Blog Archives - Page 41 of 49 - Striving For Felicity

4 Things That Determine How Long It Will Take To Build A Profitable Business

Building a business is a daunting but exciting task. It promises an amount of financial freedom, influence, and passion most of us have never experienced before.

And living in our on demand-society, we naturally can’t wait for our business to start producing income finally.

Of course, there are all those success stories out there of people who claim that they started earning 5.000 € a month within 3 months of starting their business. Or 1.000 € within their first month.

That gives us hope, and our goals shoot high up. On the other hand, however, if it were that easy, wouldn’t everyone had started to try it by now? And why are there still a lot of people who do try it but give up along the way?

What does that mean for us? How long will it take until the first few hundred dollars start to roll in?

As I am getting closer and closer to the first anniversary of having started my business, I believe I’ve figured out some of the main factors that determine how long we will have to wait.

This page contains affiliate links. If you purchase a product through one of them, I will receive a commission (at no additional cost to you). I only ever recommend products that I have personally used and loved. Thank you for your support!

1. Your experience and skills

Now, this might be obvious, but I only recently realized how true it actually is. I am sure that if I would start a different blog now, it would take me at most half the time it took me for this blog to become profitable.

You get that feeling for success and can then repeat it easily.

I am not talking about pure knowledge accumulation. You can have all the strategies written out on paper in front of you. It will still take you longer as if when you actually already practiced them.

There is just something about doing stuff vs. studying it. We learn better by doing than by mindless memorizing. That’s what all those “how-to-study-effectively” – gurus tell you.

It is a different thing if you’ve memorized the best textbook on selling or if you’ve gone out and sold a few dozen products.

The latter will benefit you so much more.

And the younger you are, the less of those practical experiences you will have. I, for example, had none. Simple as that.

I’ve never written a blog post, designed a website, created pins or posts, tried to market or sell something.

I was a complete newbie. And looking back, I am incredibly proud of how much experience and skills I’ve gained in under a year!

2. How much you are willing to/capable of investing in courses and tools

Although you do not need to have tons of money to start a business, there are specific tools and courses you probably will have to invest in if you want to get the results as fast and effortless as possible.

In fact, those courses are very likely going to save you money in the long term. Because the longer it takes you to make your business profitable, the more money it will take. For example, your domain name and hosting platform, which are two musts, usually have annual fees.

In my Free Resource Library, I’ve also listed every tool, product, or course I’ve purchased and loved, so if you are interested in a broader overview of my investments, you should check it out.

But to give you a few examples, these have been the most important investments I’ve made for my business:

Bluehost

Again, domain name and web hosting are unavoidable if you want to start a blog.

Affiliate Marketing Mastery

An admittedly costly course (I had to do a very painful leap out of my comfort zone in purchasing it), which has helped me immensely.

Other than the general information about how to start a Blog/YouTube Channel and earn affiliate commissions you get inside this very in-depth course, it also improves your mindset. And as you will see in the next point, that’s a big part of success.

But what I loved most about it is that they set up my website, installed the most necessary plugins, told me how to build an e-mail list, and what you need to look out for legally when earning affiliate commissions.

But I have to say, for it to be worth the price you should really be a beginner because it does focus a lot on the basics.

Grammarly

A fantastic spelling and grammar tool that, in my opinion, is necessary for every blogger, English speaking or not. In fact, I am still looking for the German equivalent of Grammarly, because Microsoft Word has really been letting me down recently -_-

Tailwind

I keep it simple. If you take Pinterest marketing serious – and in my opinion, it might be the easiest and most straight forward traffic source that will benefit you in the long run – you need to use Tailwind.

It’s most important function is that it schedules and auto posts your pins at the strategically best time so that you can reach the biggest audience possible.

But it also offers many more functions, and most importantly, Tailwind is approved by Pinterest. So it’s not going to get banned tomorrow, and it is prepared for updates of the Pinterest system.

Pinfinite Growth

Now, I’ve waited quite a few months between purchasing Tailwind (aka taking my Pinterest traffic game seriously) and finally reinvesting (even though I’ve already spent a lot for a student without income by then) in a course that can truly make me succeed.

The thing was, I did notice my traffic improve through Tailwind, but it was going slowly. And I knew, I could be succeeding so much faster with significantly less experimenting and worrying if I just followed the advice of an expert that even works together with Pinterest! So, yeah, don’t wait as long as I did with this one ^^’

3. Your mindset

Yes, I know you’ve heard and read it a million times before, but I am going to repeat it.

Only 20 % of success is the strategy, but striking 80 % is your mindset!!!

An excellent example of that is those staggering statistics of how many lottery winners go broke. Why is that? Because they received all that money while they still were living with a poor mindset. So unsurprisingly, they lost the money and, within a few years, we’re back to living the life suitable for their mindset.

Now, if you start a business, you most likely won’t have the entrepreneurial mindset of say Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, or Elon Musk.

And that’s ok. But because of that, you also don’t have to expect to build the next Amazon within a year.

Developing an empowering and abundant mindset and overcoming limiting beliefs takes time. And doing it without a coach will probably take a bit longer than with professional help.

However, it is very much possible to create that success mindset by journaling, using affirmations, being aware of your mindset, and consuming a ton of content catering towards a better mindset.

In fact, because the mindset is such an essential component of success, and I’ve overcome my own fair share of limiting beliefs. I wanted to create an E-Mail course where I can share with you common limiting beliefs and my thoughts and experiences on overcoming them.

It’s a 30-Day free course that will prepare you for your first successful business. Go ahead and try it out!

4. Your passion

Now, this has been a big thing that had been holding me back. You most likely heard that you should build your business around a passion of yours.

And that’s great to hear and all, but can you name a passion of yours around which you’d like to build a business?

I couldn’t. I knew I wanted to start a blog, but I didn’t really know what niche I should be in. Without any unique talents or strong passions, I settled for the next best thing: interest and joy.

And that was fine and all. I got started, which is the most essential part. And with time, I discovered what niche I really wanted to be in, developed my business, and now I am getting more and more passionate about it.

But now, I also have a much better view of how different it is to be passionate while building a business compared to “kinda enjoying it.”

Back in the beginning, I struggled with creating content. Not only did I have issues finding topics to write about, but the writing process took me quite long and wasn’t much fun.

And today?

Even though I am not yet at the “passion level,” I am aiming for, writing posts like these are actually fun and happen sooooooo much faster and more effortless than in those first few months.

It’s a striking difference that I’ve only noticed recently. And I think that makes it very clear on how much energy, time, and effort you will put in if you have that passion. And as a result, your business will grow faster.

But don’t be discouraged if you haven’t found that passion yet. After all, I hadn’t either.

In the end, the most crucial part is to get started. The time will pass anyway, so you might as well not care how long it will take until you earn that first 100 €.

If you’d had started last week, you would already have a week’s worth of experience and skills by now and be a week closer to that profitable business of your dreams.

So what are you waiting for?

Start now!

8 Things To Consider About Gender Targeting Your Audience

Blog, Business

Have you ever thougt about gender targeting your business? By now, you probably know that you should specifically target your audience with your product, service, and content. To do that, you should know which niche your business is in.

This is so essential that it is one of the first things courses like Affiliate Marketing Mastery and Pinfinite Growth teach.

If you are in the makeup niche, you most likely will target makeup interested women.

If you are in the grooming niche, you will target men who want or have a beard.

As you can see, your niche helps you to define your target audience. However, it is not always as easy as this. Let’s say you can’t decide on a small niche and instead want to build your business around a broader one. For example, Personal Development, Entrepreneurship, Fitness, or Finances.

In that context, you might not need to do gender targeting, but aim at any person who needs help in those topics.

8 Things To Consider About Gender Targeting Your Audience

That was my initial plan with Striving for Felicity. I wanted to do Personal Development, Success, and Mindset advice for Felicity Seekers of every gender.

However, as I started Pinfinite Growth, I surprisingly found myself frowning at the niche and target determination unit. I had thought that I could rush through those because I had dealt with them before.

But as I listened to Melyssa talking about the importance of a clearly targeted audience and niche, I became honest with myself. I realized that I still had issues with those.

The primary underlying problem was that from the very beginning, I wasn’t exactly sure what niche I wanted my business to be in. I didn’t feel experienced or talented enough on any topic. So I just went with Personal Development, in which I was interested in and had somewhat of competence because I was regularly learning more about it.

After 9 months and working a lot on growing my barely existing traffic, I was at a point where I had a deep passion for the whole “how to start your business” niche, and I also accumulated quite some knowledge that I felt comfortable teaching.

At the same time, I realized that the Personal Development part I was mostly interested in and had some talent for, was the mindset part.

And one topic I had grown extremely passionate about in 2019 was the whole boss babe/being in your feminine energy niche of Monica Yates and Women Love Power.
However, I didn’t have that much knowledge yet on that topic.

So, answering the questions in Melyssa’s workbook, I realized that you could actually combine the whole “starting a successful business,” “mindset” and “living in your full feminine potential” into a boss lady, boss babe or girl boss niche or however you want to call it.

But that’s where suddenly massive resistance appeared towards the whole gender targeting topic. As I might not be the only one with this issue, I thought I give you an overview of my thought process, which led me to finally targeting specifically women.

1. You are cutting your potential audience at least in half, but …

This was my most significant reason for desperately wanting a gender-neutral audience. It felt like I was limiting my success if I only focused on women.

But that is so NOT true! The fact is, there are a ton of men and women out there who are having immense success with a gender-targeted business. I just want to name Monica Yates, Kimberley Wenya, and Alpha M. Of course, there are many, many more.

Furthermore, we have over 7 billion people on this planet. So trust me, even if you target just one gender, there are more than enough possible customers/fans for you out there.

2. You can create raving fans more easily

The more targeted your audience is, the easier it is for you to connect with them on a deeper level.

Chances are it will be easier for you to connect with women, if you are a woman yourself, or with men, if you are a man. It merely comes more natural to you because you are similarly wired.

Of course, this is just a rule of thumb and doesn’t apply to everyone. But you can very quickly do a test …

3. Whose content/products are you consuming?

The test is simple. Whose content or products are you consuming? Who are the people you are following most online?

For me, I realized that the vast majority of the content I consume comes from women. Sure, I am also interested in the content of men like Stefan James, Ryan Daniel Moran, or Tony Robbins. But without realizing it, I automatically followed women more often than men.

By the way, I also have male friends, so it’s not like I anyway just surround myself with women. And I also asked my brother, and he follows men primarily. So I see a pattern here.

So, don’t feel afraid of targeting your own gender. Very likely, you would have attracted them anyways.

4. Who is already consuming your content?

This is another test you can make. Who do you imagine is consuming your content?

Although I hadn’t tried to target women, I realized that the content I was creating, the pictures I was using, and the pins I uploaded onto Pinterest probably attracted many more women than men.

According to my Pinterest Analytics, 67.1% of my audience is female. And the 27.3% male audience probably only consumed those Pinterest boards that were less targeted to my niche.

So what about your audience? Who do you think they are?

5. How does the thought of targeting every gender feel?

This is a question that requires you to analyze your feelings carefully. Imagine what you would do with your blog or business if you’d specifically targeted also the other genders. What content would you create? What brand colors would you choose?

Now, how do you feel thinking about those things? Personally, I felt like I needed to hold back. Like I wouldn’t be able to be absolutely authentically me, because I tried to appeal to everyone.

6. How does the thought of targeting that one specific gender feel?

On the contrary, the thought of finally targeting just women, in that boss babe way, made me feel excited and free!

If I listened carefully, it was so evident that my intuition wanted to target women.

What does your intuition say?

7. This doesn’t have to be your only business

Still, I don’t feel content, thinking that I will only provide value to women for the rest of my life. That thought makes me feel kinda small.

But here’s the great thing about being an entrepreneur: You have freedom! Who says you will only have this one business for the rest of your life?

You might as well start other businesses, too, that will also help different genders. I, for example, would LOVE to have some kind of technology business someday. Maybe I could invest in research that will help to stop climate change! Who knows?

You also have the freedom to develop your brand. For example, Monica Yates, who is a Period and Women’s life coach, has also started doing some Podcasts for men only. And Tatjana James, who sells waist trainers, has created a line of waist trainers for men.

Everything is possible! You are not restricted in your business. You can do whatever you want. But at the very beginning of your business journey, it might be beneficial for you to really target a small and specific niche.

8. Targeting A doesn’t mean you won’t attract B

Just because I now target women, doesn’t mean I won’t also attract men or other genders. If my content seems appealing to them, then they will consume it no matter if I say it’s for women.

And that’s awesome! I am so excited to have all kinds of people part of my community! The key is that they like the way you express yourself and your brand. That they like your authentic self.

Conclusion

The lesson I want to convey with this article is this:

You do you!

Depending on your niche, it is very much possible to target both genders. But if it feels more aligned with you to target one specific gender, than go for it!

The key to success is less what you do, but more how you do it. There are no rules set in stone for who your target audience should be. You could be in the niche of makeup and target men or in the niche of grooming and target women.
It might be a bit more complicated, but I am pretty sure you could pull it off.

The important part is to feel comfortable and aligned with doing it!

I hope this helped you. This topic had given me quite some headache in 2019 because my head said one thing and my heart silently something else.

But once I actually found a balance between the two of them, I suddenly felt so comfortable and so incredibly aligned with my brand. I am 100% sure this was part of the reason my business finally flourished.

Until next time.

Sophie

6 Free Tools I Use For My Blog

Blog, Business

Starting a business can be expensive. Depending on your income, it might be a financial stretch to invest in the necessary tools or in helpful courses that will speed your progress up.

Therefore, you don’t want to waste your money on tools that could easily be replaced with similar free versions for the time being.

Below, I listed some of the free tools I use in my business until I have the financial means to upgrade to a better and paid version.

1. Yoast SEO

Yoast SEO is the #1 WordPress SEO plugin, according to their website. They have a paid version with a ton of amazing features that help you to get a high SEO score.

With as SEO becoming more and more complex and continually changing, it can lift a significant burden of an online business owner to have a reliable tool that makes SEO almost effortless.

However, you don’t have to purchase the paid version to get this kind of help. Yoast SEO Free gives you keyword optimization, checks your text for readability, checks for duplicate content, and more!

2. Post Grid

Now, this is a tool that saved me early on in my blogging journey. Shortly after I had my blog set up by the Affiliate Marketing Mastery Team, I discovered that the Genesis Essence Pro theme I chose did not offer any grid layout on regular pages.

How was I supposed to show all my different blog posts on my pages?! After some research, I figured out that there are quite a few grid layout plugins out there. Of course, many of them are not free.

Again, this was a topic, where I figured I could wait with investing until my blog became profitable. So, Post Grid was my solution.

With its free version, you can create good looking and functional post grid layouts.

If you merely want to create a grid for blog posts, this will do. However, if you’re going to create a grid for e. g. online courses or a free resource library, you might want to purchase something more advanced.

3. Mailerlite

Now, this tool I am still very grateful for!

As my business progressed, it got time for me to create an email list. Easier said than done because you not only need an email service provider where you can manage your subscribers and email campaigns. No, you also need a tool for opt-in forms and pop-ups on your website.

Now, each of these tools often costs at least $100 a year. There are also fantastic tools like Convertkit, which combines these two functions. However, with $290 billed annually, I really, really, really didn’t feel comfortable to invest in that while I am still not having many pageviews.

Lucky me, I discovered Mailerlite! Mailerlite lets you manage your subscribers, campaigns, pop-ups, landing pages for FREE up to 1,000 subscribers and up to 12,000 emails a month.

For me, this was the absolutely perfect tool to start my email list painlessly.

4. Canva + Over

You’ve probably already heard others recommend Canva. It’s an amazing and easy to use graphic design tool with a ton of templates.

With Canva, you can create all kinds of Social Media posts, worksheets, ebook covers, presentations, logos, and whatnot.

In other words, an absolute MUST for any online entrepreneur.

Over is similar, and it’s the app I used in the beginning. However, as far as I know, it is only available as a mobile app and not online as Canva.

5. Unsplash

Six words: Gorgeous.High quality.Free Stock Images.

I LOVE Unsplash. It’s an online entrepreneurs’ dream. But for those of you who don’t already know it. Unsplash has a massive library of high-quality images that you can use without having to worry about copyright rules and for completely free.

Once your business starts to make more money, you might want to upgrade and purchase stock images that are more unique and make your brand stand out more. But for the time being, you won’t have any complaints with free stock images.

6. Planoly

For those of you, who want to market your business on Instagram. Planoly is a scheduling tool that allows you to schedule and auto post 30 images and their descriptions a month in its free version. They also have a function for Insta stories.

Before you jump ahead and put a lot of time into scheduling and creating Instagram posts, please consider whether it will really be worth it.

I half-heartedly posted content on Instagram for months and spend a lot of time creating quotes images. When in reality, it did have very little of an impact on my business. So I decided to drop it for the time being and instead invest that time into Pinterest with Tailwind.

I hope some of these tools will help you as much as they helped me in my first year of growing my online business.

I know how tempting it is to invest in all those shiny and amazing tools. Still, especially in the beginning, whe you don’t make any income yet, you should carefully consider your options.

Only invest that money into things that will make a significant impact on your business. Pinfinite Growth and Tailwind were two of those investments I made, even though I had already spent a lot of money for a student without an income. But they were absolutely worth every single penny! Without them, I don´t know how long it would have taken me to build a profitable business.

I wish you all the best with your business!

Until next time

Sophie

14 Journaling Prompts To Skyrocket Into The New Year

Blog, Personal Development

We all want to have a great start to the new year. What better way to do that than by reflecting on the past year through journaling prompts and tuning your mindset for a fantastic new year!

11 Journaling Prompts To Skyrocket Into The New Year

The following Journaling prompts are designed to do just that.

So, take out your journal and pen. Find a quiet spot to sit down or get your headphones and listen to some binaural beats.

You want to take your time answering these questions.

They might seem insignificant or boring at first, but you never know when one might trigger a shift in your mindset.

So go ahead and enjoy your last or first journaling session of the year with these great prompts!
I’m looking forward to sharing a ton of valuable content with you next year!
Let’s make the new year one of the best yet!

Journaling Prompts For The New Year

On a scale from one to ten, how satisfied were you with these areas of life in the past year? (1) Health & Fitness, (2) Family & Friends, (3) Romantic Relationships, (4) Mindset & Emotions, (5) Finances, (6) Work & School, (7) Intellect & Knowledge, (8) Fun, (9) Contribution.
List at least one small action you can take to improve each area of life this year.
What were the best moments of the past year? What are you particularly proud of?
Do you have any regrets about the past year? Make sure to vividly remember the worst moments of the year and then forgive yourself and/or others for them. Remembering these moments is uncomfortable, but it will make you feel much lighter and rid you of the emotional baggage before the New Year.
Who did you spend most of your time with last year? Did you truly like spending time with them? Are they the kind of people your best self would spend time with? If not, how can you reduce your time with that person? What kind of people would you rather spend your time with?
What were the things that made you happy? How can you do more of that next year? Write down concrete daily, weekly and seasonal activities.
What were your biggest worries? Do they seem important now?
Are you where you want to be in life? If not, what would you want your life to be like?
How would a perfect day/week look like for you?
What can you do in January/the first quarter of the year to get closer to that dream life?
Are there any New Years’ resolutions you have set yourself over and over again? Do you truly want to accomplish them, or do you only think that’s what you should do? Break down the goal into the smallest steps possible and set these as your new goals.
How will you track the progress on your goals? For example, set up weekly/monthly notifications for goal reviews; get yourself a goal tracker or dedicate a notebook to this purpose.
What ten things are you grateful for looking back on the last year?
What is your mantra for the New Year? Some examples: Grace and ease, confidence, calm, honest and real.

7 Mindset Changes You Need To Make This Year

Blog, Personal Development

7 Mindset Changes You Nee To Make This Year.

You’ve probably heard by now, that success is only 20% strategy and 80% mindset. When you hear that for the first time, it might sound strange and unbelievable.

But the further you get along the journey towards that extraordinary life of your dreams, the more you understand how true it is.

So if you want to make 2021 a successful year and if you’re going to start that business, I talk about it 6 Things You Should Do Before Starting A Business, then this article is a must for you.

Of course, this list is not final. I will probably make many more lists of this kind. The fact that we all talk about the one percent that made it, give us a clue on just how many harmful mindsets there must be in the other 99%.

However, if you manage to tackle these 7 midsets, then you are already very well set up for a fantastic 2021!

By the way, if you want to keep track of your goals and habits for 2021, I invite you to download my 2020 Goals & Life Mastery Tracker Worksheet. It is FREE!

1. I know that already

No, you don’t. Learning never stops!

It might be true that you know everything that person is going to tell you or all of the information this book contains. But you will never know if there might have been some new information if you don’t even listen to/read it.

You need to lower your expectations of the number of new things you are going to learn. The more knowledge you acquire, the less information you hear will be unique to you.

But I can guarantee you that there will always be something new to learn simply because there is still someone out there who is discovering something new.

And if you think about it, only a tiny spark can light up massive amounts of fuel. The same goes for our ideas. Very often, you accumulate a ton of knowledge. Still, only one tiny bit of new information can spark that big eureka moment.

So if you ask me, it is very often worth your time hearing old information again if there potentially is something new within. At the very least, you will repeat what you already know.

Repetition is the mother of perfection. If there is pure perfection, it’s about doing something over and over again.
-Thomas Keller

Repetition is the mother of skill.
-Tony Robbins

Repetition is the mother of learning, the father of action, which makes it the architect of accomplishment.
― Zig Ziglar

2. I can figure this out on my own

You could, probably. But it would cost you dearly. It would cost you time, money, and frustration.

We Felicity Seekers want to enjoy the journey towards our dream life. We don’t believe in hustling so hard, we need to reduce our sleep to four hours and don’t have time for workouts or family and friends anymore. Neither do we believe in saving so much money we can only afford harmful fast food.

We love to feel good in our bodies, we like to spend our time the way we want to, and we absolutely adore to indulge in luxury.

In other words, we Felicity Seekers don’t make our life harder than it needs to be. We carefully ponder our options and choose the most logical one for us.

And in the vast majority of cases, this means not to reinvent the wheel but simply let others help us.

That means you should invest in that course, coach, seminar, or book! Sure it might cost you something now, but in the long run, you are going to reach your goal faster and more enjoyable.

You can always earn more money, but you can never make up for that lost time. So please don’t try to reinvent the wheel in 2021.

3. Using negative words

Tell me, do any of these thoughts sound like you?

Oh, please don’t let me be late!
I really don’t want to see that person today.
I just can’t focus
I won’t get sick, I won’t get sick, I won’t get sick!

What do they all have in common? They focus on the thing you do NOT want. There is an excellent Tony Robbins quote that names the problem that lies in such negative focus:

Where focus goes, energy flows.
-Tony Robbins

Whether you believe in the Law of Attraction or not, this rule of thumb can change the way you perceive your life.

Don’t you imagine it might be a much more pleasant experience if you change these thoughts into …

I am punctual!
I am exclusively meeting people I love to meet
I am absolutely focused
I feel great! I am healthy!

There is the power behind positive affirmations. Of course, you won’t be able to avoid using negative phrases altogether. However, try to program your mind to think more favorable phrases.

It can be a fun game that makes your daily life happier.

4. Money is hard to earn

Ok, I get it. Most of us are always surrounded by people with money problems. So obviously cash must be hard to make, right? You have to put in more time to earn more money, right? And very often you won’t feel compelled to spend your time earning money.

Well, as a Felicity Seeker, you hopefully already have shattered this belief. If not, 2021 is the time to do so.

Because, boy, that belief can be so far from reality … depending on what reality you create for yourself.

The magic words here are passive income, entrepreneur, and passion.

It is absolutely possible for you to passionately earn a significant amount of money in less than 9 hours a day, five days a week.

Nowadays, there are countless examples of online entrepreneurs doing just that. And 2020 is the year you should start believing that this can be a reality for you, too!

If that´s what you want, you should check out 6 Things You Should Do Before Starting A Business.

5. They are all just fooling us/This isn’t real

Skepticism might save you from being screwed over like naive people are. However, it will also create more worries and prevent you from taking advantage of incredible opportunities.

So please dare to be a bit more trusting from time to time. If you find a person that seems honest to you, is transparent and has lots of great reviews, you might want to take the leap and believe them/invest in their product.

Again, you can easily earn that money back should you actually get scammed (which in my experience is not likely as long as you are not entirely naive). However, you will never know if this might have been the person that could have helped you reach your dream life.

In my opinion, the risk-reward-ratio is clearly speaking in favor of being more trusting and less skeptic.

6. The honest and hardworking get just taken advantage of and never succeed

Unfortunately, I know all too well where this belief comes from. In the past few years, I have heard from multiple sources and also, to some extent, experienced myself how honest and hardworking people get taken advantage of by the lazy and coward.

You might know those people who always act like their sick so they can skip work. And when they are at work, they use their time to do online shopping or hold private conversations. In other words, they get paid for doing sh***, and their honest and hardworking colleges have to balance the workload and stress as a result.

Honestly, people like that make my blood boil! These are people who have zero loyalty to their colleges, hate their job but are too much of a coward to do something about it and create a life they would instead want to live.

Urgh … just thinking about those people makes me angry!!!

However, even though there are, unfortunately, quite a few people like that out there, you should drop the mindset that this means you as an honest and hardworking Felicity Seeker won’t succeed.

In the end, the honest and hardworking are still the ones that succeed and get to live the life of their dreams. The key here is to work smart and not just hard.

Don’t let others take advantage of you like that. If you can’t help it, try to get away from those toxic people. But never EVER stoop to their low level.

Don’t lose your work ethic! Keep hustling, and stay honest! The others may have short-term success, but you will succeed in the long run!

7. I need a degree to be successful in life

Not necessarily, no. Although our society has taught us that we need to have good grades in school and get a degree to get a good job, this is not necessarily true anymore.

The internet has created endless opportunities to get or even create a high paying job that you love without having a degree.

Of course, if you want to be a doctor or a lawyer, you need to get that degree. There are certain professions where that makes sense. But in other jobs, practical experience trumps any degree by lengths!

So sit down and analyze what you really want in life. Do you need a degree to do that? Can you think of famous people who got where they are today without a degree?

For example, if your dream is to become a professional dancer, you might not need a degree for that but can gain attention through posting dancing videos on social media.

However, you should also know that a degree can often make sense. It will not only teach you different information and skills than you can acquire by yourself, but it also provides you with a little bit of security to fall back on.

For example, I am currently still studying law, although I’ve pretty much decided a year ago that I don’t want to become a lawyer or a judge, etc. So why do I still bother with it?

It keeps me occupied while I grow my business. If my business was my only focus right now, I think I would go crazy with it not taking off yet. And of course, there would also be family and friends asking, “how does it go?”.
Depending on how long it takes for my business to create a decent income, I might need to start working. So I might as well get a good-paying job in the law industry.
Law is EVERYWHERE in today’s world. Seriously, pretty much nothing university is teaching me will be a waste of my time. At the very least, it improves my understanding of legal situations.
For most of my life, the school was my primary focus. So I always planned to get a degree of some sort. I still want that, even though I might not use it in the end.

As you can see, there are plenty of reasons to still get a degree even though it might not directly be useful for your profession of choice. I think Kimberley Wenya and Monica Yates did the same, by the way.

The important thing is to know that if you don’t want to get a degree, you very often don’t have to.

What about you? How many of these mindsets do you need to overcome in 2021? Are there any other mindsets you want to get rid of?

Comment down below! I’d love to hear your story and your plans for the upcoming year.

I wish you a fantastic rest of the year, and I know that you will smash 2021!

Sophie

6 Things You Should Do Before Starting A Business

Blog, Success

Having your own online business can change your life forever. You can work whenever and wherever you want, have unlimited income potential, and overall create the extraordinary life of your dreams.

Who wouldn’t want that? The problem, however, is that most people are too small minded and too scared to approach the topic. But not you. You are a Felicity Seeker striving for the extraordinary life of your dreams, investing in your personal growth, and dreaming big.

Many of you might already have started your own business. Others might still wait for that right time to do so.

Let me tell you, 2020 is the right time! Don’t tell yourself you’ll do it in the summertime. When July rolls around, you could already be working on your business for six months! Imagine the progress you could make in that time! You might already be earning some money.

That’s why I challenge you to start with your business straight away. Do it in January of 2020, or maybe already begin in December 2019!

Whenever you decide to get the ball rolling, I’ve got 6 Steps for you, which you should take at the beginning of your entrepreneurial journey.

Most of them are rather easy to do, so this will be very encouraging for those of you who are anxious about how to start this journey.

You might also want to check out 9 Reasons Why You Should Start Your Own Business.

1. Determine the kind of business you want to start

Optimally you should feel passionate about your business idea. This is how real success is created. But at least you should enjoy what you do. That’s the only way not to torture yourself while waiting for the achievement to strike.

Of course, it can be hard to decide what kind of business you want to pursue if you have no real experience in any of them. This is where I recommend you to take Stefan James´ Quiz. Back when I pondered on what kind of business to start, this really helped me out.

2. Know your “Why”

Another thing you should become clear of before you start your business is your why. What is the reason you are beginning this journey?

And more money isn’t good enough of an answer. Because in the end, it isn’t the money itself you want, it’s the things that money can buy you. And these things make you feel a certain way.

So what is your reason for working on this not so easy goal? After all, it could be much more comfortable for you to be ordinary and do what everybody else does. Why risk losing money and time?

Possible reasons for you could be:

You want to buy that appartment of your dreams in that city of your dreams so you can feel independent and luxurious
You want to live a life full of passion, doing what you want when you want to
You want to support your family financially. They have always been there to assist you, and now you want to give them the money that will allow them to live their dream life.
You want to contribute to the causes that move you and make this world a better place because that gives you that warm feeling inside.

I think you get the point. Determine the goals that will help you push through difficult times. You will need them along the way.

3. Make time for your business

If you are serious about building a successful business, you have to make room for it in your daily schedule. You can’t just say, “oh, I do it when I have time for it.” No!

You have to plan it into your day like you plan to go to work/school/university or a doctor’s appointment.

So, when do you have or can make time for your business? Is it in the morning or maybe in the evening?

For me, it currently is from 6 pm to 8 pm. At that time, I usually wouldn’t be able to motivate myself to study or do a workout, but I quite enjoy working on my business. Therefore it’s the perfect time slot.

I work on my business seven days a week, with the occasional social meeting interrupting this rhythm. But of course, you could also work on it five or three days a week.

But you should know that the more you can work on it, the faster you are going to reach your goal.

However, I would personally recommend not sacrificing those vital 6 to 8 hours of sleep for it. You want to enjoy the ride and not suffer from health issues.

4. Find a teacher

Whether it is a mentor or a course, I highly encourage you to find some sort of teacher to take you by the hand along your journey.

Sure, you could figure everything out on your own by reading a ton of free content out there and then try it through trial and error. But it will cost you. It will cost you much more than any course or mentor ever could. Because it will cost you time!

There is no getting back on time. And not only time, but it will also take a toll on your mental strength. If you try figuring everything out on your own, you will experience an immense amount of insecurity, stress, helplessness, and doubt. Much more than if you can rely on a course or a teacher that has proven to help hundreds of students before you.

If that’s not worth an investment, I don’t think you will be willing to invest in anything else that concerns your business. And that business is doomed to fail.

So let me recommend to you some of the resources I have used so far and which are absolutely worth their price:

1. Paid by Pinterest

Starting with the cheapest, if you want to start earning money through Affiliate Marketing with Pinterest, Paid by Pinterest is a great inexpensive ebook/course that will help you cover the basics. It has definitely helped me to some extent, and increased my Pinterest performance, but to be honest, if you want to build a real business, I would not solely rely on it.

2. K Money Mastery

Now, one business you could create is a Kindle Publishing business through K Money Mastery. Stefan James has been such an immense inspiration for me, and he was the one who introduced me to self-development and entrepreneurship. He is a multi-millionaire and has created multiple businesses from scratch in a relatively short time. If you want to make a significant income with Kindle, this is the only course you will EVER need! He gives you absolutely everything you need and more to build that business. That course is absolutely worth its money! But, it has to be the right business model for you. After a while, I figured this was not the right one for me at the moment, which is why I put it on hold (although I still sometimes make a tiny, tiny, little bit of money from my published books, which still blows my mind) and changed to another business model with …

3. Affiliate Marketing Mastery

Affiliate Marketing Mastery. Now, this course is by far the most expensive one on this short list, and it has been my most significant investment yet. But let me tell you, it was worth every. single. penny. And soooooooo much more. Seriously, he takes you through every little step and covers not only the practical (including the legal) but also the mindset stuff. And his bonuses are AMAZING! It is solely thanks to him that I had such a good looking and correctly functioning WordPress website within such a short time. It would have taken me ages to figure it out on my own. So yes, I know it is quite a significant investment, but it is absolutely worth the value you get. (He has a money-back guarantee on the course, so if his teaching style for whatever weird reason should not be fitting for you or you regret having spent the money, which is highly unlikely, you can get it all back.)

I would love to recommend more incredible resources to you, but these are all I have invested in so far. However, once my business starts to generate a bit more income, I already have many other courses, tools, and coaches that I want to take advantage of.

5. Set goals

What exactly are the goals you have for your business? I want you to set multiple of them. And they should be s.m.a.r.t. Goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Reasonable, Time-Bound), so you can track them.

Let’s start with the most significant goal you currently can think about. It can be absolutely crazy, but as long as it motivates you and is more or less measurable, that’s fine.

Because after that, we go into more realistic goals. I recommend you to create a Milestones-list, where you can not only tick off your goals once completed but more importantly, you can see how incredibly far you’ve already come!

My list goes somewhat like this:

launch my Blog
create my first blog post
create 10 blog posts
have my first visitor
start to get daily traffic
create an email list
earn my first money
receive 200 € a month
earn 1000 € a month
launch a YouTube channel
start a Podcast
earn 2000 € a month
…

You get the idea. Don’t be afraid to list small accomplishments. Being able to mark them as completed will give you such a boost in motivation in times, where the income might not be there yet.

6. Prepare yourself to be patient

As mentioned before, building a successful business does not happen overnight. Sure some entrepreneurs have success already after 3 or 6 months. But you never know what business experience they already had at the beginning.

For most people, building a business will take some time, and it won’t go all in a straight line. There will be ups and downs, successes and losses, excitement, and frustration.

Not everybody will have the patience and the will to put in the necessary work. Are you one of them?

I always try to avoid saying, “building a business is hard.” Sure, it must be hard in some way. Otherwise, everyone would be doing it.

But I don’t want you to get discouraged because you think you don’t have the skills it takes. What makes building a business tricky is the mental stuff.

You have to be patient, withstand frustration, anxiety, helplessness, lack of motivation, and so many other low vibrational emotions.

However, if you look at the actual work, you have to do day in, and day out, there is nothing extraordinary about it. I am 100% sure everybody can do the real work behind a successful business. Maybe in varying quality, but given the time, everybody could learn how to Copywrite, sell, create content, market it, etc.

So please don’t think you don’t have what it takes. I assure you, you absolutely do have everything necessary to build that business.

So you better do not roll your eyes when I or others tell you to be patient and know your why. This is important stuff! This is the stuff that can make or break your dream. Don’t underestimate its importance.