Welcome to Day 1 of the 30 days of luck challenge. Your first challenge is to send a thank you card to someone you appreciate.
At the end of the day, reflect on three things that went well today, and why.
If you're keen, post your reflection here.
Let's see how 30 days of thinking and acting like lucky people can change our lives!
This Saturday (25th July), I’m hosting the launch of my book, Find my niche. If you’re based in Melbourne, come over to the launch at 3.30pm on Saturday at the Footscray Community Arts Centre! It will be fun! Great people, lovely food – and a complimentary drink! They'll be serving mulled wine!
I’ll also be launching the 30 days of luck challenge.
People have used the '30 days' notion to change their life in many ways – 30 days of first dates, Dry July, weight loss, yoga, the list goes on.
I want to see how 30 days of thinking and acting like lucky people can change our lives.
Professor Richard Wiseman of the University of Hertfordshire found that luck was mostly affected by our thoughts and behaviours (you can read more about that in my book and in my past blog).
Professor Martin Seligman found that reflecting positively on the three things that went well each day was the most effective way to increase your happiness and wellbeing.
So we’re combining these two activities and let’s see what happens!
Every day, for 30 days, I will:
Your task is to undertake the challenge, and then...
at the end of each day, reflect on three things that went well that day – and why!
If you’re keen, you can post your reflection on the website or on facebook – or you can just keep it to yourself!
Subscribe to my newsletter now to join the 30 days of luck challenge!
When you're not happy at work, it can rock your self-confidence as well as your ability to think clearly and positively. This can make it very difficult to work out what you want to do.
However, there is one question that is excellent for uncovering your secret desires.
Listen carefully to yourself when you ask this question. Your secret desire may be the first thing that pops into your head - or it may require some soul searching.
Ready?
What would do if you knew you couldn't fail?
...
...
...
Would you write a book?
Make a documentary
Renovate a house
Start your own business
Open a café
Open a day spa
Start a horse ranch
Start a travel company
Be a stay at home mum
Design something extraordinary
Start a surf school
What thoughts popped into your head?
And were those thoughts followed immediately by potential problems? Did any negative self-talk rear its ugly head?
Yes, your dreams require hard work and commitment.
But don't let that overwhelm you.
Take one step. Then another.
What is one thing you could do today to move you closer to your dream so it becomes a reality?
I'd love to hear your thoughts - if you're ready to share them.
If you're already working on your dream, tell me about it!
And the quote accompanying this blog is one included in the Find my niche book (and used with the permission of Bronnie Ware and Hayhouse Publishing).
The Find my niche book will be launched on Saturday 25th July at 3.30pm. It is currently available for pre-order from my online shop.
Lately, I’ve been reflecting on what exactly is self-assurance, self-belief, or self-doubt.
On the Clifton StrengthsFinder® assessment, my self-assurance is definitely not one of my dominant strengths (out of a 34 possible strengths, my self-assurance comes in at 21st…a long way down the list).
Every day I doubt myself. And I kind of wish I could stop because it drives me crazy.
On the other hand, do I think I am a highly capable person, that I can do things well? Yes.
Have I shown that I am capable of achieving things? Yes.
Have I demonstrated that I can write well? Yes.
Am I qualified? Yes.
Do I believe that I am worthy of good things? Yes.
Isn’t that confusing? Isn’t that self-assurance?
And yet doubt is a feature of my daily life. I often think, who am I to write a book? Who wants to read what I have to say? What if people don’t buy my book?
Then I remind myself to just put one foot in front of the other, to invite one more person to the launch, to follow up one more person, to take one more action that inches me closer to successfully launching my book (including creating this video about the find my niche book).
Am I the only writer to have doubted themselves? Definitely not! But knowing that doesn’t make it any easier!
A few weeks ago, I attended a breakfast seminar hosted by Dr Jason Fox and co-presented by Dr. Sean Fabri. They talked about the power of doubt. (Jason posted earlier about the hidden benefits of doubt)
I think this goes to show that ‘reframing’ how you think about things is possible with just about anything! Reframe doubt as a powerful tool that helps you anticipate potential problems - genius!
Since starting my own business, I have never thought about ‘reframing’ as much as I have now. Reframing is “to look at, present, or think of things in a new or different way”.
Reframing is at the very heart of a strengths-based approach. Seeing Empathy as a core strength, not an embarrassing and annoying problem, seeing Deliberative as a strength, not an inability to make a quick decision, seeing Relator (a desire to make fewer, deep connections) as a strength, not a lack of social skill.
A strengths-based approach is not deluding yourself. It’s changing the way you see yourself. It’s embracing yourself. And being proud of who you are.
So bring it on doubt! Let’s do this together!
The Find my niche book is now available for pre-order from my online shop, or through Amazon, Booktopia, and Barnes & Noble.. The image accompanying this blog post is one of the beautiful pages from the book.
If you're based in Melbourne, you're welcome to come along to the launch of the Find my niche book on Saturday 25th July at 3.30pm at the Footscray Community Arts Centre. Please find more details and RSVP here.
Is making a living doing the work you love easy? It is, and it’s not.
Even though finding your niche is about building on your strengths, if you want to make a living doing the work you love ... if you dare to be remarkable ... you will need to do something outside your comfort zone every day.
Every day? Yes, every day.
Every day, I do something that pushes me outside my comfort zone. The good news is that my comfort zone is getting bigger.
Take last week for example.
On Monday, I sent an article I wrote about selecting a mobile phone credit card payment system to the Editor of the Business Review Weekly (BRW). I was nervous sending that email. Were there any typos? What would he think of it? Did I attach the article? He kindly replied within about half an hour to say that he would review it and get back to me.
On Tuesday, I sent my weekly newsletter (which even after the 12th one still makes me nervous). The really nerve-wracking part was it included an invitation to the launch of my book!
More courage required there! Send emails directly to family and friends. Send link to system I’ve never used before (Eventbrite).
Also on Tuesday, I asked my amazing sister in law for more design work before the launch of my book!
On Wednesday, I gave an invitation to my book launch to another mum at my daughter’s ballet course (nerve-wracking for me – firstly, I wrote a book, and secondly, would you like to come to the launch?!)
On Thursday, one of the convenors of the Gallup Accelerated Strengths Coaching Course asked if I would present at a webinar today regarding what I gained from the course. I replied yes before I could let my brain talk myself out of it!
On Friday, I followed up with the Editor of the Business Review Weekly to find out what he thought of my article.
I could add many more actions that have required me to push myself out of my comfort zone.
I have met with people I wouldn’t usually meet with.
I have asked for permission to use quotes from books and people I love (including the quote that accompanies this blog post – which is used with the permission of janegentry.com).
There’s a reason why they say ‘fortune favours the brave’.
This is why I’m launching the 30 days of luck program.
I truly believe that pushing yourself at least slightly outside your comfort zone every day leads to positive growth and development.
It also leads to discovering new opportunities, as well as increased self-belief.
You will do things you never thought you could do. You will achieve things you never thought possible. And hey, you might even change your life!
So, what are you going to do today to push yourself out of your comfort zone? Register to attend a book launch? Sign up to a blog? Pre-order the ‘find my niche’ book… Make a phone call you’ve been delaying…
Give it a go.. and dare to be remarkable™ today!
With the upcoming launch of my book, Find my niche, I’ve been talking about how it adopts a strengths-based approach to help people embrace their true selves and find energising work that makes time fly and is rewarding and worthwhile. I have realised that perhaps everyone is not on the same page regarding a strengths-based approach!
For example, when I purchased the domain name, www.exploreyourstrengths.com.au (which is not live), I received numerous emails from website design companies who were happy to help me develop my personal fitness or personal training website!
Essentially, a strengths-based approach encourages you to reflect on your personal strengths, look for ways to utilise them every day, and investigate how to build on your strengths, rather than focusing on addressing your weaknesses.
The 34 Clifton StrengthsFinder/ Gallup strengths include Communication, Positivity, Analytical, Learner, Strategic, Focus, etc. The Martin Seligman, VIA Signature Strengths include Creativity, Love of learning, Perseverance, Honesty, Fairness, etc.
A strengths-based approach does not say to ignore your weaknesses, rather, it is based on research that shows that effort to address your weaknesses has a very low return, whereas effort to build on your strengths has a very high return.
For example, the University of Nebraska conducted a three-year study to determine the most effective techniques for teaching speed reading. The study involved more than 1,000 students. The ‘poor’ readers, who started at 90 words per minute, made modest gains and could now read an average of 150 words per minute. The ‘top’ readers, who started at 350 words per minute, skyrocketed to more than 2,900 words for minute. Astounding, huh?!
What does a strengths-based approach have to do with work? A strengths-based approach starts with being able to identify your strengths—and then looking for opportunities to use them.
People who have an opportunity to do what they do best everyday (that is, to use their strengths) are six times more likely to be engaged at work and three times more likely to be report having an excellent quality of life.
This is because your strengths speak to the core of who you are. In this previous post, I wrote about how engagement is putting our real selves into work and involves expressing our real selves, rather than defending or withdrawing our real selves from view.
At the end of last year, I was struggling at work. I was frustrated as I wasn’t able to get things done or keep things moving. I didn’t know what my next project would be. I wasn’t working on projects that made a real difference.
Would this bother everyone to the extent that it bothered me? I don’t know. But a quick look at my top five strengths reveals why it was such an issue for me. My top five Gallup Signature Themes are: Achiever (need to get things done), Individualization (understanding what is unique about each person), Empathy (understanding the emotions of those around me), Learner (continual need to learn), and Arranger (love of coordinating and configuring multiple elements).
So, for me to be engaged, I need to be getting things done—this is central to who I am! I also need to be learning about new things, finding solutions that recognise individual’s uniqueness, to be in touch with how people are feeling, and to be coordinating multiple elements.
Reflecting on my strengths and my frustrations at work was an ‘aha!’ moment for me—and it led to me asking for a redundancy and starting ‘find my niche’.
Your own reflection on your strengths need not be as drastic!
I’ve written before about one of my clients who was not sure whether she should look for another job or whether she should stay in her current role. As we talked, she realized that she did enjoy her work and was very well suited to it, but that building relationships was a strength of hers, and that she didn't have the strong relationships she'd enjoyed in previous roles. She set about making changes to build stronger relationships in her current role. ‘Analytical’ was also her top strength, and she felt that her feedback about ideas hadn’t been taken on board. Viewing this capability as a strength allowed her to see that her ability to see potential problems is central to her core self, and gave her insight into why it was so important for her feedback to be acknowledged.
Reflecting on your strengths allows you to embrace who you are, and look for opportunities to use your strengths. It allow you to embrace your uniqueness and see this as your core strength—to support you to be more of who you are. A strengths-based approach says we’re not all aiming to be ‘well-rounded’ – we’re aiming to be stars with peaks of strengths!
If a strengths-based approach appeals to you, I highly recommend taking the Gallup Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment for $9.99USD and receiving a report of your top 5 strengths.
If you’re interested in exploring your strengths further, I would be delighted to coach you in your strengths—and I don’t mean at the gym!
And, of course, the Find my niche book is now available for pre-order and will be launched on the 25th July.
If you found this valuable, sign up to my newsletter at the top of this page to stay up-to-date with my latest blogs and events. Or share this post using one of the link buttons below.
Many of us believe that to start our own business, we need a huge capital investment. We think we need enough money to fit out a hair salon, a day spa, café, or a retail space.
And, if you watch Shark Tank, this idea may be reinforced every week!
However, investing large amounts of money before testing your products and concepts is a risky strategy! And, even worse, if you have found a venture capitalist to invest in your business, you are now playing with someone else’s money to test your ideas.
Yet many of our business ideas can be tested with minimal upfront investment. And, let’s be honest, they probably should be tested that way!
As I speak to business owners of large and small businesses, I have found the model of massive upfront capital investment is not common. In fact, most businesses find a way to start small.
Tony Nash, CEO of Booktopia, started Booktopia on a budget of $10 per day.
Toni Moran, Director of Flavours of the Valley, started cooking classes in her family kitchen.
A highly successful example on Shark Tank was ‘Those Girls’. Lauren and Elena tested their range of iced teas at markets, including Melbourne’s iconic Queen Victoria Market. They demonstrated demand for their product, received feedback on their product, refined their offering, and demonstrated that their idea was profitable. Only then did they seek external investment to grow their business—and they were successful in securing it.
(And I just read on their website that they can be found at the Queen Victoria Night Market in Melbourne on Wednesdays from 5pm – 10pm – and you can now buy Hot Apple Cider! Sounds like my cup of tea!)
Another great example from my local area is Two Birds Brewing. Jayne Lewis and Danielle Allen commenced Two Birds Brewing in June 2011. They first worked with a brewery based in Geelong to produce and refine their beer recipes. They travelled Australia attending nearly every beer festival, event and tasting to share their beers with eager enthusiasts.
Three years after launching their beer products, they opened their own brewery in my local area—on Hall Street, Newport in Melbourne. This required a huge capital investment, but again, they only made this investment after developing and trialling their products, and seeing demand for them.
(Even though I’m not a beer drinker, I dropped into their brewery last Friday night and it is beautiful! They have been very savvy with their design and construction of the brewery. And the lime curd donuts were amazing!!)
So, next time you’re imagining how to build your business empire, think about how you can test your ideas by starting small.
Here's an opportunity to practice your ‘start small’ thinking right now! A friend of mine is a beauty therapist who is passionate about health and wellbeing, fitness and relaxation therapies. She has big dreams—and would love to start working towards them.
What ‘start small’ ideas could you suggest? Have you noticed any gaps in the beauty therapy market? In the health and wellness market? In the personal training market?
Have you ever thought ‘I wish my local day spa would ….’ Or ‘I wish I could get a massage ….’ Or 'I wish my personal trainer would...'
Enter your ideas in the comment field below!
The find my niche blog is about helping people make a living doing what they love, while still having a life!
Toni Moran is an inspirational businesswoman and mother of three grown-up boys from Kangaroo Valley, 2 hours south of Sydney.
If you’ve read my books page, you would know that I love to learn about women who have a family AND have built their own business.
Toni has turned her passion for teaching and love of connecting with people into a highly successful business.
Five years ago, after 25 years of teaching high school students food technology and hospitality, Toni decided to turn her skills toward engaging visitors to the Kangaroo Valley with local food and producers.
As a long-term resident of Kangaroo Valley, she was aware of numerous adventure activities including canoeing and bushwalking, however, she saw an opportunity to offer a different type of experience.
Ready to try something new, she took 12 months leave from teaching and began by offering food and wine tours of local Kangaroo Valley producers on Saturdays and cooking classes on Sundays.
Toni subscribes to the Nike business philosophy—that is, just do it.
Four weeks after hatching her idea, she had a website and was teaching cooking classes.
For the first three years, she offered the cooking classes in her home as well as food and wine tours of the region.
Two years ago, she rented a premises in Kangaroo Valley, sold the food and wine tour business, and began offering weddings in addition to cooking classes.
In the last six months, she has been transitioning to a purpose-built function centre on her beautiful 100-acre bush property—Wildwood Estate. Wildwood Estate is an ideal location for wedding ceremonies with amazing views and a marquee for 90 guests.
Toni humbly puts her success down to three key things:
1. Keeping it personal (she personally teaches all cooking classes)
2. Finding a niche (she saw a gap in the market and went for it!)
3. A fabulous husband (who made her gorgeous cooking benches at last minute notice, not to mention the new bush pavilion!)
Supporting local businesses, sharing her Italian heritage, and making a difference to people are also central to her business philosophy. She uses local produce wherever possible, hence her business name ‘Flavours of the Valley’.
She is also incredibly generous and has participated in significant aid work internationally over many years in destinations such as Samoa and Nepal. Her aid work in Nepal prompted her to hold a recent fundraiser that raised $11,500 for children in Nepal.
As you might guess, her cooking classes are absolutely wonderful. I arranged a private class* with my husband and three year old daughter.
We created a heavenly Italian menu of stuffed zucchini flowers, pumpkin tortellini, and cannoli with both toffeed cream and strawberry and white chocolate cream**. Masterchef, here we come! We made pistachio toffee, parmesan shards, our own ricotta, and pasta from scratch (trust me, those Masterchef competitors make it look hard—Toni made it look so easy!).
Throughout the class, Toni shared cooking secrets handed down from her Nonna. Toni was both generous and patient. A private class would definitely impress on a date or an anniversary—or as a special gift.
It was such a pleasure to meet Toni and to hear her story.
Some of the key takeaways for me were:
1. Just make a start and see where it goes
2. Experiment and learn from your action
3. Give yourself space to make a change
4. Supportive partners make a world of difference
5. Look for different ways to apply your current skills and experience
6. Look for a gap in the market—find your niche!
I hope this story inspires you to chase your dreams—and still have a life!
Thank you to Toni for sharing her knowledge and experience. Toni is truly an inspiring Australian who enriches the lives of those she meets!
Practical details:
Cooking classes and gift vouchers can be purchased directly through Toni. On select weekends throughout the year, her beautiful property is available for weddings.
Flavours of the Valley is well worth a day trip if you’re on the NSW south coast or as a detour off the Hume Highway. Kangaroo Valley is 2 hours from both Sydney and Canberra. It’s about 20 minutes inland from Nowra or 30 minutes off the Hume Highway near Bowral.
If you want more inspiration to make a living doing the work you love and still have a life, sign up to my weekly newsletter using the subscribe box above.
* I paid for the class and it was money well spent. I receive no financial incentives from this post.
** The menu varies according to seasonal produce.
Do you consider yourself a lucky person? Do you wish you were luckier?
Throughout history, people have recognised that good and bad luck can transform our lives. Luck can affect whether we meet our perfect partner, whether we find a fulfilling career, and whether we live happy and meaningful lives.
Do lucky people have something special?
After rigorously studying luck for more than 10 years, Professor Richard Wiseman of the University of Hertfordshire concluded that our thoughts and behaviour are responsible for much of our luck. Essentially, all of us can be lucky!
Professor Wiseman conducted experiments involving hundreds of self-declared lucky and unlucky people. He used diary studies, personality questionnaires, intelligence tests, and laboratory experiments.
He found that lucky people generate their own luck via four principles:
1. They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities.
2. Make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition
3. Create self-fulfilling prophecies via positive expectations
4. Adopt a resilient attitude that turns bad luck into good.
Whereas unlucky people:
1. Are more anxious and tense and therefore tend to miss opportunities
2. Miss chance opportunities because they are too focused on a specific goal
3. Are not open to new experiences because they stick to the same routine
4. See misfortune as incredibly unlucky and are not able to see the positive aspects of the situation.
Based on his research, Professor Wiseman created a ‘luck school’ where he coached participants in the principles of lucky people.
He explained the four principles of generating luck and described simple techniques to help participants think and behave like a lucky person. This included creating chance opportunities, networking, adopting a relaxed attitude to life, being open to new experiences, breaking daily routines, and more effectively dealing with bad luck by imagining how things could have been worse. Participants spent a month carrying out the exercises.
The results were dramatic. 80 per cent of participants felt they were now luckier, happier, and were more satisfied with their overall lives.
Luck is another great example of how our mindsets affect our lives.
Give it a go today. Change your routine. Attend an event you wouldn’t normally attend. Speak to people you wouldn’t usually speak to. When things go wrong, imagine how they could have been worse. Sign up to a blog newsletter (like mine! - sign up at the top of this page). You never know where it may lead you!
So, are you lucky? Or unlucky? Let me know your thoughts.
Have you heard the story of the businessman who visited a small fishing village and saw huge potential for the local fisherman to grow his business?
He noted that the fisherman only fished for a couple of hours each day. He asked the fisherman why he did not stay out longer and catch more fish.
The fisherman explained that he catches as much as he needs – and that he sleeps until 9am each day, plays with his children, fishes for a couple of hours, has an afternoon siesta, has a relaxing dinner with his family, and then catches up with friends and plays guitar in the evening.
The businessman was full of suggestions for how the fisherman could grow his business by fishing more often, catching more fish, selling to markets, eventually buying a bigger boat, employing other people, perhaps even opening his own fish processing plant, and eventually moving to a big city.
At each suggestion, the fisherman would ask ‘and then what would I do?’ After answering each question with a description of how to grow his business, the businessman finally answers ‘then you could move to a small fishing village, sleep in until 9am, play with your grandchildren, have an afternoon siesta, have a relaxing dinner with your family, and catch up with friends in the evening.”
This 'Good Life Parable' by Mark Albion illustrates how we might work so hard our whole lives for something that we could have now – and that our sacrifices in growing a business or having a high-flying career might not be worthwhile.
I was reminded of this story the other day when I was watching Shark Tank Australia. If you haven’t been watching, Shark Tank involves budding entrepreneurs pitching their big business ideas to five potential investors and seeking funding to grow their business. In response to a pitch, John McGrath and Janine Allis sometimes comment that a person has a ‘lovely little lifestyle business’.
So, what is the difference between a ‘start-up’ and a ‘lifestyle business’?
I like this explanation at fizzle.co. A start-up’s job is to grow big enough to provide a return to investors. A lifestyle business’s job is to provide a great quality of life to its owners.
Essentially, ‘entrepreneurs’ or ‘start-ups’ invest time and money (often other people's money) to build a business for a future return. It is common for people to build their business for three years and invest all income back into the business during that time. They seek to employ other people and rapidly grow their business. One of the goals may be to sell the business in the future.
In contrast, a lifestyle business requires minimal investment to start, generates enough money to live a comfortable life, and the goal is to provide a business that allows you to live a great life now, rather than at a later point in the future.
Here are seven key reasons to consider building a lifestyle business rather than a start-up.
1. You have flexibility.
You choose your hours. You choose your location. You choose when you work.
You can work as much or as little as you want. You can work from wherever you want. If you’re a start-up, you are building a business that requires your total commitment and accessibility at all times.
2. You can spend more time with your family, especially your children while they’re young.
Yes, you may decide to burn the midnight oil, or wake at 5am to get some work done—but that is likely because your children are in bed. A lifestyle business is hard work, that’s for sure, but you can choose when to work and work hours around your family’s needs or your hobbies.
3. You don’t have employees. You contract services as you need them. You don’t have to keep work coming in to pay wages. Which leads into the next point….
4. You can take holidays when you want. If you have full-time employees, holidays will be trickier and more stressful, at least for a few years. With a lifestyle business, you can temporarily shut your business down, or take your business on holidays with you (if you want!)
5. You can grow your business as slowly or as quickly as you like. On Shark Tank, you will often hear the investors explain that they require the pitcher to dedicate every ounce of their energy to their business, or they will not invest. A lifestyle business allows you to invest as much time as you want and to grow your business at a rate that suits you.
6. All returns come to you.
With a lifestyle business, there are no partners. No venture capitalists. No-one else’s money to lose. No interest on investments to pay out. If you make money, it is yours to keep.
7. More money will not necessarily make you happier. Research suggests that once people get beyond a certain level of income, their happiness does not continue to increase.
If you’ve dreamt of building a business, think carefully about your goals in starting your business. What will ‘success’ look like in your business?
Do you want a multi-million dollar company? Do you require a significant upfront investment from external sources? Do you dream of hundreds of employees? Do you want to be able to ‘cash out’ at a later stage? A start-up may be what you’re looking for.
Or do you want more flexibility in your life? Do you want to be able to work from different locations around the world? Do you want to be able to work less while your children are young? Do you want to continue to deliver value to clients? A lifestyle business may suit you.
A ‘lifestyle business’ and a ‘start-up’ are not the only options, but your goals in starting your business are important to have front-of-mind when you’re planning your business.
What are your goals in starting your own business?
