The Perils of Thinking BIG: Progress and Satisfaction is about Embracing Small Steps

Much is said about the importance of the big picture, the end game, the BIG goal. Experts and gurus alike encourage their clients to spend time focusing on envisioning the future they want. At first imagining where you’d like to be in several years time can be daunting, but most of us really get into it. The more we think about what we want in the future, the more excited we get! We picture ourselves in improved circumstances, happy and fulfilled. Finally, we’ve reached our destination! And, the hard work is behind us. Just before we give ourselves a congratulatory pat on the back though, our minds slip back to the present day reality and the wind quickly goes out of our sails. We are suddenly confronted by just how far we have to go. Excitement gives way to overwhelm. Our focus shifts from “this is where I want to go” to “how will I ever get there?”

This is especially true for entrepreneurs, who are constantly defining and redefining their goals and desired business direction. No sooner do we achieve a goal, when another emerges to take its place. So we are quite used to flipping back and forth between feeling excited and overwhelmed. The trouble arises when the goal is so huge and the anxiety about how to get there is so great that paralysis occurs. Unsure of how to chip away at all the work that needs to be done, we do one of two things – stick our heads in the sand making no change at all or completely exhaust ourselves trying to achieve transformation over night. Thinking big doesn’t mean much if you can’t move forward.

So what’s a gal to do? Stop dreaming big? Stop setting goals? No, of course not. The solution is to commit to embracing the small steps and spend more time focused on the present. Most satisfied entrepreneurs will tell you that their success is a result of consistent, everyday action and an incessant focus on what can be done NOW. Many successful people I know spend at least 5 times as much effort moving things forward then getting lost in the big picture. It makes sense, but still sometimes it can be hard to fend off that ‘I need to do it all’ anxiety.

In my experience when I’m feeling anxious or overwhelmed I’ve found it helpful to remember the following six things:

·         Entrepreneurship is always a work in progress. If you learn to embrace the journey instead of always wistfully thinking about the destination, you’ll enjoy it a lot more.

·         As an entrepreneur, you’re gearing up for a marathon not a sprint. Small steps will help you pace yourself and ensure that you have the stamina to make it to your finish line.

·         It is my responsibility to establish routines and habits that make my every day experience enjoyable and rewarding. This goes a long way in enjoying the daily reality of my job.

·         If something feels too big to be actionable then it isn’t broken down enough. Break apart projects as much as you can before you put them on the to-do list.

·         Working backwards is an easier way to create a time bound project plan. Think, if I want to be here in 2 months, what do I need to achieve in 1 month? How about in two weeks? How about next week? How about tomorrow?

·         Some action is better than no action. You can’t always wait for the circumstances to be perfect. Instead, just get started.

How you handle the same challenge? What helps you make progress in the face of a big, daunting goal?

Strategic Entrepreneurship Expert – Adelaide Lancaster of In Good Company from Philadelphia, PA

Adelaide Lancaster, co-founder, is a successful entrepreneur who excels at making business ideas a reality and helping businesses grow to their potential.  Adelaide is both a strategic thinker and a master implementer.  She has spent her professional career dedicated to helping women find work that is meaningful and rewarding. Adelaide was recently featured in the book Upstarts!, as one of 60 Gen-Y entrepreneurs who are rocking the world of business.  Adelaide was co-founder and Principal Partner of Berkman Fives a consulting firm that helped women professionals with career development and advancement and women entrepreneurs with business growth and efficiency. Adelaide also is a contributor to The Huffington Post and Daily Muse.

Adelaide also co-authored the book “The Big Enough Company”.

The Secrets of Happy Success: What Every Entrepreneur Needs to Know

It’s one thing to start a business. It’s quite another to create meaningful and rewarding employment for yourself (and possibly others). The truth is that it’s astonishingly easy to create a business that is unsatisfying. It always surprises me how many unhappy entrepreneurs there are…after all, you’re the boss! Yet, despite clear goals and the best of intentions lots of entrepreneurs make big compromises in order to do what they think it best for the business. They end up feeling overworked, underpaid, stressed out, and alone.

The beauty is they (and they alone) have the power to change their circumstances and to prioritize their own satisfaction. It’s up to them to take advantage of the amazing opportunity that entrepreneurship affords them – the ability to craft a business that delivers the satisfaction they want and deserve.

After working with thousands of entrepreneurs I can tell you that no two go about achieving this goal in the same way. However, I can also tell you that the happiest entrepreneurs do have several things in common.

They all honor these 5 rules to live by:

1.       Don’t go it alone

Entrepreneurship can be a lonely experience. Not only is this emotionally challenging, but it also creates a huge opportunity cost. Your community is your best secret weapon and the most direct route to more support, inspiration, ideas, feedback, and sales! The better connected you are the stronger your business will be.

2.       Do what you do best.

Your job as an entrepreneur is not simply “the doer of things that need to be done.” With a to-do list that never stops multiplying it’s tempting to just dive in and get going. This is a loss for both you and your business. Don’t squander the chance to do work you love every day. Instead, consider where you’re strong, and consider where you’re not. Restructure your schedule to do what you enjoy at least the majority of the time. And, have a good reason for doing tasks you don’t like.

3.       Honor your original goals.

Do you remember why you became an entrepreneur in the first place? Do you still derive that reward from your business? Once they have a few years of experience under their belts many entrepreneurs find little if any trace of their original motivations. Given how hard you work, it matters that you are able to get the benefits you want. So ask yourself, what’s in it for me? What makes all the work worthwhile? Then figure out how your business can deliver.

4.       Build your stamina.

Running a business is a marathon, not a sprint, and it can take a while before you see the financial fruits of your labor. That’s why it’s imperative to maintain your stamina. Bolstering your endurance requires you to adopt a “work smart” mentality and commit to valuing yourself as much as the business. It’s important to also leverage common best practices, such as learning to set boundaries, delegate work, keep a clear focus on goals, and employ small steps towards progress.

5.       Don’t believe the hype, bigger isn’t always better

Our culture tends to glorify size and fixate on numbers. This is even true in the small business world. Entrepreneurs often pursue particular metrics at the expense of their own satisfaction. Measuring success depends on the goals you have for your business. Generate your own definition of success. It may include numbers and metrics but shouldn’t praise growth for growth’s sake. It’s remarkable how differently entrepreneurs grow their companies when they aim for their own benchmarks instead of others’.

Strategic Entrepreneurship Expert – Adelaide Lancaster of In Good Company from Philadelphia, PA

Adelaide Lancaster, co-founder, is a successful entrepreneur who excels at making business ideas a reality and helping businesses grow to their potential.  Adelaide is both a strategic thinker and a master implementer.  She has spent her professional career dedicated to helping women find work that is meaningful and rewarding. Adelaide was recently featured in the book Upstarts!, as one of 60 Gen-Y entrepreneurs who are rocking the world of business.  Adelaide was co-founder and Principal Partner of Berkman Fives a consulting firm that helped women professionals with career development and advancement and women entrepreneurs with business growth and efficiency. Adelaide also is a contributor to The Huffington Post and Daily Muse.

Adelaide also co-authored the book “The Big Enough Company”.

Announcing the 2012 Startup Princess Fairy Godmothers

This was a really tough decision to make.  There are some super impressive women entrepreneurs out there!  Thank you to all who applied.

Our Fairy Godmothers will serve as our experts for the year.  They will share their knowledge and expertise through online posts, teleconferences and will speak at our live events.  We look forward to working with them in 2012 and we look forward to providing you with the resources you need to have a fantastic year personally and professionally!

Here is our list of 2012 Fairy Godmothers!

Kelly King Anderson, Founder of Startup Princess

Kelly King Anderson, the Founder of Startup Princess has always been passionate about making a difference in the lives of others.  Previous to Startup Princess Kelly worked as an Assistant Producer for a Radio Station, Account Executive for a Marketing Firm, and as a Freelance Publicist for an International Tae Kwon Do Champion, helping her client to receive national media attention on Today’s Show, CNN, and more.  Kelly has been featured on the covers of Wasatch Woman and Utah Business magazines, Named one of the Top 30 Women to Watch in Utah Business and has published multiple business articles online and in print. Her specialties are in marketing strategy, PR, branding, life and business planning, and social media. The Startup Princess Twitter account updated by Kelly is considered an Elite account – ranked in the Top 25 of Most Powerful Women on Twitter by Twittergrader with over 130,000 followers.

Work/Life Balance Expert & Marketing Expert Michelle McCullough – Managing Director for Startup Princess

Michelle is the Managing Director for Startup Princess.  Michelle became a partner in Startup Princess (http://www.startupprincess.com/) in 2008.  Michelle has been focusing on event planning, marketing, affiliates, sponsorships and partnerships. Over the past 3 years she has coached women entrepreneurs and helped them grow their businesses from “dream in development” to established thriving businesses.  Michelle is a speaker, strategist, success coach and a serial entrepreneur. She started Doodads Promotional Products (http://www.doodadspromotional.com/) when she was 19. And has also spent the last 12 years working in marketing and advertising. She’s worked in all aspects of the industry from production to creative and sales to management. On top of her full-time jobs, Michelle has cultivated her love for entrepreneurship by running Doodads Promotional Products as a successful side business. In 2008 when Michelle quit her full-time job to be home more with her newborn son, she moved Doodads to the front burner and doubled the income in 2008 and doubled it again in 2009.  Today it continues to thrive.  This year Michelle launched a program called “The Life Balance Myth” to help busy entrepreneurs build thriving businesses AND meaningful personal lives.  She believes that life balance is a myth, but she provides practical tools for personal and professional success.

Strategic Entrepreneurship Expert – Adelaide Lancaster of In Good Company from Philadelphia, PA

Adelaide Lancaster, co-founder, is a successful entrepreneur who excels at making business ideas a reality and helping businesses grow to their potential.  Adelaide is both a strategic thinker and a master implementer.  She has spent her professional career dedicated to helping women find work that is meaningful and rewarding. Adelaide was recently featured in the book Upstarts!, as one of 60 Gen-Y entrepreneurs who are rocking the world of business.  Adelaide was co-founder and Principal Partner of Berkman Fives a consulting firm that helped women professionals with career development and advancement and women entrepreneurs with business growth and efficiency. Adelaide also is a contributor to The Huffington Post and Daily Muse.

Adelaide also co-authored the book “The Big Enough Company”.

Sales Expert - Tiffany Walke Peterson of The Lighthouse Principles from Salt Lake City, UT

Before founding her own company, Tiffany worked with and for many popular authors and groups, both selling and teaching the content for Franklin Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Jack Canfield, The Success Principles, and The Chicken Soup for the Soul series, and Robert Kiyosaki, of the world famous Rich Dad, Poor Dad series. The opportunity to be mentored and trained by some of the world’s best authors, teachers, and content has significantly influenced her own successful results and the results she helps others to achieve today.  Tiffany received many promotions in her corporate life experience, managing multiple sales teams and projects, with a responsibility for sales budgets that ranged from $7.5 million to $40 million in annual sales revenue. Due to her record breaking sales achievements, she was sought after to train and mentor her proven sales style, process, and techniques to other sales associates, of which ultimately led her career and her passion for training, speaking, and coaching to evolve into what is now her own business. Tiffany has successfully trained and coached hundreds of sales people, with an average of 30% increase in sales revenue due to her proven methods.   Tiffany is the Founder and President of The Lighthouse Principles, Inc, a training and development firm offering proven methods and strategies to align individuals and organizations in creating success with their own goals, results, and purpose.

Traditional and Digital Publishing Expert - Ishita Gupta of Fear.less Magazine from New York City, NY

She understands the blogosphere, how to build a tribe of supporters, and how to use the power of the Internet to market ideas. She helps both first-time and veteran authors do just that. As Head of Hoopla and Media at The Domino Project, a new publishing house powered by Amazon, she launched 6 bestselling books, and helped market 100,000 copies of the most recent book, Read This Before Our Next Meeting, in the first month. She also launchedLinchpin: Are You Indispensable, one of the bestselling business books in 2010 (and had a page in the book.)  She founded and runs Fear.less magazine, a popular digital magazine that profiles hundreds of bestselling authors, entrepreneurs, artists, thought leaders, and many others on how they’ve overcome fear; The magazine has been called “Fast Company meets Oprah” by its 10,000+ readers.

Product Development Expert - Jude Anker of Anker Consulting from Park City, Utah

Jude holds that innovation simply isn’t as unpredictable as many people think—that intentional innovation in product development is a systematic process. So much so that she’s currently developing a playbook on how leaders and teams can best ideate, conceive, develop, test, roll out, and improve their new market offerings. With focused expertise in both sustainable design solutions and strategic business planning, Jude has guided both corporations and independent inventors, including Little Giant Ladder Company, Connor Sport Court, BullFrog Spas, and Soul Pole ski and trek poles. A true connector, Jude offers a network of potential resources and specialized talent via her relationships with proven vendors in the areas of product design and engineering, business banking, IP law, PR, marketing services, and website design and development.

Branding Expert - Rebecca Servoss of Persnickety Graphic Design of Salt Lake City, UT

Rebecca Servoss is an extremely talented Graphic Designer and Branding Expert. She also has a background in corporate branding and marketing strategies. She graduated from the University of Utah with a degree in Marketing and Advertising. Since then she has served as graphic designer, brand manager and creative director at several large companies. After leaving “Corporate America” Rebecca opened the doors of her own successful graphic design and web agency. Her talents and abilities assist clients to not just have a pretty logo, but a powerful identity branding message. Not only does Rebecca have powerful business branding intuition and an impeccable eye for design, she also has a gift for guiding entrepreneurs to discover who they truly are so their essence and passion can be communicated properly in their identity branding.

Style that is accessible and achievable is the cornerstone of Karen Hughes’ mission. With humor and grace, she shows audiences how to connect to that little girl inside, transform your wardrobe, and discover the potential to shop with confidence and dress successfully no matter where they are in their life.  I am a Certified Image Professional and received my training from London Image Institute, SciArt and The Australian Image Company and am a Graduate of Auburn University’s Merchandising and Apparel Program. I’ve been featured in newspapers, magazines and radio programs in and around the Southeast and some recognized business names include: Chick-fil-A, The Boston Consulting Group, Hogan Construction, CNN, Northwestern Mutual Financial, INPO, and Marca Inc.

Public Relations Expert – Cinnamon Bowser of Nail Taxi from Alexandria, VA

Prior to starting Nail Taxi, Cinnamon worked for 14 years in the public relations/communications arena. In the six years that Nail Taxi has been in business she has done all of their PR resulting in FAB coverage! Nail Taxi has received coverage in Family Circle, Entreprenuer, Fast Company, the Fine Living Network, Daily Candy (in multiple cities),The Knot network, Lucky, Allure, CNBC (Donny Deutsch), The Fine Living Network, Nails Magazine, NailPro, Washington Post, Washingtonian, Capital File, Chicago Sun and Tribune, local TV network affiliates, Small Business TV and dozens of web sites. Later this month we have a story coming out in Woman’s World and in the next few weeks Nail Taxi will be on Working Mother.com.

This incredible media coverage has allowed Nail Taxi to grow o cities across the United States and now the Bahamas! PR also increased my visibility and has helped me to win some prestigious awards including the 2008 Home-based business champion of the year for the U.S. Small Business Administration and a 2011 TOP 50 MOMPRENUER award from Babble.com.

Social Media Expert - Mandy Allfrey of The Buzz from Asheville, NC

Mandy is a digital marketing professional, speaker, and blogger, having over 12 years of marketing experience in multiple industries. The founder and CEO of Social Media Architecture Company, The Buzz, of Salt Lake City, UT. Clients located across the United States, Canada, & the Caribbean. Mandy engages with corporations, clients, and groups teaching the value of social media and best structuring the best strategies for your business. She is also the founder of Cafe Grace, a positive, uplifting environment on Facebook (www.facebook.com/cafegrace) that makes a positive impact and creates influence in the lives of others. 

Online Marketing Expert – Desiree Scales from Bella Web Design from Atlanta, GA

Desiree Scales brings over 15 years of expertise in online marketing to customer projects at her award-winning company, Bella Web Design, Inc. With a background as a web designer for a major U.S. corporation, Delta Air Lines, Desiree delivers sound advice and outstanding solutions for her business customers. Her expertise and experience has evolved into a passion to educate people about online marketing and technologies that foster success. She has been a featured speaker at companies, conferences and seminars speaking on topics about web design, social media, online marketing and protecting teens on the Internet. Desiree also hosts The Bella Buzz, a weekly podcast dedicated to online marketing topics, tools and tips for business owners. Her podcast  is popular among business owners around the world. Her company garnered a prestigious Webby Award Honor in 2011. Desiree has provided consulting for many companies including Microsoft, Delta Air Lines, Northside Radiology, Brand Mortgage and Marriott among others.

Revenue Expert – Monica Shaw from Revenue Breakthrough from New York City, NY

Monica Shaw, the business breakthrough specialist, Kellogg MBA grad, and business professor helps women business owners double their income within 12-18 months.  Revenue Breakthrough is Monica’s 2nd six-figure company.  Her corporate and teaching background allow Monica to show business owners how to step into their role as the CEO of their businesses.  She shows them the HOW, every step of the process to grow their businesses to the next level, without going broke or crazy in the process.  Monica is the author of: Creating Your Revenue Breakthrough – Five Steps to Doubling Your Income in the Next 60 Days, and the Money Magnet Kit.  If you would like to monetize your marketing and increase your income be sure to check out her Money Magnet Kit.  Get your copy at www.revenuebreakthrough.com/moneymagnet