business planning – THE CEO DRIVEHER

THE SECRET TO SUCCESS IS PLANNING

See as a planner I’m good about mapping, and drawing things out, where I lacked was in the area of parking tasks and timing, I sucked at it totally often running behind schedule looking at my well laid plan asking myself why.

“Without a plan, even the most brilliant business can get lost. You meed to have goals, create milestones, and have a strategy in place to set yourself up for success.” – Yogi Berra

I’ve falling in love with the planning process all over again! I must admit I’d been feeling a bit overwhelmed because I just couldn’t seem to find the best planning software nor format for my business and life needs.

As a serial entrepreneur this is majorly difficult, trying to weave seamlessly my life and businesses components. The other day I was out with my daddy have our weekly daddy daughter date and he said something so profound, he said “NuNu (my nickname) one thing about you is you’re a planner and that’s awesome.” He was so proud and amazed of me, he was able to calculate things I’d said even years ago and repeat to me how I’d then made plans. In fact I’ve been like that my entire life, but not without many detours, hiccups, and lost!

My daddy was so proud, but internally I was cringing because I felt everything, but that. See my father has been able to hear my plans, and now see the manifestation of my plans, but I on the other-hand knew of my dirty little secret. That secret being though I can draft some of the best laid planes, I can be bad at executing with precision. I am a planner, buuuuuuuut a lazy executioner, so bad that often times I’m livid at my poor execution because I know the outcome could’ve been a million times better, with less stress, ugh!

Now, for those looking from the outside in you’d NEVER know, but I know, and I carried some shame from it. I’d try so many different things, timers, softwares, planners, outlines, you name it, but it just wasn’t cutting it, that is until one of my clients who is a master at planning and business development, Phyliss of Hulbert Custom Designs, put me on to a new project management software by the name of CLICK UP (https://clickup.com/?fp_ref=kimberly31)!

Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com

I have tried everything from Trello, to Asana, looked into Dubsado, used HoneyBook, Keap, and other CRM and project management tools. Though they all have their place, hands down from costs, to integration, to format, to ease, to structure and unlimited use…. CLICK UP is the best! See as a planner I’m good about mapping, and drawing things out, where I lacked was in the area of parking tasks and timing, I sucked at it totally often running behind schedule looking at my well laid plan asking myself why. Now, having use CLICK UP the answer punched me right in the face!

I kid you not it seems as thought my production time has dropped immensely allowing for my execution time and volume to skyrocketed! This by default has raised my drive, momentum, and confidence! I am so on it dog gon it! I’m feeling unstoppable! Their system is so awesome I’ve parked all my companies in that one platform, creating various “spaces” and managing everything from there. I love see the planning process, the sub-categories, and the ability to map my time and progress chart from by a simple click of a button. This software is a massive game-changer, so much so I am making it a required tool in my business courses and business development coaching services.

One thing about me, I know something when it can help reshape a business for the better. There’s no way you cannot be profitable using this software, not manage staff/freelancers/contractors, or fail to execute. Success from the planning process rises up off the page and for me forced me to work even harder and execute more tasks.

I went ahead and purchased an annual subscription for the business tier after using the software for 30 minutes! I knew where CLICK UP could take me and my businesses so I dived in head first and I am loving it! If you are a one man band business to a large start-up this is the greatest project management tool! I already cancelled my Asana and I am using my Trello for personal/home use. FYI, I was able to integrate my calendars, emails, and others components. Please be sure to checkout https://clickup.com/?fp_ref=kimberly31 CLICK UP, you will NOT be disappointed!

THE BUSINESS GOLD STANDARD AGAINST COPYCATS

Knowing the realities of business is not always fun, but don’t stress over it, it’s business, not personal; that is until someone violates. Remember, true gold cannot be duplicated!

SET YOURSELF APART BY DOING YOUR PART AUTHENTICALLY”
CEO DriveHer

The other day I wrote a post explaining the importance of not giving too much thought about copycats internet thieves. As a business consultant this comes up often and I’ve found many of my clients suffering from execution paralysis, all because they’re trying to find the perfect safeguard for their business.

Now, I am all about protecting your intellectual properties and even creating safeguards, but if you allow yourself to be held hostage from actually putting yourself or products/service on the market, the would-be copycats have already stole from you. This type of worry brings about anxiety with the production paralysis. You do realize major brands everyday are copied? What is key is when wrongful parties are caught the consequences can be great. Nike, Beyonce, Burberry, Gucci, Chanel No.5, even the U.S. Federal government don’t allow copycats to stop them. Fraud is just part of the nature of the game, just make sure you find ways to rightly protect yourself byway of business insurance, disclaimers, copyright, and contractual agreements.

The copycats and fakesters will always be a few steps behind you when you have an authentic and unique way of doing business. They can’t make a new move until you do! Remember that! This is why I believe personality, strategies, and unique formulas/style matters. People fail to properly brand themselves and create a “deep” digital footprint, hence making it easy for others to duplicate them. My brand is heavily predicated on ME, my life, my experiences, my flow, my style, even to how I communicate. Sure people can and have stolen parts of my business, but bay bay they fail miserably in trying to execute like me. What’s sad is they don’t get the results I do, why? Because I am heavily involved in the process of my procedures products, etc. What I do in business is always changing, some things even by the day, week, or month. This grants me a huge advantage, because I must remain very knowledgeable in my space and grant alternative info if need be. Most copycats will NOT keep up with the craft or info.

So, how what does this have to do with being part of the business gold standard? Everything! Authenticity in business is a gold standard, one the is actually very lacking. Even when it comes to make big name producers, companies, celebrities, you’ll be surprised how un-authentic they are and how they themselves have played copycat. They are always “re-inventing” themselves because often times they never were the real thing. We see this with many fake gurus on theses internet streets, their hand is in everything, they’re an expert on everything, etc., why? Because they’re shooting darks in the dark, hoping to land on target.

So, my little bit of advice is:

Be authentic, but to be authentic you must identify who you truly are, and what are YOUR strong attributes in business that can minimize duplication.
If you need help with business safeguards, get some consulting or a researcher that can help you identify some weak points of entry that may leave you vulnerable to copycats.
Be unique and have a signature process of doing things.
If you catch someone stealing, duplicating, or being a copycat; go after them and have ZERO mercy! Set the tone and prosecute to the fullest extent! Make an example out of them.
Stop living in fear. Understand when you’re authentic you have a deep well of ideas, strategies, and creativity. They don’t!
Always be clear in your contractual agreements, website disclaimer, legalities listed in/on digital products. I do not shy away from making my position clear.
Do a SWOT analysis of your business, and market research to see common points of entries where’s people tend to copy.

Hopefully this blog can ease your anxiety and get you out of production paralysis and you can take that great chance of going into the marketplace with full confidence. Knowing the realities of business is not always fun, but don’t stress over it, it’s business, not personal; that is until someone violates. Remember, true gold cannot be duplicated!

SUNDAY RESET FOR HOME BASE BUSINESS

Monday is for the “weak”, Sunday is for the “strong”, let’s get your home-base business powered up through cleaning and organization.

Sunday is the real Monday. If I not mistaken in a famous song of Kanye titled Selah, in one of his bars he says “they say the weak start on Monday, but the strong start on Sunday” and I totally concur with this notion. Sunday is the most chill day to optimize in your business and here’s why:

Most of the world use/views it as a universal laidback day.
The majority of others are not conducting business.
It helps set the tone for the rest of the week, kicking of your Monday to a galactic start.
You can catch up on emails, no one really responds to emails on a Sunday.
Lay out your project management agenda.
Organize, structure, clean home and home-base (aka home-office)
Rollout and schedule direct marketing templates, posts, blogs, and more!

Monday’s energy is for most is dreadful, regretful, and hectic often feeling as if they’re already behind the curveball. I believe this is due to the intense vibration and expectations for the week, many people put such a demand on themselves that they already feel as though they’ve lost.

Area of operation the KITCHEN! Running a home-base business your world’s tend to collide a little and intermingle and that’s okay, but draw strong boundaries and organize your home and fixtures in a way that doesn’t increase disorganization or a mess. I promise you your kitchen is a major factor of presentation and vibe especially if you have an open kitchen like I do. It is imperative you have a clean kitchen, meals planned, and everything in it rightful space. Here are a few things I am doing in my kitchen today:

Cleaning out refrigerator.
Light cabinet organization.
Meal planning for the week.
Washing dishes.
Making a 1/2 gallon or cold press coffee and 1 gallon of green tea w/mint, limes, and lemon.

My kitchen is a very intimate space for me so how it looks and how I move about in it really effects my mood. I love my little tea sets and coffee cups, spoons, French press machine, etc. It is these little moments of daily rituals that enrich my life. If my kitchen is chaotic most likely so am I.

If your room is a mess so are you. Your most intimate living quarters can serve as a clear reflection of your internal self. It is imperative for home-base business owners to maintain a space the allows for free flowing energy. A lack of organization and cleanliness in these areas weighs on the soul.

A messy bedroom causes you to lose time, immediately invoke feeling of stress, and confusion. If you want to jumpstart your day and wakeup un-groggy with your feet hitting the ground running…. CLEAN YOUR ROOM!

Upon waking up do not scroll on phone, get up immediately and following make up your bed ASAP! I’d dare so say have your daily workout clothes and wardrobe set the night before. Here a somethings I am doing today to set the tone for my bedroom:

Hanging up some new wall decor.
Washing all laundry, comforters, sheets, etc.
Hanging and folding all laundry (this is major). I have a bad habit of leaving clothes on my chaise lounge or worst on the floor in a clean pile. (lol don’t judge me)
Dusting! I live in an old factory loft so dust is life around here.
Maximize and organize some unused space/storage.

Lastly, and of course your home office the home base of operations! If you want to curate productivity, mastery, and functionality CLEAN YOUR OFFICE! This is all about mindset business owners, you want to minimize spacial clutter that we tend to internalize on a subconscious level. My ideas and production increases astronomically, it’s as if I’ve taken a mega B12 shot, filling me with creativity and energy. Here are some things I am working on as I upgrade my home-base:

Refurbishing and painting some repurposed furniture.
Hanging up some pics and wall units.
Putting together my new cafe bar.
Buying and setting up new small refrigerator.
Arranging my plants and repotting some.
Painting my walls GOLD!
Setting up new lighting fixtures.
Organizing files and paperwork.
Some other miscellaneous tasks.

Well, there you have it! Please share what you plan to do? Are you mapping out and maximizing your day for the upcoming week? This may sound like a lot, but in fact this is all very obtainable in less than eight hours. Do not allow volume to discourage you, anything is better than nothing. The awesome thing about this type of start is you can massively smash the majority of your week’s tasks.

Please be sure to comment and share your ideas below, we’d love to hear from you here at CEO DriveHer. For more please check us out at http://www.ceodriveher.shop and email us.

MONDAYS ARE THE BEST DAYS

SUBSCRIBE TO MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL

If you ever wanted a great reason to restart anything or to get a fresh start on what you’ve already been doing, then Monday should be a great reason for you too. Mondays are filled with possibilities, you get to from scratch map, plan, set, and visualize your goals and intentions. Monday starts the countdown of a seven day plumb-line (a measuring instrument), it allows you to measure short-term and long-term goals.

Monday – Write out your plans, map your week, itemize your goals from greatest to least. Write out what is of most importance and how much time you need to commit to it for completion. You also want to set a budget! What needs to be paid, what are you planning to invest in, figure out how much money do you need to make this week. As a gigger, freelancer, entrepreneur we have an income that has many variables, so this is key. You do not want to be playing catch-up on anything. If there are bills that need to be paid, go ahead and pay them! If you have to cut back on expenses and you clearly see this, DO IT! Don’t assume the money is coming in, this creates a more stressful environment on yourself mentally.

Tuesday – Execute hard! Go full throttle on you mapped out goals, go as hard as you can, work that day like you have 1-hour to turn in your last assignment which is the biggest grade of the semester. This is a method I use because I notice it gets me way ahead of the curve ball later in the week, plus it sets the tone for good momentum.

Wednesday – REPEAT Tuesday. Review your Monday Mapping plan and see where you are on the plan, are you making progress, are you behind. Read over it daily so you’re reminded of what needs to be done and you don’t risk forgetting.

Thursday – Calculate what percentage of your goals have been completed. See what needs to be dropped and can be reassigned. This happens, don’t worry focus on what can be done and completed. Until you get good at setting measurable goals you often will have to tweak them. Again don’t feel like a failure, we tend to over stretch over reach on our goals, that’s okay; over time you’ll get better and know instinctively what needs to be niched down so that you’re successful accomplishing your mapped out goals/plans.

Friday – Reflect, reflect, reflect. Be real with yourself, ask yourself if you’ve given your best to your goals, have you stuck to landig? Now, while reflecting you’re still working, but working with full intention of completing tasks. Seeing where you can add more umph and drive to what it is you’re doing. Are you gassed up or all gassed out? Calibrate yourself and again be realistic, but know how and when to push yourself more. This degree of self-awareness and mental calibration breeds self-honesty plus you see areas in which you may need to outsource. We cannot do it all, but initially as business owners it is not a must it is vital to the success of our business(es).

Saturday – Coast on out! Ride the wave accept what you’ve done and begin to polish up and close out all tasks left or completion.

Sunday – Rest & Reflect. While going into reboot mode, at this point you’ve slowed down, you’ve accepted your projections, you’ve accepted what you’ve completed or not completed, and you are game planning mentally of what you can do better next week.

In closing I know this may seem like a lot, but in fact what I am asking of you may require only 10-15 minutes of your day exempting Monday which may require 60-minutes and that’s okay. You committing 60-minutes to the rest of your week on a Monday can save you hours of your time and money. Don’t sell yourself short by skipping this weekly ritual. Many businesses, corporations, and government entities use Mondays as a means to power-up and motivate their staff. I worked in government and we always set agendas, quotas, plans of execution so that we all could work optimally. If you’re going to be in business for yourself you must begin to do this immediately! Go in God’s speed, be motivated my fellow entrepreneurs!