Entries by Ben

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12 Ways to Manage Stress in Business

The Entrepreneur’s Ultimate Guide to Goal Setting

Written by Ben Ivey

1. Tidy your environment

tidy up things

When you’re feeling down as an entrepreneur, your environment is often a representation of how you feel. A disorganised screen on your laptop, papers everywhere and reminder notes scattered in your room are common examples.

If you can start by tidying your environment it will help you feel better so that you can tackle the day in a better state.

2. Remind yourself of what is going right

I find that entrepreneurs who are feeling down are focusing on all the issues in their business as opposed to what is going right. Reflect on what you’re focusing on at the moment.

Are you focusing on issues you’re facing or reflecting on how far you’ve come?

If you can ask an empowering question such as what is going right in my business right now? It will help you move out of a negative emotional state.

3. Identify what causes you stress

Self awareness is the first step to enable you to overcome what is really causing you stress as a business owner. One of the best ways to identify these stressors is to take a step back and really reflect as to what is driving this stress.

Is it a specific challenge, a series of challenges, work colleagues, money ..etc? If you haven’t started journaling, I think it’s one of the best ways to help you identify what is causing you stress. Once you have identified the cause, then start to take actionable steps to overcome it.

4. Deload your brain

Most business owners when they are stressed, are thinking about too many projects, tasks and deadlines. One of the best ways to tackle this is by deloading your mind. This involves writing everything down that you’re trying to process.

You can do this either in the evening or in the morning, and once you do, you’ll find that your mind is much clearer as a result. This is not just a one time fix, this is a regular habit to install to allow your mind to fully process everything that is going on.

5. Exercise regularly

Exercising helps release dopamine in the brain, it helps your brain function and helps you think in different ways. Plus moving your body will just make you feel good!

If you can, exercise outside because then you can really move outside of the box life that most people live in and start to observe and appreciate the world around you.

6. Eat something healthy

Many business owners eat incredibly unhealthy food and wonder why they don’t feel good.

One of the best tips to help you become more healthy is to have 70% of your diet consisting of foods that are alive. These include all vegetables and fruits! By eating foods that are alive, you’ll start to feel better and think more clearly as a result.

7. Meditate

meditate

Sometimes we rush around so much, we never actually stop to think about how we’re really feeling in the business. When you suppress emotions what’s really happening is like a jack in the box getting ready to explode. You want to make sure you are processing everything that’s going on so that you don’t burn out nor say something that you regret.

Spend some time thinking about what is bothering you. You’ll start to observe your mind instead of thinking that you are your mind. This is one of the best ways to help manage stress.

8. Have a power nap

Power naps are one of the best stress relieving hacks for entrepreneurs! In life you may forget how important it is for your body to rest and actually recharge.

When speaking globally, power naps are one of the best ways to adjust to time zones and help me feel recharged. Sometimes just rejuvenating ourselves by going to sleep is one of the best ways to really make yourself feel better and think more clearly. Yes you can do this in your normal work week and you’ll be amazed with how you feel!

9. Put on music that inspires you

We all have our pump up songs that makes us feel amazing and it isn’t just the music but it’s the actual vibrations that help shift our body. This helps create an immediate change in how you feel.

Go dance around listening to your favourite tunes and then tell me if you are feeling stressed after! The truth is that your state can change instantaneously but it’s about interrupting the pattern. You have a negative pattern when you become stressed and music is a fantastic way to interrupt it.

When you can become a master of understanding how to interrupt your patterns then you will start to live an extraordinary life instead of a difficult stressed life that most business owners settle for.

10. Listen to inspiration

There is inspiration all around us. Read an entrepreneur’s autobiography, listen to inspirational leaders on YouTube, listen to any of the videos we share and hopefully it will make you laugh or atleast offer a different perspective.

This inspiration can keep you going through tough times. Remember motivation is like a shower you should take it daily! Yes you should be showering daily if you aren’t already and motivation is the same!

11. Speak to Friends

speak to friends

Friends know how to cheer you up, you can share your challenges and talk about what’s going on as opposed to bottling it up. It’s easy especially for male business owners to not share what’s really going on.

What I recommend is that you begin authentically sharing, and that vulnerability will allow others to open up to. Friends are such a great resource to help manage stress, use them and don’t take the burden on by yourself.

12. This too shall pass

One of the best ways to manage stress is to remind yourself of this phrase:

This too shall pass.

No matter what you’re experiencing, the challenges you’re facing or the crisis at hand. Remember, this too shall pass. Consider the question, will this matter, 5, 10 30 years down the line? If not, maybe add some perspective to allow yourself to be in a better emotional state.

2 extras points you may want to consider:

Watch a funny movie

Laughing is a fantastic way to allow yourself to unwind and destress. Watching a movie that makes you laugh and causes you to feel good is a great start. You can take your mind off the stress that you have and immerse yourself in something different.

This isn’t to distract you from what is going on in the business, but instead help you to stop overthinking. You’ll give yourself a break to truly relax and have a bit of fun!

Spend time with children

spend time childrenThis is so important because you start to see the innocence of life and how carefree children are. Through them you can start to appreciate what life really is about.

When watching a child, they will make you laugh purely by how ridiculously authentic they are, they won’t fart and blame someone else. They fart and are surprised where it comes from!

They don’t just sit there on their phone, they are genuinely fascinated by the world. Their wonder is something that can help you move out of any negative state.

When all is said and done, remember that our lives will be gone in a flash. It’s important to utilise everything you have whilst you are still here.

Choose to live an extraordinary life and let us help you on your journey. If you haven’t yet check out the Entrepreneur Lifestyle Accelerator to help you boost business success whilst creating your ideal lifestyle.

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August 17, 2020 by
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7 ways to quickly reduce stress and anxiety

The Entrepreneur’s Ultimate Guide to Goal Setting

Written by Ben Ivey

It’s easy to overcomplicate what you have to do to reduce stress and anxiety.

I hope the following 7 points help to offer a simple perspective to help you overcome these negative emotions.

If you feel like you know some of these points already, I want you to consider this: If you know something but you don’t do it, do you really know it?

I’d challenge you to implement what you learn below and I hope it can help you, just like these strategies have helped many other entrepreneurs.

1. Positive questions

This is such a key technique that has helped hundreds of the people I have worked with over the years. I find it is very common for entrepreneurs to ask questions such as: what is the worst that could happen?

The answers to these types of questions lead them on a downward spiral, where they keep coming up with even more terrible possibilities.

An alternative question to ask yourself could be: how can I appreciate that this moment is perfect just the way it is?

This alternative question allows your brain to focus on what is right as opposed to what is wrong. This in turn can help reduce your stress and anxiety in a very fast way.

2. Keep Walking

Keep Walking

Walking is one of the best techniques that I use to help myself reduce stress during the day. Yes it is still possible to feel stress! What differentiates those who have a great lifestyle vs those that struggle, is the way in which you manage it.

By going on a walk it helps you relax, your mind is stimulated in a different way and you can start thinking in a much clearer way. I challenge you to walk 10,000 steps minimum per day, to keep your mind and body in peak condition.

3. Hydrate more

Do you ever find that how your feel energy wise, affects how you respond to challenges as an entrepreneur? Some days you can deal with everything, but other days, something small can really stress you out.

Even more so there are even days where you feel a build up of stress over time until you feel like exploding like a volcano. One of the best ways to tackle this is actually through hydration.

Since our bodies are 60% water and our brain is 80% water. Anything that we do that dehydrates us will negatively affect us operating at an optimal level of energy.

Losses of 5% of your body weight in water decrease the capacity of work by 30%! You want to make sure that you’re adequately hydrated during the day, as it will help you have more energy to deal with issues.

4. Change perspective

Put it into perspective, does it really matter? Have you ever felt extremely frustrated that an email wouldn’t send, or a person hasn’t finished an item that you need ASAP? All entrepreneurs have been in these scenarios, yet can you change your perspective to maintain relaxed and avoid stress?

The key here is to think, will this really matter in 5 years time? What could I appreciate about this moment right now? Perhaps even taking a break for 5 minutes and coming back can help give you that new perspective to tackle something from a different angle.

5. Consistent Exercise

Consistent Exercise

If you’re struggling, frustrated and angry at a situation, one of the best ways to help reduce these negative emotions is through exercise. Whether this is going to the gym and lifting weight, doing gentle yoga or going for a run in nature.

You need to have a simple exercise practice that you can turn to, that will help shift your emotional state. Make sure that you pick an exercise that you enjoy doing that helps change your mood in a quick way.

6. Relax

You can’t focus on work 24/7 yet I find the people who are most stressed and anxious don’t ever relax. Go for a massage, have a bath or even a spa retreat! I am not sure what your guilty pleasure is to unwind, but whatever it is, do it.

If you’re constantly working on the business and on your breaks, are still thinking about the business, this is a must! You need to create a relaxing routine that allows you to let go of your stress and anxiousness each and everyday.

7. Breathing

Breathing is a great way to control your emotional state. When you’re anxious and stressed, your breathing is shallow. Instead choose to take deep breaths and focus on your breathing. This can help you more easily control how you feel and what you experience.

Remember, where focus goes energy flows. You want to make sure you focus on what makes you feel good, and not what causes you to feel anxious.

Want to reduce stress and anxiety even faster? Check out The Entrepreneur Lifestyle Accelerator.

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August 3, 2020 by
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Why Perfectionism Is Killing Your Business?

The Entrepreneur’s Ultimate Guide to Goal Setting

Written by Ben Ivey

Are you someone that likes everything to be purfect?

I’m guessing reading purfect may have annoyed you and you’re already thinking of writing in and saying that it’s spelt PERFECT BEN!

If you are someone that likes thing to be PERFECT, then why is it a bad thing?

Well let’s dive into Hannah’s story so you can understand how it affected her multi million-dollar property business.

Hannah is a business owner who has been running her property business for over 30 years. She has created a property empire but for some reason is always on edge!

She told me that she can never relax and that her mind is constantly wondering onto problems in her business. She can’t stop thinking about it. She said that the most peaceful time in her life was when she got injured and couldn’t work on the business.

She even asked me if a life of doing nothing is what she is created for, in order for her to be happy!

Now as you can imagine as we started working with each other, there were a few core patterns that I want you to see that she had in her life.

As you read, do reflect to see which ones relate to you:

1. Excessive stress

stress

Hannah knew that things could always be better. She would find herself always looking for things that were wrong in her business. No matter how many things she did, there was always an issue. Whether this was someone complaining about an issue they found with a property, staff that are ill or issues with the wifi! It always seemed that there was stress.

Not only this, when she would do fun activities, golf for example, she would get even more stressed! This stress meant that her business suffered, as she couldn’t handle taking on even more projects and clients purely because it was overwhelming.

2. Crushing failures

This pattern occurred for Hannah when there was a trigger that set her off. For example, she had an expectation that she would win a project. Yet many times she would lose out, in these moments, Hannah felt that she must have done something wrong.

This in turn meant she was looking for more issues and experiencing even more negative emotions. This would lead her on a downward spiral where literally for days she wouldn’t do any work due to being overwhelmed whilst constantly asking the question of: “what did I do wrong.”

When you fail and you will most certainly do, this probably hits you so hard that you may also go on a downward spiral. This pressure you feel to always succeed isn’t just in your business though, but also in other areas of your life.

When you are going through these downward spirals resulting in negative emotions you will perform even worse. This affects your productivity at work, as well as the team as they take in all of the negative energy you’re giving off.

3. Can’t trust people

Trusting people was something Hannah struggled with for a long time, especially when it comes to very important clients! Why would she trust them? She can do it better herself!

She can trust employees and managers to do the easy tasks that aren’t as important but when it comes to the big projects. It’s better that she checks on everything and makes sure that it is done because if they make a mistake then that would mean severe consequences!

You can only imagine how this stopped her expanding her business as she was always working in the business as opposed to on the business.

Unfortunately due to this lack of trust it meant that she would never be able to leave her business that she had created over the past 30 years. Only when this pattern was removed could she start to look into other projects in her life.

4. No compromise

Hannah would also have a no compromise attitude when it came to negotiations in business. You can imagine the issues she faced, as she wanted everything done her way.

It was very difficult to negotiate new business opportunities and make her a better innovator by being open to other people’s opinions. This meant that despite her success, she didn’t have the success trajectory she was truly capable of.

When we look at successful entrepreneurs around the world it’s often their flexibility and ability to act quickly that helps them most. This is especially important through periods of uncertainty where companies must innovate to stay ahead of competition.

5. Lost opportunities

Another pattern that was an issue was Hannah’s belief of: all or nothing. This can be seen as a pro and a con in different circumstances.

In some cases it is great to be a person that can go all in or not at all. However, if that’s all you can ever do then big issues will occur. For example, when Hannah looked into side projects or trying new things it would be something that would be pushed to the bottom of the list. She wasn’t willing to give things a go.

Alternatively when she finally did try something. She would go all in and end up wasting a lot of money, time and energy on something that wasn’t that important.

Perhaps you’re in a similar position, where you won’t take projects on if you feel you can’t complete them to your standard. Maybe you’re wasting opportunities right now and losing vital time as a result?

6. Unrealistic expectations

expectation

As a perfectionist, Hannah would expect results that were way above what many of her employees were capable of. Despite that she knew this, she would still push for this standard. Unfortunately this would often lead to issues for her employees as well as problems with motivation.

Moreover, conflict would occur if things were not done her way, as opposed to just getting the job done. Instead of expanding business, her actual outcome was to expand her business in “her” way.

This would work for people that are like her but for others it creates conflict. Are you causing conflicts in your business through too high expectations?

If you can learn to let go of the perfectionism holding you back and start to allow yourself to be happy. The reason I say allow is that when we look into the top 5 regrets of the dying, one of them was actually: “ I wish I allowed myself to be happier” So once again, you need to allow yourself to be happy, then you are going to have a much more fulfilled and successful life. The best strategy I can give you is to trade your expectations for gratitude in every area of your life. If you can start to do this then your world will shift in a very different direction.

If you too are struggling with the challenge of perfectionism. Do book a call with me below so I can share how we help entrepreneurs like yourself to make the shift, and massively boost business success.



Overcome Perfectionism

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July 20, 2020 by
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How to create a great lifestyle whilst building a profitable business?

The Entrepreneur’s Ultimate Guide to Goal Setting

Written by Ben Ivey

1. Be persistent

On the entrepreneurial journey you will face challenges. There will be times where you want to give up, moments where you can’t see a clear path and even times where you just want to quit completely. Yet it is in these moments that you must remember why you wanted to start a business and take the steps necessary in order to make it happen.

2. Be consistent

You can become the most motivated person in the world. But if you aren’t consistent then it doesn’t matter. You must be held accountable and move yourself forward in a sustainable way. The best and most effective way by far to do this is to hire a coach. Have someone to help keep you accountable and call you out when you aren’t sticking to your goals. This will help keep you on track towards what you desire.

3. Clarify your vision

What is the vision that you have for yourself and your business? Do you want to carry on working in the business for the next 10-20 years or perhaps you want to create a business that runs without you. You must clarify what you want to create, so that you can build the business so it isn’t a burden.

4. Create lifestyle principles

You want to make sure that your lifestyle and the business grow hand in hand. Most people want to have a business that runs without them and then they will live their life. However, you want to make sure that you’re enjoying the journey.

The key here is to define how you want to live your life no matter what, so that you keep balanced despite business challenges. It’s important to define these clearly and stick to these 80% of the time. Remember no one is perfect! By doing this you’ll have created a great foundation to build a business.

5. Create a business not a hobby

Do what you love and the money will follow is as stupid as saying, eat whatever you want and you’ll be thin. It doesn’t work. You need to become business minded and actually create a business. It doesn’t matter how passionate you are about what you do, you have to be able to market it to the right people in order to make a business.

6. Do business in the cloud

If you want to live a great lifestyle, being able to move remotely is of paramount importance. Now more than ever, we see how much easier it is to be able to work from anywhere in the world. If you build your business like this, it will enable you to have much more freedom to do what you love.

7. Master your time management

You can have the best of intentions to be an entrepreneur, yet if you don’t master time management, it could be a VERY long journey for you. One of the most important skills to master is your time. You want to become more efficient with your time so that you can achieve more in less time. This skill is not optional but is a MUST for all entrepreneurs who really want to excel in their lives and business.

8. Overcome your fear

Fear is what will hold you back. Through working with entrepreneurs from all walks of life, I have come to found that many entrepreneurs fear failure. They fear not being good enough and they fear they can’t create what they desire. The sad result that arises is that they don’t take the risks they need to in their business in order to create success. I would challenge you to embrace the fear and do it anyway. This is where you can become the courageous leader you want to be.

9. Avoid burn out

As you build a business, your biggest challenges are often not external but instead internal. The stress and overwhelm you experience from being pulled in multiple directions and the frustration of consistent challenges can often be the cause of failure. For many business owners they burn out building the business because they haven’t overcome these internal battles. If you too are struggling with this, download the 5 hacks to overcome overwhelm here

10. Find a mentor/coach

find a mentor

No one in life has ever achieved anything great, without having guides and mentors along their journey. As an entrepreneur you will want to make sure that you learn from the best people possible to help you short cut your way to success. Learn from their mistakes, optimise yourself and become a truly remarkable business leader.

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July 9, 2020 by
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10 great lifestyle tips for entrepreneurs

The Entrepreneur’s Ultimate Guide to Goal Setting

Written by Ben Ivey

1. Business Boundaries

A business boundary is what you put in place so that you don’t burn out. You might consider having a business boundary such as turning off emails in the evening, having a cut off time from work, or even choosing to not work one day each week. These business boundaries help create space for you to enjoy your life whilst you build your business.

2. Lifestyle Principles

You want to make sure that your lifestyle and the business grow hand in hand. Most people want to have a business that runs without you and then they will live their life. You want to make sure that you are enjoying the journey. The key here is to define lifestyle principles to help you stay on track. When do you want to workout, spend time with family, socialise with friends …etc. These principles act as a guideline to keep you on track.

3. Energy principles

Energy principles are of paramount importance to keep your health and energy in optimal condition as an entrepreneur. Very often others can easily influence you. Perhaps it is what they eat, their bad habit in the evenings or doing activities that aren’t in your best interest. You want to clearly define energy principles that help you maintain energy throughout the day, whilst also giving you the freedom and flexibility to enjoy your life. This is in one of the core modules in the Entrepreneur Lifestyle Accelerator.

4. Weekly Evaluation

A weekly evaluation is one of the most important habits you can have as an entrepreneur. This is the golden nugget of advice, and I urge you to please do this, as it will change your life. A weekly evaluation consists of answering a series of questions each week to keep you on track. This helps you understand what to measure, what to improve on and prevents you from falling off track. This is single handedly one of the best habits that has helped me excel in all areas of my life.

5. Daily Power

Daily power is a habit that is of fundamental importance to keep you on track. In essence you want to have a few core things that you do each day that helps you stay in a great emotional state. By doing this, you can more effectively lead your business, make better decisions and enjoy the journey. This is your daily power. You want to create a daily power that consists of gratitude, visualization and affirmations. This helps give you an unshakeable emotional state throughout the day.

6. Financial Freedom Progress

Do you know exactly how much money you need in order to live an incredible lifestyle without working? Have you ever thought about breaking these numbers down into tangible goals to see if you’re on track? If you haven’t, this is something to seriously consider doing, you want to make sure that you know with complete clarity exactly what amount you need to never have to work again. This is a target that is built up over time and helps keep you focused towards your end goal.

7. Mentor/mentee

You want to make sure that you are mentoring other people and being mentored along your journey. I have found that mentors have been invaluable in giving me the confidence, insights and skills to accelerate my success. Moreover, being able to mentor others reinforces everything I have learnt and gives me an opportunity to give back to those who need me most.

8. Constant growth

Your business growth will never outgrow your personal growth. This means that you MUST keep growing as an entrepreneur in all areas of your life. Investing in courses, programs and training so that you stay ahead of competition. Moreover you can use these resources to optimise yourself, tweak your systems and learn to live an even better lifestyle.

9. Time management systems

Time management is more important than money. Why do I say that, well it’s very simple, money you can earn back, time you can’t. Unfortunately we all have a limited amount of time on this earth, yet money is in abundance. If you can learn to master the finite time you have, you can become more efficient, get more things done and do much more with what you have. This is key to enable you to become an outstanding entrepreneur.

10. Holiday Time

Yes as part of a lifestyle you need to have a holiday! You need to rest, unwind and relax. You want to make sure that you schedule holidays far in advance so that you can plan around them. It’s key to build your business around the lifestyle you want to live. Make sure to book them in and give yourself that space. It will help you look at your business with fresh eyes and be even more efficient on your return.

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June 30, 2020 by
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Does your Business Personality Type impact business growth?

The Entrepreneur’s Ultimate Guide to Goal Setting

Written by Ben Ivey

As entrepreneurs we have a business personality type, which is at our core. By understanding who you are at your core, it will help you better perform as a business owner.

The Artist

– Enjoys working on their skills and developing their chosen craft
– They love their work and can’t imagine doing anything else
businessman personality

The System Manager

– Consistently builds systems to serve their clients and deliver products
– Enjoys building business processes to more efficiently run the business

The Business Creator

– Is the risk taker that enjoys the thrill of making money
– Enjoys the challenge of building a business and often takes on multiple business ventures.

Now that you have identified which one you are at your core, make sure to watch the video to understand how it impacts your business growth.

Interested in accelerating your business growth whilst living an extraordinary lifestyle? Check out the Entrepreneur Lifestyle Accelerator

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June 22, 2020 by