Starting Your Business on the High C’s
October 1, 2014 | Posted in Living Hartfully, Wealthy Woman | By Gaia Hart
There are lots of things to think about before you decide to jump into the deep waters of business ownership. It can be extremely fulfilling or excruciatingly frustrating depending on how you prepare for it, how you embrace it, how your personal style fits the ambiguity of it, and how well it fits into your life purpose, your calling of how you express your gifts and talents to the world. If the only reason you’re going into business is to make a profit, then stop right now and rethink your reasoning.
Corporate Structure: I was recently reading about the Deloitte Millennial survey of the cohort born between 1980 and 2000 and how 70% of them want to someday be working independently. What a change from the generations before them. They also want their businesses to be more socially conscious and give back to the community. Their civic mindedness has birthed a new business entity called Low Profit LLC which is a combination of the For Profit LLC and the Non-Profit. This new business entity makes some profit to remain solvent, but gives much of it back to the world for just causes and social activism. How cool is that? What type of corporate structure is best for your needs? Do you want to work from home, from anywhere, from a different location than where you live? Do you want employees or joint venture partners or contractors? Do you want simple or more complex? What type of corporate structure with their tax advantages would best suit your needs? Which brings us to the next of several of our High C’s of starting a business.
Clarity about your Calling and Conscious Choices: This is a “three-fer” combing your Calling and your Clarity around how you will consciously build your business at the intersection of your Calling and what the Community needs. Know WHY you’re going into business – find your Why that makes you cry and you can find your way. What are your personal and professional goals for the business and your life because your business IS your life when you own your own company. It becomes part of you – so make sure you like that part of you. Narrow your focus on what you do best and what is in alignment with your calling. Make a conscious choice about what type of business and how you can best use your talents in service to others. This is about using your God-given gifts for the benefit of humanity, not about making a buck. If it’s about merely making a buck, the bucks come and the bucks go just as easily. When you’re on purpose with your business, it tends to stick around much longer. What are your consciously creating? Be very, very clear on what order you want to put forth to the Universe and get specific on what you want to serve, how you want to serve and who you want to serve and WHY.
Community: This one is multi-faceted. Community as in where you decide to put down your roots geographically. Community as in what type of professional communities do you associate with and in what type of community do you want to become an expert? Also what type of community do you want to serve? Do you want to serve millionaires or those who are living in poverty? Do you want to work in the children’s or adult community? Do you want to work virtually, globally or locally? Decide who and how you want to serve.
Cushion: Having a financial cushion of at least one year of living expenses in the bank (not a line of credit on credit cards, not a home equity line of credit – we know what happened to those in 2008, and not money tied up in other non-liquid accounts). Having the peace of mind to make choices based on ethical decisions, sound logic and decisions based on positive energy and the path forward in alignment with your vision versus fear that the money will run out is the choice you want to make.
Create Connections: Join business networking groups, the chamber of commerce, do trade shows, and connect with people outside your normal circle to expand your network and your net worth. Stay in touch and be the one to connect others together. Be the resource for connecting at all levels and you will find others seeking you out for your contact list. As the Author and Envelope Entrepreneur Harvey MacKay writes: “dig your well before you’re thirsty”. Stay connected and create connections for the benefit of all and it will serve you well. I’ve found an amazing way to stay connected on a personal as well as a professional level while expressing my creativity in creating custom greeting cards and gifts. It also just happens to be an additional profit center as I send out positive vibes – getting paid to be nice to people. Now that’s what I call a win-win-win. Check it out and send some cards on me at www.BizBuilderCards.com. I’ll pay for the first few cards and postage to anywhere in the world. I’m hooked on creating kindness and gratitude to expand the positive vibrations in the world. Try it for yourself and see how you feel. I’ve also found a community of card senders and have enjoyed sharing stories with them on the impact of sending a little piece of cardboard with heartfelt thoughts.
Just like diamonds have their C’s for clarity, cut, carrots etc – I hope you consider the High C’s before starting or growing your business. Maybe you need to regroup a bit or started off on the wrong foot. There is always tomorrow to get it right and consider your High C’s before taking another step in the right direction. Growing your business on the High C’s will get you started in a positive way. All the best to you sailing the High C’s!
Your New Year Assignment
January 28, 2013 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully, Wealthy Woman | By Gaia Hart
So now that you’re past all the partying, whooping it up and forgetting about real life for severl weeks; it’s time to hunker down and get a little more serious about what you really, really, really want out of your life this year. I’m not talking about those crazy resolutions of losing weight, working out more and eating right…. although those may be a part of the plan. I’m talking the deeper stuff, the soul-connection kind of stuff that will move you towards your life purpose. What I call the Hot 100 list.
Writing down, or typing, cutting and pasting or digitally pasting photos, pictures, drawing and coloring AT LEAST 100 things you can do to move your life forward towards your purposeful goals this year. For left brainers and the check-listers; numer your page 1-100 and then write down your desires so you can feel the success when you check them off. For you right brainers, use the Vision Board method and cut and paste to your heart’s content. For the most bang for your buck, do both. And READ YOUR LIST and LOOK AT YOUR VISIN BOARD DAILY. Don’t sock it away on the shelf only to dust it off and look at it next year.
Studies have shown that these images get locked into your subconscious and there is a wee bit of magic that happens as you begin manifesting your list. It must be viewed often to keep it on the top of your mind and let is soak into the back of your mind. Stretch yourself to come up with at least 100. I always have more – there’s just too much to do, see, be to stop at 100. Let it simmer for a while, come back and add more. Some goals can take several years to attain and some can be done in an afernoon – write them down. One of my goals took 27 years to achieve. Don’t forget to celebrate your successes when you can cross one off the list.
As part of your assignment; take the Gratitude Challenge. I dare you to send 30 personal cards to 30 people in 30 days at http://socgratitude.com/9431
What’s really cool is that you can also create your vision board on one of the cards and send it to yourself so you have a portable version. I took a photo of mine and carry it with me on my iphone so when I’m in waiting mode; I can pull up my dreams and desires, read my life purpose, check out my life vision and then do a gap analysis and see what I already have achieved and what I still need to do.
Happy writing and card sending. Report back to me how it went. Cheers!
Gratitude Isn’t Just for Thanksgiving
November 25, 2012 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
It’s a little odd to me that so much emphasis is placed on shopping around the day that is meant for being grateful. Others may say they’re grateful for the sales…. or grateful to get out of the house and away from football… or grateful that some have left the house to leave them alone to watch football.
As one who gratitude at the forefront of daily activities and not just focus on it for one day; it’s become not only a way of life, but a lifestyle and way of making a living through giving. How about we place more emphasis on the “thanks” and “giving” part of the holiday the other 364 days of the year and see what happens? Why not take the Graitidue Challenge and send a card of appreciation a day for 30 days to those to whom you’re grateful and see how your life changes, see what doors may be opened up, or what lines of communication may become unclogged, or what hearts may be opened up. You never know who may be hoping for something to happen in their life and you just may be the one to make it happen.
If you’re up for taking the Gratitude Challenge; send me an email Gaia@GaiaHart.com and let me know you want to take it and I’ll show you how you can easily send 30 cards in 30 days or turbo-charge your gratitude and send 60 cards in 60 days that will be delivered to the recipient’s mailbox by the postal service inside a stamped envelope all from the comfort of your home computer, or Ipad, laptop or even your Iphone. Anyplace you can get an internet connect, you can send a card or a gift that will be printed in 24 hours and shipped out immediately to anywhere in the world.’
The Wall Street Journal just ran an article this week about gratitude and how the workplace ranks dead-last on the list of places where thankfulness is practiced. How sad is that? We’ve been cooking along with recognition programs and incentives, then, wham, the economy goes south and so do the workplace “thank you’s”. With budget cuts go the formal recognition programs. I challenge you to not let a downfall in a formal program to create a downfall in your civil duties to spread gratitude throughout your office. John Templeton Foundation cited in the Wall Street Journal article that only 7% of bosses and 10% of colleagues on average are being thanked by their colleagues. Jack Welch, known for his tough management even says that it’s part of a manager’s job to show gratitude to their people.
From years and years of research and work in this field, I’ve experienced the same findings with my clients: when workplaces head towards the “no gratitude zone”, then morale, productivity decline and the profits are not far behind in the freefall. Gratitude is not only good for people, it’s good for business.
What are you doing to thank your colleagues, your clients, customers and your friendss throughout the year and not just on one or two days of the year? Sometimes it can fall on deaf ears in the clatter of everything at once on one day, but it is held in high esteem when it is given throughout the year on a continual basis. Go ahead, I dare you to take the Gratitude Challenge and see what happens in your life. Send me and email at Gaia@GaiaHart.com and I’ll show you how you can simply and easily send 30 cards in 30 days or turbo charge your giving to 60 or 90 cards in as many days. You’ll be glad you did.
Check out this video on the power of gratitude and sending a heart-ful card:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5kPwXihumM&list=PLtUVv9eXCdIKmF4MMCOVMBuzeZ1nrrUQF
Thanks for stopping by – I’m grateful to have this forum for my toughts…. though my thoughts have had a different focus for most of this year….. more later on contraction and expansion……
Getting Real with REALationship Marketing, a Teleclass
February 18, 2010 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Wealthy Woman | By Gaia Hart
REALationship Marketing is focusing on the REAL relationship in the equation rather than on the marketing part. Putting people first and things second with the philosophy that appreciation wins over self promotion every single time. When you truly take care of people then they will take care of the bottom line, whether it be your internal customers (colleagues) or your external customers (clients). We will cover the insider secrets to winning the game of relationship marketing in this quick, hard-hitting, content-filled teleclas.
We will cover practical, proven, simple, successful strategies you can implement immediately to grow your network and your net worth by practicing REALationship marketing. If you are tired of the usual marketing techniques, suffering from a slump in repeat business or new business, or just ready for something new and exciting to get your creative juices flowing, then this session is for you. By attending this teleclass, you will learn the insider’s secrets to what some have called a crusade and others deemed the humanitarian way of marketing. Come learn what has been the missing piece in your marketing plan… until now. You will be given the secret weapon to win the game of relationship marketing and blow your competition off the playing field.
If you use these strategies every day for 90 days, I know you will see positive results.
Learning Points & Benefits:
1. How to have your customers love you even more than they do and keep them coming back
2. Scary business statistics on why your current marketing or the spray and pray method is a waste of time and money
3. How to create the top 3 critical things you need to make a sale and cultivate repeat sales
4. How to easily get your customers to refer you
5. How to have a competitive advantage over 97% of your competitors using direct mail that your target market will read
6. How to monetize your marketing and get results – the power of connection
7. How to expand your business growth exponentially while saving time, energy, effort and money and cloning yourself (sort of)
8. How to make a living through giving using the vehicle for the Law of Attraction
9. How to never be in the doghouse again for forgetting a birthday or anniversary
10. Get some free bonus gifts just for attending that can be priceless for you
This teleclass hosted in Pacific time, 5:30pm on Tuesday, 23 February at 218-339-7777, pin 766-8800# by International Professional Speaker, Author and SOC Executive Gail Hahn, MA, CSP, CLL. Gail has been a successful entrepreneur with several businesses for over 13 years and is featured in 12 International Who’s Who business professionals directories for her contribution to the business world. She is one of less than 500 Professional Speakers in the world earning the Certified Speaking Professional designation and one of less than 100 Executives with the Send Out Cards Corporation. She is also the CEO, Chief Energizing Officer of www.Funcilitators.com and facilitates retreats, VIP programs and teleclasses to energize entrepreneurs, execs, employees and organizations. See her blog at www.GailHahn.com.
Join us while we pull back the curtain and reveal how to win the game of REALationship Marketing using genuine thoughts, actions, feeling and words over sales pitches to attract the right people into your life and your business. We’re getting real with relationship marketing and showing you exactly how you can turbo-charge your marketing while focusing more on the relationship than marketing. Looking forward to ‘seeing’ you on the call and giving away extra super special bonuses to those who choose to attend and take their business and their life to the next level.
If you have questions about this event – email me at Gail@GailHahn.com. Test drive a unique system for connecting with your customers at www.BizBuilderCards.com and send some cards on me to see how it works. I’ll bet you hear from the customers to whom you’ve sent a heart-ful card. I double-dog dare you. 🙂
Check out this video on how receiving a heartful card affects others. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQqtVobx1oI&list=PLtUVv9eXCdIKmF4MMCOVMBuzeZ1nrrUQF
SOCTV Guest this Thursday – REALationship Marketing
January 19, 2010 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Wealthy Woman | By Gaia Hart
Join us Thursday, 4 February on SOCTV as I will be interviewed on becoming an Executive, REALationship marketing, steps to success and the power of appreciation. If you missed it, look under the archives on your SOC site. Don’t have a SOC site yet? Contact me at Gail@BizBuilderCards.com to get your own site.
REALationship marketing started out as a typo. Yep, I found I had mis-typed the word relationship at least 3 times. Of course one of the times happened to be on a postcard printing of several hundred postcards. I realized it was a subliminal sign and that’s when I coined the term and made it official. (AND, I didn’t have to trash all those postcards – the old lemon and lemon aide trick.)
REALationship marketing is when you focus on the real relationships in the equation of relationship marketing. Most business-owners are focused on the marketing. When you focus on others and what you can give to them to improve their life, or help them build STEEM, (Save Time, Energy, Effort and Money) instead of what you can get them to do, or what you can get from them; the entire energy is shifted.
Shift your energy in your business and in your marketing to a “give to” versus a “get from” attitude and things will start to shift for you. We all need to become generous givers as well as excellent receivers. You can’t have one without the other, so one is not better than the other – just opposite sides of the same coin. Practice being an excellent receiver and a gracious giver and the next time you are doing a marketing piece, review it for REALationship purposes. Does it attract what you want to attract, are you adding value, are you offering something to make other’s lives better? Remember that everybody is tuned in to the station WIIFM – ‘what’s in it for me’.
Join us as myself and other Executives and Senior Executives are interviewed about our steps to success on SOCTV. To find out more about how to tune in to SOCTV, send me an email Gail@GailHahn.com
To Your FUNomenal Success!
Love: Energize Yourself, Your Connections & Your Business
July 11, 2008 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully, Wealthy Woman | By Gaia Hart
I’ve been taking the most amazing teleclass about the 7 Mindset and Manifesting Secrets of Multimillionaires as well as reading much about the keys to success. Always open to learning more about the way people operate. What keeps popping up is the word LOVE. When we operate from love, everything else falls into place. When we operate from a powerful center of love and not from fear, everything is where it should be.
As my friend and business partner Mandy told me – everything turns out in the end and if it’s not turning out, it’s not the end.
My friend and business partner Jennifer told me the reason she got into the Send Out Cards business with me is that she always saw my happy, smiling face and the happy people around me at my trade-show tables. She said it looked like so much fun that she wanted to have that in her life. Because I LOVE what I do – almost always have and when I didn’t, I made changes to do what I did love to do. It shows. I can see huge differences in my energy when I’m doing what I love and helping other people do what they love.
Enabling the dreams of others and creating connections, building relationships, helping people and using communication – speaking, writing, Send Out Cards, books, blogs etc. is what gives me energy. People and my relationships to them give me energy. I send several cards every single day to people letting them know I appreciate them and building connections in my life. I know that love surrounds me – beauty surrounds me.
That’s why I moved to the beach. Walking on the beach 3 times per day with my dog Madison – I love it, she loves it. It’s inspiring. It makes me happy to see her happy. She was a rescue who was a puppy mill breeder. For 5 years she lived outside in a 10 x 10 pen in Missouri with no shelter, 5 other dogs with a cement pad and chainlink fence. She never had the pleasure of feeling her legs run. She never had the joy of romping more than 10 feet. Now when I see her face light up as she chases waves, squirrels, birds, bunnies – it brings me such joy. We have a connection that we both love our freedom to roam and run and romp as we choose.
What more can you put into your life that you love? What can you remove that you don’t love? What connections can you make to add more love into your life? Where can you live to do what you love? What connections can you sever in order to move closer to love in other areas of your life?
My friend and business partner Paul sent me this profound 3-minute video that’s all about love and connections. I’m a sucker for animal stories and this one is quite moving about the power of love. Get out your hankies – I’m pretty sure it will move you to tears as it did for me. Click HERE to watch it.
Keep in Touch With Online Snail Mail Cards
May 2, 2006 | Posted in Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
I’m on FIRE with excitement over another new way to keep in touch with everybody. Having moved about 13 times in about 20 years, it’s hard to keep up with everybody. I’ve just signed on with Send Out Cards – a fantastic way to keep in touch with clients, customers, partners, friends and family with the click of a mouse and it sends a real card they can hold in their hands from their snail mail box. You can customize the inside with your own greeting, your own photos, and your own handwriting and signatures. I even have Madison’s paw print as her signature. They give you 4 signatures in the program. All this for around a buck a card – and that even includes postage. All the cards are created one at a time, stuffed into envelopes, stamped, and mailed out of Utah – all you do is select people from your contact manager – which you can import from your other contact managers, create a message, click and send. No more going to the card store, waiting in line at the post office, or finding stamps…you can send a card in less than a minute. The longest time it takes is to select from the more than 5000 card styles they have. I will soon have my own personal collection on the site – I’m creating as fast as I can! Check it out – it’s awesome. Cards can only be mailed to US addresses…I think they can do APO’s, but no overseas mailing. If you want to test-drive the system, let me know and I will set you up with a free gift account – I will even pay for the postage.