One of the biggest questions that I hear from online business owners is, “How do I stand out?”
I really wanted to give you three tools today; three prompts that you can ask yourself so that you can really step into your brilliance.
Number One: What needs to happen for you to feel inspired? Or, when do you feel most inspired?
If you’re somebody who’s creating content for social media and you just don’t feel creative on a regular basis; you’re spinning your wheels and you don’t know what to say every day. If that’s you, I want you to recall: when was the last time you felt really creatively inspired? Close your eyes and ask yourself, “When was the last time you felt on fire with creativity?” Can you remember that time?
Think about who you were with when you felt really really creative. What were you talking about? What were you working on when you were feeling that creative excitement? Was there a specific goal that you were working on? Were you doing some work by yourself; maybe writing your first e-book or creating a project that you have been putting off? Were you so excited to get it done, or were you in a big group of other people? What type of thing were you working on when you felt most creative?
What role did you play in that creation process?
Were you the visionary? Were you that person that was coming up with all of the ideas? Maybe you had a team of people you were working with who liked your idea, and they were executing and finding the strategy for it. Or, maybe YOU’RE the strategist. Maybe you’re the person who likes to organize, or you like to create the visual elements. Was there a timeline or deadline for this creative process? Some of us like to have structures and deadlines. Then, there are some of us who are procrastinators; we get a little high or get a buzz off of waiting until the very last minute because the creativity strikes under pressure.
I’m asking for these specifics because I want to help you get into that state, so that you can really uncover how to be creative on a consistent basis. What was happening for you and your health and fitness routine on that day? Maybe, at that time, you were really dialed in on your nutrition. Maybe you were on a keto diet, and you were really focused on doing workouts. You just felt on fire; no brain fog, ready to go. And then maybe you fell off. So ask yourself: what was your health and fitness like at the period of time where you felt most creative? What was happening in your surroundings? Were you in a loud office space or are you somebody that thrives off of camaraderie? Or, are you somebody who needs quiet space.
There is a whole spectrum of what can work for you.
What time of day do you feel most creative? This is very, very important to identify. As a night owl growing up, my best ideas would strike at 3:00 in the morning. But some of you are waking up at 4:00 in the morning, and that’s when your body feels most awake and most inspired. So, when do you feel most excited to create?
Number Two: What is your X factor?
I’ll use myself as an example: I love strategy, I love psychology, and I love spirituality. I love strategy, psychology, and spirituality and I love to do video because I love teaching. But when you really peel it all back, the thing that is my “X Factor” is my ability to create framework. My ability to have my hyper creative clients come to me with a blob of creative ideas, and I guide them to streamline it and create a plan of action. I would say that is my X-Factor as a coach. That’s the biggest thing that I’m able to bring to my clients, and that’s why I absolutely love working with those people.
So, as a coach, what unique thing do you bring to the table?
I think you can look into your past and it’ll be pretty obvious for you.
When I was a kid, I used to love playing the memory game with my family. I would always win, because I was able to see the bigger picture of the full board. But, I was also really detail oriented and I was able to create a strategy on a dime too. I would memorize the entire board because I was a very visual learner, but I also had a strategy of counting cards. I was like, “OK, Mickey is 3 over and up.. And Minnie is five to the left and four up.” So, I created a framework. I created a process for myself to win the game, whereas everybody else was just flipping cards at random and hoping that they remembered things. So you can really look back to when you were a kid, probably around 5-6 years old, and identify the things that made you unique.
If you are that hyper idea person, your X Factor might be that you are the visionary. It might be that you are that person that goes into business as an entrepreneur and you make sure that you create a team of organized people around you. Maybe the business building tasks (organizing posts, etc.) isn’t your strength, but you might be the one that’s constantly pushing the vision forward onto the next best thing.
I think you need to have a healthy balance, but it’s definitely important to have those people around you who can ground you so that you can be really productive in your business.
Because, if we are too hyper creative or are too rigid and organized…neither one really allows for the highest level of excellence.
Number 3: What is one area of your life that you need to heal?
What’s something that you need to do that you’ve been putting off, which is going to help you get to the next level? From a business standpoint, it might be something as simple as putting off hiring a housecleaner. By giving two or three hours to another person, you’re going to feel more open and creative. You’re going to feel different in your space, because it will be beautiful without you being stressed about it. That’s a pretty freaking big deal to be able to get that time back so that you can honor your business, work with clients, and enjoy your life.
Sometimes you just need to chill out!
Maybe you need a coach of some kind. Business coach, life coach, health coach… somebody who’s going to help you with planning one area of your life step-by-step, so you don’t have to worry about it.
Maybe it’s that you need to jump on your very first live video or maybe you need to commit to be consistent with live video; so that you can really show up and get visible for your audience. Maybe it’s that you need to send an email to somebody who you’ve been holding back from reaching out to.
Maybe you are just starting your business, but you’re so scared to announce that you’re ready to serve others.
What are some things that you need to work on?
Maybe you need to work on your romantic relationship. Many women who I have worked with will struggle in their romantic relationships because they’ve just started their businesses and their significant others feel isolated. So, maybe your work is healing your relationship and making sure you honor your spouse or your significant other. Then, you can feel confident and focused when you sit down to do your work. And maybe there’s conversation that needs to happen about having them get on board with your business so that you can invest a little bit more money in your business. So what do you need to work on. What relationships. Maybe it’s your health and wellness. Maybe you are an entrepreneur or you work from home. You don’t get up out of your chair all day long. Right. That happens from time to time where we go into deep hustle mode. But are you honoring your health.
If you wrote out all the areas of your life balance: your health and wellness, your relationships, your business and career, your social life. Rank these things on a scale from 1-10. This is a practice that you can even get into on a weekly basis; just to check in and say, “How am I doing this week? And what can I do next week to get that number up a little bit?”
Awareness is everything.
We’ve got to be aware of what’s happening inside, because our emotions are our guidance to bring us everything that we could possibly want.
Life is short.
I think, sometimes, we get in this mindset that we have plenty of time. I think in the next 10 years, I’ll do this.” Here’s a good Tony Roberts quote: “We overestimate what we can do in a year and we underestimate what we can do in 10 years.” So, what is your 10 year vision? And really, think about how quickly you want to get to that next level. How bold and brave do you want to be in approaching some of your healing work and moving through some of the areas where you feel a little bit stuck?
So, to recap:
1. What needs to happen for you to feel inspired?
2. What is your X factor?
3. What do you need to heal in order to push your business forward?
I want you to go through and really write out the answers for yourself.
It’s one thing to understand things theoretically, and it’s another thing to actually embody it.
If you haven’t already, check out SocialMediaToSales.com. I’m going to give you a free social media strategy training, where I’m going to walk you through how to take your big picture ideas and create a framework for your live videos. Then, you can map out your content for a month. Right. And about 10 minutes think it’s like an eight minute video. Again that’s SocialMediaToSales.com. See you soon!
