Author: Elisa Balabram (Page 17 of 21)
Last night I hosted a teleconference to discuss the 7 strategies I learned to take that helped me to start WomenandBiz.com, write and publish “Ask Others, Trust Yourself”, and most recently, write and submit a short story to a Literary Magazine.
The reason I’m so passionate about helping you end the year on a high note is because I had many end of the year frustrations in my life. For many years I wrote in my journal on December 31st, that I was publishing a book that year (and many other things), and it didn’t happen for a long time.
Before the end of the year, learn the actions you can take and the roadblocks you may need to clear, to set yourself up for success in 2013. I'll share 7 strategies to help you fine tune your vision, release blockages, and start taking steps in December to make your idea happen.
Painting by Sandy Ordonez
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving in the US. I encourage everyone, here and abroad to take inventory of your lives this year, and create a list of what you are grateful for.
In 2012, a lot of changes have happened in my life, some I created and some happened unexpectedly. I left an 8-year career in the non-profit sector to launch my own coaching and writing business. Both my sites were hacked and it took about 5 months to at least partially build them again. I got involved in a loving relationship that ended abruptly and it helped me to go deep inward and open my heart even further. I was able to visit Scotland for the first time and it was a wonderful and magical journey – it inspired me to write my second book. I started teaching an undergraduate Entrepreneurship class at Baruch College/Zicklin School of Business and it’s been a rewarding experience.
Who knew 2012 had these many surprises in store? Most people I know have experienced radical changes in their lives this year, some faced it better than others, but it seems like thankfully we are going to make it to 2013.
New York City and New York State have many resources to assist small business owners, and here you will find links to government initiatives to assist small businesses heavily impacted by Hurricane Sandy.
To learn about the Federal Government and the SBA's efforts to assist entrepreneurs in every state impacted by the Hurricane, please visit: http://www.sba.gov/content/2012-hurricane-and-tropical-storm-recovery-assistance-information
To learn about New York State efforts, please visit http://esd.ny.gov/StormRecovery.asp
To learn about New york City efforts, including loans, tax breaks and disaster unemployment assistance for the self-employed, please visit http://www.nyc.gov/html/sbs/nycbiz/html/home/home.shtml
I recommend those of you outside New York State, to check out the SBA website as well as your State's website for information on disaster relief.
During this time of changes, we may feel like we are losing our power. Those of us living in New York will recover from the shock and impact, we will get our power back, we will rebuild. Those less fortunate who lost their homes, but are safe, will rebuild as well. I feel blessed that I’m alive, and that although our building does not have heat, we do have power and I’m very grateful. I’m also grateful that the NYC buses are running and that slowly but surely the subways will start running again. Many friends and so many people in NY, NJ and CT are without power, and my thoughts go out to them, and I hope that it will all be restored soon.
Recently I complimented a young lady at work, and she started saying that she didn’t feel beautiful at all, that her friends were much cuter and that she’s always had low self-esteem. Someone else was close to us and she joined the conversation saying the same thing.
I understand a lot about low self-esteem. As I was growing up, I had curly brown hair and freckles. I dreamed of waking up one day with straight and brunette hairstyle. That was before flat iron hair tools, so I would wrap my hair around my head, and it would make it straight for a while, but not too long. It didn’t help it that when I was in first grade, older kids were singing a bad hair song every time I passed by, or that I didn’t know what to do with the curly hair. In addition, I always enjoyed sun bathing, which increased the number of freckles I had. Since there weren’t many people around with freckles, except in my family, I dreamed that someday I would have so many freckles they will join together and I’ll have a brown skin color and no freckles. I still remember when I was at school in 5th grade, and a boy asked me if I was really this ugly or if I had eaten a frog. Not a great self-esteem booster, is it?
The more you are able to love yourself, to appreciate who you are, to own your power, and to value yourself, the further your business can grow.
Here are a few ways to practice self-love:
- Create a self-love mantra you can tell yourself as many times as you like throughout the day, such as: I love myself; I love and appreciate all parts of myself; I accept and love who I am as I am.
- Take time to be in contact with nature: walk in the park; hug a tree; walk barefoot; visit the ocean; go hiking; visit a community garden.
- Start a success diary: list all of your major life accomplishments to date, and then continue writing daily successes. After you list the major successes, the daily updates don’t have to be huge! How about: paid the bills on time, arrived early to a meeting, did the dishes, wrote a blog post?
What do you do when chaos happens in your business? When unforeseen events crash what you’ve been creating for years, what do you need to do?
I have been going through a chaotic situation, as both my sites crashed a few weeks ago.
First I felt numbness and shock, not understanding why that had happened and how to proceed. Once that energy was moved, I started to research possible solutions. I’m glad that AskOthersTrustYourself.com is back up, while the other site is still going through maintenance and a re-visioning process.
A few weeks ago I was invited to attend a weekend for Reiki Masters and healers retreat in Cape May. I knew some of the people attending it but not all. I also knew that many of the attendees had attended other retreats together and were very close to each other. After I said “Yes, I’m attending it”, I felt the fear of feeling like a fish out of water.