Posts Tagged ‘goal setting worksheet’

You want to be an entrepreneur?  Great.  As one who is and has been psychologically unemployable for over 30 years, I personify the entrepreneurial mindset.

Making money from home requires a committed entrepreneurial mindset.  The characteristics of the entrepreneurial mindset are as different as the behavior of a rhinoceros and a cow.  The rhinoceros charges through the jungle breaking through shrubbery barriers on a direct mission toward the goal.  The cow stands in the field eating grass and waiting for hay to be brought to them when the grass is unavailable.  A rhino will go after the food rather than sitting around passively waiting for it to come to them.

Compare the rhinoceros mindset to the entrepreneurial mindset. The rhinoceros goes after the goal as does the entrepreneur.  The cow performs the basic duties required of it at the will and direction of someone else and expects the hay or grass to be presented to them.  The employee performs the duties required of them by the boss and expects the pay check to be delivered to them.

The entrepreneurial mindset has an overwhelming desire to create their own duties on their own time schedule and reap the significantly higher rewards of that extra individual effort.  By the same token, the entrepreneurial mindset accepts the responsibility of their decisions, good or bad.  The employee expects to receive the pay check on a regular basis regardless of the consequences of each individual decision; after all, it was not entirely their decision, it was either the decision of the boss or with the approval of the boss.

The rhino and the entrepreneur effect to receive the rewards of their efforts and the consequences of their actions.  Making money working from home requires the entrepreneurial mindset.  You are your own boss when you are an entrepreneur.

Another aspect of the entrepreneurial mindset is the constant drive to do better, do more and be more creative.  In order to be making money working from home, you absolutely must focus your mind on the task at hand.  Be creating, be willing to take a risk on a new marketing campaign or new marketing method, and be decisive.  No boss will be making the decision for you, nor do you want them to make decisions for you.  Look carefully at each option and make a decision.  Analysis paralysis will not be tolerated.  Time becomes an important commodity; time must be focused and used wisely, not wasted.  Wise time management is critical to making money working from home.

If you desire to be making money working from home, develop your entrepreneurial mindset and put it into action with focused time and effort.  The rewards will thrill you.

For more in depth tips and techniques for making money working from home, join me at http://www.elaine4success.com/.

“When you dare to dream, dare to follow that dream; dare to suffer through the pain, sacrifice, self-doubts and friction from the world.”

– Laura Schlessinger, talk-show host

What is it worth to you to have a reliable blueprint for success?  Think it is complicated?  Actually it is quite simple.

1. Find your passion
2. Convert that passion into the ideal business for you
3. Write out very specific, SMART, goals
4. Write a detailed business plan which takes you from your starting point to your victory line.
5. Take focused goal directed action toward your ultimate target
6. Constantly check your progress and make course adjustments on steps 3, 4, and 5 as needed.
7. Repeat until successful

Your blueprint for success is quite simple and logical; the problem is that it is not easy.

Your mind wanders to family activities, your feet wander out to the kitchen or the snack bar, and the lure of the internet tempts you to search for this or that rather than concentrate on work.

You flounder around like a fish out of water not knowing your true passion.  You spend endless hours, months and years working at something you do not like.  Why are you wasting your precious time?  Do you think you have no choice because you must make a living?  Are you paralyzed by fear of making a change?  Are you stuck in analysis paralysis?

Look deep into your soul and be objective.  If you keep doing what you have been doing where will you be five years from now?   In order to have a different result, you must do something differently.

Your blueprint for success in business is the same as your blueprint for success in your physical fitness or your weight.  You do not become physically fit by sitting on the couch watching an exercise program or reading an exercise book.  You become fit by repeatedly performing specific exercises designed for your fitness goals.  You release weight (don’t want to lose it because you might find it again) by carefully planning the right foods to pass from your hand to your open mouth and then consuming only those foods.

Finding your passion is the essential first step to the process.  What activities inspire you?  What are you doing when you feel most energized?  What are you doing when you feel the happiest?  There are specific exercises you can perform to locate your passion.  These are a start in the right direction.

The next step is converting that passion into the ideal business for you.  Is it really possible?  Yes.  That conversion is more personalized.  Locating the perfect business for your passion encompasses the passion, the initial business investment budget, the time available to work the business, the ultimate goal and the ongoing budget.  Send me a comment in the “contact Elaine” section of http://www.elaine4success.com/ so that I may assist you.  Subsequent articles will cover steps 3 through 6.

Dreams must be backed by action.  Until you back them with action, your dreams are nothing more than idle wishes and daydreams.  If you truly desire to implement a blueprint for success, your dreams must be transformed into goal directed action.

What is holding you back from achieving your dreams?  Are you living the life you truly thought you could be or would be living?  Remember when you were a child and all things were possible?  What happened to that magic and wonder?  You say life got in the way?  Work and responsibility took over and dreams were stuffed back on the shelf never to see the light of day again.  How could this happen?

In a small child’s imagination, all things are possible.  Anyone who has ever been a teenager or raised a teenager knows the “fearless factor” of youth.  We rationalize our decrease in imagination and willingness to reach above and beyond our comfort zone as maturity.  Let’s be honest.  Is it really maturity or is it more a matter of staying in our comfort zone?  Is it simply easier to stay with the status quo rather than reach out and be daring?  We get stuck in the familiar even if we do not like that set of circumstances.

The first step in any blueprint for success is willingness to leave your comfort zone.  Step two in the blueprint for success is to take positive action toward the achievement of the dream. Where would America be right now if Christopher Columbus had not gone exploring?  What if the Pilgrims had stayed in England?  What if you stayed in a job you hated just because it was easier to stay and complain than reach for your dreams?

Having a blueprint for success provides a pathway; however, you must take the action.   Columbus could dream about the voyage to America but without taking action to acquire the ships, crew and supplies, he was land locked.

A teenager can dream of attending college; however, in order for it to become reality there are a few practical steps.  Even college entrance has a specific blueprint for success.

1.  Good grades and good test scores which meet college entrance requirements.

2.  A plan to finance the endeavor: scholarship, job, parents, or a rich uncle.

3.  Apply to the desired colleges and receive acceptance.

Starting your own business also requires a blueprint for success.

1.  Determine what area creates a passion for you.  A florist shop may be wonderful for the area; however, if you are allergic to flowers or have a black thumb, it would not be recommended for you.  Find your passion and create your business accordingly.

2.  Determine what type of business – franchise, brick and mortar, or home based.

3.  Determine the initial investment you have available or can acquire.

4.  Determine your income needs and desires.  Will that business produce the income in sufficient time and quantity to sustain you both short term and long term?

Every endeavor of any significance requires a blueprint for success.  Amazing that most people spend more time planning their vacations than they do planning their financial future.

Starting a business without a blueprint for success is financial suicide.  The blueprint carefully details each and every intersection on the road to success.  Unless you have specific mile markers, how do you know you are making progress?  How close are you on your time target as well as your financial and business growth targets?  Your blueprint for success is the difference between being busy and being productive.

Without a blueprint for success, you could very easily be wandering around or even worse, going in circles.  A rocking chair can be in constant motion but it does not go forward.  A puppy dog can run in circles until he collapses in exhaustion, but he did not make any forward progress.

A blueprint for success is a methodical plan detailing specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely benchmarks on your road to success.  An ideal blueprint for success is personalized for you.  Some call it a goal setting worksheet.  Textbooks give excellent general guidelines but not specific personalized plans.  Designing a personalized blueprint insures your success.

Not certain how to design such a perfect plan for you?  Join me at http://www.elaine4success.com/.