I have a question for you:

If I asked you to tell me in one (short) sentence why you do what you do, would you be able to give me a good answer?

If the answer is yes, then I’m sending you a virtual high 5 :) in fact if you want to share your why with us, leave a comment below, I’d love to read it!

However, not everyone is so clear about what their why is. In fact, lots of entrepreneurs have kind of an idea as to what their why is, but it’s all a little fuzzy. If you’re reading this thinking “yes that’s me” then you have to watch this week’s video with Diana Alvear!

A former ABC and NBC News correspondent, Diana spent a decade in front of the camera, travelling the world to tell the news of the day.

As an experienced story teller, Diana knows how to connect with an audience and now she actually coaches entrepreneurs on discovering their ‘why’, then using it to create content that consistently reflects their brand, connects them to potential clients and gets them noticed by the media.

When you’re ridiculously clear about what your why is, it will help you so much to build a business that connects with your audience. Diana explains why, have a watch below…

@AlvearDiana shares 2 questions to help you get clear on your why. Have a watch
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:: Find out more about Diana Alvear ::

:: Start With Why, by Simon Sinek – a brilliant book about this topic ::

What is your why? Put Diana’s tips into action and share it with us below in the comment section :)

See you next week!

Carrie xx

Wow. We’re into the last quarter of 2014 (or at least we will be tomorrow!).

I’m pretty convinced that time is speeding up! Where has this year gone? Does anyone else feel like this year has flown by?

Anyway, as there are only a few months left of the year I decided to have a little goal review session with myself, because even though this year is winding to a close, now is the time to take it to another level and close with a bang (a good one).

Now is the time to focus in on our goals and MAKE THEM HAPPEN. We still have time!

The challenge I find with goals is that often things get in the way of them… life, time, money, circumstances outside of our control. But the biggest thing of all that gets in the way (normally) is ourselves.

That is why it’s soooo important to make the time to have a little goal review session with yourself.

This week I’m sharing the questions I asked myself during my goal review session and what I uncovered AND what I intend to do about it now (I’ve left a comment at the end of this post asking for your opinion on one of my goals – let me know what you think).

Have a watch below and then spare 10-20 minutes today to do the same thing…

Take 10 minutes today to have a goal review session. Here’s what to do…
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Here’s how to have your own goal review session:

1// sit somewhere quite and think back to the goals you set at the beginning of the year (hopefully you have them written down somewhere).

2 // Have you reached any of your goals? If so congratulations and try write down how you made it happen (that’s a success strategy right there!)

3// Are there any goals you’ve gone off track with? If so, why has that happened? Really dig deep with this one. The more consciously aware you are of what’s going on, the more you can do about it.

4// Now decide which goals you really want to make happen by the end of the year – get super clear about them – no being vague ok?

5// Create a plan of action for how you’re going to make it happen and then create a schedule for the actions you need to take, so you know what to do and when to do it.

There’s plenty of time left to reach your goals. You’ve just got to get really focused and clear about what you want and need to do.

I’d love your opinion…

One of my goals for the end of this year is to start a personal blog and so I’d love to know…

1) Do you think it would be helpful for me to share more insights into different things I’m testing to grow my business?

2) If so, is there anything specific you’d like me to share? Like Facebook marketing strategies I’ve tested, growing a membership group, hosting webinars or speaking.

Leave a comment below and let me know :) thank you!

See you next week!

Carrie xx

Have you ever wanted to create a course or a program, and in your head it’s this brilliant, amazing course that you know people will love, but then whenever you try to put pen to paper and start writing it all out, it just looses its edge?

I think this happens to so many people.

Often what’s rolling around in our head, it’s easily some of our best creative work, but trying to communicate that and get it out of our heads can be incredibly challenging.

So if you’re thinking, “yes, that’s me and I reallllyyyy want to get my course out of my head and create it” then watch this video we did with Karen Sergeant, who helps small business owners create exceptional, head-turning courses that delight their customers & grow their bottom lines. She shares 3 steps you can take to turning your course idea into a truly memorable customer experience…

How to turn your course idea into an amazing customer experience with @Karenjs
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:: Karen’s Website ::

:: Free Launch Ready Checklist ::

Here’s a brief overview of what Karen shares – for more detail on all of these points watch the video above or listen to the podcast.

First the reason for the disconnect: when courses come out on paper, they almost always turn into a List o’ Topics I Can Talk About. What’s missing? The focus on performance.

Think about bridging the gap between current performance & better performance. It’s almost certain that that is NOT solved by an info dump.

Aggressively define the problem (that’s a Seth Godin’ism) of the barrier to performance. Why aren’t your customers performing better at this set of tasks?

If you spend the time to sink into your customer’s mindset and uncover the true barriers to better performance, you will create a blockbuster course.

Do you have an idea for a course you’ve got locked up inside your head, but haven’t done anything with yet? If so, leave a comment below and tell us about it to help you become more accountable to making it happen.

I hope this week’s episode helped you! See you next week for more inspiration & tips!

If there’s anything in particular you’d like me to cover in a weekly video email me and let me know: [email protected].

Carrie xx

Do you ever feel like a workaholic? Like you just can’t switch off from your business… even though you probably started it to have more time and freedom to live a life you love?

I think a lot of us entrepreneurs feel like this. I know I definitely feel like this most of the time.

In fact on more than one occasion my business has actually been my excuse for not being able to do the things I wanted to do, like go on an adventure somewhere… because I just couldn’t leave it all!

I’ve also felt trapped in that cycle before, where you think “when I reach my next goal I’ll be able to do the things I want/be happy/live a life I love”, but what if we can actually start living a life we love right now. Today.

It would be pretty amazing.

And the good news is that we can. In this week’s episode the amazing Rachael Cook, founder of The Yogipreneur, shared 3 ways for you to start living your dream life now (this is one of my favourite interviews – I LOVE what she has to share!) Leave a comment below if you resonate with this!

3 ways to live your dream life now with @Yogipreneur
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:: The Yogipreneur Website ::

:: The must read article I talked about in the video ::

What one thing could you start doing today that will help you to live a life you love? Leave a comment below and let us know!

See you next week for more tips & strategies to help inspire you to build a successful business (& live a life you love!).

Carrie xx

There’s something that every single one of us has to do successfully in order to build a brilliant business, and that is…

Marketing!

Good marketing is vital to the survival of any business, yet it’s something that a lot of us struggle to do well.

Have you ever spent time and money trying and testing new marketing strategies, only to discover that they didn’t work at all…even though everyone else was raving about how amazing that new marketing strategy was?

Well there are really only a handful of reasons why marketing doesn’t work, two of those reasons being:

1) You’re marketing to the wrong audience

2) You’re marketing to the right audience, but you’re not resonating with them – they don’t understand why they need your product/service

Luckily, it’s easy to fix these problems and in this week’s episode Tara Gentile, founder of 10ThousandFeetStrategy.com shares a 3-step process for making your message matter.

RESOURCES

:: Tara’s website ::

:: Market, Launch & Sell your next big thing (CreativeLive class)  ::

This week, I’m challenging your to spend a little bit of time (even if it’s only 30 minutes) to follow the 3 steps & create a “message that matters” for your audience & then share that message. 

LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW & TELL US:

1) Are you up for the challenge?

2) Who specifically are you creating the message for?

Hopefully that last one will help you kick start the challenge!

I hope this video helps you to build an even more successful business.

See you next week for more tips & inspiration!

Carrie xx

You may be wondering “why on earth do I need to learn how to become a brilliant writer? I’m an entrepreneur, not an author, I run a business, I don’t write!”

I get it.

But as an entrepreneur (not a writer), I’ve come to realise that learning to become a better writer has been imperative in building the FEA.

Here’s why…

I’m on a mission with the FEA, just like you’re on a mission in your business, for me I’m working hard to build an incredible platform to help inspire and empower women to build successful businesses and for the most part the communication happens online… via written words.

I remember at the beginning, I used to really struggle to put over in words what I really meant and felt inside. I had this big message I wanted to share with others, but I just didn’t know how to take that message out of my head and put it down on paper in a way that resonated and connected with my audience.

It was a huge problem.

And it is a huge problem for a lot of entrepreneurs, because we’re not writers!

But in order for us to build successful businesses, we have to be able to put our messages into words and those words need to be constructed in such a way that our audience totally connect with it.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re writing a blog post, a social media post, writing a script for a video or even writing out a speech to give, you need to actually be able to write well in order for your message to hit home with your audience.

And someone who can help you to do just that is the lovely Nikki Elledge Brown, founder of A Course About Copy. In this video she shared 4 little tricks for becoming a brilliant writer (& make sure you watch to the end, some rather funny things happened!!)…

4 Tricks For Becoming A Brilliant Writer
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Here are some helpful links, so that you can learn more about writing, from the wonderful Nikki Elledge Brown…

:: A Course About Copy ::

:: NikkiElledgeBrown.com ::

:: 3 Ways To Attract Your Dream Clients ::

Here are the 4 tricks Nikki shared in more details in the video:

CHOOSE YOUR WORDS WISELY

If thoughts become things, and I believe they DO, you’ve GOT to watch what you say about yourself + your writing skills.

Flip the script. Instead of saying “I’m horrible at writing” or “ACK it takes me SO. long. to write!!”, say “I’m actually a pretty good writer,” or “I get better at writing every day.”

Make sure it’s something a) positive, that you want to reinforce, and b) that you actually believe.

OUTSMART WRITERS BLOCK

It’s really comfy hanging out in the land of “can’t do it. got writer’s block.” I know. I get it.

But the longer you wait, the more “anticipatory anxiety” you get – just rip the bandaid. Shut down distractions like social media and email + set a timer for 10 (or even five) minutes. When that time is up, take a break if you WANT, or just keep going.

You’ll be surprised how inspiration meets you right where you are.

NOTE: Even if it’s a “charming” first draft – it’s progress. Momentum is a powerful thing!

MOVE PAST PERFECTIONISM

Say it with me: Really really good IS good enough. It doesn’t need to be perfect; it just needs to be shared.

There’s humanity in the imperfection – and as long as you’re clearly making an effort to go pro, people will appreciate that! It’s all about the JOURNEY + relatable credibility.

And think about it this way: If you really believe you’ve got something of value to offer your people, it’s actually selfish of you NOT to share it.

SEEK USEFUL FEEDBACK

We don’t communicate in a vacuum. It’s a two-way street! You’ve got to know if your message is “landing” and received as you intended. But in order to GET useful feedback, you have to know how to ask for it. Three tips for that:

1. Be specific. i.e. “Would you know how to sign up?” or “Does this sound cheesy?” vs. “Soo, what do you think?”
2. Add context. Let people know WHO you’re trying to reach and WHY – so that they can give you informed feedback.
3. Return the favor. Don’t be “that one” who only comes in to take, promote, or ask questions. Give (useful feed)back any chance you get!

BOTTOM LINE(S)

You can do this. (In fact, you already ARE doing “this.”) So give yourself some credit, lady.

Know that even though it SEEMS we learned to read, speak, write and listen on autopilot, effective communication takes practice. And discipline. And GRACE.

Cheerful accountability + support in this journey is priceless. For all these things, join Nikki over at acourseaboutcopy.com.

What’s the main thing you struggle with when it comes to writing for your business and out of the tips Nikki shared, which are you going to test out? Leave a comment below :)

See you next week, I’ve got an amazing interview to share with you that I did with Tara Gentile, where she talks about 3 ways to market your business more successfully! If you’re on our list, we’ll email it to you, if not, join us here :)

Carrie xx

Creating amazing sales copy for your sales page is something that a lot of entrepreneurs struggle with…myself included.

I have tried to write sales copy in the past that’s ended up being a load of tosh! Here’s where I was going wrong:

1. I had no idea where to even begin with it all! I didn’t know the structure/formula to follow and so from the get-go felt confused!
2. I wasn’t clear on who specifically I was writing it before, this just added to my confusion.

No wonder what I was creating was rubbish and didn’t generate any sales!

However, thankfully there is a proven formula when it comes to writing powerful sales copy – a formula every single one of us can follow and see incredible results from.

So in the video below I was joined by Amy Chick, branding & copywriting extraordinaire, who shared her 4-step process for writing an amazing sales page…

RESOURCES

:: Amy Chick’s website ::

:: How to create an amazing ‘about’ page ::

:: How to get to know your ideal clients on a more personal level ::

Get clear about who your perfect customer is and then at the beginning of your sales copy talk about where they are now – current pain/problem, how they are handling it, how they’ve tried to fix it.

Then talk about their ideal outcome – where they hope to be.

After that you want to talk about your solution – what their life could look like after working with you/using your product.

Finally you want to create exclusivity – filter out the readers who aren’t ideal for your product/service, and pull in those who are, so they feel a strong attachment. Do this by stating who your product/service is for and who it isn’t for.

Did you find this helpful? Do you have any questions about this or any experiences you’d like to share? Leave a comment below and let us know!

See you next week!

Carrie xx

The post 4 Steps To Writing An Amazing Sales Page That Converts appeared first on Female Entrepreneur Association.

Have you ever set yourself a goal and really, really wanted to make it happen, but for some reason you just didn’t seem to be able to?

This is something I’ve experienced many times and it led me to ask the question “how come sometimes I do reach my goals and other times I don’t? What am I doing differently?” I wondered whether it was because of lack of knowledge, lack of time, lack of money.

But I think at the heart and soul of the problem is one major thing…

Mindset.

And it kind of makes sense when you think about that fact that people say that success is 80% psychology and 20% mechanics.

When I thought more about it and got honest with myself I realised that with all the goals I didn’t reach, I did really know they steps I needed to take, there were things I could have done to make progress… but I didn’t, because my psychology/mindset wasn’t truly aligned with my goal.

So even though I did really, really, really want to reach my goal, there was so much conflict going on inside of me (that most of the time I wasn’t even aware of), which was preventing me from reaching my goal and making me feel hopeless about it all.

When I realised what a huge impact my mindset was having on my success I decided it was time to learn more about the psychology of success and start implementing some good strategies in my life, so that I could have breakthroughs.

So if you’re in need of a breakthrough or just want to learn some incredible things to help you get the psychology for success have a watch of the video below. I shared 5 of the best lessons about success I’ve ever learned (all of which I learned from the amazing Anthony Robbins), that have helped me so much…

5 things to try when you’re struggling to reach your goal…
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THE LESSONS I LEARNED FROM TONY ROBBINS ON GETTING THE PSYCHOLOGY FOR SUCCESS: 

TURN YOUR ‘SHOULDS’ INTO ‘MUSTS’

A massive reason for why people don’t make breakthroughs is because they’re always like “I should send that email/make that call/go to that event/ test that idea out etc.” but they never actually do it. If you want to change your life and reach your goals those shoulds HAVE to become musts. Follow the steps in the video above in order to start doing this (3.00 minutes in).

GET RID OF THE LIMITING BELIEFS

Sometimes even if you really want to reach a goal and you’re committed and dedicated to it, you still don’t manage to do it. Whether it’s because you hold yourself back or you sabotage it all. When this happens it’s because you have a conflict going on inside of you. In order to have a breakthrough you have to align every part of your body and mind with your goal. Watch step 2 in the video for more on doing this (at 5.00 minutes in).

GET MENTALLY STRONG

Normally when you set a goal, obstacles follow! However, the obstacles throw so many people off track (it’s definitely happened to me before). But in order to breakthrough you have to have the mental strength to rise above the obstacles and keep going. Discover how in step 3 of the video (7.33 minutes in).

MODEL SUCCESS

There are plenty of successful out there for you to learn from, so identify some people who are successful and who you resonate with and pay close attention to them. Try to learn their success strategies and try them out for yourself. (9.35 minutes in)

BE GRATEFUL

Anthony Robbins said “when you’re grateful fear dissipates and abundance appears”. Make it a must to focus every day on being grateful for what you do have, rather than worrying or thinking about what you don’t have. It will change your life. Find out more about this in step 5 of the video (10.35 minutes in).

 OVER TO YOU…

Do you ever feel like you’re struggling to make your goals happen? Leave a comment below and ask any questions, share your experiences & leave any tips you have that would help others.

See you next week!

Carrie xx

One of the most important things about your business is how it makes people feel.

The emotions people feel, the experience people have when they connect with it play such an important part in whether or not they end up becoming a customer.

So every time you create something, whether it’s a social media post or a new product or service, it has to be totally aligned with the emotions and experience you want people to have when they interact with your business.

What all this comes down to is knowing what the heart and soul of your business is and then integrating it into everything you do, so that if someone plopped into your business from space they would very quickly pick up on what your business is all about.

However, nailing down the heart and soul of your business and then staying aligned with it is not always easy to do. It’s all so intangible and can be hard to grasp!! I know that I have definitely gone through phases where I’ve felt totally out of sync with my business, but something that always helps me with this is my business manifesto.

Every business needs one. And I’m not talking about a boring business manifesto! I’m talking about having a business heart & soul manifesto!

Something that you can read that will instantly remind you of what it’s all about and help you to feel more connected and in tune with your business. But trying to write a manifesto can be quite difficult… where do you even begin?

So in this video I shared an amazing and fun exercise you can use to help you write your manifesto. It’s simple, it’s fun and it’s going to make you feel more connected with your business than ever before. Have a watch below and then leave a comment below and introduce your business to us in once sentence (but you have to do it like I ask in the video!)…

You can also subscribe via iTunes >>

Try this fun exercise for creating your business manifesto…
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DESCRIBE YOUR BUSINESS AS A PERSON

Get a pen & a piece of paper and write down what your business would be like if they were a person. How would you describe them? What are their personality traits?

WRITE YOUR MANIFESTO

Go over what you’ve written and pick out the parts which you think really capture the essence of your business. Look for any words that you used to describe it you think sum it all up. Work on making your manifesto more succinct. This might take a while, but that’s okay, you can just keep refining it and refining it over time. When you’re happy with what you’ve created write/type it out nicely and keep it somewhere that you can see easily.

INTEGRATE IT

Now you need to integrate that manifesto and all that it captures into everything you create within your business. So when you create a new post or product/service ask yourself “Would my business love this? Is it a good fit for it?” if what you’ve created doesn’t resonate with your business then don’t put it out there.

OVER TO YOU…

Leave a comment below and introduce your business to us in one sentence, like you would introduce your best friend.

Carrie x

I have a question for you:

What’s the biggest thing that’s held you back from achieving the things you want to achieve in business?

I’ve asked this question to lots of people over the years and all sorts of answers come back: time, money, lack of knowledge etc. but I think at the bottom of it all is one thing.

FEAR.

I know that the biggest thing that’s ever held me back in business is MYSELF (due to my irrational, and maybe sometime rational, fears). Even though I’d love to tell you it’s something else, I know that at the heart of the problem is me, myself and I.

I think this is probably true for most of us… if we’re being honest.

And that is totally fine. Fear is a human instinct, it’s normal and to some degree heathy. But the problems arise when we let them control our actions and hold us back.

So today I’m setting a challenge and I really hope you’ll join in…

Today I want you to do one thing that scares you.

But first, watch this video below, I shared 3 things to try to help you make sure your fears don’t hold you back and then leave a comment below and share what one thing you’re going to do today that scares you… the accountability and support will help you :)

#ifacedmyfearstoday 

#FEAchallenge do one thing today that scares you. Live BIG & don’t hold back.
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FIGURE OUT YOUR FEARS

Get a pen and a piece of paper and start writing down what you’re scared of, what holds you back & why it holds you back. Your mission is to get to the bottom of your fears – what it is that’s truly stopping you.

It’s only until you become consciously aware of your fears that you can actively do something about them.

DECIDE HOW YOU WILL RESPOND TO YOUR FEARS

Most of us probably have fears that have been engrained in us since we were children… so getting rid of them can be challenging (although never say never). However, while we might not be able to remove them, it doesn’t mean they have to stop us.

All you have to do is make the DECISION that you’re not going to let them stop you. Even if today you’re thinking “But I can’t because of X,Y and Z” if you know you want to stop letting them hold you back one day you will just decide and then you will do it.

DO IT

Once you’ve made the decision to stop letting what scares you hold you back, all that’s left to do is take the plunge and do it. In the words of Sir Richard Branson…

Feel the fear and do it anyway @richardbranson
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So now all you need to do is think of one thing that scares you and do it. Maybe it’s a new idea you’ve been wanting to launch, maybe it’s a phone call you’ve been putting off, maybe it’s a freebie you’ve been meaning to put out into the world… whatever it is, big or small, take the challenge with us today and do it.

Let’s face our fears together and achieve wonderful things.

If there’s anything else that helps you to overcome your fears leave a comment below and share.

Carrie – the girl determined to face her fears – Green xx