Hey Entrepreneurs!
Last week we talked about the first of three questions you should ask when starting a business: WHY do you want to start a business?
Ready for question number 2? Good, because here it is…
WHO do you want help?
If you can’t help make someone’s life a little better with your business, you won’t be very successful. But if you can add super value to someone’s life through what you offer in your business, you’ll be super successful.
So who can benefit from your business?
Business is all about the people you can help, so the more clear you are about who you can help, the better chance you have to make your business work.
Take 10-15 minutes right now to brainstorm ideas about your ideal customer. Consider questions like:
- How old is she?
- What activities does she like to do?
- What kinds of things frustrate her, worry her or make her scared?
- What kinds of things does she want and make her happy?
- How will your business improve her life?
The more focused you are on your customer, the more successful you will be in business at any age!
To your business dreams,
Bonnie Jean
Hey Athletes:
Last week I shared some of the fears and doubts I had when training for my first marathon. (Click here to read it.)
But even after four intense months of training, my fears and doubts never went away. If anything, they got worse.
Because once my training was done, the nightmares started. The Thursday night before the Sunday race, I dreamt I did not make it to Raleigh because I forgot about the marathon. That meant all my training was now worthless.
Friday night, I dreamt I made it to Raleigh but couldn’t find the starting line on the day of the race. I asked people where to go. They kept pointing me in different directions. I never made it to the starting line. I never got to run.
Even though my dreams left me feeling quite uneasy, I traveled to Raleigh with my parents on Saturday. Being in the city meant my first nightmare wouldn’t come true. But I was still worried about the second one.
I was also worried I would oversleep, so I woke up several times throughout the night. If I overslept, I wouldn’t have time to eat my banana and bagel for breakfast, and I wouldn’t be able to follow any fellow runners to the starting line. They would all be there by the time I woke up and I would get lost.
When the alarm finally sounded early Sunday morning, I gladly got out of bed and went through my normal morning routine. Then my parents and I walked out of the hotel and followed the crowd to the starting line.
Thousands of people with numbers pinned to their shirts and timing chips attached to their shoelaces stretched and jogged and milled around waiting for the race to begin. I looked down at my own shirt and my own shoelace. I looked like everyone else. I looked like a runner.
That’s when the doubts kicked in.
I was sure everyone knew I was just pretending. Didn’t they know I didn’t belong? They’d know when the race began. They’d pass me and laugh and wonder why I was trying to be something I had never been before, something I couldn’t be today: a runner.
Before I had a chance to cry or run away, a man ordered all the runners to the starting line. I took my place among the other numbered shirts. I was here. My second nightmare couldn’t come true. So what was going to keep me from running? I was sure something wouldn’t keep me from living my dream of running a marathon.
It wouldn’t be an early December snowstorm. The sun shining in the clear blue sky made it warm enough for me to be comfortable in my short-sleeved shirt and shorts.
So what would it be? I wasn’t sick. I wasn’t hurt. I wasn’t–the starting gun exploded.
I was scared. I was TERRIFIED. But I reacted anyway. I surged forward with the crowd and began competing in my very first race.
Next week I’ll share how the actual race went and let you know if I was able to overcome my fears and doubts and live my dream of finishing a marathon.
In the meantime, think about what kinds of things make you feel scared and doubtful when you’re about to compete.
Do you let those feelings stop you from taking action?
Why or why not?
Please share your answers in the comment section.
To your sports dreams,
Bonnie Jean
Hey Writers:
One of the most important parts of writing a story is writing about characters who seem like real people. Then your readers will enjoy reading your story because they’ll want to know more about who your characters are and what they are going to do next.
A way to help YOU believe your characters are real is to give them a past. What do I mean by that?
Well, write a few super short stories about things that have happened to your characters before your story starts.
Here are five ideas to get you started:
1. Write about the day your character spoke his first word. How old was he? What did he say? Who heard him say the word?
2. Write about your character’s first day of kindergarten. What was his teacher’s name? Was he excited, scared, happy or sad?
3. Write about your character’s 7th birthday. Who was at his party? What gifts did he get? What did his cake taste like?
4. Write about a time your character broke his arm. How old was he? Which arm did he break? What was he doing that caused him to get hurt?
5. Write about your character’s biggest success in the fourth grade. Did he win some sort of contest? Did he learn how to play a new sport? Did he get on the news for rescuing a hurt animal?
You can write about any of the above story ideas or come up with some creative ideas of your own. The purpose is just to give you a chance to get to know your character.
The more you know about his background, the more real he will seem in the main story you want to tell.
It’s ACTION time. Go write something about your character’s past!
To your writing dreams,
Bonnie Jean
You ever wonder what confidence is?
Well, I was wondering that exact same thing today, so I went and looked up the definition of confidence in the dictionary. This is what I found:
- Full trust; belief in the powers, trustworthiness, or reliability of a person or thing
- Belief in oneself and one’s powers or abilities
- Trust or faith in a person or thing
- A feeling of assurance, especially self-assurance
- The state or quality of being certain
In other words, confidence is a feeling you get when you learn to trust and believe in yourself.
But how do you learn how to trust and believe in yourself?
Is that something you can buy, get or take from other people?
NO!
Confidence is something you have to build on your own, and the only way to build confidence in yourself is to TAKE ACTION!
If you want to gain confidence in your ability to play a sport, you have to actually practice that sport.
If you want to gain confidence in your ability to sing, you have to actually practice singing.
If you want to gain confidence in your ability to make money, you have to actually do the work it takes to make money.
Of course taking action and DOING these things that you want to do when you don’t have any confidence in your ability to do them well is tough.
The weird and wacky truth, however, is that if you’re willing to first be really bad at something and keep practicing even when you don’t believe in yourself, you’ll soon gain UNSHAKABLE self-confidence.
By just taking action toward your dreams, you’ll learn how to trust and believe in yourself.
Personally, I want to build confidence in my ability to write novels, so I’m going to go practice my writing.
What about you? What action can you take RIGHT NOW to help you build your self-confidence?
Great. Now go DO it!
To your dreams,
Bonnie Jean
Now that the week is almost over, it’s time to look back and celebrate all the successes you experienced this week.
It could be something simple like keeping your room clean or turning all your homework in on time. Or it could be something big like the actions you took to FIND a WAY to DO what you DREAM.
Focus on all the good, positive things you did this week, then leave a comment and share one, two, three or ten of your top successes!
To your dreams,
Bonnie Jean
