by Julia Felton | Jan 18, 2017
Today I’d like to share with you this poem I found whilst clearing my office the other week. It was given to me by my mentor Loral Langemeier a few years ago and it is all about commitment. I think it’s so applicable to this time of year because once we have set goals we need to stay committed to them. And two weeks into 2017, is the time a lot of people fall “off the wagon”, yet without follow through your goals are just useless pieces of paper. After all you get paid on what you get done and achieve, not what you think about.
Action is the language of business because unless we take action and make our ideas a reality, then nothing will change. And yet incredibly typically less than 1% of ideas get followed through on. Just imagine what opportunity therefore lays hidden in your business, just waiting for you to take action on it and make it a reality.
Until One Is Committed
Until one is committed
There is hesitancy, the chance to draw back
Always ineffectiveness.
Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation),
There is one elementary truth,
The ignorance of which countless ideas
And splendid plans;
That the moment one definitely commits to oneself,
Then Providence moves too.
All sorts of things occur to help one
That would never otherwise have occurred.
A whole stream of events issues from the decision
Raising in one’s favour all manner
Of unforeseen incidents and meetings
And material assistance,
Which no man could have dreamt
Would have come his way.
W.H. Murray (1951)
The Scottish Himalayan Expedition
I’d love to know what you are committed to this year. Please share it in the Facebook group.
by Julia Felton | Jan 11, 2017
I’ve been spending some time this week clearing the clutter in my office to create space for all the new possibilities I want to attract in 2017. When you create space everything can flow. Just think about a river, when its blocked with clutter it can’t flow and it’s the same with your business, your finances and your mind.
Having created my strategic plan for 2017 I realized that my office was not reflecting the way I want my business to be, which is simple and elegant. In contrast, my office was messy and chaotic. And I know that when that happens I can feel confused and lack direction.
So armed with some sturdy old boxes, some hanging files and markers I’ve gone and re-organised my office. I’ve thrown away bags of paper, articles and magazines that I know I will never read. I’ve had some shelves put up to store my files on and created a load of new hanging files to store my papers in. I’ve reinstated my policy of only touching paper one and you know what, it feels amazing not being surrounded by clutter. I never fully realised how debilitating and draining all those unread magazines and articles could make me feel
And this is the amazing thing, once I’d finished tidying my office, I suddenly became super productive and focused. A project that I had been meaning to do for over a month suddenly became easy to do and in fact even quite a lot of fun. Now there is some learning in that, so my pledge for this year is to ensure that my office stays super tidy and uncluttered.
And it’s not only physical clutter that I have been clearing, I’ve also been clearing some emotional clutter. Emotional clutter can exist in terms of relationships that don’t serve you; beliefs that don’t align with where you want to go; remaining attached to feelings about past events and even poor money habits that don’t encourage abundance. That’s financial clutter.
In fact financial clutter is one of the biggest blocks to stop you achieving your goals, so to help you get a flying start in 2017 I’m gifting you a copy of my Free Training on 7 Steps To Remove Money Clutter From Your Life Forever. I hope you enjoy it. Simply email me and I’ll send it right through.
It hasn’t always been pretty busting through all this clutter but I am already more than delighted with the results. I feel lighter and more energized since I’m no longer literally dragging around all that clutter. How liberating that is.
Now, of course, my horses already model being uncluttered. By being grounded and staying in the present moment they generally don’t suffer all the emotional clutter that we humans do. They simply experience an encounter with another horse and move on. They don’t hold on to the emotional charge that their friend bit them. They accept it and move on. Living by being present is a great way to minimize the emotional clutter by getting you out of your head and into your heart.
What can you do today to clear the clutter in your life. If you’d like some assistance why not book in for a call with me and let’s explore how I can help you. And please let me know in the Facebook group your biggest AHA from listening to my free training on 7 Steps To Remove Money Clutter From Your Life Forever.
Happy Clutter Clearing
by Julia Felton | Jan 4, 2017
Happy Hew Year to you. I wish you a very prosperous 2017 and trust you had a joyful holiday season. I was fortunate enough to have some well deserved time off and managed to spend some quality time with my horses. This meant I’ve been fortunate to witness some amazing sunrises and sunsets, as well as the frosty mornings and a good dose of fog thrown in to.
Up here in Yorkshire the foggy mornings are surreal. On one particular morning the fog was so enveloping I could barely see past the front of my car. It was a strange experience because there was a comfort in that space, even though I had no idea where I was going and felt really disconnected from everything around me. However, of course the downside was I had no clarity. It was really difficult to get to the yard and find the horses, and everything took forever. I simply couldn’t get any momentum and speed as I had to be super cautious in everything I was doing. And this got me to thinking about business, and how often we experience our own fog.
Fog in business comes from having no focus and clarity. It comes form not being certain what we are doing and having no clear direction. Often I find the fog is worst with business owners who are have become disconnected from their purpose. They have forgotten why they went into business and the impact they wanted to make. They get easily distracted and suffer from what I call Entrepreneurial Attention Deficit Disorder. Everything new is exciting and they don’t stay committed to one thing. As a result they go round and round in circles as they can’t find their way out of the fog filled vacuum they are in.
When this occurs, when you are stuck in the fog haze, the only solution is get clarity. Get connected to your purpose and create an inspiring vision. Vision then becomes the focus button that propels you forward. Commit and then start taking small steps towards that vision. It won’t take long but soon the fog will begin to lift and then you are easily able to gather speed and go faster.
On that foggy morning the horses simply couldn’t see me. It meant we both stumbled around in the dark trying to find each other. Contrast that to yesterday morning which was bright and clear and so when the horses saw me they came galloping towards me. And isn’t that the same in business. When potential clients can’t see you they don’t know you are there, and so you stumble around in the dark looking for them. Contract that to a situation where you are embody clarity, everyone can see you and knows what you offer. It’s so much easier then for the clients to find you, just like my horses did.
If you feel you are lacking any focus in your business right now, stop and re-calibrate. Take some time to re-connect with the vision for your business and its purpose. Once you have done that then everything flows effortlessly from here. This is the reason that purpose and vision are at the heart of the business strategies that I help my clients create. We work together to create a living, actionable document on just one page that provides you with a road map of where you are going. This lifts the fog from your business and ensures you have focus and clarity, which means that each and every day you know exactly what to do, and so in the process it eliminates Entrepreneurial ADD.
So, if you’d like to explore how I can help you create your strategy on a page for 2017, please connect with me for a chat and let’s help you get focused so you can create the vision button for your business.
by Julia Felton | Dec 29, 2016
Wow, was that just Christmas. I don’t know about you but it seems to have just flown by. I hope you had a lovely and relaxing time with your family and friends.
Now I hate to be the bearer of bad news but if you haven’t started your planning for 2017 the next three days are critical. This is a great time of year to reflect on what happened during 2016 – both the successes and the failures. I encourage you to really spend some time on this.
Here are some questions to get you going:
- What were your biz accomplishments from the past year?
- What were some of the lessons you learned from the past year?
- What were your weak points? What do you think needs to improve?
- Were there any missed opportunities in the past year?
- Were there any ways to improve customer service in the past year?
- Were there any areas that felt out of alignment?
- What marketing worked the past year? What created wins?
- If there was one word that described your past year, what would that be?
Only by reflecting on these answers can you get some real insight into where your business is and what is working and what is not working. Then based on your findings you can then set some goals for 2017 based on solid facts.
I’ve been doing this exact process over the last few days and it has been so helpful. Usually I set goals with no reference to where I am and what has happened and when you set goals without this data you are ineffectively stabbing in the dark.
Measuring your business and tracking your performance is paramount if you are to succeed. Just think about it. An athlete measures and keeps track of their performance on every run and then uses this information to motivate themselves to do better the next time. Footballers review their matches to see how to improve their performance. They then focus on the small nuances and improve these. And incredibly a small improvement in just one area makes a massive impact on overall performance.
And it’s the same in your business too. Knowing where you have been and what worked and what didn’t means that you can more effectively plan for next year. I suggest you dream about what you would like 2017 to look like, what you would like to accomplish and then create a roadmap of the key milestones that you need to achieve in order to get you from point A to point B. These milestones will become your 2017 goals.
Next prioritize the order you need to complete the goals in and then create a detailed plan for the next 90 days of what you need to accomplish to in order to move forward. Break the plan down into bite sized projects and then commit to working on one of these projects every day until it is complete. Focus is the key here. It is amazing what happens when you stay focused on one project until it is completed. The level of satisfaction and accomplishment then motivates you to complete the next project. And then before you know it you have achieved that first milestone. Celebrate and then move on. Before you know it all the milestones will have been achieved and you will be witnessing the business success that you so deserve.
Now I have just three spaces available to work with me privately next year to really get your business strategy planned out and then to ensure you take massive action to achieve all your goals. As I know from personal experience running a business is not for the faint hearted and having a coach on your team can really help you see the blind-spots in your business and so avoid wasting valuable time, energy and resources on activities that are not going to help you really reach your goals.
So if you’d like me on your team to ensure your success in 2017 then let’s schedule a call to explore what’s possible. And rest assured that if I don’t think I’m the right coach for you I’ll let you know, and whatever you decide I promise you will walk away from the call with a clear plan of the next steps to take. Simply complete this short application form so I know a bit about you before the call and we’ll take it from there.
Happy planning for 2017.
by Julia Felton | Dec 21, 2016
As Christmas fast approaches I got to thinking about my family and how good (or not as the case maybe) we are at connecting and communicating. Connecting and communicating with others is a vital piece of business and life. It allows you to find the common ground with each other and so share experiences at a deeper level. The better you understand how someone else thinks and why they act in the way that they do, the easier it is get along with them and have meaningful conversations that can grow your business and you life
Of course, there is a paradox here because as your connection grows so does your trust, and yet trust is often needed before the connection can start. This is the dance of the connection – trust equation which was illustrated so brilliantly by the horses last week.
My VIP clients had flown in from Amsterdam for their annual business planning session with the horses. Every year they come to grow as leaders and get insights into their business goals for the following year. This year was no exception, except being their third visit they said that the learning’s and insights were even more profound than last year. It has been a privilege to watch them develop over the years.
Next year, they are proposing a new business model, one where they will be focusing on very high end packages which deliver deep transformation for their clients. However, in order to deliver these packages they need to step up their leadership skills. Specifically they needed to learn how to stay deeply connected to their clients, whilst also being “unavailable”, yet highly trustworthy.
Coach Toby demonstrated so amazing this conundrum because when my client went to connect with him, he walked away. He simply did not trust her enough to feel confident to connect with him. My client had to spend a lot of time building his trust by showing up as a consistent leader, who had clarity and certainty whilst also respecting his boundaries and the space he needed.
And so started the dance, with my client approaching and retreating. Giving Toby the space he needed so that he could feel comfortable with her and connect on his terms. It took some time but the results were incredible. Once he felt he trusted her, and she respected him, he was open to connect and the more he connected the deeper the trust grew between them. It was magical to watch. The end result was that she led him effortlessly through a complex obstacle course in a harmonious manner easily achieving her business goals for 2017.
And her takeaway was that as she launches her new programmes she must not rush her clients into them. Rather she needs to spend time building trust with her clients so that their relationship deepens and a lasting connection forms. From this space her clients will want to go on the journey with her just as Toby wanted to go through the obstacle course with her.
So over the Holiday Season please spend some time focusing on how you can build trust and connection with your family and friends. The results will amaze you.
Wishing you a very Happy Christmas and New Year.
by Julia Felton | Dec 14, 2016
What’s your ROEE, return on energy expended? We often think about ROI, return on investment when considering for example what to buy. Will the amount we spend/invest yield more than we are paying because if it doesn’t it is probably not a smart investment.
However, how often do you focus on how much energy you are expending in your business. After all, like time, your energy is finite. You only have so much of it. Sure we would all like to be super woman (or superman) and have the kryptonite factor that makes us invincible but the reality is, as far as I know, we don’t.
Time and time again I come across business owners expending loads of energy into their business and yet ironically not getting the results they want. I know that has been the case for me this year. It seems like I have been working harder than ever and yet the results I desired have not materialized. And this got me to thinking why this is happening. It is certainly not my lack of effort or commitment but somehow the energy I’m putting in is not manifesting out the other end. Something needs to change but what is it?
As I watched my VIP clients during an Unbridled Success Leadership Day I suddenly gained the insight I needed to solve this challenge. These VIP clients come every year to work on their next year goals and gain clarity and insight on how to approach any upcoming challenges. They were doing an exercise leading the horse through an obstacle course towards their 2017 goal. My client made in through the course and reached her goal but as I observed her leading my pony Thistle it looked like such hard work for both parties. The energy expended felt disproportional to the result. So I asked the client what would need to change to make the exercise easier?
After reflecting she said that doing the exercise with her business partner would make it easier. So as her business partner was also part of the workshop she joined in and sure enough they both completed the course with Thistle, and it was way easier. Now as these clients primarily work with groups I decided to up the game. I gave both clients two horses to lead around the obstacle course and asked them to follow each other around. Wow, what a difference. In this group setting the energy changed again. There was laughter and fun and the horses all upped their pace and trotted around the course. It all looked so effortless as everything happened in collaboration. The goal was accomplished easily and the clients had so much fun.
The learning we all took away from this exercise was that you need to find the best way for you to work where it is fun and seemingly effortless. You need to find a space to work in where you are in flow. For these clients working in a group as a team is their optimal way of working and when in this situation the positive, creative energy expended didn’t feel wasted. It was almost as if the energy expended created momentum rather than when working alone when the energy was almost putting a brake on proceedings.
So if you want to discover the best way for you to work and where your strengths are and how you can get into flow, then connect with me for complimentary consultation. Don’t spend 2017 expending your energy on tasks that don’t serve you but rather find your flow where you get a great ROEE.
by Julia Felton | Dec 7, 2016
We all have doubts, fears and disappointments in our lives. We’ve all had times in our lives where we felt bound by our past and our fear of failure. We know we should change, but…we can’t. Can you relate? I know I can!.
This weekend I’ve been reflecting on my business and life and the changes I need to implement to make 2017 the best year ever. The challenge is that in order to change it means I need to alter my thinking. I need to “unthink” my past and eliminate fear in order to unleash my hidden potential. And unthinking my past is not something I’m relishing. I’ve invested loads in my past (both financially and emotionally) but I know that in order to grow I need to release some of this old thinking and create the space to make new decisions from where I am now.
So how did we create this thinking? This story of the elephant describes the situation so well. When an elephant is born into captivity, the owner ties the animal to a tree or post with a thick chain to prevent the 250-pound infant from escaping. During the first few weeks of his life, the small elephant tests the chain that binds him, again and again, in an attempt to free himself and wander as his nature urges him to do. His efforts, however, are no match for steel links. Over the course of a few weeks, he eventually learns that his resources are no match for the hardiness of the chain. He gives up any further attempts to free himself, and thus relegates himself to a life within a small circle.
As an adult elephant conditioned by a past experience, he can now be tethered to a small tree with the thinnest of ropes or, in some cases, no rope at all. He makes no attempts to wander because he carries with him, for life, the belief that he does not possess the power to break the ties that bind him. The adult elephant could easily snap the rope or uproot the tree to which it is attached, but he makes no such effort, because early in life, he was taught that true freedom was not available to him. For the remainder of his life, he is tame and nothing like the captivating, powerful creature he was born to be.
Can you sympathize with this story about the elephant? Do you feel your life has been shackled by what you were conditioned to believe when you were young? Maybe the conditioning was even more recent than that. Whatever thoughts came up for you as you read this I urge you to stop and reflect on whether your current thinking is serving you now. And if it is not then maybe you want to unchain your elephant and let it run free.
I’m off to do some elephant unchaining of my own. Are you going to join me?
by Julia Felton | Nov 30, 2016
Wow, I can’t believe that it is the last day of November. Christmas is just round the corner, closely followed by the start of 2017. Are you prepared? If not now is a great time to begin planning for the best 2017 ever. I recently learnt that we are at the end of a 9 year cycle which means that 2017 is a fresh start for all of us.
Make sure there are no negative influences and unfinished projects you are carrying into the next year, or else I am told they will stay with you for another 9 years and none of us want that, do we!. To help you get 2017 off to a flying start I’ll be running a workshop to help you Get Your Business Off To A Flying Start in 2017. It will be on Friday 13th January, which I think is a pretty auspicious date. More details to follow.
This weekend I was tidying my desk and I came across this quote from Dr. Michael Beckwith “Potential is always bigger than the problem” which that I wrote on a post it note some time ago. What struck me about this quote is that each of us has within us all the resources we need to be successful. We all have access to untapped potential but often we allow our problems to consume us and so we don’t access this potential.
What if actually our problems and challenges were the activators that helped unleash our potential?. Would you then regard problems and challenges from a different perspective? How would it be if these problems and challenges were actually just highlighting the areas where we are failing to live our purpose and where we are limiting ourselves in both life and business.
This is a great time of year to refocus and reset exactly what your purpose is for your business. WHY are you doing what your doing, is it working, is it turning out as you planned for 2016, if not why not?. What impact do you want to make.? If you haven’t achieved the results you desired in 2016 then maybe it’s time to reflect on whether you are building the right thing, or is it time for a pivot.
Once your WHY is clear again, move to vision. What does 2017 look like and feel like?. You should be able to paint it on the wall. Make it vivid and make it epic, if it doesn’t get you excited, it doesn’t inspire you then you’re building the wrong thing. This is also a great time of year to create or redo your vision board.
Finally, all this reflection and planning is great but you need to take action and this is why you need a strategy. A vision without a plan is a mere dream…. you have to bring it to action. What are the missing strategies in your business?
- Marketing
- Sales
- Operations
- Cash or
- Talent.
Where are you weak? Where do you need education? Where is change impacting the most? These are some of the questions we will be answering on the Get Your Business Off To A Flying Start in 2017 on Friday 13th January. Get on the early bird notification list right now.
by Julia Felton | Nov 27, 2016
In my last post I asked you “are you wasting time or investing time?”, and the resounding feedback from people was the very realisation that they are in fact wasting time. Time is such a valuable resource. It is added to our invisible bank account every day, and yet if we don’t use it all up it disappears at the end of the day. Now I bet if instead of time being deposited in the imaginary bank account everyday it was cash, and you were told to use up all the cash every day or else it would be taken away. Then come hell or high water you would find a way to use up all that cash
No matter how much you may believe in abundance, time is the one resource that is non-renewable. Every moment is precious and once it’s gone, it’s gone for good. Which is why the biggest shift you can make to grow your business is to get a handle on how you spend your time.
Most entrepreneurs waste tons of time on tasks that don’t add to their bottom line and only serve to deplete their energy.
Why? Fear of:
- creating boundaries
- someone feeling uncomfortable
- saying no
- being visible
- failing (or succeeding!)
- not being good enough
- being too busy
- what others will say
The bottom line is, these are all excuses or distractions to keep you from taking a powerful leap forward.
So let me share with you my personal favorite time secrets with you. By implementing even just a few of these strategies you’ll see a remarkable up-leveling in your energy, your sense of freedom and in how much you easily get accomplished every day.
- Hire someone to run errands, clean your house and do your laundry.
Even if you feel a little guilty at first, I know I did, you’ll thank me once you’re freed up from routine tasks that are so easy to have someone else take care of for you.
- Delegate email to an assistant.
This was the first task I hired a virtual assistant to do and it saved me hours every week. Remember, you can’t be both the assistant to your business and its leader!
- Schedule specific times each day to respond to email.
Allocate 15 minutes in the morning and another 30 in the afternoon. As a result you can keep your inbox to less than 30 items
- Give up your to-do list. Seriously!
Schedule all of your projects and activities into your calendar, just like appointments. This one action helps get me ahead on my projects.
- Use time-blocking to free up your time and give you focus.
Schedule regular tasks such as writing your ezine, serving clients, giving Discovery sessions, paying bills, etc. for the same days of the week, from week to week. Just watch out for any “I can’t because…” excuses, as they are a clear indicator of where you need clearer boundaries.
- Create a weekly marketing action list so you know your priorities.
Deciding in advance how many contacts you’ll make and how often will keep you from procrastinating on the tasks that will ultimately add the most cash flow to your business.
- Turn your mobile phone and email notifications off during focused time.
Trust me, the world WILL continue to run even though you may be offline for an hour or two. And you’ll be happily surprised at the peace of mind and freedom you gain from this one simple action.
- Designate your mornings for marketing.
Investing just 60 minutes each morning creates the momentum you need to increase your income. Time spent reaching out to one new potential joint venture partner, writing a thank you note to someone you just met, writing a promotional email, placing a call requesting a speaking opportunity … and more … is a great investment in your business.
- Get accountable to a coach or a colleague who won’t let you slide.
Imagine telling someone every day what you’re going to accomplish and by when. Enough said.
- Be aware of when others’ priorities are colliding with yours.
Whether you need to create a “do not disturb” sign for your door or get a sitter for your kids during work hours, what’s critical is to realize that growing your business serves your family and serves the people you’re meant to help.
So what strategies are you going to start implementing right now? Just starting with one strategy will free up your time and give you more focus as you start investing your time in growing your business. And the more time your invest, the better your results will be and so it becomes a self-fulfilling circle.
by Julia Felton | Nov 23, 2016
Don’t you just love it when you think something and then it happens. Well that very nearly happened to me this morning. I woke up at 5:30am, nearly 3 hours before my train to London and firstly decide that as its cold outside I won’t go on my morning run. Then I wonder what would happen if I fall asleep and miss my train. The good news is that I didn’t fall asleep but the bad news was that I nearly missed my train. I got on the train with just 20 seconds to spare. Now I wish I had had better thoughts this morning than missing my train!!!.
Reflecting on the situation I am reminded of this great quote from Roger James Hamilton. “if we waste money, we can always make more, but if we waste time, it’s gone forever”. This is exactly what happened to me this morning. I wasted time checking my email, catching up on facebook and looking for my misplaced mobile phone, and as a result I nearly missed my train.
Time is actually the most valuable commodity we have in business. We all have the same 24 hours in each day but it is how we use this time that determines our success. Do you spend hours cleaning your house and running errands, or do your outsource these activities so that you can spend your time on high, income generating activities that grow your business?.
All the successful people I have ever met or studied have mastered the art of leading their time. They treasure every second they have and use it wisely. They invest their time rather than spend it. Now that’s an interesting thought. Investing in time rather than spending time. Typically when I work with business owners to help them grow their business, their wealth and time mindset are two areas that we start with, because until you value time you will always be chasing your tail.
When you master leading time your days become more effortless, as you are crystal clear on what you are doing when. You make better decisions and don’t get distracted by the bright shiny object syndrome. And when you value time, others around you start valuing their time too. They recognise the implications of being late for meetings and you start not tolerating behavior that in any way under-values your time.
I would like to invite you to track your time for an entire week. Create a spreadsheet or grab a sheet of paper. Draw seven columns – one for each day of the week – and then break each day down into 30 min segments and then track what you do during each 30 min segment (You can change this to 10 or 15 mins increments if you prefer but 30 mins works well for me). Make sure to note the times that you eat, sleep, bathe, work out. In fact everything that you do. At the end of a week you will some great insights into how you spend your time, and then you can assess how much of your week are you investing your time and how much you are spending your time.
When I did this exercise the results were illuminating. So don’t delay start today by really valuing your time and stop wasting it. If you need any assistance with mastering your time mindset then please book in for a complimentary chat and let’s explore what is possible
