As we enter the second half of 2015 stop and consider your accomplishments for the first 6 months.
This is an important exercise to creating success. It’s interesting as humans that we can quickly list our failures, but struggle to list our achievements or successes.
This is an area of focus for me this year so at the end of last week I read through my accomplishments since January. Highlights from my list include:
- Launching a new 24 module course – My Successful Pet Biz and meeting my enrollment goals
- Increasing business revenues 50% and net income 43% over prior year
- Co-founding Professional Animal Care Certification Council and have working committees of volunteers creating independent certification testing for boarding and daycare service providers
- Creating a “controlled” tropical landscape and vegetable garden in our yard
- Spending quality time monthly with family and friends
I’m happy with my accomplishments and overall progress toward my 2015 goals. There is still work to do and realistically some of my goals may be hard to achieve, but I’m not ready to give up on them yet.
This focus and confidence in my success is a major shift for me. I hope sharing my experience can help you eliminate blocks to your own success. You see I learned over the past year that the main block to my success was me; all I had to do was be willing to change.
The first important step I took was defining what success meant for my life: performing meaningful work that is financially rewarding. Equally important was spending quality time with family and friends and enjoyable vacations.
My business was a means to my success so my efforts started there. The next step involved getting clear on three key components:
- What purpose does Crystal Canine serve in the pet industry? It took several months of reflection to find the match of my passion with market needs. Now this vision and “why” drives all my business decisions.
- Setting my BHAG – big hairy audacious goal. Money is not a motivator for me so it was important to find another goal to pursue. Owning a beach house is now my BHAG that motivates me to push outside my comfort zone to increase business revenues.
- Building a strong support team. Doubling business revenues for a solo business owner is challenging without help. My time had to be spent creating products and programs so other tasks must be delegated; my team started with administrative assistance. I also realized that I needed support in pushing myself outside of my comfort zone so added a coach and other technical experts in these areas to my team (e.g., technology and marketing).
The third step may have been the most difficult and that was making a commitment to change my life. I had to own the responsibility and accountability to make different decisions than I would have last year. My strength to do this I attribute to a commitment to three things:
- A daily spiritual practice. With only rare exceptions my days start with meditation and end with entries in my gratitude journal. I focus on surrounding myself with positive messages and encouragement from my business support team, social media posts and friends that I spend free time with.
- Schedule self-care first. The first appointments on my calendar all relate to my self-care. Weekly gym visits, acupuncture, life coach sessions and personal care e.g., (hair, manicure/pedicure, massage). A lot of energy is expended in our work so it’s critical to refuel with self-care.
- Living a balanced life. I truly love my work so it’s easy for me to work seven days a week and while vacationing. However, I know this is not healthy for me long-term so I pursued a hobby and I am getting strict with myself to take one full day off each week.
Since finding clarity for Crystal Canine and making a commitment to my success in October 2014 my work productivity has skyrocketed. I’m amazed at the ease of accomplishing tasks and my growing list of accomplishments when in reality I’m spending less time working. I’m open to all resources available and focus on working smarter, not harder.
My experience has taught me that anything is possible when we are honest about our blocks and take ownership of your life decisions. Tomorrow will be the same as yesterday until you decide to listen to your heart and make changes.
You may spend time outside your comfort zone, but remember that there are others willing to help you on your success journey. You just need to ask for help, be open to how it arrives and then accept and use it with gratitude.
Crystal Canine is available to help with your success so contact us today for a FREE 15 minute phone consult.
Our purpose is to provide small business owners with the knowledge and tools needed to love their business. We are on a mission to create tools and training programs customized to the pet industry so they are easy to access and implement. We have a vision where pet business owners are recognized for providing high quality pet care services while loving their lifestyle and achieving financial goals.