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Baby boomers are finding career solutions by becoming entrepreneurs.    Many are ready to make the change due to a job layoff, while others are choosing to become entrepreneurs because they are ready to retire and want to do something else in their “next life.”

As a baby boomer myself, I have been through the ringer when it comes to change.  Having lost my job twice since 2009, I have been struggling to find my way.  After countless interviews, rejections and a loss of financial security, I decided to find solutions to my challenges by becoming a solopreneur.

It hasn’t been easy but it can be done if you have determination, creativity and an entrepreneurial mind. Yes, that’s right!  More and more baby boomers are becoming entrepreneurs.   Not everyone is cut out to do this so there are some questions you should ask yourself first.

Here are some questions to consider: 

1. Are you ready to work hard and long hours?  - This is not a get rich quick venture.  You will have to put long hours into the beginning stages but it is worth it if you follow a plan.
2. Can you adjust to quiet and loneliness, after working closely with your coworkers in an office environment?
3. Are you willing to do what it takes?
4. Are you ready to think outside the box?
5. Can you overcome challenges and struggles?
6. Do you adjust well to change?
7. Are you willing to throw “perfection” out the window and just get started?
8. Are you willing to do what it takes and not quit?

What are some of the benefits?

1. You are your own boss – You get to set your schedule, your salary and your lifestyle
2. You can bring your pets.  - It’s a lot of fun to have your favorite pet by your side to offer their support and devotion.
3. You can work around your family.  Set your schedule to get your work done when the kids are in school.
4. You can save gas.  - With the price of gas going up every day, wouldn’t it be nice to have a 2 minute commute to your home office?
5. You can choose your clients/customers.
6. You can become the expert in your niche.
7. You can reap the rewards of your hard work instead of working hard to make profits for your company. Now you can profit for the benefit or YOUR company.
8. You learn alot about yourself and will be amazed at how much you can influence others who are looking for your expertise.
9. You DO work long hours in the beginning.  But as you build your business and put your systems in place, you can start to lessen the hours and gain more time for you and your family.
10. YOU get to build the foundation from the bottom up!
11. You can learn new ways of networking and finding JV partners by the use of social media, online and offline networking opportunities.

Mari Smith and Guy Kawasaki have partnered in an upcoming webinar as they share the 7 hottest social media business trends of 2012 and you are invited to join them.

Social Media is changing so fast and new social sites are popping up all over the place.  In order to grow any business, it’s essential to stay informed and to walk the walk when it comes to marketing your business.  It’s important to keep up with the experts to stay up to date on all the changes and here is your opportunity to do so.

On Wednesday March 28, Mari and Guy will take you on a deep dive of the 7 Hottest Business Trends in Social Media this year. And they’re not only talking about the latest tools like Pinterest and Google+ … they’re also going to unravel the fundamental shifts that affect anyone using Social Media today (like you, me and just about everyone we know!)

What exactly will they be discussing?

Trend 1 – Big Brand Bypass

Trend 2 – Humanize to Monetize

Trend 3 – Cause Based Consumers

Trend 4 – Super Social Status

Trend 5 – Awesome vs. “Flawsome”

Trend 6 – Mad For Mobile

Trend 7 – Privacy Paranoia

Mari and Guy have the expertise to explain how you can put these trends to use for a substantial boost in your business profits — simply by getting these red-hot trends on YOUR side with proven strategies like successful companies they deal with around the world.   Learn more about Mari and Guy below:

Be sure to register right away and save your seat, before this popular webinar fills up completely. Mari’s last webinar had over 15,000 registrants (wow!)… but she’s capped this one at only 10,000 lines for this LIVE webinar. So, I recommend you don’t wait, or you could miss out!

To get access to the FREE webinar, fill in the form below: 

Name:

Email:

We respect your email privacy

Let me know if you have any comments or questions in the comment box below.

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Because I help newbies find solutions and resources for their new business, I wanted to find out what they needed help with.

In order to do that, I put together a survey, asked folks to fill it out and now the results are in.

As a once newbie myself,  there were so many things I needed to learn but I ended up with more information overload than I could handle, leaving me more confused and frustrated.  I didn’t start off on the right path and ended up spending WAY too much money on unnecessary products and programs before I was even ready to utilize them.

When I started my own business, I vowed to help my clients learn from my mistakes and not do what I did.  That’s when this all started.  I asked what newbies wanted.

You know, if you don’t ask you will never know!  I am glad I asked because the results amazed me.  It was a great learning experience for me and now I can help the newbies find the solutions to their problems.

So let’s get right down to it.  What were the results?  See below……

Out of 60 replies, here is what they wanted:

When I asked the question “What areas of business do you want to master first?”

• Over 50% wanted to master their niche.
• About 16 % had equal interest in mastering marketing, social media, teleseminars and webinars.  As a matter of fact, the graph showed the exact percentage for each category.

When I asked the question “Would you like to have live training calls?”

• Over 75 % said yes to finding their niche
• Only 25% wanted a live call for time management
• Surprisingly, blogging, article marketing and social media showed very little interest.  That was amazing to me.

When I asked “What is your greatest challenge with your online business?” I got these results:

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Do you have trouble staying focused?  I am talking about the trap of how to get in and get out of your social media sites or your emails without Entrepreneurial ADHD!

What is that you ask?  Yep, it’s a known fact that we can get into an overload so big that some people might think we have ADHD.   For example….

Do you spend to much time on Twitter?

Do you spend to much time on Facebook or LinkedIn?

Do you have good intentions to get in and get out after you engage, reply and connect with your facebook fans or your friends?

Do you schedule time in your daily “To Do” list for social media and other important aspects of your business that need your attention?

Today I decided to use my voice to get the message out there.  So look below and hear what I have to say about, what I call, Enterpreneurial ADHD.

Listen…..

Now tell me,  what do you think?  Does this sound like you?

How about leaving a comment below and share what you think?

Until next time, stay focused and get in and get out so you can start growing your business…

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What is your greatest challenge in your business?

As a newbie, we tend to be bogged down with the learning curve and all that comes from setting up your new online business.

Wheather it be marketing, finding your niche, social media or all the other steps it takes to get started.

I remember my first biggest challenge was just getting started.   These were some of the questions I asked myself:

1. How do I get started?
2. What steps do I need to take?
3. Who do I want to be my mentor?
4. Do I need coaching or consulting?
5. Why isn’t my business growing?

Do you have those same questions or concerns?  Newbies are always asking me how to begin so I decided to put together a program in May that needs my attention now.  That’s why I need your help.

If you have challenges in your business, would you please take the time to respond to my survey?  That way, I can help you overcome those challenges and help you take the steps you need to make 2012 your real for RESULTS too.

Here is the link to the survey.  Thanks alot.

So I ask you again, what is your greatest business challenge?  Why not leave a comment below and let us know.  Who knows, you may find your solution.

Cindy

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Do you want to know how to remove your Google search history before Google starts sharing some of your information?

Did you know that tomorrow, March 1, 2012, Google will start implementing their new privacy policy?  Feel free to read that policy.  If you want to know how to protect yourself,  I wanted to share with you how you can remove your history from both Google and Youtube.

With this new policy, Google can use your information to share with others by using your history to share your personal information to include, but not limited to, your online reading habits, your location, your gender and other very sensitive information about you.

In order to get the most privacy, it’s a good idea to at least know that you have options, such as deleting your history.

Steps for removing your Google Search:

1. Go to google.com/history
2. Type in your Google password.
3. Click on the button that looks like this ===> 
4. You have completed the removal of all your history.

Steps for removing your Youtube history – Check out the Youtube PrivacyPolicy here.

1. Sign into Youtube.  - Remember to use your Gmail account information
2. Click on your icon in your Youtube channel
3. Click on Video Manager
4. Click History
5. Click on this button ====> 
6. Follow the steps below to make sure you have cleared all your history.

Side Note: If you have multiple YouTube accounts, you will have to complete these steps for each account.

To learn more, here are 6 great tips from Electronic Frontier Foundation, called Six Tips to Protect Your Search Privacy

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There is a power of  the number “9″ in this Leap Year day, at least for me.

Since today is February 29, 2012, a leap year, I thought about all the 9′s that come my way this year.

This blog post is coming from a personal side of me as I see how the power of the number “9″ is in my cards this leap year.

I am not a numbers person and as a matter of fact, I really never liked math.  But as I was thinking about all the 9′s that will occur this year, I began to think there may be a reason.

I am not sure what that reason is yet but I wanted to share with you the amazing ways that this number will appear in my life throughout 2012.

When I think about this I realize that some people, who are numbers people,  take this to heart and I think I may need to find some of them to see if there is anything magical about these numbers for me this leap year.

Take a look…….

9 years ago yesterday, I was divorced.

On the 9th of October, my younger son was born.

I will be 59 years old this year. 

Today is February 29

It will take me 9 hours to get to my NC destination this Sunday.

Amazing huh?  Ok, so that’s 5 “9′s”   I think that may be a sign to buy the winning lottery ticket.  What do you think?

How is the number “9″ going to fit into your life on this leap year?

Happy February 29, 2012!

Cindy

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In this blog post, I am going to share how this 21 day productivity challenge helped me move my business forward and how you can join in.

If you like challenges and you want to move your business forward, this challenge is for you.  It’s created for the advanced beginner and intermediate levels.  If you are a newbie, Connie has a challenge from 2011 too.

Since I vowed to make 2012 my year of results, I decided to challenge myself in ways that I only dreamed of last year.  For whatever reason,  my fear and lack of confidence prevented me from moving forward.   This year, in only 2 months, I have watched my business grow by taking daily and consistent action steps and through the help of one of my mentors, Connie Regan Green.

Connie has put together a 21 Day Productivity Challenge for 2012.  In this challenge, Connie gives us a new task each day, some are more challenging than others,  and some challenges will take longer than  one day.  In this challenge, Connie keeps us motivated and challenged to continue each day through her encouragement, solutions and resources.

Here are some of my accomplishments so far:

• I recorded my first cinch message.
• I have recorded 2 expert interviews since the challenge began.  You can find them here.
• I have written a free report that is still in draft mode and will be completed soon.
• I started a new account at StumbleUpon.com, where you can share your content.
• I started a new account at Scribd.com, where you can publish your content.
• I have stated article marketing at ezinearticles.com.

Things I am working on through day 11 of this 21 day challenge: 

• My first product creation
• My sales letter for the new product
• And writing this blog post 1/2 way through the challenge.

So why not come join us, it’s not to late.  If you do join in, please let me know below in the comments box so we can connect both here and over there at the 21 Day Productivity Challenge.  Hope to see you there.

Do you like a challenge to help keep you motivated and moving forward?  If so, tell me about it in the comments section below.

Until next time, here’s to your success,

Cindy

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Do you want to know how to avoid information overload?  It’s a huge issue with business owners, and this is how it usually happens.

Ok, so you are ready to start your new business and it’s a very exciting time for you.  You get pumped up to learn all you can, soak it all up like a sponge and hoping that you will be able to focus and get it all done.  You find great content and you sign up for everyone’s FREE report, then, BAM!

The emails start to flood your inbox, everyone is telling you to do this and do that.  You are getting invited to webinars, trainings, and you are being bombarded with product launches and sales pages.

Yep, I have been there done that myself and it is not a way to build your business.  As a matter of fact, the overwhelm from the overload can freeze you in your tracks.  So I had to come up with ways to overcome that overload myself and now I want to share those solutions with you.

Take your business one step at a time by mastering one area of your business first.  For example, if you are trying to research your niche, make sure you just focus on that one topic until you have mastered that before moving onto the next area of your business.

• Unsubscribe to all the emails that you don’t open.  (True confessions:  On January1, 2012, I had over 5,000 unread emails.)  YIKES!  Guess what I did?  I unsubscribed to many of them and am still doing so,  a bit at a time each day, and this is adding to another unwanted “to do” task that I really don’t have time for.  So don’t let your emails get that big.
• Find 3 – 5 mentors and follow them.  Follow their programs, sign up for their products and services and stick with them in the beginning of your journey.
• Turn off the noise – If you are focused on one area of your business then turn off your Facebook, Twitter, Skype and all the other distractions until it is time in your schedule to go there and do what you have to do.   (For example, I use Google Chrome, which allows me to open up many tabs at once that I can click back and forth on.  This year, I am not doing that and my business has taken a big leap due to my attention to focus.)
• Stay focused.  I like to plan 60 to 90 minutes on each task per day without any other interruption.  This allows me to stay focused for a shorter amount of time and then I take a short break by stretching or taking a short walk then it’s back to work on something else.
• Make email file folders for those emails you want to keep.  I call it my swipe file.  When I get an email that interests me, instead of taking the time to read it or get distracted from my daily “to do” list, I drop it in it’s file folder to review later, during my training period that I have scheduled in my weekly calendar.

What do you do to avoid information overload?  Please leave your ideas and comment below.

Until next time, enjoy your day and stay focused.

Cindy