What Would Awesome YOU Do?

Awesomize your Business, Your Life, and the World

32 – What’s Next? Here’s an Idea.

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Hey Awesome You.
The Challenge is over. What’s Next for You?

 

If you are trying to be your awesomest self, I have a few suggestions for you for what’s next.

I mentioned the Whole30. If you can’t figure out how to lose weight or your doc can’t figure out how to help you to feel better, try it. I’s freaking awesome. Hard, but awesome.

Another suggestion would be The Morning Miracle. It’s a really cool system that helps you to get the right mindset for your day. If you get it, don’t get the audible. Get the printed book. There’s a bit of repetition and it’s easy to skim to the system if you have the book in your hands.

A third suggestion would be to sign up for the Urban Monk’s 7 Day Reboot.

Big hugs and high fives. Thank you for sharing this journey with me.

Much love,

N

31 – Long after you’re gone – you’re still changing the world.

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Hey Awesome You.
Long after you’re gone – you’re still making the world a better place.

Your daily dose of awesome.

I have to say that I have enjoyed the heck out of writing these daily messages. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading and watching them. 🙂  And, remember, I’m keeping the FB group open. Although it’ll kind of be in holding until the next challenge (no daily posts from me), you are MORE than welcome to share your Awesome there.

Today I want to talk about the power of leading by example. Sometimes the tiniest of awesomeness that you think is really “no big deal” when shared with others IS a big deal.

In the Guide to being Awesome that you got on Day 1, I shared how the things that my friends and I thought weren’t anything big became big when we shared them with others because of the many many ripples that happened along the way.

No you may not be the person who discovers the cure for cancer (although if you can, that’d be great! and soon, please.) However you CAN do two things.

1. DO tiny acts of awesome.

2. SHARE those tiny acts of awesome.

You will inspire others and you have no idea of the levels of impact that will happen because YOU chose to do and then share.

It’s easy to share pictures of kittens. 🙂

So, if one post about kittens can make someone happy hours later (me), imagine how a post about donating platelets like my friend Paul Taubman does every month. He posts about donating platelets when he’s bored sitting in the hospital as they cycle the blood out of his body, collect the platelets and then put it back in. The process takes hours and he does it every stinkin’ month… simply because he has a rare blood type and he’s a good person.

He could just go to the hospital and donate the platelets and read a book and never post about it thinking “I don’t want to brag” and not tell anyone about it. (And there may be a time and place for that, as we’ve discussed in the group.) But by doing that, wouldn’t he be cheating so many of us from the inspiration that he spreads?

Paul makes me want to be a better person just by being the AWESOME Paul and then sharing what he did.

As I mentioned in the guide, because of my small actions, now 2 kids have families that did NOT before. My part was tiny. I just followed my heart and then shared the good, the bad and the ugly about my experience. But because of that – these cool kiddos have moms and dads! I’m blessed that I was able to use social media and my blog to impact in that way.

So, no. You may not feed all of the hungry, but if you feel one person – perhaps someone without family from your work on Thanksgiving…

I guess what I’m trying to say is that negativity spreads so easily in our world and has countless outlets – so we NEED to spread as much positivity as we possibly can to keep away the dark. I mean, between TV, the news, social media – we’ve got our work cut out for us.

Continue to spread your awesome. You have NO idea how you may be changing the world. And the cool thing is that even long after you’re gone, that ripple effect will still be going.

Yes, the ripple effect is real, so keep throwing out AWESOME everywhere you go. YOU MAKE A DIFFERENCE!!!!!

Big hugs and high fives. Thank you for sharing this journey with me.

Much love,

N

30 – Stuck in the Doing?

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Your daily dose of awesome. Watch for tomorrow’s email for even more fun stuff.

Your Business, Life and the World:

I’ve mentioned a few times that I went to an amazing retreat through RadicalLeadership.com

Like I said, I can’t share their proprietary stuff since it’s theirs and you really should go through the program to experience it, but I can share that one of the readings we did was one of my favorites by Ralph Waldo Emerson. I’ve got it printed and hanging throughout my house right now so that I can be reminded of it all day long.

If it makes your heart pitter patter like mine and you’re feeling stuck in the “doing” part of your life, then I suggest you might do the same.

Here it is:

“What we commonly call man,

the eating drinking, planting, counting man,

does not, as we know him, represent himself, but misrepresents himself.

Him we do not respect,

but the soul, whose organ he is,

would he let it appear through his action, would make our knees bend.

When it breathes through his intellect, it is genius;

when it breathes through his will, it is virtue;

when it flows through his affection, it is love.”

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

I printed out the Emerson quote and hung it on the back of the bathroom door. (I drink a lot of water so I figured I’d read it a lot. lol!)

My take on this is this. 

In my life, I can quickly make food on autopilot (while totally distracted) and “throw it at” my family. Maybe I can heat up a frozen pizza or make sandwiches or warm up some leftovers. Whatever. I don’t think about it or really even remember it later. Kind of like driving on autopilot and you don’t remember the drive. It’s just doing for the sake of getting it done and making sure my family doesn’t starve, especially when I’m worn out emotionally or physically or both.

I can also eat my food in the same way. On autopilot. Just letting the busy and the noise stay on the top of my mind and have a mindless 10 minutes of my life. Or maybe I just plop in front of the TV with my hubby and eat, not even really tasting my food or being present. Afterwards, I think “meh. whatever. another meal.”.

That’s all well and good, but doing that for every meal for a week, or a month or a year – just doing the bare necessity mentally and going through the motions scares the crap out of me.

I want to feel ALIVE.

If I’m not alive, am I dead? Or sleeping? And do I really want to be asleep for even one meal?

It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes (from a Celestial Seasonings box of all places) –

“Bread and water can so easily be toast and tea.”

WHY do I so frequently settle for typical prison food (bread and water) when a Queen’s tea is so easily within my grasp?

I much prefer when my meals are this:

I take my daughter with me to the store and chit chat and touch produce, laughing and joking, enjoying her little dances through the store. I take time to chat with the cashier and enjoy the walk back to the car to put the groceries in. I usually park far away when I’m in essence so we can get in a little more fresh air. When we get home, I grab my son out of his room and hubby, too and bring them into the kitchen with me and my daughter, and we all put away the food and prep dinner together (even if it is a quick dish). Then, we sit down to eat a delicious meal together at the table and chat about our day or talk about some more important things. Afterwards, I think “life is good”. <- YES THAT.

I know sometimes, that I can’t do all of that, and that’s fine. A frozen pizza will do the trick. However, I CAN be present even in that. I don’t have to run on autopilot. I can STILL be “there” with my family eating frozen pizza, the same as if it were a 10 course meal at a 5 star restaurant. The only difference is whether I choose to be there or stuck in the noise in my head.

ok. So what about business?

When I go through the motions, people can tell. Plus, I’m unhappy and I stay buried in BUSY. My results suffer and my message does not get through the same as when I am aware and am aware and am not just the body but also in touch with my soul.

When I personally engage deeper into my business, people respond. MY impact is greater. And, obviously I feel happier and more fulfilled in my work.

Try it. And please post in the group if this message resonated with you. <3

Hugs and high fives,
Nicole

29 – Awesomize your Money Mindset

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Awesomize your Money Mindset, a Waste of Time, and Keeping the Internets in Balance

Your daily dose of awesome. Watch for tomorrow’s email for even more fun stuff.

Business: 

I was in a mastermind call the other day and we were talking about money. It’s funny (sad, not ha-ha) that so many of us struggle with issues around money. In fact, during the mastermind call, one person who is super successful online said she “didn’t want to have to learn about managing her money”.

Whether you’re poor, earning a good living, or are totally wealthy, you probably have some money baggage that you’re working on.

So let’s dig in, shall we?  Because being AWESOME YOU and running an Awesome Business requires you to get over any fears of money, stop resenting money, and give up the idea that money is evil.

Yes, even though the bible says “for the love of money is the root of all evil.” I say baloney! I enjoy the heck out of money (and the things that money can buy) and I’m certainly not evil. Nor do I let the love of money control my thoughts, my feelings or my actions in a negative way. I love the freedoms and security that money can buy, but I certainly won’t sacrifice my morals or ethics to earn it. That’s just silly.

Money is just paper or metal. BUT yet it can Awesomize so many things.  However, as long as you/we have issues around earning or spending money, we can’t be that millionaire next door, right?

So, what CAN you do about it? Make it a game and learn more about money in a positive, awesome way.

Here are some books you might enjoy:

And, some podcasts:

Be sure to take the info with a grain of salt, though. Oftentimes, people get into the poverty mindset and get stuck on saving every penny instead of spending wisely while focusing on earning more.  I mean, as an entrepreneur which is easier? Giving up something you love like a daily Starbucks coffee or your monthly pedicure or just making an extra $100 per month? Remember, a lot of these books and podcasts speak to people working in jobs who don’t have the kind of flexibility that we do to just earn more – so soak up the good info but also filter the advice with what makes sense to you.

Not that you need money to awesomize the world, BUT… remember that the more money you HAVE – the more money you have available to GIVE. So double, triple, quadruple or x10 your business and just THINK of how much more you can Awesomize the World.  Instead of writing checks for $100, just close your eyes and imagine writing a donation check for $50,000 to your favorite charity or writing a check to pay off your parent’s mortgage. SWEET. Money does buy opportunity so keep on growing that beautiful, profitable business. <3

Life:  

I find that the times where I feel trapped are opportunities for growth.

For instance, I drive my daughter downtown Monday through Friday for dance, theatre, and chorus practices, spending 20 minutes in the car each way at least. So, I have two options. 1. I can get annoyed and get the drive over with, or 2. I can enjoy the time to the best of my ability.

I choose #2.

  • I chat with my daughter about her day.
  • We play show tunes and sing together loudly.
  • I sometimes bring CDs from Success Magazine and pop one in and we’ll listen to the interviews.

Also, what about when you’re stuck waiting for your oil to be changed or waiting for your kid at the dentist office or a million other things you might have to wait for?

  • I keep plenty of Audible Audiobooks books on my iPhone to listen to.
  • I have some relaxation apps that I can pop on and close my eyes for a moment and rest.
  • I keep a small notepad in my purse to jot notes on if I want to brainstorm.
  • I can research something on my phone that I’ve been curious about.

Or I can make a quick phone call, email someone, check Facebook, or any millions of other things – OTHER than getting annoyed at the wait. It’s an opportunity for me to listen to some more of my book or have some “me” time.

I also keep a little keyboard in my purse so that I can write articles on my phone. There are lots of bluetooth keyboards now that you can type on and sync with your phone so that you can literally write your next book on your phone in your car. Isn’t life strangely interesting these days? 🙂

So the next time you’re stuck… think of how you can reframe it as an opportunity to have an AWESOME moment.

The World:

There’s so much negativity in the world and on the internet. If you share something negative or sad (because you need to or feel strongly about it – which is totally fine) make an effort to find 2 good things to post, too, to keep the balance out there in the social media world positive.

Warmly and with big hugs,
Nicole

28 – Awesome Failures

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Awesome YOU Provides Value & Business Over the Easy Button AND
Awesome You NEVER Gives Up!

Your daily dose of awesome. Watch for tomorrow’s email for even more fun stuff.

Business:

A few tips for earning more from your expenses that I’ve learned over the years…  Some may help you and others may not, so take what you can use and leave the rest. 🙂

Paypal Debit Card Earns Cash Back.

If I’m using my paypal account to pay for bigger things every month recurring, I moved some of those items to my Paypal Debit Card instead and I earn cash back.

Example: My Infusionsoft monthly payment is several hundred dollars. I switched from paying on a Paypal subscription to paying with my Paypal debit card which comes out of the same account. It took me about 5 minutes to do that and now I earn $5 per month cash back on that transaction. No big deal, right? Well, it is when you think about that being $60/year – on ONE transaction that I have to pay for anyway. I switched over a few more and it’ll save me money every year. 

Delta Credit Card.

Where I live, in Pensacola, you can’t really fly anywhere without going through Atlanta. I even have a layover in Atlanta when I go to Orlando or Daytona Beach. This means that I’m usually flying Delta. So, I signed up for a Delta American Express card. Whenever I buy travel with Delta, I put it on that card and I get some perks. First, I get to check a bag for free (which is otherwise $25 each way). Secondly, I earn double miles on my flight. That adds up, too. Now, you might not get a Delta card. An American Airlines or Southwest might be better for where you live, but it’s worth looking into. The flights I earn with my Delta card are used for personal travel for me or my family members and they rack up pretty quickly.

HINT: Plan to sign up for your credit card a week or so before you need to make a decent sized purchase. Normally they offer deals like 30,000 free miles if you spend $1000 in your first month or 50,000 free miles if you spend $3000 in your first month.

There is an annual fee on these cards, but if you travel a lot (or plan to) it can really pay for itself a few times over.

My Personal Credit Card.

On the personal front, my regular credit card, through a credit union is one that earns frequent flier miles with any airline I choose. We’ve had this card for about 20 years, and we put most things on it, including groceries, etc. Of course, we pay it off every month and only buy things we’d regular buy. By using this card, we usually earn at least one free plane ticket a year. I use these free tickets for personal travel only for me or my family, not business travel, because business expenses are deducible and personal is not.

Business & Life:

I want to share a few more things with you today.

First is that I found this interesting. People always ask what things stay the same year after year in business and what is a bright shiny object or an “easy button” that won’t work.

Here are the takeaways of me and a few of my friends from 2011. I hope you see what I saw when reading them – that running a REAL business & value stands the test of time.  

http://www.nicoleonthenet.com/10180/expert-takeaways-of-2011/

Failed Recently? I sure hope so!

Also, when setbacks DO happen, just know that you’re in good company. I love love love this video. I don’t know if every story is true or not, but it’s enough of reminder for those that ARE just to watch it and know that you are resilient. That the word “no” sometimes means “not right now” and to power on!

AWESOME YOU NEVER GIVES UP!!!

The World:

If you’re running out of ideas, just remember to check the every-growing big list: Ideas for Awesomizing the World

Your Life:

I mentioned this before, but if you’re paying for Pandora and you have Amazon Prime, you can cancel your Pandora account. Amazon Prime Music is AWESOME!!! I have the app on my phone. There are tons of stations, PLUS you can download the music you like to your phone, so you can listen without streaming.

What do I have on mine?

Big hugs,

Nicole

27- Awesomize your Credibility. You are not an Impostor!

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(aka The lesson in which Nicole screams “You are not an Impostor!“)

Your daily dose of awesome. Watch for tomorrow’s email for even more fun stuff.

Business & World: 

Let’s talk today about Awesomizing your Credibility and your message.  Many of us suffer from the “Impostor syndrome” and we need to STOP IT! 🙂 It’s hard enough to awesomize our lives and our businesses, but by playing small, we also tend to not awesomize the world when we feel like we aren’t worthy of being out there on the internets.

So, how do you 1. beat the imposter syndrome and 2. show credibility that you feel good about sharing?

This is something a LOT of us struggle with (raising hand) because we were taught never to brag – on top of not having great self-esteem to begin with. At least that’s my issue. 🙂 You may have your own.

So, how do you accomplish getting the word out about how awesome you are if you feel 1. like you aren’t anything special and 2. like when you DO something awesome, you shouldn’t say anything or you’re bragging about it?

Well, that’s the problem, isn’t it?

There are a ton of ways to show credibility. Here are just a few ideas for you to work into your marketing.

1. Your story or journey.

Even if you’re not a huge expert yet,  your story is powerful. Back when I first started, my story was that my daughter was born a few days after 9/11/2001 and my husband lost his job right afterwards, too. So we went from one very good income and one child to  no income and two kiddos pretty much overnight. That was when I realized that I had to bring in some money and I started researching on the internet.

Does that make me an expert? No. But it does give my story and gets people to know me enough to start to think about trusting me. I don’t have a PHD in Internet Marketingology but I do have a story.  Story matters. Share yours.  Even if you haven’t achieved anything yet, share your story of why you are blogging or coaching about what you do.

Here’s some more I’ve written about this topic: Your Story is An Integral Part of Your Brand.

2.  Your accomplishments.

Here is where you can EARN credibility through action.

What about this?

Who do you trust more to teach you about weight loss? Some skinny chick who has never had a problem with her weight or some guy or gal who has lost 70 lbs in under a year? Me? I want to hear the story of the guy who lost 70 lbs in a year… even if the skinny lady (Bless her Heart) has a degree in Nutrition or is a Personal Trainer.

Perhaps you’re teaching others about debt reduction and you personally got out from under $50k in debt in 2 years time. Or maybe you went from being a terrible husband to saving your marriage and rekindling it and now having the best sex life you could have ever dreamed because of it.

And it doesn’t HAVE to be the biggest number in the world. I don’t teach people how to become billionaires. I help them to get to six figures OR to multi-six figures if they’re already at $100k or more a year.

Or maybe you’re a real estate investor who helps people add $200/month income from their rental properties. It’s not billions, but it’s enough to help people build a small investment portfolio of houses that they can sell down the line for a profit.

So, if you haven’t lost 70 lbs, but you’ve lost 30 and kept it off AND gotten rid of your diabetes meds (or started running marathons or became a Pilates instructor, etc, etc.), that’s equally as impressive to me.

Simply look at what you have accomplished and put together your (true, obviously) story based upon the facts.

This is part of your story, but these are also things that no one can ever take from you. Accomplishments related to your business also are awesome to share. Even if you don’t think anyone cares – they do.

3. Your credentials.

Got any letters after your name? A degree related to what you do? Experience? Have you built an offline business related to what you’re teaching online?

I had a coaching client one time and we were going over her website which was pretty blah, to be honest. I didn’t get WHY she was doing this or anyone would sign up. She started talking and I said “WOW. You’re really passionate about this. What got you into it?” She said “Oh, 20 years in the field dealing with… ”  We obviously had to update her website which then was freaking impressive. 😉

If so, this is all credibility for you. Add it to your about page and to your main site. (And update it often… as I need to do again, too!)

4. Borrowed credibility.

Have you been featured on a popular website, TV program, radio show, newspaper, or other media? Have you spoken on stage?

If so, mention it. You’ve seen those people with all the “As seen on” logos on their sites? As overdone and hokey as it may seem at times, it WORKS. That’s why they do it. 🙂 Don’t be shy. YOU ROCK!

5. Other people’s words.

Don’t forget to include testimonials from other people in your industry. This is huge, if you don’t have your own credibility just yet.

Awesomizing your Life and the  World:  

I mentioned this before, but get Amazon Prime. Seriously. Get it if you don’t have it yet.  It makes your life so much easier and I’m not even talking about all of the great movies you can watch on your phone and free books and audios you get.  I’m talking about the free 2-day shipping.

–> Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial

Whether you live in the city or way out in the middle of nowhere, you can literally buy just about anything that you need in minutes from either your computer or your smart phone and have it DELIVERED to your door in 2 days. If you’re not using it yet, why on earth not? You’re a busy entrepreneur who is trying to make the world a better place. Don’t be running to the store for toilet paper when you can have toilet paper come to you. 🙂

Some things I have recently ordered on Amazon Prime include:

Here’s more about Amazon Prime. I know for me it pays for itself over and over again.

–> Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial

I’m no fool. Those are affiliate links… of course. 😉

How does this help the world?

  1. You gain more time to do other things since you can effectively and efficiently find the things you need.
  2. You can have items autoshipped to your home so you don’t even have to find them or reorder if you know you’ll use them every month. Like laundry detergents or cat litter.
  3. You’re not driving around in circles all over town looking for things, wasting gas.
  4. You can easily order and ship gifts for the holidays and birthdays – again, without driving around town looking for the gift you had in mind.

Hugs and high fives,

Nicole

26 – Awesomize your Mood

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Your daily dose of awesome. Watch for tomorrow’s email for even more fun stuff.

Business & Life & World: 

One of the best things you can do to awesomize your business and your life and the world is to awesomize your mood.

As we mentioned before, you may or may not feel the same, but I can have 1000 people tell me they love me but one hater can severely dent it in an instant. And the effect of that can mess with my awesomeness and productivity in life, my business, and the world.

Yes, I’m working on it, and these are some tricks that I use.

1. Awesome Reminders.

I keep my office full of things that make me happy. I have cards on every surface and I have notes pinned all over my walls from my friends, my coaching clients, my customers, my affiliates, and more – all saying that I make a difference through who I am and through my work. So, when I get into a slump, I look around and say “Are all of these people smart or what?” Yes. They are and they took the time to reach out and tell me that I made a difference to them. Therefore, I have proof. 🙂 Now, if you’re just starting out, then you may not have a lot of these notes yet, so what you should do is to keep an eye out for emails, FB posts, and everything else that reinforces who you are. Print them and hang up the best ones. That leads me to the next thing..

2. Happy Drawer.

I have a happy drawer, too. When I need a pick me up, I have the overflow of all of those cards and notes in a drawer and I pull it out, sit down and go through them. Sometimes no matter how hard we try to internally pick ourselves us, we need that external proof to get us back to productive and happy.

3. Afformations.

These aren’t affirmations, they are affORmations invented by Noah St. John. Instead of telling yourself over and over that you’re good enough, smart enough, and that gosh darnit people love you, they ask you questions and get your brain working on fixing things. I think they’re pretty clever.

  • Why am I so happy & thankful for everything in my life?
  • Why do I deserve everything wonderful that the world has to offer?
  • Why am I so open to and accepting of all the abundance coming into my life?
  • Why am I happily & gratefully earning $X,000 each week? (Insert your magic number.)

The idea is that you say some afformations every day and get your brain thinking about it the other 23 hours and 59 minutes of the day.

Personally, I love throwing questions into my brain and then going on to other things and just letting the 90% of my brain that I’m not actively using figure out the answers. 🙂

IF that doesn’t work…

Get outside and get away from your desk. Just a fresh perspective and fresh air can help you to work through the negative thoughts and reframe them into positive ones.

Just some ideas for making your surroundings and your moods happier and more awesome.

Bonus Life Awesomization because I love you.

One more thing.

There’s a lady named Julia Ross who’s written a book called “The Mood Cure”. It’s about how there are natural supplements that can help your mood that basically do the same thing as drugs. Now, I’m not a doctor, nor do I pretend to be, and you’re supposed to work with a doctor if you are depressed or have anxiety.

I, of course, decided to be a guinea pig and have tried a few things in her book and have had really good results.

So, if you have a good doc, and you need some help with your mood, you can get this book, read it and bring it in to your next appointment. I do not have a doctor that listens (and I’m working on that) which is why I just tried a few things, and thankfully they work for me.

Anyway, it’s another share for you.

The Mood Cure by Julia Ross

Big hugs and high fives,
Nicole

25 – Elimination of Annoyances

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Your daily dose of awesome. Watch for tomorrow’s email for even more fun stuff.

Business, Life, and the World:

We’ve talked about automation and delegation already and a bit about simplification, but what about elimination?

What are the things that drive you bonkers that really don’t need to?

One of the things that makes me bonkers is when I see people post on Facebook “Don’t add me to your stupid games or I’ll unfriend you!”

I actually find it sad and childish to see people posting that for two reasons.

1. An invite to a game means that someone cares enough to invite you – and that person is usually pretty lonely. (At least in my experience.)

2. You can easily block invites without sounding like a middle schooler calling people out who oftentimes don’t know any better.

If you want to know how to block games and really all annoying notifications – all you have to do is follow these quick instructions:

So now when I get added to a FB group and get notifications that are unwanted OR I get game requests – I just take the half a second that it requires to turn them off instead of letting it bug me or ruin my day.  I definitely do it before it bubbles over and I post something that makes me look like I’m throwing a temper tantrum like a big meanie.

What other things can you eliminate?

Junk mail.

Register here: https://www.catalogchoice.org/

Emails from people you don’t want to hear from.

  • Step one: Unsubscribe (if there’s an option)
  • Step two: Set up a filter so that any emails in the future from that company or person skip your inbox and go directly to the trash. Easy peasy.

Annoying negative people on your phone?

Change their contact info in your phone to “Do not answer” and their ring tone to “Do not ring”. 🙂 Problem solved.

If you are on the iPhone and get an unwanted call, just click on the little “i” and then tell your phone to “Block this person”.  You can unblock at any time.

See? Here’s one on my phone that I’ve blocked:

unnamed (1)

Then if it’s a telemarketing call, also be sure to register here: https://www.donotcall.gov/

Getting added to group texts?

If you’re on the iPhone, just turn off notifications so you’re not being bothered.

unnamed

What else can you eliminate?  

Some people have taken elimination to a science and I admire them for it. Here’s one of my favorite blogs:

If you don’t know HOW to eliminate things that take up your energy, just ask in the group. We’ve got a pretty smart bunch of folks in there.

Big hugs and high fives,

Nicole

24 – Reboot, Batching, and An Idea

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Your daily dose of awesome. Watch for tomorrow’s email for even more fun stuff.

Your Life is too Short to Feel Like Crap!

This is a great video by the one and only Tony Robbins about how our thoughts can oftentimes be controlled.

Speaking of feeling like crap, sometimes you need to reset or reboot your body. I did this in January last year with the Whole30 and Paleo diet in general.

Why? Because I was feeling yuck – and definitely NOT awesome and the Whole30 is an elimination diet to try to figure out if inflammation is causing problems with your body and mind.

While I know different things work for different people, I do want to let you know that I’ve seen more people have what I would almost dare to say miraculous results on this when their weight wasn’t dropping and their health wasn’t changing from anything else.

For me, I’ve had huge changes in my overall health including less headaches and I’m sleeping better. My friend is having less pain in her knees. Another friend with PCOS is finally losing weight. It’s not a “diet”. It’s about cutting out the foods that may be causing inflammation in your system. Weight loss just so happens to be a side effect.

Anyway, I wanted to mention it because they’ve done a lot for me.

The Whole30: The 30-Day Guide to Total Health and Food Freedom

So, while I think it’s a great plan, whatever one YOU choose, stick to it for the rest of the month. 🙂

Your Business:

Batching is a beautiful thing. For instance, I do these posts a week at a time, rather than trying to sit down every day and come up with ideas. I write and schedule them and VOILA! On to the next thing I need to do. 🙂

So, I challenge you to think of one thing that you do over and over and over again – especially if it weighs on you and stresses you out and just get it done for the next few months.

When I did my Blog Tour in 2009, back when I wrote 75 guest blog posts on 15 different blogs in 15 weeks, I did a LOT of batching. Here’s how it worked.

1. I came up with ALL of the topics for the entire summer in one day. I didn’t want that hanging over my head or stressing me out so I just sat down with a legal pad and a pretty pen and I figured it out.

2. I typically wrote 5 blog posts in a sitting. So I would open a document, put the title for that week’s series in the doc and break it into 5 sections. Each section became a blog post and voila. I was able to upload them all and schedule them for the week.

Wouldn’t you say that is a LOT less stressful than sitting down at the computer every day for 75 days, staring at the screen and thinking “Oh crud. What am I going to write about today?!” I’ll say it sure was.

So what can YOU batch in your business?

1. A series of YouTube videos? If you put on makeup and get your lighting right, you might as well do a bunch of them, right?

2. Your email promos for the week?

3. All of your Facebook ads? Set them and then just check in every day.

4. Setting up an entire funnel in one day, rather than poking at it for a week.

5. A month of blog posts.

There are so many ways that you can Awesomize your Business by getting things done faster and more efficiently. Batching is one of my favorites.

The World:

My friend, Kelly McCausey, reminded me of a great way to give back if you’re looking for something in your community. Respite care.

These are places that take care of the FAMILIES of the people who having someone they are taking care of who has a disability or serious illness.

For instance, Kelly shared this organization in her community: helpinghandsrespite.care

And, of course, you’re probably familiar with the Ronald McDonald House, too. www.rmhc.org

Some things these places need are listed on the sites, so here are some ideas for you…  http://www.helpinghandsrespite.care/GetInvolved/WishList.aspx and http://www.rmhc.org/other-ways-to-help

Canned foods are always welcome as are volunteers to cook meals.

Hugs and high fives,

Nicole

23 – Share your Secret Tools

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Your daily dose of awesome. Watch for tomorrow’s email for even more fun stuff.

Business & World: 

Do you have a “Tools I Use” page on your site yet?

Even if you’re running a health site, or a parenting site and you’re NOT teaching other business owners, you can profit from this method. Just keep reading. 😉

Want some examples of what I mean?

But what if you’re say a food blogger and don’t reach other business owners?

Still, it’s easy peasy. Food bloggers reach other foodies who want to share their love of food, too. So include a page called “Love my blog? Start your own!”

How to monetize it?

Here are some ideas for things to mention on our “Start your Own Blog” page…

1. Recommend your favorite web host. I also recommend you put a “Hosted by _____”  affiliate link in the footer of your blog.

2. Recommend Kindle books that teach blogging methods. Here are a few that I’m partial to.

3. Use Aweber? Let people know… and use your affiliate link. They’ll figure it out anyway. So why not HELP your competition and make money on them every month.

4. Share an income report each month. Once you’ve established yourself as an expert, you can create your own training, or refer people to others that you respect – with your affiliate link. Easy peasy. Why not earn some more money sharing the ins and outs of your business?

To be perfectly honest, your competition and people interested in doing what you’re doing will be trying to figure out HOW you’re running your site. So, give them the info and walk away having helped them, AND having made some moola in the process. 🙂

Life: 
Here’s a tip from my friend Felicia Slattery (businesswoman extraordinaire and really good cook) who has a cool food blog at http://feliciasdelicias.blogspot.com  that I think you’ll love.

For those of you looking to get healthier, here’s a delicious tip:

When I cook dinner every night I take the veggie scraps that would normally be discarded like the ends of the carrots and celery, potato and carrot peelings, onion skin and hairy ends, outside cabbage leaves, fresh herbs that are starting to not be so fresh anymore, and in this pot you’ll see the tops from eggplants – and throw them all into a storage bag I keep in my freezer.

Then whenever I make chicken I keep the skin, bones, and carcass if I roasted a whole chicken and put that and the veggie scraps into a big pot. Cover with water and boil. I only add a small amount of salt for the whole pot because I prefer to salt my dishes as I make them when using the resulting broth.

If you’re a vegetarian or vegan, leave out the chicken.

Either way, you end up with an amazing broth. If you simmer it for 18-24 hours you end up with a super healthy bone broth, but it only takes about 30-45 minutes of boiling to get a good enough broth to enjoy right away. Strain and it’s ready!

From there the sky is the limit. You can simply sip on the satisfying uber-healthy broth, or use it to make mashed potatoes, cauliflower or celery root, any kind of soup, boil brown rice or quinoa in it, deglaze a pan for a nice pan sauce with it…. Whatever! Just remember to season with salt and pepper to your taste when you use it.

I’ve got this pot going right now! Mmmmmm

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I do this, too, but I put it all in the crockpot on high for an hour, and then turn it down to the low (not warm) setting  and let it sit overnight. Then I wake up and the next day sometime, turn it off and strain the broth into small containers that I put into the freezer for later. That way I have chicken broth whenever I need it. Obviously organic is preferred, but use whatever you have.

AND… It’s time for another pep talk from Kid President.

Hugs and high fives to your awesome self!
Nicole