It’s IAWBO’s birthday and YOU get the gifts! In addition to all of the valuable goodies inside the FREE Virtual Birthday Gift Bag we’re giving away during the month of September (did you get yours yet?) you will enjoy 30 days of How Does She Do It? Interviews on the blog like this one:
Today’s How Does She Do It? Mentor is Kimberly Englot of The Center for Authentic Self Development http://kimberlyenglot.com
http://facebook.com/KimberlyEnglot
http://twitter.com/KimberlyEnglot
How long have you been in business online: 20 months
Tell us about your business. Who do you love to work with? what is the #1 greatest benefit they get from working with you? I love to work with no-nonsense women who are ready to get clear with what they want, and get happy! My average clients come to me with a bunch of “junk” in her life. She wants to start taking care of herself again, and put herself back on her priority list. She also wants to do it WITHOUT feeling guilty (like she is letting someone else down) or selfish (like she is taking away from her family).
By the time we’re done working together, she is happier, thinner and setting boundaries with those who take advantage of her. She is clear on what she wants in life and knows exactly what to do to get it (whether it’s changing careers, starting a business, or writing a book).
What does being a woman in business online mean to you and what is your favorite thing about it? It means complete freedom! I’m big on freedom, I talk about it a lot. Being in business online allows me to choose everything: who I work with, what hours I work, what companies I align myself with, what prices I charge.
I get complete control over my whole life and I savor that. I thrive on intuition and when I get a creative idea at 11pm, I am free to work on it all night and take the following day off. You can’t do that in any other business.
I am also being very strategic in how I set up my business, so that in a few years I will be able to work less and earn more. Again, most other business models trade dollars for hours, so you never get to that point of freedom, without sacrificing income.”
Who has been your greatest mentor and how have they impacted your success?
I actually have two.
First, my best friend owns 3 businesses, not online, but seeing someone so young (when she started she was 22) being really successful made me go, “Okay, I can do it, too!” She was also the one to encourage me to take the big plunge and become an online entrepreneur. Without her, I would still be trying to make myself work into my business, rather than the other way around.
Second, my business coach since I started online, Gina Bell. She was the second person to look at my idea and say, “Dream Bigger, Girl…you can have exactly what you want, without pain or compromise!” You need someone to believe in you when you don’t believe in yourself, and that is what a coach is for.
What is the one achievement are you most proud of so far and why? I have to say I’m just proud of mustering up the courage to even jump in and do it! It’s pretty scary, when you’re just starting out. You look at the internet and think how big it is, and then you start seeing the “gurus” and it’s easy to fall into a comparison trap. So just taking the first leap and deciding to do it, and do what it takes is huge!
My second pride and joy is my book, which will be release in December 2010, entitled “The Happiness Formula.” I have wanted to write a book for a while, so seeing this dream happen is really amazing for me. My friends and family keep saying… “So it’s going to be a real book (meaning not an eBook)…in bookstores and on Amazon and everything?” LOL.
What does “authentic in business” mean to you and why is it important? Authentic in business means being yourself, warts, bumps and all. It means being real with your customers and following what is true to you. It means being in integrity and being transparent.
Without this, you can’t build real relationships with your customers and if there is no relationship, there is no trust. When you’re online, and your customers won’t necessarily ever meet you, being real is extremely important. Even if they do one day meet you in person, you don’t want them to go… Oh, she is so much nicer, funnier, cooler in her eZine…
What is your favorite & most effective marketing strategy that you use to grow your business? The most effective strategy for list building is multiple-partner Joint Ventures, like telesummits and compilation eBooks. I’ve done both and they explode your list growth.
To grow my business income-wise, having a Signature program is by far the best thing. I have just started my third round of my Signature program and it’s a great way to leverage the material I already have, plus the buzz it builds after a few rounds is priceless.
How do you stay off (or minimize the extremes) of the proverbial “cashflow rollercoaster”? Having a membership based or subscription based program. You need to have something that regularly brings in money. You don’t have to spend a lot of time on it, a teleseminar or two each month, providing high-quality information only to your members. Over time it grows and you make more money, but the amount of work stays the same.
How do you achieve work-life balance? I don’t believe in balance. I believe in harmony. Set goals, and just let life flow from one area to another when you need it. Trying to keep “balance” will just make you crazy, frustrated and feeling like a failure because you can’t keep it together. Not to mention that one loose “cog” will through your entire plan out of balance and possibly cause a mental breakdown…I speak from experience.
Instead, I focus on my priorities. I lay them out and set deadlines. For example, when I am prepping for a marathon, I obviously need to workout more than normal for months leading up to it. Trying to do that plus maintain a perfect household, and career is crazy and exhausting. Instead I let a few things shift to the background while my focus is on running. When the race is done, I am free to shift focus back to laundry, reading, spending time with friends…etc.
I’m not saying go crazy and only focus on one thing at a time, there definitely needs to be limits, but trying to be perfect at everything, all at once, is insane.
What is your favorite technology that supports your online business and why? The obvious would be my website…but that’s obvious, right?
I have a love-hate relationship with my autoresponder/shopping cart. On one hand, I need it. It processes my payments, sends out my eZine, and organizes my affiliate program, all with minimal effort once you know the program.
On the other hand, setting it up caused me some stress! And I probably caused my VA stress. Once she had it set up and taught me how to use it, it took about a month to get really comfortable with it and now its second nature.
To be taken seriously in business online, you NEED an autoresponder. I really shake my head a people who say, “Want to subscribe to my eZine list? Send me your email address and I’ll add you.” Not cool and looks very unprofessional.”
What is your best productivity tip? Pre-schedule as much as possible. When you’re inspired and blogging, write as many blogs and pre-schedule them. Pre-schedule your eZines and broadcasts to go out so you can set them and forget them.
When those small details are set up, you have more time and energy freed up to focus on other things (like designing products, setting up JVs and marketing).
What has been your biggest breakthrough, mindset shift or top lesson learned so far? “Feel the fear and do it anyway!” It’s my favorite quote and I repeated it to myself often when I was first starting out.
It’s terrifying to look at the amount a coach costs and go, “Am I really going to spend that much?” But it’s worth it. You’re either going to spend it in time or in money, and I’d rather spend the money and cut the time in half!
And once you get going, fewer and fewer things scare you, you just have to keep going and trust in your ability to make things work. You will, because you have to!
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Remember to claim your Birthday Gift Bag!
It’s bursting with 30 EXCLUSIVE GIFTS (not available free anywhere else) hand selected by our team of experts for success-driven women like you!
As a matter of fact, Kimberly has contributed her Discover Your Authentic Life Series (A $47 value and remember this is just 1 of the 30 gifts you get in this gift bag valued over $1300)
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Pssst… Once you have registered for your gift bag you’ll be directed to a SECRET PAGE where you’ll discover a MEGA secret we’ve been keeping. You’re really got to see it to believe it!
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