by Rachel Waxman | Apr 28, 2017 | Action Planning, Entrepreneur, Mindfulness, Strategy
A while ago a friend of mine said to me, “I’ve had a mentor for everything I’ve done in my life… So why would pregnancy be any different?” Now, months later, my friend has a baby…. And I can see that she was exactly right.
This is hardly a novel concept, there are plenty of articles about the importance of mentorship for advancing your career. What I’m learning is that mentors can be helpful for more than just career decisions. You could have a mentor to help when buying your first house, a mentor for leading better presentations, or a mentor to consult about a serious relationship. Here are some of the many ways mentors could be huge value adds in your life…
1. You Don’t Need to Reinvent the Wheel
Chances are someone has already successfully done the thing you’re trying to do. And those are the people you should consider when looking for a mentor. Go out, find them, and ask how they did it. If you take advice from those you admire and then attempt to follow in their footsteps, you’ll likely achieve the same successes.
2. Build Valuable Skill Sets Today
…Even if you won’t need it until later. Recently, I’ve been asking mentors for specific advice on specific things and I’ve found it really rewarding. In fact, I keep imagining what a strong professional I’ll be in five years if I keep practicing these skills now. And that includes the skills that aren’t directly related to my current job role!
3. Serious Validation
A mentor can validate your work in ways that your friends and your family cannot. They’ll be honest when you’re doing well, and they’ll be honest when you need to improve. Great mentors may even lead you on the path to improvement and show you specifically how to get there.
Finding a Mentor
Now that you’re sold on how a mentor could provide value in your professional and personal life, let’s talk about finding one.
First, find people who inspire you. Use whatever tools you’ve got! Subscribe to blog posts, podcasts, LinkedIn posts and Instagram feeds of people whose work you admire. I’m a big reader, so I queue up influential books I hope to read on the Good Reads app.
Next, see if anyone you know can make an introduction between you and one of these people you admire. Most likely, this method will get you a response.
However, if you can’t get an intro, send an email or LinkedIn message out of the blue. A genuine message about something specific is hard to ignore. Something like, “I am so impressed with how gracefully you spoke on that panel last week. Your words about failure really resonated with me, and have since inspired me to think more carefully about how to get my own business off the ground. I’d love to pick your brain and hear more of your story. Do you have any time to grab coffee next week?”
Lastly, always make the coffee/lunch ask! Worst case scenario: they don’t respond. Best case scenario: they’re flattered and excited to meet you. (Please note: being ignored really is the worst case scenario. No sane human would ever respond negatively to a kind message that compliments their work.) It doesn’t always work, but you have nothing to lose by trying!
by Rachel Waxman | Dec 26, 2016 | Action Planning, Strategy
…Or when you’re out for a walk, or in a spin class, or just chatting about your day with a friend? Because you’re relaxed, doing something pleasant, and focused elsewhere. Calming down enough to let your mind wander aimlessly will often lead you to that Aha! Moment you’ve been needing. This phenomenon has even been studied by scientists, who conducted experiments to prove that taking a walk outside will boost your creative idea flow.
But we can’t always get the space to go for a walk in the middle of the workday. And it’s probably unrealistic to plan to shower in your office whenever you get a creative block. I’ve previously suggested intentionally planning your days to allow downtime, while some businessmen at HBR suggest using basic mindfulness practices to allow your brain the space to have Aha! Moments.
Here are some tips you can fold into your normal workday to help open yourself to more creative ideas:
- Relax. Take some quiet time to yourself, away from the people you otherwise have to work, meet, or speak with. Just breath and be alone with your thoughts. Instead of zoning out on your phone, be intentional about leaving behind the technology and other things that could otherwise be distracting. Sometimes I’ll bring a piece of paper and write down all my thoughts.
- Do something that makes you feel good. Maybe it’s going for a walk, chatting with a friend, or listening to an inspirational podcast (I really like TED Radio Hour by NPR). Whatever works for you, go do it. Give yourself a positive energy boost and take a real break from the task you’re working on.
- Focus elsewhere. Work out, watch mindless TV, or play a solo game like Bejeweled. When you’re focused on something that only requires minimal cognitive capacity, you’re still able to let your mind wander enough to make it susceptible to an Aha! Moment.
- Take a nap. You’ve heard the advice to “sleep on it,” but that’s actually based in reality. When you wake up calm, relaxed, and rejuvenated you’ll have the mental clarity to re-evaluate the task at hand.
Not only are these tips great for inspiring creative ideas, but they’re also helpful when you’re trying to make a big decision. Whatever you’re working on or thinking about, the important thing is to relax, give yourself some mental space and a touch of positivity and you’re sure to make the best move forward.
by Rachel Dukeman | Nov 7, 2016 | Strategy
It’s difficult to get anything done without planning in advance. You can say “I’m gonna lose 10 lbs” or “I’m going to take a month off to travel” but you most likely won’t get there without taking a step back, thinking about how to accomplish it, and making a realistic plan. The same rules exist in business.
The first step: Start with the why. Why do you want to lose weight? Why do you want to travel? To achieve your goals, you must be really clear about what’s motivating you. You’re going to need to find the willpower and the drive to continuously push yourself toward your goal. So you’ll need to always remember why. Ask yourself why until you identify the true reason deep down that is motivating you. Maybe you want to lose weight so that you are ultimately a healthier person. Fitting into those jeans from college may be a strong motivator, but feeling good emotionally because you are more physically fit may be closer to why you really want to lose weight. Constantly remind yourself of that “why.” Simon Sinek gave a great TED Talk about the importance of “why” that you can watch for inspiration.
Once you understand why, don’t be afraid to think big. Eventually, you’ll break your goals down into smaller, more digestible pieces — objectives that will be realistic for your specific life and business needs. But from the start, you should aim high and think big. Don’t sell yourself short! Remain true to yourself and true to your passions. If you set yourself out to achieve a sweeping goal that only so-so aligns with your interests, it going to be that much harder to push yourself to achieve that goal. So find a goal that motivates you and gives you something to work towards.
The best part of all of this: If you start with the why and really think big, then your business goals will naturally align with your personal passions and you’ll be one step closer to creating a mission-driven business. Empower yourself with a mission. It’s much easier to come to work if you’re accomplishing more than a bottom line. And if you’re the one setting the goals, then you’re able to be your own boss. Which is a great goal, isn’t it?
by Rachel Dukeman | Oct 21, 2016 | Strategy
Budgeting is a dreaded task. But it shouldn’t be. Budgeting should be a freeing task that clarifies where your organization will spend money and ways to generate revenue. So then why do so many people dread it?
Budgeting is scary because it involves money. We all like money, right? So why’s that scary? It’s the connotation about financial success that puts pressure on us.
Our materialistic culture has raised financial status to be a measure of success. So naturally we’ve begun to think that our success is directly linked to the amount of money we have. And sometimes, we can be just as scared of being successful as we are of failing. Success raises the bar of standards to maintain. If we’re consistently maintaining the status quo and failing at budgeting, then we haven’t let anyone down.
Plus, for many start-ups, small businesses, and nonprofits, cash flow is a consistent challenge. We are constantly bombarded with having to prioritize which vendors or bills we pay first, or thinking about how long we can wait until the next big payment to clear. This creates decision fatigue and a sense that financial management is stressful. If we’re consistently stressed about financial decisions, it becomes a chore and something we dread.
So how can we change these two reasons we dread budgeting, and budget effectively? Here are three simple tricks to increasing your ability to manage a budget.
- Start with what’s in hand. Too often, we fall into a Goldilocks situation when it comes to budgeting. We either budget for an ideal to give us a goal to work towards (or we pad the budget in expectation of cutbacks). Or we budget too conservatively to set us up for success… or a worse case scenario. Having a contingency budget is a great idea. Be sure to have a practical budget first. A trick: view your finances as enough. You have enough. You have what it takes to do what you want or need. If we stop wishing for more, or thinking we need more, we will manage what we have better. Sounds cheeky, I know, but it works. If you look at the money in hand, or the income your are confident about generating, and start a budget with that, you’ll suddenly be less stressed about revenue goals. Then, you can use money above and beyond to do more. Build out the “what if” plans, for if you were to spend more, not how you can be more conservative or get by with less.
- Build out contingencies. What if that contract falls through? What if this event gets cancelled? Worrying about money is stressful. But what if you didn’t worry about what ifs? Have contingency plans. And I’m not just talking about the worse-case-scenario planning. While you should have a baseline budget and an exit strategy, you should not always be planning for the worst. On the contrary, plan for how to grow. Have a vision. Draft an action plan for your current needs, and build contingencies for what you’d like to do when you grow.
- Create a system that works for you. Quickbooks too complicated for your day-to-day budgeting needs? Skip worrying about debits and credits and put together an Excel Spreadsheet. Always on the go? Use Google Sheets or another cloud-based software. Visual learner? Use a visual template. Go with pencil and paper. Do what works for you. That way you will actually use it.
Personally, I love Excel. I build out program areas or specific project budgets in separate sheets. This allows me to edit smaller details without messing up formulas or assumptions on larger department budgets. Then I take the the column with all of the totals and aggregate them on a simplified sheet.
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