Being a leader is maybe not something you have thought about when you work at home alone.Surely, being a leader is only something you need to do if you have employees!However, if you think that learning how to be an effective leader is something only other people need to worry about, think again.Whatever your goals are, achieving success is all about leadership and personal growth, and if you choose to ignore this important skill you are shooting yourself in the foot.
When I was a lecturer, I occasionally designed courses in personal development subject areas, and then later when I became a life coach I sometimes wrote training materials. A site I have always found very useful is Mindtools. In recent years, this website has developed even further, and is now a marvellous resource of you are looking for career change training or need to develop your management skills.
As well as free articles, a free newsletter and other free resources, Mindtools offers some very exciting Self Study Courses including the following subjects:
How To Lead: Discover the Leader Within You
Design Your Life
Personal Development Plan Workbook
Career Booster Workbook
Life Plan Workbook
Get It Done!
If you’re worried whether these courses are effective, Mindtools offers a full money-back guarantee for 365 days after purchase!
Mindtools also offer a career coaching service here
I heartily recommend the Mindtools website if you need some career change training or development.
Of course, I also offer a full career coaching service at my website here .
I was just sitting at my desk, looking out of my window at our very gloomy, wet, English weather, and I came up with my blog post for today: Stuff To Do On A Rainy Day!
If you don’t have to go to a job, then being at home can look a bit dull on a day like today. These are my list of great things to do on a rainy day:
While it’s on, don’t miss the Olympics - there is nothing so cheering on a grey day as seeing your countryman win a medal! I find it inspirational. And even when we are disappointed in our hopes, there are so many amazing personal achievements and breakthroughs going on across the whole Olympiad, you can’t help but be cheered by the smiling faces of those who do win!
Clear some clutter - if you’re stuck indoors, it’s a great idea to clear out a few cupboards and throw away stuff that you don’t use, don’t like, or is broken. You might even find you can make a bit of money by selling your stuff on Ebay! You will find that clearing out clutter has an amazing effect on the way you feel. Every time you see that cleared cupboard, room or desk, you will feel less cluttered in your head as well, and ideas may come to you that you couldn’t think of before.
Read a book - reading exercises the brain and can be extremely uplifting, depending on the subject matter of course. Why not use the time to get round to some of those self help books you’ve wanted to for so long? Get some ideas from the following: Inspirational Books
Do Some Surveys and Get Paid! Filling in surveys can be a great way of earning a little extra money. While you won’t get rich, it can certainly be a welcome addition to your income. Go to this page of my website for a few ideas: www.wealth-city.com/paid-surveys.html
Start a home business! OK, this might not suit everyone, but if you’re feeling fed up with your present situation and want to start something new that you could really get your teeth into, you could be earning a full time income within two years. My website will give you plenty of ideas, and you’ll get a free motivational newsletter for joining as my affiliate too: www.wealth-city.com. If you’re not quite ready to do this, then why not sign up to my free home business newsletter and think about it for a while? You’ll find the sign-up link on the left of my website.
It doesn’t really matter what the weather is doing, you can always find things to do that are exciting, inspirational and self-motivating.
Whatever you find to do on a rainy day, don’t forget to have fun!
If you’re unsure about whether to join Success University, then you need to read the information below. If you’ve never heard of Success University, but you’re looking for online personal development classes, you really must read this!
I was recently reading the monthly newsletter that SU sends its members through the post every month. I happened to look at the back page and I was so inspired it made me want to sign up all over again! So please forgive me for copying in full the back page of this newsletter - giving you all you need to know about Success University:
Company Overview
Success University became the #1 most popular personal development website on the Internet in its first year in business. Now, in just three years, over 70,000 students from 175+ countries around the world have enrolled.
Success University has been developed with one thing in mind… to raise the level of human potential around the world.
Success University brings you the most advanced online courses on SUCCESS ever assembled. As a student, you will discover the secret attitudes, techniques, methods and strategies that, when applied, will skyrocket your success in virtually every area of your life. For less than a cup of coffee a day, you will be able to make a profound shift in your relationships, your finances, your health and physical well being, sales and marketing skills, and much more.
You will learn from over 50 of the most amazing minds on the planet including Zig Ziglar, Jim Rohn, Brian Tracy, Les Brown, Cynthia Kersey, Denis Waitley and many more who collectively have helped millions of people achieve astounding levels of success.
Our Mission
To deliver success education to more people than any other company in the world.
Our Values
Integrity - We do what we say
Learning - We believe that the key to success is the power of applied knowledge
Leadership - We are committed to inspiring, empowering and influencing the world to achieve its highest potential.
Customer Value - We create lifetime customers by going above and beyond to give the absolute highest value of education possible.
Recognition - We appreciate outstanding individuals by rewarding those who further their growth and success and the growth and success of others.
Passion - We are committed to living life to its fullest.
Attitude - We remain positive, upbeat and always optimistic.
Dedication - We fight for what is right and never give up on our dreams.
Creativity - We always find a way to succeed… To improvise, adapt and overcome
Achievement - We aspire to the highest level of excellence in all areas.
Our Vision:
With over one million students worldwide, Success University will be the most dominant company in the personal development industry. Through our values and mission, we will make a positive shift in the world.
So, if you want top class online personal development classes and videos, monthly dvds and cds, and/or a powerful money-making opportunity, you can sign up here. For a 14 day free trial, click here.
Here’s my latest article on overcoming fear of failure:
Fear of failure is often the very thing that will cause people to fail. In fact, much of the time, it stops us from even starting a project.
While this fear will keep us from success, it also prevents us from enjoying life in the way it should be enjoyed.
Why do we have such fear, and why is it so debilitating?
Fear of failure has often been developed over a period of time and may originally have been triggered by a need for acceptance and approval from those who are important to us.
When we are young, we all need this acceptance, but people who receive little praise for their efforts or have had constant negative feedback while growing up unfortunately learn that no matter how hard they try, it will never be good enough. As adults, any potential project seems doomed before it’s even started.
This lack of self belief feeds on itself, and many people become reluctant to try anything new and they can become trapped in an ordinary and unfulfilled life.
Fortunately, no-one has to stay with this mind-set and it is possible for anyone to overcome their fear of failure. The seven steps below are a starting point.
Today I’m going to post an example of one of the emails in my free affiliate newsletter.
This newsletter is offered to any affiliates who sign up under me for any of the affiliate programs I have listed at the bottom of this post.
Instead of the usual practical advice (which you can find in your program - or in my other newsletter available on my website), this newsletter offers my experience as a life coach to give you motivational tips and support that will really help you to make that commitment to your business and encourage you to keep going.
Running a home business on your own is a real challenge - my newsletter allows you to have the help of a life coach, without actually paying for one! I also am always available for questions from any of my affiliates.
Here’s one of the emails you will receive:
I want to address something that happens to a lot of affiliate marketers when they first start up their business.
Overwhelm.
It happened to me when I started, and I’ve heard so many other newbies talk about it too!
So - you are not alone if you are feeling overwhelmed right now.
If you have joined more than one affiliate program, you will be receiving several emails, sets of instructions, training letters and lots of helpful practical advice. This is all very positive, but it can feel like you are being bombarded with advice on what to do next and difficult to know where to start.
Even if you’ve only joined one program, it can still feel like you have a long way to go in order to achieve success with it.
What tends to happen is this: You go from one set of instructions to another, try out a few things, wonder whether you should be doing something else, and go off to do that, only to find you need some other action or tool in place first, so you give up on that, try something else, wonder how you’ll ever get the hang of it and then find you’ve spent several hours doing very little.
Sound familiar?
The trouble is, you feel you should be doing everything at once, and in the process, end up doing nothing very effective at all.
If you are feeling like this, STOP.
Breathe.
Relax.
Breathe again.
OK. There is a way to stop feeling overwhelmed and actually start being effective.
It’s called FOCUS.
At the beginning it’s very easy to be distracted by all the information that is coming to you. However, it is important that you DON’T try and take everything in at once.
Decide on one or two things that you are going to do for, say, the next week or fortnight. This might be learning a specific way of marketing and putting it into action. Concentrate on this until you have mastered it and then go on to something else.
Sometimes this means that you will have to ignore some good stuff that’s being sent to you. You don’t have to delete this or forget about it. Set up some subject folders in your email manager and put them in there, or if you’ve seen a useful website, put that into a favourites folder.
If your program gives you a step-by-step training system, then follow this in the order it’s given - and take your time over it.
There is no rush over this. An affiliate marketing business is a long term commitment. Take your time to do one thing at a time.
In the next email I will be giving you some advice on time management, which will help you to set up a system of work that will allow you to organise your work, prioritise activities and keep focused.
In the meantime, stay focused, work on something that you feel is easy for you, or appeals to you. Take baby steps.
After all, you know what they say. You can’t eat an elephant all at once. You have to do it one bite at a time!
Have fun!
How many sponsors give you this much support?
You can have access to this affiliate newsletter by signing up with any of the programs below:
Hi. If you regularly subscribe to this blog, you may have wondered whether I’ve fallen off th edge of the planet - but I’m still here! Two weeks ago I realised I had gotten very tired and run down, so I decided to take some time off from work and do something completely different.
No - not sunning my self in the Bahamas or taking a cruise - and not even sitting on the beach on Southend - I decided to clear some clutter in my house and enjoy the sun in my own back garden!
When you run a business at home, it can be easy to fall into the trap of running yourself into the ground. Now, don’t get me wrong - I have a very big work ethic and I believe in pushing yourself quite hard sometimes to achieve your dreams, but sometimes things can get a bit on top of you, and whether you can afford it or not, you need a break. But if a proper holiday is out of the question, just doing something different can clear out the cobwebs and get you back on track.
Clearing the clutter in your house has an amazing effect on the brain too. You find that your head clears, ideas come to you - and so do opportunities.
I actually got back to my desk on Monday, but the reason I haven’t posted is because I had a lot of sorting out to do and a re-evaluation of my life coaching business. More on that in a later post, but the point is that a short break of doing something completely different gave my brain the space to come up with some new things.
So, if you are feeling tired and overwhelmed by your business, take some time off from work and clear some clutter - it really works! There are some book ideas below this post.
Are you spending so much time finding out how to achieve goals, that you’re not actually doing anything about it?
In pursuing goals and objectives, there are mainly three types of people: Those who make things happen, those who hope things happen and those who wonder what happened.
All of these people will see results, but only those in the first category are likely to see the results they want. People who make things happen are usually those who have a vision, focus on it and take the appropriate steps to reach that vision. No matter how much we visualise, make affirmations, plan, chant and/or feng shui our house, nothing will happen without action.
Today I want to share an email I just received from fellow life coach, Neil Crofts. Neil has a website called Authentic Transformation and he helps people to create authentic businesses, and create an honest income with integrity.
I have a great deal of respect and admiration for Neil, which is why whenever he sends me something, I usually take notice! Today he has sent a link to a free e-book about our relationship with money and the best way to make it work for us.
I have copied his email and the link below:
Money, Money Money
What is the deal with our relationship with money?
Most of us have extremely complicated ideas about money. Some are obsessed with getting more of it, some regard it as dangerous and bad. Some peoples lives are dominated by it, some simply cannot keep hold of it.
Many of us would like to have a bit more, maybe a lot more, but perhaps few of us understand how to have more without selling our souls. Many of us find it hard to understand how valuable we are.
Perhaps it is because money is such a deceptively simple way to put a price on someone’s worth that we find it so difficult.
My own relationship with money has been challenging and improves as I continue to learn and understand it better. I have experienced all of the above at different times in my life as well as real fear when there appears to have been a critical shortage.
As I have learned more about money, largely from direct personal experience, my fears are reduced and more easy to control.
Through my coaching and consultancy work with businesses I have discovered just how common these fears around money are. So I have put together another e-book to help people find a more balanced relationship with money.
If you have the home business blues at the moment, it could be because it’s July. I read somewhere that this is quietest month of the year for affiliate marketing and if your business is less than a year old it can be a trying time, wondering whether things will ever pick up. Here are some tips for staying motivated with your home business during the quiet period.
Work on a project, such as an ebook, that will be ready to launch as soon as things pick up.
Remind yourself of the reasons you began your business. Think about your goals and the lifestyle you will have when your business is successful.
Remember that the work you do now, although it is not showing results at present, will pay off in future months - so don’t be tempted to take too long a holiday!
Get in touch with what you love about this business - rekindle the excitement you had when you started by listing all the things you enjoy about it.
Take a day off to review your business; set some new goals; plan a new project; brainstorm about how you can improve your traffic and make more sales.
Spring-clean your business. Cancel any newsletters that you never read, clear out your inbox folders, and consider cancelling any paid-for programs that are not working for you (making sure, of course, that you have done everything possible to make it work first)
Think of all the skills, interests and experience you have and how you can use them in your business.
Read some motivational books (there are some suggestions at the bottom of this post)
Read biographies of people who are successful. This is extremely motivating, because you will find that they have all come through difficult periods, and you are not alone!
Join some home business forums and share your feelings with other people.
Don’t listen to any negative thoughts you may have. Reality is something you create from your thoughts, so make sure you are creating something positive.
Above all, remember that in a few weeks things will begin to pick up so just hang on in there and don’t give up!
People in the affiliate marketing business often give up just before their business was about to take off. Don’t be one of these people. The most successful people in the world all had to get through tough times.
If you want more ways of staying motivated with your home business, I offer a special service for everyone who joins an affiliate program with me: a free motivational newsletter delivered to your inbox every 3 days. Go to my website for details.
I am a writer and part-time life coach living in the UK.
I have been interested in personal development for many years and I am passionate about the power of positive thought and the law of attraction. I know, through experience, that we create whatever we believe in.
I started in network marketing towards the end of 2007, and I love the amount of support and motivational material there is available for people in this business, if they are prepared to look.
My main interest is history - particularly family history, and I write novels that usually have a historical twist.
Subscribe to my FREE newsletter full of tips for running an online home business - and get $147 worth of free gifts!
I am a writer and part-time life coach living in the UK.
I have been interested in personal development for many years and I am passionate about the power of positive thought and the law of attraction. I know, through experience, that we create whatever we believe in.
I started in network marketing towards the end of 2007, and I love the amount of support and motivational material there is available for people in this business, if they are prepared to look.
My main interest is history - particularly family history, and I write novels that usually have a historical twist.
