The Art of Business: 4 Sacred and Juicy Steps to Having it ALL

THE ART OF BUSINESS:
4 SACRED & JUICY STEPS TO HAVING IT ALL
{..it’s not what you think!}

Article by Yeshe Chodron
Photo Credit: Dasha & Mari
Magazine: Issue #20

4 Steps to Having It All

Can you believe that we’re still being told that women can’t have it all?!?! Maybe you’re even telling this to yourself. No worries, Dear SiStar, these sacred and juicy steps are a sure­fire way to get you moving into that place where you actually can have it all, in exactly the way you like.

STEP ONE

Define YOUR “all”. Clear away the influences, voices and advice of others. Your “all” is YOUR “all”! NO ONE else can define this for you, my Love. Not even societal views can truly define your personal “all”. When you have it, record a list of what makes up your “all”. When your list is done, connect with each list item, through your emotional body. Get intimate with your wishes. Feel them so deeply that you know where each one lives in your physical body.

STEP TWO

Discover what is really standing in the way of you having your all. This is the “tricky” step. I’m inviting you to discover what your “wounded self” is worried about, when it comes to having your all. No analysing allowed here. Rely on the the wisdom of your wounded self. Dig deep, on this one.

STEP THREE

Deliver the gift of your all, to your Divine. Take everything that you’ve gathered in steps 1 & 2, and allow the complete picture to emerge through your first eye of clear vision and intuition. Verbalize this aloud, via your heart center, to your Divine. Be clear. Be honest. Be emotional. Be whatever you are. Then, place this gift into the loving hands of your Divine. Open up to gratitude. Stay in gratitude for step 4.

STEP FOUR

Decide on three simple baby­steps you could take toward having your “all”. Allow your Divine to inspire you here. Add a reasonable due­date for each one, and enlist an accountability partner to keep you on track with completing your list.

Congratulations! You are now powerfully poised for having it all.

The Truth Behind Success: The Long Range Goal

An Entrepreneur's Journey

You have a dream, a goal, a deep desire…  You see yourself as a leader in your industry, or fully healed, or mega-successful with a huge business!

Then….reality sets in—long hours, frustrations, highs and lows, slow growth—now what?!?

While it is fine, even encouraged to develop a long range vision of where you are going, you also need to live in the moment—in your reality. For starters, step back and really look at yourself.  You know where you want to be, so now you need to honestly see where you are at this point in time.

Look at your strengths.  Be honest; too many times we sell ourselves short.

Make a list of your strengths—see it and believe it!  Now, for the not so fun part of introspection, take a look at yourself and see your weakness or rather areas for growth.  This is not easy but; it is vital for you to reach that long range goal.  This ‘look’ is not about beating yourself up, but rather helping you focus so you can grow into a leader.

So, now you have two lists, what else?  There is one more ‘look’ you need to take.  This one requires that you are totally honest with yourself.  Ask yourself—what is the one habit or tendency you have that seems to annoy just about everyone?  

Write it down, study it, be self-aware—in what situations do you find yourself doing ‘it’?  Once you learn—you can harness ‘it’ and use ‘it’ to your advantage.  Odds are, this tendency is that ‘certain special something’ that can propel you forward.

This introspection is not a once and done activity.  You will find it necessary to do this periodically as your business grows or as it plateaus.  Knowing yourself is key to growing yourself and your business.

Article by Darlene Dunn
Photo Credit: Dasha & Mari
Magazine: Issue #20

Success Strategies: Maintaining Your Holistic Business

Maintaining Your Holistic Business

SUCCESS STRATEGIES: MAINTAINING YOUR HOLISTIC BUSINESS

Article by Jennah Ferrer-Foronda
Photo Credit: Dasha & Mari
Magazine: Issue #20

The #1 success factor of a holistic business is an integrated CEO: mind, body, energy/spirit.

It’s easy to lose sight when you’re creating/launching a juicy new product, Mercury is in retrograde and technology passes you a major fail. Or, you’re hit with the über demon: the random troll, or worse, a judging hater. 

What do you do? Love yourself fierce and be prepared for any season with your latest accessory: femmePOWERment Shades. 

As much as you wouldn’t dare buy a pair of specs online without trying on in person, as some stylistas prefer clear, others’ mirrored, some ombré. Your business has its own prescription. Here’s maintenance tips: 

1| Reframe your vision board

Think minimal. Think simple. Think movement (mermaid swimming) / colors (oxblood lipstick),  sound / soundtrack, one word calls to action that you embody from your gut: Royalty, Gypset, Rock Star.  Create a folder on your computer with images or start a Pinterest board – done. 

2| In Plain Sight

If your spirit is feeling passion for your project, but your mind is feeling panic, unfocused – you are moving forward, but your head is disconnected from your heart. Your gut (point of power) will be running on empty. Your clients will feel that. Go back to #1. Your vision and re-aligning with all that makes you/your business feel alive. 

3| Creation in Manifestation

Your vision is only a vision unless you add motion: blog posts, branding, creating products / services… FEEL what is the energy that you want your visitor to experience when she watches your video tips? ‘Meets you’ for the first time in an online webinar that you are hosting? Again, action is power and you are a risk-taker and dream-shaker! When your business is all female empowerment on top but you’re wearing the wrong itchy Spanx and complaining and procrastinating underneath, remember your femmePOWERment Shades to recalibrate. Add luxe lipstick. Clear vision makes such a statement. 

4| Hindsight

Yoga/meditation is just not for everyone. Gratitude, however, is a huge return on investment. It takes 1-3 minutes for this daily practice: at the end of the day, ask yourself, “what were 3 things you truly saw and are thankful for in you / your day? Write or type those down in a gratitude journal/virtual notes. When you’re feeling less than zero, cozy up to a virtual fire and spicy hot chocolate with this. It will be your go-to lens of Happiness, Inspiration and Biz Expansion. Promise.

Nerd chic, aviator biker chick free-spirited, large tortoise shell jackie-o sunnies, dark cateyes, — what are your go-to lenses of vision and energetic protection for business? 

What is Your Resistance Teaching You? 4 Steps to Uncovering Your Brilliance in Business and Life

WHAT IS YOUR RESISTANCE TEACHING YOU?
4 STEPS TO UNCOVERING YOUR BRILLIANCE IN BUSINESS AND LIFE

What Is Your Resistance Teaching You?

Article by Eliza Ceci
Photo Credit: Rose Jane
Magazine: Issue #19

In every moment of your day you have a choice. You always have a choice. What if you decided to look at your resistance as part of the process, not just another crappy day?

Resistance is an offering from the universe, and just like anything else, you can take it and use it to learn from, or you can turn the other cheek and complain about the raw deal you’ve been dealt. 

Just think back on a time when it felt so much easier to go into the drama of it all. How hurt you were. How mean ‘they’ were to you. How unfair it was. Sometimes it feels good to go there but if you step into that territory for too long it can get ugly and stay ugly. Just because it’s easy doesn’t mean it’ll make you feel good.

Here’s what I recommend you try instead. Look at your resistance with honesty. Breathe into it. Notice it. Take it on a field trip out into the great big world. Hold resistance’s hand. Get familiar with being uncomfortable and ask yourself lots of questions about why it feels uncomfortable, scary, unsafe, or confusing to look at.

1. Set a safe foundation and look at the resistance from a neutral place. Breathe and center yourself. This will help clear your mind as you look at the situation with a fresh perspective. Remind yourself that all you need is the willingness to look at the situation – no action required other than honesty.

2. Ask yourself questions that will help you to get into the honest mindset. Journalling is really helpful, otherwise put a hand on your heart and breathe deep as you ask yourself these or similar questions: 

Why is this resistance coming up today? 

What am I afraid will happen if things go my way? 

What am I afraid I’ll need to let go of or change about myself if I step into this change? 

What’s the worst case scenario vs. my best outcome? 

3. Create a relationship with your intuition. I teach all of my clients to use their intuition and when they are first learning it’s common to push against the first information they hear because it might be very simple and matter of fact. The first information that comes to you is what you most need to hear. Don’t deny, distrust or brush it off because you think your intuition has ‘bigger’ things to say. 

4. Understand that resistance is a necessary part of the process. Resistance is your teacher, your guide, your friend moving you toward your greatest brilliance. The tug of war you feel is coming to the surface because you have the great opportunity to step into the next phase of your learning. If you can get past these feelings, to the other side of why you need to go through it, it becomes easier to come to your own conclusions, ask for support, and take action leading with your heart.

Want to Build an Empire? Better Make Time for Your Girls

WANT TO BUILD AN EMPIRE? BETTER MAKE TIME FOR YOUR GIRLS

Article by Nikka Karli Salifu
Photo Credit: Rose Jane
Magazine: Issue #19

Want To Build An Empire? Better Make Time For Your Girls.

So, you want to make a difference in the world?  Help raise the vibration of the planet?  Well, Gorgeous, one of the most important things you should be doing is cultivating some QT (quality time) with your besties.  And, let's get real, this is also probably the one thing you are neglecting because you are out there trying to change the world.  I mean, your friends will always be there and you've got some serious world dominating to do, right?  Mmmmmm, yes and no.

Yes, your friends will always be there.  But, only if you continue nourishing your friendships.  Just because things were easy peasy when acid wash jeans were all the rage (the 1st time), doesn't mean that your relationships will continue to grow if you neglect them. 

The bonds that you maintain on your rise to building your empire will not only help keep you sane, they are necessary ingredients in ANY recipe for success.

I don't know about you, but my close Soul Sisters can often be my muses when I am descended upon by hideous, creativity-sucking, time-stealing banshees (AKA the always-dreaded writer's block).  Even when I think I couldn't possibly make time to talk with my girls (IE: when I'm up to my eyeballs in deadlines for work or behind on my writing), I'm always wrong.  When I think I don't have time, it's generally because I've started procrastinating or I'm feeling stuck in my path.  This then leads to feelings of not having time for anything “fun”.  As in, if it's not helping me to build my business RIGHT NOW, then I just can't do it.  Ever feel like that?  As if the moment you take your eyes off of changing the world (even for one tiny little nanosecond) that everything will fall apart and you'll be back at step one?

Well, good news fellow Paradigm Shifters.  By nourishing the bonds of friendship, you are taking care of YOU. 

And you can't run the world if you're neglecting the amazing Shero that is you.  So, allow time with your girlfriends to be a part of your weekly routine.  When you skip this QT you're not only hurting yourself, you're also doing an injustice to all of the people you are meant to help.  By making time for your friends, you're making time for yourself.  You are fully showing up for yourself which, in turn, allows you to fully show up in the world. 

And, come on.  What fun is world domination if you don't have your BFFs along for the ride?

Is It Time To Be “Irresponsible” For the Sake of Good Business?

Be Irresponsible For the Sake of Good Business?

IS IT TIME TO BE "IRRESPONSIBLE" FOR THE SAKE OF GOOD BUSINESS?

Article by Ling Wong
Photo Credit: Dasha & Mari
Magazine: Issue #18

I just spent 6 days cycling/hiking in Zion National Park/Byrce Canyon – and it was absolutely amazing. As I checked this trip off my bucket list (which also includes climbing Mount Kili and chasing penguins in Antarctica), I got nostalgic about the days when I bumped around the world with a backpack and my Nikon FM2 (that uses film… remember those?)

Back in the days, my guts would simply say “I am going!” and off I went to Europe, Tibet, Scandinavia, Iceland, the Patagonia, Silk Road, the Eastern Bloc… you name it.

That was before the age of hyper-connectiveness… which means I actually had to “wing it” if something was not booked in advance. The most rewarding adventures often came with some level of following my guts and improvising as I went. “Where do I want to be next?” – and the “lack” of “planning” allowed possibilities to pour through.

Yeah, “booked in advance” - Somewhere along the way, “Planning” has become a “Virtue”…Somewhere along the way, we were told to buckle down, get a job and “be responsible.” Somewhere along the way, we shot down spontaneity communicated to us by our guts through feelings like thrill, elation, and butterflies in the stomach. Somewhere along the way, being “successful” got equated with “being in control” and “having a plan.” Somewhere along the way, we stopped listening to our GUTS and stifled our natural-born rights to LIVE brightly, loudly, unapologetically because we have to “grow up.”

There is so much creativity hidden in our natural instinct but we are pushing it down by denying our desire for exploration, adventure and spontaneity because others tell us “that’s how it’s done.”

Where In Your Business Are You Holding Back Your Creativity and Individuality By “Being Responsible”?

Of course, we are not asking you to gamble your house and lose your pants. Having the awareness that this hidden desire in us can help us HAVE MORE OF US in our business can ignite the FIRE and guide us to express our creativity and individuality – which will open up possibilities and potentialities that we didn’t know exist within us.

Are you implementing “proven” processes, blueprints and systems cookie-cutter style without asking – what do I WANT my business to do FOR ME?

Have you fallen into the comparison trap, “modeling” after everyone in your field and ended up with Frankenstein-marketing-copy that sounds just like everyone else… but nothing like YOU?

Have you had ideas that really pulled you but got shot down by some business coach because it doesn’t fit into his/her “paradigm” of how things are done… before you had the chance to explore all the angles and see how YOU, as you, can make it work for your business?

Reinventing the wheel is not smart, but letting the wheel determine how you roll sounds kind of ass backward too. Let’s play with these couple of questions:

What would you do and who would you BE if generating revenue
is NOT the top priority for the next 3 months?

What do you need to know in order to feel safe enough to jump?

Part of us need to feel safe before we DARE, and that’s totally cool. We all have different criteria in order to feel safe, before we can let free that wild part of us. Do not beat yourself up for needing more (or something different) to feel safe than “everyone else.”

Acknowledge what you need – because all parts of you need to be heard, if you want to have all of YOU in your business.

But make sure whatever you need to feel comfortable so you can dive into the deep end comes from YOU, not from other people’s standards of what “being responsible”, “being in business”, “being a success” should look like.

Rethink Your Definition of Success

Rethink Your Definition of Success

RETHINK YOUR DEFINITION OF SUCCESS

Article by Allison Snyder
Photo Credit: Pinterest
Magazine: Issue #18

What does success mean to you? Does it entice visions of money, fame, and status? Or is the attainment of it determined by the number of people that you help? The impact you make? The positive shift you create in the world?

Your beliefs, thoughts, and underlying philosophy defining your unique terms of success determine how you run not only your business but also your life. This individual perception of your ambitions, desires, and goals is a powerful force – one that becomes the lens through which you see the rest of the world. 

How does this impact your business?

Let’s say, for example, like many entrepreneurs you believe that business success is measured by having a specific number of clients which results in a comfortable, predetermined salary. With this lens in place, your brain will naturally seek out and find opportunities to secure this picture. You’ll be motivated to find “X” number of clients and make “X” number of dollars and won’t be content until your goal is a reality.

That’s great news, right?

Only if this is where you want to stop! The truth is that once you’ve reached this vision of success, your mind will automatically stop looking for additional ways to expand your business. Opportunities for additional clientele will be overlooked, new paths for income will be glossed over, and potentially amazing collaborations not given a second of consideration. In the process, you’ll miss out on non-traditional methods of achieving what success means to you in the first place. You will eventually reach a tipping point - either remain stagnant with this fulfilled idea of success or reach for more.

So what can you do to keep expanding, growing, and striving for more in business and in life?

Rethink your definition of success! While specifics, such as the number of ideal clients and amount of yearly income, are great ways to quantitatively measure one side of success, reach deeper to find the longer lasting part of the equation – your driving motivation. Why do you want success? How does it make you feel? What made you embark on this journey in the first place? 

Still stuck?

Opening your mind to a new perspective isn’t always easy to do when you’re surrounded with blind spots, blocks, and unfamiliar territory inside your comfort zone. Stretch your views by joining up with others or hiring a business coach or mentor to show you new ways of achieving your impact on the world!