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MICHELLE'S
​ MORSELS

What are you noticing?

4/24/2020

1 Comment

 
Times like we’re currently living in are perfect opportunities to take notice.  What do your default patterns seem to be?  What makes you feel happy and fulfilled?  What stresses you out?  When you do ____ what happens as a result? How do others show up and are they really the type of people you want to be around?  The list could go on and on. 

For me, this current state of affairs has provided the opportunity to retreat inward and to enjoy time with Scott and the kids….something we don’t often get to enjoy due to our busy schedules.  The chambers and networking groups that I’m a part of have been going out of their way to ensure they provide an outlet for their members to connect during this time of isolation.  Although many people have hopped onto these meetings, filling their calendars as they normally would, I haven’t gotten on any.  That may seem odd for someone involved in so many groups who appears to be an extrovert.  However, it really isn’t.  And as I sit here and type, I realize the same has been true for my oldest Zach. He, too, has not hopped onto any zoom calls with his classes and instead has opted to answer discussion questions in their place.  I couldn’t understand that until I just started writing this blog. You see, although we are both extroverts, we also have times of being introverts and just want a chance to be still, alone and away from the rest of the world.  Away from the pressures of needing to be ‘on’ and being that bright light for others.  Don’t get me wrong, we both live and thrive on that aspect of our lives during normal times, but sometimes just need a break.  Our current state of affairs has provided us with that gift and seems we’re both gravitating toward it.  

Now please, misunderstand what I’m saying here.  I’m NOT saying it’s wrong to fill your schedule and be on tons of meetings or to be on social media a lot.  Instead, I’m saying what’s “right” and “wrong” for each person is different.  It really has to do with what’s in alignment with your world and your goals. A person with adult children living either alone or with their spouse, or a person  who has kids and is raising them without a spouse, may gravitate toward online meetings and social media in an effort to have connection with the outside world during what can be a long, boring and/or stressful time.  

The key to knowing what is ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ for you is to pay attention to what you are noticing and how those things make you feel.  Then, to assess next steps based on your personal and business goals.  So, what have I been noticing during this time and how has what I’ve noticed changed my day to day actions based on my business and personal goals?  
  • Default patterns- for me, my default pattern seems to be ‘checking up on others’ and making sure they are progressing as planned.  This is a HUGE strength for my coaching business as it’s an asset to my clients. However, it’s a huge annoyance to Scott and the boys who have been confined at home with me during the recent COVID-19 Shelter-In-Place Orders. 

    It’s also a deterrent to getting my own stuff done.  Fortunately, I hired an assistant a year ago and she’s awesome at doing the many things that need to be done in my business.  This frees me up to do a lot less of the time consuming things and also prevents me from holding things up.  During this stay-at-home time, we have gone through periods of connecting each day and going days without connecting. What we’ve noticed is that the default pattern for both of us is to be more productive when we start our day together.  We also noticed that when going days without connecting, we both were getting into a rut from not having the interaction of others that we are used to.  As a result of our noticings, and after reflecting on our business and personal goals, we’ve decided that we will be meeting at 9am each morning moving forward.  This helps accomplish the business goals of moving forward on tons of projects and helps our personal goals of being in positive states of mind.  Another personal goal is to stop in the afternoon to enjoy time with our husbands who are done working. Getting up early and connecting at 9am helps us finish earlier so we can be with them.
  • Happiness and Fulfillment- what makes me happy and fulfilled is quality time with family and friends, whether it’s structured activities or just hanging out doing nothing but being around each other.  I noticed this awhile back and as a result of the noticing, I structured my business intentionally to meet this personal goal while also ensuring I can meet business goals. One thing I did with the structure was to bring on an assistant so my work load could decrease and give me more time with family. Another thing was to look at my services and structure what I was offering to meet my goals and the needs of my clients. One example of that is my private coaching. I used to offer 3 calls per month and now offer two.  This cuts down my time each week tremendously and gave my clients a lower rate for private coaching. It also gave them more time to do things between calls. 
  • Stress- What stresses me out is social media.  It really does. It also puts me in a depressed mood.  If we look back at my default pattern above, you’ll remember one of my patterns is to “check up on others”.  At the start of our shelter-in-place orders, I was on social media constantly. My goal was simple, see how everyone I knew was doing and how they were handling this new way of being.  After a few days I realized that being on there so often was more stressful than helpful to me.  I also started feeling bad because I noticed that some people thrived by being on social media and loved it.  Why wasn’t I like them I’d wonder? What was wrong with me?  The fact of the matter was that nothing was wrong with me, social media was not a tool that was supporting my personal and business goals.  One of my business goals, however, is to stay present for clients.  My Facebook group is the place I provide coaching to many of my clients.  So, unfortunately, I need to be present there daily.  The challenge is to be present there without being drawn in for endless hours in other places.  To accomplish this challenge, I try to go in there once or twice a day.   
  • Sleep- When I stay up late, I sleep late.  Seems like common sense. Right?!  You’d think.  However, when I was younger I used to stay up late and then get up early and be so productive. The eventual result was chronic migraines and other negative health issues including snapping at other constantly.  I’ve learned that I need to trust in the fact that God gives us 24 hours in a day for a reason and that we need to take care of ourselves first, then do the rest.  So, earlier on I mentioned that my assistant and I wanted to start work early in the day to finish early in the day.  I’ve noticed that my body doesn’t do well with less than 7 hrs of sleep, so to get up by 6am, I need to be asleep by 11pm.  Unfortunately, most nights lately we’re just finishing up family stuff that late and then I unwind by doing the thing that stresses me out- scrolling Facebook for hours.  So, now I’m up later and can’t get up early as planned and I’m stressed from the volume of things I saw on Facebook.  Additionally, my work day ends later than planned and we start dinner and family time later.  Which then leads us being up late again and the vicious cycle starting all over.   Looking at my noticing and my business and personal goals, I decided to make a rule that there is no screen time after 10pm.  ​
So, there you have it, many of my noticings from our recent stay-at-home order.  I’m excited about the things I’m able to notice and learn about myself and my habits during this time. I’m also excited about the new beginnings that will come out of this COVID-19 crisis as a result of my taking time to be still and notice.  I’d love to know, what have you been noticing and how are you using what you’ve noticed to adapt your life based on your business and personal goals?

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5 Steps to Success

4/8/2020

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download pdf here
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A Different Approach to this Stay at Home Time

4/6/2020

1 Comment

 
I hope you and those you love are doing well.  Sadly, as this virus continues to spread, I'm hearing about friends whose family members have contracted and/or died from the virus. I know one person on my newsletter list, a past client actually, has a family member who recently died and it's so sad.  My heart goes out to her and her family.  I hope there aren't more who have been affected that I haven't yet heard about.  Please know each of you is in my prayers.  I'm praying for safety, peace, and growth during this time.  May we all come out of this better than we went in.
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I'm sure you've seen lots of coaches out there lately telling you to sign up for their webcasts and showing you how to shift your business to go online during this time.  While they may be providing sound, practical advice, I've taken a different approach.  As those of you who've known me for a while realize, I'm not that coach helping you create tons of noise, but rather the one encouraging you to stop and 
be strategic and intentional so that you can be successful.  To that point, there's a great opportunity at this point in time to go within.  To look at yourself and your business and be sure they are in alignment.  Are you doing the things that make your heart sing?  Do you have processes in place that help you streamline things you do repeatedly?  Are you clear on who your ideal clients are and are you networking in the right places to find them?  The course I've highlighted in this edition can help you do all that. You'll find a webcast which walks you through doing a business audit to see where it's best to spend time to enhance your business.
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Yes- you can spend a lot of time right now shifting your business to be more online and being 'effortful' at getting business and revenue.  OR- you can spend time reflecting and adapting your current approach to ensure you're ready to serve clients even better when this is over and trusting that because you've done the work in the past and are doing it now, the right clients will come to you in the natural flow of things.  That doesn't mean you just sit there and people will come but rather that you focus on the right things and have the space ready and without 'efforting' they will come.
Let me give you an example, I received an email last week from someone I've known for about 6 years through networking.  She's done a clarity call and she's aware of what I do and on this email list.  She read the blog I shared in my newsletter the week before and decided to reach out to me (view "How do I make the Best of This?!" ).  Many doors to revenue have closed
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for her during our recent state of affairs and she decided she should focus on putting some foundation and strategy behind her business while she had this time at home.  She wondered if that was the kind of thing I could help her with.  She's had a bunch of businesses before and has always just gone with her gut and never stopped to build a solid plan.  I laid out a plan which included starting with my Strategize Your Success Ecourse because it has people think about 18 parts of their business and gets them access to my Facebook Group to ask me and other professionals questions.  I also included the 50% off coupon that my newsletter list gets for the course so she could get started with a minimal investment.  

After an hour on the phone talking through the other parts of the plan she said, "I thought I was a know-it-all and could do it all myself but boy was I wrong and now here I am groveling for your help.  I kept signing up for this training I thought would work and that training and didn't do any of them.  I'm glad I remembered that you may be able to help me and reached out." 
When things like this happen, I often stop and look up to God and say "Really?!" Yes, He has my back, or the universe or whoever you believe in. You see, I didn't call her or do any big promotion to get her in the door. I had a plan for my business and worked it consistently and intentionally before all this happened.  I continued working that plan while all this was going on.  She was ready and reached out to me. That's what it's all about. Knowing where you want to go, having a plan and doing the work to get there.  Part of my work is also calling people I haven't heard from in awhile and reaching out to them.  Many say no they don't need my support right now, which is fine. It's in those no's that yes's like this show up when I least expect them.  You do NOT have to effort, you simply have to do the work and trust in God and his plan.  If you're ready to do the work, I encourage you to enroll in the Strategize Your Success Course to or to sign up for a complimentary Business Clarity Call so we can look at which program will best meet your needs.  (if you don't find a time that works email me and we'll find something.)
1 Comment

    Why Morsels? 

    Business advice,
    like chocolate chips,
    is best digested
    a handful of morsels at a time.  I think we'd all agree that devouring a lot of either all at once can be too much for the average person to handle..

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  • Services
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    • Year End Specials
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    • Events >
      • Living Room Sessions
    • Merchandise >
      • Book
      • Success Binder
    • Client Resources >
      • Group Coaching Calls
      • It's Call Time!
  • About
    • Tools & Software I Use
    • Testimonials
    • Where's Michelle? >
      • Past Speaking Engagements
      • Past Community Events
      • SCORE- Boardroom Business Bootcamp for Businesswomen
    • Free Resources >
      • How To's
    • Become a Guest Expert
    • Why Z&B
    • signup
  • Blog
  • Online Academy