Life Success Strategies for Soulpreneurs®

Beware of businesses with free trials...

I recently decided to look into grants for women-owned businesses, so I looked online for legitimate companies that could help me track down grants.  That was my first mistake...  I found a company, which will remain nameless, that looked legitimate, so I sent them an email requesting a CD with information.  The CD was free, but they requested a credit card number to pay for shipping.  It sounded like a reasonable request at the time, but here's where the problems began. 

I printed out the information from the website, and upon further scrutiny I discovered that not only did I agree to pay shipping for the CD, the fine print stated that I would also be signed up with a wealth building company and charged $69.95 a month, if I didn't cancel within the first seven days of the free trial.   I, of course, cancelled this "free" offer right away.

Not long after this incident, I discovered an unidentified charge on my business charge card from a company selling diet pills.  After researching this on the internet, I found it was a large scam that has had numerous complaints from people who have never asked for these diet pills.  In this case, I not only called the company to have the charge removed, I also cancelled the credit card, since someone obviously used illegal means to obtain my credit card number. 

In a recent The Costco Connection magazine, an article was published about widespread online acai weight-loss double scams.  Some of these programs are set-up to charge ongoing monthly amounts, and they make it extremely difficult to contact the vendors involved to cancel.  Besides contacting your credit card company, the magazine's consumer advocate, David Horowitz, encouraged all consumers involved in these scams to also send the Federal Trade Commission a copy of any correspondence between you and your credit card company. 

Please be aware that scams seem to be more rampant in this struggling economy when people can least afford to loose money and/or time to fix these fraudulent charges.

Faith – the Key to Transforming Your Business

 

Faith is defined by Dr. Ernest Holmes, the founder of Science of Mind magazine, as “an idea so inwardly embodied that the mind can no longer conceive of its opposite.”   But what if your business is struggling and you feel like you are living its opposite right now?  What if no matter how hard you try, all you see is its opposite?  When you have faith, such as Dr. Holmes described, you don’t have to “try” to have faith – you just have it…  Here’s an example.

When you get up in the morning do you “try” to have faith that the electricity will work so you can have your morning coffee, or do you know and expect that it will?  When you go to bed at night, do you “try” to have faith that the sun will come up in the morning and you will have all the air you need to breathe, or do you know without a doubt and expect to have a normal day with the sun coming up and air to breathe?

That’s my definition of faith – a knowing, beyond a doubt, that whatever situation or circumstance you want in your life will be what you get.  And this knowing grows from the congruent actions you take, thoughts you think, and feelings you foster consciously.

We are living in a world of fear and doubt right now.  Businesses are closing, good people are having their lives turned upside down, and they’re running scared trying to make sense of life; and at the same time figure out what to “do” next.  Most of them probably believe that taking physical action is the first place to start. 

If you live a life based on faith, the first place to start is getting clear on your mindset, what you believe to be true, and what you are feeling and thinking on a daily basis.  If you’re constantly in a state of worry, fear, and you don’t see any way out of your situation, it’s going to be almost impossible for you to open your mind to receive the creative ideas and solutions that can be right under your nose, yet unseen…

Every night and morning I read something that helps me keep my mind open to what I believe to be true about life – that at its basis life is always good and that I am free to make choices about what I think and what I do to get access to this goodness.  No matter what appearances may be – I know people still have money (me included) and they are still spending it on what is important to them.  Just look around you and you will see this is true.

We all have limitless choices on what we can do to attract more customers to our businesses.  If you remain in an open and receptive state of mind, utilize the ideas that present themselves, and “expect” life to be your greatest champion, you will build a strong foundation of faith that will serve you and your business, no matter what is going on in the world. 

Getting clear and moving forward!

I just went on a good long walk on a beautiful California morning.  Makes me realize how cluttered my mind gets spending the days working, working, working.  If you ever get stuck and need a fresh perspective on a challenge, get up and take a walk.  After a few minutes of monkey mind chatter, you will begin to calm down and get insights you'd never get sitting at your desk stressing and straining...

Speaking of insights, I'm beginning to read good things in the morning paper!  What a concept!  The Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has given his most optimistic view yet on the economy.  Bernanke says he expects not only an end to the recession this year, but also a return to growth.  Hallelujah!

It's a celebration of life - and business!

It's Cinco de Mayo and even for those of us not of Mexican heritage, we get to enjoy the day and celebrate as if we were.  It's so much fun to go to any Mexican restaurant (some of my favorite foods!) and watch the celebration in action.  For those of you who don't know, Cinco de Mayo was started as a commemoration of a Mexican military victory in the 1860's, first in California but now nationwide.

Even in celebrating life events, we find a benefit to our businesses.  At all the Mexican restaurants nationwide they count down the days to Cinco de Mayo not only to celebrate the tradition, but  because they know it will bring prosperity and positive cash flow as we all take part in the fun and good food that is a part of the occasion. 

Appreciating each other's hertitage and celebrating together reminds us of our connection and our uniqueness at the same time.  As we are serving our customers in the myriad of businesses across the globe, we learn to appreciate each other and our contributions to the global economy.  We all need each other to make it work.  No one is less important than anyone else.  We all fit somewhere within the chain of service and product providers and consumers.  So today, as we join together in the celebration, let's take a few minutes to appreciate the contribution each and every one of us gives to the whole.  After all, we are all in life together.