I believe that we are all leaders. Whether we are parents, business owners, friends, coaches, servers, mechanics or even students–we have the opportunity to lead. I personally believe that it is our job to step up, when we are called, to lead.

So what does leadership mean?

Leadership means being an example of what to do when you don’t feel like it–even when no one is watching.

Leadership is sailing the ship when the captain is gone–and getting all the sailors on board to help you so you are not sailing the boat yourself. Empowering teams.

Leadership is choosing what to do, or not to do, when your friends are not making good choices. Make good choices.

Leadership is NOT taking on that client that you know is not a good fit for you even though you need the money.

Leadership is staying true to who you are and not compromising yourself when times are tough. Everything is easy when times are good. But when times are difficult, who do you want to be…really?

Leadership is knowing who you are…and empowering others to be who THEY are, instead of some ideal that someone else created as the truth.

Are you a leader?

YES, you are. But did you know it?

What do you need to start doing NOW to be a better leader?

Summer overwhelm!

That’s what this blog post was about 5 minutes ago. 5 great tips to help you (and me) avoid the overwhelm and feel accomplished in between dealing with kids running in/0ut of the house, cars breaking down, baseball tournaments, dance & cheer practices, parades, summer camps and life slapping you over the head (or as some say, God laughing at you because you tried to plan something without consulting HIS schedule).

But it’s gone. Missing. Disappeared.

And that brings me to my REAL issue. I am really struggling with this 30 day blog challenge. I am just not sure, with everything in my life, that I have the attention span to do something for 30 days.

And if that’s true, how could I possibly expect myself to be any more successful than I am now???

I am pretty sure that as difficult as it is, it is very important for me to learn how to stay focused to the end of a project. In fact, as I write this, I am sure that my team will LOL (laugh out loud, for those of you without kids) when they read this.

So here is my public commitment. I WILL complete the 30 Day Blogging Bonanza that I created a few weeks ago. (I will even commit to TWO extra days to compensate for last weekend which flew by without a post from me.)

And I can already tell you it does everything I said it would.

• I am now getting 2-3 times more new subscribers everyday than I was before.
• I am getting great comments on Twitter, Facebook and my blog about the short articles.
• I am making new, cool friends.
• And I have cool people calling me up wanting to do business with me! (that’s money in my pocket)

So it works. I know. And I will continue.

How’s it going for you?

PS. What tips do you have for warding off the “summer overwhelm”? It would be great to hear YOUR thoughts and perhaps it would jog my memory for the 5 cool tips I thought of, wrote in a cool blog post, then lost and promptly forgot…

What’s your mission? What do you do for your peeps?

What’s your purpose? WHY do you do that for your peeps?

Where are you going?

A few weeks ago, I shared some insights about success. But there’s an important question that begs to be asked.

How do you know if you are successful?

There are four things you must know in order to be successful.

First, you must be clear about your mission. Your mission is that thing you do. It can also include who you do it for. For some, a mission can be small or large. It can be life-changing for one or for many. In business, it is the thing that leads the company. In life, it creates a feeling of accomplishment.

Second, you must connect with your purpose. This is the “why” you feel motivated to do what you do. If you lose the connection with your why, it’s difficult to move forward.

Third, have a vision. This is the ability to use all of your senses as it relates to your mission and your vision. Think about your vision–what do you see yourself doing? Can you see the work that you do? Can you hear the reaction of the people when you do it? Can you feel the excitement that these people have when they work with you?

Finally, know your values. How do you do what you do? These are the things that direct how you function in your business and who you enjoy doing business with. Check out this list of values to identify your top 3-5.

These are the things that can help you become successful in all aspects of your life. But mostly, they can help you recognize your success and celebrate it.

Today life hit me. It started last night at around midnight when my 16 yr old called to say that she had wrecked my car. She was fine but my car wouldnt move.

Ugh!

This morning when I got up, my agenda for the day was shot! Instead of wrapping up some projects that have been pending all week, I got my daughter up, directed her with some chores and then we went running–trying to figure out what was wrong with my car and how much it would cost to fix.

I was able to get in a couple of client and team member conversations which was absolutely fun! It was such a relief to be consumed for a couple hours by my business and a new client.

But now that the day is almost over and my blogging task is still waiting for me, I decided I was only capable of sharing my life.

The only thing it has to do with business is everything.

As an entrepreneur working from home, and as a mom whose #1 job is to raise her kids, its not unusual to have life slap you upside the head.

When this happens, I try hard not to get frustrated and I try to feel grateful that I have a career that allows me to deal with life as it happens (the alternative would be to have someone else helping my kids…that wouldnt make me feel better).

How do you handle life when it slaps you unexpectedly?

With my new relationship with money, I have been noticing the many conversations and opportunities for support. Here are some of the better ones I have seen this past week:

Kendall SummerHawk writes about “The Secret to Paying Yourself, Even If Cashflow is Tight”

Sandra Martini shares some insights about The 6 Figure Myth and some tips to help you avoid those pitfalls.

Nancy Marmolejo discusses a common problem for people who have been active in social media in her article “Do you Have High Visibility and Low Profitability?”

In my commitment to loving and caring for my money, I have been noticing how much money is thrown around without acknowledgement of what it takes to make that money and what it takes to HAVE the money. It’s been interesting with my kids asking for things, but insightful to notice some of my money habits in my business that aren’t serving me so well.

I think this is inspiring some future posts about the value of me and the value of money. Hmmm….

And to close this post, here is a a great inspirational quote:

“Business is not just doing deals; business is having great products, doing great engineering, and providing tremendous service to customers. Finally, business is a cobweb of human relationships.”

H. Ross Perot

In honor of my father, my husband and all dads out there, here is a quote that has been hanging on my fridge for the last few months.

One of my girls brought it home from school a while back and it struck my today as I was pondering how to appreciate this day and make it memorable for the father in our home. (This has not been easy since the kids seem to be bickering more today than usual…).

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do.
It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company… a church… a home.
The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day.
We cannot change our past… we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable.
The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude.
I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it.
And so it is with you… we are in charge of our Attitudes.”
–Charles R. Swindoll

P.S. This is the first post Ive created from my new Wordpress iPhone app, so Im not sure how it will look or be formatted…

I was going to share MY definition of success, but decided that it would be more profound to share the opportunity of defining success.

According to Wikipedia…

Success may mean, but is not limited to:

• a level of social status
• achievement of an objective/goal
• the opposite of failure
• the succession of successfully executed tasks and successes

According to Dictionary.com…

–noun

I think I prefer the definition from Wikipedia as it seems more in line with my own definition–all four points.

Success in terms of “social status” for me doesn’t seem like a good definition. While I see myself as a leader, I feel successful in empowering one or many people which is accomplished during daily activities–important or not.

My success goals are currently focused on educational opportunities for my children–getting a good eduction and having a good education that opens doors and allows my daughters to have more choices in life. Another goal for me is to have a lifestyle filled with good food, travel, time with extended family and a dependable, comfortable car.

I guess failure is something I feel when I don’t accomplish my “list” for the day and other mundane tasks. But I really think success comes from persevering despite failures.

To wrap this up, success is the execution of successfully executed tasks–at least one more than the failed tasks. Right?

What do you think?

I was recently installed as the President of my local chapter of NAWBO (National Association of Women Business Owners). I was also on the nominating committee for the Women Business Owner of the Year and Rising Star Awards for 2010. And I had the honor of interviewing Gretta Spendlove and Amanda Moxley–the award winners.

It was inspirational to hear these successful women discuss their perspective of SUCCESS.

The first question I asked them both was “How to you define success?” This is a question I have asked many great women and I love the answers I get.  In my presidential acceptance speech, I discussed my own thoughts on this question.

I believe that success comes from the following:

First, success is a feeling, not a destination. It comes from when you are “on the right track”. This is when you have a mission and you are consciously working on that track.

Success also comes from connecting to your PURPOSE–that WHY you do what you do. When you are clear about why you work as hard as you do and juggle all of the pieces of your life and the lives of those around you, their is a feeling of accomplishment.

Also, when you are clear about the VISION of where you are going and your VALUES of how you will accomplish that journey, success becomes the path.

What is YOUR definition of success?

What can blogging everyday for 30 days get you?

1. More online visibility. The more people who see your stuff, the more likely you will start to monetize things, right?
2. Increased credibility. When you are sharing good advice regularly, you become the expert.
3. More traffic to your website. The more often you post good information, the often people will come to your site to read it and the more often they will share it with others.
4. More friends. When you are sharing yoru blog posts in your social media, more conversations will start and new relationships will begin.
5. More money. If you are an online business, then you need visibility, credibility and traffic to make money. And they more friends you have, the easier this is.

Why are you going to blog everyday?

Please see items 1-5 above.

How are you going to blog?

1. Start with subscribing to this blog.
2. Publish a quick post that explains what you want to accomplish over the next 30 days. This is for goal setting and for tracking (and to share with your readers–who want to get to know you more).
3. Make a list of 4 topics that are relevant to your business/industry/expertise.
4. Take each topic and create 5 tips that support that topic.
5. Lay out your 30 day blogging plan: post one overview of the topic followed by 5 tips about the topic. Then move to the next topic. Drop in a weekly podcast or video (either that YOU create or from YouTube) that supports your topic for the week. Along with the first blog post (the purpose) and your last blog post (your accomplishments for the month), you have 30 days.

Your 30 day blogging plan may look a bit different. I really would like you to share some other experts content at least once each week because this can help build great relationships AND share great content that you don’t have to create. Either way, create a plan.

Whatever you do, keep it simple and easy so it doesn’t get overwhelming. And then let us know how it’s going!

Happy Blogging!

Today is Day 1 of my commitment to blog….everyday.

And I would really enjoy having some friends join me on this journey to create a profitable habit for my business. Are you in?

Here’s 3 reasons why you should join me and 1 task to get you started.

Why?

1. IT’S FREE. It only costs your time. And really, that should only be a few minutes…maybe 10 each day. I bet you waste more than 10 minutes everyday. Find that 10 minutes and it won’t even cost you that! If you don’t have a blog yet, you can start one in about 10 minutes on Blogger.com or Wordpress.com for nothing.

2. It gives people something to talk about…you! When you are sharing good information on your blog, and especially if that information is feeding into your social media, your friends and network WILL start talking about you.

3. It builds relationships. After you are done sharing your opinion, ask your readers to add THEIR opinions. Your readers will start to get to know you better, and you will have the opportunity to get to know them.

So “Where do I start” you ask.

Well start by clicking on the SUBSCRIBE button next to this post. That will allow you to keep up on these posts as I share resources and tips for keeping blogging simple and sweet. If you have Outlook 2007, there is a blog reader built in. If you use another email program, simply subscribe to this blog in the box where it says “Emailed to you” so that it lands in your email.

Next, if you don’t have a blog, start one (see tip1 above).

And here is your real STARTING POINT FOR BLOGGING:

Write two paragraphs about what you want to accomplish over the next 30 days of blogging. This is your purpose. And you need to know WHY you do everything in your business so that you can track it and know if it works or not.

And then share that in your first post!

And don’t forget to post a comment here on this blog along with your blog url so that we can follow you!

Happy blogging!