What is your life purpose?

 

Guest Post by Aline Boundy of  Aline Boundy of Align with Your Purpose Align With Your Purpose       

 

 About Aline Boundy 

 

 

 

What is Your Life Purpose?

To be clear about your Life Purpose is to put down the foundation for future growth.
So the sooner you become clear, the better your results will be in EVERY area of your life.

But how do you actually find your purpose? And how do you go about Aligning With Your Purpose?

This is a question many people struggle with. For some of us, it means dealing with issues of
self-esteem which keep us from believing the potential we all have inside.
Others succumb to the belief that you have to go and get a job to pay the bills to look after
the family. And somewhere along the way, the dreams you had when you were younger fade away.
Life becomes a treadmill of get up, go to work, come home exhausted and in all probability
not feeling very fulfilled by your day.

And all because you’re feeling stuck or even trapped by commitments you have made to your family
…check out the following and see if any of them feel familiar.

Some Tell-Tale Signs That You’re NOT Aligned With Your Purpose:
• It’s hard to motivate yourself to get up in the mornings
• You are stuck in a job where you feel undervalued
• You are frustrated with yourself because you keep making the same mistakes over and over again
• You’d like to quit your job, but who will pay the bills?

And yet, you have a sense that there is more to life than just “making a living.” You long for
a sense of personal fulfillment, the feeling that you are doing something which makes a difference.

You can remember the dreams you had as a child, or teenager, when it was exciting to anticipate how
your life might turn out – where you’d go, who you’d meet and what you’d do.

You probably didn’t at that stage think of who you would be, or more accurately who you would become,
but you did have a sense of what you enjoyed doing and what gave you pleasure.

What if you were told that all the answers you need were already inside you? That you don’t have to
go on a quest fraught with danger in order to uncover them? And that it’s actually much easier to
connect with your source of inner guidance than you might have thought?

If any of these reasons resonate with you, but you don’t know where to start, check out the amazing
Happiness Workshop here.

ABOUT Align With Your Purpose

You deserve to live a life aligned with your true purpose, sometimes called your soul purpose, by:

• learning how to connect with your higher self

• trusting its messages as you face life’s challenges

• embracing change rather than fighting it or fleeing from it

• nurturing your dreams as you learn to dream big

• letting go of limiting beliefs and blocks

• celebrating every step along your path to purpose!

 

Remember, “The Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins with a Single Step.”
Are you ready to take that step today?

Categories: Purpose Tags: Tags: , ,

Purpose found

This video doesn’t seem to work in Google with Shockwave Flash, if you have trouble, try Internet Explorer or Firefox browser. IT is worth it!

This CBS story spoke to me as it is the funniest things that will help you find your purpose.  Whether it is what people say about you or whether you have this inner need to do certain things, it is possible to find what your purpose is and how you can fullfill it. 

Just the sound of the bat hitting the ball, got him off the couch and out back into the world.  Really there isn’t much more than that to say about such a wonderful story other than it was amazing he was grateful for his stroke because he was able to find his purpose in life.   Double wow!  Just awestruck.   

If you want to find out whether you have a purpose in life, start doing some of the exercises in the Be Your Own Boss quiz and start dreaming and meditating on the idea of change…..

Categories: Purpose

pressSync works!

ipad

ipad

 

An app to help you blog without being in the office is PressSync which I am using now with my phone!

All you need is free Wifi wherever you are and you can send your post up onto the website.

You can even upload a picture…. this looks like you have to only pick pictures from your library so take a live picture first and add to library then you can post.

Will have to add picture later
via PressSync

What is a perfect name for my business

 

a smiling businesswoman holding empty card

What is the perfect name for my new home business? Is there a reason I should pick a business name carefully? 

When it is time to figure out a name for your new home business sometimes it can be something that you agonize over and wonder am I picking the right name? The idea that once you file the business name with the local government means it is “written in stone” can sometimes hold you back from picking one. 

 

What’s in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;  

from Romeo and Juliet

Michael Fortin, in his book “10 Commandments of Power Positioning” says your business name should stick in people’s mind long after they have met you.  Make it unique. Have it reflect what you do in the name, be “Heather’s Wedding Wreaths” not “Heather B. Business”.  A person will remember a unique business name.  At the very least, have what you do in your name,  ABC Cleaners not ABC Enterprise.

With my husband’s Structural Engineering firm, we called it Peak Engineering because Maple Ridge is below Golden Ears which has two peaks.  Also, whenever we tell people our name, we say Peak, as in mountain peaks spelling since peek is another spelling. It seems fairly easy for people to remember the name spelling though Brian is usually called Brain.  Or maybe, he just thinks it is an appropriate name for him.

For my company, JGardnerMarketing, I took a business name that was my name + marketing since our local government registrars have stricter guidelines about business names.  I could not have called it The Business of At Home Business because it used the word business in it was too generic.  So, it is alway good to check with your local authority and see what type of business name they will not approve before you send in names for approval.  With our local government authority, you have to give them three choices for the business name and if they disapprove the first name, you’d better like the second and then third name.  So, don’t start printing up your business cards or letterhead until you get the business name approved by the government.

Also, if you pick a name too close to a trademarked name or  it seems to come close and the other business can sue you and make you change your name.  So, no Burger Queen or Starebucks for you!  You can do a search through local Yellow pages, Google, your local Business registry and domain search.

If you want to go put up a website using your Business Name, you had better check early before registering your business name with your local government.  It is not possible to have the exact same domain name in the internet and when you are looking at the world businesses up on the internet, the odds are good that there would be a ABCCleaner.com up on the internet already!  You don’t want to be known by the website domain of ABCCleaner2.com.

Michael Fortin in 10 Commandments of Power Positioning had another good test for picking a business name that people remember.  Create about 5 business names and tell some of your friends you’d like to know what they think of the names.  Ignore this advice (just kidding).  What is important is to see them or call them up in an hour or two and ask them to recite the names.  See which names stuck in their mind and that will give you some idea on the uniqueness of the business name.

When deciding on a Business Name for your Home Business remember to:

    • pick a business name unique to you
    • pick a business name that has what you do for a living in it as an action word –  Cleaning, Engineering, Marketing, Writing–  somewhere within the business name
    • check that the business name is not already being used on the World Wide Web
    • check with local government authority on their business name rules
    • test some business names by getting friends to remember the most memorable of a list after an hour
    • stay away from other businesses names who are already registered as they can sue you to change it ,if it is too close

In the end, what your business name is will not define your business in your customer’s mind. Who you are and how you deliver the services or product to them  will be the reason customers will return to your business.  Micheal Fortin’s book “10 Commandments of Power Positioning” has some other great ideas about keeping your business name in top of mind of your customers so you receive a copy when you sign up for The Business of At Home Business newsletter.

Is it possible to have a craft business?

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For those who are love audio, I have the audio recording of the post below:  🙂
[s3audio url=”http://jgardner.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Untitled.mp3″ /]
Can I make a living with a craft business?  Is it just a hobby or can I make it into a business I can do from home?  I love to do my crafts but can I make a living with it as the business? According to the Craft and Hobby Association press release in 2011, that 56% of U.S households crafted at least once during 2010 contributing to the 29.2 billion U.S. craft and hobby industry.  There are people out there doing crafts and selling their crafts. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average median pay in 2012 for a craft or fine artist is $44,380 a year or $21.34 an hour. There were 51,400 craft and fine artist in 2012 in the U.S.  who were self employed. It is possible to make a living as a crafter. But how? 

Heather

Heather was a grandmother who loved making wreaths for Christmas and her family wedding celebrations.  However, her grandchildren came first when spending money on them she would not buy supplies for her crafting.  As her living costs went up, she thought she would have to sell off her crafting supplies.  Before she decided to do that, she would splurge on making table wreaths for her granddaughter’s wedding.  Well, ladies came up to her saying how amazing her wreaths were and could you make some for my daughter’s wedding. How much would they cost, her friend said. She took her name and she said would phone with the cost in a week. Well, she went home all in a tizzy wondering what were her costs and could this be a potential craft business to make more money!  More about Heather next time. 

Icraftopia.com has done this wonderful infographic detailing the potential of the craft market either selling crafts below. Can you see the potential?  For more information on the potential of a craft or artist career, check out the Bureau of Labour Statistics facts on artists.

2012 State of the Craft Industry
Courtesy of: iCraftopia.com

 

Want to Change your Job?

stress business at computer

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Are you tired of working at a job you don’t like? Do you wonder if there is some other work  I could do that I would enjoy working at ?  Then you should acknowledge that you want to change and find out what can make you happy in your life.  One way to start looking at your life and how to change your life is to look at what are your passions in life ?

For example, if you won the lottery and you had won enough to cover living expenses, what would you do every day?    Now, people are not designed to lie around all day sleeping so don’t say “nothing.”  What do you get a thrill from doing?  What leaves you satisfied after you do it. What gives you a rush of adrenalin or euphoria after finishing a  “job well done”.

We all have things we are passioniate about that makes us happy.  What do you love to do?  Just think about the things you love to do (forgetting about how to monetize it or work at it).

For example, for myself I love to paint and draw. I have been doing it since I was little. It is a passion. I get a rush of good feeling while I am in the process figuring out what colour goes where and how I can make a colour that can be put in painting to give the illusion of a reflection. For me, the fun of painting is the process of exploring how to make paint create the illusion of real life. Once the artwork is done, i am happy it is done but the process of creation is what creates happiness within me.

So, for you, what do you love to do?  Be general about your life, for example, I love to be with my grandchildren or be specific, I love to cook.

Think about your life

Have you ever sat quietly for an hour and thought about your life? Just sitting in a quiet room and asking yourself where am i in my life, am i happy and if not, how can I change things so I am happier will help you to make that change.  If you do that every week, you wil get closer to creating that change.

Ask yourself these questions

Ignoring what the work would be to monetize your life,  just ask yourself these questions:

    • What would be your ideal life?
    • What would you do in an ideal day?
    •  How much money do you need per month?
    •  How many hours would you work?
    • What other activities would you do in the day?
    • Would you travel and how often?
    • How would you help your family and friends and even the world?

If you have an idea on what you are passionate about and you can define what an ideal day would be for you in and  ideal life then it becomes a vision or goal to start thinking about and what will be the strategy to get you there.

Take the free Be your own Boss quiz and see whether you can work out what is your ideal life.

Grow Your Business

 

mature businessman reading newspaper

Fred had a successful consulting service serving many clients in his community. He enjoyed his days in his home office but he was finding that he wasn’t spending the time with his family as much as he wanted to do. He hadn’t had a vacation in a year and he wasn’t sure he could be away from his home office without his clients being angry.

He took the time one day to look at his options for decreasing his workload while maintaining his lifestyle.
He could:
1. Hire and train an employee to help with client related documentation.
2. Partner with another consultant in his field sharing some of the workload while getting a “finders fee” for sending the work to the sub-consultant.
3. Find a support desk for his office administration who do all the office paperwork leaving him free to do the consulting.
4. Increase his consulting work by marketing his services on the internet to companies in other communities and setting up a virtual business with lots of automation to reduce his time and expenses in maintaining a home office. He would have to think “outside of the box” as it would be a new way to market his services.
Fred decided that spending time with his family was a high priority for his lifestyle so he put all four ideas into action by getting advice on resources available on the internet to help him decrease his workload while increasing his revenue. He hired and trained a personal assistant for his home office knowledgable in his consulting work. He paid for virtual office support and he got training in how to sell his consulting service on the internet.
If you are wanting to move your business onto the internet and international community, you should subscribe to The Business of At Home Business newsletter for tips and resources.

Categories: Fred's Story Tags: Tags: , ,

Be my own boss?

Businessman tired and confused

Businessman tired and confused

Have you thought of starting a business but have no idea what you want to do?  

Is it possible that you could make income from physical work? Have you done physical work before in your life? Do

you feel the most satisfied and content when you are outside working in the sun? Are you tired of the commute to a desk job?

Have you always been good with your hands doing repairs and services around the house when others in the family don’t have the time or energy?  

Bob was tired of his 3 hour commute to the office and the office politics so when he got laid off from work he

thought “is there anything else I could do?  I have some unemployment benefits for a few months and the spouse is

bringing in some money.  Why don’t I see if I can make a go of handyman services? I live in a suburb where most

people go into the city and the only time they can do house repairs or chores is on the weekend.”  

I should look into:  

  •    local handyman services already in my town
  •    how many customers I might have for my service
  •    What could be the unique selling point for my business
  •    What would be the costs of starting up and creating awareness for the new business
  •    Was there any local town bylaws and government certification needed for a handyman service.

He had some research to do before he started the new business and we will follow along as he does in the next

installment.

Subscribe to The Business of At Home Business newsletter for advice and resources in starting a home business.

Categories: Mindset Tags: Tags: , ,

Think like an entrepreneur

Phrenology Brain

Phrenology255x300

Gaining control of your mind is the most challenging but also the most rewarding thing you can possibly do. Why? Because once you learn how to direct your mind, you can guide it to help you achieve anything that you fully commit to.

You do this through mind conditioning. I also like to call it mental programming. Everyone has been programmed to behave in a certain way. Some people have been entrepreneurs their entire lives. They were programmed for this type of lifestyle a long time ago. Since you were programmed with the job mentality, you are going to have to reprogram your mind so that you think like the entrepreneur !

What exactly does this mean? It means that you think of yourself as powerful and resourceful.

 

  • You see yourself as someone who can overcome fears and limitations.
  • You are willing to do what it TAKES to succeed rather than doing what is comfortable or convenient.
  • You take control of your mind so that when challenging situations do arise, you can ignore that voice of worry and summon your voice of strength.

 

 

How? Through repetition.

Repetition is the first law of learning and there are literally thousands of authors and speakers out there who are more than willing to share their stories with you. The more you listen to their stories and apply the concepts to your life, the greater the change you can make in your life.

So take action today and start reading about successful entrepreneurs and the challenges and triumphs they had in their business!

To find out more about being an entrepreneur, feel free to try the Be Your Own Boss quiz, find out more here.

Subscribe to The Business of At Home Business newsletter to find out about resources and ideas for a home based business.

Categories: Mindset Tags: Tags: , , ,