the status of tax filings for the business ? Remitting sales tax, payroll tax, and tax on profits? 

Did I file my own personal taxes last year?

Are my business finances separate from my personal finances?

2. Website is out of date

Clearly, most companies have websites. While for some it may be more information, for others it is transactional. For businesses that rely on a website for orders, sales, or bookings is more likely to be updated and maintained on a regular basis. However, for other businesses, a website is essentially an online billboard. It’s just a way to present information, and not directly tied to revenue. Therefore, it’s less of a priority to when spending time working on your business.

However, even if your company website isn’t how you make your money, keep it updated. One, it’s a powerful way to connect with your audience. This is how they may find your location or your contact details. Two, it’s an important step of the decision making process. If I see great content on social media, I click through to the website to learn more about the product or service. If the site is outdated, or inaccurate, or has a 404, this doesn’t build trust, and this can negatively impact my decision to purchase. Sometimes, starting a new site from scratch is faster, easier, and less money than cleaning up the code, content, and plugins of an old site that hasn’t been updated for awhile. The IONOS website creator makes it easy.

Losing a website - a true story

Here is an example. Years ago I knew a small business owner who got so busy servicing customers that he didn’t spend any time working on his business. Administration, marketing, website maintenance – it was all ignored. He didn’t do it, and he didn’t outsource it to someone else to handle. And then, he hit a slump. Projects were completed, so he needed more customers. But there were no calls or emails coming in. That is how he realized that his website was down. Not only that, but his domain name had expired, and a competitor had purchased it. So when people searched for his company name, they were directed to a website owned by a direct competitor. 

 

Ask yourself:

Is the copyright year on the website accurate?

Does my website have current prices and services?

Are names, addresses, contact details accurate?

When were internal and outbound links last checked?

What is the site speed?

How is the site ranked for SEO and SERP?

3 - No marketing campaign

Are you super busy with your current workload? Great! But things change fast. In order to avoid a revenue drop, keep the marketing activity flowing. Also, keep track of results, so that you know what marketing channel and message is most effective. It’s best to review marketing results from past quarters and years to see not just how many people responded to your ads and outreach, but how many became customers. Because who knows what this analysis will reveal? You may find that what worked well before is not yielding the same results. 

Ask yourself:

Do I know my customer avatar?

Am I reaching my customers in all the right places, and with the right frequency?

What is the cost acquisition for new customers?

Which marketing channel gives the best return on investment?

How does the conversion rate compare to last quarter, or last year?

Download free marketing tools

4 - Unanswered emails and messages

In a perfect world, all channels of communication would be clear and empty by the end of every business day. However, that isn’t realistic for most entrepreneurs. But if your unanswered emails and messages are piling up each day, and spilling over into new weeks and months, this is a sign to spend more time working on your business. 

After all, many entrepreneurs juggle it all – sales, support, and marketing. But more established business owners have usually delegated these tasks. So here may be front line staff to respond to customers, and a social media manager to deal with DMs. Amazing. However, having a team means questions for the boss, and a bigger business means more communication. Therefore, what is going on with your email and messages is an opportunity to set up processes and systems to keep up with communication and administration.

In our digital online world, we don’t often pick up the phone and make a call. But when we do, we expect a response. Don’t send your customers (or potential customers!) into the void of voicemail. Answering services are professional, prompt, and can use the language and messaging you want your customers to hear. I recommend Ruby to my clients in the United States, and in the UK I love the services of MoneyPenny.

Ask yourself:

How long do customers wait for a response?

Am I responding to emails at night, or on weekends, when I could be more present with family, friends, and fun?

Do I use technology to make communication faster? Auto responders, automations, pre-written responses?

Have I ever missed something important because it was buried in email, WhatsApp, or DMs?

5 - No strategy

The last of these 5 signs you need to spend more time working on your business is not having a strategy. Basically, this means winging it week to week, quarter by quarter, without a specific strategic plan. By all means, this doesn’t have to be polished, pretty, or posted on a wall. It can be a sketch in a journal or bullet points on your phone. The point is, do you have a roadmap to follow to direct your business activities?

After all, it’s easy to get into the groove of managing things day by day.  The administrative tasks of regular operations like fulfilling orders, managing staff, or dealing with suppliers is a busy schedule. And it can be exciting, and feel satisfying. This is ok for a little while. But as weeks and months slip by without spending time on strategy and leave your business lost and without direction. 

Ask yourself:

Is revenue and profits reviewed regularly to compare from quarter to quarter, and year to year? 

Do we track performance metrics that are meaningful for our business and customers? Things like quality, response time, delivery time, satisfaction levels, referrals, retention?

What are specific goals for the coming year?

Why these 5 signs matter to your business

Clearly, bookkeeping, website, marketing, communication, and planning are all important elements of working on a business. If these are all up to date, it’s a sign of a well managed business. However, when these activities are set aside to mostly deal with day to day stuff, it can quickly pile up into a mess that creates problems. As shown above, not spending time on a business can lead to big problems, like losing a domain name! 

Therefore, step out of the flow of daily operations and work on your business to get better performance and profits. For more direction on what to focus on, that this quick 2-minute quiz to get personalized feedback. 

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journaling tips for entrepreneurs

Journaling Tips for Entrepreneurs

Inspiration, Leadership, Reflections

It seems like journalling is everywhere, and for good reason. Studies prove that people who keep a journal experience many positive outcomes. These benefits include improved mood, lowered blood pressure, and less anxiety. This sounds great as a business owner, but I believe journalling is more than that. It’s a practise that, when done right, can increase success as an entrepreneur. To gain these benefits, read on for these journaling tips for entrepreneurs.

Journalling Benefits for Entrepreneurs

The benefits of journalling for entrepreneurs are widely recognized. Many successful founders credit keeping a journal as an important part of their journey. And this isn’t new. For centuries, creatives and entrepreneurs have kept journals. Prolific inventor and artist Leonardo da Vinci left behind about 50 notebooks of observations, notes, and ideas. Scientist Marie Curie kept journals, which are now stored in a lead box – because they are still radioactive. And arguably one of the most famous journals was kept by businessman and old-school VC investor Samuel Pepys. 

I’ve been journalling since I was about 8 years old. Of course, the methods and purpose of journalling changed throughout the years. When my children were small and I was neck-deep in building a brand and franchise system, my journal was both a comfort and a coping strategy. Some days, I journalled to celebrate wins, and record what I felt great about. Often, I used my journal to process thoughts during challenges. It was helpful to write out my feelings and rationale when making big decisions in my business. These are just some of the journalling benefits for entrepreneurs.

Here are 3 strategies for using a journal to increase success as an entrepreneur.

Separation between personal and business

Entrepreneurs generally have few boundaries between life and work. Journalling allows for more separation between personal life and business. A journal is a safe space to express feelings and frustrations. Being a business owner means keeping on a game face for staff, suppliers, and customers. It just isn’t professional to vent about staffing problems to clients. This is a key cause for the loneliness of entrepreneurship.

Of course, there is the love and support of family and friends. But that has limits. Because really, how often do they want to listen to you blather on about the same issues? Start a journal, and have a private place to vent. Write about all the frustrations of the day. It’s a free-style stream of consciousness. There is no need to explain yourself. You can write about the same problem again and again, without judgement. Then you can leave it behind and be present with family and friends. This allows for more separation between personal and business, which is very healthy. After all, anything that supports your mental health will increase your success as an entrepreneur.

“The starting point of discovering who you are, your gifts, your talents, your dreams, is being comfortable with yourself. Spend time alone. Write in a journal.”

Robin Sharma Tweet

Stress management

Let’s face it, being the boss is hard. There are challenges from customers, staff, and suppliers. Things don’t always go to plan. People make mistakes, and technology fails. As the business owner, it’s usually up to you to put things right. Expressing thoughts and emotions provides a release of anxiety and worry. Using a journal to process feelings about what is going on in business is an effective way to cope with stress.

Entrepreneurship can be brutal. In fact, many founders have shared stories of the burden of responsibility that comes from starting and growing a company. And for every celebrated successful business, there are countless stories of founders struggling to pay the bills and dealing with overwhelm. Start a journal and have a new strategy for stress management. Also, a 2018 study showed that expressive writing about stressful or emotional events improved physical and psychological health.

Insight and understanding

Good business management involves reviewing performance metrics and reports. Journalling isn’t a replacement for that. It’s a way to level up and deepen your understanding. Analyzing reports is an important part of working on your business. However, these don’t show what actions and events contributed to those numbers. Start a journal and track the thought processes behind decisions, and the timeline of changes. This gives you insight and understanding into what is driving the results you are seeing.

In addition to recording behaviours and actions, also share your feelings and hopes. For example, if you decide to change a supplier, note down all the reasons why you are making the switch. Also, write about why you selected the new provider, and what benefits or advantages you hope to gain from the new relationship. This is an effective method for tracking the outcome of decisions you make in your business.

3 Steps to start a journal

Next, here are 3 steps for how to start a journal 

First, select what method of journaling works best for you. There are many options. After all, the global market for paper notebooks is USD 21 billion, and still growing. You can pick your favourite colour from the line of classic Moleskine books. Or you can choose something specific for entrepreneurs, like this intention setting and gratitude journal. If you want to shop local to support a small business, there are options on Etsy and local bookstores.

As much as I love beautiful notebooks, there are many benefits to choosing a digital journal. Penzu is a secure online journal that gives you options to personalize fonts, colours, and backgrounds. There is a free version, and paid plans

Once you’ve chosen what kind of journal you want to keep, here are ways to get started.

1. Schedule time

This may seem obvious. But adding a new activity to your routine requires intention. Until journalling becomes a habit, schedule time for it. Though journaling doesn’t have to be daily, consistency is key. Think about what makes sense for you and your schedule. For example, if Fridays are really busy in your business, it may not be realistic to expect to make time to journal. However, to leverage your journal to increase success as an entrepreneur, aim for at least once a week. Block 30 minutes in your schedule and give yourself that space to record, reflect, and vent in your journal.

2. Set goals

Take a moment to think about your intention for journalling. Is this mostly a way to manage stress? Or is it more important that you record your decision making process? Setting specific goals for journalling gives you more purpose. This is motivating and helps you form this new habit. Also, be flexible. It is possible that you’ll start out expecting to use your journal in a certain way, and it will evolve. Moreover, be open to how journalling will change and adapt over time.

3. Categorize

Structure your journal for your future self to use to reflect, review, and analyze. Use categories to make it easier to access information in your journal. If using a digital, online journal, then use titles for entries so they can be searched. For example, create an entry for “New Ideas,” one for “Marketing,” and another for “Customer Service.” Journal on these topics and date each one, so your future self can review thoughts, ideas, and decisions in these categories. If using a notebook, use post-its to separate the book into sections. Alternatively, have separate notebooks for different topics.

Journaling tips for entrepreneurs

Learning how to journal is more than developing the daily habit. Journalling is a powerful way to increase success as an entrepreneur. How? I’ll explain.

Essentially, it’s an opportunity to review and reflect. Journalling has the immediate benefits of expression and processing. However, the real power of a journal is to increase success as an entrepreneur. Incorporate reading your past journal entries as part of of working on your business.

Certainly, you may not want to read every line of a stream of consciousness about that time an employee makes a big mistake. However, if you have titled and categorised your entries, then you have valuable information to help you improve your business. Scan over the past weeks and months, and see what patterns emerge. For example, if you notice that you write about your bookkeeping stress every month, it may be time to upgrade your software, processes, or hire help. Or if there are many entries about staffing stress, then revisit your hiring process, training program, or performance management system.

Overall, starting a journal takes some structure, planning, and time. However, there are the immediate benefits of stress management and better separation of work and home. But the real power comes from being intentional with your journal writing and revisiting your entries to spot ways to improve your business. And as business owners, every opportunity to increase productivity and profits are a good thing.

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