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the happy entrepreneur NO. 02/SPRING 2014
EVAN CENTER
MUST-HAVE
Habits of a happy entrepreneur
your
TIPS
#1
secret weapon
for eurs n e r p e entr
turn your somedays into today vanessa horn:
i’ll have 3 must-know tips before you what she’s get branded having by kristen domingue the harmless habit that makes you unsuccessful
CONTENTS
the happy entrepreneur
Sarah
Dew
Editor in Chief Sarah Dew
Tiffany
Manley
Assistant to the Editor Tiffany Manley Art Director Shari Miller Phone: 734-272-1371 E-mail. inquiries@happyentrepreneur.magazinecom web. www.happyentrepreneurmagazinecom Sarah’s makeup: Rachel Lisa Photos of Sarah: Lauren Difulvio Stylist: Angela Harrison Style
Shari
Miller
Rachel
Lisa
ALSO: 6.
free gift index
Angela
Harrison
26.
34.
42.
Evan
Maria
Stacie
Must-Have Habits of a Happy Entrepreneur
Competitiveness, drive and ambition...your best friends or worst enemies?
Forget Recipes: Only Parenting— and Some Planning—Can Save Dinner
Center 2
Saracen
Billis
VANESSA HORN I’ll have what she’s having!
18. 48.
56.
68.
Terri
Jeannine
Melissa
Blending Entrepreneurship with Lifelong Health
The Harmless Habit That Makes You Unsuccessful
Your Number One Secret Weapon
Levine
Yoder
Farley
78.
86.
91.
Debra
Farhana
Kristen
Turn Your Somedays Into Today
Why I Can’t Meet You for Coffee
3 Must-Know Tips BEFORE You Get Branded
Angilletta
Dhalla
Domingue the happy entrepreneur
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EDITOR’S NOTE
A Letter from the Editor I was chatting with a new business owner the other day about what it means to be “happy.” It’s something everyone seems to want and we we will do pretty much anything to have. But I think sometimes we have the wrong idea of what “happy” is.
money into building a business I had no guarantee would work. I have changed and made huge decisions in all areas of my life in order to be closer to truth.
I know I fall into that trap too. I will see a woman who I think... she has it all figured out.
Now I am living 100% in what is true for me. It certainly doesn’t fit most people’s model of perfect and I don’t think it should.
She looks great, has a great business, life, house, kids, and I know she is probably having great sex. She must be really happy. If only I could figure out how to do THAT then... I tried that for years, did everything I should have done. Everything that was supposed to make me happy. Great job, great house, husband, kids.... and I wasn’t happy. Not at all, in fact everything that was supposed to make me happy left me feeling trapped, small, and like I was living someone else’s life. It wasn’t until I started making what most people thought were crazy, reckless decisions that I started to feel free. I gave up my Nursing License so I couldn’t go back even if I wanted to. I invested a ton of
I was living someone else’s life and it didn’t fit.
It true for me - my business is about truth, and all of my relationships are too. That is why I am happy. So I will tell you what I told her. To be a happy entrepreneur you have to be honest with yourself. What feels good in your business and what doesn’t? Follow the bread crumbs. You may find you have to make some big decisions and that is okay. I guarantee if they are coming from a place of honesty good stuff always follows. Make sure you have a great support network to catch you and JUMP!
xo, Sarah
Sarah Dew Business Strategist & Productivity Expert www.happyentrepreneurmagazine.com
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the happy entrepreneur
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Stephanie
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I’LL HAVE WHAT SHE’S HAVING
Wildly
How to Be Attractive in Life and Business
BY VANESSA HORN
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Everywhere we turn we are bombarded with choices, options, messages. As entrepreneurs with our own service and product to market, how in the world are we supposed to stand out from the rest of the noise in the marketplace? We offer a service, a product, or a tool that we know can transform the lives of our potential clients…IF ONLY we can get their attention. So, what does it take to be that woman who has the capacity to “turn heads” and be wildly attractive in life and business? Let’s look at two of them here. Purpose and Presence. Purpose 1. When you are tapped into your purpose, you will tap into the emotional fortitude you need to weather the daily storms of entrepreneurship. It is what keeps you going, investing the time, energy, effort and money necessary to master your craft. It has been my experience that there are two things that are the sure fire way to experience radical self-development: • becoming a parent, • and becoming an entrepreneur. As an entrepreneur, when you are tapped into the reason WHY you are doing what you are doing, you have the capacity to tap into a deep source that helps you remain relentless in your path to creating your desired future. It helps you keep going when you experience disappointment, fear, or self-doubt. 2. When you are tapped into your purpose, the reason WHY you do what you do becomes about others. At one point or another, you probably heard about making a vision board as a visual representation of what you wanted to create in life. (Here’s mine: https://www.dropbox.com/s/dno7akptn0kbmlo/VanessaHorn-VisionBoard27jan2014-Edited.jpg) Photos of luxury homes and cars are not enough of a motivation. I’ve worked with over 7,000 entrepreneurs starting their own business. When the going got tough, if their reason for WHY they were doing what they were doing wasn’t compelling enough, they found themselves settling in life. They talked themselves right back into life as status quo. How can you create a WHY that is powerfully about others? 3. When you are tapped into your purpose, you see your
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business as a vehicle for helping set captives free. Henry David Thoreau said, “The mass of men live quiet lives of desperation, and go to their graves with their songs still in them.” The reason why so many people live quiet lives of desperation is because frequently they are consumed with the “cares of life.” I truly see the platform of business as one of the most powerful platforms for impacting the lives of others. As entrepreneurs, we have skills, tools, strategies, that can transform the lives of others. We can help them create a better quality of life. We can help them experience the freedom from the “cares” that might otherwise consume them. How does your business help solve a problem in the life of others? 4. When you are tapped into your purpose, you tap into a deep sense of courage. Too many times in life, individuals avoid risk for the fear of failure. As an entrepreneur, you will still experience fear. But here’s the key: your purpose helps you discover what is worth doing even if you fail. A powerful question to ask yourself is: “If this were the last year of my life, what would I do?” Whatever your answer is to that question reveals what is in your heart when your head gets out of the way. It will reveal what is most important to you and help clear out the unnecessary activity so you can focus in on your life.
PRESENCE
The presence of a woman who elicits the response, “I’ll have what she’s having!” has frequently been described as an almost magical quality—an IT Factor. The French call it “je ne sais quoi,” meaning “I don’t know what,” as if it is unexplainable—it is felt, it is a charm, an enchantment. However, it is not out of reach. It is something we can practice. Here is how:
1.
Be your wild and beautiful you.
According to a survey conducted of the elderly, the number one regret expressed at their end of their life was, “I wish I had had the courage to live a life true to myself, and not the life anyone else wanted me to live.” Who are you when you are comfortable and yourself? Tap into her, wherever you go, whatever you do. Don’t wait for permission. And certainly don’t wait for someone else to “help you” feel comfortable. This is your life. How do you want to create your experience of it?
2. See your success as a done deal.
Visualize what it will feel, smell, sound, taste like when you reach your goal, and then embody that feeling now. When you see your success as a done deal, you aren’t so consumed by your own agenda and what is best for you. It allows you to be fully present to your experience and the people in front of you so that you can serve them more powerfully. Make their goals, dreams, desires your primary aim.
3. Embody the Anatomy of an Influencer.™
Your mind: Be passionately curious about others. Your eyes: Have the vision to see what is possible and paint that picture for those you serve. Your ears: Have ears that listen intently, even beyond what someone may be saying. Your mouth: Speak words of life. Speak with boldness. Your heart: Practice living open-hearted. There is more to be gained than risked in loving with reckless abandon. Your hands: Have hands that are committed to serving. When you powerfully serve your prospects, they will pursue YOU. Your feet: Be willing to go where no one else is willing to go. Be willing to go beyond your own comfort level. Your arm: Don’t be afraid of inviting others to grab your arm and follow your guidance as you step into the leadership that is yours.
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MY STORY: Years ago, from the outside it appeared that everything was picture perfect in my life. I had accomplished a good number of the goals that were important to me professionally and personally. But eventually, symptoms started showing up — signs of distress on the inside: • I felt empty and worn out. I didn’t want to be a drain to my friends or team so I held it “together” by holding it in. • I had worked full throttle for years at work that wasn’t my fullest expression and began feeling discontented with the “work now, play later” model I had adopted. • My husband and I were having stress in our marriage. • I had my third son and the post-baby weight clung to me this time. I knew something had to change. I was not living the purest expression of my true self or my highest calling. I couldn’t see it, but there were underlying reasons that drove me to make ‘safe’ and compromising choices. Something was missing. A miscarriage served as the starting point to connecting to God and to my heart in ways I hadn’t before. It gave me the courage to draw a line in the sand: THAT’S IT. I refuse to live like this anymore. Things began to shift as I committed that NOW was the time to make changes and play all out. • I surrounded myself with strong support, hired my own coaches, invested heavily in my own growth, and got really honest and real. I knew what I had previously done up until this point in my life had only helped me so far and I was tapped out. • I began to get clarity about the life I really wanted to design: what I wanted and what I didn’t want and the underlying unconscious drivers to the decisions I had previously made out of fear, need for security, or need for approval. • I began having a greater connection to my most authentic self, and knowing what it meant to live in my most fully alive state as God created me to be. I became a maniac about living uninhibited and loving with abandon. • My clarity and creativity as a business person was higher than ever and I began seeing the solutions to creating the freedom and ease I longed for rather than settling for choices that were comfortable or predictable. • I stopped living from a place of striving. Now it was from a place of unforced rhythms of grace. • My husband & I began having the best communication and the best sex we had had in our previous 12 years of
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marriage. • My role as a mother became more satisfying than ever as I found a beautiful rhythm in which to live that included my role as a mother and my life and work outside the home. • I launched my coaching business to help others create a life and business they love.
IT GAVE ME THE COURAGE TO DRAW A LINE IN THE SAND: THAT’S IT. I REFUSE TO LIVE LIKE THIS ANYMORE. THINGS BEGAN TO SHIFT AS I COMMITTED THAT NOW WAS THE TIME TO MAKE CHANGES AND PLAY ALL OUT.
A NOTE TO FEMALE ENTREPRENEURS: When making any decision, ask yourself, “Is this a Hell Yeah?” If the answer is “No,” say “No.” The only way to create a Hell Yeah Life is to make the Hell Yeah decisions every moment they are presented. Life is made up of moments. Choose wisely.
Vanessa
HELL YEAH
MY FAVORITE BOOK: What changed the way I think about business the most was not a book, but a board game created by Robert Kiyosaki (the author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad) called Cashflow 101. Play Cashflow 101 if you want to know how to get out of the “rat race” of life. It opened my eyes to how risk-adverse I really was and it taught me that the key to getting out of the rat race is when your passive income streams exceed your living expenses. Up to that point in my life, I had followed the advice of “go to school, get a good job, save more than you spend.” That advice is not enough. After I played the game, I finally saw that I needed to get out of my comfort zone if I was going to create a life of financial freedom. Ten years ago I became an entrepreneur, and every day I take risks. The level of risks continues to grow and, as a result, the financial rewards and adventure are so fulfilling.
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Vanessa Horn is the CEO of Vanessa Horn International, a global business and personal development company, and is a sought after speaker, coach, and the author of the book “I’ll Have What She’s Having!”® She has successfully built and sold several businesses, and her training and coaching has been used by more than 7,000 mission-driven entrepreneurs to rise to the top of their industries without burning out or selling out. Her “Profit with Honor” Prospecting System is a proven system to attract an endless stream of prospects and effectively close without having to be salesy or pushy. Vanessa has been featured as a expert guest on several FOX, NBC, CBS, and ABC news and morning shows across the country. Vanessa holds an MBA in entrepreneurship. She and her husband of 15 years, and their three young sons live in North Carolina. For more information about her sales training, or personal development coaching, visit her at http://www.vanessahorn.com
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IF YOU WOULD LIKE MORE INFORMATION ON HOW TO DISCOVER YOUR PURPOSE AND STEP INTO THE WOMAN YOU KNOW YOU CAN BE, TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE FREE “DISCOVER YOUR PURPOSE TOOLKIT” I AM PROVIDING. IT IS YOUR PATH TO GREATER MEANING AND MONEY. IT WOULD BE MY PLEASURE TO SERVE YOU IN DISCOVERING IT.
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