strengths

How Are You Spending Your Attention Budget?

March 15, 2010 By Cara Lumen

What we focus on is what shows up in our world. So it makes a lot of sense to notice where we are placing our attention. Chris Brogan looks at attention as currency and that got me thinking about how I spend that most valuable asset.

Do you hang out in the past, present or future?

Do I spend my time remember the past and wishing I had made a different choice? Do I sit around making lists and dreaming up things for the future? That has its place but what is the proportion of time spent on “what if’s.” Or can I be in the now, the present, the moment at hand, and savor it and absorb all the moment has to offer.

What are your moment to moment choices?

Seth Godin had a great blog post listing all the things you could do if you didn’t watch TV. It includes things like starting an online store, or writing a book, or hey, something really life changing like proposing to someone (that’s mine, not his)

I often go back to work on my computer in the evening. Sometimes I do small organizational things and sometimes I tackle something big like write a new radio script, or work on another draft of my ebook. I do watch the rhythm of my body during the day – I get up and move around when it hollers loud enough at me. I’m usually willing to sit in the afternoon sun and read awhile and I’m not adverse to a short doze while there.

And when my young cats Sebastian or Sabrina come to sit on my lap I actually take time to not only pet them but to focus on how much I love and appreciate them. Sometimes they interrupt me and I don’t want to stop for them but maybe they sense the need for me to pause and are actually taking care of me when they ask me to take a break. Do you focus on the moment? Every moment? Each moment? Do you appreciate its richness? Its texture? Its gift?

Where is your attention in your business?

I’m spending a lot of time on my blog because I love doing it and it helps me build community. I also love my radio shows because there is more time to develop an idea and talk about it. And it helps me reach people who prefer to listen rather than read. I also spend time creating more information products. I’m a teacher at heart and helping people learn new things is very special to me.

And I volunteer. Right now I am adding content ideas to the revision of Michael Port’s “Book Yourself Solid.” I’m adding information on blogging and radio that were not in the original book and adding more how to the information product section. Other Book Yourself Solid Coaches are adding information on social media. We will be given credit in the book but meanwhile we are helping create the very program we teach.

I write copy for others. Sharon Sayler’s new book “What Your Body Says and How to Master it” will be out in June and I’m writing landing pages and reports for her.

And I coach. My focus is on helping people build an internet presence – a profitable internet presence.

What I get to do with my attention is continually figure out how to add more value in these areas, how to draw more people into my community and serve them better, how to write that eye-opening, insight-giving book that will change some lives, and how to inspire others to believe they can!

What is your attention focused on? What are you attracting because of it? Change your focus, change your life.

Are You Cut Out to Start an Internet Business?

March 10, 2010 By Cara Lumen

Passionately On Purpose Radio with Cara Lumen, Your Idea Optimizer, who keeps you passionately on purpose while you make a difference in your world. As a Business Coach, Content Developer and Educator she talks about how to uncover your passion, define your purpose, identify your path, make money from what you already know and attract the people you are meant to serve. But most of all, she’ll help you believe you can!!! Join her Mondays on www.blogtalkradio.com/passionatelyonpurpose

The Show

Are You Cut Out to Start an Internet Business?

A lot of us are at a crossroad. We look around and see that retirement is no longer an option. We’re older and are not certain how long we can stay in the work force or we may already be out of it. What do you do when you are no longer a viable candidate for working for someone else? You start your own internet business, of course!

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Follow Your Strengths to Success

December 7, 2009 By Cara Lumen

The Show
We are not good at everything, ever. But what we ARE good at we can be very, very good at. What are your strengths? Are you using them to your best advantage? Are you continually developing them? What about that second best strength? How can it be put into play? Let’s talk about how to follow your strengths to success.

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Do You Believe You Can? And Why Not?

November 30, 2009 By Cara Lumen

This Show

Let’s examine what’s holding you back from fulfilling your big dream and getting Passionately on Purpose.

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Follow Your Strengths to Success

July 15, 2008 By Cara Lumen

by Cara Lumen

There are seven marketing strategies I could use to promote my business Two I’m really, really good at, one I have the talent to be good at but I need to step up to the plate, The other four vary from medium to definitely less than medium and I feel a great resistance to pursue them.. My question is do I stay safe in the comfort zone of my strengths, do I push myself out of my comfort zone and broaden my spectrum, or do I bluff my way and do them all?

Let your strengths be your guide

There is a reason we tend to favor some activities over others, we love doing them and we are probably very good at them. I love to write, I love to teach and I’ve been doing them all my life. So I’m going to keep those at the core of what I am doing. Fortunately my strengths are in the most technical aspects of marketing: a strong Web Presence Strategy, a Writing Strategy that includes information products and a steady article writing campaign and Speaking and Demonstrating Strategywhich even with teleclasses, I’m not fully taking advantage of.
But what about the other four marketing strategies I could use to promote my business? They are the ones everyone should be able to do. They are the “easy” ones. And they are not yet my strong points.

Check out your second best strength and develop it

But hey, I’m into growth – both personal and business. So I really ought to just pick one and strengthen it. But they are all about reaching out to others. They are all about connecting and relating and talking to others. So in the midst of my discomfort over these strategies I have to find what I am willing to do; how can I adjust how I view them and find my own unique ways to get the results these strategies produce?

Align with your passion and purpose

I love what I do and I love sharing it with people. I write an emagazine and a blog. But those are one-way conversations from me to them. It’s not a two way exchange.

The Keep in Touch Strategy is one of the most important and effective of the seven strategies and would be within my comfort zone. I already know these people. This is just a matter of emailing a personal note, picking up the phone for a chat, or sending them a card. The point is to have an exchange, to reach out on a personal level and see how they are doing. I need to listen to what’s going on for them.

I’m going to schedule an hour a week to reach out and acknowledge someone I know. There now, that’s one strategy added.

Flex those muscles!

That leaves three strategies and I don’t have to do them all. But being aware of them helps me notice when I do them organically. I activate the Referral Strategy when I connect my client who makes home-made gourmet dog treats with a client who wrote a wonderful book about a dog. I activate the Networking Strategy when I volunteer to help people connect with potential roommates for an upcoming training we are taking together. And the Direct Outreach Strategy may just be as simple as reaching out to someone I admire to explore some joint ventures.

Follow Your Strengths

I’m not going to beat myself up for what I can’t do comfortably. I’m not just going to focus on the things I do easily either. I’m going to stretch a bit. I’m going to flex my muscles and look for my personalized version of a strategy that gets the results I want. I’m going to pick my moments and move gently into expansion. I’m going to follow my strengths to success.

Skills and talents are two different things. You can learn a skill like riding a bike, but it takes talent and passion to win a bicycle race.

Cherish your gifts.

When you look carefully you will see your talents. They are about what you love to do. They are what others always ask you to do for them. These are your strengths. Build them up. Bundle them creatively. Use them as your foundation.

Develop your own version

I’m a whiz at coaching. I’m a really good writer, but networking is not something I’m very comfortable with. So how can I create my version of networking that will be comfortable for me and still work? I’ve decided to start interviewing people for my podcast. That gives me a reason to call them and get to know them. That’s my version of networking and that will be fun.

Morph your fears into productivity

What business strategy do you need or want to put in place that is outside your comfort zone. Morph it. Tweak it, adapt it, and personalize it till it works, but don’t fret over it.

Build your own strategy

Go with your natural talent. Partner with or hire people with the natural talents you don’t have. 2+2 make a lot more than 4. Create your own version of the seven core marketing strategies. Nurture your natural abilities and follow your strengths to success.