Guest post by licensed Right-Brain Business Plan® Facilitator Cass Mullane

If getting a grip on your money and your spending is something you’ve decided to focus on in 2013, here are two tips that can help you begin setting some quality money habits.

Skim 20% off of EVERY payment that you receive. Whether it’s a check, dividend, refund, credit card deposit, rebate, gift or anything else) put part of the 20% into a savings account to pay your taxes and the rest into savings that you cannot touch unless it’s a dire emergency. Do this before you pay a single bill.

I know this sounds challenging, but it here are some of the benefits:

a. You quickly accumulate a bucket of money that will minimize the stress that comes up every year at April 15th and the frantic “eeek-how-will-I-pay-my-taxes??!!” state of mind that many people get themselves into.

b. Over time, if you treat the money like it does not exist, it will give you a safety net in case you encounter a legitimate dire emergency. (P.S. shoes, bags and big screen TVs are not dire emergencies!)

c. You’ll start to pay closer attention to your money and to what’s coming in and what’s going out. It’s always good to know what your money’s up to.

d. You will look at your standard of living and probably make some changes for the better. After all, no one’s raising your debt ceiling! Learn to live below your means and teach your kids to do the same.

Give up the ATM. Yep, it’s convenient, but until you get a grip on your spending, the ATM is a giant black hole. Here are a few things to think about when you make a $100 withdrawal:

a. The ATM delivers your cash in small bills. Which are you more likely to spend: a crisp $100 bill or five $20s? Both are worth $100, but those $20 bills are going to slip through your fingers without giving them any thought.

b. You visit the ATM on Tuesday and you’re back at the ATM on Friday. Do you know where that cash went? If you’re like most people you don’t have a clue! Pay attention to what you spend your cash on.

c. You feel like you’re cash rich because there are five $20 bills just sitting there in your wallet smiling at you saying, “Spend me!” So what do you do? You spend them.

Make a point of going inside the bank to get your cash. This makes you more aware of the transaction and, therefore, more aware of your money. Then, when you withdraw cash, put most of it in a separate place and only leave one $20 in your wallet. You’ll soon be more sensitized to its value if one $20 bill is all you have readily available to spend.

A bonus: You get to interact with the personnel at your bank. A banker should be part of your professional team. Start building this relationship. It could come in handy if you need to straighten anything out at the bank or if you need to talk about financing.

Try both of these tips over the next four weeks and see what happens!
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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. Cass is is one of our licensed Right-Brain Business Plan® Facilitators.”

Last weekend Jan 18th-20th, thousands of creative entrepreneurs gathered online to participate in my Right-Brain Business Plan® creativeLIVE workshop. I’m still blown away by the transformations that happened in-studio and over the Internet. I heard from so many people how with this creative and visual approach really spoke their language and how they were finally able to get their business plans done. Music to my ears!

For highlights from our last day together, you can watch the video above.

And for a recap of the entire, fun-filled, colorful weekend, here are some memorable moments below.

One the first day participants worked on their Big Vision collage which became the foundation for building super inspiring Right-Brain Business Plans®.

What a treat to get to work with the 6 incredible studio audience participants: Rebecca Stumpf, Catilin Colling, Cathy Skraba, Kathy Jakielski, Nathan Friedkin, and Frances Arnold (not pictured)

Even all the folks watching from home got in on the action and it was so fun to see the pics of their RBBPs that were shared online.

On the second day we walked through the Painting the Picture of Your Business Landscape market research exercise with Nathan Friedkin of the Divorce Cafe. As we filled out Nathan’s business landscape on this wall-sized play sheet, new insights, opportunities, and connection points emerged.

On day 3 we moved more into the left-brain details with moola mapping to help folks get clearer about the money coming in and money going out. And proclaiming inspiring financial goals.

I’m always amazed at the a-has that happen during the moola mapping exercise!

A segment on creative action planning would not be complete with out a demonstration of my favorite sticky note project planning method. Thanks to image stylist Caitlin Colling for playing along with this visual process.

If you’re wondering where the fabulous giant calendar is from, you can order it from Paper Source. (Looks like it’s out of stock right now, perhaps from all the enthusiastic folks who got inspired seeing it on creativeLIVE ;)!)

Many thanks to the wonderful co-hosts Kenna Klosterman and Alicia Dunams for being the voice of the online participants who joined us from all over the world.

When we wrapped up the workshop, the participants surprised me with a super thoughtful gift. As Frances shared some very touching words on behalf of the group and presented me with a voucher for a massage near my home, I was moved to tears (with no waterproof mascara!). It was a wonderful way to end our 3 days together.

There’s still more to share from this incredible experience, including my take-aways about collaboration after having the opportunity to work with such a stellar team over at creativeLIVE. They’ve taken my perspective of corralling creative cohorts to a whole new level and I look forward to writing more about that later.

Until then, for other fun pics, you can check out the Right-Brain Business Plan® Facebook fan page and see more photos including more fantastic shots from Rebecca Stumpf and an album from the team at creativeLIVE. And if you participated in the online course, I’d love to hear from you about your insights, a-has, and actions. Thanks!!

If you’d like to have anytime access to the workshop recordings so you can create your own Right-Brain Business Plan® and learn from seeing the process in action, you can purchase the 3-day intensive course from creativeLIVE here.

Guest post by licensed Right-Brain Business Plan® Facilitator Lorene Collier Purcy

The internet is a must for small business owners. The internet gives you a global presence that is needed to be competitive in the business field that you are in. Many small business owners have warmed to the fact that they need a web-site to assist in presenting their company to potential customers and are investing in the proper tools to get their site on the internet.

But what if you are a small business owner who is not on the internet yet and you want to be on the net but you don’t know the first thing to do? Well, stay tuned, these articles are to assist you in understanding the World Wide Web in its most simplistic form.

Instead of going into the history of the internet, I’ll just lay down some simplistic key facts that will amaze you. First of all, the Internet has been around for more than 60 years! It just didn’t pop up overnight! The internet was used by the government, certain educational institutions and the military for private messaging and research. The communication lines were already in place. This is how governments obtained data on certain countries and passed it along to high ranking officials.

Things such as instant messaging were done by the military. Programmers developed routines so that computers could talk to one another during the course of a worldwide event. All of these computers tied together create a “web” or a community of computers, hence the name, “World Wide Web”.

When the Soviet Union reconfigured its strategies and government in 1986 and the Berlin Wall fell, it led to a series of events to make this private network public. The network was not “usable” anymore because of the shift in political thought and countries were more open to share information. Most of the communication lines that existed since 1945 were sold to private companies, such as AT&T and after that, the Internet was born!

So the Internet didn’t come out of nowhere. The lines of communication were already established. So now that you know a brief simplistic history, stay tuned to see how you can go about developing a web presence!

Known for a contagious passion for excellence,a talent for practical business solutions, and a competence for being a motivational leader, Lorene Collier Purcy, is an author, speaker, business consultant & life coach. Whether it’s life balance or financial management, Lorene has been helping individuals realize their true potential and acts as their accountability partner, assisting them on how to effectively implement strategies to live the life they truly deserve. You can contact Lorene at lcpurcy@savvychicksrule.com or visit her online at www.savvychicksrule.com. Lorene is one of our licensed Right-Brain Business Plan® Facilitators.

Above are some highlights from an amazing second day of the workshop (including an insightful interview with Sharon Tessandori a yoga studio owner, life coach, and Right-Brain Business Plan® licensed facilitator)

The last day to participate live for FREE is today, Sunday January 20th starting at 9am PT. Until then you can catch the rebroadcast of Day 2 here.

The participants are blowing me away and the level of engagement, insight, and action that’s happening in the global online audience is incredible. Thank you to all the Right-Brain Entrepreneurs joining us from around the world!

And thanks to the in-studio participants for rocking it!

Caitlin C. (@caitcolling) – Caitlin is a corporate and personal image consultant, wardrobe stylist, and motivational speaker. Caitlin’s company, Caitlin Colling Image Consulting, motivates and empowers others to dress successfully. She will work with Jennifer on planning and growing her business.

Rebecca S. (@photorebecca) – In September, Rebecca quit her full time job and is currently attempting to make her passion, editorial photography, into a profitable business.

Cathy S.. (@cathyswraps) – Cathy is the founder of CathysWraps – A design company focused on decorating everything from vases to cupcakes. Cathy hopes to get her finances in order and grow her business.

Kathy J. (@whatdobacondo) – Kathy runs a successful massage therapy practice and also has several creative business ideas. She will work with Jennifer to try and draft a business plan to piece all of her ideas together.

Nathan Friedkin (@koshercuts) – Nathan plans to launch a website tailored to divorcees that will help them through the difficult steps of life after a divorce. He needs Jennifer’s help to get it off the ground.

Frances Arnold (@FrancesLArnold) – Frances is a registered dietician and yoga teacher. She wants to bring her platform to a whole new level and knows that designing a business plan is the first step.

Guest post by licensed Right-Brain Business Plan® Facilitator Amy Egenberger

What’s bugging you? Trying to get creative work done can be a challenge. Tiny troubles or even big bothersome dilemmas show up. Let’s face it. It’s all not peaches and cream 100% of the time when “following your joy.”

Sometimes it’s peas and screams.

Sure, we valiantly try to not sweat the small stuff, to look at the bright side, to just keep going. But what’s a creative entrepreneur to do if the bright side is out of sight, and moving forward feels like slogging through peanut butter?

Let’s consult an expert.

Remember the Princess and the Pea story? She didn’t sleep a wink. Despite a cushion of twenty mattresses and twenty down feather beds, that tiny pea annoyed her all night. Good news. The next morning her sensitivity proved her to be a real princess.

Although it may not prove our royal blood, I think we need to pay attention. What has you feeling restless, annoyed, anxious or downright crabby? Whether it’s a pea-sized complaint or an obstacle as big as a boulder, those irritants (a.k.a. peas) can inspire creative action.

Here are three recent examples. Crabbiness points to creative clarity.

The other day I felt particularly fed up with my clutter-stuffed email boxes. What am I doing with thousands of messages and more coming in every minute? Empathizing with Lucy and Ethel at the accelerating conveyer in the chocolate factory, I had to do something. Enough already! So, I dove in, organized tags, made filters, unsubscribed from lists I never open and found a way to delete unwanted messages en masse. Thirty minutes later I could breathe again. Whew! Making spaciousness this way left me feeling more at peace with the flow of things rather than inundated by it.

It also bugs me that I have so much to do and it all seems like top priority. How is that possible? It’s not. But yesterday, instead of letting it get to me, I quickly sketched out a colored mind map of all the pending projects. I felt better. Some timely priorities emerged from the picture, and this new perspective shifted my energy, available once again to the creative flow. By the end of the day I’d taken care of two big matters, one artistic and one numeric. After fabric-dying and year-end bookkeeping, both sides of my brain were happier.

The third thing that’s been bugging me is when my blog articles distill down to step-by-step how-to advice. Sometimes that’s helpful, indeed. But my creative self can get hung up on following instructions. Argh! So, instead of offering counsel or direction on p’s and q’s, I’ll leave you with three questions to prompt your own “peas and cues” for making way for creative action.

What’s bugging you these days?
What’s one thing you can do about it in thirty minutes or less?
What difference does it make to do that one thing?

Your creative energy would love to find out.

Making way for creative action, Amy Egenberger, MEd., CPCC, is proud to be a Licensed Facilitator of the Right Brain Business Plan®. She is a seasoned educator, life coach, artist and founder of Spirit Out! Coaching. Amy helps people find the courage and clarity to get moving on their creative path. A book, a business, a project, a change… your creative spirit gets out! Amy is one of our licensed Right-Brain Business Plan® Facilitators.

Join Amy on Feb 8-9, 2013 for fun & focus to make your biz plan real.
Right-Brain Business Plan® Workshop Minneapolis, Minnesota

Guest post by licensed Right-Brain Business Plan® Facilitator Laura Burns

Networking is one of those things that everyone’s heard of, most of us do, but we don’t spend a lot of time thinking about. There are a lot of benefits to networking for entrepreneurs, but it’s easy to feel ‘not ready yet’. If your business is still in planning mode you may feel like it’s too soon to start networking, but it’s never too early. Every relationship you create and nurture is one more person who can help you get your great idea off the ground!

Entrepreneurs love to help other entrepreneurs.

Thoughtful and strategic networking early on can work miracles for your new business. The key word here is ‘early’. Most people wait until they have quit their job and fully launched their new business to start networking and meeting people in their new field and community of entrepreneurs. This means they’re missing out on weeks, months, or sometimes years of connection and collaboration.

Here are my Top Three Reasons to Network Early. Let’s dive into why it’s not only beneficial, but crucial to getting your business off to a strong start.

1. Early networking gets you and your business out there. It’s one of the best ways to get great exposure in the business community. Tip: Do it right and just be yourself. Don’t focus on selling or pitching to people or you’ll come off as an over-zealous marketer. Instead show people who you are and let them see the excited and motivated entrepreneur ready to participate in and strengthen the local business community.

2. Take advantage of the opportunity to practice how you talk about your business. It can take a while before the language and descriptions you use to explain your work feel natural. Early networking gets you started talking to other business owners way before you actually launch your business. Spending the time early on can make a huge difference in your skill, ability, and confidence in talking to clients and customers. Not only does it prepare you to speak easily and interestingly about your work, but early networking can help keep your conversation skills honed, your mind agile, and your listening ear tuned for opportunities to help others and be helped in return. The best kind of networking is when someone has a challenge that you can help them to overcome. Not only are you helping someone else and scoring good vibes, but you’ll be remembered as the person who came through for them – a great way to build a really positive reputation.

3. My favorite thing to come from networking is collaborations! Networking events are perfect places to meet new project partners and collaborators. Some of my more interesting and fruitful events and services have come from working together with another entrepreneur.

These top three are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the benefits of early networking. Don’t be afraid to start getting out there and meeting people – even if you’re early in your business journey. Every new contact is a potential referral, client, collaborator, and friend. Making the most of this part of your business development will pay off in the end!

I help heart-forward businesses create thoughtfully crafted plans for growth and sustainability. I love to inspire people to think critically, dream big, and clear out the cobwebs to let in the light and the joy! Wanna leave your soul-crushing job to start your own business? Check out my new book, Work Life Revolution! Laura Burns is one of our licensed Right-Brain Business Plan® Facilitators.