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Have a Little Faith in Yourself

July 6, 2010 By Michelle Shaeffer 13 Comments

Would you like to listen to this post? CinchCast audio is just above the related posts, sharing links, and comments at the bottom. Look for the purple play button.
Ever feel like the woman on the left – biting your nails nervously when you think about running your own business?  Good thing you stopped by today, it’s a Tuesday pep talk!

Personal and business get so intertwined when you’re a solopreneur – personal progress IS business progress and growing as a person is required to grow your business…

My greatest challenge in business isn’t marketing, or my technical services, or writing… it’s doing the work to be a better, stronger, bolder version of myself and to have faith and confidence that I’ll succeed.

So if you find it challenging, too, know that you aren’t alone! And you can do it.

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Filed Under: Challenges, Inspiration, Mindset, Work at Home Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

10 More Things You Can Do in 10 Minutes Each to Move Your Business Forward

July 5, 2010 By Michelle Shaeffer 12 Comments

My first post on this topic was pretty popular so I thought I’d give it a second round. Marketing can feel like this huge overwhelming thunderstorm that hangs over our heads when we’re running our own businesses. As if we’ve got TIME to deal with ONE MORE THING! But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Believe me, I understand! If I had to write a 50 page marketing plan and spend 4 hours a day implementing it… well, either it’d never happen… or I’d never get anything else done and never have time to complete the services I need to for my clients and create the products I offer. Or, I’d never get to play with my kiddos and my house would look like a hurricane hit it. There just aren’t that many hours in the day. If I wanted that much stress I wouldn’t be working from home with my own business. Always remember the reason you started your business – I’m pretty sure that “So I can go legally insane and end up in therapy!” wasn’t on your top ten list of reasons, right? Yeah, it wasn’t on mine either.

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Filed Under: Business Online, Marketing, Newsletters & Email, Online Marketing, Social Networking, Time Management Tagged With: , , ,

How to Keep Up With More Blogs in Less Time

July 3, 2010 By Michelle Shaeffer 3 Comments

It’s summertime… sunshine, beaches, camping, holidays, and kids out of school… are you missing out on posts from your favorite blogs with all that busyness?

I posted a few weeks ago about how to setup your own blog to allow readers to follow you with RSS but didn’t share how to setup your own RSS reader for you to follow blogs you like.  (Scroll to the bottom of this post for a video explaining RSS.)

Why would you want an RSS reader?  All your favorite blogs in one place, easier to stay caught up with.  It’s a great time-saver and makes it much easier to stay engaged with those you’ve chosen to follow and learn from.

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Filed Under: Blogging, Cool Tools, Organization, Time Management Tagged With: , , , ,

Make a Difference… Go Get It…

June 29, 2010 By Michelle Shaeffer 10 Comments

This week I took the kids and flew to Anchorage (that’s the “big city” for us Alaskans) where we celebrated my Grandmother’s 80th birthday with her. She’s had a very long life and it was wonderful to spend some time together with so much of my extended family in one place.

Then I got the news yesterday that a wonderful lady I knew online had passed away. I’d known Denise Willms for years – she ghostwrote articles for me, helped me with press releases, and I did website design and hosting for her. She was a wonderful person, full of kindness and she always inspired me. I can hardly believe she’s gone.

It’s been one of those weeks where I realized that life is so unpredictable. We never know whether it’ll be 80 we make it to… or whether we’ll leave the world much sooner than seems fair.

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Filed Under: Inspiration, Mindset, Work at Home Tagged With:

10 Things You Can Do in 10 Minutes Each to Move Your Business Forward

June 26, 2010 By Michelle Shaeffer 44 Comments

I’m writing this from the airport at 7:03pm.  My goal is to be done at 7:13pm and schedule this post.  I’ve got 30 minutes until my plane boards and I can complete three small tasks to move my business forward.  Here are some ideas:

1. Write a quick blog post and promote it.

Jot down some random thoughts about something helpful for your readers.  Try a top ten list (like this one!) or top 5 list.  You can polish it later and use it as an article, in your newsletter, for a podcast, in a video, etc.  Take time to tweet your post and add it to your Facebook status.  If you’re using Networked Blogs, it will tweet/update for you.

If you feel overwhelmed at the thought of posting in 10 minutes, check out Michele Scism’s 10 minute blog post ideas: part one and part two.

2. Write a few thank you cards or emails.

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Filed Under: Blogging, Business Online, Cool Tools, Customer Service, Newsletters & Email, Online Marketing, Social Networking, Time Management Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

A Weekend Gift for LOA Fans

June 19, 2010 By Michelle Shaeffer Leave a Comment

If you’re a law of attraction / positive thinking fan, you’ll like these cards I created a while back. Each card has an inspirational quote at the bottom and space on the top for you to write down your tasks to complete and then things that you need to allow/trust the universe to bring you.

Just click here to download free. No opt-in required.  The link is to a ZIP file which contains three PDF files.

If you’re not into Law of Attraction don’t panic – you don’t have to download these, and I rarely post about these sorts of topics.  I’m still analyzing a lot of stuff in my head, to be completely honest.  :)

If you’d like, you’re also invited to sign up for the mailing list (top right corner of the page) and get even more great free stuff from me including worksheets, checklists, and special reports, and then weekly business articles from me. Or connect with me on Facebook using the box on the right side of this page.

Filed Under: Business Growth, Goals, Inspiration, Mindset, Organization, Staying Balanced & Inspired, Time Management Tagged With: , , , , ,

Self Help Giveaway – Grab Your Gifts!

June 17, 2010 By Michelle Shaeffer 5 Comments


You may have noticed a banner on the bottom right of my blog the last few days.  Have you checked it out yet?  It’s a great giveaway of hundreds of self-improvement gifts.

How’s it work?  Hundreds of entrepreneurs have contributed free gifts so they can introduce themselves to you and get the opportunity to show you what they offer.

You’ll find ebooks, courses, mp3 audios, videos, and more.  Some do require an email address/name to receive the gift (but you can always unsubscribe if you want) and others don’t.

Check it out and you may just find something cool.  :)

Couple of gifts I liked: Lisbeth Tanz from Savvy Freelance Writers contributed a great ebook on Stress Relief, Meridith Alspektor has an ebook called Chief Executive Mommy about balancing home and work responsibilities, and there’s much more hiding in there!

After you sign up, just click the “General Downloads” link near the top right to find everything.

Collect your free gifts here: http://selfhelpgiftsgiveaway.com/giveawayevent/go/405

Filed Under: Balance, Inspiration, Work at Home Tagged With:

How to Schedule Blog Posts

June 7, 2010 By Michelle Shaeffer 6 Comments

This post is going live early Monday, June 7th, but I’m writing it Wednesday night, June 2nd.  How’s that happen?  Scheduled posts!

Here’s how to schedule a post in WordPress:
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Filed Under: Blogging, Time Management Tagged With: , , , ,

Tools to Make Social Networking Easier

May 27, 2010 By Michelle Shaeffer Leave a Comment

Do you love networking and connecting with people through Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other sites but find that it ends up taking far too much time out of your busy day? Do you wish there were a way you could update all your profiles at once, automatically share your blog content, and make it easier for others to share your website on the social networks? Good news–you can!

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Filed Under: Business Online, Cool Tools, Online Marketing, Social Networking, Time Management, Website Tips Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

How To Work A Full Time Job & Still Build A Business Of Your Own

May 20, 2010 By Michelle Shaeffer Leave a Comment

This is a special guest article reprinted with permission by Sue Painter of Confident Marketer.  I came across it in her ezine and thought the five points she offered were fantastic for anyone trying to transition from working a job to creating their own home business.

I promised to answer some of the questions you gave me when you took my survey a few months ago, remember?  One question that several people asked was how they could build their own business when they were already working a full time job.  From the questions, I can tell there is a good bit of frustration, exhaustion, and worry going on about this topic.  So I decided to pull together some ways to build a business even if you are working.
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Filed Under: Challenges, Guest Brilliance, Inspiration, Mindset, Work at Home Tagged With: , , , , , ,
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