The gist of the article is you need to avoid getting sucked into giving away your expertise without getting paid. You worked hard for that knowledge and it’s worth good money.

If you’re a consultant or some other knowledge-based entrepreneur, this article is a must-read. In fact, I think I’m going to print a copy and post it next to my desk.

I’ve fallen into that trap before. In the name of “being helpful” I give away too much free advice so that person doesn’t need to pay me. They got it all for free.

Now I’m not saying I don’t give anything away for free. Hello?!? Have you read this blog? All free.

However, I need to make sure when I’m meeting with someone, I give just enough information to prove I know what I’m talking about but be clear that after that I’m on the clock. In the article, Adrienne Graham suggests having a fee schedule. That way if you’re squeamish about talking prices, you can always hand someone your fee schedule.

Fee Schedule + Law of Attraction = Results

Having a fee schedule has another benefit. I apologize if I found airy fairy here, but having a written fee schedule activates the Law of Attraction. When you write down what you expect to be paid for certain services, it tells the universe you’re serious about your business and voila, suddenly people who can and will pay for your services will appear.

Getting serious about getting paid doesn’t mean you can’t give it away for free … just make sure you are getting something of equal value in return. For example, I have a graphic designer colleague who I trade services with. When she needs help with some copywriting, she’ll send it over for me to look at. Likewise, when I have some graphics that need tweaking, she’ll fix it for me. However, when we have larger jobs, we charge. In the end, we get equal value out of the relationship.

So, look at your business relationships. Are you giving away too much by letting friends “pick your brain”? If so, maybe it’s time to do something about it. After all, you wouldn’t expect your friend the car dealer to just give you a car to drive just because you’re a nice person.

Andrea J. Stenberg

What do you think? Do you give away too much knowledge for free? Or have you found a way to stop giving away too much? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

And don’t forget to pick up your free copy of Internet Marketing 101: Discover Three Simple Things You Can Do Now to Grow Your Business Online. It will help you jump start your online marketing. Get the free ebook at http://29daystogrowingabusiness.com

Putting your focus on profit doesn’t make you a Ferengi. It is a necessary part of the business world. When you have a j-o-b, someone else is responsible for marketing, office space, administration and designing a business plan. You show up, do your job and get paid for your time.

But when you own your own business, even if you have employees, you are ultimately responsible for every part of your business. That’s why you charge a higher hourly rate than you would if you worked for someone else. Very few entrepreneurs bill 40 hours per week.

But in spite of this, many entrepreneurs have an uneasy relationship with money. And it is a relationship, as I was reminded by Iyabo Asani in a teleseminar I attended last night. In this teleseminar she said that money represents an exchange of energy. You provide a services (expend energy) and the customer gives you money in exchange.

However, if you have a problem relationship with money, it spills over into other parts of your business life. If you always feel there is never enough money, then it is often because you lack value in yourself. This can manifest itself in a lack of clients or in attracting clients who can’t or won’t pay what you’re worth.

What Iyabo said made a lot of sense to me. I know in my own life, my relationship with money hasn’t always run smooth. I don’t come from an entrepreneurial background so making money isn’t always seen as a good thing. This makes for some interesting thought processes when you’re in business, let me tell you.

However, when I focus on money, when I focus on cleaning up my relationship with money, things improve.

How? A few years ago, I was attracting people who didn’t want to pay. They didn’t truly value my services yet they claimed the wanted to hire me. On more than one occasion I allowed myself to be talked into working for a reduced rate. Then the client kept adding more work.

The worst situation came when I was hired for what I thought would be an exciting project; something I had never done before. However, in the back of my mind there was a red danger flag waving franticly at me. But I ignored it. As a result, I was talked into cutting my rate in half. Then, a job that should have taken hardly more than a week ended up taking 8 weeks of my time, full time, and netted me less than $1,000.

After that experience I decided to get smarter. I wrote out a detailed description of my ideal client. This description included someone who truly valued what I offered and would readily and happily pay my full fee.

The result, it worked. I began getting better clients, clients who could and would pay me, happily and on time.

This happened because I knew what I was looking for. I was determined to never again be taken advantage of by others. I became more confident in quoting my fees. Clients sensed that and were less likely to try to get me at a discount.

Second, by focusing on what I truly wanted, the Law of Attraction could come into play. I know it sounds “woo woo” but when you know what you want and put it in writing, it has a way of showing up.

If you have an uneasy relationship with money, don’t bury your head in the sand. Look closely at it. It’s only once you deal with your money demons that things can improve.

Andrea J. Stenberg

This teleseminar I attended with Iyabo was part of the Masters of Client Attraction telesumit being presented by my colleagues Scott Shane Holt and Janice Wright. The list of speakers they have lined up is impressive. The Telesumit runs until April 12^th. If you’d like to attend free, here’s the link http://tinyurl.com/ajsMOCA.

Yes, that is an affiliate link. Yes, if you upgrade to one of the paid versions of the Telesumit I’ll get a commission. But we’re all in business, so you won’t mind. After all, if you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you should know I wouldn’t recommend anything I didn’t truly believe in.

As part of this goal, I’ve been working with a team of local marketing professionals to create a full day marketing workshop called Brand Camp. We’ve been meeting weekly for several months to germinate this idea then work together to implement it.

As the workshop date neared, we started planning what we’d like to do next. Last week we declared a goal of taking our workshop and presenting it in other nearby cities. We hashed out some ideas of where we’d like to present and how we’d market ourselves to achieve this goal.

Less than 24 hours after we set this goal, we were contacted by two people from a nearby city (the same city) about bringing Brand Camp to their town! The same day, I received a call from the coordinator of a conference in yet another city. She’d heard about me and wanted to hire me. In the week since we set that goal, I’ve been asked to speak to a group in Toronto, had an inquiry about advertising on this site, set up a meeting with the mayor and Brand Camp has been asked to set up a second local date.

Thank you Law of Attraction!

Now if you’re read some of my other posts about the Law of Attraction, you know I’m not one of those people who thinks just setting an intention will activate the Law of Attraction. It takes a little more.

How did the Law of Attraction work in this case?

1. I created a written goal. It’s a goal I truly want to achieve; it’s not something I think I should want.
2. I committed to achieving the goal. This step is the key to the Law of Attraction. Until you can say, “I’m going to make this happen, even if I’m not quite sure how yet,” you’ve made a wish not a goal.
3. I shared my goal. In this case part of the goal was working with my Brand Camp colleagues to get our workshop on the road. In any case, publicly stating your goal – even if it’s only to a trusted colleague – adds power to your intention.
4. I created a plan for how to achieve the goal.
5. I took concrete steps to move closer to the goal.

The really great thing about the Law of Attraction is when you take these steps, often the universe steps in to help you along. Instead of steadily following your plan to achieve your goal, a shortcut drops in your lap. Even though I believe in the Law of Attraction and teach workshops about it, it still freaks me out a little each time it happens.

But it’s really fun when reaching a goal happens easily; when you can skip some of the hard work because an opportunity just lands in your lap. Not only that, but when the Law of Attraction steps in to give you a helping hand, you get energized. You’re ready to take on more goals, reach new heights. It’s a snowball effect.

Andrea J. Stenberg

Do you have a story about how the Law of Attraction helped you reach your goals? Please leave a comment and tell us what happened.

And although in the fall I wrote a blog post called Survive a Recession? Some Businesses Are Thriving!, I too am having days where it is a struggle to stay positive.

How can you not worry? Unless you bury your head in the sand, you’re being told from all sides that the sky is falling. Turn on any newscast and you hear about the auto sector, job loss statistics climbing higher, retail sales figures plummeting. People keep dropping the “D” word. It’s not good!

And for baby boomer entrepreneurs, the situation is exacerbated by our looming retirement. We don’t have decades to make up for any losses today. We need to make our money now.

So how do we keep from being overwhelmed by the doom and gloom?

At the risk of sounding like a Pollyanna, I have to say that a conscious and strategic use of the Law of Attraction is what’s helping me through.

I’m not suggesting ignoring what’s happening in the world. However, throwing up your hands in despair doesn’t help. You can’t change what’s happening around you. But you can change your actions and thoughts. And changing your thoughts and actions can have a big impact on your success.

Try this experiment. Say the following aloud (with feeling):

“I can’t do this.”

Then try:

“I wonder if I can do this?”

And finally:

“I don’t know how, but I’m going to do this!”

Notice the difference in energy, how you feel when you say each of these statement? If you’re like me, I’ll bet the last one feels a whole lot better than the first one.

That’s what the Law of Attraction is about; focusing on what you want, rather than on what you don’t.

And it’s not just about feeling good. Changing your thoughts from negative to positive has a real impact on what happens.

If you go around thinking “I can’t” then your subconscious is going to help you be right. You’ll have less energy for your business, be half hearted in your marketing efforts (after all, they won’t work anyway) and you’ll overlook unexpected opportunities that arise because you’re focused on what’s not working. You’ll wonder why you went in business in the first place and start checking out the want ads in the paper in order to find a “real” job.

On the other hand, if you tell yourself you’re going to succeed no matter what (and you believe it), you’ll have more energy to devote to marketing and running your business. Because you believe things can go right, opportunities will seem to fall into your lap. And you’ll take advantage of them.

Now some Law of Attraction practitioners will say those opportunities arise because of your positive thoughts. I personally think that’s crap. I really believe that opportunities arise all the time, but we don’t always recognize them as opportunities or worse, don’t always act on them. But when you’re focused on success, you’re mentally prepared when something appears that will help you reach your goals.

As part of using the Law of Attraction to overcome fear about the economy, we more then ever need to have a profit motive in our business. It sounds obvious, but often times we can get distracted by administrative tasks, tidying our offices, and doing things we’ve always done. But if you’re really focused on building your business and making money, you’ll make sure you’re spending the majority of your time doing things that earn money – selling, delivering services and marketing!

It’s very simple. Have an expectation that your business will succeed. Take positive actions every day that move you towards your goals. Be open and receptive to unexpected opportunities that will help you get ahead. It won’t always be easy, but it will get you to ahead faster than giving up.

Andrea J. Stenberg

So, tell me what you think? Does keeping a positive attitude really make a difference? Do you use the Law of Attraction to get through difficult economic times? Please share your thoughts and experiences by leaving a comment below.

Many small business owners are worried; some with good reason. My parents have noticed several businesses they have shopped with in the past have gone under in recent months. Their landscaper had to close down because high gas prices ate up all his margin. I’ve noticed some similar things in my home town as well.

On the other hand, many top-level internet marketers are telling us not to worry; there is still money to be made. They tell us they are still making thousands each month and we can too; it’s just a question of mindset.

But is that true? If you’re mired in debt, not sure of where your income is coming from shouldn’t you be worried? Maybe even give up your business and look for a dreaded j-o-b? Isn’t it a little insane to adopt a “don’t worry, be happy” attitude when Chicken Little is telling us the sky is falling?

But what if these successful people are right? What if money is just a matter of mindset, regardless of what the economy is doing?

I’ve certainly had my financial ups and downs over the years. And yet currently while I am surrounded by all this talk about financial doom, I’m experiencing financial calm in my business and personal life.

My income hasn’t gone up dramatically; in fact it’s been pretty steady for the past six months or so. And my expenses haven’t gone down. I don’t know where economists get their numbers when they tell us that inflation is low. My grocery bill has increased by 50 percent and we all know what gas and utility prices have been doing. Sure, electronics and appliances have gone down. But really, how frequently do most people make those types of purchases?

So what’s changed?

My attitude towards money. Six months ago I made a decision to stop worrying and take concrete action to improve my financial situation. I set some clear financial goals – both for my business and my family. I took a hard look at where I was and what I needed to do to get to where I want to be. I started keeping better financial records; something I’d neglected in the past.

The results: currently I’m in a position of financial calm instead of financial chaos. Where in the past I’d be scrambling at the end of the month to get money for the mortgage payment, I’m now looking at how much money I have in the bank for January’s mortgage – two months ahead. I’m up-to-date on all my bills and have started to reduce my debt. I’m on track to have my personal debt cut in half by next September. Plus I have money available to invest in my business.

This wasn’t rocket science, nor magic. It really was a case of taking what I already knew and implementing it. Isn’t that always the case?

If you are worried about your financial situation, stop! Worrying doesn’t help – actions help. Take a good hard look at your current financial situation. Then create a plan and take action. Use the Law of Attraction and stop focusing on your financial woes. Instead, focus on having more money, attracting more paying clients and achieving your financial goals.

Feel like you need some help?

Two books I highly recommend are Overcoming Underearning: A Five-Step Plan to a Richer Life and Secrets of Six-Figure Women: Surprising Strategies to Up Your Earnings and Change Your Life.

These practical and inspirational books by Barbara Stanny really helped me overcome some of my personal money issues. I think they’ll help you too.And yes, Stanny has written them with women in mind as her target audience, but her advice is universal.

Andrea J. Stenberg

If you check the list you’ll see I made numbers 36 and 39.

If you look more closely, you’ll notice item number 36 is credited to a Brazilian blog that has reprinted my post Can Using the Law of Attraction Help My Business – or Is It A Load of Crap? At least they gave me credit (sort of) and a link. Oh well, they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Anyway, Evan’s list is a great way to find more information about the Law of Attraction.

Andrea J. Stenberg

Well I’m sorry, but this is where I have to differ from the experts. I think there’s a reason that we have the expression “acts of God” in our vocabulary. Some things are truly beyond our control – sh@t happens.

It doesn’t do us any good to wonder what we did to bring it on. Nothing! We can’t change the past. What matters is asking what can we do next to get ourselves out of this mess.

I agree that too often we let ourselves think things in our lives are out of our control, things have just happened, when really they were the result of choices we’ve made in the past and continue to make today. However, there is nothing productive to be gained from thinking we have power over nature or over the behavior of others.

The key to using the Law of Attraction is recognizing events that we have control over and doing something about them if we don’t like the results we’re getting now. Moaning and whining about what’s wrong in our lives may gain us a little sympathy from our friends but it won’t change anything.

So put the Law of Attraction into play. Define your values, set a goal that is aligned with those values, take action to achieve your goal, hunt out the negative thoughts that are holding you back. If you do these things, the Law of Attraction will be working with you to achieve great things.

Andrea J. Stenberg

But if you’ve gone through the other steps – figuring out what you want, making a decision, uncovering any mental blocks – taking action should be something you’re ready for and excited about.

Take the next logical Step

There are two types of action you can take. The first is to take the next logical step. If your goal is large or long term, you’ll have many steps to take.

Look at your goal and where you are now. Then create a list of steps you need to take to get from here to your goal. If it’s a long term goal, this list may be long. Put due dates beside each step to keep yourself on track. In business, we call this a plan. Learn how to create a 90-day plan in my post How to Create Your 90-Day Goals.

If you’ve set a goal but have no idea how to achieve it, your first step should be to gather information or ask for help. Read books, go online or look around for someone who has already achieved your goal. Look to see what they’ve done.

Just one word of warning: if you’re gathering information, set a time limit for yourself. Otherwise you can spend forever gathering information and never actually take any steps towards the goal.

Inspired action

The other type of action you can take is what Jack Canfield calls inspired action. These are ideas that come to you out of the blue – while in the shower, driving your car, in your sleep. Often these ideas will leap you past many of the steps in your plan and get you to your goal much faster.

In Jack Canfield’s Key to Living the Law of Attraction: A Simple Guide to Creating the Life of Your Dreams, Canfield writes “the universe will start responding by sending you the ideas, people, opportunities, money and other resources you need to fulfill your desires and make your dreams a reality.”

I don’t know if the universe is sending you this help. Maybe. Sometimes I suspect that help is always there, but we usually don’t see it. We expect things to be hard, we don’t expect to get great ideas and we don’t expect others to help us.

But I know that when I’m committed to a goal and I’m actively working towards it, unexpected things happen. All kinds of help falls into my lap.

Recently my sister asked for my help with a new project. While we were on the phone I pulled out a business card of someone with information that could point us in the right direction. I told my sister I’d make the call on Monday. Later that day I ran into this woman at Staples. She was able to give me the information I needed while we were in the pens row.

Now, I live in a small town. It’s possible I run into this person all the time but haven’t really noticed because she’s only a casual acquaintance. Or it could be that the universe put us together because I expressed an intention to talk to her so it decided to help me along. It doesn’t really matter. What matters is that when I saw her I recognized the opportunity and took action.

And that’s the real trick to this step. When you have an inspired idea or an opportunity drops into your lap you need to recognize it and take action. You can’t say “but it’s not on my action plan”. If you come across something that will leap you forward faster, you need to take it.

Negative intentions may rear their ugly head

When it comes time to take action, you may find yourself having trouble getting going. You may procrastinate, get mired in “research” or keeping busy doing tasks that look like work but are really unnecessary.

If you catch yourself doing these things and not taking action towards a goal you’re committed to, consider whether you have some unresolved negative intentions. If that’s the case, go back to the exercise from yesterday and work through the process.

If you have some deeply hidden negative intentions, you may need help just identifying them – from a coach, a therapist or a trusted friend.

I recently discovered that my overall negative thought was that everything I did had to be perfect and nothing I ever do is good enough – probably because I’m human and not perfect. It was then pointed out that my tendency for procrastination was probably a result of these negative thoughts – why bother starting something, it won’t be good enough anyway.

Uncovering this particular block has been a big help in moving forward to achieve my bigger goals.

So, if you want to use the Law of Attraction to achieve your goals, take action. Take the next logical step, take advantage of inspired ideas when they appear and ask for help.

One thing I’ve discovered from interviewing success entrepreneurs is that no one does it alone. They all have a coach, a mentor, a mastermind group – sometimes all of the above – to help them move on to bigger and better things.

Tomorrow I’ll talk about receiving and give a final wrap up – my personal thoughts on the Law of Attraction.

Andrea J. Stenberg

A decision turns a desire into a goal

I think that’s part of the story. However there is one step I think you need to take first. You need to make a decision. You must decide that you’re going to achieve this goal – even if you have not idea right now how to make this happen.

Until you do, your goal is nothing more than a wish – just like wishing when you blow out candles on a birthday cake. We’ve all made wishes. And lets face it, when we get old enough to stop putting the correct number of candles on our cake, we know wishes don’t come true just because we blew out some candles, saw the first star of the evening or carry a rabbit’s foot.

But making a decision has power. It gives you control. It’s not up to the “universe” or the birthday candle fairy. It’s up to you to make it come true.

I don’t know about you, but I like that kind of power. It excites me to have a goal and then say, “I’m going to make it happen.”

When you make a decision, it sends a message to your subconscious that it better come up with a solution. When you are committed to a goal, you start coming up with ideas on how to achieve it. Sometimes they’re stupid ideas, but very often you’ll come up with a brilliant one.

And once you have made a decision to achieve a certain goal, sometimes things happen out of the blue that almost drop your desire into your lap.

Sometimes help just drops into your lap

Last year I decided I needed to expand my marketing activities and go outside my geographic region. I decided I would do this by attending a networking meeting in one of the larger cities within a three-hour drive of my home. I added a notation on my to-do list and went to bed. The next morning I had an email from a friend inviting me to a networking meeting in a city two hours away.

Now, did my making a decision cause “the universe” to create this opportunity to drop into my lap like this? I don’t know. It may be I get opportunities like this all the time. But this time, because I’d set this as a goal and decided I would make it happen, when I got the invitation, instead of whining to myself, “it’s too far, I’ll have to get a sitter, I don’t want to drive in the winter,” I jumped at the opportunity.

The point is, when you’ve got a goal, make a commitment to yourself to make it happen. This way you’ll recognize opportunities when they knock on your door.

Sometimes it’s not so easy

But sometimes when you make a decision, instead of feeling excited you feel nervous, worried or doubtful. You don’t believe you can make this goal happen. For business owners, this doubt can often come from having significant money goals.

In Barbara Stanny’s book Overcoming Underearning: A Five-Step Plan to a Richer Life, she has a fabulous exercise for discovering your earning ceiling.

(This is one of my favourite books. I tell everyone about it. I’ve lent my copy to countless friends and have read it four times and I only got it about 18 months ago. Really, go to Amazon or your library and get a copy!)

When doing this exercise, many people discover that there is an upper limit to how much they believe they can earn – I did. And for many people, this upper limit is surprising low – much lower than they expected or need.

Go above this level – even in your imagination – and you become uncomfortable. According to Stanny, if you go above this level in your life, you’ll do things unconsciously to reduce your income back down to your earning ceiling. So, if you want to increase your income, you first have to reset your earning ceiling.

Your mental blocks stop you from achieving your goals

You may have mental ceilings around other goals as well. There may be doubts and blocks around certain issues. And you need to address them or you’ll be battling yourself about trying to achieve this goal.

Robert Middleton in the Action Plan Toolkit calls them negative intentions. These are the unconscious (and sometimes not so unconscious) thoughts that tell us we can’t achieve what we’re trying to do. These thoughts might be in the voice of that horribly critical teacher who told us we’re no good. They might be in the voice of our mother. They might be in our own voice.

Middleton has an exercise in the Action Plan Toolkit that helps you identify and overcome these negative intentions. Michael Losier in his book Law of Attraction: The Science of Attracting More of What You Want and Less of What You Don’t has an exercise that he calls creating allowing statements.

The process goes something like this:

1. Write down your goal
2. Write down your negative thought or intention – what are those negative voices saying about this goal?
3. Ask yourself, is this negative thought true? Maybe you think it is. That’s okay.
4. Ask yourself, is there anyone with a similar background who is currently achieving a similar goal? How many are doing it right now? In the past week? In the past year?
5. Looking at your answers to question 4, can you absolutely know, with 100% certainty, that your negative thought is true?
6. Write down how you react (think, feel, behave) when you have this negative thought. For example, do you procrastinate? Do you jump from task to task without finishing anything?
7. If it were impossible to have this negative thought, what would you do? Write your answer down.
8. Take your negative intention and rewrite it as the opposite. For example, if that evil little voice in your head is saying, “You’re not smart enough to achieve this goal” write “I have all the skills and knowledge I need, or can get them, to achieve this goal”. If you have more than one negative thought around this goal, write the opposite for each of them.
9. Look at the opposite statements you just wrote. Are they just as true, or even truer, than the original negative thought? Write down some examples in your life that show they are true.

Once you’ve done this exercise, you may find you feel more excited about your goal. It will likely be easier for you to make a commitment to achieve this goal.

I do this exercise when I’m working on a goal and having trouble achieving it. When I’m procrastinating or getting sidetracked I need to stop and remind myself to do this exercise.

Tomorrow I’ll talk about what I think is the most important step in the process – even more important than deciding and believing – taking action.

Andrea J. Stenberg

The Action Plan Toolkit

Desire

At first glance desire is easy. We know what we want – don’t we?

Not always.

Sometimes we think we should want certain things – things society or our mother have told us are appropriate. Other times we want things by default – everyone wants a million dollars, right?

Goals need to align with our values

When we think about what we want – in business we call this goal setting – we need to get really clear about what is truly important to us. In February I wrote a post about identifying our values. Sometimes we set goals that go against our values. When we do that, we have trouble achieving them – attracting them if you will.

While researching my book I interviewed a woman who has a small but a successful consulting practice. She gets to live in her small town, work with clients she likes and spend time with her family. She’s happy with her business and her life. But she wasn’t always this content.

A few years earlier she’d been working with a coach and had set a goal for growing her business. She had big plans. She was going after large corporate clients. It would mean prestige, money and travel. She’d have to take on staff. She’d be going somewhere.

Then one day she paused. She had started her business because she’d been in the corporate world and hated it. She hated the culture, the politics, the workload, the big city.

These big plans for growing her business taking her in a direction she didn’t want to go. She didn’t want to work with big corporate clients – she liked the smaller clients she had. She didn’t want to travel – she liked being home with her family. She didn’t want to hire staff – she liked flying solo. She didn’t need the big bucks her plan would lead to – she earned enough to be satisfied.

So she scrapped her big plans and continued running her small consulting firm and enjoying her life.

The point is she had made a goal that went against what she valued. Luckily, she recognized this before going to far along the wrong path.

Life’s a struggle when our goals aren’t in sync with our values

A lot of people who aren’t as in touch with what they value don’t pause; they don’t have a moment where they realize they have the wrong goals. They keep heading in the wrong direction, but their goals are not in sync with their values. When this happens, things are a struggle.

Let’s use me as an example. When I first started out in business, I was a copywriter – I wrote marketing and sales materials for businesses (I still do). My role models where successful direct mail copywriters. You know, that stuff that comes in an envelope with ten pages of emotional writing telling you how you’re life will be transformed if you will just buy this product. I was working to be just like them.

The problem was, I hate doing that kind of writing. It’s not that I think there’s anything wrong with it. The people who do it are just fine people. It’s just not my thing.

So here I was working hard to attract more clients to give me copywriting work that I didn’t really want to do. Is it any wonder that I wasn’t getting anywhere? My business was a struggle. I found it hard to get motivated to write my own marketing materials – and I’m a writer!

And all this time I had written a purpose (or mission) statement for my business that read: “To use my writing and speaking skills to tell stories that excite, inspire and teach people.” I had it, but my goals didn’t match it or my values.

But when I began listening to my purpose statement and started making changes in my business plans, things became a lot easier.

Now I’m attracting clients I like and work that excites me. Speaking and teaching opportunities are falling in my lap. Before, I was having trouble getting motivated. Now I’m leaping out of bed at 4 or 5 am to start work.

All because my goals are aligned with my values and purpose.

So if you want to use the Law of Attraction to improve your business and achieve your goals, you’d better make sure your goals are aligned with your values.

But I’m not finished with goals.

Goals must be clear, detailed and specific

In order to use the Law of Attraction effectively, you need to make your goals clear, detailed and specific.

Remember in my previous post how I mentioned the Cheryl Richardson exercise I used to find my first post-baby full time job? I didn’t just say, “I want a job”. I wrote out very specific details about the type of job I wanted. I could almost picture the place I would be working. And it was very close to what I got.

That’s what you need to do.

Whatever your goal, make it specific. Don’t just say I want to increase revenue. Say, “I want to increase revenue this quarter by 25%.” Then get specific. What products are you going to sell more of? Put dollar values beside each one.

Whatever your goal, you need to be able to see it, taste it, feel it.

Why is this important?

I think that a lot of the time, we have opportunities in front of us. They’re there all the time. They’re coming out of the woodwork.

We just don’t see them.

We don’t recognize opportunities for what they are. It’s just like when you’re walking down the street, late for a meeting. You can walk right past your best friend because you’re thinking about something else.

By having clear – and written – goals, we recognize opportunities for what they are. When someone comes along and says, “the symphony is looking for a full time manager,” we don’t walk away because we’re not a musician and had never considered that even musicians need administrative and marketing help. We say, “gee, that job is exactly what I wanted. I’ll apply right way!”

Tomorrow I’ll write about the next step: belief and expectation. And I promise, it’s not airy fairy, woo woo stuff. I’ll have some very practical ways to put this step of the Law of Attraction to work.

Andrea J. Stenberg