A Dose of Inspiration: Just Do It

Sure, it's Nike's tagline, but it's a good one to remember anyway. Just do it.

How many times do you catch yourself daydreaming about the life you want to have? The new "thing" you have to have? The personal achievement that's just out of grasp? The experiences you want to have?

So...what's really stopping you? It's not impossible. Other people are doing and having those things too. Why aren't you? I'll tell you: You have to get past the "thinking" stage and move into the "action" phase. Stop making excuses. You deserve to have those things, so stop selling yourself short. What's in it for you in keeping yourself from it? How much better could your life be if you had that? 

Focus on that. Envision your life with this "thing." Looks good, doesn't it? Take a glance back at your life without it and notice the difference in your feelings between the two. Then, identify what's really stopping you. More than likely, you'll have to push yourself beyond your comfort zone to obtain this "thing," but, whatever it is, you can be assured it'll be worth it.

As someone who is self-employed, I've come to get comfortable with continually stretching my comfort zone, and it's really quite thrilling. Sure, I have times where it catches me off-guard and I wonder what in the world I'm doing, but then it comes back--that daydream--and I remember that I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be, doing exactly what I'm supposed to be doing. So I smile.

This post was somehow inspired by my first float from Barton to Carver on the Clackamas River this past weekend. There were SO many other people doing the same thing, that I really got the feeling as if we were all fleeing or evacuating the land. Being on a time restraint made the experience a little stressful instead of relaxing, but the experience of doing it made it worthwhile anyway. I wish I had had a waterproof camera so I could show you how the river and parking lots (and any other open spaces!) looked with such a flood of people there.

Bartering For Business Growth

Bartering is a fun way to obtain services from other businesses without having to unload the debit card (don't get me started on credit cards!). Bartering also helps to build business by allowing your business to reach clients/customers who may not otherwise have an interest or need in your services, but once they experience them, they are converted into walking, talking advertisers of your company. Why then, is bartering such a rarely-used marketing startegy?

My goal is to bring back the barter. Sure, there's some bartering membership programs already in place, but if you are a small business owner and don't function on a nationwide capacity and can't muster the $500 initial membership fees, then why should you be left in the dark? I see no reason.

Plenty of small business owners or self employed service providers can certainly benefit by bartering. I think this should be a first step requirement in networking. Networking is great, but just because I've met you at a networking event and heard your quick self introduction, how am I to know you really deliver quality products or services? Why not include bartering as a piece of the networking puzzle? We meet, swap introductions, you try my service, I try yours, now I'm confident in telling my clients about the great work you do, and you are able to do the same.

Do you know by talking to me that I'm a qualified massage therapist? Yes, you know I'm licensed, but what if, when giving massages, I slathered on so much oil, my clients nearly slide off the massage table, or present them with some other less-than-satisfactory massage experience? Would you know that by my self-introduction? The answer is no. I don't use excess amounts of oil, but you won't know that until you've experienced a massage from me.

I think the common networking circuit needs to be updated to allow us to make confident referrals. I can't tell you now how many networking events I have attended, heard countless self introductions, and still know nothing about many of these people/businesses. Let's work together! That's the goal in networking, yes? Help grow business by spreading the word about what we do, and being able to refer our own clients/customers to you? So let's move to the grassroots level of this goal, and start by sharing our business with each other.