As I was sharing the steps with you on Facebook, I noticed that I was motivating myself in the process. You see…I’ve been taking alot of personal growth courses over the last few years…a TON of them. Honestly? I love them! But I wasn’t implementing what I learned very well. And that didn’t feel very good.

So…I’m taking the exact same challenge that I’m sharing with you! Below are the three goals that I’ve chosen to work on in October. As I accomplish a step towards one of my goals, I’m going to post a picture and a few words describing what I’ve accomplished and how I feel.

My hope is that it motivates you to do the same. Ultimately? I’m hoping you guys hold me accountable.

Are you with me? Ok, let’s go! It’s Saturday, October 1st and it is officially the BEST time to get in gear. Leave me a comment to let me know how you did this weekend, ok?

See you on Monday!

Wendy’s To Do List for October

Clean and Organize My Office

1. Get some boxes and bags
2. Label Them for the things that are leaving
3. Start with the wedding books and pack them away

Exercise

1. Take inventory of all exercise CDs, tapes,etc and Determine ones to use
2. Gather all workout clothes and sneakers
3. Pack exercise bag and put by the front door (I have a GREAT gym at work with a DVD player! Duh!)

Organize Finances

1. Print out 3 months worth of bank transactions
2. Create a spreadsheet of all debts and obligations
3. Create a payment plan for each debt and scedule online bill pay payments

Here’s an example. Need to get your closet organized?

Step 1, find some bags or boxes.

Step 2, determine which bag/box will hold the “save for next season”, “donations” and “garbage” items, etc.

Step 3, block out the day and amount of time you plan to get it done. When you’re done with that, you will have a PLAN to complete your goal of cleaning out your closet!

Remember…feeling the joy of “completion” on each step will help motivate you to move on to the next. In fact…”completion” tells your spirit that its ok to move on!

Come on…you’ve got 3 days…I dare you to come up with your October plan before Friday!

The first step in re-evaluating your goals and dreams is to clearly define them. Really. Take out a notebook or journal and write your goals down and the steps you need to take to achieve them. You don’t get in the car and drive from one end of the country to the other without a map or navigational system, right? Making your life happen is no different. Create a plan, get an accountibility partner and MOVE!

Here’s a challenge for you…Write down all the goals you want to accomplish in October. Go small here…baby steps are ok. Take about 10-15 mins and write them all down on one sheet of paper and number each one. Once you’re done, go back over your list and choose 3 of them by circling the number you’ve assigned to it. Now? Start thinking about how you will tackle these three goals during the month of October. Your spirit will have no choice but to move toward them. Don’t believe me? Try it….

Ok, here’s another step to bring you closer to completing your goals. Write each one of the three you’ve chosen on a new, seperate piece of paper in your notebook or journal…one goal – one piece of paper. And for each of the three goals, write down three…no more and no less…small, simple steps you can complete in October to move you closer to completing that goal.

Tomorrow, I’ll give you another step…but for today? Just concentrate on three goals you want to work on in October.

Remember…most people are going to wait until after the holidays are over to make a move. Why wait? Be different!

Courtesy of Black Enterprise

I realized quickly that I may need to look “outside of the box” to find my next job. So I decided to “flip the script” and use some of the principles I teach my business coaching clients.

Write down all the things you are passionate about.

Write down all of the things you have learned how to do. These are your skills.

You now have what I like to call your “PTS” Profile.

Passion – Talent – Skills

It’s what you bring to the table when looking for a job or when thinking about starting your own business.

Make the list…you’ll be surprised at what you have to offer!

And then start looking at all the companies that can benefit from your career “toolkit”. It doesn’t matter if they have any job openings. You’re looking for a company that is “worthy” of the skills you offer…not the other way around!

Inc.com published an article by Lou Dubois recently, and shares several ways to organize your business using Google.  Organizing all the goodness you come up with when creating can be hard to keep track of.  When creating, multitasking will cut down on your creative power by clogging up your head with too much good stuff. (Probably some bad stuff too!)

I learned back in November of 2010 to download often.  (MTH2010)  Downloading often (doing a data dump of your head) and using Google to hold the information for you as described in the article is genius! Not only will you avoid clogging up your brain, but your office won’t be clogged up with paper and debris from your brainstorming session.

“At any given moment, your brain can hold no more than 5 to 9 items at once in short-term memory, as Merrill notes in the book. As you need more space (when multitasking) and try to remember more, your brain pushes items into long-term memory, until they are needed again. That process is far from foolproof.”

So stop…slow down and refresh. Release all that goodness you’ve come up with today so you avoid overwhelm and watered down ideas!

Until next time…

Aspire!

I’m excited to be helping and coaching all types of solo business owners now…not just wedding planners…and felt I needed to change the look of the website and blog to go along with it.

Also…I’ve gone back to school!  I’ve always had a passion for all things data…IT girl, tech-y, guru, computer nerd, etc. are all words that describe me.  So I’ve decided to go back to school to learn how to do it the right way.  I’ll be learning all about the things that go on behind the scenes of websites, databases and the internet and I look forward to sharing all of that with you!

In the meantime, look around and let me know what you think, ok?

xo
Wendy

When a new planner begins coaching with me, one of the first things we do is create an organization chart. This helps to paint a nicely compacted picture of all the different things that need to be done in her business.  We include all the positions/job titles in a traditional, small business and then we add the tasks that would be completed by each position.

Now, because you are flying solo (for now), your name will appear in every single section on this org chart.  I know…sounds like a lot of work…but realistically, you ARE the person who needs to do it all.  At least in the beginning.

The good news is, documenting it in this way helps to give you focus and clarity on what you need to do as a new business owner.

The second thing we do is to create a schedule of everything that needs to be done in a typical week. Blocking out chunks of time for similar tasks gives you the flexibility you need to work “on” and “in” your business which is just as important as doing “client” work.  For some new planners, this means including a regular 9 to 5 job.  Let’s face it, more than likely, you are starting your business by building it during evenings and weekends.  I don’t like to call it “part time” because if you are as ambitious as I think you are, building your wedding planning business is a 30-40+ hour per week job.  There’s nothing part time about that!  This schedule will also help you to make sure nothing is missed and that you stay on track with the goals you’ve set for your new business.

And finally, the third important first step in creating the framework of your new planning business is to create your business plan outline. Not ice I didn’t say, create your business plan.  It’s sounds so daunting and a little scary, I know.  Notice I said, “create your business plan outline”, not “write your business plan”.  Creating a formal business plan can be a long process.  I worked on mine for almost a year before I felt ready to launch my business.  But starting by creating an outline will give you the framework for a comprehensive and more traditional business plan, which is very important for any business.

Now?  The REAL work begins.  You have a framework for your business and now it’s time to put a plan into place.

What else are you struggling with in your business?  Have you setup your systems for when you get that first lead?  Join me on the next Before the Bride Q&A call and let’s talk about it.

You DO want to be ready BEFORE that first bride calls, don’t you?

The Before the Bride Business Planning System is a 10 step program developed to help wedding planners start their businesses the right way…to become business owners and not just hobbyists.  It comes complete with step by step exercises, worksheets and audio files to guide you in building a planning business that’s ready to accept new brides.  To get it, visit the services page at AspiretoPlan.com.

My mommy was SO classy!  I was missing her today so I thought I'd show you one of my favorite pictures of her.  

Red was her favorite color!

W~

Read on and get knowledge!

Have a great weekend!
Aspire to Plan!!

If you receive an email from a bride looking for packages and pricing information, how will you respond? Remember, this is part of the initial sales process so be intentional with how you respond.

The photo below illustrates the beginning of a flowchart for a client inquiry process. I use post it notes to create the boxes of the flowchart. Squares represent an occurrence of something or an action step that needs to be taken. Diamonds represent a decision that has to be made.

Here, I put them on the wall in my office. Sometimes I’ve had to move them to a big wall because there are so many steps. Using different color notes makes it fun too. Creating one similar to this for all your processes helps to operate your business in a consistent manner.

In any process you need to know three things:

1. What are you doing? (Taking a client inquiry with the intention of booking them as a client)
2. What are you trying to accomplish? Where are you going? (Schedule a get acquainted meeting)
3. How are you going to get it done? (Describe each step of the process in detail)

Each rectangle in the flowchart represents an area to create a standard response. By standard I mean one that is consistent with your brand and what you are trying to accomplish as part of your sale process. (More on the sales process in a future post.) Documenting your standard responses also allows you to create a process manual so that you can automate your systems for others in your company…like interns and assistants.

One of the processes I encourage all new planners to create right away is one for all new brides that book your services. This is MAJOR! Think of all the steps you will take them through during each of the planning phases, all the way through to the wedding day and after. Don’t be ad hoc about it…you’ll become known for how you do things in your business so make sure you have a solid process in place.

Begin with how you would want to be treated as a customer. Then look back at the last two or three customer service experiences you’ve had. What worked and what didn’t?

Creating processes and documenting them is one area that I go into “really” deep with my private coaching clients. I was used to creating systems and processes while in my corporate jobs over the years so I naturally prepared these when I was building my planning business. It’s one of the reasons I was so successful in the beginning, when it came to booking brides. Many of them told me that they felt at ease because my preparedness assured them they were working with a professional. First impressions are VERY important…what you do here can make or break you.

Do this exercise with every process in your business. Write it down and add it to your procedures manual. And when something doesn’t work, be sure to make adjustments and update your process accordingly.

These exercises and more are in my new report “Seven Critical Mistakes Aspiring Planners Make BEFORE They Book Their First Bride.” Get it by visiting the sidebar on my website today!

Until next time…

Aspire to Plan!!