July
30, 2004
In
this issue:
I. Give
Yourself a Break
II. Four Imperative Questions About Your Niche
II. From behind the barn door…
I. Give
Yourself a Break
As you know, over the last month both
my desktop and my laptop were trying my patience to no end. We kept
trying to fix them, but it seemed the more we tried, the worse the situation
got - and that was with help from technical support! What we've ended
up with is a "it'll work for now so we can get back to work"
scenario, but I know what I'm asking Santa for this year... :)
Anyway, about a week ago, the feelings of overwhelm (I just kept getting
further and further behind) and frustration finally got to me. Either
the computers were going out the window or I was...so I took the less
drastic route and packed a bag and headed north to the cottage at the
lake. James was going to be on a business trip in DC for a few days,
and I literally thought I would have a breakdown if I didn't remove
myself from the stressful environment my office had become.
Thank goodness for the lake. I spent three wonderfully quiet and stress-free
days at the water, writing and reading, and actually being productive.
My laptop worked just fine there (hmmm?), so I was able to get some
things done that I hadn't in the past few weeks. I was lucky enough
that the weather was beautiful, and when I got too hot, I just put the
laptop aside and dove in.
What I could have done was stayed at home and continued the fight against
the machine, which is really what I normally would have done. I must
have reached my breaking point to just pack up and go. But it was absolutely
the best thing I could have done. Do you find yourself in this scenario
once in awhile, even not to this extreme? Those days when all you want
to do is scream because nothing is working? Have there been times when
you've removed yourself from the environment and felt much better, decompressed,
gained a new perspective? Let's not allow ourselves to get to that breaking
point. Let's give ourselves a break before the meltdown. I think moms
are really good at this, at knowing when their kids are headed for a
meltdown and they know just how to nip it before it goes that far. How?
By removing the child from that environment, by suggesting an alternative
to what's happening in the moment, to finding them a quiet and peaceful
place to be so they can mend their frazzled nerves.
Let's do the same for ourselves. Let's give ourselves a break before
we breakdown... :)
II. Four
Imperative Questions About Your Niche
If you're in business, you most likely have a
niche, a certain group of people to whom you cater. One of the easiest
ways to become successful is to make sure your niche has a list. What
I mean is, is there a national organization, even an international directory,
regional and local groups or chapters, a large organized grouping of
the people with whom you wish to work? In other words, is
your niche sufficiently well defined that you could buy a list if there
was one?
For example, I want to work with self-employed professionals who want
to attract more clients, not I want to work with people in mid-life
crisis - how are you going to find them other than by the slow-burn
of "word of mouth" marketing?
Another question you want to ask yourself is, does your niche have any
money? For example, bank financial advisers do, but do people looking
to end frustration and get in touch with themselves/the universe? I'm
not sure. How would you find them?
A third question to ask yourself is, does your niche have an irritating
enough problem - so that one day the pain of solving the problem will
be less than the pain of tolerating the problem? For example, I need
to quit smoking, not would you like to be happier?
And a final question to ask yourself is, do you have the solution? Do
you believe that your solution works?
If your answers are in the positive and are specific, you will have
a much easier time of bringing clients into your business.
III.
From behind the barn door…
My apologies for being on a short hiatus. I will always let you know
when I'm on vacation, but alas, those pesky (although I was using much
more choice words at the time) computer gremlins came back with friends.
My faithful desktop finally succumbed, but its vital internal organs
were saved by my heroic technical guru husband. Some were lost but most
were saved, and of course the lesson to be learned is to back up all
your important stuff often!
I have some fun news to share with you all in the coming weeks, one
professional and one personal, both of which I am very excited about.
So stay tuned!
Cheers
~
Alicia
Alicia
Forest is a Personal & Business Coach serving entrepreneurs and small
business owners in their desire to create a successful business, by
their definition of success. Her coaching programs are delivered by
means of quarterly teleworkshops, monthly teleconference calls, email
and telephone.
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is how we grow. The author of "Inner Compass ~ Weekly Directional"
is Alicia Forest. Contact her at alicia@innercompasscoaching.com
or at 845-216-8838.
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