Life Happens!
Many times, even our best laid out plans go awry. How we respond to those lemons and mishaps reveal the strength and resolve of our character, problem solving abilities and our mindset. Circumstances test us and grow us far beyond what we wish we didn't have to experience.
This article specifically addresses the economic lemon so many people in the world have been handed. By reading this article, one will discover 7 simple action steps they can take right now to begin formulating their lemonade recipe.
Our mindset and thinking will determine the outcome when we are handed a lemon. What we tell ourselves about our circumstances will become our reality. It comes down to mind over matter.
Entrepreneurs learn early on how to make lemonade from lemons if they want to succeed.
Entrepreneurship does not make you immune to problems, in fact, it's an invitation for them to surface! For those who can take lemons and run with them, they will survive. Those who are unable to do so will find themselves further back from even square one.
Lemons can be beautiful if you will accept them with the right attitude.
I look at real life lemons and truly they are beautiful. The bright yellow color is sunny warm and inviting to the eye, the outside texture is fun to touch, the aroma captures your senses, the complimentary green leaves provide decoration and adornment... they are beautiful. It's when you taste them that makes your eyes clasp shut and lips pucker. So one must be able to alter the taste and blend some good sweet components into the lemon to make the fruit bearable and even enjoyable to eat.
Have a game plan for how you will think and behave the best you can when lemons are tossed your way.
Be prepared mentally to respond creatively. Personal development again, will teach you how to prepare. The entrepreneur will take lemons, add a dose of personal development and mindset, mix it up with creativity, throw in some action, stir in lots and lots of desire and commitment and the recipe often alters the course of their life in ways they may not ever have thought possible.
What if your lemons are worth a million dollars?
You want to look for opportunity in the challenge. Leaders do that. When an entrepreneur responds creatively, magic can happen.
Doors open.
Opportunities arise.
Products are developed.
Joint Ventures are forged.
Leadership and Personal Growth happens.
New meaning and purpose in life manifest daily.
Deeper awareness of life is appreciated.
Energy and excitement become part of your being.
Often people who have suffered a great tragedy in their life will take their lemons and share their story about how they survived because it encourages others who are going through the same thing to press forward. These individuals often become authors, speakers and highly sought after mentors who inspire and help others in becoming a better person, a better coach, a better employee or employer, a better parent... the list can go on forever.
We've all had lemons.
One of my lemons emerged after a wonderful 13 year run in my real estate career. It was snuffed out almost overnight by the economy in 2006. Thousands of real estate professionals, mortgage brokers and investors, home inspectors, real estate appraisers along with almost every industry in the world were handed this same lemon. While many people sat and waited to see what happened next, others acknowledged the lemon and looked for creative ways to deal with it.
That's what I did. I took my lemon and began searching online for ways to create an income.
The first decision I ever made in entrepreneurship turned out to be a $35K lemon and 8 months of wasted time. Now I was holding two lemons!
Did I quit my exploration and interest in having an online business and watch my two lemons mold and rot and stink up my life? No!
I continued to look for ways to make lemonade (a bigger batch I must say because now I had two lemons to work with!). I knew there had to be a great lemonade recipe; I just hadn't found it yet.
My lemon #2 taught me to make better choices and what NOT to do. Do I look at the $35K loss as a lemon today? No, not at all. I look at that as 'tuition' for home based business entrepreneurship. My journey would reveal smaller lemons along the way (more tuition) but lemon #2 was no longer a lemon. I had made delicious lemonade with that. Knowledge lemonade. Applied knowledge is power. I had a good foundation in online business. I learned so much and today I have such an appreciation and insight for online business because of the 8 month journey I took down the wrong road.
Will my experience help others so they don't have to be the proud owner of that lemon? Yes. I'm grateful for that.
Over time, lemon #1 began to provide a lifestyle for me I would have otherwise never pursued.
Had the economy stayed strong, I would still be getting up every day to go to work. I would have continued to slave away in my real estate career 'thinking I was happy'. I didn't realize how much stress and pressure and time that real estate took from me as a top producer until I began to compare that to the joys of having a home based business. Today, I go to bed when I'm tired and get up when I'm done sleeping. I do what I want to do. I put the hours and work into my business when and where I choose to. That is swweeeeeeet lemonade!
Life is what you make it, lemons and all.
Positive people take lemons and do things with them. Negative people allow their lemon to rot and mold sets in. They look to their future as hopeless and depressed.
What are YOU doing with YOUR economic lemon(s)?
If you have a tendency to be a sourpuss and really want to change that about yourself and your home based business but need some simple directions, here's some help.
7 Lemonade Action Steps You Can Do Immediately
1. Bathe yourself in personal development.
Question your drive, your commitment and resolve to take your lemon(s) and turn them around for the good. Home based business entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart. It's for those who can taste time and financial freedom and who will climb the highest mountain and swim the widest/deepest ocean to obtain that. Personal development teaches individuals how to grow up as an entrepreneur and sets a tone for leadership and acting in spite of fears. It has to start here.
2. Check out books from the library or surf the net to learn what other successful people are doing online.
You'll find thousands and thousands of individuals are affiliates for various network marketing/MLM companies. Others are coaches, some specialize in offering website design, or blogging and technical services. Some are marketing products they have created based on what they are interested in. They took their hobby and turned it into a business. The sky's the limit for you. The list is miles and miles long. It's a beautiful buffet! Your home based business can be whatever you want it to be.
3. Read and study to learn marketing because when you know how to market, you can write your own ticket.
If you plan to market something, anything, online, there are skillsets to learn in terms of marketing. You'll want to learn to blog, to write articles, to make videos, and other stuff. If you're not open to learning how to market, there's little that will happen for you I'm afraid. Entrepreneurs are excited about learning new skillsets that will allow them to present themselves and their value to the world. Many people think it's going to take too long to learn, or they are baby boomers and fear technology. It's really no big deal. Nobody will see your home based business if you are not lite up online.
Time is going to go by anyway so why not learn these basic skillsets that you can use the rest of your life? There's a lot of free 'know how' online. Just search "how to ____ (fill in the blanks) and you'll be surprised what you can learn.
If you have a budget you can work with, there are many online training platforms that you can plug into that on an average run from between $47 and $150 a month. They teach everything on how to do internet marketing.
4. Take what you are passionate about and start a blog where you can share with others.
Have you seen the movie Julie and Julia? You should if you haven't. Not that it's an A+ movie, (far from it in my opinion) but it shows the entrepreneur the sheer power of blogging and what sharing your passion can do. Watch it from that perspective.
Your blog will be your home online. It's a place where people can get to know, like and trust you. It's a place where you invite others to join in your conversation and share your passion with you. Overtime you will come to have a following.
Begin to write articles and post your thoughts and interests about what you're passion is on your blog. You can post a couple times a week. Your readers will look forward to hearing from you.
5. Create a product around your passion and offer it to your subscribers who find value in your education.
For example, one of my hobbies is scrapbooking and foster parenting. I saw a need and I wrote a book and live hands-on training for foster parents and social workers on how to make lifebooks (scrapbooks but with a new name) for foster children. It's a very popular training still today and I wrote it several years back. Share your knowledge about your passion and package it in a report, ebook, video or video series, audio/podcast series or a combination of any of those. Create a PayPal button and add that onto your blog and sell your product.
6. Get involved in social media.
Establish a profile at Facebook and twitter. Research forums and groups online where people are talking about and sharing in your passion and participate. Share your love, enthusiasm and knowledge with others in those communities. Be a go-giver. You will find the greatest people who become your dearest friends through online relationships.
7. Share your story on your blog.
Share your lemon story and how you are, making lemonade (or already have made a batch!). You will inspire others as they are wondering whether a home based business is right for them. They will appreciate you for being transparent. You will be real to them and being authentically yourself doing something you are passionate about feels super good. Try it, you'll like it.
As you work on these ingredients of your lemonade, be mindful of value you have that you can offer others. This is called attraction marketing and by sharing your very best information and giving the world the very best you, you will find that people will start to flock to you.
This is by far, not a complete list of action steps in dealing with the economic lemon you may have been given, but it's a great start in appreciating your circumstances in that it will open new doors of opportunity for you if you'll allow it. You may find yourself in a home based business you never dreamed of until you were handed a lemon. And that home based business could turn into a 7 figure income. It's a possibility. Dream big and go far.
Debbie Turner is an internet marketer, consultant and coach and author. Debbie is passionate about helping families create their dream lifestyle through home based business entrepreneurship and offers tips and information as well as a free copy of her Rookie Mistakes book on her blog at [
http://DebbieTurner.com]http://DebbieTurner.com.
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