Being a successful entrepreneur takes immense focus, effort, and consistency. When your business (and income) is 100% dependent upon you, the most important thing you can do for yourself is to be as strong, healthy, and happy as possible.

We all know that diet and exercise are core fundamentals to our daily well-being, however, as a business owner there are other critical key secrets that will keep your head in the game, and your heart inspired so you can live and work in a positive dynamic flow.

At the core you need to feel empowered & energized

to cultivate your dream life all day, everyday!

If you get stressed out and lose your balance, it can have a huge effect on the bottom line in your business and also challenge your health and relationships.

Though most people won’t talk about it, burn-out is completely real and if it happens to you, it can be a very challenging recovery process. Therefore, it’s crucial that you create effective daily success habits and powerful routines to protect yourself from losing your stride and hitting rock-bottom so you can bring your best to your work everyday.

My Top 5 Productivity Hacks for Entrepreneurs

#1 – START EACH DAY WITH RESPECT

What’s the 1st thing most people do when they wake up in the morning?

Check their cell phones!

Are you guilty of this? If so, don’t beat yourself up about it, just realize that it is actually hurting you and decide to make a radical change.

Starting your day looking at the phone always leads to checking text messages, emails, Instagram, Facebook, searching on Google, obsessing on Pinterest, and ultimately LOSING YOUR CENTER from the minute you open your eyes. The truth is that this bad habit is a waste of your time that leads you down a rabbit hole.

You might not realize it but the phone/tablet is pushing you out of alignment with your own divine creative magic.

If you stop being a creator from the minute you start your day (and are already in consuming mode), you are playing a losing game, my friend.

Most of us are guilty of this. It has become a modern addiction and an obsession that is really hard to stop. It’s JUST like a drug.

I had to make a hardcore pact with myself to respect the first 30 minutes of my day because I noticed that over time, my immense creativity and soul-alignment were REALLY OFF!!! I felt miserable, lost my magic touch and knew something had to change or I wouldn’t feel happy and productive.

The most important thing you can do (out of ALL these rituals) is to begin your day with self-respect:

Allow room to breathe & focus your energy from the moment you open your eyes.

Give that to yourself.

>What can you do instead of grabbing the phone?

Get a real alarm clock instead of using the phone, roll out of bed and onto a meditation cushion, sit in silence for 15 minutes, do Pranayama (yogic breathing), pray, chant, focus on powerful manifestation techniques such as “I am” statements, do a gratitude practice, an energy focus wheel on abundance, roll out a yoga mat and start stretching – just do something that aligns your energy for the day instead of pulling you off center and OUT of your power so you can live your passion, feel your power, and truly love your life!

#2 – PLAN YOUR WORK + WORK YOUR PLAN!

When you run the show, it’s easy to get into the mindset of doing whatever you want, whenever.

In my experience, this doesn’t serve you well, and leads to burn-out pretty quickly. Most really creative people absolutely resist and hate planning (I feel you!) but the ultimate truth is that without structure you will not accomplish what you want. So what is more important to you?

When I work with my private clients,

we create a powerful vision for structuring each week down to the days and hours.

It doesn’t mean that every week will go perfectly as planned,

but the clients who’ve seen the most success

have carved out their dream schedule and watched miracles happen.

When you make room for what you want, IT HAPPENS EASILY!

Even if you are in the beginning stages of growing your business, getting clear about where, when and how you want to work will serve you.

If you want to work with 5 private clients a week, design a schedule and create time slots for them to fit into.

Though you might not have those amazing people in your life yet, you are making room for them, and as the saying goes “nature abhors a vacuum” – meaning something will always come to fill that space.

> So, what can you do while you are in the receptive mode?

Spend that time working on getting clients, promoting your work, spreading your messages. Don’t just use that time to catch up on Netflix. Show the Universe that you are serious about stepping into the role you want for yourself and you will get results!

PRO TIP: The Diamond Life Hourly Planner is designed to help you do this!

#3 – SET ACHIEVABLE DAILY GOALS

Whether we can admit it or not, we all need to feel capable. That we can really accomplish what we set out to create, and that we are great at making the things we want to have happen.

We all need daily experiences that give us a feeling of “YES!” so we can keep at it confidently, otherwise repeatedly failing makes us want to throw in the towel and give up too soon. Please don’t give up on what you want. Everything of great value takes great effort.

Ask any successful person what it took for them to get where they are,

and all of them will say: PERSISTENCE!

To succeed, you just have to stay consistent and never give up on what you want. You don’t even have to be the most talented person in your field, but you DO have to be completely focused, and do the daily work to make it happen.

> How many goals can you actually accomplish off your to-do list per day?

Experts say that three is the magic number. Three core goals. Call them the “A-List of Priorities and write them down”

Go ahead and make your “B-List” if you have room for more that day and can get more done. If not, just promise yourself that the only important tasks of the day are on your “A-List” and get them done. Whatever you have on the B-list can move over for the next day’s “A-List”priorities.

PRO-TIP: The Diamond Life Goals Planner can help you accomplish your daily vision!

4. SCHEDULE TIME FOR BUSINESS ESSENTIALS

Whether you love it or not, there are certain tasks that just have to be done in your business.

Depending on where you are in your career, you will most likely have to do these things for yourself until you are able to hire a professional virtual assistant, graphic designer, or marketing assistant to join your team and help you grow your business.

So, for those of you that love to whine about tasks you don’t enjoy, you need to get over it and roll up your sleeves. You want your own business and it takes genuine effort to turn an idea into a reality.

Here’s what to do: 

Make a list of all the things that absolutely HAVE to get done over the course of a day, week, and month.

Get radiantly clear about what is critical to grow your presence and bullet point them out.

Make sure to include: social media posting, responses, comments on other profiles, outreach, content curation and creation, and other important messaging tasks that take you from being unknown to nurturing a growing tribe.

TAKE ACTION: Now grab your planner and decide on the specific time in your schedule for exactly when you will work on these core business foundations and fundamentals. I suggest working 45-90 minutes on each task so you can stay focused and get the work completed.

If you just try to wing it and do these tasks whenever you feel inspired, you will consistently feel a LOT more stressed than you can imagine ALL-THE-TIME!

All of my clients who go shift out of doing things “when they feel like it” to “when it is scheduled” are much more productive, creative and successful… AND they feel in complete control of their lives because they step into the role of truly being a boss. I KNOW YOU WANT THAT!!!

Remember: WE ALL START AT ZERO.

So stop comparing yourself to anyone else.

Your job is to focus on what you are here to do and to DO IT!

Be consistent, give value, make an impact and do it with grace. If you keep doing the right things consistently, you absolutely will see positive results. Think of growing your business being just like getting in great shape physically. One workout isn’t going to make a big change, but if you eat right and workout consistently, over time you will reap the rewards. Same goes for your business. Stop whining, and dig in.

5. BATCH YOUR TASKS

Save a ton of time, make your life easier and simpler by grouping similar tasks together on the same day, at the same time.

Batching works really well because it helps you to stay focused, in the flow and get things done! Plus it reduces clutter and extra work.

Here are some things you can batch together to supercharge your productivity (and reduce stress):

1. Content Creation: blogging, vlogging, email marketing, social media posts – all easier to do when you do similar tasks in a row. Instead of writing a daily blog or making daily videos, plan out your content calendar in advance and create 3-5 pieces in one day. You can edit on another day.
2. Curating Visuals: images, templates, typography, graphics, social image posts. These tasks all require similar skills accessing the visual part of your brain, so batch them together to get more done with less effort and immerse yourself in a consistent flow state.
3. Social Posts/Messaging – The more you practice grouping similar tasks together in a time frame, the easier and better you get at delivering effective results and stay in the zone.
4. Email and Phone calls. We all know this can get overwhelming. Try not looking at your phone every 15 minutes (or less) and just decide when you will check your email and clear out that digital clutter.
5. Organizing and Cleaning: This is so much easier to do when you can focus on getting it done at once. Develop simple routines and you will feel much lighter and create the clarity you need to be creative and productive in your life and work. Not everyone has the mind for creating order. I consider it a critical part of being successful. If you are terrible at this, either ask someone you know to help you, or get professional help.

How to batch your workload:

Get clear on exactly what has to be done in your business (and life) every day, week and month. Decide what tasks you want to group together and on what days. Schedule them into your weekly calendar, and follow through. This is going to help you feel so much more empowered and take away that nagging feeling that you have so much to do, but can’t possibly get it all done! You WILL get so much more done, with way less effort.

 Supercharge Your Productivity + Grow Your 6-Figure Business

My 1:1 Coaching Course “The Real Deal” will change your life!

If you want to be seen as a pro, elevate your brand + your message, create effective offerings and learn how to sell with soul this program is for you.

Click here to find out more and apply to work together

As an entrepreneur, solopreneur, boss, and the face of your brand and business, it’s crucial to your success that you are seen as an expert in your field. You have probably heard it said over and over that in order to develop a profitable business, the right people need to know who you are, like what you offer and trust you enough to purchase from you.

Having a degree from a prestigious institute isn’t the only way to become an expert these days. Anything you have experienced can be transformed into a profitable business niche. Spent time traveling through Asia? Obsessed with all things related to scrapbooking or jewelry making? Backpacked through the Yucatan? Master at all things related to vegetarian cooking? Passionate about extreme self-care?

Your personal experience and self-study are just as valuable as a university degree and with the right help can be turned into content rich products, programs and services that provide solutions to a specific group of people.

By infusing your talent, knowledge, personal charisma, unique style with media savvy and consistent right effort, you can create a fantastic recipe for delicious profitability.

HOW TO POSITION YOURSELF AS AN EXPERT

BRAND STRATEGY

Once you have your brand developed, and have a clear, resounding voice that can be consistently broadcast across all media, it’s time to implement your Brand Strategy. Remember, your brand is not your logo, your name, website, products or personal image. It is more connected to the emotional response you evoke, the essence you emit, and the energy generated around the products/service your business provides.

Think of your brand strategy as the road map to achieving clearly defined goals in a specified time frame. Get very clear about how you want to be perceived! All of your visual and written materials need to convey this essence, or people will get mixed messages.

One of my secret tools for creating powerful brand strategies is through the potent use of archetypes. This is based on the work of Carl Jung, and ever since my childhood obsession with theatre, literature (including Shakespeare), & Greek mythology,  I have always been fascinated by the roles archetypes play in the subconscious minds of humanity.

*If you love reading, you might enjoy one of my favorite books written by the late legendary writer Joseph Campbell, “The Hero With A Thousand Faces”

BUSINESS POSITIONING

Based on the intended audience for your business, positioning outlines the specific concepts you will use to market your product or service. These are the actions you and your team will take to differentiate what you offer from your competitors.

The power of effective business positioning is realized by understanding:

1. Who your ideal customer is
2. How you intend to reach them
3. What they receive from you
4. Your point of difference aka “Unique Selling Proposition”
5. Who is your competition

In every media used to market your business, you have the opportunity to communicate your position. From the images on your website, to colors, logo, copy and printed materials  – everything company wide should echo what distinguishes you from your competition. If you do this effectively, it will create a powerful level of credibility that creates the groundwork for success.

CONTENT STRATEGY

The planning, development and management of your media are the elements of Content Strategy.

If you want to generate wins for your business, focus on creating genuine results and real value for the people you serve.

The secret to a successful content strategy is to create achievable, time-specific goals that can be tracked and measured. Make sure that your goals and your core messaging are consistent, and your brand voice is in alignment with the needs of your tribe.

Here are some ideas for your content strategy goals:

(I like big goals but the secret is to be more realistic and put in the right effort)

• Grow mailing list by 10% each month
• Increase open rate by 5% with each mailing list campaign
• Increase Facebook Ad conversions by 15% over the next 3 months
• Increase YouTube Subscribers by 20% over 3 months

All of these goals are measurable, trackable and time specific.

You can use split testing with your emails and ads to see what generates a more successful open rate. By staying aware of what happens as you track your results, you will start to see patterns developing and have a greater understanding of what works and what doesn’t.

Consider this…we live in a very fast paced world and digital media is always transforming.

Try to be patient and if at all possible, work with experts who understand how to create winning content.

SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY

Anyone with a Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram account can attest to the fact that this can be a huge time waster, so make certain you know exactly what your goals and strategy are before going in the trenches, or you might end up wasting a great deal of precious energy.

The key is to remember that social media is about connecting to real people – your ideal clients/target market and strategic partners. It is the future of your business’ public relations and the key to brand engagement. Get it right, and you will see it effect your bottom line.

That said, the secret to success is in building genuine relationships, establishing your credibility by providing solutions and results and increasing trust amongst your community. This takes time, and consistent visibility. The greater your clarity about what you provide and who you serve, the more targeted your efforts will be.

You social media strategy is a great place to focus on your core messaging and expand it into your daily social platforms. All platforms are different so it depends of what you are selling. Test out a variety of media: images, articles, posts, videos, podcasts, & infographics to see what your ideal tribe engages with. Stay fresh and in tune with current trends, or be willing to take risks and create new ones!

Here are some actionable tips:

• Research your competition and analyze their every move.
• On Instagram, see who is liking your competitors pictures then follow and engage appropriately with them!
• Link all your social media accounts to your website
• Increase visibility with engaging videos that solve problems or teach skills  (keep it under 3 minutes)
• Stay active daily. Schedule your time, get in – do your thing and get out (don’t get sucked into the vortex)
• Build your leadership by sharing relevant articles & info in your area of expertise (fame by association)
• Continue refining your niche, and speak directly to the core of the people you serve

As you refine and develop these four powerful ways to position yourself as an expert” – your engagement and recognition will increase, people will trust you and this will lead to more sales.

If you want to learn how to implement these strategies and work with me one-on-one to create your cohesive iconic brand that positions you as “The Go-To Expert” in your field –

Click here to learn more about becoming “The Real Deal” and apply to work 1:1 in my exclusive brand development program.