business growth

3 Simple Steps to Heal Your Heart

Are you confused?  What does healing your heart have to do with marketing?  Or Sales?  Or Leadership?  

I know we normally talk about business, but today, I want to talk on a deeper level.

What if the problems you are trying to solve, don’t start in your business systems?  Guess what, that is almost always the case.

I am a firm believer that our external results are like a neon sign pointing inward saying, “Look at my past frustrations, disappointments, and limiting beliefs.” That is the bad news.

The good news is that you can change your mind and heart and it can be simple.  Did you know that I spent 3 years as a life coach before I transitioned into business coaching? Let me share with you three simple steps to healing your heart so that you can achieve more in your relationships, health, finances, and of course business.

1. Discover the emotions you have been holding onto.  Remember that play you tried out for in grad school and didn’t make?  Are you still embarrassed from trying and not making it?  Remember that client that ripped into you and called you a lying thief?  Are you still stung by that experience? Sometimes in life we are too busy to process our emotions.  Sometimes we really don’t know how to process them.  So we just stuff them into the back of our subconscious closet and keep on plugging away.  The problem is those emotions shape our beliefs and can cause major damage.  It’s time to find them and let them go.
2. Forgive, forgive, forgive. Our society has a problem with forgiveness. We have created this false definition of forgiveness that is too closely connected to acceptance.  We hear it often when someone apologizes we say, “It’s okay” or “Don’t worry about it” or “It’s fine.”  But sometimes it isn’t okay or find and we do want them to worry about it.  I would like you to create a new definition of forgiveness. One where forgiveness is simply a releasing of old emotions that no longer serve us, and a freedom from past hurts. With the new definition in place you are ready to forgive. Forgive yourself, forgive others, and seek their forgiveness for your part in the messiness. You will experience a freedom like you have never felt before!
3. Find someone to support you.  I have a good friend that says, “You can’t see the frame when you are the picture.”  The idea that we should be able to figure out all of our stuff on our own is kind of crazy if you think about it.  I would never attempt to perform heart surgery on myself.  But we struggle to ask for help when it comes to healing our emotional heart.  I encourage you to find a mentor, an energy healer, a counselor, or someone that can assist you in this process of healing.

Next month I will be speaking at one of my favorite conferences. It is the Ogden Christ Centered Energy Healing Conference held in Ogden Utah.  For 3 days, you will be able to learn from Christ centered mentors, coaches, family experts, and energy healers. I invite you to take some time off of working on your business and to spend some time working on healing your heart. The conference is going to be amazing and I would love to see you there! For more Details: business strategy

business strategy

How to Survive When the Crazy Kiddos Come Home

This week I had a moment of genius! I was coaching with one of my clients who is trying to run her business and is currently traveling the country in an RV with her husband and, wait for it, 9 KIDS!  OMG, is right.  If you want to check out their adventures.

I’m sure you can imagine that is a challenge!  And as we were talking through how to be productive in the midst of chaos, it hit me!  My genius idea for planning out weeks when the kids are not in school.

Today is our LAST day of school, and while the regular mom in me is rejoicing, I don’t have to look at a Capri Sun for 2.5 months!  The entrepreneur mom in me is getting a little bit panicky.

“I’m bored.”  “When are you done working?”  “He’s using ninja smacks and I invented them!”  You get the idea.  My really consistent and amazing schedule is about to be tested.  I’ve always adjusted my summer schedule, so that isn’t new.  But I am really excited about this new idea.  Feel free to try it out with the Walker’s and the Knorpp’s.

The challenge with summer schedules is that it changes so much from week to week.  We have scout camps, band camps, family reunions, speaking gigs, birthday parties, and home projects we are working on.  It’s tricky to find a schedule that works week in week out, and without any type of routine, my kids go crazy pretty quick.

So here is the brilliant idea.  Instead of having a routine based on day of the week.  Have a routine based on the type of the day.

I’ve broken mine down into three types of days.

1. A play day: This is for when we are heading out for a full day activity, or on vacation. I can train my kids on how to get chores done early in the morning, pack lunches, load the car and be ready to go by 10 am.  Then we can also plan the routine for what each kid does to help when we arrive, how we pack up to go home, and how to get things put away when we get home.  Yay for no more piles dumped in the hallway between the garage and the kitchen.
2. A half and half day: This would look like Mom and Dad working in the morning while the kids do their chores, practice their instruments and play outside before we get ready to go out and do something together as a family. We will start the morning with a family meeting to talk about when we are leaving and what needs to happen before we can go. That way I don’t hustle to try to get things done in my office, only to walk out and realize the family is nowhere near ready to go.
3. A work day: As much as I like the idea of playing all summer, the truth is, we’ve got a business to run and this business is what pays for all the fun! So Mommy and Daddy will be working this summer.  When we do, we need to have rules for the kids on when they can and cannot interrupt.  If someone is bleeding, please interrupt.  It someone wants a popsicle, please don’t interrupt.  We do have a nanny during the summer to help manage the house and make sure no one kills each other, but it’s amazing how often the kids still want to just come and ask us.  Setting those standards helps things to run more smoothly.

Each Sunday we will sit down for a family planning meeting.  We can look at what is going on for the week and decide which days are work days, which days are half and half, and which days are play days.  Then each morning when we meet for breakfast and prayers (we do try to do that together most days,) we can review which type of day it is and make sure everyone knows what to do.

My hope is that this will allow us to have more structure in place for the kids, and ensure that we can have a productive and fun summer.  Want to give it a try with me? >>Click Here<<

time management

How to stop dreaming and start producing!

If you’ve ever been strapped for cash in your business you know how easy it is to think, “If I just sell more, I can turn this all around.”  This line of thinking is dangerous!  It is so easy to be a dreamer in business.  It is so easy to believe that $50,000 is right around the corner.  However, selling more does not always equal a financially sound business.  It’s obviously an important part.  It’s not the only part.

10 years ago, I started out every month with a goal for making $50,000.  I had learned from someone that you have to know what you are going to do with the money or it won’t show up.  So EVERY month I would sit down with a notebook and pen.  I would write out $50,000 at the top and then I would write down to the PENNY where all of that money would go to.

That was the best part of my month!  I would get so excited.  I would get these warm fuzzy feelings in my heart.  For that 30 minutes all worry and dread would leave me as I just dreamed about the future.  Dreaming is powerful.  But dreaming without having a solid action plan is a sure fire way to end up discouraged and depressed!  My reality looked NOTHING like the dream.  My reality was financial stress and if I was lucky, $5000 in a month.

10 years later, I have crossed the $50,000 in a month mark.  And guess what?  It didn’t come from me writing down lists.  It came from creating a solid financial foundation in my business.

Here are three Tips for how to move from dreaming to producing.

1. Growth happens one step at a time.

My first mistake 10 years ago was that I was trying to make a leap from $5000 (on a good month) to $50,000.  That is a huge leap!  I did make it, and truthfully, I did it in 5 years once I learned how to be successful.  But I didn’t do it by focusing on the $50,000.  I did it by focusing on $7500 and then on $9000, and then on $10,000.  When I finally embraced steady growth vs overnight success, I actually started to create results. Create measurable goals.

2. Hang in there!

If I told you today that you were going to work for the next 5 years with no measurable growth, would it be worth it to you to continue?  What if it was 10 years?  But what if at the end of that, you knew you would have everything you have ever dreamed of?  I’m not saying I want you to work without results.   But I am saying that you need to be willing to work without any guarantees.  There is no guarantee that the work you will do will create what you want.  Life is unpredictable.  The ironic thing is, as soon as I learned to be willing to work without guarantees, I really started to create results!  Imagine getting married and saying, “I’ll give it 2 years.”  Do think you would be committed enough to make that relationship work for the next 50 years?  Not likely!  Be willing to commit fully to your success!

3. Be willing to change directions.

10 years ago, I was in a totally different business!  I have actually done 4 completely different businesses since then!  At first changing directions felt like a failure.  I was so set on the original path I had decided to take that I was completely unwilling to look at any other options. In retrospect, I recognize that the original direction was just my launching point.  It wasn’t a failure, it was just the first place I needed to learn from.  I find that when I allow God to direct my path, and I am willing to change directions when asked, success comes so much easier! For more details visit our  >>Website<<.

business development strategies

Influence Has An Evil Twin

Influence is as good as gold in business. Not only do we want it, we need it. A marketing plan that doesn’t influence prospective customers is a failure. So is a manager who can’t influence a team to collaborate. But influence has an evil twin, and it’s called “manipulation.” We like to think they’re worlds apart, that we aren’t manipulative people. But the truth is the two are more closely related than we’d like to admit.

In the world of social media, anyone who leaves angry is likely to leave loudly.

Anytime you’re leading a conversation toward a certain conclusion, seizing on some of your interlocutor’s comments while skimming over others in order to win them to your side, you’re toeing the line between influence and manipulation.

Still, the line is there. And one way to distinguish it is by considering outcomes. Influence builds lasting relationships of trust—with customers, colleagues, employees—and sustains that trust over time. Manipulation can get results faster, but they’re often fleeting. Before long, someone’s going to clue in and leave angry. And in the world of social media, anyone who leaves angry is likely to leave loudly. Not only have you crossed a moral threshold that might make you wince, your reputation could suffer serious damage. Here are four ways to exert influence without being manipulative.

Balancing Strengths And Weaknesses

Everyone has their own strength and weakness. Manipulation tends to zero in on weaknesses, though. Say you sell a weight-management supplement. Overweight people would be your target audience. You can market it by highlighting the hardships commonly associated with being overweight, like not being able to do certain activities or difficulty finding a romantic partner. In other words, you can shame your customers into buying your product—and it would be manipulative because you’d be playing to their weaknesses (or worse, your wrongful perception of them).

A more influential approach wouldn’t necessarily dismiss the drawbacks of being overweight, but it would balance them out with the upsides of improved physical fitness. Your campaign wouldn’t resort to tired stereotypes about people with certain body types. Instead, you’d emphasize how everyone deserves the benefits of an active lifestyle.

And the Winner Is . . .

Influence is about creating win/win situations.

It’s always important to ask who wins in these sorts of conversations. Influence is about creating win/win situations; manipulation isn’t: “We both get what we want by collaborating” vs. “I get what I want at others’ expense.” Imagine a saleswoman who’s low on her weekly quota. Does she nab the next person who walks through the door and try to guide him to whichever product she can sell at the highest profit? Or will she take that person and do her best to fill his needs so that he walks out happy, and she’s closer to her goal?

Does It Feel Icky?

Sure, icky isn’t the most scientific term, but trust your gut. If it doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t. Adjust your approach so you err on the side of influence. There’s really no such thing as being just a little manipulative—you’re manipulating someone or you aren’t.

Choice Matters

Does the person you’re working with have a choice? And can she see that she does? Manipulation often comes from a “this is your only option” mentality. It makes someone feel like she has to do what you’re suggesting or else she’ll never succeed. When I’m leading my team, selling, or marketing, I always want the people I’m working with to choose my approach. I want them to see that I am their best choice. But I’m always careful to position myself as just one of their choices—all of which are theirs to make.

Does the person you’re working with have a choice? And can she see that she does?

Some business leaders and sales professionals hesitate to influence others as decisively as they should because they don’t want to be manipulative. It’s a good and honorable instinct, but it can hold you back, too. As long as you’re clear on these simple principles, you don’t have to worry or hesitate! Don’t miss out on the rewards of exerting influence if you’re afraid of its evil twin. Read more

Business strategy

Are Your Dreams Fizzling Out On The Back Burner?

What is your back burner dream?  Is it:

The dream house, the humanitarian trip to Africa, seeing the pyramids, retiring from the 9-5 that slowly sucks the life out of you, the bucket list, seeing your name on a giant marquee, the book you’ve had in your heart…

You know what I mean by the back burner dream right?  The ones that make your heart sing, but rarely get any attention and never get enough attention.  Guess what, they don’t last forever on the backburner.  Eventually they go from a slow simmer, to a cold nothing.

It’s time to stop saying SOMEDAY and start saying TODAY! Someday means never in my language.  I don’t use it.  If I find myself wanting to push something off to a vague and undefined date, I open up my calendar and I schedule it.  I cannot afford to live in a world of somedays.  All I have guaranteed is today. And I choose how I use this gift of today.

I am going to share with you a few reasons your dreams are being kept on the back burner.

1. You spend your time reacting to situations around you rather than proactively taking action on your goals.
2. You have made yourself okay with not achieving your dreams. Does the thought of never traveling the world make you feisty?  If not, you are too complacent. I am at peace with missing goals that I have worked hard for.  I HATE missing goals I never tried for.
3. 90/10. You spend 90% of your energy on doing tasks that will give you the exact results you currently have.  And only 10% of your energy on creating change.  Think about it, you want to get ahead, but you show up for work every day at a job that is never going to pay you more than the cost of living increase, which doesn’t even really keep up with the cost of living.  You dream of having a different body, but eat the same foods that created the body you currently have.  It’s madness!
4. You waste your best creation time on stress and TV/Social Media. There are two times of the day when we create our destiny. First thing in the morning is when we set the intentions and focus for the day.  Most people jump into their day with stress about what they have to do today and they unknowingly program their brain to do nothing to create proactive change and only respond to the squeaky wheel items. The second powerful creation time is right before we go to bed.  That is a time for us to feed our brains so they can spend the entire night chewing on the meal we just fed them.  Instead of filling our brains with our dreams, we fill them with someone else’s lives.  (And that is being kind, some of you are filling your minds with straight up junk.)
5. You surround yourself with people who will also not achieve their dreams and laugh at you when you tell them you will.

Yikes, I am bold today.  Does that sting?  The reason I know this, and am willing to state it so clearly is that I am describing myself 5 years ago.  Last night before going to bed, I was visualizing my success and planning out my week to create what matters most.  This morning before I even looked or thought about what I was going to do, I visualized my long term goals, then my immediate goals, and then I looked at what I was going to do today.

You CAN create the life that you have always dreamed of.  But it will require moving those dreams to the front burner and putting in some consistent effort!  If you need some guidance in this area, join me on September 10th for my Global Impact and Wealth Workshop!  I can’t wait to see you there! To get more details: http://amywalkerconsulting.com/

sales skills

Want to kick overwhelm to the curb for good?

“I’m just so overwhelmed right now!”  I hear this so often from business owners and clients.  I’ve felt it.  You’ve felt it.  Let’s be honest every member of the human race has felt it!

I don’t know how it shows up for you, but for me it looks like a mental to do list that is longer than the hours in the day.  It looks wishing I had someone to delegate to, but realizing that those people also have full plates.  It looks like an inbox full of urgent needs on a day that I have zero time to do anything about it.  It looks like getting done with work, just to jump into mom mode and manage homework, projects, music lessons, dinner and get everyone out the door for scouts on time.  Oh wait… I just described a NORMAL day in my life!

Here is my BEST advice on how to live a life without overwhelm.  Understand that overwhelm is an emotion not an experience.  The situations I just described are my norm.  I run a very awesome and fast growing company.  That is a demanding role.  I also run a fantastic family of 7.  BELIEVE me that is a demanding role! I could spend every day of my life overwhelmed.  But I choose not to.  I recognize that I can feel overwhelmed in hard situations or in easy situations.  I can feel peace in hard situations or in easy situations. Once we accept this crucial fact, we can start progressing towards a life of peace! Here are some tips to help you move into your life of productivity and peace!

1. Fight the urge to drift back into the comfort zone.  “You don’t have to do so much.  You’re just under too much pressure.  You don’t have to be super woman, just scale back a bit.”  That is such deceptively bad advice!  It sound great.  It feels great.  But if you follow it, you will spend your life living below your potential.  I am NOT suggesting you over commit and over schedule yourself in activities that are not going to take you towards your long term goals.  But I AM saying, when you are working towards building your business, or something equally as important, it’s going to have moments of overwhelm.  If you stop every time you feel it, you back off, you will spend your life fighting battle number 1.  Learning to do hard things without getting lost in overwhelm is the first battle you must win in order to live a life of success!
2. Don’t work stressed. I have a policy that I do not continue to work while I am stressed.  I create 10-15 minutes to go for a walk, do some yoga stretches, journal, or go do some aromatherapy.  Working stressed is counterproductive.  You are less focused.  You get less done.  And your to do list piles up even more because you are not completing tasks. You are too busy not to slow down and refocus.  This will be some of your best spent time in your day.
3. Start and end your day in purposeful peace. Most people wake up, jump straight into their day, and start out feeling overwhelmed.  Most people end their day by mentally reviewing all of the things you didn’t get done that day.  You are literally programing your brain to feel constantly overwhelmed.  Instead, take 30 minutes at the beginning of each day to do things that bring peace to your heart and mind.  I use that time to get spiritually connected. Before you go to bed, focus your mind on the vision of what you are trying to create.  Feed your brain before you go to sleep, and let your mind chew on that all night long while you sleep!  You’ll be amazed at the change it makes in your productivity.
4. Embrace the challenge. I don’t invite challenge into my life.  I much prefer to live in peace than in struggle.  But, when challenge shows up, I also don’t run from it, hide, or blame myself or others for it showing up.  Sometimes life comes with challenge. Sometimes business comes with challenge.  Sometimes relationships come with challenge. When it comes, I simply ask myself, “What can I learn from this challenge?  How will I keep moving forward with this challenge?  And how can this challenge be used to bless me, my family or others?”  Then I “attempt” (I’m still a work in progress), to be patient with myself and others during the challenge.  I find that the faster I learn the lessons, the faster I get to move through the challenge.

I know that building a business is hard.  I ask my clients to work extremely hard.  I also do not view hard as a bad thing.  

Often time we chose our struggles.  But not always. You may be in the midst of a struggle you did not invite and cannot send away.  What you CAN do is use these suggestions to get rid of the feeling of overwhelm.  When that feeling is gone, you’ll be AMAZED at how much better you can handle those challenging situations. For more details: http://amywalkerconsulting.com/

business growth

5 Areas You Are Wasting Time In Your Business

I am all about balancing business and family.  In order for me to do that, I have to be extremely efficient in my time.  I’ve got to be able to get in, crank out productivity and then completely unplug to be present with my family.  I did not start out this efficient in business.  But over the years I have learned to watch out for my time wasters.  Time wasters are tricky in business, because unlike time wasters in your personal life, they appear like you are working.  But anywhere you are spending lots of time with low return is a time waster.

Be on the lookout for these common time vacuums.  They will suck your energy and leave you with a cash void.

1. Thinking about working. You don’t get paid to think about working!  I am not talking about actual planning or problem solving.  I am talking about the constant planning, dreaming and stressing you do over your business.  It sucks your energy, paralyzes you in fear, gives you a false sense of fulfillment because you are living in a dream world and yet nothing happens.  If you aren’t going to do it, don’t spend time thinking about it.  I open up space in every day to think, clear my mind, plan and dream.  But once that time is done, I take action.

2. Free or low cost networking meetings. You can almost feel the desperation in the air.  Business cards are flying and elevator pitches are happening right and left.  It’s a room full of big dreamers, but very little business actually comes from this event.  Get honest with yourself.  How much business have you gotten from the meeting you attend every month?  Or is it just a chance to hang out with friends?  Networking is very worthwhile in your business.  But are you networking with the right people and following up after the event?  If you love networking meetings, but are not getting a good return, consider joining a more expensive group.  Get yourself in a room with highly invested people and the game changes.

3. Social Media. Your social media for your business can be managed in about 5 hours a month. Take time to write out a strong strategy, create your content and schedule your posts.  Then take 5-10 minutes a day to give quick responses and interactions to the people who are connecting with you.

4. Travel time. Every business has some travel time. But are you using the amazing tools we have available to maximize your in office time?  Skype, Google Hangouts and webinar programs can all allow you to connect with clients around the world without having to drive/fly to meet every one of them.  Face to face business will never go out of style, but when supplemented with online meetings, you can accomplish a lot in between those necessary face to face meetings.

5. Doing things you don’t know how to do. Sometimes you need to hire out.  I am not a web designer.   Web designers spend years learning everything there is to know about web design.  Just like I have spent years learning to be a better speaker and business coach.  For me to take myself out of my income producing activities for a month in order to figure out how to build a website that is inevitably going to look homemade makes zero sense.  Know when to hire out projects!  It’s essential.

How much time each week are you spending in these areas?  Try taking that time and putting it into areas that will actually produce income and then share your results with us on Social Media!  We’ll check it during our 5-10 minutes a day for engagement! To get more info: http://amywalkerconsulting.com/

business leaders

Do you have a holiday business plan?

Believe it or not, it’s November!  This year is flying by and we are officially in the holiday selling season.  It’s time to make sure your sales/business plan is solid for the duration of 2014.

The first step is to understand your industry trends.  More money is spent during the last quarter of the year than any other quarter.  However, most of that money is spent in retail.

If you have a retail business, you need to look at your visibility plan.  How are you getting your products in front of potential clients?  Retail businesses with a demonstration model will need to get creative this time of year.  Particularly in December, you will start hearing, “I’m just so busy, can you call me back the first of the year?” I recommend holding short holiday shopping appointments.

Let them know that you would like to save them time, money, and headache by keeping them out of the malls.  Stop by for a quick appointment where you can show them what is new and how you can package for the holidays.  Be prepared to show them options from stocking stuffers to high end depending on their gifting needs. 

Another retail strategy is to adjust who you sell to.  Each of us has an avatar we typically sell to.  But if you avatar is an adult woman, chances are, her spending is adjusting away from what she wants and into what others around her want.  At the same time, Men are more likely to buy gifts for the women in their lives during this time of year.  Adjust and sell to the men.

If you are in a service based business, it’s all about positioning!  During the holidays, it’s common for your clients to shift their purchasing dollars into the retail sphere.  So you need to position yourself to be relevant and important during the holiday season.  December is traditionally a slow month in the coaching industry. 

So last year, when I noticed my regular webinar attendance dropping, I decided to host the Girlfriend’s Guide to Holiday Survival.  I invited experts to come and talk about money management, holiday glamor, relationships, eating healthy during the holidays. I talked about time management and keeping your business strong through the holidays.  Plan A to lead generate was lagging, so I came up with a strategically positioned plan B and it worked!  We had about 500 women register for our event and we had solid sales in December.

Be cautious not to jump too far from how you normally do business.  Years ago when I was in direct sales, I decided I wanted to earn $10,000 from Holiday sales and decided (In early November) that I was going to focus on corporate sales.  I bombed.  I jumped in without a clear marketing plan.  I had zero time to build relationships and many of the companies had already made decisions on their holiday gift giving.  The even bigger challenge was that in chasing the corporate sales, I stopped working my regular business model, so that bombed as well.  I found that I did much better tweaking the way that I normally did business than completely switching business models during the holiday season.

If you would like more help mapping out your Holiday Business plan, we’ve got resources for you! For more details: http://amywalkerconsulting.com/