Thanksgiving is coming up and that means I’ll be indulging in some yummy food and reflecting on all that I’m thankful for.

Practicing an attitude of gratitude is a great right-brain booster and helps me appreciate all of the good stuff in my life, especially when I’m going through a rough patch or life feels more challenging than usual.

Here are a few fill-in-the-blanks to help prompt your attitude of gratitude:

• I’m grateful for…
• I don’t know what I’d do without…
• My life would be dull if it weren’t for…
• The following people make my life richer…because they… (these could be people your personally know or people who simply inspire you)
• I appreciate the following things about myself…
• This year I’ve been blessed with…

I’d love to hear what you’re grateful for! Either share in the comments or email me at info@artizencoaching.com.

Guest post by by Cass Mullane, Accountability Coach, Right-Brain Business Plan® Licensed Facilitator, Prosper Creatively, LLC

The U.S. election has happened and the results are… the results. Someone wins, others don’t. That’s how it works in a democracy. What’s important now is what you choose to do about it. If you need to, step away. Breathe. Take a walk. Get your head back on straight and really take a look at what’s important in your business and in your life.

The sun comes up again each day and each day you get to choose how you’re going to show up. If you choose to show up as a whiner and complainer or as a boaster and gloater, you accomplish nothing except to perpetuate the divisiveness that a segment of the population finds appealing.

Here’s a novel concept: choose to show up as President of Your World. Show up as the competent, hard-working, delightful rock star that you are. Now doesn’t that sound more appealing? Choose to go to work on the things you can directly control and have an impact on. Choose to make your world a good place to be.

This does not mean you don’t have an opinion or that you’re an ostrich with its head in the sand. What this means is you’re being proactive and choosing how you want to live and how you want to show up in your business and in your life.

It also means you’re setting an example that others can follow. Be an adult, be a leader, be confident in yourself and your abilities. Go out and show others how your world is thriving. Your creative work matters regardless of who is in office. You’re able to roll with the things thrown at you. You’re able to work through obstacles or around them. You’re in charge of you and you just happen to be the newly elected President of Your World!

Create a world that you want to play in.

Cass Mullane is an artist with an MBA. Cass’ calm, comfortable approach consistently yields positive results for clients. Her business and personal coaching practice, www.ProsperCreatively.com, specializes in delivering solid left brain business skills to right brainers and creatives in a fun, visual way. She’s a best selling author, textile and mixed media artist and creator of the Cool Stuff Jar™ coaching program. You can also visit Cass on Facebook!

Guest post by by Lisa Dolce, Right-Brain Business Plan® Licensed Facilitator,

Dear highly sensitive entrepreneur:

I get it.

I know first-hand how hard it is to find the sweet spot between your desire for “perfect” and actually sharing your most valuable work.

Because you and I are the kind of people who set the bar really high for ourselves.

Because we’re highly sensitive, we notice subtle details about our ideas and projects. It’s a blessing—but it also can feel like a curse.

Especially when you start working toward your biggest visions, your inner perfectionist rears her head. You start to spend hours upon hours fine-tuning the details. You make tweak after tweak, never pulling the trigger, while your biggest dreams languish and fade.

For almost a year, I’ve been working on a book (which is a lifelong dream of mine). But as my submission deadline approached, I went into analysis paralysis and talked myself out of finishing it.

My perfectionist voice reared its ugly and powerful head.

“This is not good enough!”

“No one will read this!”

“It is going to be an epic fail!”

Fear set in (which quickly turns into overwhelm for us sensitive types).

So I stopped. I abandoned the idea completely…until a friend helped me turn it around.

She said, “What, are you crazy? This can help so many people!” She reminded me this was not about being perfect but showing up and sharing my gifts with the world–gifts that could really make a difference in someone else’s life.

Success can be as simple as showing up.

Once I reconnected with my ability to change another person’s life, my mission-driven, heart-centered side kicked into gear and told my inner perfectionist to step aside. I knew there was important work to be done.

Let your strong sense of mission pull you out of overthinking.

This helped free me from perfectionism long enough to pick up where I left off and get my work out into the world.

With my deadline looming, I adopted an “I’ll just show up and see what happens” attitude. Rather than the perfect “real” book I envisioned, I took one chapter from my book and made a simple little e-book. I launched with no attachment to the outcome other than to sharing the work I believed would be valuable for my fellow heart-centered entrepreneurs.

Nothing needs to be perfect. It just needs to be shared.

Since then, I’ve had lovely notes from people who said the e-book helped them. To my delight they even shared it with their kids and their friends! It also started some great discussions about what it is like to be a highly sensitive entrepreneur, which has been a true gift in all of this.

As heart-centered entrepreneurs, our biggest goal is to connect with others that need us and make an impact in some way. Yes, it is easy to stay in our comfort zone, but we don’t get the rewards of sharing our gifts if we do so.

So I’d love to know: Is your need for perfection holding you back from making a difference in someone’s life? What would you do differently right now, today, if you knew success was as simple as showing up?

Lisa Dolce is a Small Business Coach, Start-Up Mentor and Licensed Facilitator of the Right Brain Business Plan ®. She helps heart-centered entrepreneurs bring together their brilliant ideas and beautiful gifts and talents to design, launch and grow their own profitable business.

I know that managing the moola can be one of the more challenging aspects of running a creative business. That’s why I’m excited to share an upcoming online class crafted specifically for artists all about money. It’s being offered by my friend Mati McDonough and Certified Financial Education Instructor Christina Empedocles. You can watch them talk about the course in the video above (and how Mati saved $12k!)

These 2 seasoned artists who have been running their own creative businesses for more than 10 years, and their goal is to take you from being a financial novice though creating your own comprehensive, custom financial plan.

Right now is the best time to sign-up for the Money Bootcamp for Artists and Creatives. The price is going to increase after TODAY October 21st!

I recently shared this exercise from my first book with my mentorship Shining Stars as a way to help take the long view of their business journeys and I thought I’d share it with you, too.

Sometimes it can feel like things aren’t moving fast enough. But guess what? You’re probably farther along than you give yourself credit for (plus, remember that things take time).

Look back in order to look forward.

Create a life map illustrating the significant personal and professional milestones that have made you who you are today. Draw a horizontal line and mark time periods on it. Next, along the time line, plot out major milestones and achievements. What were some key learning moments in your life? What are you proud of? This is your opportunity to brag about yourself, so please don’t be modest. If you have trouble thinking of things to include, have a friend or family member remind you of all your wonderful talents and accomplishments.

Include things about yourself such as the following:

• Education and training
• Qualifications
• Work experience
• Passions, interests, and relevant hobbies
• Accomplishments and awards
• Challenges you’ve overcome
• Peak moments and personal triumphs that demonstrate your character

Recognizing past achievements (and how long they took) plus acknowledging your learnings along the way helps to put a seemingly circuitous path in perspective.

What have you learned through the years? What key take-aways can help you during the next chapters?

Most importantly regardless of what you’ve accomplished… what can you acknowledge about who you are now?

You can see an example of my life map here. I’d love to see what you create! Please take a pic and send it to me at info @ artizencoaching.com or tag me on Instagram (@jennlee).

Guest post by by Cass Mullane, Accountability Coach, Right-Brain Business Plan® Licensed Facilitator, Prosper Creatively, LLC

I’m writing another book right now. While I’m spending a lot of time writing, I’m also spending a lot of time not generating revenues. This means my cash flow for the next few months could be drastically impacted.

Does this mean that I’ll be folding up my business and calling it quits? Heck no! Why? Because I have a flexible business plan that covers situations like this.

Planning ahead gives me the leeway to choose to reduce my billable hours and not worry about still having money available to pay the bills. And if a crisis were to pop up that took me away from my business, having a plan in place also means I have a clear roadmap to guide me. That way I will not stress out about my business, and I can, instead, fully focus my energy on handling the crisis at hand.

What measures do you have in place for situations that drastically affect your cash flow?

Whether you are a service business or a retail operation, you need to set up a plan to ensure that you have at three to six months of operating expenses in the bank. Then you need to put that plan into motion and stick to it.

“Six months of expenses?! But I barely have enough to make it through the month right now.” Yep, six months.

Your immediate reaction may well have been based on scarcity thinking. Once you lift your head up and look at the bigger world, you can focus on solutions and longer range planning. If you keep your head down, you not only perpetuate the scarcity situation, but you also miss opportunities that might move you right out of your scarcity position. What I’d like you to think about is lifting your head up and looking at the big picture. What do you really want? What can you do now to move yourself closer to what you really want?

When I started out in my business, I made a plan that included setting aside money from each check I received to build up a safety net. I stuck to it faithfully, even when my money was really tight. To say it was uncomfortable is an understatement. But you have to stick to your guns and do what is necessary to go after what drives you. That initial period of discomfort has resulted in a great deal of freedom now.

Like many of you, I am a solopreneur. This does not mean I work alone, it simply means I am the only person employed by my company. I have a number of contractors who work with me to keep my operations moving along. So when I stop working, my company does not stop functioning. But remember, it took me a few years of very hard work to arrive at this position. What keeps me on track is not simply passion. Having a flexible plan to help me go after my passion and doing the hard stuff is what makes my business roll.

When you set your sights on achieving what you really want, you will look ahead and plan for success. And your plan will include ways to make sure you have enough cash on hand to weather what comes up.

What are you doing to plan for your success?

Cass Mullane is an artist with an MBA. Cass’ calm, comfortable approach consistently yields positive results for clients. Her business and personal coaching practice, www.ProsperCreatively.com, specializes in delivering solid left brain business skills to right brainers and creatives in a fun, visual way. She’s a best selling author, textile and mixed media artist and creator of the Cool Stuff Jar™ coaching program. You can also visit Cass on Facebook!