How Do You Show the Love in Your Business?

Love and business have been a big topic in the Joyful Business eZine!

Are You Infusing Love into Your Business?

If not, take a look at my featured article: 5 Love Practices for Your Business

Or join the conversation below by posting a comment. I would love to hear what you have to say about love and your business …

*What does love in your business mean to you?

*Where does love currently show up in your business? 

*Where in your business do you need to make room for more love?

*Which area do you need to start with first?

En-joy

Laura

5 Love Practices For Your Business

Love practices for your business?

Yes!

Love is the most powerful of emotions… we also know it as joy, passion, inspiration, connection, flow, beauty, creativity, and leadership.

We are literally yearning for more love in our businesses. We are tired of the same old sales letters and boring products that lack creative fire and beauty.

Love in your business makes your day feel full of joy. You are engaged and alive. You feel like you just resuscitated lives by helping make someone’s life better through your product or service. Love is that spontaneous flow of inspiration and ideas that you don’t know where it’s coming from, but you trust it for how awake and engaged you feel and the impact you can see you have on others.

Here are 5 ways you can consciously practice infusing love in your business:

1. Love Your Creativity – Freedom to creatively express yourself in your business is one of the highest values for most passionate entrepreneurs. If you find yourself nodding in agreement, then you want to make sure you schedule time for your creativity. As your business grows, it’s easy to lose touch with your creativity if you aren’t consciously giving it attention and time. Schedule creative retreat time each week to get out of your office. Spend some time journaling and mind mapping and reviewing what’s working in your business and where it needs to go. Then use some of that scheduled time to create the program, project or article ideas. Put your attention on what you want to grow!

2. Love Your Marketing - Let go of old stereotypes about marketing and what it means to market your business. These old-style limiting beliefs will just hold you back. Today’s marketing is all about creating relationships with your clients, potential clients, and potential collaborators. The more creative, fun and authentic you are, the better you’ll connect with your clients and grow your business. Successful marketing is also about having a generous mindset to help each other increase visibility and success. So… love your clients, love your colleagues… and focus on loving them in success. While you do, you’ll find you’ll be more successful too.

3. Love Your Money – Money loves being paid attention to. That means learning about money strategies, keeping your Quickbooks™ up-to-date, and knowing how much money you’ve spent and created. If you ignore money, then don’t be surprised if you aren’t making very much! Spend time nurturing your money and its flow in your business. Welcome sales into your business as a sign that you are getting your purpose (your love) into the world!

4. Love Your Life and Relationships – If you are like me, you started your business to have more freedom and flexibility in your life. So make sure that you build a business around your life, not the other way around. You want to love your life – your family, friends, hobbies, travel – whatever you love. Your personal joy is to make room and time in your life and let your business support your life.

5. Love Yourself – As your business grows, you’ll keep running up against your upper limits of success. Those beliefs that will limit how much joy you’ll allow into your business as far as money, success, recognition, great clients and enjoyment. Be aware that everyone hits upper limits of how much success they’ll allow into their businesses (think lottery winners who lose all their winnings within two years). You have to love yourself enough to allow the success in.

Where in your business can do you need to make room for the love? Which area do you need to start with first?

En-joy

Laura

If you would like to use this article in your newsletter or blog please feel free to do as long as you include our credit information: Written by Laura Howard West, Center for Joyful Business, http:/www.joyfulbusiness.com I would also appreciate it if you'd send us a copy for our media files. ©Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.

Laura West is an award-winning online entrepreneur and president of The Center for Joyful Business. If you are ready to shift your marketing and mindset for more success with joy and ease, get your free report: Business Attraction Success Kit

Joyful Business Podcast #23: Becoming the Complete Entreprenuer

Don't miss another episode - subscribe today and be the first to know when a new podcast comes out  - Join our "Creating Your Joyful Business" newsletter - http://www.joyfulbusiness.com/subscribe.html

Here is the latest episode of the Joyful Business Podcast featuring interviews with some of the most talented and joyful entrepreneurs on the Internet. Each interview is full of nuggets of wisdom about how being joyful and mindful in your business brings you the success you deserve. You'll find tips, stories, and real life ideas for keeping the joy, passion and creativity alive.

Join us every two weeks in Cafe Entrepreneur for a new interview.

In episode #23, we talk to "Street-Smarts" Marketer, Kathleen Gage, who is the CEO and founder of Turning Point, Inc. and Maxwell Publishing, as well as a bestselling author, keynote speaker, and an internationally recognized Internet marketing and publicity expert for speakers, trainers and authors. She enjoys working with spiritually minded entrepreneurs who want to learn how to package their expertise and knowledge into money making products and service, while using their spirituality to enhance their business and to complete their lives.

Through Kathleen's success, she has found that as long as she makes living in a state of gratitude the cornerstone of everything she does, then things will work out better on the whole - no matter what the circumstances are around her. She has taken time to work on gratitude daily through small spiritual rituals, and suggests ways we can do this as well.  As we take the time to work on this aspect of our lives, we will find that we feel more complete, and we will be able to enjoy our work, our business, and our lives more completely!

Listen Now: 

If you enjoy this Joyful Business Podcast then you'll love our bi-weekly newsletter, Creating Your Joyful Business, filled with resources and how-to's for creating a financially successful business while honoring your lifestyle, your relationships and your creative expression!  Subscribe at: www.JoyfulBusiness.com  and receive your Free Business Attraction Success Kit!

Enjoy!

Laura

The Power of Gratitude

Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and if there's one thing we can
take from this holiday that will transform our lives, it's the habit of
gratitude. There is a power in gratitude that enables us to tap into
blessings, receive abundance, seize opportunities, and find joy in life.
It's especially fascinating when you look at how you can bring gratitude
into your business - a key attraction energy for creative entrepreneurs!

I'm thrilled to share with you a special program discussion I was recently a
part of called "The Power of Gratitude to Transform Your Life." You may
listen to this f.r.e.e audio or download a written transcript of it at
http://www.ideamarketers.com/experts/calls/gratitude.cfm. 

Experts on this call include marriage & family expert Dr. Linda Miles,
attraction marketing expert Laura West, relationship expert Nancy Gerber and
Marnie Pherson from IdeaMarketers.

I hope you enjoy it!

Laura

Are You On My Sticky Note?

In my home office, affectionately known as the Joyful Empire Creative 
Studio, I set up a special inspiring area in the studio.  It's in the
corner of my office/studio, which in the Feng Shui world, is known as
my Wealth & Prosperity corner. My Friend, Evana Maggiore
came to visit a month ago and pointed out
that my Wealth and Prosperity corner was empty.

Well, I don't know much about the bagua map but I do know
about my energy and I knew that I couldn't have the Wealth &
Prosperity area of my office empty!  I shared this philosophy with my
husband, Marc, and he was on board - we needed to create an inspiring
corner for even more prosperity, abundance and wealth to flow!

He found this cute little chest which he knew I'd love the flow of the
rounded front. For my birthday, my sons gave me a beautiful water
feature so now I have "flow" in the wealth & prosperity area - love
the feeling of that!

I added a special gorgeous topaz crystal, a crystal red heart, and an Ogg
light (which I bought from Cheryl Richardson's site) (friend and client,
Chris Baeza shared that shining a light on an area helps you to bring your
awareness to it..thank you).  My Ogg light changes colors in a gentle
pattern (more visual flow) and then I added a birthday gift from my
client, Laurie Mandato, from Imagining Joy.  She sent me a
gorgeous silver "Circle of Friends" candle holder.  It reminds me of my
abundance of loving family and friends.

I make it a ritual to visit my beautiful corner each morning and turn
on the water and the lights.  It fills me with a sense of peace,
purpose, beauty and reminds me that it's wonderful to be focused on
wealthy & prosperity helping my amazing clients attract more wealth &
prosperity into their business.

This week I added a new feature to my inspiring space.  On the wall I
placed a large piece of paper for my new Attraction Marketing and
Money Mindset Program (AMMMP).  The is a year long program for 24
amazing creative women entrepreneurs.  I put up 24 tulip shaped sticky
notes as a "spaceholder" for each of the incredible women who are
coming into this program.

Every morning I connect with the 24 women who are coming and feel
excited and inspired about what is possible for them in the coming
year.  I even started writing names on the tulips claiming individual
people I know who would flourish in this program.  I imagine what it
will be like for them. How excited they are in their business and what
possibilities await them.

This process helps involve my whole self in my big intention for this
program.  It's a very visually sensory experience and helps me to
connect with my purpose each morning. Plus, it  really  gets my energy
going for letting people know about the program!  (that's how we do
marketing here at the Center for Joyful Business!)

So, is your name on one of my sticky notes? :)

Make sure you are registered for next week's teleseminar and you'll
find out more about the program because that's when I'm going to open
the doors for registration.

Next week's TeleSeminar:

Attraction in Action:  My 5 Most Powerful Attraction Marketing Secrets
So You Can Create Your Dream of a Six Figure Business Quickly and
Easily!

Thursday, October 30, 12:00 noon eastern time

Register here:  www.joyfulbusiness.com/attractionsecrets

Go ahead and register even if you can't make the time as we will
record it.  You'll want to listen as soon as you can though because
when I launch the new Attraction Marketing and Money Mindset Program
on the call - I'll be offering special incentives, bonuses and a way
for you to save!!

Can you tell I'm excited!  Channeling my energy each morning, keeping
my focus and taking action to share it with my community is powerful!
(and I'm told very inspiring and engaging!)

More to come…

En-JOY!

Laura

Spreading the Love Around the Blog World!

I woke up at 4am this morning and just couldn't get back to sleep.  I decided it was best to just get up and join many of my "sisters" in this world who are also up at 4am or some other ungodly hour.  (I know they chalk it up to peri-menopause, too much caffeine(ok, caught me) or bad dinner choice - but really has anyone studied this phenomenon?)

I peeked at my favorite blogs to catch up on the latest updates and imagine my delight when I received this heartful post from my friend, Beverly Keaton-Smith at Embrace Your Gifts and Soar!

She's listed Café Entrepreneur as one of her 7 favorite blog fill-ups!  Thank you! It's so nice to know that you touch people's lives in some way.  Thank you for sharing your appreciation and joy, Beverly!

So, to pass on the love….

 

Here are my current favorite 7 blogs to check in on and see what's new and inspiring!

 

Christine Kane's Blog

Embrace Your Gifts and Soar (I just can't help it, Bev - YOU inspire me with your writing!)

Journal Revolution

Seth Godin

Money, Meaning and Beyond for Business Owners

Be Alive Believe Be You

Solo-e.com blog

 

Keep passing the love around the blog world.  I know we all write from our hearts in passionate support of changing the world in our own unique way.  Keep it going…

1. The winner can put the logo on his/her blog;

2. Link the person you received your award from;

3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs;

4. Put links of those blogs on yours; and

5. Leave a message on the blogs that you've nominated.

 

En-JOY!

Laura

Guiding Principle #7: We Are All Connected

As the author of, Joyful Business Guide system, I have outlined 18 Guiding Principles of a Joyful  Business.   These are guidelines, reminders, and validations for creating a success business based on using your joy energy. Why?  Because the world needs a new modern business model - the old one is broken! Use joy as a guide for what you create, for what you give, and for what you receive - being intentional about it all.

Each week I would like to share one of the Guiding Principles.  I would love to hear your thoughts, comments and own personal experience of each principle. 

Guiding Principe #7:  We Are All Connected

"How you behave, think, treat people, yourself and our planet comes back to you because we are all connected. Everything and everyone around you is constantly changing. Yet each breath, step, action and thought has an impact. Be conscious of this and handle with care."

Being really clear about your personal and business values helps shapes your business - everything from your types of services and products, to your policies, and to the type of people you have working for your team. Knowing that we are all part of the same system helps makes decisions clear when you come from a wise, bigger picture perspective.

Excerpt from the Joyful Business Guide Playbook, part of the Joyful Business Guide system, created by award-winning entrepreneur, author, speaker, Laura West, PCC, CPCC, The Joyful Business Guide system is a Business Attraction System which incorporates smart marketing and business strategies  for your business AND attraction tools so you create more money and meaning while growing your successful business. To find out more about the Joyful Business Guide system, visit the website.

If you are interested in having Laura West speak for your organization or teleclass, please contact her Media and Marketing Manager, Meredith Eisenberg, for details about your program and Laura's availabilty. Visit our website, The Center for Joyful Business, a business development training company for creative entrepreneurs.

Guiding Principles #5: Gratitude Power

As the author of, Joyful Business Guide system, I have outlined 18 Guiding Principles of a Joyful  Business.   These are guidelines, reminders, and validations for creating a success business based on using your joy energy. Why?  Because the world needs a new modern business model - the old one is broken! Use joy as a guide for what you create, for what you give, and for what you receive - being intentional about it all.

Each week I would like to share one of the Guiding Principles.  I would love to hear your thoughts, comments and own personal experience of each principle. 

Guiding Principe #5: Gratitude Power

"Gratitude is the most powerful heart energy. Noticing the synchronities, miralces, wonders, and coincidences, and then spending time appreciating them is the highest vibration your heart can send out."

My clients have created powerful rituals honoring the miracles and wonders in their lives and businesses. This practice helps you create awarenss in your life of what's happening around you as well as what is happening inside you.  It helps you to shift your thoughts and beliefs to empowering ones. It helps you to honor and appreciate what is going right (vs. whining about what's going wrong all the time unconsciously).  This practice alone will transform who you are into a much more power, confident and trusting person (and business owner!).

~Excerpt from the Joyful Business Guide Playbook, part of the Joyful Business Guide system, created by award-winning entrepreneur, author, speaker, Laura West, PCC, CPCC, The Joyful Business Guide system is a Business Attraction System which incorporates smart marketing and business strategies  for your business AND attraction tools so you create more money and meaning while growing your successful business. To find out more about the Joyful Business Guide system, visit the website.

If you are interested in having Laura West speak for your organization or teleclass, please contact her Media and Marketing Manager, Meredith Eisenberg, for details about your program and Laura's availabilty.

Press Release: Pass It On: Women Entrepreneurs Support Business Education in War Torn Countries

Dear Joyful Business Owners,

I am celebrating something very special as the new year starts. When I was writing and creating my product The Joyful Business Guide system last year, I had woven into the system a mindmap about Inspired Giving. I believe in having a generous philosophy. It is a core foundation that any Joyful Business is built on. Believing in the cycle of giving and receiving as I was writing the Guide, I had this idea about donating $10 for every Joyful Business Guide sold to one of my favorite non-profit organizations. I knew I wanted to do it. I wrote it into my vision story for 2007, but I didn’t really give it a lot of thought throughout the year as I was busy with the product launch details.

As the Joyful Business Guide launched and momentum gained, I become more focused on the product fulfillment, marketing, writing articles, making sure people knew how to use their system and talking with people about their results and all those things that a growing business owner does. Well, towards the end of December, after a day of completing a lot of accounting for the year, I woke up at 3am in the morning (you know, those 3 am wake ups!) and I realized that I sold nearly 100 Joyful Business Guide systems!

My intention was to donate $10 for every one sold. I thought, "Oh my gosh, I am donating $1000!" I’ve never given that much before. I was shaken. I started to tear up. I had made plenty of donations to friends who were completing breast cancer runs, small donations to non-profits or my alma mater, but never this much! (For some of you this may be small potatoes but for me it was BIG! And realizing that I had created this intention and to see its success was personally transforming!) I had to get out of bed and write about it in my journal. I realized I was both scared

– scared of how powerful my intentions are - also extremely proud and excited. I felt myself straighten a bit. I felt like a "real"entrepreneur! This is the type of thing that "successful entrepreneurs" do. It was definitely a milestone for me and my business.

I felt pulled to be even more successful because I started realizing the impact that I really can have. I was experiencing the reality of my vision coming true. It was one of those moments of truly embracing my purpose and passion and knowing that I am using my gifts to have an impact in many ways.

So, as a way of celebrating publically, I am pleased to announce that the Center for Joyful Business  is donating $1000 to Women for Women International. This is truly an amazing organization. I have been following them for some time. When I heard the founder Zainab Salbi speak in October I knew this was the organization I wanted the Joyful Business Guides to support. They go into war torn countries and support the women who are left by teaching them leadership skills and how to start businesses. These women have had unbearable atrocities happen to them and their families, and yet they are the ones who are usually left to pull their communities and what is left of their families back together. Their stories will make you cry for their pain and sob at how they regained their dignity. While working with Women for Women, they lear ned how to start businesses, and be leaders in creating infrastructures like digging wells, and how to forgive and love again so they could rebuild their lives. For more information visit,

www.womenforwomen.org

or purchase their latest book The Other Side of War: Women's Stories of Survival and Hope.

Thank you for everyone who contributed to making this possible. You are creating ripples of change in this world.

The Sacred Life project

In my earlier post I talked about my favorite candles from Zena Moon. Well, Carla from Zena has started a cool project called My Sacred Life project.  Everyday she takes a picture of something that is sacred in her life.

It reminds me of my daily gratitude list where I look for those amazing synchroniticities, serendipitous moments and feel huge appreciation for my life.  I like the idea of adding photos - pictures after all can tell a whole new story.

What I know is if you write a gratitude list for two weeks straight it is life changing. I think I'll take a sacred picture each day and see how that adds to the richness. I'll post some of my favorite photos (or maybe all of them) - I'm in to making this inspiring, sacred project easy....

My first photo has to be the one from the "No More Hoarding! Embracing Abundance" blog posting yesterday. Every time I create a vision collage board or book I always have a photo of something arty- like jars of paint brushes, or cans of paint...to me that just symbolizes creativity. I was so thrilled with how the photo came out of my desk with the afternoon sun coming in and my cups of colored pens and markers along with my favorite Zena candles.  Felt very sacred.

Read more about The Sacred Life project at Carla's blog at Zena Moon.

What is sacred in your life? 

Laura