Lorin Beller Blake

Clear Vision

February 2, 2010

Filed under: success, vision — Tags: Big Fish Nation, roadmap to success, successful entrepreneur, vision, vision story, women and business, women entrepreneurs — Lorin Beller Blake @ 7:53 am

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“We [my family] all listen to ourselves as we do each other. We have adventurous human experiences and our moments are filled with many spiritual experiences each day. Life is decadent yet simple…”

These words are part of my vision story, the description of my life 10 years from now.

As you can see, this vision story is not just about what I will have accomplished in my business by then (although it does include that), it’s also about what my relationships and my life will be like.

*Having a clear vision is the key ingredient to a successful business.*

You see, (pun intended) a vision gives you something to look toward… and look forward to. It helps you “see” the path you need to take to meet your goals and get the results you pictured.

Coming up with your vision is a creative process, unique to YOU because we all have different definitions of success. You get to decide where you want your life to be in 10 years!

Don’t worry right now about how you’ll get there (that comes later), just focus on what the “there” will be and how the “there” will feel. Step into your WILDLY SUCCESSFUL life and describe it in your vision story.

It’s important to remember that rarely is success JUST about money. Writing your vision story is your chance to discover other areas of your life to include in your definition of success. For example, consider what you want from/for:

Your health
Your relationships: with yourself, your significant other, friends and family
Your recreation/play time
Your community / environment
etc.

Write it all down, give yourself that roadmap to success then start making that vision a reality TODAY! I’d love to hear how it goes!

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From Entrepreneur to Big Fish

RoadMap to Success

Need to get your “vision energy” jump-started? Try these books, From Entrepreneur to Big Fish, and Roadmap to Success, both available online (click here)!

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Humility Matters

January 26, 2010

Filed under: Being vs. Doing, Thought Leader, success — Tags: Big Fish Nation, humility, self-confidence, self-image, successful entrepreneur, women entrepreneurs, women small business — Lorin Beller Blake @ 7:13 am

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It’s month one of a new year, and I’m guessing many of us have new or ongoing goals around exercise.

I wonder, though, how many of us are paying attention to our humility muscle? That’s the one connected to the self-confidence muscle which we business owners exercise regularly.

Our muscle groups work in pairs, with one shortening while another one lengthens, and if we ignore one of those muscles, we weaken the effectiveness of the entire pair.

It works the same way with the humility/self-confidence muscle pair. When we balance our self-confidence with our humility, we become stronger, more effective leaders.

John Baldoni writes in his Harvard Business Review blog that a strong self-image is practically a requirement for success, yet confidence can easily become an overbearing ego. To keep that ego in check , we need to have honest friends (to tell us the truth!), and to be aware of our shortcomings.

Notice, though (women, are you listening?), that he does not say to dwell on our shortcomings, since that becomes counter-productive and self-defeating.

Starfish ready for BIG BOLD ACTIONS!

While we do need to keep our ego in check, humility is not about down-playing our own strengths and successes or hiding our shining skills. It’s about playing up the strengths and successes of those around us, and bringing others to those same levels with us (or BEYOND us!).

Humility is equal parts confidence + goodwill + compassion, components that all lead to BIG BOLD ACTIONS – the fuel for ongoing business success.

If you haven’t used your humility muscle for a while, make sure to prevent injuries by taking the time to warm it up with some gentle stretching before going all out. It takes some time to get used to a new way of being.

Next time you go to the gym, or work, or any part of life, remember to exercise your humility muscle as much as your self-confidence muscle and get ready to experience wild success!

(Keep in mind, if you need “business exercise buddies” the Big Fish Program is here for you!)

Big Fish!

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Clipping in to 2010

January 19, 2010

Filed under: goals, success — Tags: Big Fish Nation, cycling, entrepreneur blog, Lorin Beller Blake, road bike, setting goals, women development, women successful — Starla J King @ 3:09 pm

[text and photos by Starla J. King, Big Fish 2009-10]

I just got clip pedals installed on my road bike. Uh oh.

It makes me a wee bit (ok, a lot) nervous that most people respond to that announcement with wide eyes and phrases including wipe-out and falling over.

Really, what was I thinking?? Now my shoes (unfortunately, with my feet in them) will be clipped in – metal thingies on my cycling shoes snapped into metal brackets on the pedals.

The only way to “get out” is a quick twist of the foot. Apparently a non-instinctual move that requires some training. And falling. And road burns.

So — WHY???

Because “clipping in” makes my pedaling more efficient as I become one with the bike and our energies blend seamlessly.
Because (once I get the hang of those little monsters) a secure hold on the pedals keeps me safer. My feet won’t slip off the pedals, so I avoid a potentially disastrous move when standing up on the pedals for extra oomph up the hills
Because they make me feel tough… strong… like something I never thought I’d be come – a biker! I’m playin’ in the big leagues now… I have CLIP PEDALS!

Turns out that’s exactly what my annual goals do for me.

Before I went through the Big Fish Nation program last year, I thought about setting goals, but actually doing them? Never got around to it.

This year, I started my 2010 goal-setting during the annual Big Fish Goal-setting Call, and now I’ve got those puppies written down and am already making progress on them!

Like those clip pedals, the structure of goals makes me nervous. I’m an artistic, act-on-inspiration, go-as-the-spirit-leads sort of chick.

So why clip into annual goals??

Because I’m more efficient in my work and my whole life when I’m more streamlined, letting my own natural energies seamlessly combine with the focus of the goals.
Because goals keep my feet from slipping off the path of what I want to accomplish and who I want to be. I still get to use inspiration and intuition in reaching my goals – I just don’t wander around aimlessly so much now!
Because simply having goals makes me feel tough … strong…downright invincible at times. And then reaching a goal? Oh, that feels amazing! I’m in the big leagues now – I SET GOALS and REACH THEM!

Go on, try it… I dare you. <grin> Clip into 2010!

My Big Fish goals wheel – get yours plus help writing your 2010 goals by listening to the replay of the Annual Goals Setting Class, available for $59.

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Resolution Revolution

January 12, 2010

Filed under: goals, success — Tags: 2010 goals, beginning of year goals, Big Fish Nation, new years resolution — Lorin Beller Blake @ 7:59 am

It’s the second week of January, 2010 – how are your New Years Resolutions coming along? Be honest…

You might be surprised to know that I personally try not to set New Year’s resolutions. They tend to carry with them the expectation of failure, with success being measured not by whether you achieved what you wanted, but just by how long you stuck to your new plan. Think about it, when someone tells you they are still following their New Year’s resolution a whole month later, aren’t you actually surprised?

However, just because I don’t set New Year’s resolutions, that doesn’t mean I dive wildly into a new year without challenging myself and setting a clear plan. I set GOALS. They are written down, they are clear, and they are exciting! AND I set the expectation of meeting them.

I’m not talking about blah “things I should do but really dislike doing” kind of goals, I’m talking about setting challenges that light a fire under you every day and keep you motivated and reaching for the stars.

So… have you set your goals and written them down? If not, don’t worry, there’s still time! Set aside ½ an hour and take some time to think about what you really want to accomplish this year.

Need some motivation? Read this short article about an amazing woman, Tererai Trent, and the incredible goals she set – and reached!

If you are struggling with this process, we highly recommend purchasing our goal setting teleclass that we recorded live in December (click here). It will make the process highly inspiring and easy!

We at Big Fish Nation love to think about those exciting things that make us just a bit (or a lot!) nervous because those are the goals that make us stretch. Go ahead, write those things down for yourself!

So, your goals are written, now what? You should not do them alone! You will be exponentially more effective (and motivated!) if you have a community to support you in reaching your goals. Big Fish Nation is here to support you in reaching your goals, big and small. We’d love to have you swim with us – come on in, the water’s warm!

You see, as you reach your goals, it keeps all of us moving toward our vision.

When one women business owner accomplishes something, it not only lifts her, but all women entrepreneurs that are working to have greater impact.

Your success matters.

Our success matters.

Make 2010 matter like no other year you’ve experienced yet ! It all starts with your goals…

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Need more help setting your goals?? This year we are offering a Replay of our Annual Goal Setting Class so you can listen to the 90 minute teleclass on your time and in your space. We are also including our infamous one page goal wheel as a bonus. Click here to purchase online now for $59!

The Big Fish Journal is perfect for writing down your goals! Click here to get yours!

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Got Gifts?

December 16, 2009

Filed under: Uncategorized — admin @ 4:54 pm

[text and photos by Starla J. King, Big Fish 2009]

I admit — I love getting gifts.

Yep, I said it out loud… during the season of giving, nonetheless!

<wait for collective *gasp* >

I know, I know … it’s better to give than receive. It’s not about the getting, it’s about the giving.

Or is it?

Can a gift actually be a gift without a recipient? (If a tree falls in the woods and nobody is there to hear it….). Well, no. Can a giver actually be a giver without having a givee? Well, no.

So maybe perhaps just possibly receiving is equally as important as giving.

As Ellen Rogin, (author of “Great with Money“), pointed out during a Lorin and Friends teleclass last week, we tend to not be so great at receiving. Yet giving depends on our ability to receive, so shouldn’t we work to hone our receiving skills??

Ok I should clarify — I’m not talking about receiving in the Cookie Monster “rake in hoardes of cookies and devour them gluttonously” sort of way. No no no… I’m talking instead about gracious receiving.

The gentle opening of the hand to generously accept what’s given.

Then the gentle closing of the hand to fully accept the gift.

See, here’s the thing: the better we get at getting,
the better we become at receiving.

Receiving inspiration, joy, possibility, hope.

Receiving everything our senses can take in.

Receiving everything we need in order to give.

You know, you have the perfect excuse to start your receiving practice now. Today. Hanukkah has begun, Christmas is just around the corner.

And every day — EVERY DAY — the Universe (some call it God) prepares a different personalized gift for you, eagerly awaiting to see if maybe today you’ll receive it.

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Why Women Biz Owners need to support organizations that are all about Women Biz Owners

November 9, 2009

Filed under: Thought Leader, Women Leadership — Tags: Connected-Women, National Association of Women Business Owners, NAWBO, WBENC, Womens President Organization, WPO — Lorin Beller Blake @ 1:56 pm

35 years ago, a very small group of women saw the value in banning together to support each other, form an ‘official’ group to create a united front for so many reasons…. This organization is National Association of Women Business Owners . Did you know that there are 10.5 million women business owners in this country? If you are one of them, why not support a group or the groups that are all about:

- Politically making it their mission to make the path easier for women who have businesses
- Create venues big and small to promote, educate and celebrate women business owners
- Educate women business owners on current and real issues we face

- Come together as groups for buying power, lending power and media impact

There are many other women business organizations each that do various things:

So many times we ask, what will the organization do for me, but I do think it is also important to ask what can we do for such organizations? They need leadership. They need advocates. They need your stories! They need your passion about other women business owners.

What You Can Do

I have been traveling to various women’s gatherings all around the country the past few months and it is so refreshing to be among those that love what they do…. And in this tough economic time, it is important to surround yourself with others that are of like mind or in the similar situations… any women that has a business knows what it is like to run a company, have a family and be in a challenging economic time…. You never know when you might need that uplifting message and you can count on the fact that if you are doing great, your message is needed out there. Join one of these organizations committed to advancing and making it easier for women to build great businesses together.

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Doing or Being?

November 2, 2009

Filed under: Being vs. Doing — Tags: action, being, eastern philosophy, western philosophy, zen of business — Lorin Beller Blake @ 1:32 pm

The Need to BE or DO

A number of years ago when I started coaching, I was written up in the Investor’s Business Daily for having integrated both an Eastern and Western philosophies together to help people achieve success. When they first wrote it up like that I never saw it that way myself but the truth is that is truly who I am. I believe that the power is in the combination between the 2 philosophies rather than either or.

To make this point even more clear, in all of Big Fish Nations program we talk about important ‘things to do’ to become more successful but with that always, we discuss how we need to be ‘being’ as we ‘do’ those activities/actions.

3 Acts of BEING

1. If you are doing all the ‘right’ steps to complete a sale but you are not excited and being authentically ‘on fire’ about what you are selling it will greatly inhibit your sales bottom-line.

2. If you are the CEO of your company but standing up in front of your group to acknowledge them at the Christmas holiday party or accepting an award at the local chamber throws you off, you will not be ‘being’ in alignment with the leadership model you want to portray.

3. If you are saying all the right things during a conflict with your employees but you are not walking your talk and doing the things that you are advising them to do… being incongruent with your advice, how do you think your advice will be received?

Being Matters

You see, how are being matters as much as what we are doing. Doing a good deed in an angry way, is not worth doing.

So today, notice, see if your ‘doing’ is aligned with who you are ‘being’. And if it is you are going to find you are probably experiencing more ease in the course of your day. If not, you are probably feeling like you are working too hard! Being Matters!

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2+ Months left and counting! Let’s go the extra mile.

October 26, 2009

Filed under: End of year goals — Tags: end of year plan, extra mile, goals, keep going — Lorin Beller Blake @ 12:30 pm

We have 2+ months left of 2009…. Time to go the extra mile. The truth is, this year I have worked harder than I have worked in a long time to maintain my numbers/bottom-line. I expect that it true with many of you. But that means that it is time, now that we have 1/6th left of 2009 to go the extra mile. By going the extra mile in these next 2 months, you will set yourself up in 2010 for being head of the game.

So what does it mean to you to go the extra mile in the next 2 months?

For me, it is:
-Tight follow up.
-Offering creative plans and incentives
-Truly serving clients above and beyond (as usual!)
-Being fiscally responsible
-Clean systems and processes
-Investment in efficiencies
-Listening to the needs of clients
-Written sales plans
-Written marketing plans
-Written goals for 2010
-Clear end of year goals for 2009

Going the extra mile is also about attitude. It is about accepting where I am with less judgment. It is about more compassion for me and others. It is about being grateful for what is already in front of me. It is about only dwelling on the frustrating aspects of life and business for a short set period of time and letting it go. It is about being conscious of my attitude each moment.

‘Inches make champions.’ -Vince Lombardi

“Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever.” – Lance Armstrong

‘It’s never crowded along the extra mile.’ – -Wayne Dyer

What is going the extra mile for you this last 2 months of 2009? We’d love to hear from you!

Lorin

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The impact of taking responsibility or not.

October 19, 2009

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: alternative health, business, dog, responsibility, success — admin @ 2:54 pm

I realize that there is no area of my life that I cannot take full responsibility for; my dogs’ health being my current area that I need to ‘wake up’ and take full responsibility for. My sweet dogs name is, Niki. She is a Shiba Inu.

She is 6.5 years old. At about 6 months old she developed terrible allergies. After many vet appointments and thousands of dollars later, I found out she was highly allergic to: dust, molds, and cats. She would itch to the point of making the skin around her eyes bleed. It was awful to watch… we tried allergy shots, changing her diet, supplements, etc. Finally a vet put her on prednisone; a strong steroid based drug. And since it worked so well, we (I) have kept her on it for 6 years! This summer she was diagnosed with glaucoma. I asked her vet if this was caused by the prednisone. They all assured me that the two are not related.

Recently, I am the new owner of an iPhone, anyone that knows me knows that I have been having a blast with it. And found many amazing applications that blow me away. I found one called Natural Cures. Since I am in to that, I was researching all my ailments and aliments of everyone I know. To my surprise, there is a paragraph on Glaucoma that says that it can be caused by extended use of prednisone. I knew when I was giving it to her that it was not good long term, but did not do my homework, did not take my responsibility for her health. We cannot take just one persons word on anything. We have to use our gut, research, knowingly and fully make choices. I was definitely feeling like I was not being responsible for doing my part in finding a better way to deal with my dog’s allergies. I went the easy route and did not try to find alternative answers fully.
Recently I too have developed allergies! And have found HUGE relief in a homeopathic supplement. Thanks to a friend. So why not try the same on my dog? We are, I have since done lots of research, of which the vet is waiting as I am for our results! Results coming soon.

What does all this have to do with business? EVERYTHING! If some aspect of your business is not where you’d like it to be, do not rest on your laurels or someone else’s, do something! Take FULL responsibility for your results. Guaranteed to get you in the driver’s seat in your business your bottom-line will love you for it!

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The Power of Stuff

October 16, 2009

Filed under: Order — Tags: 29gifts.org, clutter, Kathryn Zox, success — Lorin Beller Blake @ 11:49 am

As the summer winds down, and the chilly air begins to come in, I remember that soon the holidays will be upon us. And I cringe thinking of the stuff that the holidays bring. Mostly I mean physical stuff. I have a 3.5 year old and over the course of the year she receives gifts and mail and boxes from family and friends. And don’t get me wrong, I am very grateful for the thoughtfulness of our family and friends… and I realize that the stuff around the house that does not have a home, and produces clutter weighs every on me. And I get in a mode to cleaning out and clearing out. I tend to be a big ‘thrower awayer….’ Even my daughter when she brings her favorite rocks into the house, will remind me at the end of the day, not to throw her rocks away.

What does this have to do with business? For me everything. I find myself getting bogged down with clutter. It affects my clarity. It affects my productivity. It effects my over all energy. And that absolutely affects the impact I have on my business.

So for me, it is time to clean out. Donate. Pass on. Give away. And make my environment clutter free again. Have everything have its place.

This brings me to another idea. Recently on the Kathryn Zox Radio show, www.kzvoice.com Kathryn spoke of a website, www.29gifts.org I signed up. It is a site that challenges each person to give something, anything, monetary or time or something for 29 days straight. I thought, what a win-win…. I want to clean out, and this is a site that has me give daily… perfect.

So, yesterday, I decided on the ‘gift’ I am going to give all of the Big Fish this year for the holidays and lined it up today. I am excited to share it… (but can’t hear or I’ll give it away. AND IT IS NOT STUFF!) Today I gave of my time for 4 hours to our local NAWBO Austin chapter. And tomorrow I am making a huge donation of ‘stuff’ from my daughter’s room to the Salvation Army.

Clear it out!

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