If you want something different, you are going to have to do something different.

When you create healthy rhythms and boundaries in your life and business, that means you'll be doing things differently! And as you take ownership of how you choose to spend your time and make adjustments to your behavioral patterns, your decisions will impact other people. The key is to communicate with your people so they can know what to expect or what not to expect. This isn't about getting someone's permission or convincing them that you're making the right decisions. This is simply about creating clarity because clarity often eases anxiety.

• Schedule your conversation. Time won't just suddenly appear.
• Get your mind right! Remind yourself who you want to become, what's most important, and what you what to be true of you and your business.
• Consider who you are going to talk with and tailor the conversation with them in mind.
• Anticipate a question or two that may be asked of you.
• Be fully attentive.
• Communicate with your words AND your actions.
• Honor the commitment you've made to yourself and your business.

You do not live or lead in a vacuum. Your life is woven together with others and it is important to communicate clearly as you begin to integrate new rhythms and establish your priorities.

Connect with Jen

Have you established a priority of building a course or membership for your business but not sure where to start? Let's connect! I'd love to hear your vision and share how I can help. Schedule your free 30 minute discovery call today!

The key to overcoming overwhelm is to live and lead within our limitations and capacity. Limitations aren't a bad thing, they are a human thing! Instead of trying to squeeze more out of our day we need to establish healthy rhythms and set boundaries around our priorities in both our personal and professional life.

A priority is something that holds the utmost importance. The problem is that we try and treat everything with the same level of importance. But everything can't be a priority. Great leaders know what is most important and put their time and energy into those things. 

It's never been about having enough time. It's always been about how we choose to spend the time we have.

In this episode of the podcast, we talk about how to perform a 'brain dump' to visualize all of our responsibilities so we can literally see our commitments. (Whew, no wonder we are feeling overwhelmed!) Then we identify 3 to 5 main priorities for the next three months, evaluate how we are spending the majority of our time, and adjust according.

This as an ongoing process, but as you put it into practice, it will lead to greater momentum, productivity, freedom, and peace.

If one of your priorities is launch a course or membership but you aren't sure where to start, let's connect! I'd love to hear your vision and see if my services would help you achieve your goal. Book your discovery call HERE.

Are you an entrepreneur who is dealing with feelings of overwhelm? Do you find yourself stuck in a perpetual cycle of busyness? Many of us lack healthy rhythms and boundaries and we find it difficult to live and lead within our human limitations.

Why is this so common?

You make decisions based on what you believe.

And the problem is that many of us have faulty thinking that needs to be rewired. Don't believe me? What comes flooding into your mind when you try to say no to a request, stay committed to a priority, or set an end time to your day? My guess is that any time you try to set priorities and keep them, your mind is bombarded with fears, lies, and limiting beliefs.

In this episode, we have a candid conversation about the role of mindset in overcoming overwhelm. We also touch on the common fears and lies entrepreneurs believe as well as ways to overcome these false mantras by incorporating truths.

Before we are able to establish our priorities and set boundaries, we need to learn to examine our beliefs and rewire our thinking.

• What are some common fears, lies, and/or limiting beliefs that you hear in your mind as you try to regain control over your tasks and your time?
• What is actually the truth?

Pay attention to what is running through your mind and replace it with truth. Strengthening your mindset muscle will help you as you discover and commit to what matters most!

We all find ourselves in busy seasons when we are having to give and do a bit more than usual. It's a normal part of life and business and ideally, after a reasonable amount of time, a busy season ends and we are able to regain a sustainable pace. But when we get stuck in a perpetual cycle of to-do's and continue to add responsibilities and expectations upon ourselves, overwhelm soon follows.

• discourage, defeated
• like there's no way out, it's never going to end
• you're barely keeping your head above water
• you aren't doing things with the quality of excellence you are accustomed

If overwhelm has found its way into your heart and mind, be encouraged! This is a signal to you that things in life and business are out of alignment and you are exceeding your limitations. That's right...you're limited!

You can't do it all.

That's not a bad thing...that's a human thing! And if you continue to ignore your capacity and insist on exceeding your limitations, well, that's a recipe for disaster!

How do you make sure you're operating within your capacity and enjoying the journey along the way? By creating rhythms and boundaries around the things that are of utmost importance!

Here are a few questions as we get started. Spend a few minutes getting reacquainted with YOURSELF and how you want to show up in life and business.

• Who do you want to become?
• What do you want to be true of you?
• Is the way you are doing things in your business helping you become more of the person you want to be?

The answers to these questions are powerful as we begin to identify our priorities.

You are a human being and you have limitations. We all do! The more you can operate within your limitations and become strategic with your time and energy in your business, the more freedom you will have to show up well in ALL of life. And that will make everything better!

Should you hire someone to help you with your course or membership?

The answer to this question is unique to each business owner and there are some important factors to consider as you're making the right decision for you. Here's a quick overview of what we talk about in episode 13 of My Entrepreneurial Life.

• Do you understand how to convert your content to a digital platform in a way that is accessible and helpful for people to experience what your course or membership promises?
• Do you know the elements of a compelling sales page?
• Do you have all the tech pieces put together?
• What skills do you already possess or would have to learn if you were to build this yourself?
• Do you have the time, energy, desire to learn?
• Do you have a team? A social media manager? VA?
• What is your financial budget?

If you find that you have the time and desire to learn new skills, you could absolutely do this! Go for it! And if you need help, there are different options available to you to get the support you need. You could have someone help you with strategy and give you a plan for you to follow. You could hire someone who is tech savvy in the platforms you already own to put the pieces together for you. Or you could have someone do a custom build and launch.

Sometimes we get stuck because we aren't sure what to do. That's totally normal. But don't let uncertainty keep you from getting your course or membership out into the world! Instead, have some conversations with people who offer various levels of support. There are plenty of great strategists, virtual assistants and specialists who would love to connect and hear your vision and desires for your course or membership. In addition, they would love to share who they are and what they do.

As you have these conversations you will get more clarity for yourself and will be able to discern the next step you need to take!

I offer a 90 minute strategy session to dive into your area of need. Whether you need help with your content, need marketing ideas, dates and "to-do's" for a launch plan, or help figuring out Kajabi, let's connect for a call to see if this would be helpful to you. 

BOOK YOUR DISCOVERY CALL HERE.

Which platform should you use to build your online course or membership? This is a question that anyone and everyone who is building a course or membership must answer because we need a platform...a place that will be home base where our students and members can come and engage with our content.

The good news is that there are many quality software systems available and those tools have been improving over the years and deliver a high quality experience for your students and members. There are a lot of solid choices! Here are a few possibilities to consider for your business:

• Wordpress with plugins
• Mighty Networks
• Thinkific
• Teachable
• Funnel Gorgeous
• Kartra
• Kajabi (this is my software of choice)

Some of these tools may require you to purchase and connect them to others. Remember, you'll need a sales page, a way for people to checkout and pay, an automation process to give them access to their course or membership, an email system to stay connected and a platform to house all of your content. All of these tools require an investment in time, knowledge and money. As you think about what platform is best for you, consider the tools you have and will need, the knowledge you already possess, the time you have to invest in learning more and the financial cost of your entire tech stack.

Just Get Started

Remember, regardless of where you do decide to start, it doesn't need to be where you keep your course or membership forever. Start in a place that works for you now and know that as you grow you can migrate your content to another platform down the road.

There is no magic bullet that will work seamlessly without hiccups or a detriment in some area. No software will be perfect and if anyone tries to sell you on an all in one solution that does everything extremely well, I'd encourage you to dive a bit deeper. There also isn't one system that works without any friction. You can have amazing systems and products set up to work together and then you run into a challenge when they get disconnected. Do you know the tech well enough to troubleshoot and fix it?

My platform of choice is Kajabi. It hosts courses and memberships with excellence and does a great job with automations and building all your landing pages along with a blog. And it makes sense to me! Sure, I've learned tons of tips and tricks since going "all in" with Kajabi, even some custom coding that Kajabi won't teach you, but my brain just gets along with Kajabi while I struggle with Wordpress. 

But Kajabi doesn't do everything with excellence. It doesn't allow you to set global settings for your site so you need to create a landing page template with the settings as a template and then duplicate it or you need to set them up each time. Kajabi also doesn't have a rich text editor for email. You can put your email together, format it and test it out, only to find a random line changed in font size once it hit your inbox. Kajabi isn't Mailchimp. That's not where it shines and for me, I'm ok with that. I'm not ok with fixing plugin and figuring out how to make a bunch of systems play nice. I don't have the time or desire to do a deep dive and know the systems well enough to serve my clients with excellence.

That's just me.

The key is testing things out to see how it works for YOU! If you are interested in testing out Kajabi, I am a Kajabi Partner and you can get a free 30 day trial by using the link HERE. 

Are you using Kajabi and are disappointed with the results? Let's talk about doing a Kajabi Audit!

Are you struggling with how to price your offer for your online course or membership? You're not alone! Many of us wonder what we should charge and we often fear that we will actually charge too much. But before you decide your price point, there are 3 things to consider first.

1. Where does your course or membership fit within your overall business? Is it an entry point? Is it higher up your value ladder? Where it fits in your overall business ecosystem will impact the price you charge.
2. How much time do they have with you inside your course or membership? How many personal touch points do people have with you in your course or membership? How much of you do they get? You are valuable.
3. How much value does your course or membership bring? We often quantify the value based on time and amount of content. The better question is, "how much value do you bring to your people with your content and process?" This goes back to the problem you're solving and the transformation they seek. What is the value of your solution?

Remember that the pricing of your first offer can change. You can increase it down the road. Start somewhere and make the adjustments you need. 

Need help deciding where your course or membership fits in your value ladder, how to position it and what the price should be? Let's have a strategy session! We can look at your overall business, look at your plans for the future, position your course and create a customized marketing plan to move people through your sales funnel. Interested? Let's connect for a brief call to make sure this is what you need and get it scheduled! Book your discovery call here.

Imagine if you were no longer able to access your website, membership, email list or social media platforms. What would you do? How would that impact your business?

I was reminded of the importance of backing up your content over the summer. I was working on an email for one of my clients and one section was taking a lot of energy and creativity to get the words just right. I opened up Kajabi (the email platform) and started to type inside the platform itself. I knew better. I had the experience a few years ago of losing everything on my computer that wasn't on the cloud and I was determined not to have that happen again. So, I usually back up things as I go but I got lazy and didn't do that.

Instead of opening a Google doc and creating the words there, I did all the creating right in the platform. When I was going to hit the save button something happened. The power went out. And when everything got turned back on, the newest version of the email was NOT saved. I had lost all of that hard work because I didn't take a small step to back up my content!

We all are vulnerable to losing our content if we don't back it up! Don't let this happen to you! Have a back up of your content so that if you lose access to anything, you have what you need at your fingertips!

• Write your copy (words) for sales pages, blog posts, emails, etc. in a word processor and then copy and paste it into the platform you use. Then move that document to an external hard drive.
• Save all your video content on an external hard drive.
• Export your email list once a month from your CRM and save it.
• Save any images, PDF's, podcast episodes, etc. on a hard drive.

The best practice is to save as you go but if you have never saved your content and have a lot already out in the world...don't worry! Take a video on Loom or Zoom (or whatever tool you use) of your website and all of its pages. Then put some time on your calendar (an hour a week, a week a month, whatever works for you) and copy your content on to a document along with your videos and pdf's and all of your course or membership posts, and save it on an external hard drive.

This will take you time and energy but trust me, it is well worth the effort to keep your content secure! Imagine if your content disappears. Imagine if you no longer have access to your course or membership. That would be devastating! This will take time but you won't regret keeping your content safe! It will save you and your business if something ends up happening to the online or social platforms you use.

Are you planning to create a course or membership but aren't sure what to do? Connect with me for a strategy session! You pick the topic of conversation (content creation, launch plan, content marketing ideas, etc) and we'll map out your next steps. You'll walk away with clarity and a customized plan of what to do.

Interested in finding out more? Let's connect and see if this is a good fit for where you are and what you need. Schedule a call with me.