5 Periscope Keys to Your Business Success

by Deb Coman | May 17, 2016 | Uncategorized

Engage on Periscope: Be a Viewer

by Deb Coman | Mar 6, 2016 | Uncategorized

How to Carry Christmas Lessons into Next Year’s Business Plan

by Deb Coman | Dec 27, 2015 | Uncategorized

How do we plan for next year’s business right now? I’m taking some lessons from the recent Christmas season in all its stress and glory and using them to plan what’s next.

Perhaps you can relate. I love Christmas. And, yet, Christmas can make me crazy: the to do list a mile long, the buying, the wrapping, the shipping, the decorating, the meal prep, the house cleaning, the blah, blah, blah…you get the idea, right?

All these things done in the name of celebrating both a religious and secular holiday at the same time. And the commercialism…let’s not even go to that place.

So, this year, early on in the season, I made a decision. I decided I was NOT going to get crazy this year. I was going to simplify. I was going to decide for myself and not be carried along by what everyone else does. I was going to choose how to spend my time and how to prepare and how to celebrate. The results made for a much more lovely and kinder Christmas.

Throughout it, I thought about my business, too, since I was still working pretty much through 12/23 and already focused on planning for next year. I had been spending a lot of time thinking about and strategizing content and helping my clients to do this, too, as I share about in Why Set the Stage to Write? So, it was natural to compare this time in my home life to my business life. Perhaps the same lessons had validity in the entrepreneurial world.

So often in my business, especially early on, I was swept up by what everyone else was doing, talking about, buying. It’s odd that as relatively intelligent people, we lose our ability to reason and process and decide for ourselves. Thoughts like: “Well, if I admire this person and this person is ______________(using, buying this program, doing this thing), then it MUST be good and I want it, too!” and “If the proverbial THEY say I NEED this if I ever want my business to grow, then I just MUST need it, right?”

I was fortunate that, sometimes, financial reality caused me to pass up some of these golden “opportunities.” Opportunities that for some were unopened programs collecting dust or buried in the deep, dark bowels of our emails. Or coaching programs that didn’t deliver on their promise of 6 figures in a single bound. Still, they were passed “opportunities” that left me feeling left out with the ever-wily FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) working overtime.

Fortunately, the Universe had my back and I was able to trust that maybe there was some unforeseen reason why I didn’t buy, do, or follow people down that inviting path of promises. Instead, I waited and, lo and behold, better opportunities showed themselves when I was able to see them for myself. Programs and courses that did deliver and a coaching program and community that surpassed anything I imagined in terms of guidance and support to actually DO and grow and not just support each other to talk about it!

Just like this Christmas when I decided not to put up all the 6 or 7 bin-fulls of decorations, complaining about how hard it was to get them out of and back into the crawlspace and displaying ones I didn’t really love anymore (or maybe never did!) but I was compelled to put out. Instead, I simplified by displaying a small sampling of things I love. (Did people even notice the difference?)

Or when I decided that instead of spending lots of time making all the deserts in addition to the entre, I would ask for help.

Or instead of buying things just to buy, I would invest in and offer what people needed.

And instead of being caught up (miserably I might add) in all the hubbub of the whitewater experience of a holiday gone wild, I would plan and choose how I wanted to spend my time out of a place of honoring myself and my process.

And, guess what? Christmas still came and it was as it should be. And I found I was more present, less stressed and more empowered to experience it on my own terms. And so, I’ll carry its lessons into next year’s Business Plan:

1. Simplify. Harder and more work doesn’t always mean better.
2. Ask for help. Solopreneurs don’t have to be alone or lonely.
3. Give people what THEY say they need, not what I think they need.
4. Plan and choose how to spend time.
5. Honor myself and my process.

After all, I started my own business for it to be just that: my own. Why would I only look to everyone else’s for inspiration, motivation and direction when they already reside in me?

I hope that you had a memorable holiday. Any lessons you’re carrying into your next year? I’d love to learn from your experience, too. Please share in the comments and may this next year be one in which you feel empowered to decide, do, and grow!

Why Set the Stage to Write?

by Deb Coman | Nov 22, 2015 | Uncategorized

‘Nuff said, right?

Well, maybe not. You see, we usually know WHY we need to do something or why it’s good for us or why it will help our business. But, sometimes, we also need to get motivated to do it and have specific steps to follow.

And so it is with our writing. We all “get” that some forethought can go a long way to help us write with more ease and less stress, but who has time for that?

We can make a decision to make the time because, in fact, setting the stage to write saves time in the writing and editing process. We can get hung up on the HOW, though. So, here it is — the HOW:

1. Decide when you’re going to write: day, time, how long. Schedule it on your calendar.
2. Decide where you’re going to write: place, room, exact surface and seat within the room.
3. Clear the area of any sound and visual distractions.
4. Dress comfortably.
5. Grab a cup of comfort; a drink and/or snack that makes writing pleasant — a cup of hot tea works wonders.
6. Clear your mind. Take a few minutes to meditate, breathe, move your body.
7. Remind yourself that your writing is the way you share your gift and your readers need to “hear” from you.
8. Begin.

If you need a little more motivation getting in touch with the WHY you write and your purpose, check out this post about that here.

What are your challenges when setting the stage to write? I’d love to know if these steps, or your own, help you. Please comment or share.

If you’d like help establishing a writing practice that helps your writing flow with more ease and less stress (every time you need to write!) consider signing up for a free 30 Minute Discovery Call here.

Improving Mindset Improves Writing

by Deb Coman | Nov 17, 2015 | Uncategorized

Whether writing an article, website copy, training materials or short social media posts, sometimes the hardest part is getting started. Often, we approach writing tasks with a mindset that doesn’t help. Is this ever you?:

• I don’t like/I really hate/I deplore writing
• I was never a great writer, even back in school
• I don’t have time to write
• I have too many, more important things to do
• I don’t even know where to begin
• I’ll just do it later

Here’s the thing, though. We know that we need to write to put our content out into the world. We know we need to write to keep in touch with our clients and people that follow us. We know we need to write to market and share about our programs, services and products. So, why do we let these things get in the way and what can we do to change this?

What helps to get past this is to remember that our brains are such powerful allies when we put them to work alongside us, instead of against us. There are easy strategies we can practice to make writing come more easily. It’s all about our mindset and mindset is something we can control.

We can replace the messages above with:

• I do like to get my message out
• With practice, I can become a better writer
• I will make time to write
• Writing is one of the more critical aspects of my business
• I can make a plan for how to begin
• I’ll get started writing, right now

I don’t mean to imply that you just say some magic words and it will all be better but we can make each of these things happen if we want to improve our ability to write to communicate in business. A shift in mindset is the easiest, and often the most effective, place to start.

To solidify a new, more positive mindset, if you enjoy positive affirmations, create some like the ones above, or, better yet, ones of your own and consider writing them and keeping them somewhere visible when it’s time to write. Bring yourself to a more positive place when it comes to your writing. Ground these affirmations more securely by doing some breathing exercises or even meditation before starting if these are things you find useful.

Remember that few great writers were born that way. Writing is like a muscle and the more we use it, the more we develop it, the easier it comes to our aid when we need it.

Our purpose in writing, or our big “why” is also critical to setting the proper mindset to get us started. I share more about getting in touch your big “why” here.

I’d love to hear more about your strategies to set your mindset for writing with ease. Please comment here to continue the conversation. You can also explore your own writing process in more depth through my 4 Weeks To Better Writing Program.

I Love Learning – Thank You, Dad!

by Deb Coman | Jun 22, 2015 | Uncategorized

Both Mom and Dad taught me life lessons and I realized only recently that one from my dad was to love learning. It’s probably what lead me to believe I could start a new career (my own business at that!) as I approached an age when many have long ago figured out what they wanted to be when they grew up!

Aren’t our paths determined by now?

Aren’t we setting our sights on the prize of retirement and winding down and not on starting and gearing up?

Lessons from my dad offer a resounding “No!”

From the time I was young, I always loved learning. As the oldest of three girls, I was the automatic teacher every time we set up “school” in our kitchen and my sisters were the dutiful students. We used a small blackboard and scrap paper and that’s what we called fun (or at least I did!)

Some of my earliest memories are of my dad bringing us to the library on a Saturday morning and allowing us to wander in the children’s section, pulling books, skimming, and reading and creating a stack almost too big to carry to the checkout desk. Walking and whispering between trips to the water fountain, I’d notice the book covers that looked brand new and the worn ones of those that must be good. I remember the excitement as my reading level (and book options) progressed through the colors of the rainbow. You could pinch me when I was old enough to look through the card catalog and find what I needed for school projects. I wonder if you know, Dad, how much fun you provided with our free 3-block drive excursion to the Deer Park Library. I’ll call you today and tell you!

I also remember my dad sitting on the edge of my sister’s bed in our shared room drawing the solar system on the inside of a shirt box. We were riveted to learn what came next. I imagine this was prompted by a question, perhaps a passing inquiry that lead to several nights of drawing and showing as planets joined the solar system and we waited in anticipation for the next tidbit of knowledge. From your perch at the end of the bed, you taught us we could learn from any question, using any materials and that sharing knowledge is a gift often started at home.

Thank you, Dad, today and every day for instilling the value of learning and growing by inviting me into the world of inquisitive thought and expansion. It is one of your greatest gifts and for that I am grateful. For you, I am grateful!