**This post was originally written just for my mailing list, but I had such an overwhelming positive response to it I decided I needed to share it with the “world” at large through a blog post. If this seems like it is speaking straight at you or you have additional words of wisdom to add please do so at the end.

I had a particularly frustrating last few days and the nagging harpy of self doubt was starting to whisper into my ear. So I decided that instead of entertaining those fears, those doubts and those nagging questions about my own capabilities as a person I’d just refuse…

And it worked AMAZINGLY!

So I quickly scribbled down every way I could refuse that would help me grow a person, embrace my dreams and banish the self doubt that tries to derail all extraordinary plans. I wanted to share them with you in hopes that they’ll encourage you to also shoot down your doubt and negative self talk and instead only pay attention to the positive goals and actions that will get you where you want to be.

I REFUSE…

1. I refuse to listen to my doubts, my fears and any negative self talk that goes on in my head.
2. I refuse to worry about the future and instead I will only focus on actively influencing my present.
3. I refuse to not give myself the fighting chance I deserve to do anything and everything I want to in life.
4. I refuse to accept failure as a permanent state and instead only choose to see it as a learning experience.
5. I refuse to entertain thoughts that don’t directly benefit myself, others or the greater good of the world at large.
6. I refuse to accept anything less than my wildest dreams coming true.
7. I refuse to acknowledge the limitations that most people think they have, no matter what the circumstances.

Read more…

For the last two weeks I’ve hit that time in my life where one suffers from entrepreneur’s ennui. Maybe it was the fact that I turned the big 2-5, maybe it was because I was nearing my 150th post or possibly it had to do with feeling like I was working so hard at my business and I wasn’t seeing the earth shattering results I wanted to.

So I took a few days completely off. I avoided my Mac like the plague and instead sent it longing glances from across my condo as I forced myself to read, relax and go bicycle riding (very cathartic by the way). I spent some time thinking about the purpose by this blog and within my own life. I came to a few amazing conclusions which I will be sharing with you, my lovelies, later on this week.

But for now I wanted to share some of the best quotes I found while going through my quarter life crisis which I think will reinvigorate you just as they have me to continue to follow your passions and pursue an extraordinary life.

Read more…

As a child we were all asked by adults seeking some common ground in which to bond with us the cliched question “whatdaya wanna do when you grow up?”. Many of us answered honestly – we really let fly what we wanted to do. If we thought being Indiana Jones would rock, we’d say so. If we wanted to be a nurse, a mommy, a firefighter or a cowboy, all we had to do was utter the words and coos of adulation would come in drones. “Oh he wants to be an astronaut, isn’t that cute!” or “She said she wanted to be a judge, how adorable!”.

Fast forward to the present. Now go tell the next person who asks you “what you do” instead what you WANT to do when you grow up… see how fast you get hustled to the psyche ward. It is a sad commentary on the state of things that instead of being praised for saying “I want to fly a spaceship” you’d be mocked – or if a woman said “Hmm.. I really just want to be a mommy” she may be thought stupid for not taking up a career.

Who CARES what others think of YOUR dreams

That is why they’re yours!! Fight the overwhelming pressure to conform into a shape that fits the rat race’s mold and instead champion your own path. Think of the great minds of the last 200 years, anyone from Picasso to Warren Buffett. How many of them conformed to a stereotype? How many of them gained fame, riches and most of all the ability to live the life they wanted on THEIR terms – by being the same as everyone else. Nobody that’s who, because being outrageous is the new safe.

Read more…

I drive all the time and instead of rocking out to MmmBop (am I dating myself?) or whatever is popular with the kiddies, I try to enlarge my gray matter (squishy brain area) by listening to audio books. Some of you might benefit greatly from doing the same as I believed I have consumed an entire MBA’s worth of knowledge in the last year from this method alone. You can easily take in two to three audio books a week if you listen to them religiously and nothing grows your business like learning from those who have been there.

Read more…

Ever feel yourself thirsting for a little knowledge, want a head start or a push in the right direction? Well here are 21 entrepreneur blogs that will get you all fired up to get up and get out there! You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, heck you may even stumble upon your million dollar baby reading through these time tested jewels!

Read more…

How’s your business? How’s your year going? How are your relationships or dare I say it, love life? Do you think there is an intrinsic connection between all of these areas of one’s being? Is it money – noooo. Is it good looks – noooo. So then what is it?! It’s simply called networking, that over used word that encompasses  all of human interaction. Are you a rockstar at it? If not you probably wouldn’t answer a whole hearted YES!! to each question above… more of an ‘eeeh’ as you stuff your face with another bite of comfort food. So instead let’s learn more about what REALLY makes will get you to your goals, help you win friends and amaze people…

Read more…

At first the connection between these two concepts may seem tenuous (look it up!) but stick with me and both of these awesome entrepreneur ideas will rock your world! I recently moved into a condo a little nicer and pricier than currently would be “wise”… if I was to sit down with a financial adviser they’d say “Your income is too sporadic” and wonder why I always have a huge jump in income at the end of every month (secret: it’s because I realize “oh crap I have to pay bills” and actually get up and go).

So why’d I do it, isn’t that “dangerous” in this present economy (say the word like all the talking heads do with the same inflection as when they say “SARS”)? Well firstly because I believe in myself fully, I know that by the end of this month I’ll have made X and by the end of next month that will have doubled – how do I know it?

Because I work my butt off, am always pushing myself farther and I have faith in my own abilities. Secondly I have a little trick up my sleeve that has worked on skyrocketing my income and quadrupling my productivity time after time. What is this amazing secret? It’s simple just…

Read more…

A few weeks ago I discovered a tomato that changed my life forever… seriously, my productivity has gone through the roof, my businesses have improved and I’ve started on 3 new and potentially super profitable business ideas all because of a TOMATO!! What’s my secret? It’s called the Pomodoro Technique.

Francesco Cirillo coined the Pomodoro Technique in 1992 using a basic kitchen timer (Shaped like a pomodoro - Italian for tomato) and a sheet of paper. The gist of the technique is that you break down all of your ‘tasks’ throughout the day into 25 minute increments called pomodoros. First you write down on a sheet of paper the things you have to do for the day… for example: Read more…

I’m so sick of boring-ness, I’m sick of boring blog posts, boring advertisements, boring conversation and boring people. I loathe myself every time I think I’ve put out a ‘boring’ post on this site… I lie awake thinking “ugh, you just drained someone of a few minutes of their life reading your boring crap” but I digress. Point is boring is out, extraordinary is in and to be extraordinary you mustn’t play it safe because honestly avoiding risks is a terrible way to live.

10 Ways to kick boring’s butt & be extraordinary

Always do the Never.

Seth Godin is a genius, I don’t know if I say this often enough, but it deserves to be said. I was just reading Small is the New Big and he said something that stuck with me… Find the always and then do the opposite if you want to succeed. Example: blogger’s always are concerned with SEO, advertisers always are interrupting us, entrepreneur’s are always trying to get your business. What if you were a blogger who NEVER cared about SEO and just wrote from the heart, what if you NEVER interrupted people and instead complimented their life with ads that pertained directly to them, what if you NEVER did business with anyone except those who sought you out and practically begged you to take their money?

Read more…

This post is pretty darn basic, it’s about productivity, but if you really pay attention and use the techniques explained below it can literally rock your world as it has done mine. Years ago I had a”brilliant” idea for a start up, called statuscheck.com, status check would be a social platform where people send out ‘updates’ on what they were doing throughout the day in little blips… I mapped the idea out in my mind several times and even put it to paper – but I never went further than that. About 6 months later something called Twitter hit the market, it was so similar to my idea I couldn’t believe it. The premise was simple, the platform was concise, but there was a huge difference between my idea for statuscheck.com and theirs. They actually ACTED upon their ‘great idea’ while I did nothing. Why? Because I wasn’t being productive enough, I had ideas and things I wanted to do but nothing to filter them through…

Problem > Us entrepreneurial types have loads of thoughts, ideas and plans swirling around in our heads that we just want to get out, but if we follow every thought as it happens we’ll never get anything done.

Solution > If your creative, entrepreneurial and idea centric you must develop a system to catch all your thoughts and organize them along with your daily tasks, this way both can be accounted for and nothing falls through the cracks.

Read more…