Tag Archives for " self empowerment "

0 The Kick Starter Strengths Assessment

I talk a lot about identifying your passion and building a business doing what you love.  There’s another element that is just as important as having passion in your business and that’s leveraging your strengths.  It is never a good idea to try to build a business around something your strengths are not a good fit for.

For example, you don’t want to become a personal exercise coach if you don’t enjoy exercise, or be a professional writer if you don’t have command of the language or can’t read well.

There are many tests out there that you can take to help identify your personality type, your intelligence level, your IQ and more.  Most of them require that you pay a fee to access them.  I found one that is perfect for young people in particular from Andrea Samadi of AchieveIt360.com.  She calls it the Kick Start Assessment and it is designed to help your teen identify their natural strengths.  Knowing what your strengths are provides that extra boost of motivation and allows teens to focus their energies in a productive way to succeed with their goals and dreams.

This assessment is free and you can find it here – http://AchieveIt360.com.  You’ll find the link to the assessment below the video on the left side of the page.

I hope you’ll encourage your teens to take the assessment.  Not only will it help pinpoint their strengths, it can serve as a great conversation starter for you to have a more indepth communication with them.  Also, I took the assessment and found it useful for myself.  It was validation of most of what I thought my strengths are.

I hope you’ll post the results after taking the assessment.  I’d love to hear about your and your teens experience with it.

My business partner and I are hosting the Rock Your Business in 28 Days Business Challenge next month.  It’s a fun event where we provide you with a list of business boosting activities throughout the month so you can Rock It in your business.  There will be suggested activities for blogging, mindset, systems, administration/operation, finances and more.  It’s free so sign up now at http://www.rockyourbizin28days.com/28-day-business-challenge/.

If your business needs a boost, or if you just need some fresh, kick starter ideas, join us for the challenge. Continue reading

2 Empower Yourself for Success with the Power Pose

Body language affects how others see us, and it can also change how we see ourselves.  Social psychologist Amy Cuddy shows how “power posing” — standing in a posture of confidence, even when we don’t feel confident — can affect testosterone and cortisol levels in the brain, and might even have an impact on our chances for success.

I had an important sales meeting recently and watched this video and practiced the power pose and I can tell you that I felt ready for that presentation and really rocked it.

Amy Cuddy’s strategy can be applied in almost any situation in your life or business or where you need to increase your confidence and have a power boost.  Try this next time you have to give a talk or a presentation and see if it doesn’t work for you like it worked for me.

Learn about my new group coaching program, The Monetize Your Passion Blueprint: Empowering Young Entrepreneurs where I train adults who work with teens and young adults to teach them to become entrepreneurs.  Email me at Julia@julianeiman.com to schedule a free call.  The webpage for this program is currently under construction.  The new coaching program is scheduled to being Tuesday, November 5, 2013 and I’m offering a substantial discount for early registration.

2 Not Having Passion in Your Business – The Third Mistake that Blocks Success

Passion is an important asset in business.  It is the fuel that keeps the fire burning, it is a great motivator and the energy that gets you out of bed in the morning. 

Passion creates momentum.

People find it very difficult to say no to passion.  Clients, prospects, and employees will all sense your passion and want to be a part of it.  Passion is contagious.

In my own experience, when the agency I worked for went bankrupt and I was unemployed, I decided that I never wanted to work for someone else ever again.  It was my time to shine and build something for myself.  I thought it would be easy to take the cumulative experience of my many years of working with youth to develop a business.  I worked hard at learning how and then structuring the business using what I know.

After a while, I discovered that I was creating all sorts of road blocks for myself.  When I stopped to analyze why that was happening, I realized that I wasn’t really excited about recreating my job as an entrepreneurial business.  I love my work, but there was a lot about the job that I didn’t like at all.

I thought long and hard about what part of my job I really loved and when I hit on the answer to that, my whole being changed and I felt energized and excited about moving forward.  Now when I talk to people about what I do, they almost always remark about the passion they feel I have for my work.

If you are just starting out or have been trying to get your business up and running for awhile, it might serve you well to take some time and figure out if you love what you are doing.  If not, try to focus in on the aspects of your work that you love and build your business around that.  You’ll find satisfaction and success a lot faster that way.

To learn more about The Monetize Your Passion Blueprint: Empowering Young Entrepreneurs program, email me at Julia@julianeiman.com to schedule a free call.  The webpage for this program is currently under construction.  The new coaching program is scheduled to being Tuesday, November 5, 2013 and I’m offering a substantial discount for early registration.

4 Book Recommendation: Success is a Decision; Leaders Create the Life They Want to Live

I am so pleased to tell you about this fabulous book created by my friend, Dr. Linette Montae (formerly Linette Daniels) of EmpowerMoreYouth.org and her very talented daughter, Danette Nixon of EmpoweringYouthForSuccess.com.  Together they are known as The Youth Success Duo.

Success is a Decision; Leaders Create the Life They Want to Live was designed to help tweens and teens learn to think things through, make good decisions, set goals, develop problem solving skills and become self-empowered.  In other words, empower them to develop a success mindset.  If you know me at all, you know that I am about developing a positive mindset, an entrepreneur mindset in my case.  The success mindset is very important to an entrepreneur so this book is a natural for me to recommend.

This book isn’t for reading  – it’s food for thought.  There is a quote for each day of the year followed by two questions.  The first question on each page is “What does this quote mean to me?”  The question is followed by space to write a response.

The second question varies from page to page.  Here’s an example – the quote for July 13 is, “People with goals succeed because they know where they are going.” Earl Nightengale.

The two questions are “What does this quote mean to me?” and “What is the consequence if I don’t follow this quote?”

Other questions include “what am I committed to. . .” “how can I apply. . .” “what have I noticed. . .”

These are questions designed to make the reader think about what the quote means and how it might apply to them; how they can use the wisdom from the quote in their daily life.

These quotes were hand-picked from hundreds of quotes these two ladies read through.   Each one was deliberately chosen because it conveyed a great message, core value or life skill concept and is meant to provide young people with deep thoughts to ponder and figure out how they will benefit if they apply the message to their own life.

When reading through the book, I found myself answering the question so you might want to order two copies, one for the young person in your life and one for yourself.  You can purchase this book and learn about their other products in the store at their website, http://empoweringyouthforsuccess.com/store/.

10 A Call to Action on Behalf of Young Entrepreneurs

If you’ve been here before, you know that this blog is about empowering young entrepreneurs.  I have spent a lot of time writing about empowering teens and young adults to develop an entrepreneur mindset.

Now it’s time to move to the next step; empowering teens and young adults to pick their passion, put their stake in the ground and take the first steps to start their business.  The next step for this blog means writing articles about how to decide what the business should be, how to decide on a niche and learn what they need, branding and other action steps to create and move a business forward.

As I plan out the articles for this next step in the series, I’m issuing this call to action to provide your input.  Will you help by answering these questions in the comment section?

How did you decide what business to start?

How did you find your niche and decide what they needed?

What would you advise a young person about to start a business?

Thank you in advance for your input.

14 Life Fulfillment Reality Check

Part two of our reality check exercises includes examining the following 11 categories in your life.  Rate yourself from 1 – 10 in each of the categories listed on the chart below.  1 is low – it couldn’t be any worse than this.  10 is high – it couldn’t get any better than this.  Don’t overanalyze your response.  The right score is what pops into your head first.  Next, choose a higher number for a 6-month goal.  If you choose a “10” it may be a sign that you are in denial.  It’s difficult for anything to be perfect.  Big goals are good, but they must be based in reality.

My Overall Satisfaction.  What does satisfaction mean?  Do you enjoy getting up in the morning?  Do you enjoy your life?  Do you feel satisfied?  Do you think you deserve to be happy?

My Energy Level.  Are you naturally energetic?  Do you get enough sleep at night?  Do you stay up too late or all night then drink coffee, soda pop, or energy drinks to stay awake?  Do you get high to get through the day?

My Spiritual Connection.  Do you feel connected to a higher power in whatever way you define it (God, Universe, Trusted Source, Spirit)?  Do you have activities in your life that help you stay connected?  What do you do to nurture this connection — hike, spend time in nature, meditate, participate in religious activities, and so on?

My Health.  Are you healthy in mind, body, and spirit or are you ignoring your health?  Do you see a doctor and a dentist when you need to?  And what about your mental health?  Are you feeling good or are you depressed?  Are you angry all of the time?  Do you ask for help when you are feeling depressed or angry or do you just suffer?

My Nutrition.  Do you eat healthy foods or do you stop at the gas station to get junk food?  Do you drink lots of soda pop and eat at fast food restaurants or do you eat real food like meat, vegetables, and fruits?

My Exercise.  Do you take the time to exercise on a regular basis or are you more of a couch potato gaming, watching TV, or texting your friends all day and/or all night long?

My Connection to Family.  What is your relationship with your family?  Do you feel connected to them?  Do you love your family?  Do you feel that your family loves you?

My Connection to Friends.  Do you feel connected to your friends?  Do you love and respect your friends?  Do you feel that your friends love and respect you?

My Integrity.  Integrity means you follow through with what you say you will do with others and with yourself.  Do you keep your agreements with yourself and with others or do you make commitments and not follow through?

My Finances.  Do you save your money and spend it wisely or do you buy things on a whim?  Do you waste money on things you don’t need?  Do you have a bank account?  If you have a bank account, do you know how to manage it?

My Contribution to the World.  Are you helping others or are you only out for yourself?

Directions:   For each category in the “My Life Fulfillment Reality Check”    chart, rate each category on a scale of 1-10 with 1 being “I really need to improve a lot.” and 10 being “I’m doing fantastic!”  Total the columns and answer the questions below.

Now, add up the scores for your current reality and your 6-month goal to get a clear picture of how much work you have to do.  Having a realistic picture of what your life is like and how you feel about it can be very empowering if you use the knowledge gained to make some positive changes.

Did anything about this exercise surprise you?

Can you identify any areas that you can begin making improvements in right now?

What steps are you willing to take to make these improvements?

16 Feeling Good / Feeling Bad Reflection

“Happiness is the feeling you’re feeling when you want to keep feeling it.”  Author Unknown

There is more to starting a business than deciding on what you are going to do, choosing a name for your business and setting up a website.  You have to develop the right mindset for starting a business, an entrepreneurial mindset which I address in my book, 31 Powerful Lessons: Empowering Teens and Young Adults to Develop an Entrepreneur Mindset.

The first step is making a decision that you want to have your own business.  Part of this decision making process should include taking stock of your life and giving yourself a reality check.  It requires complete honesty with yourself.  There is no point in trying to fool yourself into something that isn’t real because in that way, you set yourself up to fail.

The benefit of having a clear picture of what you are feeling about your life is that you can take steps to transform the things that are negative.  It is important to remember, that, whether you know it or not, believe it or night, it is TRUE that your thoughts create your reality.  The more positive your thoughts are the better chance you have at creating success.

Here’s the challenge I present to you now.  Look at the 12 areas in your life listed below.  Look at the words and ask yourself truthfully, which one describes you most closely?  Circle the one that most accurately describes your life, then answer the questions below.

      Feels Good                            VS.                              Feels Bad

1.  Lifestyle                                                                    1.  Student/Workstyle

2.  Balance                                                                     2.  Disorder

3.  Financial Freedom                                                   3.  Financial Stress

4.  Great Health                                                             4.  Poor Health

5.  High Energy                                                             5.  Tired

6.  Love                                                                         6.  Fear

7.  Spiritual Connection                                               7.  Spiritual Disconnection

8.  Living on Purpose                                                  8.  Lost

9.   Healthy Relationships                                           9.  Toxic Relationships

10. Mental Clearness                                                  10. Mental Confusion

11. Experiencing Life                                                   11. Being Stuck

12. Being Satisfied                                                       12. Being Frustrated

Look through your responses to this activity.  Now answer these questions:

Which column has more descriptions of your life circled?

What do your responses to this activity tell you about your life?

Now you have something things to think about.  What can you do to transform those things that are in the Feeling Bad column?  It would be a good idea to prioritize in terms of which would be easier to take action on to change as quickly as possible.

Marcia Wieder calls this process of transformation completion.  You do what you need to do to change, fix, clear out, whatever is keeping you in the negative column and you have completed those things and find yourself in the positive column.

What have you identified as being in the thumbs down column, what is making that so, and how can you transform that?

Have you read 31 Powerful Lessons: Empowering Teens and Young Adults to Develop an Entrepreneur Mindset?  If not, why not?

23 Become An Inspiring Leader

Can you explain to people WHY you do what you do? What moved you to start your business? What makes you get out of bed in the morning?

Author Simon Sinek describes what he calls the Golden Circle of Communication. According to Sinek, communicating the why first is communicating from the inside out and “people don’t buy what you do, they buy WHY you do it.”

He presents this key to becoming an inspiring leader in a Ted Talk which you should listen to, it’s brilliant.

Sinek explains that your best customers and clients buy from you or hire you because they believe what you believe. He reminds us that Martin Luther King didn’t give an “I have a plan speech,” he gave an “I have a dream speech” and within that speech he talked about what he believed.

People didn’t necessarily connect with Martin Luther King the man, they connected with what he believed because it was the same thing that they believed. He believed that people should be treated equally under the law and that was his why.

The why that drives me forward is that I believe that all teens and young adults should have the opportunity to have the life of their dreams regardless of their life experience or current circumstances, and in light of the current economic situation, I believe we need to help them find alternatives to jobs.

Why do you do what you do?

9 Empowering Young Entrepreneurs to Be Self Empowered

In the first five lessons we’ve focused on empowering teens to develop an entrepreneur mindset.  This seems like a good time to take a look at encouraging young entrepreneurs to focus on being self empowered.  After all, we can only empower them for so long before they need to take responsibility for their own motivation and development.

In his Ebook, The Self Empowerment Guidebook, Chris Cade (http://www.chriscade.com), provides some tips for empowering yourself for success.  Share these tips with your young entrepreneur:

Stop thinking and feeling as if you’re a failure, because you’re not.

How can others accept you if YOU can’t accept YOU?

When you see others who you envy for any reason (beauty, wealth,etc), focus on your own self empowerment and not on self pitying.

Self-acceptance is not about how you fit into other peoples’ idea of the world, it is about accepting yourself in the world regardless of how others view you.

When people feel down and low about themselves, help them up.

Rather than join others in feeling low, choose to help them out through leading by example.  The more you radiate confidence, the more others will also feel and start to absorb that confidence themselves.

The world is your classroom.

Don’t feel stupid or doomed forever just because you made a mistake or “failed” at something. See how your experience is a lesson to learn from.

Everything has a silver lining—no exceptions!

Take things one step at a time.

Don’t expect massive changes overnight. Self empowerment is a process of taking lots of small steps that ultimately add up to something amazingly beautiful and profound.

Self empowerment results in inner stability, personality development and SUCCESS.

It comes from self awareness, self appreciation and self confidence.

Set meaningful and achievable goals.

Self empowerment doesn’t try to make you an exact replica of your idols or role models.  Self empowerment is the process by which you dissolve all of the false ideas you’ve adopted over the years, and you learn to see yourself for the amazing person you already are.

Little things mean a LOT to other people.

Sometimes, we don’t realize that the little things that we do like a pat on the back, saying “Hi” or asking somebody “How are you?” are simple things that mean so much to other people. When we are appreciative and grateful of all that is around us, it eventually reflects back inwardly and we become more  appreciative and grateful for who we are and our experience here on Earth.

Even though you’re willing to accept change and go through the process of self empowerment, it doesn’t mean that everyone else is.

The world is a place where people of different values and attitudes hang out. Sometimes, even if you think you and your best friend always like to do the same thing together at the same time, be aware that not everybody realizes the value of a path of self empowerment.

We should always remember that there’s no such thing as “overnight success.”  Be grateful for every moment of your life which has brought you to this moment here and now.

We are all here to learn our lessons. Our parents, school teachers, friends, colleagues, office mates, neighbors… they are our teachers. When we open our heart and mind to a path of self empowerment, we increase our chances of happiness, success, and lasting inner peace.

I hope you find these tips to self empowerment useful.  Tomorrow I’ll be posting about coping with rejection.  Having strategies in place to be able to keep ourselves motivated and not lose confidence in the face of rejection is a very important skill that entrepreneurs must have.

While you’re here, please take a minute to to ENTER TO WIN the Calm Parenting Program.   There are only 9 days left to become a winner!  Take a look at that opportunity on http://www.julianeiman.com/the-contest page.  Just enter your name and email for a chance to be the winner.  The drawing will close on July 15 at midnight and the winner will be notified by email on the 16^th.