ACE Planning

ACE :: Awareness.  Creativity.  Emotional Resiliency.

I’m so very fortunate to know some incredible women who are leading the charge for helping small businesses with what I call their ACE Plan.  I called on two incredible business women for a joint panel discussion to help position both the business and the business owner for success. Shaillee Juneja-Chopra and Deb Boulanger joined me to talk about what every business owner should be doing to build their foundation both personally and professionally.

We’re working in abnormal times right now.  Now is the time to get back to basics.  Consider this blog more like a guided worksheet to build your ACE Plan.

Awareness

 

Know yourself.  It’s important to understand what’s needed to help you to perform at optimum capacity.  It’s different for everyone.  There are three things that I don’t waiver on, that keep me functioning personally:  1.  My faith.  I make time to spend with God.  It’s non-negotiable.  2. My workouts.  I need to pound the pavement and zone out.  It’s one of the few times I can really clear my mind.  I can’t run and stress at the same time.  It’s humanly impossible for me.  I crank some loud music and just focus on putting one foot in front of the other. 3.  My friends.  I schedule time with my friends consistently.  No matter how crazy my life is, I make time to see my friends.  I need their support and their energy.  Having the right people around you can make all the difference in the world.

What are your top three things that you need to maintain a healthy balance in your life?

Know your business.  What do you do extremely well, repeatedly?  What are you known for?  What brings in the most money?  Do those three things align?  I certainly hope so.  If they don’t, now is the time to take a look at what the roadblocks are in that alignment.  What’s getting in the way?  Is it your branding?  Is it that you spend more on marketing the wrong thing?  Is it you?  Are you focused on the wrong thing?

If you don’t know these answers, take these questions and create a to do list to figure it out.

 

Creativity

 

Co-written by Deb Boulanger
Creativity and anxiety cannot exist at the same time.  Here are a couple of ways to get creative in your business to ensure that you are still adding value to your community.

Look for opportunities to be of service.  Assess your skillset to what is needed in your community (for your ideal client). Does your audience need help navigating the waters of moving their business online?  Do you have a skill that can help someone else recession proof their business?  When you have the heart of a servant, people will connect with you and subsequently, you will be able to increase your audience.  Now might not be the time to sell to them but when they’re ready to buy, you want them to know your name and know the value that you have to offer.

Look for new ways to deliver your message.  If you’re business is not already online, it’s time to take strides to creating or enhancing your presence.  There are so many free and inexpensive ways to deliver your message.  Video is fantastic.  Most people are visual learners.  They want to connect with you and your brand.  If video isn’t your thing, podcasting is a great way to deliver a message.  It allows you to speak directly to your audience without the fear of the camera.  Podcasting is a great way to dip your toes into the digital space.

 

Emotional Resiliency

 

Co-written by Shaillee Juneja-Chopra
It doesn’t always take a pandemic to feel enclosed.  Stress affects each of us differently.  We all have a unique chemical make-up that makes us one of a kind people.  That’s why it’s important to know yourself and create a personal routine.

When you can’t go outside, go inside: self-care.

Set the intentioan for your day.  Journalling is a great way to gaining clarity on what you want to focus on for the day.  Keep your goals reasonable and attainable, yet challenging so that you can maintain forward momentum.  Don’t forget to give yourself grace when you don’t achieve your goals sometimes.

Connect with your breath.  Your body is a complex processor.  It can become overloaded at times.  In those moments, it’s important to remember to breath.  Sounds simple right?  It is but the outcome is incredible.  By breathing deeply, you’re calming your nervous system down and allowing for the increase of oxygen to your brain.  It elevates your mood and helps to remove the unease.

Breathing exercise:  Take six (6) counts of deep breaths, hold for a four (4) count and exhale through your mouth for eight (8) counts.  Repeat six times.  Try this twice a day, perhaps at your most stressful times or after a stressful meeting.  It will certainly help you to release the stress faster and remain both healtheir and more productive.

 

Your ACE Plan

 

Awareness:  Get to know yourself and your business.

Creativity: Define areas for you to add value in new ways and on new platforms.

Emotional Resliency: Define self-care and how you will practice it in order to maintain health and resiliency.

Need More?

 

Need a little more guidance planning for the success of your business? I'll let you in on a secret - I need guidance all the time!  Really!  The absolute best thing I have ever done for my business was to decide not to do it all alone.

That's why I built the DoverDrive Experience.  I know what it's like to carry the weight of a growing business on your shoulders and feel the pressure of having to know everything at all times.  It's exhausting and impossible.

Inside the DoverDrive Experience, you're getting learning/doing content shared with you EVERY week.  That means you create a cycle of business development.

You see, the biggest mistake that business owners make is that they only work ON their business when something isn't going right or when they don't have enough business to meet financial goals.  The truth is, if you work on yourbusiness continuously, you'd have less problems and less periods of feast or famine.

Join us inside the DoverDrive Experience and let's get started GROWING your business.

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