Passive income is a hot-button issue right now in a lot of circles, and for GOOD reason. It really fits hand-in-hand with the Design Life Project lifestyle, as a real way to create more balance in our lives, work less for more money, and develop a business that supports our lifestyle, rather than the other way around.

If you’re like I was, you may think:

“I’m busy and my business is thriving. Why would I need to develop a system for passive income?”

I’ve thought this over and over – and figured the whole “passive income craze” had no relevance in my service-based, client-based, CUSTOM, built-from-scratch, one-of-a-kind business. But I was totally wrong. It is relevant – to ANY business, but especially creative ones, and here’s why:

• Invest your time instead of just spending it

The biggest case for creating a passive revenue stream in your business is it’s an amazing INVESTMENT. Not investment of money in the traditional sense, though. As your business grows, you’ll realize your most precious asset is time. You may think time is time and goes by no matter what – but it’s not really true. There’s a way to invest your time – and it’s in developing a passive income system. You spend the time ONCE and it keeps working for you – without you spending the time over and over again. Your time is exponentially MORE valuable when spending it creating a passive income system. It can potentially grow and grow, unlike how you’re spending time now. Time is finite in the trade-hours-for-money scenario.

• Easiest time in history for passive incomes

Right now is the easiest and most fertile planting ground for developing a passive income system. It’s a bit ridiculous how easy it is to start. The cost is super low, and you can start it RIGHT NOW. You don’t need a degree, or even a specialty. You just need a passion – ANY passion. If you know anything about anything – there’s a profit to be made on it. There are people out there who want to know what you know, or want to buy what you make. And connecting those clients with you and your offering is the easiest it’s EVER been. NOW is the time to start. It truly is the future, and the entrance gates are unlocked and are wide open right now. Why NOT start now?

• Business “insurance” plan

As women, building a business can be particularly scary. We have an extra set of worries when it comes to starting a family. There is such an uncertainty. If you already have children, you already know how big of a change happened in your life. If you don’t already have kids, you can only imagine how your life would change. For all of us though, when a business depends on only us – we get worried something could happen to us and render us temporarily unable to work. Developing a passive income system is a way to serve as a backup plan – or an insurance type business for us. It reduces our client dependency for our business to thrive. And who doesn’t want a little extra security right?

• Helping other people isn’t limited

The businesses that do the best, are those that HELP people. It is fulfilling as a business owner, and a as person, to be able to help people. As it currently stands though, you can only help so many people, because you’re just one person. When you develop a system, it can grow and grow and help many more people than you could ever handle on your own. Your reach is spread to the sky – and you can truly feel amazing about that! It is worth it!

 

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So now that we’re in agreement – you may be wondering where to start? How do you develop a passive income stream in YOUR businesses? This is exactly why I developed my newest e-course, Create Passive Profits. There is information out there on how to begin, but it’s very general and super muddled. I’ve worked hard to devour all the information, speak to those currently doing it, and clean it up in an easy to understand and customizable way for CREATIVE businesses. There’s a lot of junk information out there, car salesman type techniques and just generally outdated information. I created a course that I wish was out there! This course will help you to develop the idea and hit the ground running with it. Early-bird registration for Create Passive Profits opens next week. Make sure you’re signed up to the DLP newsletter to be first to know when registration opens!

Cheers to a bright future – filled with passive incomes, fulfilling work, and being with the ones you love!

Lately, I’ve been thinking a LOT about the future. Entrepreneurship and running your own business can both stable and unstable at the same time.

Now, when comparing it to a 9-5 for someone else, I do think it’s MORE stable. You control your destiny ultimately, after all. No one can lay you off or fire you. You control what you charge and how much you make, you control how much you work. Why then, is going out on your own (and STAYING out on your own) so scary? Why is it seen as such a big risk? I think our biggest fear of starting our own business – is the FUTURE of our business. Will people always buy what we’re selling? Will we always be busy? What if what we offer goes out of style? What if what we offer becomes obsolete? I’ll still argue that this can (and does) happen to a 9-5 you could be working at as well. They can get phased out as well. BUT… there are MANY successful businesses that have been around for double digit years and I think they have some knowledge of what it takes to survive. It’s NOT just sitting still and keeping your head down. You have to be flexible, have lots of passion and tons of tenacity. Here’s a few steps for the small business entrepreneur and how we can future-proof our businesses:

Dream, Dream, Dream

Maintaining a successful business takes ideas – and lots of them. Good ideas, and bad ideas – but it takes ideas. If you don’t already have an idea book, get one. Ideas are fleeting and the good ones will leave your brain just as soon as you get distracted. Whether you’re using dictation software on your phone, or an old-fashioned journal – don’t trust your brain to remember. Also, don’t edit your ideas and dreams. Just write them down, because they may lead to something else in the future. Dreams are the sustenance to a thriving business. They keep the business nourished, happy and healthy.

Listen to your Heart

It’s imperative that your HEART is in what you do. Infuse yourself and what you love into your business. You have to have an undying passion for what you do. If you’re heart WAS in it, but isn’t anymore – it’s time to re-evaluate what you do and maybe change it. If you don’t love it, why will anyone else love it? A lot of creative brands these days are creating umbrella brands (most often self-branded) so that they can be free to follow any path that it takes them. If you develop a strong brand around YOU, you can always change things up when you change. This will ensure your heart is always in it. Not sure what you love? Fill out the YES list and see what you need to infuse into your life/business to bring in more passion.

Action speaks – Do

The best idea in the world will die if you don’t take action. I’m very action oriented now (I did NOT use to be though), and it KILLS me to see dreams fly away when someone doesn’t take action on them. Fear is so strong, that it holds many people back. It took me awhile to understand that fear is an emotion, to recognize, and then move on. If I let fear stop me, and I had sat by and didn’t do thing I was afraid of, I might not be here (see my story if you haven’t read it already). Action doesn’t need to be dramatic or grandiose. It can be small, simple action. The more important principle to action is to just DO. As long as you are moving, you are moving. If you just spent 10 minutes a day on something, before you know it, you will be far on your way!

I hope this encourages you today friends. If you haven’t taken the leap into entrepreneurship, or if you want to change up your business but you’re afraid of change, take this to heart. I see this work every day with all kinds of businesses. Give it a go, friends!

 

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Tired of trading hours for dollars? Interested in learning how to build systems to develop passive revenue streams? I’ll be opening registration next week for the Create Passive Profits e-course. This session is going to be information PACKED to give you lots of options for your business, whether you are service based or product based. Make sure you’re signed up for the newsletter so that you can snag your spot!

I’m so excited to let you all know that the Pretty Perfect Process digital workshop has now launched!

This is a self-study course that you can take at ANY time! You can take it NOW and it’s 100% online.

If you’re like most creatives, you started your business out of your passion and your love. You probably developed a system or process as you went along – and it revolves around YOU. Now you’re getting busier and you’re burning the candle from both ends. Perhaps your business relies a little TOO heavily on your input now.

There’s a smarter way to work, that will free up your time AND will be better for your clients.

Whether you are still in the early stages of planning your business, or you have been in business for years (but can’t seem to take it to the next level), Pretty Perfect Process is your chance to streamline your processes to make your life easier and to make the process easier, clearer, and more fun for your clients. You will put them to ease with your knowledge and ability to provide what they are needing before they even ask for it.

Pretty Perfect Process is a 4 lesson self-study digital workshop designed to streamline your processes in a thoughtful and intelligent way.

Pretty Perfect Process is customized to your business, and will help automate the processes that are extraneous so that you can get to the parts you LOVE about your business.

PPP focuses on 4 modules to design your process:

1. How perfecting process catapults your business
2. Evaluate ideal clients and audit current processes
3. Perfect client experience every time
4. Speed up and streamline the steps so that you can focus on the fun!

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Pretty Perfect Process is a online, self-study digital workshop that you can take anywhere, anytime.

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Each module will be available immediately in the digital classroom online. For each module, you’ll get:

• A comprehensive training video for each lesson (approximately 15 – 30 minutes long)
• The video lesson in on Vimeo – Mobile-friendly
• Worksheets and examples to help you apply the techniques to your business
• Action steps so you can get actually build your processes as you go

Pretty Perfect Process is taught by Graphic and Web Designer Cathy Olson, owner of the design studio Love-Inspired. She has over 14 years experience as a professional graphic designer, and has worked with a range of businesses – big ones like Disney, Costco, Best Buy and Walmart – to small ones like work-from-home moms, working from a desk and a laptop in the wee hours. Cathy started her own design business over 6 years ago, and in that time has helped hundreds of businesses find their authentic voice through exploration, social media, marketing, graphics, and web. She has dealt first-hand with the juggling a thriving business, being a mom to a growing family, and personal goals. She’s experienced overwhelm first hand, and has learned how to balance work AND life in a fun, personalized and EASY TO STICK WITH way. This class is perfect for designers, photographers, artists and creatives who want to have more free time, attract their dream clients, work smarter not harder, and truly start to LIVE the LIFE they want to.

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I’ve been thinking a lot this week about sharing love and sharing inspiration with others. I created this print for you, and I’d love to share it with you to brighten your day!

Click here to download the Above All Else print in Peach!

Click here to download the Above All Else print in Gold Foil!

I’m excited to share with you that I’ll be offering a scholarship opportunity to someone for the New Year’s edition of the Design Life Project e-course that starts in a couple weeks!

Since we are so close to selling out, I’d love to offer up this opportunity to someone who may be needing a little help, but who wants to find some balance between work and life and may be feeling a little stuck.

To enter to win this scholarship:

• Comment on this post below. In your comment, please let me know how this course will help you in your business/life and what you look forward to most.
• OPTIONAL: Share on social media about the Design Life Project, and what excites you most about finally gaining some balance. You can use this graphic for posting if you’d like!

That’s it! Winner will be picked next Monday, February 10th and will be notified by email. Class starts the following Monday on February 17th. Woo hoooo!

 

Good luck everyone!!

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Create a balance between work, play, life + love.

Design Life Project is a five-week, online course to help you custom-design your LIFE. Design Life Project will help you find your balance between work, play, life and love by identifying your core, discovering your strengths and weaknesses, and your natural rhythm. Design Life Project will help clarify and simplify your scheduling, help you to know what you should be working on when, get things out of your head and organized, and allow for maximum creativity to do the BEST DESIGN WORK you’ve done. Let’s make the REST OF YOUR LIFE, the BEST OF YOUR LIFE.

You will learn how to tailor a life balance so that you can wake up in the morning feeling FREE and totally present. Design Life Project will help you to develop a customized and flexible schedule that will FINALLY bring all the pieces together, once and for all.

Are you a creative who is:

• Juggling too many things at once, and are afraid of DROPPING the balls?
• Afraid of being too stressed to do your BEST work?
• Making mistakes, and being TOO HARD on yourself for them?
• Burning the candle from BOTH ends?

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Perhaps you’re JUST starting out in a design business, and you want to start it right so that you develop the balance early on. You’ll learn what I’ve learned in YEARS of running a business, balancing a new family, and doing your best work, in just 5 weeks! I will be completely TRANSPARENT with you and tell you EXACTLY what did and didn’t work for me!

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Would you like to:

• Wake up in the morning and LIVE out your ideal day?
• Be clear on what you need to work on, and WHEN?
• Use a schedule you can finally STICK to?
• Use 100% of your creative potential and feel TOTALLY inspired?
• Work with your IDEAL clients?
• Know the VALUE of your work and price it right?

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Some testimonials from past students:

“When you work in any creative industry, or work for yourself, most likely you let that seep into every aspect of your being. As full filling as this kind of work can be, it can also be exhausting and overwhelming. It wasn’t until this course that I realized I was missing something. I am a designer by trade, and I wasn’t designing my life! The number one thing that I loved about this course was the confidence Cathy instilled in all us to take control. We truly have the power to design a life we love. There is a place where work and family coexist without guilt, and where we can do our best work free from burnout. I am so excited about the directions my life and business will take with this new found knowledge and support.”

“The Design Life Project encouraged me to really think about how I spend my time. I also took a long hard look at my business practices and the reasons behind why I do things a certain way and where improvements could be made. I walked away with a clear picture of what I need to implement in my business and a list of action items. More importantly, I feel encouraged and inspired to actually get those things done!”

“This course has helped me spend less time on the things that I don’t enjoy, while spending more time on my creative projects. I feel like my creativity has grown as I have gotten more inspired to spend time on the fun parts of what I do. During these weeks, I have given up some of my responsibilities to spend more time on fun projects. I am so happy that my work and quality has gotten better as I am zoning in on the type of work I do. I also started raising my prices on my cakes and will be raising prices on other things I offer as well. By raising my cake prices, I’ve been able to hire an assistant to make the process of baking and decorating go quicker and free up my time. I used to work 7 days a week, but I am now working 6 days a week and spending Sundays with my family. This is HUGE for me as I previously had no life/work balance and worked 24/7. I am making a conscious effort to stop working at a certain time each night and eat dinner and spend time with my family. It doesn’t happen every day, but at least it happens a few times a week and will start happening more as I keep working towards my goals. Thank you Cathy for all of your inspiration! I still have work to do, but I now know what needs to be done, what my priorities are, and have a clear vision for my businesses, know the type of clients I want to work with, and I see that I can’t say yes to everything, and I know I need to pay for help to make it all happen. I have learned SO much.”

“Being a business owner, wife, and mother of 3 little ones can be challenging at times. Last year, I was helping my kids with homework while answering emails on my phone, and ordered pizza for dinner far too many times. I took the Design Life Project last fall and it has made such a difference in the way I schedule my day! And Cathy is awesome!! If you want to design a new and better way of doing things, go get your spot!”

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Week 1: Your Ideal Day, Motivations and Goals

In the first week, you will learn how to discover who you are and what you were made to do, and how you’d like to do it. I will help you identify what brings you JOY and what ignites your best work. You will learn exactly HOW to map out your ideal day, and what you’d like it to look like. In little, easy ways, you can start filling your days with JOY.

Week 2: Developing Boundaries and Implementing Them

In the second week, you will learn how to create boundaries, and I will teach you how to start implementing them RIGHT away to start clearing the clutter. I will help you choose which boundaries to put in place, for your desired results. You will be able to start clearing out some time and getting some time to yourself to do the things you love.

Week 3: Getting Help and Developing Your Team

In the third week, you will learn how to get help to clear off your plate, and how to afford it. You will learn tips and tricks to simplify your workflow so that YOU are doing less of the work you don’t love, and MORE of the work you do LOVE. You will develop a plan to work smarter and not harder, right away.

Week 4: Creating a Customized Schedule, Get Laser Focused and Be PRODUCTIVE

In the fourth week, you will learn how to custom-tailor a schedule to work WITH who you are, and how you like to work. You will learn that it’s okay to throw out the traditional ways of doing things and you will learn how to design it to work with your personality and style. You will finally develop a plan JUST FOR YOU, so that everything fits and everything flows. I will also help you get you laser focused, by following your schedule and allowing yourself to be FULLY present in what you are currently doing. You will learn the art of focusing on your project, on your family, on your friends – at the right place and time. You will start getting the MOST of your time so that you can stay productive and get more MEANINGFUL things done (in less time).

Week 5: Putting it All Together and Fine Tuning

In the fifth week, you will learn how to fine tune everything you’ve developed, and help you put it all together. You will start to master living out all of the pieces in balance, and you will be able to fine-tune the areas to work even better. This week we will be oiling the machine that has brought you to living your ideal day. It will all come together this week, and you will finish the course with a well-developed, customized plan to fit only you.

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Design Life Project is taught by Graphic and Web Designer Cathy Olson, owner of the design studio Love-Inspired. She has over 13 years experience as a professional graphic designer, and has worked with a range of businesses – big ones like Disney, Costco, Best Buy and Walmart – to small ones like work-from-home moms, working from a desk and a laptop in the wee hours. Cathy started her own design business over 5 years ago, and in that time has helped hundreds of businesses find their authentic voice through exploration, social media, marketing, graphics, and web. She has dealt first-hand with the juggling a thriving business, being a mom to a growing family, and personal goals. She’s experienced overwhelm first hand, and has learned how to balance work AND life in a fun, personalized and EASY TO STICK WITH way. This class is perfect for designers, photographers, artists and creatives who want to have more free time, attract their dream clients, work smarter not harder, and truly start to LIVE the LIFE they want to.

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Let’s FINALLY develop some balance and peace in your design/life. In this course, you’ll learn about setting goals to make your heart SING, determining which boundaries are necessary and ACTUALLY how to STICK to them. You’ll learn how to create laser focus and to REALLY stay productive. You’ll learn how to really be present in what you’re doing and be the BEST at it that you can be. Instead of living someone else’s life/dream/way of scheduling, you will learn the skills to design YOUR ideal day, YOUR ideal week, YOUR ideal year.

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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

I’m so busy and overwhelmed already. Will I have time for your course? Can I register, but start it later when I know things will have quietened down? The course spans over 5 weeks. Each week we will have lessons and worksheets, and you can do them in your spare time. If you don’t have spare time, the course will HELP you FIND some. Honestly, the BEST time to do this program is WHEN you are overwhelmed, because you’ll start to clear it out RIGHT away. You will also have access to the private Facebook group to bounce your ideas off of. If you would still rather go at your own pace, you can. You will be able to download all the content and access the course site for three months after the program finishes.

What kind of teaching can I expect in the course? What’s included? The Design Life Project e-course is robust. Enrolling in Design Life Project includes full access to the online classroom, video tutorials, Q&A and worksheets to identify your ideal day, as well as access to a private Facebook group where you can connect and share with your classmates and get feedback directly from Cathy. You’ll create an actual working system that is customized to you, so you don’t have to waste another moment in overwhelm or frustration.

When does the class start? Registration opens January 15, 2014! Class begins Monday February 17, 2014. You’ll be able to download all content and access the course site for three months after the program finishes.

Does the course meet at a certain time? Does it matter what part of the world I’m in? Design Life Project is a virtual course, you can participate from anywhere at anytime! Lessons will be posted online throughout the week, and you can log into the course at any time to view them.

How much time can I expect to spend on the course? You’ll get new content on the course site throughout the week, M-F. We’ll start with a lesson, then a worksheet, some observation and testing, and then end the week with an action step. You can expect to spend anywhere between 30 to 90 minutes reviewing the content and completing the exercises and work for the class each day, depending on the length of the lesson. Some people may work through the content more quickly, and others may want to spend more time. All the content will help you develop your personalized plan by the end of the Design Life Project course.

How are payments handled? Payment is securely processed via PayPal and can be made using your PayPal balance or credit card. Please note that all course correspondence will be sent to the email address associated with your PayPal account. To use a different email address, please forward your PayPal invoice to cathy@love-inspired.com.

Other questions? Email me at cathy@love-inspired.

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I think anytime we start a new year, we do the same thing – we take stock of where we are, how far we’ve come, and what we want for the future. Then comes in the comparison. Where is everyone else? Where are they heading? How do I compare to them?

I recently posted an instagram from a quote from Jon Acuff:

“Don’t compare your beginning, to someone else’s middle.” – Jon Acuff

It got a lot of likes from yall. Which leads me to believe we all do this, and we all know we shouldn’t. When we compare, it’s completely unfair to ourselves. We aren’t comparing apples to apples, and we are pretending like we are. I don’t think there is a problem with a bit of healthy competition – but we take it so much further. The trouble with comparison is that it is like a thorn. It starts simple enough, and starts bugging us, bothering us, and getting worse. It soon becomes so bad that it has morphed our sense of ourselves. We now see ourselves through a false set of eyes. We are lying to ourselves about our worth by comparing ourselves to someone else. We are also lying to ourselves if we think someone else’s path is BETTER than our own.

Let me say something refreshing for a moment –

It doesn’t MATTER how you compare to someone ELSE. It really doesn’t. All that matters is how you compare to YOURSELF.

The only way to compare apples to apples it to compare our present selves with our past selves. How does past ME compare with now ME? How can I make future ME even better?

It’s silly to think we should follow someone else’s path. Our lives are so complex – we need to realize WE are more complex than that. WE are different than THEM.

You have been created to be completely unique. There truly is no one else out there like you. Really. So there will be NO other path like yours. The real success comes in being true to yourself, and to stop comparing.

Once we stop comparing to others, we can start to create our own path:

• What are YOUR goals?
• What are YOUR passions?
• What works for YOU?
• How do YOU learn best?
• How do YOU create best?

Once you focus on yourself and being you – and not anyone else – the thorn is removed and you are free to soar to be the BEST you.

Let’s stop comparing our ANYTHING to anyone else’s ANYTHING. Let’s be us and let’s be awesome because of it.

 

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Need help in customizing your path and being true to yourself for 2014? I’ll be opening registration tomorrow for the Design Life Project e-course. Our last session was nothing short of AMAZING and I’m so excited for the New Year’s edition of this course. We are going to have a wonderful 5 weeks together and we are going to grow SO much! Make sure you’re signed up for the newsletter (sign up in the sidebar on the left to be reminded when registration opens TOMORROW, January 15th)  and you can snag your spot!

I’ve been hearing a lot of business owners toil over something recently, so I thought I should talk about it – the dreaded New Year price increase. In the Design Life Project e-course (registration opens Wednesday) I talk in detail about how to set your prices, when to raise them and how to raise them. One of my biggest recommendations is raising them for the New Year. It’s a common business practice, as (our) costs are always rising, and the new tax year is a good split point to do so.

But what is the best way to do it? How do we let our clients know? There are a few approaches, and as every business is different – so there will be different ways to handle it.

 

If your business always has new (rotating) clients

 

This is the easiest scenario, because new clients may not be aware of your old pricing. This means updating your site to reflect your new pricing (if you have it listed), or updating any materials you send out with pricing on them. If you’d like to stimulate a little sales before you increase – send out a social media blast that your prices will be raising on a certain date, and give them one more chance on the pricing. If you have a newsletter list, this can be an easy way to do that. You could also raise your price but run a special, so that new clients don’t feel like they JUST missed the boat.

 

If your business has old/repeating clients

 

This can be a bit trickier, if you have old clients who are used to your pricing. If you’ve had a consistent price raise – every year or 2 years – this should be just part of the routine. But what if you haven’t raised your prices in awhile and you’re afraid of alienating your clients? For this I’d take a softer approach. I would start to warn them, and perhaps give them more time than your new clients. You can extend their deadline a bit if you need to – but eventually you WILL need to raise their prices too. If they love you and they know you’re worth it – you won’t lose them. Don’t let them take advantage of you or drag out special rates. You’ve got to make a living and they should be understanding of that. There is a reason you’re raising your prices in the first place, whether it be to make more money to support yourself & family, or to free up your schedule more – and they aren’t exempt from that reason.

There is also another way to increase your prices that I’d like to mention – without making it so obvious:

 

Package restructuring

 

Another way to increase your prices is through package restructuring. Develop new packages that are worth more or include more value for a higher price. You can even add a simple item to a current package, and raise the price on that. Think about adding VALUE – it could be an extra service that doesn’t cost you more, but gives them a more white glove version of your service. This could also mean dropping your smallest packages from your offering. You can always include a la carte items if you wish.

 

So how do I know HOW much to increase it for the New Year?

 

For how much to increase it – it depends on how far off your 2013 prices were form what they SHOULD be (see another post I wrote about your true worth and the pricing balance). I also have a specific formula I talk about in the Design Life Project e-course on calculating EXACTLY how much you should be charging. The main idea is deciding what you want to make in a year and backtracking from there. If you figure out you are charging WAY too little – a huge jump may scare everyone off. In that case, I’d recommend a quarterly increase to where you need to be. If you’re not too far off, and if business is good – I say just go for it. I use my current workload to also dictate how much to increase my prices. If I’m super busy and booking far in advance – I will probably do a higher jump for the next year. If business has been steady – the raise reflects that accordingly.

As always, use your intuition when setting prices, and then add a little more. The number should probably make you a *bit* uncomfortable, but not *too* uncomfortable. If you feel totally comfortable, it probably needs to be a bit higher. You will most likely devalue yourself when something comes easily to you. It’s not about what YOU would pay for it – it’s what someone would pay YOU for your expertise!

Happy price increasing!!

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Happy Friday to all of you! Wishing you a fantastic LONG weekend! I’m so excited for WEDNESDAY! I’ll be opening registration for the Design Life Project e-course. Our last session was nothing short of AMAZING and I’m so excited for the New Year’s edition of this course. We are going to have a wonderful 5 weeks together and we are going to grow SO much! I’m super excited. We are purposefully keeping this first class small and intimate, so make sure you’re signed up for the newsletter (sign up in the sidebar on the left to be reminded when registration opens NEXT WEDNESDAY, January 15th and you can snag your spot!

Once upon a time I remember in college they would teach us that learning was a good thing – that the more you learn, the better off you’d be in the real world – or more specifically – the workforce. And while I whole-heartedly agree that knowledge is power, I think it creates a sort of misconception that we’d be expected to use ALL of this knowledge. It creates a false truth in our heads that being a jane-of-all-trades is highly useful for the future. After almost 6 years in business for myself, I strongly disagree that a jane-of-all-trades should be your goal in business. I actually think it’s in the narrowing of your field or expertise, where the sweet spot lies.

As I mentioned before, I do think multifaceted knowledge is a great thing – but not because you want to be OKAY at a lot of things. I think knowledge is power when you use it strategically – when you decide when, how and what to FOCUS on. I think the key to harnessing the power of knowledge is in elimination. It’s great to learn a lot, and in many areas, with the sole purpose of getting RID of the information or the directions that don’t fit.

So how do we go about cutting out which information/skills should stay and which ones should go?

1. First it comes in shifting this mindset that we’ve gotten into our heads – that it is a sign of success when we can do a lot of things well (enough), or that it’s a sign of strength that we have a LOT of offerings.

In fact, I truly believe it does the opposite. I believe when we spread out our offerings and offer too many things to our clients, that we actually get weaker, that the entirety of our work gets weaker. To illustrate my point – think of something pliable. Think about how when you stretch it and stretch it, the material becomes and thinner and weaker and soon may break. The key to start narrowing our focus is to truly BELIEVE it works. If we prune the bad branches/fruit – then the fruit that is flourishing in the plant THRIVES and gets stronger.

2. It’s easier to become successful when you are a big fish in a little pond, versus a small fish in a big pond.

Another thing to think about is how unique your offering is. It’s much easier to gain success and business when you are doing something that not many others do. This is another kind of narrowing. This could mean a narrowing of your clients. Maybe you only work with a certain type of business. You get KNOWN for working only in that niche, so your name grows like wildfire among that niche. It only takes a few people that are in love with your service to turn all their friends on to you.

3. It’s better to completely WOW a few, than to simply SATISFY many.

Go above and beyond with less clients. Instead of doing a few things for everyone, do amazing things for a just a few (click to tweet this). Charge more, lighten your load – but give those clients more added value and give them truly great “white glove” service. It is simply impossible to compete on price these days – you will NEVER win competing on price. Instead, you compete on value, on substance, on quality and on customer service. This is how you win hearts and minds, word-of-mouth, and how you truly become fulfilled in what you do and make a difference in other’s lives. This is what matters right?

Today, I’d love to encourage you to take stock of your offerings and perhaps make some changes. Do you have some things that you just aren’t in love with anymore, that are weakening your chain? Perhaps you have some NEW offerings that you think may take off like wildfire and will help you stand out?

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Here’s how to get started:

Which areas do you have that:

• Are the most fun for you and your clients
• Garner the most acclaim
• Make the most money?

What areas do you have that:

• Are a drain on you or your clients
• You dread doing
• Take up too much of your time?

The areas that are your high-producing fruit, you keep, and you focus your energies on strengthening. The areas that are your weakest – you simply get rid of them. They aren’t working and they are a drain on what you’re doing well. You’ll be surprised at how quickly things will flourish with your prize fruit when you get rid of that dead weight.

Happy narrowing!!

Now that the first class of Design Life Project has wrapped up, I’m excited to start writing again on the Design Life Project. The Design Life Project class was nothing short of amazing and it was so fulfilling to see LIVES CHANGED! I could not be more pleased with the fabulous group of women we had join us, and I was in awe of their talent and determination! I’m excited to run the next class in 2014! The registration for the next class will be opening January 1st, so stay tuned!

Today I’d love to talk about procrastination. With the Holidays and the end of the year looming, I have been more distracted than ever before.

We are also BUSIER than ever before, so it is a tough combo to deal with sometimes. I find it very hard to focus when the allure of the holidays roll around. If you’re anything like me, the colder weather makes you just want to curl up with a cup of soup and sit by a fire. Sitting in an office chair in front of a computer is not as glamorous right? It seems hard to get any real work done this time of year.

So what makes us procrastinate? Is it just distractions? I don’t think so. Being distracted is definitely one part of the equation, but it’s not the only part of the equation. In an effort to up my holiday/new year productivity, I did some research on the topic. Here are the top 5 reason we procrastinate, and what we can do to combat them:

1. Easily Distracted

• This one is the most obvious and is probably the most universal. We are easily distracted online, in person, or internally with our thoughts, worries or stresses.

What do we do to cut the distractions so that we can get productive? The first step is to purposefully clear the distractions or clutter. Notice what’s distracting you and actively take steps to get rid of it. Take off the notifactions on your phone. Close down Facebook. Close your office door and put a do not disturb sign up. Silence your cell phone. Clear off your desks and clear out your work environment to an blank slate. Get it cleared out and ready for a productive day!

2. Lack of Confidence

• Sometimes we feel like we lack the confidence or skill to complete a task. It seems too big, too difficult, too hard for us to complete.

How can we build our confidence? Work on building yourself up. Focus on what you’re doing well, and praise yourself for the little things. If you feel you lack the skill, invest some time into yourself and learn. Build up your confidence and skill so that you can put your best foot forward and get it done!

3. Feeling Overwhelmed

• We see a project that seems so overwhelmed that we get paralyzed into inactivity. This can happen easily if we are thinking in terms of the big picture.

What do we do when we are overwhelmed by a task? Break it down into baby steps. And then break those down into smaller steps. Set small deadlines for yourself along the way. Have smaller goals. Move forward. Take down the elephant one bite at a time. Also – remove judgement and the need to be perfect. As my lovely friend Lara loves to say – “Done is better than perfect”. Start anywhere, just start.

4. Creative Block

• Sometimes we feel like we are blocked creatively and can’t come up with any new ideas.

How do we battle the Artist block when it gets in our way? We combat it by going in the opposite direction – get motivated. Get inspired. Remember why you started doing this in the first place, and FEED your creative soul. This of it like gas in our creative tank. Do whatever it is to make you feel inspired and refreshed. Get away from the project completely if that’s what you need. See the world with new eyes, and then come back to it.

5. Dread the Task

• This one happens to all of us. Maybe we just genuinely don’t WANT to do the task, we’re dreading dealing with it.

Take a look at why we don’t want to do it. Is it more because of one of the reasons above? If it’s not – is it something we need to start cutting out in the future? Life is too short to be doing things we hate on a daily basis. How can we change this circumstance for ourselves for the future? Perhaps we remove it from our offerings. Perhaps it’s a red flag client that we should not have taken in the first place. Perhaps we over-promised and we didn’t give ourselves enough time. Identify the cause and try to fix it for the future. For the task at hand, use a combination of strategies – break it down into smaller pieces, and reward yourself positively when it’s done.

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I am going to employ these strategies for the rest of this year, and I hope these will help you too. This is a wonderful time of year and it should be enjoyed – so let’s get our work stuff done so we can enjoy the fun stuff and the love for friends and family that the holiday has to give!

Happy weekend everyone!