A few weeks ago, a woman named Anna freaked out on my Facebook page that I had referenced a certain well-known person as a brand.

She wrote, “… People are NOT brands, and people are not products… dehumanizing a person to a brand or a product is something that offends me… ”

I nicely pointed out that of course I’m not saying that person is not a human being! I was referring to the business perception and packaging of that person. But it still got Anna’s goat. She would not stop being offended by it. In fact, I bet you she is still steamed up about it. Pretty amazing (By the way, when I see someone get so offended or worked up about something like this, I know it’s likely the missing piece to their next level of success. But that’s another article for another day).

I don’t want to get into a conversation about branding here, but instead look at the bigger picture that is happening for Anna, and many of us who are business owners.

We are taking business way too personally.

It’s not about YOU, it’s about your BUSINESS.

One common mistake I see many women entrepreneurs make, is they seem to forget that their business is a vehicle that allows you to make money, so you can live the life you want, and enjoy the work you do.
It CAN help you be your best you.
But your business is NOT you.
Let me say that again…
Your business is NOT you.

No doubt the gift that women have brought to the world of business has been purpose and meaning. We often start businesses around our personal values, our families, our desired lifestyles, our natural gifts and passions, and causes we are aligned with.

But ironically this gets in our way as well. We suddenly don’t draw a line between who we are and what we do. Between the human and the business you have created.

And that is when we start having huge challenges with:

• Seeing our business clearly and objectively in order to make changes and move forward (we operate with blinders on sometimes)
• Seeing our self as a brand (which in business it surely is) that has to be nurtured and managed
• Pricing our services and products at the right points (this one gets so interconnected with our feelings of self-worth!)
• Making bold decisions for our business (we won’t do so if we fear personal failure, judgment, or embarrassment)
• Holding on to a business or product we’ve created that just isn’t working (we just won’t let it go because we don’t want to feel like a failure)
• Personal Decisions Versus Business Decisions

That last one hit me hard. I remember early in my career, when I was struggling to find what I wanted to do with my life, I was working a fulltime publishing job in Boston and also teaching fitness classes around the city.

Grasping at anything that seemed more fun that what I was doing, I joined a network marketing company I came across that had super nutritional and health products. I dove in head-first, as I was so excited to be around people who seemed to be doing something with their lives. And well, I got in way over my head. I racked up thousands in credit card debt, and in the end, all I ended up with was a closet full of vitamins and water filters! I felt like a HUGE failure.

For YEARS I beat myself up about it. Finally one day I shared my immense guilt with a successful male friend, and he said, “Well Ali, that wasn’t a personal failure. It was simply a poor business decision.”
“Poor business decision…hmmm,” I slowly repeated back to him, hand on my chin, taking in the idea.
And then I began to cry (which guys love, by the way, haven’t you noticed? They always know just what to do), because I felt this huge release and relief.

That was the moment I saw the light, and my business was never the same.

Is there a decision you’ve made you have to let go of guilt for?
Is there something in your business now you’re taking too personally?
I’d love to hear your stories as well. Please comment below!

It sounds so easy, “just take action.” But it’s not! In my business, one of the most difficult tasks that I face on a daily basis is taking action. There are so many “next best things.” Determining if the newest, best, bright shiny object is going to catapult your business into the stratosphere is time consuming and unfortunately, keeps you stuck.

As I battle with this dilemma every day, what has helped me is having a plan. A goal, a vision and taking a really hard look at where I want to be one year from now. Mapping backwards and setting small attainable goals will get you exactly where you want to be.

It’s easy to get caught up in what “big name” people are doing and what the bigger companies are doing. Observing the success of others is awesome, but their story isn’t my story. They faced different challenges and obstacles to get to where they are. It reminds me of going to the gym and seeing beautiful people running and working out, etc.. It’s easy to be intimidated by all of the perfect people at the gym. I always have to remind myself that I don’t know where they started.

This is the same for bigger companies. You don’t know where they started. They put in the hard work and the action necessary to get to where they are. This gives me hope, and I hope that it does you as well…With a plan, continuous action, and hard work, we can get to where we want to be.

As a new blogger, I’m making a serious effort to develop habits that will make my blog rock! Here are three that may help you in your business as well.

1. Listen, Pay Attention & Take Note – When I am out and about during the day, meeting and speaking with small business owners in San Diego, I find that there is a theme to the questions that I’m asked. I really need to listen to these questions because if multiple people are asking a similar set of questions, this is a key indicator that this could be great material to write about. There are many phone apps that you can use to make notes with, voice recorders or good old fashioned paper and pen. Choose whatever method works for you and make an effort to write down common themes. This will help you leverage your time and really answer common questions for the masses.

2. Commit to a Blogging Schedule - A great way to build blog readership is to provide frequent fresh material for your readers. This will help to maximize the impact of your blog, and build a loyal and active community. Make an effort to provide information that is valuable to your readers on a regular basis. If you do, they will keep coming back for more. Committing to a schedule will also create consistency in your life. As a small business owner and entrepreneur, the days can get crazy. Committing to a schedule, putting it into your calendar, and not compromising will help you to build and maintain a readership of potential customers that rock!

3. Promote, Promote, Promote - Don’t spend time writing blog articles and fail to promote them. Make sure that you use your marketing resources to promote your blog. Online, use Facebook, Twitter, Linked In & Social Bookmarking sites. You can also put a link to your blog or RSS feed in your email signature using a program like Wise Stamp. If you’re networking offline, and you have a 30-second commercial, you can mention your newest blog entry. Make sure to include your blog on your flyers, business cards,  and in conversations with people, especially if you feel that your blog could be of value.

Developing one or all of these habits will really take your blog to the next level. Building a community is not easy. It takes a strong commitment to creating your vision. The worst thing you can do as a blogger is not blog! There is a community of people out there waiting for your strength, encouragement, and knowledge. They need you, just as much as you need them. So, go forth and blog! I will be right here with you, developing great blogging habits because I’m committed to helping women achieve their dreams in business.

When you decided to take your business online, one of the first things you’ll want to do is get a firm grasp on how your potential customers use the Internet.  In particular, you will need to learn why they use the Internet, what they do when they get online, and where they hang out on the Internet.

It would certainly be great for your company if every person who hopped online was doing so because they had their credit cards in hand, and were looking to buy precisely the kinds of products and services you offer.  But of course this isn’t the case.

Most people use the Internet to get information.  Their information search often takes on the form of trying to answer questions.

So how do people tend to go about finding answers to their questions?  As you might guess, most Internet users tend to rely upon search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo.

As you probably know, a person uses a search engine like Google by typing a word or phrase into the search box.  This specific word or phrase is the key to your business success, because the word or phrase indicates exactly what that person is looking for. For example, let’s consider an individual who is interested in losing weight.  If they type the phrase “weight loss” into Google, the search results page will provide two things, paid and organic search results.

Notice the yellow box at the top of the page, and the narrow column that runs down the right side of the page.  These are paid search results. Companies have paid Google to have their text (and links to their company websites) displayed whenever someone searches the term “weight loss.”  Not surprisingly, you can see that these companies appear to be selling weight loss and diet products and services.

The majority of the page displays organic search results.  This means that the Google search engine determined these web pages to be most naturally (or organically) related to the phrase “weight loss.”  The phrase “weight loss” is what we refer to as a keyword term.  You can see the importance of the keyword term by the fact that the phrase “weight loss” is highlighted throughout both the organic search results and the paid search results.

In order to maximize your business opportunities, you’ll need to research and identify the terms and phrases that potential customers will use when they look for the kinds of products and services you’re selling. After identifying those keywords, you could certainly launch a paid advertising campaign.  This would be an easy way of driving lots of relevant traffic to your website, right?  Unfortunately, because of the level of competition for the attention of prospective customers, it’s very easy for beginning advertisers (and even some advertisers with more experience) to end up spending a lot of money but have very little to show for it.

New web business owners will probably want to wait to do paid advertising until they are more firmly established, and instead focus on getting the best organic search results placement for their website.  You can do this by using keyword research skills and optimizing your website accordingly.

I will continue to write more about search engine optimization. For now, use this free keyword tool to find words that are relevant to your business.

To your continued success,

Learning to give thanks is really just living life being grateful, no matter what happens. When we live our lives with an attitude of gratitude, the negative things that happen are less likely to bring us down or derail our positive goals.

“No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks.” – James Allen

Does being grateful on a daily basis really make a difference? Absolutely! Our world is full of negativity and a positive, grateful person stands out! Being grateful makes getting through the difficulties of life easier, as well. When the world is viewed through glasses of optimism and thankfulness, when the bad times come we remain grounded instead of getting all caught up in the emotion of the moment. Being grateful gives us stability.

Being grateful is not easy, but it gets easier with practice. Begin by starting a gratitude journal. Write only positive things in it, nothing negative. You don’t have to use a lot of words or endlessly pontificate on the mysteries of the universe, either. Keep it simple. I’m grateful I have a good relationship with my sister, or, I’m grateful my flight departed on time. Try to look at negative events and spin them to be positive. For example, If I hadn’t lost my job last year, I would never have started my own business, which I love!

Learning to give thanks is a powerful tool. Becoming a grateful person affects not only you, but the people around you as well. Use Thanksgiving as a springboard to thankfulness!