Maybe you did.
Maybe you slipped.
Maybe you started strong and faded quietly.

But here’s the truth — self-love is not measured by perfection.
It’s measured by your willingness to recommit.

March is not just a new month.
It’s a new movement.

March means MOMENTUM.
It means maturity.
It means making a decision and walking it out.

If February revealed where you abandon yourself, March invites you to stand by yourself.
No more quitting on you.
No more breaking promises to you.
No more shrinking to fit what no longer fits.

March is about growth.
And growth requires stretching.
And stretching requires self-love in action.

So as this month starts, ask yourself:

• What did I learn about how I treat me in February?

And....

• what will I do differently starting now?

This is your season of becoming.
And becoming starts with commitment.

If you're ready to deepen that relationship and build consistency from the inside out, you already know where to go.  Project SeLFLoVe🌼
Choose you.
Stay with you.
Grow with you.

— Ron 💙

No one prepares you for starting over this late in the game.
At 56, people expect you to be settled. Certain. Secure.
They don’t expect you to be standing in the rubble of your own life asking, How did I get here?
But there I was.
​
When Survival Becomes the Only Plan

I didn’t wake up that day planning to rebuild my life.
I woke up trying to survive it.
There were no five-year plans. No vision boards. No motivational quotes taped to the mirror. There was just the weight in my chest, the exhaustion in my bones, and the quiet fear that whispered, What if this is how it ends?
I had done everything I thought I was supposed to do.
I loved deeply.
I committed fully.
I stayed longer than I should have—because I believed in people, in growth, in second chances.
And still… everything fell apart.

That’s the part no one talks about.

Sometimes life doesn’t fall apart because you failed.
Sometimes it falls apart because you stayed faithful to a version of yourself that had already outgrown the situation.
Losing a relationship isn’t just losing a person.
It’s losing:

• The future you pictured
• The routines that grounded you
• The identity you wrapped around “we” instead of “me”

I wasn’t just grieving a marriage.
I was grieving the man I thought I would be at this age.
I kept asking myself questions that had no immediate answers:

Who am I without this?
What do I do with all this time, this pain, this uncertainty?
Is it too late to begin again?
And the hardest question of all:
Did I waste my life?

Rock Bottom Isn’t What You Think

Rock bottom isn’t always dramatic.
Sometimes it looks like sitting alone in a quiet room, realizing there’s nothing left to distract you from yourself.
No one to fix.
No one to save.
No one to blame.
Just you.
That’s where I learned something that would later become the foundation of Project SeLFLoVe:
Rock bottom isn’t punishment.
It’s subtraction.
Everything that isn’t aligned… eventually falls away.
And when it does, it feels like loss.
But it’s actually truth arriving without permission.

The First Spark of Self-Love (Even When I Didn’t Feel It)

I didn’t suddenly love myself when everything ended.
I barely liked myself.
But I made one quiet decision that changed everything:

I stopped abandoning myself.
I stopped numbing.
Stopped pretending.
Stopped rushing to “move on.”

Instead, I sat with the pain.
I listened to what it was trying to teach me.
I let myself grieve—without timelines, without shame.
That’s where self-love actually begins.
Not with confidence.
Not with affirmations.

But with staying.

What I Learned...

I learned that:

• Losing everything isn’t the same as losing yourself
• Pain is a teacher, not a verdict
• The end of one life is often the beginning of a truer one
• At 56, I wasn’t finished.
• I was finally being stripped down to who I really was.

Project SeLFLoVe was born in this season—not from theory, but from survival.

If you’re standing in the silence right now…
If your life just fell apart…
If you’re wondering whether it’s too late…
It isn’t.

You’re not broken.
​
You’re beginning.

The Pain of Unawareness

Have you ever caught yourself asking:

• “Why do I keep attracting the same kind of relationships?”
• “Why do I feel so drained after helping everyone else?”
• “Why do I doubt myself, even when I know I’m capable?”

These aren’t random questions.
They’re signs—your soul’s way of whispering, “It’s time to wake up.”
We spend years building identities around what others expect: the perfect partner, the provider, the peacemaker, the achiever.  And somewhere along the way, we forget who we are without those roles.
That’s why Week 1: Awareness & Self-Discovery isn’t about adding more to your life—it’s about peeling back the layers that no longer serve you.

What You’ll Experience This Week

You’ll learn to:

• Observe your inner dialogue without judgment.
• Identify the beliefs that have been shaping your patterns.
• Reconnect with the version of you that existed before life told you who to be.

This week’s reflection questions, exercises, and guided meditations are designed to bring you face-to-face with your truth.
And while that can feel uncomfortable—it’s also where the healing begins.
Because you can’t transform what you refuse to acknowledge.

 A Thought to Sit With

Self-awareness is the first step to self-love, because you can’t love what you don’t truly know.”
So ask yourself:

• What part of you have you been avoiding?
• What truth have you been scared to face?

And who could you become if you finally gave yourself permission to be seen?

 Real Talk from Me

When I started my self-love journey, I thought I was “fine.”
I was strong, successful, always helping others—yet something felt missing.
It wasn’t until I slowed down and looked at my own reflection that I realized I’d been loving everyone but me.
That’s when everything changed.
That’s when I discovered that awareness isn’t weakness—it’s power.

Your Invitation

If this message stirred something in you… that’s not coincidence.
It’s your sign to stop postponing your healing.
To stop waiting for the “right time” and start choosing you.
Join me inside the Project SeLFLoVe digital course, where we’ll dive deep into eight transformative weeks of guided self-work, reflection, and accountability.
You’ll uncover your patterns, heal old wounds, and rebuild your confidence from the inside out—one powerful module at a time.
Because you deserve to live as the most authentic version of yourself.

🎯 Ready to Begin?👉 Take the first step toward your transformation.

Don’t just learn to love yourself--learn to know yourself.

Imagine yourself at the center of a circle. The edge of the circle is the edge of your comfort zone. It is everything that you know and are comfortable dealing with.  Once in a while you might encounter an irregularity that hits the edge of your comfort zone, if it’s a little thing you expand to include it.

Now, if it’s a big thing, guess what? You’re going to be very uncomfortable. And your actions and decisions about it is going to affect you in a major way. If you decide to avoid dealing with it, your comfort zone stays where it is. Not too bad, you get to be comfortable…but you also will not grow.

If you choose to deal with it, your comfort zone will expand to include it, and guess what?!? You now have an even BIGGER comfort zone. The growth is not always guaranteed to be easy or painless though, in fact it usually isn’t.

We’ve all encountered situations like this when we’ve had to face difficult obstacles thrown our way. Why choose to expand though when it’s more comfortable to stay the way you are? The key is to realize, your comfort zone is also your zone of power, and you’re potential to be everything that you want to be in life.

The more things in your life you get under your ability to handle, the wider your zone, the richer and greater your life becomes. A bigger comfort zone usually comes with a bigger sense of self-confidence, self-trust, more life experience, and it continues to grow as you grow to want to grow even more.

What does being comfortable and not wanting to stretch yourself outside of a small comfort zone get you? Well, put it this way; how much can you squeeze into a tiny little box or how much water can you pour into a small glass?

Expanding the edges of your comfort zone is always going to be uncomfortable. This is a good thing because how else will you know that you’re on the edge of another breakthrough and another level in life?

I can remember the first few times I started applying this principle. At first, whenever I found myself faced with new and challenging situations, I would get all tense, nervous, my heart would race and I could feel it from the pit of my stomach all the way across my body.  Did I always manage to take action in spite of my fear and break through my comfort barrier to grow?

Honestly, no.  But most of the times I did.  I even most of the time was better than not trying at all.  

And what I found is that as I continued to do it more and more, I got better at it. It doesn’t mean that my discomfort (fear, anxiety, stress, self-doubt) got any less.
In fact, it sometimes got worse as the level of challenges that I rose to get higher. But then, so did my confidence and my ability to handle them, and eventually the things that used to scare me stopped scaring me after a while.  (I use the example of fear, uncomfortable feelings at the edge of the comfort zone can take many forms, such as procrastination).

And the more I confronted my fear, the better I got at recognizing it. The more I stretched, the more I realized that whenever I felt the fear, instead of letting it stop me, I would recognize it as a sign that I had come up against my comfort zone and had a unique and valuable opportunity to expand and grow into my greatness.

So instead of feeling afraid and going, ‘Oh no, I can’t do this’ or ‘ what if I don’t succeed?’ like I used to, I’d go, ‘Yes, fear, welcome back! I’ve come up against my limits again…time to face another challenge, and I would create my action steps to move forward and take the first step. 

And when you recognize this, I can guarantee you that if you keep stretching yourself and keep moving forward, you’ll become so addicted to growth that fear will no longer be an obstacle but a trigger for you to embrace and take action in spite of it.

A useful belief that I’ve come to adopt is this:  The level of challenges I’m facing in my life now are there only because I can now deal with them.

In other words, whatever level of challenge I’m facing right now is appropriate to where I am now in my personal growth for my ability to tackle and overcome, no more, no less.

Now I have to give a disclaimer to say that if you are trying something that you have no knowledge and experience and your fearful of the consequences, my advice to you would be to get the knowledge and understanding before doing anything.

I want you to stretch yourself, don’t be stupid.  

You can stretch yourself intelligently, meaning acquire the knowledge through mentors and people who are doing what you want to do so you can start building your confident in yourself that you can and will achieve what you set out to accomplish.

Stretching intelligently means that you know there are some fears that are valid and rational. I will definitely feel afraid if was going to do something that I have zero knowledge and experience in it, and that’s good fear because it’s stopping me from doing something that’s a stretch but not an intelligent one, and definitely not good for me at this point in time.

Keeping that in mind, I can guarantee you, that if you don’t take anything away from this blog, or if this is the only entry you ever read (I hope not! Bookmark us, subscribe to our RSS feed or emailing list and keep in touch!), but you take this principle of stretching with you and apply it throughout your life, you will grow above and beyond anything you could expect.

So the next time you encounter a chance to grow, but feel fear or discomfort and know that it’s not a rational or useful feeling, recognize it as only a trigger for you to break open your comfort zone and grow to the next level.

💡 Ready to transform your life and stretch into your best self?

👉 Start with a DISCOVER Session—a powerful one-on-one conversation to gain clarity on your goals.

💻 Dive into the Project SeLFLoVe Digital Course and build unstoppable confidence, self-worth, and alignment at your own pace.
​
🔥 Or work with me directly through personal coaching designed to help you Decide. Commit. Succeed.
Choose your next step today—because the life you desire begins with the love you give yourself. 💙 Thank for reading and I look forward to connecting with you.

​😔 What Happens When You Break Promises to Yourself

It’s not just about missing a goal. Every time you break a promise to yourself, your self-trust erodes. You begin to subconsciously believe, “Why bother setting goals if I won’t follow through?” And just like that, your momentum fades.

Tonya, a teacher in Birmingham, had dreams of launching a tutoring business. But every time she skipped a task or delayed progress, she chipped away at her belief in herself. Eventually, it became harder to restart — not because of her ability, but because of her internal doubt.

🧠 The truth: Self-betrayal is the root of many mindset blocks.

✅ Action Step: Write down 3 commitments you’ve broken to yourself. Now rewrite each one as an empowered statement. Example: “I always give up” → “I am learning to follow through.”

Inner strength isn’t just about muscles or physical endurance; it’s about cultivating resilience, clarity, confidence, and empowerment. It’s about letting go of what no longer serves you and actively choosing a path that aligns with your true self. When you strengthen these aspects of your mindset, you change how you approach and handle life's ups and downs. Let’s dive deeper into why building mental strength makes life more manageable.

Resilience Over Resistance
When you become stronger, you develop resilience rather than resistance. Resilience is the ability to bounce back from setbacks, while resistance is fear or avoidance of challenges. Think about a time when life hit you hard—a job loss, a breakup, or, in my case, a car accident and divorce happening all at once. I could have resisted and let the circumstances defeat me, but instead, I chose to build resilience.

I learned to view those setbacks as opportunities for growth, not as the end of my story. That’s the power of resilience: it transforms obstacles into stepping stones. When you approach life with resilience, challenges feel less daunting, and you become more adaptable and stronger with every step forward.

Action Step: Identify one area in your life where you feel stuck or resistant. Ask yourself, "How can I view this challenge as an opportunity for growth?" Write it down and commit to a small step toward building resilience.

Clarity and Focus
Mental strength brings clarity, and clarity brings focus. When you are strong in your sense of purpose, you can prioritize what truly matters and reduce the noise. This makes navigating life’s demands much easier. Think about it: If you’re clear on your goals, values, and what you want to achieve, you’re less likely to get caught up in distractions or waste time on things that don’t serve you. For me, finding clarity meant recognizing that I was passionate about helping others grow. That clarity allowed me to focus my energy on creating my consulting firm and building a community around growth and resilience.

Action Step: Create a “Priority Pyramid.” List your top priorities from most to least important. Reflect on whether your daily actions align with these priorities and adjust accordingly.

Confidence in Action 
When you’re mentally stronger, you take action with confidence. Confidence isn’t about always knowing what you’re doing; it’s about trusting yourself to figure it out as you go. The more you take action, the more you learn, and the stronger your confidence grows.

I still remember when I first started my business, I had doubts and fears, but I knew that hesitation wouldn’t get me anywhere. By taking bold action, even when I was uncertain, I built confidence and created momentum that continues to drive me forward today.

Action Step: What bold step have you been putting off? Maybe it’s starting a new project, making a difficult decision, or stepping out of your comfort zone. Write it down and commit to taking that step today.

Empowerment Through Growth
Your strength comes from feeding your mind with positive, empowering content and surrounding yourself with people who support your growth. Your mindset is like a garden; it will grow what you plant. If you constantly feed it negativity and self-doubt, that’s what will flourish. But if you feed it with positive thoughts, inspiring content, and uplifting people, your mind will blossom.

Over the years, I’ve committed to feeding my mind daily with books, podcasts, and conversations that challenge me to grow. It has made a world of difference in how I handle stress and uncertainty.

Action Step: Commit to consuming one piece of positive content daily—whether it’s a book, a podcast, or a TED Talk. Reflect on how it helps you grow and keep a journal of your insights.

Embracing Letting Go
Strength also allows you to let go of what no longer serves you—whether it’s fear, limiting beliefs, or toxic relationships. Letting go isn’t always easy, but it’s essential. When I was going through my divorce, I had to let go of a lot—my expectations, my fears, my anger. But in doing so, I made space for new opportunities, new relationships, and a renewed sense of self.

Letting go isn’t about forgetting; it’s about choosing not to let the past dictate your present or future. It’s about freeing yourself from the weight that holds you down and embracing the unknown with an open heart.

Action Step: Write down three things you need to let go of. Create a plan to start releasing those burdens, and take one action this week to begin that process.

Conculsion
Life truly does get easier when you get mentally stronger, because you’re no longer merely surviving—you’re thriving. You’ve stretched yourself beyond the ordinary, built resilience, found clarity, acted with confidence, fed your mind, and embraced letting. Each of these steps makes your journey lighter, more purposeful, and aligned with your true self.

​In today’s blog, we’re going to talk about how today’s communication in the technology age has taken toll on our relationships and how we can improve on our communication with others...  So read on... and Enjoy! 

In our article ‘How Can I Communicate More Effectively’ we wrote that communication is the basis of every relationship. However, the rise of alternative methods of communication has taken a toll on how we relate to others. Many people these days tend to communicate primarily through smartphones and social media, foregoing face-to-face interaction.  This is a reflection of how we now interact with different types of media. Maryville University reports that in 2016 alone there was a 63% year-over-year increase in global mobile traffic. Not only is this changing how we communicate, it is also changing everything from the type of courses that students can now take to how business is conducted. This is a clear signal of how dominant mobile media has become, which has left little room for relationship building in person. This article will explore how this shift in how we communicate is impacting our relationships, personal and professional alike.

Anti-social tendencies have been on the rise because of smartphones. One study cited by NBC showed that the mere presence of smartphones reduces the quality of conversations among people, even in the workplace. Office meetings will struggle to spark creativity and innovation when people are in front of their laptops or phones. Another study suggests that smartphones actually prevent people from offering help to strangers they pass on the street. Although smartphones bring us closer to people who are far away, they tend to be a barrier between people around us.

Another result of social media is that it has sped up our relationships. Instead of getting to know someone on a personal level through multiple dates, you can just scroll through their Facebook timeline. People have met the loves of their life with the help of various dating applications without even having to leave the confines of their home. Huffington Post shares that in some cases, social media has become an avenue for infidelity because of the multiple people you meet through online games and applications. While it has made meeting people easier, it has also made people and relationships more “disposable”. These cases show how relationships created through social media can have both positive and negative effects, depending on the situation.

The use of social media specifically has had negative effects on how people communicate feelings towards others. Psychology Today discusses the rise of cyberbullying in the U.S. In a study of 5,600 youths between ages 12 and 17, 34% admitted to being bullied online, and 17% admitted that it had happened in the past month. The veil of the computer screen has encouraged many to use social media as a means of attacking others, without the consequences of face-to-face interaction. Author Robert Weis told WebMD how “technology can be a problem when it lets you avoid taking responsibility for your actions”. Many of the people who are bullied online never directly talk to their bully about the incident. This hampers people’s ability to express how they feel through face-to-face interactions.

What can be done to improve modern communication and interpersonal relationships? It’s important to remember that digital methods need not be the cause of anti-social tendencies. There are many good things that can result from these new ways of communication. For example, you can find your long-lost childhood friend through a social media application, or maintain a good relationship with your significant other who has moved overseas. While new forms of communication may affect the dynamics of relationships irreversibly, we can always find ways to make social media and digital devices work to our benefit.

​There are a number of factors to take into consideration when creating effective relationships in business and in life for you to approach the right client, customer, or even looking for the right person to share your life with, and in today's blog, we’re going to talk about creating connections that will bring you the relationships you want in life, so read on and enjoy!

Sending someone a LinkedIn connection request and then immediately sending them a request to schedule a talk, or like your biz page or jump into their inbox to offer a product or ask what do you do without researching the person is not how make connections that will bring you the relationships you want to have in business.

Have you even learned anything about the person to discover if they want or need what you have to offer?  Have you visited their website, checked out their profile, or read anything that is of interest that they follow so you can start a conversation that is reciprocated.  

It's like meeting a woman or guy for the first time and when you go for coffee you are telling them that you are the one and we should get married, or have relations.  This will definitely get you put on the weird list, or the do not answer crazy person list.

The same approach to creating social relationships should apply to online relationships, but unfortunately most LinkedIn entrepreneurs don't get it.
 
It still boggles my mind how many entrepreneurs do this to me everyday on LinkedIn and then when you don't respond you never heard from them again or they have someone that is doing their lead generation for them just cut and paste something they learned from a webinar that tells them that it is sure to work.

Listen...I may be even interested in what you have to offer if you took a second to get to know someone?

Ask them real questions and not the ones you downloaded from a LinkedIn webinar. 

​Questions like:  

• Compliment them on their website
• Read their content
• See what their challenges are? 
• Find out how you can help them first..

If you help them accomplish their goal, they will help you achieve your goal.

It is easier to sell when your intention is to genuinely help the people who would be perfect for your products and services.

In all of my 15+ years of selling products and services, I was able to effectively sell by finding out first if I could help the person by finding out what they needed and wanted... Even when I sold candy when I was growing up to my classmates and other students in school because I asked first what is their favorite candy.

43 years later, I still put all of my focus on helping people.. not on selling my things to them.. #sales 101.. I probably need to offer a workshop called sales 101.. hmmm..stay tuned..

You may want to find out what flavor I like before you start thinking about selling me something.

Your turn...

What types of connections are you making on LinkedIn?  What are you doing with your LinkedIn connections?  Are you building, network, or just connecting to sell something?  Share some of your Linkedin connection success.  One of my best LinkedIn connections I made allowed me to travel to Ghana and Bahrain for a major organization and also hold a webinar conducted for three companies in three countries to communicate effectively on a project they were working on to name a few.  

Comment below, I would LOVE to hear your thoughts.

Remember...When you show your value to someone, someone will value you as a client or customer because people don't remember you for what you can do, people remember you for what you've done for them.

Thanks for reading and as always I look forward to connecting you.

​STRETCHYOURSELF The Empowerment Podcast is honored to interview Lisa Nichols on the show. We will be talking to her about her new book ABUNDANCE NOW:  How to Amplify Your Life and Achieve Prosperity Today that is the focus of her upcoming events on the 22nd & 29th Oct. Tune in Thursday onhttp://stretchyourself.podbean.com/ 

New York Times bestselling author, Personal Transformation guru, and life coach for the Steve Harvey Show and Today, Lisa Nichols shares her journey from scarcity to abundance, outlining steps everyone can take to create abundance in career, relationships, self, and finances—while creating a legacy for others to follow.

Twenty years ago, Lisa Nichols was a single mother dependent on public assistance and jumping from one dead end job to the next. Determined to break out of the defeatist mindset, negative behavior, and bad habits that were holding her back from success, she resolved to change her life. Today, she leads the life of her dreams.

In Abundance Now, this icon in the field of personal transformation shares her secrets to creating a life that is rich in every way possible. Focusing on the four areas of life that must be refined to bring true abundance, or the 4 E’s—Enrichment, Enchantment, Engagement, Endowment—Nichols identifies the framework upon which a fulfilled existence is built. Abundance Now offers provocative lessons, actionable plans and real-life case-studies, and makes clear what we must do every day to attract abundance, how to act as if we are already leading abundant lives, and how to open the door to a life of richness in our work, our relationships, our finances, and in our view of ourselves.

STRETCHYOURSELF is proud to host her on the show and look forward to hearing your comments!

​If you’re ready to take charge of your life, it’s time to create a vision board.

​In this blog we’ll be talking about vision boards and why that are so important to bring that vision of the life you want to live to your present moment, so read on and enjoy!

Vision boards, also called dream boards, help people clarify their intentions for the future. By assembling words, ideas, and images that correlate with your aspirations, you’re actively participating in the navigation of your life.

What’s the best way to design a vision board? Well, that’s really up to you! Your dream board should contain the things that uplift and motivate you to pursue the very best, both for yourself, and for those around you. 

Why Create a Vision Board?

Creating a vision board is a fun and inspiring experience! Many people find that the presence of a dream board in their home, office, or work space helps keep their goals on track, and reminds them of the passions and endeavors they wish to work toward.

The simple act of brainstorming and crafting a vision board can be a powerful affirmation of your future aspirations. Taking concrete steps to secure a future you envision brings you all the closer to the attainment of your dreams. 

But hold on! Vision boards aren’t just collages of attractive images and motivational quotes. Dream boards actively assist you in the achievement of your desires by employing the Law of Attraction (LOA).

How Do Vision Boards Use the Law of Attraction?

Before you can understand how vision boards utilize the Law of Attraction, you’ll first need to understand what the Law of Attraction is.

Simply put, the Law of Attraction states that like energy attracts like energy. If you imagine all the people and things in the world as being made up of energy, existing and operating on an energy field, you’ll be able to better visualize how this law works.

Have you ever found yourself thinking of a close friend or relative, only to have them reach out to contact you a few hours later? 

Or perhaps one morning your stub your toe out of bed, spill coffee on your favorite shirt, and then discover your car won’t start.

Many of the circumstances and events others call coincidence or happenstance are really the Law of Attraction at work. Like attracts like, and energy is no exception. If you focus on the negative, you may find more and more unpleasant events cropping up in your life. If you focus on the positive, you may be pleasantly surprised by the happy accidents that befall you.

You are in control of your life. It’s time to take charge and forge a new path toward happiness and personal fulfillment. 

Design Your Life with Your VISION Board

Too often, we find ourselves overwhelmed with the demands made of us. There’s just so much to do, and only so many hours in the day! As we’re carried forward by life’s currents, we sometimes forget that we’re the ones that are ultimately in control of our future. 

We don’t need to be subject to the external forces that seek to move and shape us. True momentum comes from the inside.

We can use vision boards to sculpt and shape our environment without and within. As we change the nature of our thoughts, we change the nature of our surroundings.

Vision boards don’t just help us clarify our future goals - they help us design our lives. The opportunities that arise as a result of what you place on your vision board will depend on what you choose to incorporate, so choose carefully.

Your board can include anything you’d like, and that’s the beauty of it! Engage your creative mind, fire up your imagination, and let your innermost desires and passions take hold. This exercise is meant to inspire and engage. Don’t be discouraged from dreaming big. Your vision board is yours, and yours alone. Tell a story that will motivate you to do great things.

Vision Boards for Different Life Goals

Some people have one dream board that integrates many goals and future milestones. But if you want to create more than one vision board, go for it! 

You can have a vision board for each of the different ambitions you wish to pursue. Place them in different areas of your home, or bring a few to work to decorate your workspace. The key to a successful dream board is visibility. You want to have your board in a place where you can view it easily and often.

Looking for some ideas to get the ball rolling? Try brainstorming on any of these themes for your vision board:

• Career
• Health
• Spirituality
• Family
• Vacation
• Hobbies
• Creative projects
• Wealth
• Monthly goals
• New skills

The more specific you’re able to be when brainstorming for your vision board, the better. But don’t be afraid to look for outside inspiration. Sometimes, even just the act of flipping through a magazine may point you in the right direction. Perhaps you’ll spot a new pair of shoes you’d love to own, or you may stumble across a fabulous vacation destination you’d like to visit.

Many people often have several ambitions they simultaneously pursue across different areas of their lives. We’re complex, multi-faceted individuals with many passions, hobbies, and pursuits, so it makes sense for us to possess a wide spectrum of desires.

Get clear on the things you want. You’ll need to be honest with yourself in exploring your dreams. You can even categorize your goals by date. What do you want to achieve in the next 6 months? The next year? The next five years? 

Start with the here and now and work your way forward to imagining what you want you life to look like ten years into the future. What does happiness look like to you? What does it feel like? What does it include?

Designing a Vision Board to Influence Your Life

Seek images and quotes for your board that truly excite your passions. Keep your eyes open for inspiration, because it can be found just about anyplace, at any time!

If you’re out and about and spot an ideal image or phrase for your board, take a note of it in your phone or journal. If you’re chatting with a friend and they say something that lifts your spirits, write it down and store it for your board. The more you engage in the habit of seeking inspiration, the more you will find it emerge in your day-to-day life.

Make sure that once you’ve finished designing your dream board, that you take a few moments each day to reflect on what you’ve created.

Vision boards work most effectively when you consciously direct your thoughts to the things, ideas, and pursuits you’ve assembled. It’s not enough to simply create a dream board. You must be able to meditate on the goals you’ve outlined.

All it takes is a few short minutes each day. Dedicate this time to dwelling on the images and words you’ve collected. Try to feel the emotions you associate with the attainment of these goals. Put yourself in the place of already having reached your aspirations. You’ll be amazed by how quickly circumstances will align to bring about the object of your desires.

Your Turn....
​
What image or quote would you put on your vision board? Would you want multiple boards for different goals? We want to hear what you think! Tell us in the comments below!

​ABOUT THE AUTHOR- MINDVALLEY ACADEMY

This article was contributed by MindValley exclusively for the STRETCHYOURSELF Community.
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​You don’t want to get out of bed. You stare at the ceiling, attempting to muster motivation to do things that you have zero interest in. When you get to work, you stare at the tasks you have to do and you feel totally overwhelmed. After work isn’t much better. You prefer to sprawl on the couch, watching TV, than tackling chores around the house or even spending time with your family. 

While you may wonder why you are lagging so much in life, you need to understand that this is not your fault. You are not lazy, or stupid, or a waste. Instead, you are simply unmotivated. You have given up your own power over your life in order to feel more secure. Something is preventing a fire from growing in your heart and fueling your energy. 

 You should change your attitude and take power back over your life. You possess more power over your mind and your feelings than you think. One of the easiest ways to do this is through meditation designed to awaken your motivation. There are many meditations that can successfully awaken your inner drive. 

It is important to first narrow down the cause of your lack of motivation. From there, you can start to tackle the problem. Don’t let lack of motivation corrode your excitement and your life; keep positive and psyched for everything that you do. If you are stuck in a mire of lack of motivation, then you can use a series of great meditations to pull yourself out and make your life exhilarating again.
 
First of all, understand that you have a lot of power. Meditation enables you to speak to your own inner mind and influence yourself one way or another. Telling yourself to be positive and motivated during meditation will work. You can take power over your own mind and make yourself feel a fresh lust for life.
 
Don’t let the gravity of life and routine drag you down. Don’t give toxic things, like envy or inaction, get the better of you. You can beat these killers of motivation by choice. Then you can reaffirm that choice in your own mind through motivation meditation.

The first step to meditating is to clear a spot for your practice. You need to have somewhere that is quiet and comfortable, where you won’t be interrupted or distracted. You can use your bedroom, office, a park, a forest, or any other place that is peaceful. You can meditate at any time when you don’t have other pressing commitments that will cut into your thoughts and keep you distracted.

Now, sit or lie down comfortably. Be careful not to let yourself fall asleep! Meditation can be incredibly relaxing, but it entails being fully conscious. If you fall asleep, you defeat the purpose of this meditation.

Start to focus on your breath. Pay attention to each exhalation and inhalation. Don’t let your mind wander. This calms your restless thoughts and puts you in touch with your inner conscious.
 
At this point, when your heartbeat slows and you gain complete control over your thoughts, you are able to start speaking to yourself. You can really motivate and inspire yourself by telling yourself positive and motivational affirmations. Try finding a mantra that you can recite whenever your motivation lags and you need to perform this meditation. Say something like “I am motivated” or “I will complete this task. I will take joy in accomplishing this task.”

Speaking to your inner mind requires a bit of finesse. Avoid saying phrases like “Don’t do this” and instead say “Do this”. Your mind doesn’t pay attention to the word “Don’t” so using it can be dangerous. Use action verbs and speak in the present tense, letting your mind know that you want to start acting now. Speak to yourself kindly. You are your own worst critic, so don’t beat yourself up too much and kill your motivation yet more.

You can also focus on how to go about getting a task done. Say you are overwhelmed. Breaking things down into smaller tasks and finding a solid starting point is a great thing to explore in meditation. Let your mind come up with ideas on its own and develop these ideas when your mind is totally clear of other distracting thoughts. Meditation helps you get to know yourself, so it can really help you unlock internal wisdom or inspiration.  

The great thing about motivation meditation is that it does not take very long. You can enter this meditation at any time when your motivation is suffering. Consider entering this meditation in the morning when you don’t want to rise out of bed for work. Use it when you start to feel bored or overwhelmed at work. When you undertake a new project, use this meditation to prepare yourself for success.
 
You can do this meditation every day, or just when you need motivation. You can rely on this to get you out of a funk whenever you fall into one, however. 

Start to take your power back. Inject power into your life and your daily routine so that you can get things done. Stop letting lack of motivation and inspiration get you down. 

Listen to Ron Broussard Founder of STRETCHYOURSELF as he shares how he uses his emotions to accomplish goals. 

If you are not aware of how your mind is projecting these scenarios you will blame other people and even give up on your goals.    Understanding how your mind imagines and perceives scenarios of outcomes is critical to understanding your anger and other emotions. .

If you are aware of what is happening when you are in pursuit of achievement, it will enable you to proactively put measures in place to keep you moving forward.

These videos are created to help make you aware so you can strengthen your mind to be STRONG when things just don't go they way you wanted or planned. 

Comment below how this video has help channel your emotions and share with someone who needs to hear this!

​Listen to Ron Broussard Founder of STRETCHYOURSELF as he shares the REAL reason people give up on their goals. And guess what? It is not what you think it is.

If you are aware of what is happening when you are in pursuit of achievement, it will enable you to proactively put measures in place to keep you moving forward.

Now, there about a million things online telling you how to stay focused and engaged, so look for it. It’s a search worth undergoing.

I’m not going to give you a fool-proof method, or a 5-step method, I’m going make you aware so you can strengthen your mind to be STRONG when everything is coming at you. 

Comment below how this video has help you and share with someone who needs to hear this!

It’s impossible, right? In order to get more done, you need to invest more time. Working ten hour days will make you more accomplished than a colleague that only works seven. Studying three hours a day will get you better grades than the guy who skims through a few chapters before the test. More work = more results.

I disagree. Working smart beats working hard. In some cases working more can actually damage the amount you get accomplished. In both cases, the degree effort matches outcomes has been overstated.

Working less and accomplishing more isn’t easy. It requires thinking creatively to find more effective ways of doing things. But first, you have to be open to the possibility that your methods aren’t as efficient as they could be. Once you do that you can look for ways to get more accomplished without just increasing your to-do list. So in this blog I'm going to share some of the rules I use to approach my day to day operations, so read on and enjoy!

Working less and accomplishing more isn’t easy. It requires thinking creatively to find more effective ways of doing things. But first, you have to be open to the possibility that your methods aren’t as efficient as they could be. Once you do that you can look for ways to get more accomplished without just increasing your to-do list. So in this blog I'm going to share some of the rules I use to approach my day to day operations, so read on and enjoy!

The top three obstacles to efficient work productivity include overwhelming yourself (trying to do too much at once) paperwork of course, and our ole favorite: procrastination. So how do you stretch yourself to get more accomplished without working harder?

Whatever you are avoiding to do needs to be the first thing done that day. With that being said, here are some of the rules that I use to approach my day to day operations.

Create a “weekly to do” list – After years of beating myself up with the daily to do's and not getting the last couple of items scratched off the list I created a week to do list that is prioritized by importance, and duration of time down to breaks taken. this alone allowed me to break my larger project into manageable pieces while still staying on task. Some of the things I did was:

• Cut e-mail time to beginning 30 min or end of day 30 mins to invest more in larger projects.
• Say no to people who want commitments that don’t contribute enough value schedule on my Friday time slots for networking and follow-up.
• Stay on task – Try to complete each task within the time requirements before shifting your focus. The tasks you don’t complete become first priority the next day. Some of the things I implement was:

1. Putting a time limit on small projects. If it wasn't completed within the time constraints, STOP, set up the time you needed for it the next day
2. Any larger project break into smaller pieces to have completed by the end of the week to stay on task
3. Create a “don’t do” list - I created a don’t do list to keep my focus on the tasks at hand for example…On a important project that demands my attention, I don’t answer my cell phone for that time that is allotted. Some of the things I implemented was:

Don't take long breaks, Break in bursts. Taking small 5 min breaks away from the work when needed keeps you alert and focused on task.

• Don't use my break to do other things. Rest, meditate listening to music on your power nap, take a walk, AWAY from the office. Master the ability to recharge when needed
• Stay Sharp. There’s an old story about a lumberjacks that got hired working for this company and in the first week he cut 57 trees. The next week he cut 37 trees and the 3rd week he cut a paltry 15 tress. Frustrated, he talked with his boss about his production and his boss asked him did he sharpen his axe.

"Sharpen my " he exclaimed, "No, I was too busy cutting trees." axe!?!" he exclaimed, "No, I was too busy cutting trees." 

The moral?  Stay Sharp, don’t use rusty tools.

Don’t waste your time doing things you don’t intend to be excellent at. Delegate the small stuff - non-essential tasks others can do as well or better than you. Spend time on the things you enjoy doing and make it a priority to sharpen your tool beyond what is necessary to cut. Skill saves time.

Celebrate the small successes. No matter how small, celebrate the accomplishments for the week. This does two things; It keeps your mind focused and engaged on what you are successful at and keeps the momentum on the success you are having.

These are the only rules I have that are very simple, but important. Your rules should STRETCH you; require some effort, but ones that you can maintain and reach. You always want to be clear; whether you abide by the rules or break them it produces a certain result.

Your turn...

What are some of the things you practice to work smarter and accomplish more? Are there some things you've experienced that will help us throw away some habits that we are currently using. Comment below, I would LOVE to hear your thoughts. 

Remember...This is your life - make the most of it - Success doesn't have to a hard drawn out process but, in fact, the ability to be efficient and effective with what you do to gain the results you want in life. Thanks for reading and I look forward to connecting with you soon.

​Someone once asked me how do you know when your successful if you are constantly working to achieve success. I told him that success leaves clues, and even while you are on course, there are guides to keep you on the path. Did YOU know that success leaves clues? And if you don’t know have to recognize the clues, and get in the “draft” so it won’t be as difficult for you to achieve. So in this blog I’m going to talk about the “draft” power of success, so read on and enjoy!

Junior Johnson was one of the founding first of NASCAR racing to invent drafting. He noticed that whenever he got right behind another car, he was able to go faster. He suspected the front car lowered wind resistance for the back car by "creating a draft." His technique helped him win the 1960 Daytona 500, even though his car was significantly slower than some other stock cars on the track. When interviewed about his driving, he told them about his technique.

Soon other drivers began imitating Johnson's technique, and drafting was born. NASCAR racing went from a combination of luck and horsepower to an intensely technological, strategic sport.

What actually happens in drafting?

Basically, the front car creates a low-pressure area -- a draft -- that essentially acts like a vacuum and pulls the back car forward. The combination of the pair of cars can go as much as 5mph faster than either car driving alone. Add more cars to the line and the effects are doubled even tripled.

To draft, you have to know and trust your car's handling. And if you want to change your position in the line of cars, you have to be strategic. Scientists have proven that when you draft, you exert 30 percent less effort than the person you are tailing.

The same is true in being successful.

If what you are striving to achieve has never been done before, you will suffer the pain, fear, and struggle to accomplish your goal. Just imagine the person that made the first cell phone or the first television.

But if you know you are following behind someone else who is blazing the trail and creating the draft for you, it will be much easier. And if you wish to become better, you have to know and trust yourself, first, and with this knowing, you are able to make sound and strategic decisions that will not only affect you but others you make connect with.

How to find your Success Draft

For anything you do or wish to achieve, simply find two people that are very successful in what you are doing or would like to do, then devote yourself to learning as much as you can about them and how they got to where they are. Just get in their draft, and that alone will exert 30% less emotional efforts and struggles in reaching your goals.

Of course, we all strive to be trendsetters and love to be out in forefront leading the way, and you will have every opportunity to do just in your journey by mentoring someone or hiring an intern. When you teach someone else, it’s an amazing way to boost your learning curve and reignite your passion and purpose in life.

By the time you achieve your goal, you would not only be successful, but you would have helped others that followed in your draft.

Today NASCAR has redefined the shape of the cars to make them aerodynamic and to reduce the accidents that occur on the racetrack, but drafting still remains. Find those clues that success leaves behind and get into that draft, that alone will take the stress and worry out of how it can be done because the trail has been blazed before you.

Remember success leaves clues – seek the draft that others left behind to give you, inspiration, courage, and strength for you to accomplish your goals. In fact, seeing what others have done gives you positive anticipation in what you will achieve.

Your turn...

Who are some of the people you look up to, emulate, or feel that you have a kindred ship based on their struggles and achievements? Have you had someone that looked up to you and asked you did you get to where you are not? Are you excited for the successes of your colleagues?

Comment below and tell me about your Success Draft.

Remember...This is your life - make the most of it - begin working with the power of drafting by never giving up, being consistent and finishing strong. You’ll be glad you did. Thanks for reading and I look forward to connecting with you soon.

Remember the old Yellow Pages ads that said, “Let your fingers do the walking?” (Yes, I just aged myself.) The phrase was clever slogan meant to encourage consumers to shop by browsing the yellow phone book page listings for a product or service. In other words, let's allow your customers to do the talking so client and customers do the walking to your website or business to give you the business. So in this blog I'm going to talk about how customers testimonials are very effective to your marketing plan so read on and enjoy!

Preach What You Practice

In the modern era of marketing, I encourage you to embrace a similar-sounding phrase, “Let your customers do the talking.”

The success of your marketing plan can depends less on what you say and more on what other people say. Sure, words matter in marketing, but not necessarily your words. Instead, the words from happy customers carry a lot more weight.

When potential customers listen to you or read your marketing copy, they tend to view you as a salesman just trying to push product. In contrast, testimonials and endorsements from happy customers come across as peers giving advice that can be trusted.

If you’re skeptical and don’t think testimonials are important, then why is TripAdvisor, Yelp, Angie’s List, and Amazon customer reviews so popular? You’ve probably used at least one of these websites in the past month when deciding to buy a product or service. Millions of people visit these sites every day to read customer testimonials before making a purchase. If testimonials weren’t important to marketing, no one would visit these websites. The huge audiences these sites attract are proof that testimonials can positively sway a consumer’s mind.

Yet, most businesses, coaches, and non-profits view testimonials as unnecessary or a waste of time. Otherwise, you’d see them a lot more. Usually, you find a few customer comments or endorsements buried on an irrelevant web page or back of a brochure. Why do so many people and companies seem adverse to gathering testimonials?

Working with my consulting clients on this subject, I’ve heard all kinds of excuses, such as:

• We’re too busy to ask our customers for feedback.
• No one responds when we ask for an endorsement.
• We don’t know anyone famous to ask for testimonials.
• Why bother? Nobody seems to read them or he or she'd be knocking down our door.

I’ve found these excuses to be smokescreens for the real reasons people don’t ask or display testimonials. In reality, the underlying problem is driven by one of the following misconceptions:

• We’re afraid to ask because we fear hearing “no” more than possibly getting a yes.
• We're afraid of getting a bad testimonial.
• If people decline to give a testimonial, it means our product is lame and we’re losers.
• A testimonial is only legitimate if it comes from someone famous or well known.
• We tried asking for testimonials, but we stunk at getting them so we stopped.
• Testimonials pale in comparison to fancy social media tricks or a big ad budget.

Testimonials from happy customers cost you nothing but a little bit of time, and they’re easy to acquire. All you have to do is politely ask for them. Then, display the ones you get on all of your marketing materials, such as your website homepage, newsletters, social media pages, brochures, etc.

Ask at least one happy customer for a testimonial. Make it a priority this week. What are you afraid of? The worst thing that can happen is a hearing “no” or getting no response at all. The best thing that can happen is to hear energizing words from someone who loves your product. Testimonials not only help invigorate your marketing confidence, they act like a magnet to capture the interest of potential clients. The more your happy customers do the talking, the more potential clients will do the walking – to buy your product or service.

Do I practice what I preach? Every time.  Check out my list of client testimonials. 

Your turn...

What are you doing to get more testimonials for your business? Are you taking the time to ask for the testimonial as frequently as you ask for the business? When you take time to ask for the testimonial and make it part of your closeout session with your client or customer, you'll receive testimonials that will help you grow or change develop a sound marketing strategy that speaks to your potential customer and the end result they would receive from your product or service will get you business - every time. If you would like a complimentary business assessment of how you can start marketing for testimonials from past customers connect with me.  

Remember...someone can talk highly of your business and services better than you ever can because it is coming from a customer experience. Thanks for reading, apply this strategy to your business and I look forward to hearing your results.  Thanks again and I look forward to connecting with you soon.

​Our experience in our journey through life is filled with moments, moments of love, passion, creativity, joy, connection, compassion, and laughter. But understand that learning, evolving and growing starts through life's ups and downs, experiences that round us out and make us better as a person, both mentally and spiritually. The key is not to let life's difficult situations  get the best of you. So in this blog I'm going to give you 5 secrets to help you get through difficult situations, so read on and enjoy!

Now I want you to think about the most difficult situation you’ve endured in your life. If you are going through something as you read this right now, how do you feel? These feelings you feeling even though you tell people you're ok quietly affect your thinking, decision making, and the quality of your life. And we've all faced this.

Now imagine how you would feel if you were able to get over these feelings. By “get over” I mean no longer suffering over something that happened in the distant past. I know this is possible because I have both personally come to peace with extremely difficult, heartbreaking situation and I would like to share what worked for me...

First, Practice noticing, and then letting go of, your ideas.

When a difficult situation from your past stirs anxiety, anger, sadness, and so forth, it means there’s some ideal you’re attached to that’s triggering your suffering. It can be tough to notice this idea at first, but with practice, you can see it with ease. There may be an ideal situation you want and hold on to, that doesn’t match your present reality. But this ideal – even if it makes sense – is NOT helping you, it’s hurting you. If you want the past to be different than it is, you’ll be sad or angry or anxious for the rest of your life. Noticing what you’re holding on to is the first step.

The second step is letting the idea go. Make a conscious choice to let it go. It's happened, there's nothing you can do to change it and it's past. Letting go of this means embracing the reality that everyone is human and human beings sometimes make terrible mistakes. There’s nothing ideal about it, but that’s the truth, and it must be accepted.

Peace of mind in the long run is about allowing yourself to be perfectly OK with “what is,” rather than wishing for and worrying about “what is not.” “What is” is what’s real – the rest is just you, arguing with life.

Third, Release your judgments.

It’s impossible to get over a difficult situation – to let it go – if you’re still obsessively judging what happened And then ask yourself:

• Do you believe it should not have happened at all?
• Do you believe the outcome should have been different?
• Do you take what happened personally?
• Do you blame someone else for what happened?
• Do you blame yourself?
• Do you believe the situation is impossible to get over?

If you caught yourself thinking “yes” to one or more of those questions, then what’s preventing you from getting over it is judgment. Your judgments about what happened in the past continue to keep the situation present in your mind, and thus, it continues to impact your daily life.

Now you may be thinking, “What happened was unbelievably horrible – I can’t conceive of ever getting over it!” But releasing your judgment does not mean you’re pleased with what happened, or that you support it, but rather that you are eliminating the negative burden you’re carrying by continually judging it.

When you let go of your negative judgments, you automatically replace the some of the victim mentality with acceptance and presence. And acceptance and presence together will free your mind.

Fourth, Find gratitude in the present moment, despite the situation.

Happiness doesn’t always make us grateful, but gratitude always helps us smile. Some may say that’s a cliché, but it’s not. Gratitude is the foundation. And happiness is simply the sacred experience of living with a genuinely grateful heart.

Expressing gratitude is so simple, though, right? So I know you're asking yourself how could it possibly make that big of a difference?

Being grateful starts with being present. You can’t appreciate your life when you’re not paying attention to it. And the truth is, we make our present situations much worse when we replay difficult past situations in our heads. In the present moment, our real situation is rarely as bad as we make it out to be.

So when your mind drifts into the past or speculates about the future, we must do our best to catch ourselves, and look at everything you’ve done from that situation till now, the present. Only then can we accept the moment as it is. Remember this is the real world, not an ideal world. And your reality always contains a silver lining of beauty, if you choose to see it.

And the last thing is to ensure you have the right people in your corner. It's happened its past, now you need to realign your relationships with people that will be with you through difficult times and not only when you have high times. If they have to question your past, then they truly don't know you in the present. The past is just that, and you've grown from the past into the person you are today, so don't get caught not having the right people in your life when you need a confidant to talk with the most.

The Power of Response

So the one thing my five secrets – above have in common, it’s the importance of responding to life’s difficulties more effectively. When you can let go of your ideas, judgments, and self-pity parties, you give yourself the space required to respond to life’s difficult situations more effectively… and that changes everything.

And this applies to everyday difficulties too, not just life’s larger scale catastrophes. Regardless of the situation at hand, when we respond in emotional haste and angst, we only compound our problems. Taking a deep breath, or ten, and responding calmly means we’re going to be able to better handle any difficult situation, whether it’s an emergency or the unexpected loss of a loved one.

Bottom line: You can’t control everything that happens (or everything that has happened), but you can control the way you respond. And in your response is your greatest power.

Your turn…

Comment below and tell me, Which point above resonated with you the most, and why? Do you have anything else to add to what I'm talking about, I would love to hear from YOU. Leave a comment below and share your thoughts and insights.

Thanks for taking time to read this and remember, Don't waste time thinking about your past mistakes and you'll be spending more time celebrating your present achievements, and I look forward to connecting with you soon

Which would you rather be in your business: Efficient or Effective? If you're like most people, your gut-level response is BOTH of course! And you can be. But.... have you ever stopped to think which one needs to come first? Steven Covey in Seven Habits of Highly Effective People said:

It's incredibly easy to get caught up in an activity trap, in the busy-ness of life, to work harder and harder at efficiently climbing the ladder of success only to discover it's leaning against the wrong wall. It is possible to be busy - very busy - with being very effective"

This is especially true when it comes to marketing. When your busy working on your business most people often make the mistake of "doing something, even if it's wrong", mistaking activity for effectiveness. It's easy to do in the real-time world of social media where everyone is looking for instant gratification in the technology world we live in. They get busy placing adds, buying lead lists, building a web presence, sending out mailers, attending networking events, creating brochures, and so forth. In other words, they get busy doing something and in this blog I'm going to talk about how to be efficient and effective while using both strategic and tactical marketing to your advantage so read on and enjoy!

Now let's start with strategic marketing. It's important to realize that the strategic side of the coin - what you say, how you say it, and who you say it to - is always important than the marketing medium of where you say it. The is the basic difference between strategic and tactical marketing.

Strategic marketing embraces the thought process that occurs before your message is broadcasted to your audience. Seth Godin once said,

Marketing is not an emergency. It's planned thoughtful exercise that started a long time ago and doesn't end until you are done.

Strategic marketing starts with understanding who your customers are and what is important to them. You have to understand why they buy what they buy by seeing the world through their eyes. By understanding what's important to your target market, you can then put a strategy together that gets more qualified prospects to call, reduces your sales cycle, and increases for close ratios. Strategically, marketing programs and advertising should get the attention of target market prospects and facilitate their decision making. This lowers their risk for taking the next step in the buying process.

Examples of strategic marketing (what you say, how you say it, what you say it to):

• Market Research you did to determine a need for what you offer
• Customer feedback
• What your customers need to hear
• What your customers go to get information
• What value you will give to ensure they make the best decision possible

Now on to Tactical Marketing. Tactical marketing is the execution part of the plan, such as generating leads, placing media, creating marketing collateral, and implementing a great follow up system. In other words, it's the medium in which your message is delivered. to be effective, the strategy has to be in place first. Just putting a marketing message in an appropriate medium for your customers to hear or read is not good enough. The strategy must derive from an understanding of what's important to them. Otherwise, the tactical part of the marketing process will be much less effective, resulting in marketing programs that under- perform

Examples of tactical marketing (where you say it) Lead generators (to get your target market's attention):

• Social media
• Emails
• Speaking engagements
• networking events
• Marketing tools (to keep your target market's attention once you have it):
• Videos
• websites
• value based collateral such as DVD, eBooks, and other collateral that gives meat, NO sizzle

Your turn...

Where are you spending your time? When you take the time to develop a sound marketing strategy that speaks to your potential customer and the end result they would receive from your product or service will get you business - every time. This procedure will help you achieve success in your marketing plans every single time, for every kind of business. If you would like a complimentary business assessment of your marketing plan to allow me to work with you to show you where you've been spending most of your time. 

Remember...you can be tactically efficient but you need a sound strategy to be effective. Thanks for reading and I look forward to connecting with you soon.