Month: April 2010

Say Absolutely! – The Affirmation Spot for Tuesday April 27, 2010

Today’s Thought:

“When failure becomes your teacher, success becomes your future.”
~ Ray Davis

Have you ever noticed the power that words have to transform people and situations? Years ago I was teasing someone at work by saying “absolutely” to every thing she said. For some reason, it put me in the habit of saying “absolutely” to things in life.

When someone would ask me a question, rather than saying yes or sure, I got in the habit of responding, “absolutely”! I became aware that my own sense of resoluteness and confidence was buoyed by saying the word. I also noticed that other people seemed to respond well to someone saying, “absolutely”.

People would comment that someone saying that word so enthusiatically was refreshing and inspiring. So, I kept doing it. Today I answer absolutely practically and metaphorically in life. I’ve found the word has a power and surety about it that people seem to want to experience.

So, here is my challenge to you. When someone asks you to do something tomorrow say enthusiastically, “absolutely”! Amid the gray, unenthusiastic responses they experience all day, your “absolutely” will stand out.

Do I guarantee it? Absolutely!

Stay inspired!

Ray

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Success Stories: Sophie Zollman – The Affirmation Spot for Thursday April 22, 2010

Today’s Affirmation:

Today and every day, success is just a choice away for me!

The power of other peoples’ stories to inspire us is practically limitless. There are so many people out there who want to have their own business or pursue their own bliss, but they are allowing “things” to get in the way.

Today Sophie Zollman of SophieZo, LLC shares her story in her words about her transition from freelance work-at-home-mom (WAHM) to successful business owner. Sophie and I became acquainted on Twitter. I find her story compelling and inspiring and I hope you will too! May her story give you the determination to pursue your goals and know they are possible.

Stay inspired!

Ray

From Freelance WAHM to Successful Business Owner: The Story Behind SophieZo, LLC

About 10 years ago, I decided to work from home after my second child was born. I knew that daycare for two children would eat up most of the pay I would make at a regular JOB. I started with data entry from home for a local company. After we moved to another state, I found mystery shopping through a friend. It was a lot of fun but did not provide much income.

In 2004, I found a website that was called Emoonlighter.com. Today many know it as Guru.com. For those of you who have not heard of this site, it is a place to find work as a freelance artist in various fields of expertise. I signed on for customer service and administrative assistant work.

Six weeks later, I had an interview for a customer service position for an eCommerce website. It was just a day or two before Christmas. The next day he called to offer me the job. I accepted and had a very Merry Christmas that year.
This customer service position began as a part-time project. It quickly grew into a full-time position where I became his Virtual Assistant and Online Business Manager. Over a four-year period, I managed customer service, vendor relations, database management, and executive correspondence. I even handled some accounts payable and receivable.

In that time frame, I learned a lot including the fact that I was not being paid what I was worth. The VA industry had changed and grown in so many ways. After four years, I knew it was time to make a change. I decided to “retire” to become a stay-at-home mom once again. However, eight months later our financial situation would change drastically. I had to go back to work.

When that realization came to me, I was determined to do something I enjoyed that paid me what I was worth. I knew I was a great typist with a good ear. I decided to learn transcription after finding a company that was interested in training new candidates.

After a short time doing transcription, I found a new kind of clientele that required Virtual Assistants. When my transcription contract came to an end, I re-launched my VA career. At the same time, I found Twitter and Facebook. Once I found my way around those social media sites, my life changed dramatically.

About 6 months later, three established VAs asked me to partner with them for outsourcing purposes. I knew right then that I had to change from a freelance Virtual Assistant to a business owner. In October of 2009, I registered SophieZo, LLC Virtually There For You and began my new business venture.

Again, thanks to Twitter and Facebook, my new business began drawing clients regularly. I also began talking to people who needed services I did not offer. After speaking to my mentor, I decided to add a team of VAs to be able to handle more clients and offer more services than I could do myself. I launched that new team concept at the end of February 2010.

Since October of 2009, I have expanded my business, quadrupled my client base, and still have many opportunities in the works. I have hired an accountant and will be begin paying myself a regular salary. I never imagined I would be where I am today. Thanks to social media, my mentor, a little hard work and believing in myself, I am having the time of my life. I am truly blessed with a great business, a wonderful family, and the time I need to be with them and take care of myself as well. It took me a long time to get here, but I am glad I finally found my way.

Despite the economic times, more and more women are working from home. As a WAHM turned business owner, I can say that now is the time to do it. The internet has made working at home and owning a business so much easier and less expensive, too. I started my business on a shoestring budget. I took advantage of Social Media and every free teleseminar or report I could get. I learned a lot in a very short time.

The key to success in business is networking and marketing. Social Media makes that easy and very inexpensive. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube are easy to use and free. You can begin networking and marketing the minute you start your business. Building relationships online is essential to growing your business even if it is brand new. In fact, it is one of the best ways to grow a new business quickly and economically.

Starting your own business allows you to follow your passion. You can do what you like instead of doing what you have to for money. True success comes when you are doing what you love. Thanks to the internet and Social Media, dreams can and do come true for women like me every day. Won’t you join us?

Sophie Zollmann of SophieZo Virtually There For You is a Virtual Assistant committed to working with online entrepreneurs to increase their productivity and income potential. She provides virtual assistance in blog/email/social media management, WordPress website design & maintenance, 1ShoppingCart set up & maintenance, internet marketing, event planning, Real Estate support, schedule management, proofreading, article submission, social bookmarking, dictation/transcription and much more. Learn more at http://sophiezo.com


What If 180 – The Affirmation Spot for Wednesday April 14, 2010

Today’s Thought:

What if you made all the difference in the world? Well, get comfortable with that because you do!”

I often receive emails from people looking for simple things they can do in their every day life to be more positive. Many of us spend unnecessary time and energy catastrophizing events that never happen. The key phrase, and I’ll bet you’ve said it or thought it at least once today, is what if.

Usually the scenario sounds something like this.

  • I want to ask him or her out, but what if…
  • I want to apply for that manager job, but what if…
  • I want to take a nice vacation, but what if…
  • I want to feel happy, but what if…

This is a classic example of self-talk. We have these thoughts all day long. A key to whether or not you’re achieving a positive mindset is what follows the what if. Play the scenario in your mind right now. What normally follows what if – something positive or something negative?

You might need a What If 180. That is, if your thoughts are negative, you might want to try consciously turning them 180 degrees to something positive.

You can change statements like:

“I want to apply for that manager job, but what if I don’t get it and I feel like a loser?”

to

“I want to apply for that manager job, and what if I’m exactly who they are looking for?”

Why assume the worst instead of the best? Is the worst any more likely – really? Of course not! As you catch yourself doing this and consciously doing a What If 180, you find that the positive becomes your default state of mind.

Once you have transformed the negative scenario into a positive scenario you can transform the question into an affirmation.

“I want to apply for that manager job and I AM exactly who they are looking for!”

One other tip. You notice I changed the word “but” to the word “and”. The word “but” has been shown to psychologically negate the previous phrase.

You’ve received one of those compliments. “You’re a great baksetball player, but…” “I love you, but….” Try to eliminate those buts from your self-talk too. When you use the but you’re really saying, “I want to feel happy, but I WON’T”.

Start your What If 180s today. Make a game of it. You’ll have a little laugh at your negative self-talk and more importantly you’ll change it.

Stay inspired!

Ray

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Affirmation is a Verb – The Affirmation Spot for Monday April 12, 2010

Today’s Thought:

“Thought is the blossom; language the bud; action the fruit behind it”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Good morning and a wonderful Monday to everyone!

This morning I want to talk about affirmations as verbs. We all know from elementary school that verbs are “action words”.

In fact, the root word of affirmation is the verb affirm. The first definition for affirm at TheFreeDictionary.com is “to declare positively or firmly; maintain to be true.”

Most people know this definition, but they think it is the entire definition for the word affirmation.

They are forgetting the ‘ation’ part of the word. This suffix is Greek and it means, “action, process, or state of being.”

So, when we put the two parts of the word together we get:

To declare positively or firmly + to put the declaration into action or process so that it becomes a state of being.

This is where many people fall down or fail to understand the power of affirmations. They think it is just empty thoughts or words that don’t impact reality. Well, the thoughts and the words are not empty either, but I’ll save that for another post.

The fact is you really don’t have a true affirmation until your hands and your feet join your mind and your lips in action. True affirmations are the thoughts and words AND the actions that support those thoughts and words – they are verbs full of action.

The way the process works is that the positive thoughts and words encourage the action. As the action begins, obstacles are faced and the thoughts and words, when maintained, come to the aid and support of the action in overcoming the obstacles. By the end of the process, the thoughts, words, and actions are feeding on each other and producing the desired results.

That is a true affirmation put into practice. Not only thoughts or words, but thoughts, words, and actions working in concert to achieve goals and dreams!

Stay inspired and have an awesome Monday!

Ray

55 Things to Be Grateful For – The Affirmation Spot for Wednesday April 7, 2010

Today’s Affirmation:

Growth Affirmation: My life is filled with one positive experience after another. I make use of every experience in my growth.

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Here are 55 things to be thankful for. Some may seem counter-intuitive. However, even the negative sometimes is worthy of our thankfulness. I’ve probably left some off my list. Leave a comment today and let me know what you are thankful for.

  1. Sun – without it’s warmth and light we could not exist.
  2. Earth – the beautiful planet that sustains us.
  3. Water – the sauce of life.
  4. Life – each and every morning we wake up is a new chance to be the person we want to be.
  5. Shelter – something to shield us from the elements.
  6. Children – the happy nature and innocence of children remind us how we are meant to be.
  7. Food – an absolute blessing for those who struggle for it and something to be more appreciative of for those of us who never worry about our next meal.
  8. Faith – our faith in ourselves and in something greater than ourselves.
  9. Minds – the power to think, to reason, to grow, and to adapt.
  10. Lines – for making us slow down and enjoy where we are.
  11. Compassion – for getting over ourselves to consider and understand someone else.
  12. Hope – reminds us there is a potential upside to every situation.
  13. Giving – when we give we remember that nothing truly belongs to us and it frees us from our attachments.
  14. Receiving – the opportunity to have our needs met while allowing others to give.
  15. Fear – for teaching us love, strength, and humility.
  16. Work – whether a career, a hobby, or community work; the sense that we have something to do when we get up in the morning is something to be thankful for.
  17. Friendship – those people who choose to spend key parts of their lives with us.
  18. Family – those people we wound up with by fate, but stay with out of love.
  19. Anger – for teaching us the benefits of peace.
  20. Peace – peace within and as much peace without as we can muster.
  21. Sight – the ability to see the beautiful world we inhabit.
  22. Love – the glue that holds us together.
  23. Difficulty – for making us strong and giving us something to compare with the heights.
  24. Stars – the wonder and glory of the night sky.
  25. Hatred – for reminding us to love (may we need ever-less reminding)
  26. Surprises – the wonderful things in life that we didn’t expect.
  27. Visionaries – people who see the world not as it is, but as it could be.
  28. Change – the ever-present possibility of improving ourselves and the world.
  29. Purpose – the plan to achieve something in this life and the firm belief that you can.
  30. Wind – a source of comfort, energy, and a metaphor for change.
  31. Music – the soundtrack of our lives.
  32. Possibility – the memory that something more and different is out there.
  33. Today – an opportunity to make the most of what we have.
  34. Tomorrow – the hoped for opportunity to continue our dreams.
  35. Joy – the deep and intense happiness about being alive.
  36. Freedom – the ability to think, act, and be who you are.
  37. Acceptance – the ability be at peace with how things are for the moment.
  38. Learning – the opportunity to enhance our potential.
  39. Success – the opportunity to enjoy the fruits of our work.
  40. Adversity – for reminding us how strong we can be.
  41. Grass – for carpeting our planet and being a nice place to lie and look at the sky.
  42. Soil – a medium to grow food and plants.
  43. Moon – the most beautiful object in the night sky and the timepiece marking our lives through its phases.
  44. Innovation – for improving our experience of life.
  45. Dreams – the fuel that drives us through tough times and gives a reason to aim high.
  46. Options – the ability to choose.
  47. Sharing – the opportunity to pool our talents and resources.
  48. Flowers – they add beautiful sights and smells to our world.
  49. Mountains – they provide beauty, challenge, and the ability to see a long way.
  50. Oceans – beauty, unimaginable power, source of life and transportation.
  51. Competition – the opportunity to test ourselves and to improve.
  52. History – for teaching us the lessons we need to learn over and over until we get them.
  53. Future – for giving us the opportunity to try again.
  54. Death – for reminding us of life’s value.
  55. Meaning – the search for which makes our lives the journey that they are.

Stay inspired!

Ray