Jenn Aubert, Author at She Owns It

6 Powerful Things To Do Now to Create a Smooth New Year by @LearnSavvy

November 25, 2015 by Jenn Aubert 3 Comments

by Jenn Aubert | Featured Contributor

We are quickly descending into the holiday season where distractions are plentiful.

As a business owner it is easy to write off the last few weeks of the year – go on autopilot – and then frantically throw yourself into the New Year already feeling behind and overwhelmed.

Between the binge eating, binge celebrating and perhaps even a bit of binge entertainment – you find your business has been put on hold. You think “What’s 6 or 7 weeks in the big scheme of things?”

Well – in fact – a lot!

You don’t have to dive into a new project or take on a new high-demand client but you can get a lot of things done that will set you up to have a great 2016.

Here are 6 powerful tasks you can do to create a smooth start to 2016.

1. Cross Off That One Lingering To-Do
We all have it. That one lingering to-do item that shows up week after week. This is the perfect time to finally take care of it. Even if by taking care of it means you just don’t do it altogether and finally release its hold of your list. However you handle it, don’t let it follow you into the New Year.

2. Finish Your Books Now
If you haven’t kept up on your bookkeeping this is a great time to catch up. It isn’t the most glamorous task but a necessary one. Put on some holiday tunes and sip some spike eggnog while you do it to make it feel more festive. Don’t wait until February to do your bookkeeping for all of 2015.

3. Reflect With Honesty
This is a great time to go back and review the whole year – month-by-month, project-by-project. What really worked? What didn’t go quite so well? Where were the holes and things that slipped through the cracks? What did I learn? We often keep our gaze constantly forward without truly reflecting on what worked and didn’t work in the past. Whatever it may be, take note and include it in your plans for 2016.

4. Give Thanks
You don’t have to send all your clients and contacts an expensive gift but do make sure you send a note of gratitude to them. For super special clients you can send a small gift of course. You can give a shout out to your loyal fans on social media as well to make them feel special. Be creative! Whatever makes sense for you and your business this is a great time to show your appreciation.

5. Prepare to Connect Next Year
We talk and connect with hundreds of people each year but if we don’t carefully track them it’s easy to forget to reconnect with them. One important aspect of networking is keeping in touch and if you don’t have a system to do so, you’re really missing out on potential opportunities. Go through your date book, calendar, stacks of business cards and notes and create a contact list of everyone you spoke with. Follow them on LinkedIn and make a plan to reconnect with the ones you most want to reach out to next year. You never know what may come out of it.

6. Dream, Scheme and Plan
Take an afternoon and sit in a quiet place (or bustling cafe) and make a plan for 2016. Write out your biggest dreams, your revenue targets, how you want to feel and what you really want to accomplish. Then, break it down into plans for each quarter which often feels much more attainable. Pull out your calendar and place real deadlines to keep you on track. If we don’t take the time to plan, we are simply just meandering about heading no where.

Let’s not waste these last few weeks of the year.

These are simple and fun tasks we can all do to prepare for an amazing and productive New Year.

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Jenn Aubert is an author and entrepreneur. Her first book Women Entrepreneur Revolution: Ready! Set! Launch! (Balboa Press, 2014) explores the mindset, motivation and behaviors of successful female entrepreneurs and the role models in their lives who have influenced them. She is also the co-founder and CEO of LearnSavvy, an online education marketplace and community for women business owners and the co-owner of the site Showcasing Women. Personally, she adores inspirational quotes (long before it was popular), all things French (yes, that does include wine), Deepak Chopra and a comfy pair of ballet flats. She has recently relocated to Portland, OR with her husband and adorable son and is spending her free time exploring everything this gorgeous new city has to offer.

You can find her these days at: LearnSavvy | Showcasing Women | Facebook | Twitter

Jenn Aubert

5 Uncommon Steps to Stay Healthy While Building Your Business by @LearnSavvy

September 18, 2015 by Jenn Aubert Leave a Comment

by Jenn Aubert | Featured Contributor

The life of an entrepreneur often conjures up images of overtired workaholics pulling all-nighters while pounding one sugary energy drink after another. They often have a dull grey sheen to their skin and dark circles under the eyes undoubtedly from adrenal fatigue.

It’s easy to wake up in the morning and see the toll of stress and fatigue looking sadly back at you. You may wear your bags like a badge of honor but this hard-working lifestyle is not helping you and in the long run will not help your business either.

You have to be healthy in order to have a healthy business.

Here are 5 steps to get you back on track towards a healthier you.

1. Know that Business is a Long Game
Few people seem to realize that entrepreneurship is a long game. It’s a marathon not a sprint. I’ve seen several people drive hard the first few years and then fizzle because they’ve burned out. There will always be a ton to do each and every day but make sure you take the time to rest and rejuvenate. Pace yourself and know that you’re in it longterm.

Tip: There will always be crazy busy times but make sure you take advantage of the lulls. When you take time off unplug, relax and actually enjoy your vacations away. Additionally add self-care and rejuvenation to your schedule.

2. Take Care of the CEO
I used to be an executive recruiter and the top companies (especially their Boards) made sure their top executives were healthy. You don’t want your CEO to keel over from a heart attack while you’re in the middle of a major merger. As much as you may feel like a worker bee, you are also the CEO of your business and you need to make sure the top dog is fit and healthy.

Tip: Every quarter check in with your overall health and make sure that you’re keeping up with your fitness and wellness goals. Create a plan each quarter and make sure you stick to it.

3. Be Happy Now – Not Later
Research has shown that success does not precede happiness. In fact, happiness leads to success. It’s been a myth perpetuated for entirely too long that money or success brings happiness. Thankfully everything is pointing to the exact opposite so be happy now and amazing opportunities and abundance will pour in.

Tip: Practice happiness now. Don’t play the “When I’m successful then….” game because years will pass and you’ll realized you waited entirely too long for happiness.

4. Find Your Fun
What is fun for you is completely unique to your own quirks, personality and interests. The day-to-day stuff of running a business can be tough even when you absolutely love what you do. It’s easy to get bog down and forget. Find ways to infuse fun into your business and definitely make sure you’re having fun in other areas of your life too.

Tip: Ask yourself each week, “How can I add more fun into my business?” and “Have I scheduled other fun activities outside of work into my schedule?”.

5. Turn Off. Tune Out.
Time is the most precious commodity for an entrepreneur and it’s easy to use every bit of our time towards pursuing our passions and building our empire. You may listen to business podcasts while you’re at the gym. You may talk to a business friend while driving your kids to the zoo. You read business news while in line for coffee. Business, when you’re passionate about it, can infuse every waking thought. It’s imperative you disconnect regularly to allow your mind to rest and replenish.

Tip: Block out time (daily or at the very least weekly) where you completely, utterly disconnect. Your brain, body and relationships will thank you.

Your health is not something you can just put on hold as your chasing after your dreams. You have to develop healthy habits now that will sustain you as you build your empire and find success in your business and your life.

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You can find her these days at: LearnSavvy | Showcasing Women | Facebook | Twitter

Jenn Aubert

This is Why Your Content Sucks by @LearnSavvy

August 18, 2015 by Jenn Aubert Leave a Comment

by Jenn Aubert | Featured Contributor

No one is immune from putting out sucky content. We either feel uninspired when we have a deadline or just feel the extraordinary pressure to push out more and more content that sometimes you just plain miss the mark.

Most people, at least the people I know, really want to produce great content that helps, entertains or educates their audience in a meaningful way.

They have wonderfully admirable intentions.

Then there are people who just put out sucky content (you know who they are.)

Here is how not to have content that stinks up the place:

1. It’s all about “me”.

Hey, did I tell you about me. And, did I mention me. Oh by the way, did you look at me.
Weaving your personality and story can provide wonderful content that connects you to your audience but there is a fine line between sharing for the sake of making a point and just droning on and on and on about what you ate, where you went shopping, the people you know (name dropping) and your personal grooming habits. Fine line, people! Walk this line carefully otherwise you turn off more people than you turn on to your message.

2. I’m truly, honestly, really concerned.

There is nothing worse that watching people pretend to be so concerned about their audience’s pain, then watch them in the same breath blatantly hock their services. The new way of marketing is to share and give before asking for a sale. We all know this but some still are not genuine in putting the audience first. They pretend to have your best interest at heart then twirl around and do something that just turns you off.

3. Please. Call me Dr.

You may have three degrees and people really do call you “Dr” but you can still talk like a human. I know it’s hard when you’ve been immersed in your field for years not to use crazy terms or sound uber professional. It’s difficult to break the habit if you’ve been publishing academic papers or writing business proposals. But, people really want to hear from a human –even more, they really want to hear from someone who sounds like their best friend.

4. The sky is falling.

Enough with the Chicken Little scare tactics. Crazy headlines might get people to open your email or click to read more but scaring the bejesus out of people and then conveniently providing them a solution (oh yeah for $2,000) is not content! It’s just fear mongering.

5. F $#@ing enough already

Sprinkling an occasional swear word to make a point is fine but littering your content with f-bombs like a drunken sailor on leave for two nights is just plain distracting. Plus you sound like you’re trying too hard to sound cool, sassy or cutting edge. By the way – you don’t. The English language is gorgeous. Find alternatives.

Creating meaning in the world with the work you’re doing relies heavily on the content that you share. We have all become writers – some of us prolific writers – whether we realize it or not.

Twenty years from now your guest posts and articles will still be circulating in the inter-web for your children and grandchildren to read. Make sure what you share really matters.

Be thoughtful. Be creative. Be real. Be you.

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You can find her these days at: LearnSavvy | Showcasing Women | Facebook | Twitter

Jenn Aubert

7 Unusual Ways Female Entrepreneurs Can Conquer Self-Doubt by @LearnSavvy

July 9, 2015 by Jenn Aubert 5 Comments

by Jenn Aubert | Featured Contributor

Self-doubt is rampant and you see it particularly in women when they’re launching a business.

That’s what happened with several of my closest entrepreneurial friends when they first started their businesses. They were former engineers, CPAs and recruiters – all of them successful in these fields – and yet, when they started their own businesses in areas completely different from their education and experience, their levels of self-doubt reached epic proportions.

It was heart breaking to watch but through time, experience, sisterhood and support, they each have overcome the burden of self-doubt to create successful thriving businesses.

When you dive into unknown waters of starting your own business feelings of uncertainty will inevitably bubble up. There are so many unknowns. You are constantly doing things that push you outside your comfort zone. There’s a chance that you will make mistakes or that you could fail at your venture. You are putting yourself out there in ways you never have in the past. Self-doubt will rise but here are seven ways to conquer it so you can follow your dreams of starting a business.

1. Stop comparing yourself to others.
Please just stop! Looking incessantly at your competitor’s website can make you crazy with self-doubt. Although you tell yourself you are doing competitive analysis (fancy business talk may make it sound better than stalking), you often walk away feeling deflated.

“The most dangerous thing about your competition …is your obsession with them. – Bernadette Jiwa

2. Find role models
Utilizing the (real) stories of others can help buoy your confidence. We often look at people who are highly successful and compare ourselves to them. We are only looking at the finished product and not the years of hard work and struggle they may have gone through. Often they are years ahead of where we are currently. Through reading stories of accomplished business women and really listening and learning from their years of hard work, struggles and wins, you can believe more in your own skills and the journey.

“I think the best role models for women are people who are fruitfully and confidently themselves, who bring light into the world.”― Meryl Streep

3. Replay past successes
Starting and building a business might be new territory but I’m sure you have had many successes in past roles and positions. Draw on those past wins to give yourself a quick shot of positivity. This will help you re-focus on drawing on your proven ability for success.

“Your past success is a foundation into future success.” ― Lailah Gifty Akita

4. Believe in the journey
If you have trouble believing in yourself then focus your beliefs on the journey. You may be traveling an unfamiliar road but many people have taken this unfamiliar path in the past. The road is paved with others – many of them household names – that shared your feelings of self-doubt. Trust that the journey itself with toughen you up – for the better.

“The greatest thing in this world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving.” ― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

5. Stop the spiral
As soon as you begin the negative inner chatter, immediately do something to break the cycle before you spiral down a very negative rabbit hole. Get up from your desk and take a walk. Call a friend. Play your favorite upbeat song. Quickly jot down ten things you’re grateful for. Often the chatter feeds on itself so the quicker you discharge it the better.

“You can, you should, and if you’re brave enough to start, you will.” ― Stephen King

6. Accept failure and move on quickly
We all make mistakes. Most people try very hard to avoid failure out of fear. They fear what failure means and how it will appear to friends and family. Failure and mistakes are part of this weird wild game called “entrepreneurship”. In knowing that, make sure you ready yourself for the challenge and be prepared to learn the invaluable lessons that come from failure.

“Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.” – Winston Churchill

7. Make a decision already
When you are unsure of yourself you often waffle when it comes to making decisions. Every decision feels heavy and you project ‘make-or-break’ scenarios to your choices. Not every decision you make is going to produce the results you were hoping for but the worst thing you can do is become paralyzed by the options. Each choice you make is a lesson so make your choices relatively quickly and as wisely as you can with the information in front of you.

It’s not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are. – Roy Disney

8. Surround yourself with cheerleaders
Many women start businesses from home and sadly in isolation from other people. Make sure you develop a network of other people who will support you on this wild journey. In particular, finding other women business owners who genuinely want to support one another is one of the best resources you could ever have.

“I’ve always believed that one woman’s success can only help another woman’s success.” ― Gloria Vanderbilt

Starting a business can be tough yet it can also be the best personal development exercise you will ever endure. Take the opportunity to overcome any insecurities you have, build up your confidence and watch your entire life and business change for the better.

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You can find her these days at:
LearnSavvy
Showcasing Women
Facebook
Twitter

Jenn Aubert