When starting your Send Out Cards business (or any other business for that matter), there are a few things you should do first to get yourself in the right mindset for success.
The first thing you want to do is establish your WHY. What do I mean by this? Ask yourself why you are choosing to become involved in this company, and why you desire to build this business. The WHY is different for everyone. But, it should be a “why that makes you cry.” Not literally, although sometimes that is the case. But you should have a very compelling WHY, or you will not succeed in this business. You really have to know what your true reasons are for wanting to be successful. For one person, it could be to make their monthly car payment, or mortgage payment. And that might be a sufficient WHY for them to feel motivated. I prefer to dream bigger than that. Here are some common WHY’s for people involved in Send Out Cards:
- I want to be able to pay for my children to attend college.
- I want to pay off all of my credit cards.
- I want to buy a home.
- I want to be able to spend money on the things I desire without having to think about it.
- I want to travel the world.
- I want to fire my boss! (my personal favorite!)
- I want to be financially free.
- I want my family to feel secure in this uncertain economic environment.
You get the idea. Take some quite time when you won’t be distracted and reflect on what your WHY is. What would you do if you were financially free? Why is that important to you? What motivates you to not quit, and keep going? Keep asking why, why, why, and drill down until you get to your real reasons for wanting to do this business.
Along with establishing your WHY, you want to start DREAMING again. So many of us have stopped dreaming. Life, kids, work, etc get in the way. You want to dream BIG. Don’t censor your dreams, allow yourself to really feel what it would be like to do the things in life you desire. Start dreaming about:
- Vacations with your family. Where have you always wanted to go, but didn’t have to money or the time to be able to do it? Who would be with you? What activities would you enjoy on your dream vacation? What historic places would you visit?
- Your dream house. What would it look like, feel like, smell like? Where would it be located? What defining characteristics would it have?
- Your hobbies. Dream about what it would be like to golf every day, fish every day, camp every day, shop every day…whatever energizes you.
- Devoting your time to things that inspire you, move you, make you feel like you are making a difference. Have you always wanted to be philanthropic, but didn’t have extra money to donate? Have you wanted to give of your time to worthy causes that matter to you, but couldn’t because you had to work?
Creating a vision board or writing a vision story is another key component to getting started. Once you know your why, and allow yourself to start dreaming again, then you want to make those come to life in your vision story. Some people like to cut images out of magazines, books, find pictures online, and then paste them onto a posterboard. You can do this and then place your poster on your bathroom mirror, on your wall in your office, wherever you will see it every day. I personally prefer to write my own vision story on the computer, in a Word document, and then insert pictures from the Internet. Then I print it out and have a hard copy that I read often. What is a vision story? This is where you start writing about your dreams and aspirations, and you write them as if you are experiencing them RIGHT NOW. You want to write in the present tense, and be as specific and descriptive as possible.
For example, one of my dreams is to have the car I have always wanted. No, it’s not a fancy Mercedes or BMW. My dream car is a 1968 cherry red mustang convertible with tan top and tan leather seats. And of course, the white fuzzy dice hanging from the rearview mirror. So, in my vision story, one of my chapters is all about this car I am enjoying driving, how it makes me feel, what it’s like to have the wind in my hair as I drive up 89A to Flagstaff from Phoenix (one of my favorite drives.) I describe how the air smells, how the leather seats feel, what I am listening to on the radio, how it feels to have the sun on my face, the sound of Oak Creek babbling through the canyon. This feeling takes me back to my days before marriage and kids, back when I was a teenager driving around, exploring the sights, feeling carefree and adventurous. This is my dream. Everyone has his/her own, and the key is to write about it as if you are living it in the present moment.
The reason for doing this is that your subconscious mind doesn’t know the difference between what is real and what is not. If you continue to feed your mind with images, thoughts, words, and visions of the things which you want to create in your life, the things required to achieve your dreams will become available to you. This is a very powerful exercise. When you start to write about your dreams as if you have already achieved them, as if you are living them right now, you start to feel empowered, energized, fulfilled, and nothing will stop you from achieving success.
The key to making all of this work, though, is reviewing and reading your WHY, your dreams, and your vision story often. Write them on your mirror in dry erase markers (my new favorite), print them out and read them every night before bed (an excellent time of day for this exercise, because this is when your subconscious really goes to work), or write them down on 3×5 cards where you can carry them with you everywhere you go.
You will be amazed at what starts to happen in your life. Positive things begin happening in your personal life, and in your business. You start attracting the people and resources into your life that will help lead you to your success.
After establishing your why, knowing your dreams, and writing your vision story, the last thing you need to do is BELIEVE you can do it. Without belief, you won’t succeed. Don’t allow others to tell you what is or is not possible. Do not let people make you feel like you don’t have what it takes to succeed. Anything is possible! You all know the saying by Napoleon Hill…”What the mind can believe and conceive, it can achieve.” Regardless of what has happened in your past, or how lofty your goals are, you CAN DO IT!
Dream on!
The CardMommy
