Online Business Archives

Overcome Negative Thoughts

Hey, do you look at other online businesses and think, ah, they are just lucky or I wish I would have started my business when they did? Well, friend, that is really just a thought and it's you that makes it work in your business.

Repeat Negative Thoughts

Let me guess you have that repeating thought going in your head saying, Oh, well, they're just luckier than I am. Or maybe you have that repeat negative thought, if I would have started when they did, I would be just as successful.

Here’s the interesting part, that’s just a thought, that is just something that you are telling yourself about your online business and achieving success.

What can you do to overcome negative thoughts?

Let’s go ahead and look at some of the things that you can do when you come up against that repeat negative thought, and what to do to overcome it.

Here’s the big secret, it's you. I know crazy right, here’s the thing in the long run it is you that putting in the work to make your online business successful. Friend, you put in the work, and you make it successful.

What does that take? It's simple. It takes persistent effort.

That's the importance of taking action in your business.

But not any action it's taking the right action at the right time. You must be wondering, what's the right action at the right time?

The answer? Now. Right now is the right time. How do you figure out the right action?

Right Action

The solution is simple you can figure out what is the right action by taking a look at what it is that you want to achieve.

You have the goal, work backward breaking that down into little tiny actions that you can do every single day.

When you work backward think what is the last thing that will happen before you achieve this goal? What is the action right before the last action? And so on.

It just takes that small consistent action every single day, in order to be able to move forward with it.

Now, this is important, this small action is proving to your brain that you can do, that proof, in turn, overcomes negative thoughts.

You keep you stuck

At some point, you have to take the leap of faith and you have to believe in yourself that you can actually do what it is that you want to achieve.

I know what you’re thinking, you need some reassurance. Here’s how to do it yourself remember a time in the past when you did something that you didn't think that you could do, but you took action and did it.

Okay. Do you have that thought in your mind? Great, now step into that person you were at that time. Feel what you felt, hear the words of encouragement you gave to yourself.

Do you remember all the feelings? How did you view it at that time? Stick with me now what did you need to become to get over that mindset and that obstacle you're facing?

Remember specifically.

That's what you need to do right now, at this time as well. This is proof that you are the one that makes it work in your business.

What’s the difference?

One of the things that I do for myself.

When I find myself you know, doing that comparison thing, or I'm not good enough or imposter system syndrome, whatever you call it.

What is the difference? Take a step back, what’s the difference between that entrepreneur and you?

What is the difference between their business and your business?

What’s that business owner doing that you may not be doing in your business?

I have a feeling that it could come down to this. They just started. They had the belief that they could do it.

That online business owner they are taking action. But what if, instead of staying in negative thought you actually put in 1% effort every single day to make it work.

That’s the magic, that's all you need to do.

You see my point, right? To move forward do that 1% of work every single day to make it work in your online business.

I hope that you found this was beneficial and encouraging.

If you have any questions, go ahead and leave me a comment. I look forward to seeing you next week.

l

Little Side Note

When you find yourself in a negative thought pattern, pull out your journal and figure out why you're feeling that way. What were you doing that made you feel this way?

✁ Just a Snippet

Here is just a snippet of the important points, you know for the skimmer in you. 🤪

Do you look at other online businesses and think aww they are just lucky or I wish I would have started when they did. That's just your thoughts, it's YOU friend you're the one that makes it work.
It’s not about luck
You Make It Work
You Make it Successful
It’s about the persistent effort
That’s the importance of taking action in your online business
It’s not about the right timing
It's about small consistent actions
At some point, you have to take the leap of faith
What is the difference between you and the business owner that you admire?
They started. They had the belief they can do it. They put in the 1% every day to make it work.

← What is the Management Trap for Online Business Owners? Step Into Clarity In Your Online Business →

What is the Management Trap for Online Business Owners?

by Michele | Online Business

In order to grow and scale your online business, it is essential to hire. And yes, it's important to delegate. With a well-run team, all things are possible.

BUT there is something that many online business owners aren't prepared for when they start hiring.

Do you want to know what that is?

What most business owners don’t realize, they are getting themselves into the management trap.

Of course, right. Because the first thing that happens when you hire somebody is you have to manage that person.

Let's first dig in and define what management actually is.

Management is about planning – taking a goal and turning it into an actionable plan
Management is about people – ensuring the right folks are on the team to execute on the plan
Management is about process – finding the best way to get the work done
Management is about progress – seeing the plan through to completion and getting stuff done!

It's the role of a manager to make sure the right things get done, in the right way, at the right time, and by the right people.

In the earlier days of your online business journey – before you hire – the management part is pretty easy because we only have one person to manage – yourself.

I’m sure you’re with me on this one for the most part it’s super simple to only manage yourself.

As you grow, and you hire new people … then you have those people that you need to manage on your team.

You must be wondering, is it worth it? Absolutely! Bring on a team that's a great part of growing a business. No more going it alone as a business owner, the right team members have your back and will be with you through thick and thin.

Your Team Requires

The essential things for a well-run virtual team of contractors are communication, clarity, support, and accountability.

You need to communicate about what is going on in the business. They need clarity around their role and what they are doing. They need support to ensure they have all they need to do their best work. They need accountability to get things done right and on time.

Project management

In addition to managing the people, you also have to manage projects. You’ll need to create systems and structures. You need strategic planning to keep everything on track.

Here’s the bottom line, the bigger the business becomes, the more there is to manage.

The question is – who is doing the managing?

There is a ‘rude awakening' moment with many of the early to mid-6-figure coaches and course creators that I work with.

You hire, thinking that will free up your time and you will be able to FINALLY focus on your revenue, your income, your impact, and the things you really want to do in your business.

Only to find that instead your days are now filled with:

Checking in with the team to make sure stuff is getting done
Thinking constantly about what is coming up
Wondering if you have the right people on the team or not?
Answering team questions
Trying to figure out the best way to get things done
Dealing with the ‘odds and ends' that come up in the day to day running of the business

This is my friend is the management trap.

Is this you? Are you in the management trap with your online business?

The management trap is a rude awakening for many Digital CEOs because a) they didn't realize how much work management actually is and b) they aren't very good at it!

The problem is they find it tiring, frustrating, and draining. Can you relate? Is the management of your business taking up so much of your precious time?

The management of your online business is taking up so much of your time that you can't actually focus on growing your business and doing what you do best.

When you don't purposely hire someone to help here then management will fall on YOUR shoulders. Which may not be the best thing for you, your team, or your business.

As a Certified OBM, I can take management off your shoulders – let’s talk. Apply Here!

Little Side Note

Curious about an Online Business Manager? Read this post.

✁ Just a Snippet

Here is just a snippet of the important points, you know for the skimmer in you. 🤪

What most business owners don’t realize, they are getting themselves into the management trap.
In the earlier days of your online business journey – before you hire – the management part is pretty easy because we only have one person to manage – yourself.
I’m sure you’re with me on this one for the most part it’s super simple to only manage yourself.
The essential things for a well-run virtual team of contractors are communication, clarity, support, and accountability.
There is a ‘rude awakening' moment with many of the early to mid-6-figure coaches and course creators that I work with
There is a ‘rude awakening' moment with many of the early to mid-6-figure coaches and course creators that I work with
The management of your online business is taking up so much of your time that you can't actually focus on growing your business and doing what you do best.

← Organize Your Email Inbox Overcome Negative Thoughts →

Organize Your Email Inbox

by Michele | Online Business, Planning-Organization-Productivity

Would you rather walk on hot coals (oh hey Tony Robbins) or organize your email inbox?

We are about to turn your email inbox from painful to manageable and dare I say a pleasure to open.

If your searching for topics on organizing your inbox, I’m guessing right now your inbox feels overwhelming, scattered and chaotic. Not to mention out of control and a total pain in the butt.

If you feel this way, these are the simple steps that I used to clear my own inbox and how I show digital CEOs or their executive assistants how to clean out their inboxes so that it feels calm and in control. woohoo

Does the thought of having an organized inbox send you into thoughts of a happy jig? I know right, the joy of it all.

An email inbox that is chaotic will cause a waste of time and energy.

Your email inbox should be treated as a tool in your online business, it should not be where you spend the bulk of your time. Here are the simple steps for a clean email inbox, therefore giving you the steps you need to finally organize your email inbox.

Clear The Clutter

The dreaded backlog

This is real, the dreaded backlog that’s inside your email. I’ve logged into accounts that were pushing 100k in unread email, yes unread email. I know how overwhelmed I feel looking at that number, but there is hope.

Create a Folder

Move all the emails that are older than one to two months old into a folder. Name it what you like Old Emails
Dreaded Backlog
Lord, please help me,
Really whatever makes you smile.

Unsubscribe

As an online entrepreneur, you know that having people on your email list that do not open and read your email affects your stats. Do everyone a favor and just unsubscribe to these lists.

A couple of options here. One is to sign up at unroll.me. This is a slick little application that will sort through your emails and roll up all your newsletters into one email a day or you can have them unsubscribe for you too.

Another is to create a folder to put these into as your sorting through your inbox. When you’re sitting in front of the TV, go through the folder and start unsubscribing.

This is how I personally handle it, but my email inbox is pretty clean.

You’re in charge of your to-do list, not your email inbox

You start your day full of energy and excitement ready to tackle everything on your to-do list.

But, you make the mistake of opening your email inbox first thing in the morning before you do anything else.

Suddenly, you have all these demands on your time that aren’t in alignment with your goals or project for your business.

If you want to get into your email inbox right away in your day. Do that but do it with the understanding that you’re sorting only:
Do – if it will take 2 minutes or under
Delegate
Defer to later when you can schedule the appropriate time on your calendar
Delete
You get 15 minutes to do this, don’t get on caught on a runaway train. In and out.

For the items that have been deferred to later. Send a quick reply and let them know it has been received and will be completed by [insert date here].

Or one of my favorite time protection tips, turn on your auto-reply with your business policy regarding email. It can be this simple, hmm maybe something like it.

Greetings,
Your email message has been received. Our normal office hours are [insert office hours] and we will be back in touch within [insert hours here] business hours. Thank you for your patience. We appreciate you.
Schedule time on your calendar when you’ll go through your email inbox. Put it on your calendar as an action.

Labels and Filters make for a clean inbox

Setting up labels and filters is the first step to an organized inbox. In the past, I've created a number of labels, but I've scaled that back a bit. 98% of the time if you go looking for an email, likely you’ll search for a keyword or person before you go and look for it. If that’s not the case, how are you finding those emails? Searching is quick and easy.

Here are the best labels or folders that I’ve found work for me:
0-Immediate
1-Action
2-Active
3-Hold
Finance
Finance/Payable
Finance/Receivable
Review
Unsubscribe

Any specific folders that are needed in your business. Such as client or product folder.

Another option for inbox filtering is the Eisenhower Matrix for email. The folders would be
Q1: Urgent & Important
The action for this is Do
Q2: Not Urgent & Important
The action for this is to Defer for Later or Schedule
Q3: Urgent & Not Important
The action for this is to Delegate the email to a team member
Q4: Not Urgent & Not Important
The action for this is to Delete or Archive the email.

Let's talk about these labels or folders and the purpose they serve.

If you notice I have a number in front of a few of the labels. You may also use a character, such as an exclamation point or dash. It’s really your preference, you can change these later if need be.

0-Immediate

Immediate is the emails that must have immediate action, as in less than 24 business hours to complete or respond.

1-Action

Action is the emails that require action by you but doesn’t require immediate action.

2-Active

Active is to store the emails for active projects that are getting a number of emails. Generally speaking, I would suggest creating a filter to put them directly into the active folder. The filter can be on an email address or subject. As a result, you know where to go when looking for an active project.

3-Hold

Hold is for emails for meetings, travel, reservations, activities. Usually, anything you need to hold for a later time. Hence they are tied to a specific date or an agenda that will no longer be needed after the event has taken place. I actually named this folder Waiting Room in my inbox.

Finance

Finance is used to hold the emails that need to have an action done with them. Such as added into your accounting software or anything that may take longer than a couple of minutes to complete. Once the action has taken place, the email can be moved to either the payable or receivable sublabel/folder pending what it is.

Review

Review is for emails that do not have a timeframe as to when they need to be reviewed. This is where I put the marketing emails that I like to skim and archive.

Ashlyn from Ashlyn Writes calls her folder Read At Leisure which I think is a cute name.

Unsubscribe

Unsubscribe, is for all those emails that you signed up for but no longer read. This folder can either be manually added to or a filter can be created.

Although, I’ve done it both ways, personally, I prefer to manually add these when I’m sorting through my emails. Since some of the marketing emails will be added to my review folder to be skimmed later and possibly archived.

Inbox Applications

You have options, options and more options when it comes to inbox applications. I can’t even remember all the inbox applications I’ve tried out. At the present time, I regularly use Spark and Kiwi as they both have a certain set of features that I like to use. Do not be scared to try different applications, you need to figure out what works for you. You have so, so many possibilities!

Why I like Spark

I like Spark because it has an app for my iPhone, while Kiwi is for my desktop. I can pin emails, save canned responses, schedule emails, and have emails come back into my inbox.

Not to mention, they also have a paid option for teams to chat back and forth on emails. One other feature is Quick Reply this option allows you to set up canned responses that can be sent with a click of the mouse.

For example, this can be used to send a quick email to let your client know that you’ve received the email and will take a look at the request. It is handy dandy.

Why Kiwi

Kiwi brings your Gmail to your desktop and if you have multiple Gmail accounts they receive tabs to jump back and forth with.

Kiwi, together with Boomerang you’re able to have a number of the same features as Spark. Including, setting up emails to be sent at a later time or to snooze an email to review later.

Get out of your inbox

As an online entrepreneur, it’s important that you get out of your inbox. After all, your work should not be driven by the emails that you receive.
Instead, it’s best to block time to work on your email. Schedule when you’ll check and sort your emails.
As an entrepreneur, it’s important that you plan and schedule inbox time. Otherwise, you’ll find that you’re using it as a procrastination tool instead of revenue-generating activities.

To begin with sort your inbox when it’s first opened. Everything gets filed in the correct label or folder so that it is completed in the correct time block.

It is possible to get a clean inbox, it just takes a bit of time to clear out the clutter. Once you have the system in place email is so much more than an unproductive time waste.

l

Little Side Note

We forget that time is our most valuable non-renewable resource. Once we use our time we can never get it back. Focus on aligned action that will move your business ahead.

✁ Just a Snippet

Here is just a snippet of the important points, you know for the skimmer in you. 🤪

Share this with your Executive Assistant as a starting point to organize your inbox.
Your inbox is a tool in your business to be utilized.
If you haven't read it in two months how important is it – really?
Unsubscribe to marketing emails that should not be your priority Digital CEO.
Time to review your and organize your email inbox should be planned.
Labels and Filters are your best friend to have an organized email inbox.
Find an Email Application that works for you.
As a Digital CEO your time needs to be focused on revenue-generating activities.

This post was originally published on December 24, 2019, and has been freshened up a bit on August 17, 2021.

← How To Be Your Own Cheerleader In Your Online Business What is the Management Trap for Online Business Owners? →