So, today we’re going to wrap up our talk about goal setting… With a little celebration! So fill us in! What was something that you achieved?

Brag about it… Come on! Leave a comment and let us praise you! (but do it by Tuesday at 5pm Eastern)

I’ll pick one lucky person at random, and they’ll win a 3 month subscription to Quick And Easy Newsletters!

(these are pre-written newsletters that you can customize and send out to your mailing list!)

Come back Tuesday to see if you’ve won!

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Sometimes, we fail to meet a goal. It can hurt. Especially when you worked really hard to accomplish it. I can say “oh, it happens, don’t worry about it,” but that doesn’t make the sting go away, now does it?

So what should you do? Grab a pint of ice cream and wallow? Go into a violent fit and throw your post-its over a cliff? No, that wouldn’t be wise, now would it?

You just have to get over it….. And start fresh. Make a new goal, make a new deadline, and start over.

But learn from this failure. Were you setting the bar too high? Creating an unachievable goal isn’t going to do you any good. You may think it’s going to motivate you, but just exactly how motivated do you feel after failing to accomplish it? Not very….

Were you not working hard enough? Creating the goal and then not putting in any effort isn’t going to bring you extra profits…(if you know you were slacking, go back and re-read the posts on sacrifice and giving yourself a reality check)

You CAN do this. You can accomplish whatever you put your mind to. It may not happen overnight, and it will take a lot of work, but you CAN do it!

Now, how do you get over a disappointment in your business??

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Over the past few days, we’ve been talking about goals and making a little bit of sacrifice to achieve success. As a business owner, you are both the boss and the employee.  Some people can thrive in this type of situation and achieve more than they could in a traditional work environment.

For other people, this situation can spell disaster.  That is why it is important to give yourself a reality check to make sure you are staying on track.

Are you focused on your business? This alone can throw your business into high gear or create a standstill.  It can be easy to lose focus when you work at home, as there will always be other things competing for your attention.

It is okay to let the laundry wait for a few hours while you work on your business.  Your laundry can’t pay your bills, but those few hours you put into your business could reap you many financial rewards.

Not only is focusing on business tasks important, but it is important to be focused within your business.  It is easy to get sidetracked with new business ventures and other offers.  It can be hard to spread your time and energy over too many projects.  It is easier to manage a select few projects that are tightly woven within your target market.

Are you being productive?  At the end of the day, do you ever feel like you worked all day but accomplished nothing?  Take a look at the tasks you are working on, and whether they are actually important to your success.  If you find yourself getting sidetracked by surfing the web, chatting in forums, or reading blogs, try to schedule time for those activities after your “real work” is done.

On the other hand, if you feel your time is being sucked away by answering email, updating your website, or collecting research for an upcoming information product you are working on, try outsourcing those tasks to a virtual assistant.  This will help you free up some time to work on business tasks that need more attention.

If you find that you are constantly missing your goal deadlines, you may want to take the time to revamp your goals.  Create an action plan that will be easy to follow and help you get to your end result.

Would I hire myself?  This is a tough question to ask yourself, but it is very important.  It may sound silly, but perhaps you could write out a job description and give yourself an interview.  Are you the type of employee you would want to hire?

If you answered “no” to the above question, take some time to write out the areas within yourself that you would like to improve.  This can be a hard exercise to complete, but once you have analyzed yourself, you’ll be on your way to becoming a better business owner and having a better business.

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Check out my friend Carrie’s free biz guide

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I’ll be honest with you… today’s topic is not going to be full of fun and laughter. But it isn’t exactly torture, either. It’s about sacrifice, and more importantly, what you’re going to sacrifice to meet your goals.

Remember, you set that goal for a reason, and it’s important to you, so you should be eager to achieve it, right? And that’s where a funny thing happens.

Even though we may want to achieve our goals, we often do little things to set ourselves up for failure. Like procrastinate. Why do we do that??

The reality is, we will need to sacrifice a little something to achieve a BIG something later…

For some of us, it may mean sacrificing free time at night and on weekends to have time to work on our businesses… So, maybe you get up at 5am on to have a few hours of quiet time each morning to work on your business or maybe you temporarily give up going out for Sunday brunch or give up watching Grey’s Anatomy… Is it worth it in the long run? Of course it is!

What are you willing to sacrifice?

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If you love to write AND need to bring in some extra money, check out the Guide to Writing for Pay

You’ll be surprise at just how many writing jobs there are on the ‘net. I should know - I’ve earned many a paycheck from writing web content and copy (and you can, too!)

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For those of you who don’t know what Twitter is yet, it’s a social networking site where you can make friends and keep them updated on what you’re doing.

But it’s gotta be short and sweet, because you’re limited to like 140 characters or something. You can also send and receive updates via text, if you’re away from your computer.

For me, it’s kind of like hanging out at the virtual office water cooler… i pop in every now and then and see what the people I know in the work at home community are up to and let them know what I’m doing.

And if I’m ever stuck on something, it’s a great place to ask for some quick help…

Why don’t you try it out and see what I mean?

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Today, we are going to start a mini-series on goals. Over the next week, we’ll talk about what they are, why they’re important, how to create them and keep yourself on track, PLUS what to do when you miss a goal, as well as what to do when you achieve one!

Goals are very powerful; they can help a person determine where they are going in life, both personally and professionally.  Goals can also help a person become more productive and keep them motivated.

When you have goals, you will be more focused.  You will be able to accomplish more than thought was possible.  This will, in turn, push your business forward. (And who doesn’t want that?)

When you face a daunting task, you can easily feel stressed.  To avoid feeling stressed, you may put off any action toward your goal.  This is the equivalent of setting yourself up for failure.

Breaking your large goals down into smaller goals is a great idea.  This can help you feel productive and motivate you to reach for more difficult goals in the future.  Whenever you find yourself having a bad day, simply look back over the things you have already accomplished for a great confidence booster.

In order to break your goals down, start with your largest goal and work backwards. For example, if your goal is to make $5,000 per month with your business and you’re currently making a couple hundred dollars, it can be hard to visualize the path to five thousand.

Perhaps you can make that your two year goal? So your one year goal is to make $2500 per month… And then your six month goal would be to earn $1250 per month.

Of course, to achieve that, there needs to be some sacrifice…Tomorrow, I’ll be back with more info on that.

In the meantime, feel free to write down what YOUR goals are!

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1. Participate in holiday craft shows, bazaars, etc Start looking for announcements of upcoming events now, as some will have registration deadlines, etc

2. Contact local businesses in November and see if you can schedule a shopping day where you can bring in your items and the office workers can purchase on the spot or order for delivery

3. Contact local daycares in October and see if you can schedule a “craft day” where you can bring in a project that the children can make and give as a gift to mom or dad. Just remember to get paid for these supplies and your time in advance! Bring in name tags for the kids to use that have your biz info on the back. You can get lots of referral sales this way : )

4. Send press releases now to larger media outlets and in October to smaller, local media. Who knows? Maybe you will be featured on the front page of the paper or in an interview on your local tv station. That will definitely spur on your sales!

5. Get listed in The IndieBizChicks.com Holiday Gift Guide! This is much more than just a gift guide. There are articles, recipes, and more. People will be hanging on to this for years to come (and every time they browse it, they’ll see your ad!) To see a sample page, visit:

http://www.indiebizchicks.com/holiday-gift-guide-sample.pdf

For info on how to get listed, fill out this form:

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P.S. Increase your sales this month by holding a “Christmas In July” sale. This will help you get rid of extra inventory, too!

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Anyone who left a comment to this post (http://indiebizchicks.com/blog/experience-free-coaching/) by July 17 would be entered to win a FREE seat in the upcoming Power Publicity And Promotions Coaching Session.

I received 43 responses, and this morninig, picked a winner by random… and the winner is Beth from Jus Shar Designs. (contact me at info[at]indiebizchicks.com to claim your prize…

Now, for those of you who didn’t win, there are still 3 seats available, and you can grab one by visiting http://www.powerublicityandpromotions.com

(if you’re on a tight budget, I do offer a 2 payments of $75 plan on the coaching session to offer a solution to that problem.)

Another option is to invest in the Power Publicity And Promotions ebook. You’ll get much of the same info as taught in the coaching session, except you will not be receiving any personal feedback from me as you work your way through it.

The ebook is 48 pages and is packed with LOTS of info! AND if you purchase it before July 22, I’ll give you an extra special **freebie** — 1 month of free membership to The IndieBizChicks.Com Members Center.

To claim it, send me your receipt to info[at]indiebizchicks.com

You can purchase the ebook at http://www.indiebizpublicity.com

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What is your business name? Shayna Maidel

What is your website URL? http://shaynamaidel.etsy.com

When did you start your business? Approximately 10/1/07

Why did you decide to start your business & why did you choose the type of business you chose? I like to make things on my own instead of buying them readymade. I stumbled across Etsy first to sell my artwork, and that didn’t sell at all. I was already making my own cosmetics and lip balm so I took the plunge.

What is your favorite thing about being in business for yourself? This is a cliché, but working for myself – not working for “The Man.”

What turned out to be harder than you thought? Staying motivated & keeping to a schedule.
Looking back, what is one thing you know now, but wish you knew back then? In the beginning I didn’t use Paypal shipping and I didn’t use delivery confirmation. I use it with everything now as it is built into Paypal’s shipping anyway. I find the extra tracking helpful in case a customer asks about the status of a package.

Do you participate in any business groups (mentoring, networking, etc) ? I am on Team EtsyChai and the Cruelty Free Etsyian Street Team.

As a business owner, it can be easy to work all the time – do you have any tips for balancing your business and your personal life? I don’t balance them. They bleed into one and other.

What have been some of your best business successes? I am surprised with the number of sales I have had and the numerous countries I’ve shipped to. It is very cool to know your products are traveling to places I’ve never even been to!

What are you planning to do with your business in the future? Adding new lip gloss colors!

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I’ve been reading Jack Canfield’s The Success Principles. (yep, that’s right… i sometimes read self-help books, and believe in “airy-fairy” stuff like The Secret. Go ahead and make fun of me, if you wish)

So, in the beginning of the book, the author asks “Are you taking 100% responsibility for your life?” This simple question has made quite an impact on me. The author gives some hard to swallow examples. For instance, he gives the example of a battered wife. Most sane people would agree that it is not her fault her husband hits her. The problem is with him. He would be a wife beater whether he was married to her or the lady down the street.

BUT… the author says that the battered wife must take 100% responsibility for HER life, and by choosing to stay, it is her fault she leads a life as a battered wife.

Now, I know that the world really isn’t that black and white. A woman who has been battered may not have the self esteem to leave, etc.

And I’m not trying to stir up a debate on spousal abuse…..

This book is about using various principles to become more successful. And your answer to this question DOES have a lot to do with the success of your business.

If you are taking 100% responsibility, you will be doing whatever is necessary to achieve success… If you are not, you are putting blame on others for what you are not doing.

Are you creating success? Or are you creating excuses?

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