The Trapeze Of Life

However we define our existing life – how we separate the meaningful aspects from the stressful, the wasteful from the productive – results in how we feel about our daily existence. Within the complexity of an individual’s existence – often cleverly hidden and obscure – are activities that we truly love. Sometimes we don’t know they are present until they are gone; often we forge ahead randomly looking, hope we will come across something to do that we love.Typically, we don’t have a strategy to identify and maximize doing the things we love in our lives.

This inner world of ambiguity becomes our comfort zone – something we become so accustomed to that it becomes ‘normal’. The more ‘normal’ it becomes, the more elusive doing more of what we love becomes.

Doing more of what you love in your life is great theory and no one I have met ever argues that it is not possible. The struggle comes with the attempt to change from a life where doing what you love is buried deep within a more complex life to a life where doing what you love becomes a priority, around which all other necessary activities take a back seat. It’s kind of like swinging on a trapeze…

Think of your existing life, with all it’s challenges and wonder, all it’s demands and stresses, all it’s joy and learning as a trapeze bar that you are gripping, swinging back and forth over a safety net. Over time, you get pretty good at it and with increased skill comes comfort. It becomes ‘normal’.

In the distance, is a second trapeze bar – swinging but empty. It represents a life with focuses on doing what you love first and most. Unfortunately to get there, you have to let go of the first one and travel through the air to grab the second one. And…there is no safety net.

Personal transformation of any kind is this scary! Once committed, at some point in a transformational journey, you will encounter the feeling of being between bars with no net!

How to deal with this? Follow this blog over the next month or call your coach!

Fear 101- Get Curious

Last post, I described the feeling we can experience as we introduce change into our lives as being similar to feeling like we are in mid air, between two trapeze bars with no apparent safety net. The most common reaction to this analogy is how afraid we would be. Fear is a common, naturally occurring emotion that can have a wide range of impacts on us – everything from paralysis to boundless energy!

Over the next few weeks, I want to investigate fear and suggest techniques you might try to overcome the fear you experience when looking at change.

The first things to try is getting curious. Fear is painful when you try to push it away. Don’t resist. Allow the fear to fill your whole body and be completely aware and curious of how it affects you. A funny thing happens when you do this, the fear usually disappears because you’re not afraid of it.

Remember those dreams where you’re being chased by something horrible? Fear is the same way. It’s chasing you, but once you stop running and turn around, it goes up in smoke, because it was an illusion.
Often fear is triggered by an event, a comment from someone, a thought. When the fear arrives, make a quick note about how it arose – what triggered it. Over time, you’ll begin to anticipate when a specific fear might arise and, in that anticipation, be more prepared to face it down. For some, journaling about the experience is a great way to embed the experience in a positive and useful way…and you always have notes to go back to to refresh your memory.

If getting started on a ‘fear reduction’ program is to much of a challenge, you can always get your coach to support you!

Too Many Choices! I’m Stuck!

At this point, if you have been sorting through the various alternatives that will lead you to doing more of what you love, you will likely have several solid candidates. Using your personal values as the filter has lent accuracy and credibility to each…but you’re stuck!

Randomly moving between the choices will only serve to confuse the process and, depending on your energy and mood, you will see the same choice in different light on a different day. Yikes!

Try the ‘reverse’ approach.

Recently, a friend moved from a larger to a smaller home. She had been a lifelong collector of art and was struggling where to put the individual pieces – largely because there was no way there was enough wall space for everything in the new home. Something had to go…but what?

The reality is that, when confronted with more choices, the brain struggles to make decisions. An effective process of elimination will make the difference. The difficulty for my friend was that she started with her favourite pieces and worked down. Since she was fond of most of the work, eliminating anything became very problematic.

I suggested she start by eliminating the pieces that, under no circumstances, would work in the new house. Size shape and color scheme were actually quite easy ways to rule out pieces that could not practically  and appropriately fit in the new home. She actually ruled out 2/3 of the art work.

What she had left were not only beautiful pieces, it was easy to find a place in the new home. Unstuck!
The same process works when looking at alternatives for new directions in your life. You may want to do all of them – and maybe you can some day – but right now, which are the ones that just won’t work? Once those have been  set aside, the choices left behind will make it simpler and easier to decide where to begin the transition to doing more of what you love.

If this doesn’t, call your coach!

To Do More Of What You Love, Start With A Map

Once a person is seriously engaged in changing their lives to do more of what they love, it becomes quite apparent that there are many moving parts to the process. The various elements are diverse, often unclear, and sometimes actually compete with one another. Organizing this wide array of information is an imposing task and this is the step where many people give up in confusion or frustration.

Fear not, my friends, there is definitely a way!

When I decided to start a coaching practice, there was a variety of critical elements to address for me to launch my business: coach training and certification, financial aspects – both personal and business, marketing plan, tools and assessments, physical location, professional affiliations to name a few.

That’s when I discovered mind mapping. Starting with the central point naming the goal (become a coach), each of the critical elements has its own stream, with its own elements related to it. Once complete, the map gives you a visual image of your entire project and allows you to create the individual action steps to complete each piece. Mind mapping is the creation of Tony Buzan and his website provides a great explanation of the process. If you want to test another version, a free version of mind mapping can be found here.

Of course, if you are still stuck, you can call your coach!

Business plan can boost odds of success

Q: Why prepare a business plan? I'm very experienced in my field and don't need financing. My uncle says I have a good idea and should just get started before somebody else beats me to it.

A: The need for business planning is all about managing risk. The greater the risk, the greater the need to investigate, research and think through all relevant aspects of starting or operating a business.

Some business ventures or situations carry little risk. Maybe your business gives you a nice, stable income, you don't particularly want or need to grow, or you and your employees could survive if your business suddenly shut down. In those cases, you may not need a formal business plan, and need only keep your eye on your market and on others who could affect your business.

But the more you are risking, in terms of dollar investment, time spent deferring something else you need or want to do, or maybe forgoing income for your family, the more you need to formalize your plan.

Veteran SCORE counselor and small-business owner Matt Fitzgerald says: "The value lies in the process of researching and thinking about your business in a systematic and critical way … not in producing a finished document."

Avoiding mistakes

You'll need a document, though, to share your ideas and plan with others. The plan is not only important for starting up, but for running the business as well. It takes time now, but can avoid costly, perhaps disastrous, mistakes later.

For startups, it gives you an indication of how successful you might be. For existing businesses, it tells you the condition of your operation. Can you take advantage of opportunities that may arise or deal effectively with challenges that may occur?

You can start or run a successful business without a business plan, and you can fail with a good one. An appropriate plan just increases your chances of success.

SCORE counselor

Fitzgerald suggests a thorough review of a business plan from someone like a SCORE counselor. "Getting a third party to serve as a sounding board will provide valuable, unbiased feedback on how to improve things, look at the plan from a lender's or investor's perspective, and raise questions you may have overlooked," he says.

Fitzgerald will teach a SCORE workshop on business planning on June 16. Learn more and register at www.scorehouston.org.

SCORE seeks volunteers to help small business

Published in the May 22, 2015

Q: How can I volunteer some of my time to help small business owners start and grow their businesses?

A: SCORE is a nonprofit association where you can volunteer to share your business experience, give back to your community, gain satisfaction from seeing others succeed, and connect with like-minded people. Each year, SCORE volunteers touch thousands of lives, sharing their knowledge and experience so that entrepreneurs can realize their dreams of business success. 

Nationwide more than 11,000 men and women in 320 SCORE chapters donate their time and talent to assist America's small businesses. At SCORE Houston, volunteers provide free, confidential one-to-one and team business mentoring and low-cost training workshops and seminars. We now counsel aspiring entrepreneurs at 12 locations and we teach about 130 workshops each year in 16 locations around the Houston area.

Whether you have owned your own small business, come from a large company, are retired, are a college student, or just have a sincere commitment to helping small businesses or volunteering, there is a place for you as a SCORE Houston volunteer.

Whatever their background, SCORE counselors share a belief that small business owners are more likely to succeed if they have business mentors to guide them. We are seeking new volunteers of diverse backgrounds and experiences to complement and grow our team of 105 volunteers in the Houston area. 

SCORE volunteers can contribute their time in different ways. 

Many are business mentors who meet with our clients to help them with business plans, apply for financing, and grow their businesses. But, being a large service organization, we require administrative, technical, and management functions so we can provide our client services. 

Much of our work can be done in the evenings or weekends from anywhere. 

So, there are lots of ways a volunteer can help SCORE help other people.

New members go through an orientation program to get familiar with SCORE and comfortable with the counseling process. All members stay up-to-date by attending regular monthly training sessions.

In Houston, we share offices and work closely with the U.S. Small Business Administration. We have twelve satellite locations throughout the city and are looking to establish more. Visit our website, www.Houston.SCORE.org. 

If you have questions or would like to volunteer to help people achieve business success, please e-mail us at scorehouston@gmail.com, or, call our office at 713-487-6565.

Workshop explores options for starting a business

Published in the May 10, 2015 

Q: I want to get started in a small business, but I can't decide among buying an existing business, operating a franchise or starting from scratch. Can you suggest anything? 
A: There are a number of ways of getting into business, each with its pros and cons. Fortunately, there's a free workshop coming up that can help you sort through the alternatives. SCORE and Capital One Bank have partnered to present the "Business Alternatives for the Entrepreneur" workshop scheduled for 9 a.m. to noon Thursday at the Kingdom Builders' Center, 6011 W. Orem Drive. This is one of a series of workshops designed to help small businesses survive and thrive.

The workshop has three parts.

1. Diana Trondsen, FranNet Franchise Consultant, will show you how to search for and evaluate franchise alternatives. Trondsen has more than 15 years of experience in single- and multi-unit franchises.Trondsen will help you explore the franchise opportunities and options that can meet your budget for entry while maximizing your earnings. She will take you through the process of choosing a business that will fit you well and give you control over your finances and plans for retirement. Learn why it is so important to make the right choice upfront and how to go about finding the right fit for you.
   
2. Mike Fadden, SCORE mentor, will help you explore whether you should start a new business or buy an existing one. Fadden has been involved in the startup of three companies and has business acquisition experience. He will review the 10 most important factors you need to consider in evaluating acquisition options. Sample topics include: What management experience is required? Is funding one alternative easier than funding another? Will you control your own destiny? What are the business valuation metrics?
   
3. Neil Polansky, of the city of Houston's Business Solutions Center, will discuss specific business operating requirements including "doing business as" designations, state sales tax permits, federal taxpayer ID numbers, appraisal of business personal property (rendition), financing options, deed restrictions, the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, city contracting basics, and the Hire Houston First and Liftoff Houston programs.

At the workshop you also will have the opportunity to meet one-on-one with a SCORE mentor to discuss your situation and network with other small-business operators who are facing similar challenges.