When you work to build a thriving and sustainable business, you must remember to take time and recalibrate. Being in tune with the basic building blocks of your business requires moments of self-empowerment. By empowering yourself you can gain clarity, accept change, learn new strategies, and allow expansion. Countless options exist for identifying what needs work, embracing the steps to develop, empowering yourself with various tools and resources, and emerging a more grounded and confident entrepreneur. Here are five to get you started!

Know Your Vision and Purpose
One of the first activities from the Right Brain Business Plan® is designed to help youg gain clarity around the big vision for your business. For most heart-centered entrepreneurs this is the easy part. It feels comfortable to speak from the heart, share your gifts and talents with others in the form of service, and to consider your personal values in the planning of your business. But what happens as time passes and you find yourself deep in the day-to-day running of the biz? You forget to recalibrate. It can be inspiring to stop what you’re doing and spend a day revisiting your vision for your biz and seeing what (if anything) needs to be clarified.

Here are three prompts to get you thinking (feel free to journal on after filling in the blanks):

When I started my big vision was all about _______________ now, I find myself spending a lot of time on __________________ and it feels ___________________.

The two things I value most as a business owner are _____________ and __________ and I find it __________ to stay aligned to those values as I run my business.

I feel most empowered when I am following my dream of ___________________.

Know Your Audience
So much of your business success is about how well you know and pay attention to your perfect customers. It’s true that in the life of a business your perfect customer can change. This means that you must consistently check-in with yourself about who you are serving and what they want from you. Being really clear on the “who” can make all the difference in how you show up in the world. From your website and blog content to the way you interact with your community when you get the word out, it’s all important. Making sure you know who you’re talking to is necessary, but you must sometimes stop talking and simply listen. There is power in mindful listening. And what better way to know your audience than to listen to your audience?

Know Your Stuff
You’re an expert in your field, but how do you stay that way? It’s not enough to blog, share, and give, you have to also stay in touch with your industry. Knowing the latest research, standards, trends, and updates is essential to your survival. You’ve got to read, take classes, investigate, be curious, meet new people in your trade and stay abreast of what’s happening so that you can pass that knowledge on to your customers. They count on you to be in the know! What have you done recently to stay current in your field?

Know Your Systems
After a while, every business begins to develop systems to support those things they do most often. You create templates and repeatable processes based on the patterns you notice in your business. These systems can be as simple as how you respond to customer emails or how you track your time and money. Whatever they are, you have to know your systems. To be more empowered you have to be organized. Organization can take on many forms, but here are a few:

• Keep an updated calendar that allows you to plan ahead for your business.
• Create an effective and efficient filing system (especially on your computer or in a file cabinet if that works better for you).
• Pay attention to emails from your service providers and vendors in case there are changes in their systems that may affect you and your customers.
• Develop rituals and routines for the work you do every day, every month, and every quarter.
• Have important telephone numbers and email addresses programmed into your phone in case you need them when you’re out and about (especially those of your support team).

Know Your Numbers
Creative entrepreneurs often have an aversion to getting cozy with their numbers, but it’s one of the most empowering things you can do for yourself and for your business. Even if you have an accountant and a bookkeeper, you need to know your financial situation at all times (or at least have access to it at all times). It’s not absolutely necessary for you to understand tax code or to have the skills to program QuickBooks, but you should be able to access the data that shows you were you are in order for you to make good decisions about where you need to go next.

The other numbers you should pay attention to are the numbers that tell you about your community. How many people are actually in your tribe? How many of them follow you on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram? Do you have people signed up for your mailing list? How many are actively following and participating in your blog? When they interact with you on your website, how long do they stay? Where do they spend most of their time? What are they reading and sharing over and over again? These are the other numbers that matter in your business and if you keep an eye on them you’ll find yourself feeling more empowered and able to make confident and well-informed decisions.

Kiala Givehand, EdS, MFA, MA is the founder of Giving Hands Creative and Generations Literary Press. She has a unique perspective on what it means to be a multi-passionate business owner. As an empowerment & accountability coach for creative female entrepreneurs, introverts, writers, and artists, Kiala uses her fierce energy to help her clients identify and embrace their gifts so they can empower their lives with passion and intentional success. You can visit her on her Website. Kiala is one of our licensed Right-Brain Business Plan® Facilitators and a Right Brain Business Plan Associate Coach.

I recently wrapped up a budgeting webinar series for a group of brand new entrepreneurs. It was enlightening. Normally I have about a 60% engagement rate from attendees of this particular series: they do the homework, schedule the laser sessions and send me emails. But this time I had only about 30% who were fully engaged. So, I asked them why. Here’s what they said.

Fear Of The Unknown
For most, fear of the unknown was the number one reason they were not engaged. As new entrepreneurs they imagined that the task of creating a budget to be huge and horrible. They let the fear grow into some kind of big monster that paralyzed their progress. The fact is, once they got started, creating a plan to manage their moola turned out to be simpler than they expected and was empowering for them.

So I gave them a soft place to land. I had them call me or email me when they got stuck and we’d work through whatever was tripping them up. I also set up a few open Q&A calls so they could talk to their peers who were struggling through some of the same issues. When they realized that they were not alone, they moved ahead.
They discovered that creating a budget was not that hard, it was just unfamiliar. Once they got past the unfamiliarity, the whole process became less of a chore and more of a game. Their mindset changed from “I have to do this,” to “I want to do this.” That simple shift made the fear dissipate.

Overwhelm
The number two reason people were not fully engaged was overwhelm. Being new business owners, they were facing a boatload of new challenges and responsibilities. Add to that the regular demands of life and, badda boom, we have overwhelm.

When you experience overwhelm, there’s an increase in stress and often a quick shift into neutral where nothing gets done. That’s when those mind monkeys start swinging around inside your head telling you that you’ll never get through it all and that you should just stop working.

The key here is to break the tasks down into manageable bites. Here are two reasons why:
1. When you have manageable bites you automatically have a sequence laid out for you of which bites to take and when
2. You have only one very small thing to focus on and it’s doable.
What the new entrepreneurs did was use sticky notes to map out the steps, then posted pictures of their notes as they completed them. It was a great boost each time someone nailed a step and it was fun to see the colorful ‘done’ stickies accumulating as the budgets were created. Things were getting accomplished and they could see the progress, so the overwhelm went away.

The Result
Now they’ve bonded. This group, more than any other, has created bonds that I’m sure will continue as they move ahead developing their businesses. They’ve shared the journey of getting through their first budget together. They’ve also experienced the boost that belonging to a supportive group can bring to their level of confidence and their determination to carry on despite challenges.

So what will you do when faced with the next unfamiliar task? Will you let the fear of the unknown stop you in your tracks or will you push through and make the process into a game? And what will you do when overwhelm hits you? Will you hit the pause button and check out or will you break the work into small manageable pieces then post pictures of your progress?

I’m hoping you’ll break it down and inject some fun into your business. Here’s to getting out of neutral and shifting into drive!

Cass Mullane’s 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!

That’s me (and my Cookie Monster pinata) celebrating my 7th birthday all decked out in my Strawberry Shortcake dress with my matching Strawberry Shortcake birthday cake. Both the “berry” cute dress and cake were made by my mom who also shares my b-day today – Happy Birthday, Mom!).

Well, today I’m celebrating my big 4-0!

To celebrate my milestone birthday, I’m hosting a sale on my Unfolding Your Life Vision® licensing program and YOU can save 40% on this fun, done-for-you program.

The price hasn’t been this low since the program first came out!

Hold inspiring life vision workshops based on one of my bestselling creative works without spending a fortune or spinning your wheels! I’ve taken out all of the guess work for you and share my best secrets, so you can focus on teaching inspiring and profitable workshops now.

Not only do you get rights to lead my Unfolding Your Life Vision® Workshop but you also get rights to lead my inspiring Dream Box Workshop as well!

You get 2 for the price of 1, on sale to boot.

Save a whopping 40% now through 9pm PT, TONIGHT, Aug 5th by entering the code: BDAY40 at checkout. The discount cannot be applied to previous purchases.

We’re excited to let you know that the team has been growing over here (to meet the growing needs of our community!) and that means we now have Associate Coaches who are available to work with YOU 1:1.

We hear from so many of you in our RBBP family that you just wish you had someone who could help you get unstuck or get closer to your big vision.

Sharon Tessandori and Kiala Givehand are at the ready to help get to where you want to go more quickly and with more ease (and fun!).

Find out how you can work with one of our fabulous coaches NOW.

You may recognize Sharon Tessandori from being one of my special guests last year on CreativeLive where she shared about her journey opening her successful yoga studio nearly 10 years ago. She has been leading my RBBP Home Study group calls for about a year and a half, is a Circle Coach in my Mentorship Program, and has been part of the RBBP family since the beginning.

You may recognize Kiala Givehand from her live, in-person guest appearance at this year’s Video Summit where she shared about how she launched her first tangible product, the Mixed Media Inspiration Deck. Kiala is our resident lead Circle Coach in my Mentorship Program and has led 2 of my facilitated RBBP e-Courses. So she knows the RBBP way inside and out.

We have limited space for these special 1:1 packages with our amazing Associate Coaches, so if you’ve been yearning for more focused, individualized, and hands-on support in your life or business, grab your spot today!

Time-sensitive bonus gift:

If you purchase your coaching package before July 31st at 9pm PT, you’ll receive 2 very special goodies (valued at $14 each) from BOTH of our Associate Coaches. You’ll get Sharon’s e-book Creating Your Personal Retreat: A How To for Yoga Lovers, Busy Mamas, and Anyone Seeking MORE Joy and Kiala’s e-book The Empowered Entrepreneur: A Journaling Workbook for Creative Business Owners Who Are Ready to Work With A Coach.

Guest post by licensed Right-Brain Business Plan® Facilitator Ho’omalamalama Brown

What if you wake up with an idea to develop the perfect product for all of humanity? Now what? This doodle summarizes and simplifies a few of the realities that we all face. (Does any of the doodle images look familiar?) We all start somewhere and hope to make it to the big finish with moola in hand.

When I decided to navigate through my own game board I read books, looked on Google®, asked other’s and one day I found the perfect book. It was Jennifer Lee’s, “The Right Brain Business Plan®” and I was ecstatic. I’m not trying to do a book plug to earn brownie points, but this is what really helped me. There were so many examples and fun prompts that I had to visit her website.

Here’s the exciting part, she was hosting an online “Product Development” class. How perfect! If you were there you can remember how engaging it felt. However, since the Livestream program it has taken me two years to come up with a product that I can sell through my website.

Here’s the doodle translation…

• Idea – My product.
• Dream – What I hope to earn.
• Share – I joined the RBBP Mentorship program for support.
• Inspiration – Going through a gamut of feelings to find my strength.
• Work – Every dream needs to have action otherwise it will die.
• Tweak – I had to change a lot of things as I defined my perfect client.
• Tangible – Something worth selling.
• Partnership Shortcut – In the game of “Product Development” a partner can help to lighten the load and build momentum. (I didn’t take this road, yet.)

It does take time but it’s time well spent. PEACE be the Journey.

Ho’o

Enlighten and brighten is the Hawaiian translation of Ho’omalamalama. As a performing artist and instructor of Polynesian culture Ho’o (ho-Oh) found her calling in the health and wellness realm. Today she extends that light into creative coaching utilizing the RBBP method, an effective way to help other creative entrepreneurs succeed. You can find Ho’o here: http://www.hoomalamalama.com/
Ho’o is one of our licensed Right-Brain Business Plan® Facilitators.

Every creative entrepreneur wants to share their gifts, talents, and passions with the world — that’s why most of us started our businesses. We want to interact with others who are looking to make a positive impact. We want to inspire and ignite good in the world. One of the ways we do that is by growing our lists. We reach out and find like-minded, heart-centered people that we eventually call our perfect customers, our tribe, or our community.

But what happens once people start to follow us? Do we forget about those faithful few who’ve been with us since we started? Do we spend most of our time trying to gain more followers, more likes, more email addresses? Or do we remember to tend to the ones that have already said YES?

Once we establish a community it’s important to continually nurture our relationship with them. It’s essential to cultivate the community we have while we continue to grow. There are many ways to stay connected and engaged to your peeps as you continue to plant and water the seeds that will yield a larger tribe. Here are five tried and true methods that can help you care for your current community:

1. Create Surveys and Polls — These are wonderful tools for co-creating with the people who follow you, like your pages, read your blog, and comment on your Instagram photos. Design surveys to find out what people want to see more of from you. Use polls to learn more about your tribe. Ask about the trends and get them talking about what matters to them so you can offer more value and be of greater service.

2. Tap Into the Collective Wisdom — Get them talking — not just to you, but with you and with others in the community. Start a forum or a thread where your community members can connect around topics that they are passionate about. Get them to share their expertise and learn from the collective wisdom of the whole.

3. Connect via Live Streaming Apps — Offer sessions where you are live on camera with your peeps. Host a series of conversations that allow you to bring members of the community on camera with you. This is a great way to be in conversation with your peeps in real time. The possibilities for interaction and connection building are limitless with this medium.

4. Blogging — If you’re reading this post it’s because you likely understand the power of blogging and how we can learn and grow from reading blogs. Your tribe is no different. Bring the energy back to your blogging by using surveys and polls (see #1 above) to find out what your people want to hear from you. What topics do they want you to talk about with greater depth? Blogging is a chance to enter the larger conversations, share your gifts, talents, & passions, and get others talking back and engaging more fully.

5. E-Courses — Teach something you love. Bringing people together to learn in conjunction with the four strategies mentioned above is the ultimate way to foster community, give value, and be of service to the people who trust you, follow you, and ultimately buy from you. By offering meaningful and manageable content, providing mindful interactions, and motivating your perfect customers to follow their passions and be lifelong learners, you can create a thriving community where the members feel supported, heard, and nurtured.

In the end, building your list is important to the success and sustainability of your business, but don’t forget that as people join your tribe, they need to be acknowledged and cared for as well. The more you value the people around you the more others will want to join in and learn from you, work with you, and buy from you. Create a community worth sharing.

Kiala Givehand, EdS, MFA, MA is the founder of Giving Hands Creative and Generations Literary Press. She has a unique perspective on what it means to be a multi-passionate business owner. As an empowerment & accountability coach for creative female entrepreneurs, introverts, writers, and artists, Kiala uses her fierce energy to help her clients identify and embrace their gifts so they can empower their lives with passion and intentional success. You can visit her on her Website. Kiala is one of our licensed Right-Brain Business Plan® Facilitators and a Right Brain Business Plan Associate Coach.