How to nurture your creativity

You are a creative super star! It might not be what you think you are, but I guarantee you that creativity is in your DNA. The problem is, most of us have gone through a creativity killing process called education. It’s when we inherited dreams we didn’t choose for ourselves, and forget about our own.

But let’s try to remember for a minute. All the dreams you had, the stories you performed, the endless imagination you brought to the table. Where’s that magic spark? What happened to the crazy life you were going to live? The unique career you were going to have?

They was slowly filtered out of you.

As you made your way from teenager to adult, there wasn’t much left. Your fidgeting, playful, passionate, insatiable self made way for a more manageable version. One that had a nicely predefined place in society, a clear role you’ve since then learned to perform well. So much that you’ve come to believe that this role you’re performing is, in fact, who you are.

The trouble is, it isn’t.

When creativity dies, big dreams often die too. And with them the stardust that makes us unique.

I’m a example of this. By the time I was 20 there was little creativity left in me. As a child I always had the wildest dreams. I wrote, painted, danced, sang, put plays together with my cousins, made things. There wasn’t a day that went by that I wasn’t creative.

As I grew older the pressure to conform, to perform, and to make something of myself increased. Creativity became a time waster, and I felt guilty for having so many interests, passions and for being unable to focus on one thing as I was expected to. Well to the dismay of my parents I decided to pursue a degree in Philosophy. Career outcomes were so insubstantial to them that they often told people I was studying to become a psychologist (slaps hand on face).

By the time I graduated, they had convinced me I’d wasted four years of my life. Although I contemplated an academic career I knew it wasn’t what they wanted. I had to make something of myself. Show them I was worth the investment. So in the final months of college I started working as a freelancer. I’d always been around computers, and it was all I’d ever seen my father do. With Internet emerging, and my DIY experience in building websites (hello 1998!), I landed a job as a freelance web project manager.

That first job turned into many other projects and clients, and eventually in me starting my own web agency. Although I’m proud of my accomplishments the truth is I pursued everyone else’s dream but my own.

Building a career that wasn’t meant for me turned the creative, multi-passionate big dreamer I was into a perfectionistic, people-pleasing workaholic.

The unhappiness I felt made me try harder. Always chasing the next thing, without taking a breath to enjoy what I’d already achieved. Or reflect on what I really wanted.

In 2010 I was forced to pause, and finally do some thinking.

I saw the dreams I’d been pursuing for what they were, and decided it was time for me. The problem was, I didn’t remember my dreams. They’d been buried so deep beneath everyone else’s that I couldn’t come up with a single idea.  

Because I couldn’t figure it out, I decided to just do something.

That let me back to creativity. Slowly at first, because making stuff was now so far out of my comfort zone. But as time went on, and I tried out new things, my creative multi-passionate self resurfaced.

Creativity was my way back to me. And to my big dreams.

I believe it can be yours too.

How do you nurture your creativity?

• Try things out

It doesn’t matter what you do, as long as you allow yourself to play. I’ve done everything from writing workshops, dancing and cooking classes, to screen printing, improv theatre, drawing retreats and piano lessons. Recently I’ve realized that I need at least one creative outlet a week in order to be happy. And the more I do, the easier it gets. Pick something, and just do it! Like I signed up for a 5-day theatre workshop (dipping sweat off forehead) just before finishing this post.

• Let go of control

Creativity is a process that you can prepare for, but that you can’t control. There’s no way to know when you’ll have a creative spark, make something amazing or experience flow. Things simply unfold. This little perfectionist had to learn this the hard way. Not being able to create what I had in mind made me want to scream and run more than once. That’s what happens when you believe you have a say in the creative process. By letting go of control you’ll be able to create freely and to experience moments of pure bliss and freedom that will help you to believe in yourself and your dreams.

• Make it a practice

Creativity is a muscle, you have to train it to make it work. Doing something creative once a year is better than doing nothing. But the effect won’t last long. That’s why you should make creativity part of your daily life. By doing something out of the ordinary regularly you’re strengthening your creative dream muscle. You realize that you can do much more than you think, that things aren’t that hard or scary after all. The more you do it, the more you’ll want it. So make sure to do something creative regularly, to challenge yourself to try unfamiliar things. It really helps to dream bigger. And – more importantly – to dream you.

If you want more Dream Bigger Tips, I’ve got great news for you! This tip is part of a series, you can find all entries here.

5 ways to cultivate a mindset of good enough (and beat perfectionism)

If I’d beam back in time to have a coaching session with my former self, let’s say from ten years ago, and I’d ask her what she wanted most out of coaching with me (I know this intro sounds super strange, but there’s a point to this madness I promise) I’m positive she’d say something like “finish the stuff I start” or “stop procrastinating all the time”. If I’d then ask her what she thought about herself she’d probably mention how she often didn’t feel confident, that life and work were overwhelming, she didn’t fit in, and simply wasn’t good enough.

(See, I told you :))

A lot has changed since then. The overwhelm and awkwardness I felt growing up and building my first business have thankfully made room for a more fulfilling state of sort-of balance and flow.

For the past ten years I’ve been my own (sometimes uber shitty) coaching client. I’ve used myself as a guinea pig to try and understand what this life and work thing is all about. I’ve tested uncountable ways to be a better, more productive and successful human. To learn, grow, and figure out what actually works.

The short conclusion – drumroll included:

Everything you thought you knew about happiness is wrong.

It’s not about being the best, having the most money, buying the Chanel bag, being *super* busy all the time. It’s not about having the seven figure business (although I’m all about money love, but that’s another story). If you hadn’t caught on yet, what I mean is, happiness has nothing to do with being PERFECT.

In fact, is has everything to do with NOT being perfect.

Happiness appears when we stop the “shoulds” and “musts”, and see ourselves for what we are – and always have been: good enough just the way we are (if a romantic scene from Bridget Jones is popping into your mind right now you’re definitely my kind of human).

Jumping back to my younger self for a minute. Ten years ago I was an utter and absolute perfectionist. Nothing I did was ever good enough. The result? I didn’t do much at all. I was also a helpless people-pleaser who lacked the confidence to make herself a sandwich before asking for permission. What I knew best was how to follow rules, to adapt to whatever I thought was expected of me. By the time I was 30 there was little room left for freedom, play, curiosity or creativity. Life and work felt like burdens. All I had were “have tos”.

The state of emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion I was in was the result of excessive and prolonged stress. To be clear: that I’D PUT ON MYSELF. Yes, work was hectic. Yes, building a business is hard BUT I was never the helpless little chicken I made myself out to be. I didn’t know it at the time but the truth is, I had the power all along (clicks shoes together three times).

That power is called CONFIDENCE. And it’s the result of (many things including) cultivating a mindset of good enough. That mindset will help you:

• Focus on what’s really important for you

• Find and do work that feeds you instead of drains you

• Actually create the freaking thing instead of just thinking about it

• Get off your time machine and discover where the fun’s really at (spoiler alert: it’s called now)

• Start living your own dreams instead of trying to build everyone else’s

But Murielle, I hear you ask, how does one cultivate such a seemingly magical mindset?

The truth? It’s super easy AND palm sweat complicated at the same time.

You change the way you think.

Simple enough, right? There’s just one little tiny thing though… All the years you’ve been gobbling up and repeating so many other thoughts about yourself and the world. They left a mark on you. They’re the reason you think the way you do. So to get to the good stuff you’ll need to get passed those first.

It’s a process that takes dedication, time, and discipline. This pink-loving guinea pig knows because she’s been there. So here are 5 ways that work(ed) for me and hopefully will get this life-changing process of *finally feeling good enough like the star that you are* going for you too.

#1 Stop comparing your awesome self to others

Comparisitis is the disease of our time. The rise of social media – a process that’s been going on for about 15 years now – marked the beginning of an exponential cycle of out-of-control expectations and judgments about ourselves. Don’t get me wrong. We’ve always glanced at the neighbors to see what they were up to, but it was never in our face the way it’s now. We could still escape it, because we were in control of the information stream. Today things are different. Everywhere we look we see what looks like awesome people doing what looks like amazing stuff. Online nobody has a bad hair day or doubts about their life. And that’s a shitty problem. Having those perfect humans pop into our feeds so many times a day (about every 18 minutes studies find) is making us sick, unhappy about our lives, forced to hide the *real* struggles we all have to deal with.

My recipe to stop comparing your awesome self to others includes:

• Limit your time on social media (15 minutes a day will do – yes I mean one five)

• Unfollow accounts that make you feel blah

• Avoid being sucked into the research hole that inevitably leads to “she’s awesome and I suck”

• Remember that all humans are unique. A valid comparison would need both of you to be equal in EVERYTHING except the one thing you’re comparing. Identical twins wouldn’t even meet those criteria, so how could you? Ever?

#2 Accept that perfection is bullshit

As long as you think there’s an absolute state of perfection to be attained, you’ll never be happy with what you have or who you are. The truth about perfection is that it doesn’t exist. Plato (and a heap of other philosophers) believed life on Earth was a poor imitation of the *real* world. Surely, he thought, if we can imagine something to be perfect it must BE perfect somewhere. Since it clearly wasn’t in the physical world (clears throat to hide discomfort) he concluded it must be in the world of ideas.

Yes, there’s something to say for Plato’s ideas. There are many flowers in the world, but none of them compare to the idea of THE flower we have in our mind. We’ve never seen this perfect flower with our own eyes, we’ve only IMAGINED it. The point is, we’re great at conceptualizing. According to Yuval Noah Harari one of the indispensable qualities we needed in order to rule the world. But there’s a difference between ideas and reality, just like there’s a difference between being perfect and being human.   

#3 Be a fearless scaredy cat

I know you’re scared. I’m scared too. Every single freakin’ day. But that doesn’t stop me from taking action (anymore). Fearless is what I call feeling the fear and doing it anyway. Because mmm… the fear never goes away. So we might as well learn to live with it, right? My advice is to be a fearless scaredy cat. To do your thing, even if you feel like you’ve got a giant sign on your back saying “I have no clue, please rescue me”.

#4 Don’t believe everything you think

Seven years ago I enrolled in a 10-week mindfulness training program. Before that I’d never meditated, never considered the power of my breath or body, and certainly never thought about the things I told myself every single day. In session one of the training our teacher, in response to a question about that subject, *casually* mentioned that we – humans – are not our thoughts.

Say what?! I’d never considered that the voice in my head could be different from who I was. This was such a revelation that it took me weeks to grasp the full power of what she’d said. Especially with the negative tune that was playing in my head at the time, realising I had CONTROL over what I was thinking gave me back my power. The thing is, you have that power too. You’re not your thoughts either, so don’t believe everything you think just because you well.. think it.

#5 Focus on smarter, not flawless

Know that you can grow, learn and improve. A mistake isn’t a problem until you get stuck in making it over and over again. Instead is trying to be flawless, learn how to learn from your mistakes, to integrate what happened so you can do a better job next time. That’s the only thing anyone could ask of you, and the only thing you should ask of yourself.

Flawless, we’ve seen above, doesn’t exist. So it would be mighty silly to put any effort into trying to achieve it. Focus on what you CAN change, on the stuff you do have control over. Meaning: just be smarter next time. Because you’ve got this!

How to visualise your dreams so they come true

What we focus on becomes our reality. This basic and simple truth holds so much power, yet is it so often overlooked, dismissed, or not even known about. We’re taught so many things at school, but this absolute key piece of success isn’t one of them.

Think about it. What are the things you think about most in your life, and what is actually present in it? This notion goes further than mere physical things. The thoughts you repeatedly have, I’d argue, account for as much as the external things you focus on. What you tell yourself over and over will manifest one way or another, just like what you think about all day long.

It’s not a magic trick, it’s not even spiritual. Our actions and thoughts are so intertwined that one simply follows from the other. And guess what? The same is true for our dreams – duh!

Dreams get born as ideas. Or wishes turned into words. Or heartbeats turned into thoughts. However they start, they eventually find their way from our subconscious to our conscious mind. All of a sudden they’re there. We “think” about them. We have a dream, and it’s taking shape in our head.

The more we think about them, the more our dreams have a chance at being realised.

The problem is, life gets busy. Staying focused is hard. A lot can get in the way of our dreams. Literally. People, circumstances, twists of fate. If we’re not careful we might forget about our dreams altogether. Sometimes for a few months, often for years, in some cases for life. Until we wake up, and finally remember.

That’s why it’s so important to stay focused on our dreams.

A surefire way to do this is to visualise them. This makes them palpable. As if you’ve already achieved them even before taking the first action-step toward them.

How to visualise your dreams?

• Imagine you’re already there

From sports science we know that the brain doesn’t distinguish between imagined action and physical action. That’s why athletes now spent parts of their training imagining running around a track or jumping as far as they can. It fires off the same neural networks as physical training, and thus helps make the athletes better at their sport.

I believe the same is true for our dreams. Imagining and visualising our dreams helps strengthen our creative and action-taking muscles. It creates new neural pathways in our brains that will make the impossible seem possible, and will pave the way for us (to become the person we need to be to) achieve our dreams.

So take time regularly to imagine your dreams. I do it a few times a week, sometimes more when I’m trying to put together a clear plan to achieve a goal. I take out my list of goals and read through it. I close my eyes and imagine what it’ll feel like and be like to have achieved them. Sometimes I focus on one goal, sometimes I think about all of them. It depends on my mood, and the time I have available.

• Create a vision board

I’m sure you’ve heard of vision boards before. They’re so simple to put together and often referred to as this magic thing that will miraculously make your dreams come true. Cut out images you like from magazines and glue them together on a large sheet of paper and you’re done. Tada! You’re dreams will follow. Really?!

That’s how I felt when I put my first vision board together. I didn’t believe it would make a difference but since I was desperate for change I was ready to try anything. The whole experience felt silly. As I was cutting out images and gluing them I kept on wondering what I was doing. But when I was done there it was: an inspiring and soulful collage of all the things I wanted in my life. Looking at it made me feel so happy. I hung the vision board next to my desk. Every day I looked at it, for about six months. That’s the time it took to achieve the things I’d glued down on it!

The vision board reminded me of my dreams in such a vivid and persistent way that I achieved my goals faster, and in a more systematic way.

Since that first vision board, I’ve created many more. In fact, I use this technique not only to help visualise a goal, but to organise my thoughts about it too. Seeing the end picture helps me to put the plan together, and to define the steps I need to take to get there.

• Keep a dream jar

This is a cool technique that mixes together visualisation and imagination. You take a jar of any kind, and you write down your goals on pieces of paper. You put the pieces of paper folded in the jar and every day you randomly select one piece from the jar. You look at the goal on it and visualise already having it in as much detail as you can.

Grappling in your dream jar is something you can do once a day, or a couple of times a day. My jar sits on my desk so I often do it when I’m taking a short break from work. It relaxes me and inspires me at the same time. I love the feeling it gives me. Plus it helps me to stay focused on my goals!

If you want more tips to get unstuck, I’ve got great news for you! This tip is part of a series, you can find all entries here.

How to streamline your business for growth (before hiring a team)

Whether you’re just starting out or have been in business for a while, I’m sure you heard the phrase “don’t work in your business, work on your business.” I always found this to be such an eye-opening perspective on what building a business actually is.

At first, many entrepreneurs are the only ones working for the business so it’s hard not to work “in” the business, that is it’s impossible not to address all the mundane tasks that are required to keep the business going. This isn’t the same as from working “on” the business, which refers to taking steps to grow the business. It’s the difference between focusing on keeping the soup warm rather than making a bigger soup.

Once the foundations are in place it’s important to think about growth. There are different ways growth can manifest in your business. More and more customers might come knocking at your door wanting your products or services, forcing you to work longer hours. Or the profits your business is making might raise the question of investments and where to take your business next. Perhaps it’s your business goals driving growth, or the vision you have as an entrepreneur.  

Whatever the situation, some level of change in how you operate your business will be required to push the business forward. You’ll need to make the switch from working in your business to somehow working on it.

It’s tempting to think that this is the moment you need to hire a team. If you’re a Silicon Valley startup, chances are it is. If you’re a self-employed (online) entrepreneur however, it probably is not.

I know, because I’ve been there. I’d love to tell you I learned the lesson fast and straightened up my act. I didn’t. It took me many years and a lot of money, time, and stress to understand the difference between working in and on my business. But finally I got it. And it changed everything for me.

Before hiring a team there’s one important thing to do first: streamline your business.

The truth is, without systems you don’t have a business – you are the business. It will be almost impossible to delegate effectively, and to let other people work for you. Hiring a team without a plan and clear, documented business systems will do nothing for you except give you more work, more frustrations, and less sleep. Because now you’re not only slaving away for hours on end to keep the business going, you need to find extra time to keep your team at work too.

How to streamline your business for growth?

The magic is in the systems.

Although you cannot automate every aspect of your business, many tasks can be structured, systematized, and put on autopilot. A streamlined business gives you the time and freedom you need to focus on growth instead of maintenance, and allows you to delegate the tasks that can’t be automated in an effective way.

#1 Plan out your business

The first step in streamlining your business is to get clear on what you ultimately want your business to become.

Do you want to keep your business small?
Are you looking to expand and eventually sell your business?
What are your financial goals for your business?
How many employees do you see yourself working with?
By when would you like to achieve your business goals?  

Having a long-term business vision will allow you to get clear on your short and medium term goals. It will help you create a sales and marketing strategy, decide on what products or services to develop, the amount of new customers you need to acquire and so on.

#2 Structure, systematize and automate your business

Once the plan is in place you can start looking at how your business operates. For each business department (sales, marketing, administration, accounting, production, research and development, …) create systems by mapping out how things are done.

For instance, how are clients onboarded in your business?

Every business owner should know the answer to this question. To figure it out, map out all the steps you’re currently taking when a new client signs up with you. This is your client onboarding system.

Now that you have the system you can structure it. Make the steps repeatable so someone else can do this task instead of you. Where needed make sure to finetune the system. If you’re sending out the same email to all your new clients but you’re still typing it from memory every single time, that email needs to be stored as easily accessible template.

By looking at your business tasks as systems you’ll be able to do something else that will make your life so much easier as well: automate. I talked about automation last week when I listed 7 ways to simplify your business for success. There are so many apps that can take over parts of our business systems, and if set-up correctly, do an amazing job for us. Look at your business systems with automation in mind. What parts of the system can apps take over for you?

Once the above is done, you’re ready to hire a team. But not sooner. If you’re in a hurry to build a team, make sure to have at least your most important business systems mapped out and structured before you take anyone on board.

Your team will be grateful for the clarity, and you’ll have so much more time to focus on what really matters to you and makes a difference for your business.

How to Write down your dreams to manifest them faster

Writing things down has many benefits. It helps to remember the important stuff, to clear our minds, even to feel and work through our emotions. When it comes to dreaming bigger, writing down your dreams is essential. Not only because of all the benefits stated above, but mostly because writing your dreams down will help you to clarify them, prioritise them, and to keep you motivated.

The busyness of life is something we all have to deal with to some extend. It’s easy to get swept away by it. When we’re running from A to B, tending to everything and everyone, trying to stay on top of things we can literally forget about our dreams. Sometimes for a little while, in some cases for years or decades.

We’ll attend to them soon, right after this one last thing is done. Or we’ll get started as soon as work is not so busy anymore.

If this sounds anything like you, know that you’re not alone. This was me for so many years too. I would keep on pushing my dreams further in my future, waiting for this one last thing to be done first. The problem was, there was always a next thing. Then a next one. And so on.

Until I started writing down my dreams.

About ten years ago, at the turn of the old to the new year, I stumbled upon Danielle LaPorte's Desire Map. I’d never done such extensive prep work to organise my goals or what I was planning on achieve the year ahead but something triggered me. I wanted to try.

What convinced me was what Leonie said about the type of people that actually achieve their goals. According to research 80% of people do not even think of goals (that used to be me). From the 20% remaining, 16% don’t write them down. From the 4% remaining only 1% writes goals down AND reviews them regularly. They have the highest success rates when it comes to achieving their big dreams.

Writing down my goals and sticking to reviewing them throughout the year was eye-opening for me. The first time I did it, I reached more goals in 12 months than I’d achieved in the past 10 years combined.

I’ve kept on writing down my goals ever since, tweaking and fine-tuning the process as I went on, and have become absolutely convinced it is an essential practice to achieve your dreams. We create what we focus on.

How to write down your dreams?

• Reflect on what’s important to you

As I mentioned in the beginning of this post, it’s easy for life and work to get in the way of our dreams. The busier we get, the less we remember what’s really important to us.

Make sure to carve out time regularly to reflect on what’s most important to you and to assess whether you need to make some changes to move toward your dreams.

• Create dream mantras

I love to work with goal or dream mantras with my clients. Instead of writing down pragmatic goals (which are great to have!) I love to go a step further, and infuse those goals with soul. That way the dream mantras become more than simply goals to achieve, they become an inspiring way of life, a path to our dreams.

To create a dream mantra start by writing down your goals.

Then, for each of them, write down how achieving that dream will make you feel and why you want to achieve it. Use the answers to those questions as building blocks to put together your dream mantra.

Prompts to help you craft your dream mantra:

I want to ….
so that I can / have  …
achieving this goal will make me feel … .

I want to write a book
so that I can share my story and inspire others to dream bigger
achieving this goal will make me feel proud, fulfilled, happy

Dream mantra: Be fulfilled and happy by writing an inspiring book about dreaming bigger.  

Once you’ve created your dream mantras write them down in your planner, on a sticky note, in your journal. Make sure to read them out loud at least once a day, preferably a few times more.

• Make it visual

There are many ways to write down your dreams. There’s the obvious note, journal or planner entry like I mentioned above. But it’s not because your goals are written down that you’ll actually remember them. In order for that to happen, you need to “see” them.

It’s a great idea to use sticky notes with your goals throughout your house or office. Places I particularly like for dream cues like that are the fridge, the bathroom mirror, my computer screen, a picture wall, and the pages of my planner. The point is to create a reminder system for your dreams.

Another way to visualise your goals is through a pictures.

I use a combination of Pinterest, pictures on my kitchen walls, and an art journal to keep track of the goals I’ve set for myself. Every day I’ll spend a few minutes browsing through my boards, or looking at the pictures either on the wall or in my journal.

If you want more tips to get unstuck, I’ve got great news for you! This tip is part of a series, you can find all entries here.

7 ways to simplify your business for success

When asked about the type of business my clients want, most of them tell me they would love a sustainable business that makes money but that also flows and feels easy. Yet most of them, just like many other entrepreneurs and business owners I know, never seem to get it quite right. The majority are often overwhelmed, stressed out, and chronically overworked. With only a percentage of them actually achieving the financial success they’re working so hard for.

For a long time, I used to be like that too.

I would work 12-hour days for weeks on end and not see the needle move an inch. Every time someone would ask me how business was, I’d reply with the all to familiar “busy”. In the end, I can’t say business was bad. I made money, and my business grew. But – and this is a big one – the way I was doing it was unsustainable, and if I consider all the hours, efforts, and energy I put in I have to admit the ugly truth: I did it for peanuts.

When we’re starting out on our own, it’s difficult to resist the urge to try out things, to build as we go, to want to do a million things at once. In a way, and to a certain extend, we absolutely have to. After all, we’re learning how to build our business. The problem is that, as we’re learning, we’re also adding layer upon layer of things we think we need to do. If we’re not careful – and this is what happens in most cases – soon enough we’ll end up overwhelmed by all those to-dos, of which we usually don’t even question the validity.

Finally, because of the inherited dreams of hard work and relentless productivity that our culture has so generously passed down to us, we think being tired from always being “busy” is a sign we’re doing well, and moving forward in the right direction.

I used to believe this. I don’t believe it anymore. A successful business shouldn’t be hard, it should flow and feel easy.

One way to achieve this (perhaps the single most important way) is to simplify as much as you can. This means looking at all those layers of to-dos you’ve piled up over time and for each of them decide if you actually need to do it, and if you do how you can do it better.

In what follows I share 7 ways you can simplify your business for success. I’ve added success in there on purpose because I believe that simplification will bring you more flow and ease but will also keep you energized and happy. This in turn will keep you focused on the important stuff which will bring in more money. See where I’m getting at here?

#1 Focus on the essential

In every business there are a few key things that yield the most results. In order to make your business work it’s important to focus on these essential components. Basically it comes down to identifying what works well in your business, and doing more of that! What follows is that everything that isn’t essential should come second, or be eliminated altogether.

This idea is grounded in the concepts of Essentialism and the 80/20 rule, also known as the Pareto principle.

Essentialism is the disciplined pursuit of less, based on the core question: “Will this activity or effort make the highest possible contribution towards my goal?”. The Pareto principle states that, for many events, about 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. Translated into business speak: 20% of the things we do in our business produce about 80% of our results. So the trick is to figure out what those 20% are and do as much if it as we can.

#2 Automate as much as possible

Business automation is one of the areas in my business I was most reluctant to look at. If you’re in business today, especially online business, chances are you use a multitude of apps on a daily basis.

The problem here again, at least for me, is the stockpiling of apps. Before you know it, one app has led you to another, and another, and so on. My reluctance to look at what I was using for my business, and the way I was using it came from the fact that I knew there would be a learning curve. I needed to first check all the apps I was using to make sure I actually needed them, then figure out how I could use them better.

Once I did the work I realized I was spending more than €5000 a year on apps, most of which I hardly used. My first step was to cancel everything I didn’t need. This left me with about €1000 a year worth of app subscriptions.

Here’s a list of the ones I use most, and the time saved by using them effectively (affiliate links):

Acuity Scheduling
For appointment scheduling. When someone signs up for a free coaching session they’re automatically redirected to my online calendar through Acuity. This saves me and the client time by avoiding the back and forth to find a moment that works for both of us.

Time saved letting acuity deal with my calendar: 2 hours a week

Zoom
I use zoom for video conferencing with my coaching clients. The one tweak I did that saves me massive amounts of time is a build-in integration with Acuity Scheduling mentioned above. Acuity lets you connect with Zoom so that every time a new appointment is created, it included a link to a zoom video conference room. Before this I used to create and send out zoom links to my clients before every session. I know, right!

Time saved letting zoom create its own links: 2 hours a week

Zapier
I’m not sure how to define Zapier. A workflow or task manager? A way to connect apps? In any case what I do know is that I think of Zapier when I imagine how great it would be if new tasks could magically appear in Asana (see point #3) when I create new Google Calendar events for instance, or how awesome it would be that WordPress post drafts would be created automatically from all the newsletters I send out. In fact, that – and so much more – is exactly what Zapier does for me.

Time saved letting Zapier prep content for me: 4 hours a week

Waveapps
I believe in the power of the “important admin stuff” you have to do for your business. I know many entrepreneurs see this as a necessary evil but I’m convinced the success of any business is in part due to the way administration tasks are done. There are a gazillion apps out there that can help you streamline your admin processes. For invoicing I love using Wave Accounting. It’s easy to use and offers great features like recurring billing via email and automatic payment notifications.

Time saved letting Wave Accounting worry about my invoices and payments: 2 hours a week

#3 Structure and create routines

Structure is another one of those things that can save you a bucket load of time. Working without a plan is never a good idea, I’m sure you’ll agree. Why then are so many entrepreneurs working without a defined and thought out structure or set of routines? It’s exactly the same thing!

I have routines for how I write, how I work with clients, how I plan out my goals. Routine is part of almost everything I do in my business.

When it comes to structure, I have a lot of that too. I plan things on specific days, do them in a specific way, and have a lot of templates and workflows (see below point #6 and #7) that I’ve created over the years. To help me stay on track I use a project management tool called Asana. All the essential tasks I have to do are organized in projects, with repeat times for recurring tasks. I give every task an “energy value” of low, medium, high or epic. When I plan my days I use a fixed set of each type of task. This way I don’t plan too many things in a day, while I still move towards my goals quickly, and with ease.

#4 Get organized and schedule ahead of time

To have a business that flows and feels easy it’s important to be proactive instead of reactive. Unfortunately a lot of entrepreneurs I know are part of the latter group rather of the former. Every day they fight with their business, and react to what comes at them. It’s not their fault. They’re entangled in this way of working because it’s the most common way there is. One way to escape it is to get organized and schedule work ahead of time.

I make sure I schedule in enough time every week to write blog posts and newsletters, and even to work on new products and launches well head of time.

For social media I love to use Smarterqueue. This intuitive social media scheduling tool is easy to use, and let’s you put a schedule for your social media together! Once you’ve done this once the only thing you need to do is add content regularly, and the app does the rest.

#5 Set boundaries and say “no” more often

When I first started out in business my boundaries where non-existent. “Yes” was the only thing I knew how to say. In fact, I even put a tagline on my business cards and website that reflected this belief. I’d seen it on the name tag of a hotel manager and found it so on point that I decided to use it for my business. It read: “The answer is YES. What is the question?” I still think it’s a great tagline. Unfortunately what works for hospitality management doesn’t automatically work for other businesses.

By adopting this attitude of “yes” I quickly found myself overworked, overwhelmed, and incredibly unhappy. Saying yes to anything that came my way resulted in a portfolio of not so fun clients, big projects that I wasn’t being paid nearly enough for, and late night and weekend phone calls from clients who wanted to share “one more important thing” with me.

It was unsustainable. Eventually I had to grow up, and shift gears. That’s when I learned the power of boundaries, and saying “no”.

Today I assess every request I get based on the list of things that contribute most to my business. If the request is in line with my long-term goals I might say yes – if I have the time to do it – if not it’s a “no”.

#6 Create templates

One day I was typing an email to a client when I realized I had typed that same email at least 10 times before. I’m sure you know the feeling 🙂 That’s when I decided to create a vault with templates for emails and other communication I deal with in my business.

It wasn’t a difficult process at all. I didn’t sit down with myself and force myself to come up with a list of emails I needed templates for (although this could have worked). I simply decided that whenever I wrote an email from then on I would save it as a template first. By being consistent at this for a few months I put together a rich and extensive library of templates that now save me time and effort daily.

#7 Map out workflows (SOPs) for the different parts of your business

When I realized how easy it was to create a library of email templates I decided to do the same with my business workflows. I mapped out the entire process of the different parts of my business from start to finish, with an overview of all the steps that it takes to complete something.

When I create a new product, put together a new coaching package, or start out with a new client I have a workflow that I can follow. The processes are streamlined in an almost done-for-me way. In Asana I have project templates that I can copy easily. Once created the new project already holds all the tasks I need to do for a particular project. How awesome!

 I set out to write a small post about simplifying your business for success and it turned out to be more than 2000 words long. I guess I’m not a true minimalist yet 🙂 If you’ve still here though, kudos to you! While you’re add it, why not drop a line in the comments below and tell me how you simplify your business. I’d really love to know.

How to stay motivated when you don’t see results

One of the main issues that big dreamers encounter almost on a daily basis is the lack of big dreamers around them. A question I get asked often is how to dream bigger when everyone around you isn’t.

It’s true that the path to bigger, better dreams is often paved with the advice of well-intentioned people stuck in inherited dreams. I know them all too well. In my own life, and that of my clients, they often cause more harm than good. Of course, you can’t blame anyone for wanting to warn you about the “dangers” of going after your passion, and doing your own thing. The problem is not with them but with the world we’re born into. It simply isn’t made for big dreamers.

That’s why it’s important to get the juicy stuff elsewhere, to go in search of big dreamers and their stories.

One of the places I’ve found a lot of support and inspiration like that is biographies. Reading the biography of someone who has done it, who – against all odds – persevered, believed in herself and showed everybody wrong is one of my favorite ways to challenge my own inherited dreams, and that of the naysayers around me.

It’s so easy to fall into the trap of overnight success, and believe that the people we look up to today were just lucky, or that their success came out of nowhere. The truth is, no matter where they are today, everyone starts somewhere (probably at the bottom). By reading their stories we’re reminded that it’s possible, and we’re inspired to open our mind to new possibilities for ourselves.

How to read inspiring biographies?

Not all biographies are created equal. Some of them might be great stories but if you can’t identify with the person who went through it, you won’t be inspired. There’s a science to this madness! Here are my three tips on how to pick and read inspiring biographies.

• Make sure the story resonates with you

I love reading biographies of women. Being a woman myself, this is one of the easiest ways for me to resonate with someone else’s story. But it’s not the only one.

Reading about the success stories of people who started where I started, who went through similar struggles as I did, who had the same inherited dreams or social background… it all helps to make sense of their story and see how it could apply to me. For if they could do it, why couldn’t I?

• Find a common interest

Sometimes it’s not the person but the achievement or that person’s interests or focus that inspires most. I love reading stories from people who’ve made it in finance for instance, because smart money is something I care about. I also love to read biographies of entrepreneurs, and people who’ve spent their life fighting for a good cause.

When there’s a common interest, it doesn’t matter so much what that person’s background is, or where they started. It’s why and how they did what they did that interests me, and that I learn from the most.

• Identify with the person you’re reading about

Here’s a third and final tip about reading biographies. When you’ve picked one up that resonates with you or that is interesting to you my advice is to read it actively. What I mean by this is that you shouldn’t just read it as a spectator. Put yourself in the shoes of the person going through the story. Imagine it was you. Feel into what that would be like, what your life would look like if that story was yours.

Visualizing is a powerful tool to dream bigger. Biographies are a great way to practice those skills! It will help you to be inspired and to take action on your own dreams.

If you don’t know where to start, here are a couple of inspiring biographies to get started with.

All Things at Once by Mika Brzezinski
Chanel: A Woman of her Own by Axel Madsen
Never Tell Me Never by Janine Shepherd
The Road to Someplace Better by Lillian Lincoln Lambert
Suits: A Woman on Wall Street by Nina Godiwalla

If you want more tips to get unstuck, I’ve got great news for you! This tip is part of a series, you can find all entries here.