Having a personal business metaphor is extremely helpful. For example, I have always loved space travel. I read science fiction (yes, I’m a Trekkie!) and I follow what NASA is doing. So for me, when big things are happening in my business, when I am struggling, or when I am starting something new, space metaphors abound. Like I wrote previously, I feel like I am sitting on top of a rocket, launching my business into space. This metaphor works for me, when I think about what stage my business is in. It helps me frame the larger picture of what is happening.

Last week I had a very difficult thing happen in my business. I was very upset, depressed and embarrassed by something that had happened. I stayed in this dark gloomy place for a day and had a long good cry. (Well, I don’t know about a “good” cry, as crying gives me one heck of a headache!) But the next morning when I woke up and thought again about what had happened, I said to myself, “I am going to take what has happened and use it as fuel for my rocket. This is rocket fuel!” And for the next week, every time I thought about what happened, I repeated to myself, “Rocket Fuel”! I suppose it’s a version of taking lemons and making lemonade. It works for me. A lot of my clients use very rich gardening metaphors. What metaphor would work for you?

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I feel like I am sitting on top of a rocket. The Women’s Earning Institute is growing quickly and I feel it is poised to do many great things. I am excited, and I am nervous. I am almost too busy, struggling to keep up with the opportunities that arise and to make the most of the opportunities I diligently create. (What is that saying? Luck is where opportunity meets preparedness?) I feel a great power underneath me, but at times I feel like I am still locked down to the landing pad. The rocket has been lit and wants to surge forward. The locking clamps are straining. How do I gracefully release them? I feel I am being sling-shotted up into space. And at times I fear that this rocket will explode on the launch pad, or in mid-air. What a wild ride I’m on.

In the middle of my busy schedule, I dropped everything to help birth a baby. My friend Mary went into labor on Thursday, so I rushed over to her house to be with her and her husband. The three of us had been “training” for this time for many months. We called ourselves “Team Mary”. Her husband Eric and I took turns helping her relax, rubbing her back and counting contractions. It was a long process, as this was their first baby! By the time we got to the birth center, (the next day!) the midwives took over her coaching, and I faded to the background. But she still wanted me there. I was a witness to her pain and her triumph.

I am reminded of how much we need support in our businesses. Could Mary have done this alone? Perhaps, but there would have been a lot more fear! We can do great things, but we need help and support. In fact, I believe it takes a village to birth a business, and a village to raise a business. Of course no one can run your business but you. But when you have support, the way feels easier. There is less fear. Who is your support team? Who are your witnesses? We need people who can hold our hands through the downtimes and rejoice with us when things are going well.

Mondays are my day to work “on” my business, as opposed to “in” my business. As such, I don’t see clients on Mondays. But it is one of my busiest days! After working on my to-do list for the week, I worked with a teleconference company on the access codes for my upcoming tele-classes, exchanged about five emails with my web developer (sometimes answering his questions with “I have no idea”), sent a round of edits to the editor of my upcoming ebook How to Set and Raise Your Rates, prepared a web blast on my latest “transform your relationship to money” women’s support group, talked to a client who was having an issue that just couldn’t wait, registered a woman into the new support group, talked to a potential client about my services, and continued working on finding new lease space for my office.

How do I get so much done? Every Monday morning, after I drop my son off at school, I head to a coffee shop and work on my to-do list for the week. This hour is the most important hour of my week. I can’t imagine not spending this hour thinking and planning. I sit with my work journal (a spiral notebook that contains my latest thinking and all my to-do lists), my agenda and a good cup of coffee. I review my to-do list from last week (with boxes that are either checked off or not) and then re-write a new list for the current week. I look at my calendar for the week and slot in time to do different projects, in between clients. Then I head to my office, download email and dive in.

 In preparing a goal-setting mini-seminar for the business support groups I run for self-employed women, I ran across this from the American Society of Training and Development (ASTD) (My own business group facilitator Mary Allen handed this to us at one of our Vistage meetings.)

Probability of Completing a Goal:

• Hear an idea—10%
• Consciously decide to adopt it—25%
• Decide when you will do it—40%
• Plan how you will do it—50%
• Commit to someone else you will do it—65%
• Have a specific accountability appointment with the person committed to—95%

What will you do with this knowledge? How can you use it to set some effective goals for your business this year? Remember, if you are self-employed, it is up to you to push yourself. Take your business to the next level

Today I don’t like being self-employed. I think I am feeling rejected. I do a lot of speaking, which I love. So I decided to call up two places where I would like to speak this year. One venue I had spoken for before. Another was a large women’s networking organization that I admire a great deal and have always wanted to speak for. The upshot is that they both turned me down. One woman emailed me to say that there were no open spots on the speaking roster this year. Okay. That is fine. The other simply turned me down, giving vague reasons why I wasn’t a fit for their speaker series. Of course I wanted to protest. Don’t they know that I am the perfect fit for them! What women’s organization doesn’t want a proven speaker who can speak to women’s earning issue?! And truthfully, I took it a bit personal. It probably isn’t personal. (But maybe it is?) And then I had to remind myself of my own advice. Stop measuring success by the end-results. We can’t always control what happens. Start measuring success by whether or not we put ourselves out there and ask for what we want. Sure, we want it to work! But the key is to keep trying. The key is to say, “I am successful! I did it! I really put myself out there and asked for what I wanted!” I guess that makes me feel a little better….

We tend to spend most of our time with people who are like us. We are comfortable with people who make about the same amount of money, and if we spend time with people who make significantly more or less, it feels strange and uncomfortable. But consider this: many of us need to spend more time with people who are more successful than us! I  think that we should spend one third of our time with people who make less money than us. We can mentor them and show them how to succeed. Then we can spend one third of our time with people who are very similar to us— our friends and colleagues, sharing, relating and just relaxing. And I believe we should spend one third of our time with those who are more successful than us—these people are the “way-showers”, showing us the way.

I realized that all the people I invite over to my house for dinner are in the middle third. I am comfortable with them. So I resolved this year to invite the “upper third” to dinner more. I know amazing women who are more successful than me. Women who are kind and generous and have done amazing things with their businesses and lives. And I suspect some of them don’t consider themselves more successful then me. But I know. I need to get over the fact that I don’t have the perfect house or the perfect furniture. In my gut, I know these women don’t care. People are thrilled when someone invites them to dinner and cooks them an old-fashioned roast! So that is my resolution. I’m going to spend more time with the “upper third”. I need to expand my comfort zone and invite more models of success into my life. Let the inspiration come. What about you? Who do you hang out with?

The New Year is a great time to remind current clients about your cancellation policy. One easy way to do this is to give all your clients, new or old, a copy of your policy once a year. You might give them a “Private Practice Policy Statement”. In general, this simple document has:

• Your hourly fee or day rate
• Your cancellation policy
• How you want to be paid
• Confidentiality information

Mine is one sheet and has my mission statement at the top and a paragraph on each of the four above points. Often times, I’ll say to current clients, “Happy January! Let’s hit a couple of house keeping items before us start. I wanted to give you another copy of my policy statement, so you remember my cancellation policy. It works like this….” I’ve talked to many women who tell new clients about their 24 hour cancellation policy, only to have it slide into forgetfulness six months later. Remind your clients once a year about your cancellation policy and you will keep a lid on last minute cancellations and no-shows that never pay. Remember, every day you are training your clients how you want them to treat you. (This is one thing I discuss in my new ebook, How to Set and Raise Your Rates, publishing in March 2007)

Perfectionism issues abound for self-employed women. I have a client who is paralyzed at doing her e-newsletter. She knows she needs to put herself out there more. And she has a lot to offer people with her particular expertise. She is even a fabulous writer who often writes on other people’s behalf. But when it comes to herself, she just can’t do it. When she thinks about putting her name on it, the bar goes up. It must simply be perfect. If it is less than perfect, what will people think? Will it hurt her reputation? So now her assignment is this: create and write an imperfect newsletter. Yes, that is correct. An imperfect newsletter. Oh, she’ll create a perfect newsletter someday. That’s the project for 2008.

Another client is stopped in her tracks with her website. And while she came up with many reasons as to why it isn’t finished, some of which sound very reasonable, she openly admits that perfectionism is playing a pretty big role. She is a professional! Her site must look perfect! (She laments.) What will people think if something is worded wrong, or something doesn’t work correctly? So her new mission is this: she is going to create an imperfect website. She’ll create the perfect website in 2008. For now, she is busy creating an imperfect site.

Get the idea? What imperfect creation is on your list?

Women tend to be perfectionists when it comes to their business, even if they don’t see themselves as perfectionists. And no where is this more obvious than when it comes to raising their rates. They always seem to have a good reason to wait to raise their rates. It is as if they never feel they are quite good enough to command more money. The litany of reasons/ excuses may sound familiar: “I’ll raise my rates when I have more experience, when I have more clients, when I finish my website, when I write a book, when I collect more testimonials, when I finish that certification, when I feel like I’m worth more money….” (Of course they don’t say that last one out loud!)

Men are not waiting. I believe that self-employed men raise their rates more often then women and increase their rates by a higher percentage. (Of course there are men who suffer from this also!) Stop waiting! The question is, are you good enough right now, just as you are, to charge more money? I believe you are. Start repeating to yourself, “I deserve to make good money!” Stop waiting to be perfect. You’ll be waiting a long time.