Life Success Strategies for Soulpreneurs®

The Choice is Yours

I am responsible for what I see.
I choose the feelings I experience,
and I decide upon the goal I would achieve.
And everything that seems to happen to me
I ask for and receive as I have asked.

- A Course in Miracles

For several months I had a "story" that I stuck to.  That story was, "I have acid reflux.  I need to take Pepcid every day".  This story began when I was taken to the emergency room because I didn't feel "right".  I had no idea what was wrong, I just knew it wasn't right.

After the normal check for heart problems, which I didn't have, the doctor gave me a milky substance to drink and had me rest for a while.  It worked like a charm, and so I became a person with acid reflux.  It didn't occur to me at the time that I had a choice in the matter.  I thought it was just something I had to learn to live with.  And so I did...

Eventually I learned to watch what I ate, took digestive enzymes, did internal cleanses occasionally, and went on with life -  Pepcid in tow wherever I went.

I can't say exactly when the change happened, but one day it occurred to me that I had a choice.  I could choose to be a person with acid reflux, or I could give up that image of myself and build a new one.  I chose the later.

Today I take digestive enzymes only, and I rarely have any problems with acid.  If I do, I know what I've done to cause it.

We all have choices about how we want to live our lives, how we want to see ourselves and our world.  You can see success or you can see a hard road before you.  The choice is yours.

What do you choose?

 

Flexibility is the Name of the Game

"The Universe is not a rigid place. While the essence of what It is remains unchanged, the manifestation of It is constantly changing. Rigidity goes against the flow of the Universe and produces stress and pain in our lives."

- Joanne McFadden, Science of Mind Minister

Yesterday we had to lay off one of our employees - not something I have been looking forward to... We have potential work in the pipeline, but most people are dragging their feet about making decisions, and so it goes... That's why many businesses are struggling right now. The money is out there to be spent, but people are reluctant to spend it, even when they really want something.

This situation causes us to learn the lesson of flexibility on a daily basis. As much as we would like the world to see the economy go only one way - up, that's not the way of life. It's always changing, ebbing and flowing, both ways, yet staying the same.

And so we're all learning the lesson of "going with the flow" along with "keeping the faith". Ultimately I believe it will work out for all of us. Life will go on, and we'll all find happiness where we are, although it may not be where we would have ever thought we'd want to be.

While this may sound like a Pollyanna type attitude to some of you, I believe it's the only attitude I can have and still be happy while I'm living in this world. And I'm sure not ready to step into my next life just yet...

As far as our employee goes, I know he'll be alright. He's a good person, and if we don't get to hire him back first, someone else will. Hopefully we'll get to him first...

Love is always the answer - a story...

After a long hiatus from this blog, I'm back at it again. Most of my time is spent growing and marketing the residential construction business, owned by my husband, my son, and myself. It's a full time job and then some...

Today, however, I read a story in the July 2011 Science of Mind magazine that I had to share. Giving Joanne McFadden, Science of Mind Minister, and Science of Mind Magazine full credit, here's the story.

"Australian mother Kate Ogg was devasted when doctors tried unsuccessfully to resusitate one of her twins after his premature birth. Nurses placed her son on her bare chest, so that she could say goodbye. Ogg told reporters that she and her husband wanted the baby to know that they loved him.

After five minutes, he began to move. The doctors dismissed the movements as reflexes, telling the couple that their son was most certainly not alive. Ogg continued to hold him for two more hours, after which he opened his eyes and then began grabbing at his parents' fingers. They asked the nurse to bring the doctor, who refused to come, holding steadfastly to the belief that the baby was not alive.

The couple used a ruse to finally lure the doctor back to the room, where he was able to hear the baby's heartbeat. "I don't believe it," he responded."

After reading this story, my first thought was "love is always the answer". No matter what you're going through right now, and many of us business owners are going through some rough times, keeping the faith and creating relationships built on love and respect is the answer. If you can hang in there and keep your focus on loving where you are, and where you're going, eventually you'll get there.

As we say in Science of Mind - "And so it is..."

You're never too old to pursue your dreams...

If you think you're too old to cut the mustard when it comes to building the life and business you want, here's a fabulous example of why you'll want to give up that kind of thinkin!

Hazel Soares, age 94, graduated from Mills College in Oakland recently.  She is believed to be the world's second oldest person to graduate from college!

Get the scoop here:

http://www.eduinreview.com/blog/2010/06/hazel-soares-earns-college-degree-at-94/

It sure made me rethink my self talk!

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.

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!

Breaking through the recession into a new day...

As I look for something going on in the world that's positive everyday, I find it is not an easy thing to do. I look in the newspaper and see that it's the negative "stuff" that apparently sells newspapers.  In the entire first section of the paper I found not one positive thing to help overshadow the gloom and doom on almost every page.  But in the midst of all this there's a message to be found...

People everywhere on the planet are aware of the global financial meltdown.  It's at the forefront of everyone's mind right now as the unemployment figures rise, houses are lost, and businesses struggle to survive.  But all of this chaos is causing the world leaders to come together to work on a system of recovery.  One newspaper reported that they are working on a "financial new world order" .  Could it be that ultimately the world will end up better than it was when this financial meltdown started?  Could it be that in the midst of the pain and suffering that many people are experiencing they are being "rebuilt" stronger and more resilient?

I believe we are truly in the midst of creating a new day for people and businesses in the world.  We can see that after surviving the Great Depression, that began in 1929, the world came back better and stronger.  I believe this rebuilding is happening before our eyes, and it's happening in our small businesses.  Creative ideas and solutions are being born on how to become more valuable and customer service oriented in the marketplace.  As many big businesses close, small businesses are learning how to fill the void and reach out in new ways to an ever broadening client base. 

Yes, it may seem that chaos is everywhere around us, but history has shown us that we can come out of the chaos into a new day and not just survive but thrive, better than before.  Let's keep looking for the signs that it's happening, because it is, because we are strong, and because it's time to take back our power and create the world we want - today!

Business Innovation is alive and well in the USA

We have all experienced the results of the overseas workers dipping into our job market.  This begs the question, "How much better would our economy be if all the jobs being done out of the US were brought back into our country?"

One company has found a way to take the overseas work situation and turn it into a profit making machine.  Darn It!, a company based in New Bedford, Massachusets, has made a business out of repairing garments, toys, and other goods that have been shipped back to the US with defects in workmanship.

Darn It!, whose motto is "Your problem is our business!", has grown to 100 employees and $4 million in annual revenue since the mid-1990's.  They take lemons and make lemonade from such repair issues as re-labeling garments, re-bagging, re-boxing, removing stains. etc., etc...

This is a classic example of looking for potential business opportunities instead of relying on the old standby of critcizing, condemning, and complaining about what's going on in the world. 

There is positive to be found - it just takes some creative thinking to find it!

What Tall Tales are You Telling Yourself About Your Business?

You’ve probably heard the story about George Washington chopping down a cherry tree, then telling his father by saying, “I cannot tell a lie.”  As it turns out, Parson Mason Weems, one of Washington’s biographers, tells us that that story was “made up” – a euphemism designed to demonstrate how honest Washington was believed to be.  It’s amazing how many millions of people, however, believe that story is true. 

If so many people believe a “made-up” story is true, because it has been passed along by so many reliable sources over the years, how many stories do you believe about your own ability, or lack thereof, to create the business and life you really want?   Every morning I pick up the newspaper, or glance at the news on the internet, hoping to see something positive and uplifting – something that says, “There are unmistakable signs the economy is on its way to recovery!  Here are some examples of people succeeding right now!”  Unfortunately, those stories are few and far between…

I’m determined to look for those stories – the ones that give me hope and demonstrate that in spite of the 8%+ unemployment rate, there is still good things going on in the world; after all that means there is 92% + people still employed!  I don’t know about you, but I haven’t found it very productive, or helpful to my finances, to look at the half-empty glass.  I prefer to look at the half-full glass – and find a way to make it fill to the brim!

How about you? 

As Small Business Owners Struggle - The Tax Man Strikes Again...

If you haven't heard about the latest tax gap measure, which is becoming law in 2011, hold onto your hats because here we go again...

This new provision, which was hidden in The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 that passed in 2008, is known as "electronic transactions reporting".  It requires banks and credit card issuers, e.g. Visa and Mastercard, to provide IRS a report of business owner's electronic payment transactions each year.  Big Brother is watching you even closer now...

The idea behind this new reporting is that the Treasury Department doesn't think all of us business tax payers are doing our part to support the government, in other words, they think we're "under reporting" our business income - or cheating on our taxes.  So, beginning in 2011 every payment settlement entity, such as banks, credit and debit card issuers, and others, will be required to report to IRS the total amount of sales processed for merchants whose  processed payments are more than $20,000, or who have exceeded 200 transactions, during the tax year.

Here's the kicker.  As if the insult and inconvenience of this provision were not enough already, this new law also states that if the processor fails to verify the tax ID, or if the tax ID is incorrect, the processor will be required to withhold 28 percent of the merchant's gross transactions.  Think you can live on 28% less in 2011?

This whole situation has the potential to cause havoc in several ways, such as:

1.  Credit and debit card issuers raising their rates to pay for the extra processing and record keeping.
2.  Us business owners having to raise our rates to pay for the credit and debit card issuers raising their rates, and possibly losing some of our customers.
3.  The IRS using all this nice data, provided to them free of charge, to use to calculate industry averages, make judgments about what should be normal, and possibly use that data to audit us.
4.  Lack of clarity about how incorrect tax ID's can be resolved, and how taxpayers can be reimbursed when these discrepancies arise.

All of this so IRS can collect more data from us struggling small business owners, when they probably already have all of it in the first place!  How many of you would try to dupe the IRS by excluding credit card receipts, when you know the credit card data is on your bank statements, etc.?  That probably wouldn't be the smartest thing you could do, if you were trying to avoid paying taxes.

To prepare yourself for this provision, you may want to consider talking to your tax professional about options to make this new law easier for your business to digest.