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THE ENTREPRENEUR MINDSET + MEANING OFFREEDOMI know what you’re thinking. Mojitos with your laptop on a sunny beach. Lyingaround in a hammock somewhere in the South American jungle responding to cliente-mails. Blasting out blog posts in between scuba diving in Bali. Ahh…the life of amobile entrepreneur.I’m here to burst a little bit of your bubble. Well, more like give you a reality checkkick in the ass. As much as all mobile entrepreneurs, digital nomads, locationindependent lifestylers, or whatever else you may call us love the above…we workgoddamn hard to get more and more of that into our daily lives, as often as we can.Here’s a newsflash: it doesn’t happen like that right away. Actually, it takes a lot ofplanning, falling on your face, persistence, hard work, more falling on your face, andmost importantly…the sheer determination that the life of freedom based on yourown design is fucking worth pursuing.This is why the entrepreneur mindset is so important. This is the #1 reason why somepeople go back to the cubicle life, and others thrive in a cubicle-free zone.Not everyone, I repeat, not everyone is cut out for the freedom-based lifestyle andbusiness deal. Some people need structure in their lives. They need to know “forsure” what’s going to happen next. Some need security. And there’s nothing wrongwith that, and as I’ve always said before, this is merely a choice, and it’s YOUR choice,so it’s neither right nor wrong.It is you that has to live with all your choices when you kick the bucket (I know,morbid, but it’s true). So whatever you decide, just make sure you stand by it, andthat is REALLY is…your most authentic choice.So, what can you expect to be able to have an entrepreneur mindset? Well forstarters…• You need the ability to be flexible and be able to “roll with the punches”.• You have to let go of the mentality of needing to control everything and shiftyour perspective to go with what could happen, and not only one designatedway of thought (How come this didn’t turn out the way I totally planned for?!?).• Expect to be a student of life and business, to learn A LOT, and be open tonew ways to do things. Yes, this means stop being stubborn in your old waysand be open to trying new things.• Reprogram yourself to look at failure as just another way to do thingsdifferently. Entrepreneurs and change-makers in the world fail more timesthan they have wins. You’re going to have to grow a thicker skin and becomemore resilient to the idea of “failure” (because this is what other scaredThe Must-Haves of a Successful Online Business | www.ScrewTheCubicle.com

people told us is SO bad). I’m not saying it’ll be easy..but one of the keythings to reframe.• The accountability that what you put in is what you get out. This is no “get richquick” scheme..and if someone promises you that, run for the hills. Thehonest truth is that it takes guts and commitment to quit your job and pursue afreedom-based career without the “rules” that you’ve been used to. You getto create these rules. If you don’t like something, change it..do somethingdifferent in your career or business. That’s why you left that 9-5 rat race tobegin with, isn’t it?• Shift your mindset to look for opportunities and possibilities, and get into ahabit of mourning over something that didn’t work out for a short amount oftime, and then haul ass. You’re going to always be looking FORWARD, andonce this becomes habitual, you’ll spend way less time “crying over spilledmilk” (as my Chinese tiger Mom would say – well, she’s not that much of atigress..but yes, sometimes..sorry Mom!).• Let go of the “stuff” in your life. Yeah, that’s looking at your 50 pairs of shoes.Or that caramel macchiato you have to have twice a day. Shit’s about to getreal, girlfriend (or boyfriend). Especially for the mobile entrepreneur thatcraves freedom, and mobility. You can’t travel and be spontaneous with 3suitcases to your name. Plus, selling most of your belongings that you don’tREALLY need is one of the most freeing thing you’ll ever do, to not beattached to these things you thought was your identity. And, you get startup“moo-la” to help fund your dream…your real dream.• Believe in the reality that you get to create your own reality. Forget all that BSthey told you about what you can or can’t do. We live in the most advancedtime in our world, and so many types of lifestyles are possible with the ideasand technology to support them. Do you get that you get to be the pilot of thiswonderful flight called life? Time to step up and take the front seat.Perfect. Now you’ve gotten a taste of what it’s like to think like a freedom-basedentrepreneur.Now let’s get to the fun part.WHAT DOES FREEDOM MEAN TO YOU?I get a lot of people that say they want freedom in their lives. Great! Give me thejuicy details and tell me everything you’ve imagined. Tell me what freedom reallymeans to you.Freedom to do what exactly? How does it feel to have freedom? What changes inother aspects of your life? How does it change your perception about life itself? Is itjust location independency type of freedom?The Must-Haves of a Successful Online Business | www.ScrewTheCubicle.com

If we do not imagine it in full detail, our dreams become just that…a dream. We mustbe able to think about it so goddamn much that we can’t imagine NOT having that life.Now that’s what’s going to motivate your ass.Most people that think of freedom, they may relate to:• Freedom to do work I love that is purposeful.• Freedom to express how I want to share my truth.• Freedom to choose where I live.• Freedom to play and explore.• Freedom to learn and grow as a person.Do this right now:Get into a quiet room, shut everything else down, and allow yourself to dream.Envision the most ideal day, week, month, or year that makes your heart sing.Describe the work you do, outline how it creates an impact. Write about yourenvironment, what you can see or smell right when you wake up. Describe thefeelings you have in the day, what do you want to feel that is most joyful to you?Write at least a page in detail about what freedom means to you in all aspects of yourlife.Don’t let that monkey chatter in your mind say, “We can’t put THAT down…doesn’tseem possible”. Everything is possible. Even if it’s not possible today, that doesn’tmean it cannot be possible another day.It’s true that you don’t have a crystal ball, but neither does that monkey.The Must-Haves of a Successful Online Business | www.ScrewTheCubicle.com

YOUR STORY + MESSAGEWe live in a world where humans want to be able to relate to each other. We cravethat personal connection. We love it when our hearts go all fluttery when we seesomething that touches us (even if it’s those ridiculous cat videos on Youtube). Weare moved by emotion.Whether you want to believe it or not, or are shy about telling your personal story,people are motivated to support you, buy from you, think of you, and are loyal to youbased on whether they resonate with you or not.And guess what? You come with a story. We all do.And yes, you can choose which stories to tell (as long as they’re true). You don’tneed to tell them your dramatic divorce stories when you are marketing your webdevelopment services. But those stories may be useful if you were a relationshipcoach.Why is your story essential?Your story is what makes you unique. Only you have had the sequence of events,experiences, formulas, and insight that is your life story. And your life story so farhas gotten you to make specific decisions, chosen certain doors, therefore alsogiving you insight and learning from those experiences.How are you designed to help based on who you are? What experiences has led youto do what you do? What darkness have you overcome to see the light? Your storycomes with things you overcame or found a solution for. This is essential for yourfuture clients to know and relate to. They will say, “A-ha! He/she has been there. Itrust him/her!People need to know on a deeper level that you get them. Get vulnerable!This then leads me to the secondary thing….what you have discovered due to your lifeexperiences so far.A MESSAGE YOU WANT TO SHAREYour message is the fuel that drives your motivation for your career or business. Thatis, if you’re using your business to impact change and help the world. This is what Ibelieve makes businesses fulfilling and purposeful.This is now not only just a business. It is a calling to do something bigger.Your message is the reason behind why you do what you’re do, and most importantly,it’s also the shared PURPOSE between you and your tribe/clients. There is a “Why”behind your business and career, and with that kind of fire behind your work, youcan’t subconsciously even allow yourself to go back into the cubicle.The Must-Haves of a Successful Online Business | www.ScrewTheCubicle.com

THE ESSENTIALS OF YOUR WEBSITEWell you know the “age-old” saying…”No money, no honey”. Oh wait, what I meantto say was, “No website, no client bites”. Yeah, that’s it. And this is for reals.If you want to play in the online world, this is the #1 most essential tool you need tostart with. Consider your website like your storefront, your office, your firstimpression. Would you even entertain the idea of buying or using someone’sservices when you can’t “Google” them or find out more about them online? Theterm “Google it” is so part of our every day vocabulary, it would be absolutelyludacris for you not to have a website when you start your freedom-based business.And guess what “freedom-based” means? Not being stuck in one spot – an office, acubicle, a location. So that means you are pretty virtual and online-based.Although a website is essential to kick-start your freedom-based business, it doesn’thave to cost an arm and a leg. It’s up to you where you want to spend your money,but if you don’t have much to start with, you can easily make one yourself, or for ourfriends that are super un-technical, outsource it to developers OUTSIDE of first worldcountries to do it for you.Here are your options:Option 1: Hire someone to do it for youAs much as Option 1 is obviously the most headache-free and easiest route, noteveryone can afford it. Website design costs anywhere from $1,000 – $3,000 forbasic sites, especially if you want it to look purrdy. My first business website cost me$2,500, and the process was super smooth and headache-free, but my secondbusiness website (Screw The Cubicle), I decided to go another route. I took the timeto create a branding board of what I actually liked, and scout out websites I alreadylove, and created a detailed document for an outsourced designer (an actual goodone!). And to be honest, I had to give her A LOT of direction, hence the cheaperrates. But, if you’re someone that is great at details and like being a part of thecreative process, then go for it! Because of that route I took, my website ended upcosting 60-70% less than what I was quoted before.Option 2: Outsource itYes, you can outsource shit you don’t want to do. Most solopreneurs and start-upbusiness owners spend a hell of a lot of time trying to figure out how to do itthemselves, and they get frustrated and end up struggling through it rather than puttheir time to the things that they’re good at AND will actually help the business grow.Some freelance and outsourcing links:E-Lance | http://www.elance.comOdesk | http://www.odesk.comThe Must-Haves of a Successful Online Business | www.ScrewTheCubicle.com

Virtual Staff Finder | http://www.virtualstafffinder.comI like dealing with the Philippines for web design, I find they can be super creative(and great English!) if you found a great developer and designer there. I’m going tobe honest..it took me 7 interviews to find a good one, so be prepared to put in sometime to filter through and interview them before letting them touch your back-end(not that kind, your website back-end).Online Jobs Philippines | http://www.onlinejobs.ph – you can pay them extra tointerview for you once they know what they are looking forEasy Outsource | http://www.easyoutsource.comOption 3: DIYDo it yourself. There are lots of DIY options nowadays that doesn’t require coding ortech skills to be able to whip up a nice looking site. If you can drag and drop, youare good to go. You will still need to spend some time and effort on this though.SquareSpace | http://www.squarespace.comWix | http://www.wix.comWeebly | http://www.weebly.comYou’ll also need to find your own images, and have a bit of a design on banners,boxes, etc. Of course your business SHOULD have your own photographs, but youmay need stock photography or images to plunker around your site. In that case…Purchase images at:iStock | http://www.istockphoto.comShutterstock | http://www.shutterstock.comPhotodune | http://www.photodune.netNeed to do some DIY graphic design on existing photography? One of myFAVOURITE tools to use for banners, Facebook timelines, social media images, e-book maker, etc.Canva | http://www.canva.com(You have been warn, this is SUPER addictive)If you need someone to do things like graphic design, musical jingle for your videos,simple logo, and really, some pretty random things, you should check this out.Fiverr | http://www.fiverr.comThe Must-Haves of a Successful Online Business | www.ScrewTheCubicle.com

THE BASICS OF WHAT SHOULD BE ON YOURWEBSITEYou’ve got less than 5 seconds to make an impression on your website. That’s howfast today’s online audience takes to either click to learn more or “X” you out.What’s important?• Choose a website theme and look that reflects on what your business is about.If in doubt, make a list of websites you love, and go to.www.wpthemedetector.com and find out which theme they are using.• Pick colours and styles that reflect your personality. Do what I did byplunking fonts, colours, look, and feel into a branding board onwww.pinterest.com for yourself or a designer.• Have a simple call to action on your landing page (home page) for people tosubscribe or opt-in.• Give VALUE in exchange for people’s e-mail to opt-in. Not just a crappy e-book, get creative! Give them something you could charge but won’t.• Make sure your site is user friendly and easy to navigate. Keep it simple, andtest out your site as a client and get a feel for how easy it is to move around ornot.• Awesome photos of you, especially if you have a service-type business.People want to connect to a face. Get a photography student to take photos,or a friend to help that knows the basics about cameras. Or hire someonekick-ass. You’ll need these photos for future stuff anyway.In a nutshell, you can start with a very basic site that looks great, by just having thesepages:• Home page (Banner, call to action opt-in, sidebar for social media “follow”,brief description of what you do that links them to your “About” page).• About page (Tell them your story, why they should work with you, whatsparked you to create your services or products, credentials, experience).• Blog page (If you don’t have it on your Home page) – yes, blogs are essentialas content is king for online businesses to be found.• Work With Me or Products page (Tell them how to experience your servicesor products).• Contact page (A contact form to submit, contact information like phone # ande-mail, links to social media channels).You don’t need all the fancy bells and whistles right away when you first start youronline freedom-based business. You can always upgrade or add more to it later. Trynot to get into the “bright shiny object” syndrome of looking at other people’swebsites and getting what I call “biz pornography”…you have no idea what THEIRsite looked like when they got started.Just focus on what is priority, and know things will change. But start with a basic sitethat looks “good enough” to make a nice first impression.The Must-Haves of a Successful Online Business | www.ScrewTheCubicle.com

THE MONEY IS IN YOUR E-MAIL LISTThe “bread and butter” of what drives the dolla dolla bills into your bank account isyour one and only….e-mail list.The e-mail list is important, because this will be the people that have said, “Yes, I likeyou, and what you do, and I’m interested enough to put my e-mail so I can keepreceiving information from you, thank you”.Whoa, Nelly. Talk about a warm lead that you may be able to bank on rather thanjust marketing to people you have to convince to want what you sell.Part of a successful online business is to grow that list over time, but that doesn’tmean that you can’t still be successful with a small list to begin with. It’s quality overquantity after all. The people that are on your list that will open your e-mails, readyour blog posts, click on the links on a campaign….well, those are the ones that aremost likely to put their money where their mouth is.But people don’t give out their e-mails and allow you the permission of being in theirinbox for just anything these days. They want to be able to receive value, and to geta taste of what it’s like to work with you.And you’re going to give it to them.My belief is that when you give massive value, you’re going to reap the benefits fromthat exchange. After all, money can be viewed as an exchange, and if people seehow much effort and value you give to your opt-in offers, they’re going to want to seewhat you can do with your paid products or services.So, start thinking about what your ideal client NEEDS and DESIRES to be able to craftup an excellent opt-in that’s going to give them a taste of your genius. Give themsomething that will make them go gaga even before they work with you.Why having an e-mail list and continually growing it is a NON-NEGOTIABLE:• It helps you create relationships with the people that matter most. If they areon your list, they start to know you in a deeper way.• It helps you communicate your offerings, updates, thoughts, and expertise tothem.• Your business appears in their golden inbox, not lost in a social media post orblog post.• Your online business depends on it as you are virtual.• You can start targeting the people that have opened your e-mails or haveclicked on specific links with specific keywords so you know how to market tothem appropriately with other e-mail campaigns.The Must-Haves of a Successful Online Business | www.ScrewTheCubicle.com

Some “food for thought” opt-in ideas:• Short video series helping your clients with a small piece of the problem theyface.• An e-course in PDF format, video + PDF, or audio + PDF.• Guided audio with instructions to help relieve a pain or to bring calmness totheir lives.• A detailed toolkit or report about a topic of great interest to them.• A beautifully designed inspirational e-book or manifesto piece they can printout.• “10 Things You Need to Know About…” report.• Audio or video interviews with people that give insight or value to your clientsin an interview series.• “How To” worksheets or course on a topic where they can see results rightaway when you are able to walk them through it.You can use the following e-mail marketing providers:Aweber |http://www.aweber.comI use Aweber for Screw The Cubicle, and quite like their platform and customerservice, especially when I run into an issue I can’t fix myself. They usually answerwithin 24 hours. You can set up auto-responders once someone subscribes, andcreate different lists for different interests of your subscribers. For a low cost of$19/month, you get up to 500 subscribers and unlimited e-mails. $29/month for up to2,500 subscribers.Mailchimp | http://www.mailchimp.comAnother favourite amongst small business owners. You can get up to 1,200subscribers for free, but no automation with that freebie account.Here’s an idea…Scout out which e-mail list you are currently subscribed to and actually LOVEreceiving their e-mails? What are they doing that motivates you to open and clickthrough? Is it their humour? Is it the content that makes you go “A-ha!”? Is it theirability to just “read your mind” and just get how you feel?How often do they send their e-mails? How often is too often for you? Are there ideasof certain themes or topics that you would love to emulate?After your scouting, make a list of e-mail marketing ideas that have gotten you toclick on their e-mails and look forward to receiving more. You can then have someideas to start scheduling your e-mail marketing campaigns when you are ready to doso.The Must-Haves of a Successful Online Business | www.ScrewTheCubicle.com

WRITING KILLER CONTENT SO PEOPLE FINDYOUI’ve said it earlier on….Content is king. Especially in the online world.Your visibility of your website depends on whether your content is relevant to yourspecific target market of your clients. You’re going to need to get into the heads ofwhat your clients search for to solve their problem or research more about theproblem.Most likely, you’ve been exactly where your ideal clients are. Perhaps years ago.You have once experienced their “pain” of wanting to be hungry enough to solve thisproblem they have. Lucky for them, you have figured out a formula, know how theyfeel, and therefore designed at this point in your life to help them.I have received new clients, requests for interviews and podcasts, and even amagazine cover spread from people finding out about me through my content. AndI’ve never met or even known about them before they contacted me.This is why your Blog is one of the most important things you’re going to have onyour website.For that reason, your blog must:• Have a unique voice to share a message that is relevant that your coreaudience can resonate with.• A purpose of delivering value and service to others.• Have topics and content that is of interest to your audience – you can answerquestions that they may already be typing in on Google.• Be passionate and meaningful. People see through the bullshit thesedays…so if you’re always just blogging about selling them something, theywill lose interest…fast.• Must reach the audience on a personal level. Some of my best blog posts thatwere well received where people e-mail me to tell me directly are the oneswhere I was super vulnerable, raw, and honest. People want to know you’rehuman too, and that builds trust between you and your tribe.How to know what to blog about:Remember when I talked about what PROBLEM you solve? Well within that largerproblem, there also lies little bite-sized problems relating to that big hairy one.One thing I like to do is do a brainstorm on all the problems I can imagine my idealclients facing, feeling, and saying to be able to craft up great topics for a blog post.The Must-Haves of a Successful Online Business | www.ScrewTheCubicle.com

Then, for every problem, think about what your solution or advice would be. Part ofhow you can do this, is again, go sleuthing. Go eavesdrop on social media networksor public forums where people voice out their thoughts and feedback aboutparticular issues that relate to you and your business. Find out what the commonthings people are saying about the big problem you solve.There could even be multiple blog ideas to solve a particular piece of the problem.You can do them in parts.Think about what key insights you know about the problem, that if your clients oraudience knew, would give them that light bulb moment?You could add even more value to blogs by not only giving insight and advice, butalso giving them a “mission of the week”, or a list of “steps to do this right now”.You’ll need to make it a habit to blog and create content, just like every other priorityin your business, because it’s über- important. It is what drives traffic to yourwebsite, and adds to your e-mail/subscriber list or clients and fans of your business.You can plan out your blogging schedule ahead of time, and you can still be flexibleto edit it if additional topics come up from your research or feedback from yourclients. However if you take the time to plan out your blog schedule ahead of time, itmakes it a lot easier to block off that time to do it rather than have to think up of a newtopic each week or bi-weekly.So, let’s say you blog 2 x per month, that is 24 blog topics you have to come up withfor the YEAR, which isn’t so bad if you spent a couple of hours focusing on that anddoing a bit of research ahead of time.The Must-Haves of a Successful Online Business | www.ScrewTheCubicle.com

SOCIAL MEDIA TO GROW YOUR BUSINESSIn the age of social media, blog posts, articles, videos, and more get shared easilyand effectively with just a click of a button. This helps to get the word out about whoyou are and what you do to a much larger audience than who you know directly.If you are mixing with the cool kids on social media, then you’ll also know that it cansuck up A LOT of your time. To the point where you wake up every morning, and feellike you need to check your Facebook account first, rather than kiss you husband,wife, girlfriend, or boyfriend first.Stop playin’, you know social media is as addicting as hell.For that reason, business owners like us, who have to dedicate a lot of time tobuilding our businesses, need to have self control on how often we are active onsocial media and use our time there efficiently.If you are starting your business, I would recommend picking TWO social mediastreams to start with. Yes, TWO. It can get way too hectic and overwhelming to startwith more than that. You’ve got other shit to do, and you can always add morestreams later on when needed.So pick the two between all the delicious streams like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest,Instagram, etc. I myself only usually use Facebook and Twitter, but I’ve beenexperimenting with Instagram lately.How to schedule your weekly posts like a boss:I love to reserve Mondays or Fridays (beginning or end of your week) to dedicate 1-2hours to PRE-schedule all my social media postings for the week. I usually doanywhere between 1-2 posts per day, as I have clients from different time zones, butonce per day is also fine.My favourite right now, is this one:Buffer | http://www.bufferapp.comI friggin LOVE this app. What won me over? How easy and fast the app is, and thefact that it offers SUGGESTIONS for posts that are in the category of your type ofcontent…genius! And not to mention the amazing customer service they provide.And best of all…absolutely FREE for up to 2 social media accounts.How to use social media to engage your audience:In order to use social media effectively, and to get the most out of the time and effortinvested in using it, you’re going to have to engage your audience to share, like, retweet,etc. the content you are posting.The Must-Haves of a Successful Online Business | www.ScrewTheCubicle.com

So…it’s safe to say then that your content should be….engaging.Here are some tips to get started:Goal #1: Know and understand your audienceHow well do you know your audience so that you can deliver valuable and amazingcontent to them? Get clear on who they are, what is important to them, and whatintrigues them to want to communicate back to you or share your postings?Goal #2: Add value and help themRemember we talked earlier about what “problem” you solve? That will come inhandy with knowing what your audience wants, and how you can help them with yourknow-how and expertise on this problem.Your business success is based on your solution to help a specific group of peoplewith a problem. What does your audience need to know or need encouragement into help support them daily? How can you get personal and vulnerable to share yourown stories too?Be a human. You are in the human business, so it’s not always about up-sells orpromotions, but a genuine desire to help and reach out.Engage them, ask purposeful questions, and challenge them. Not just pretty imagesand quotes that look nice. If you are to post a great quote or image, say somethingabout it that is thoughtful and meaningful, and encourage your followers to sharetheir thoughts too.Goal #3: Post effectively (and don’t annoy them)The worst thing about following someone on social media is to constantly get streamsof updates that may be unrelated or way too much information. A good rule of thumbis for every post you do to market/promote/sell, make sure you have 3-4 other poststhat are to genuinely help them.Pick times to schedule your posts according to your followers’ time zones, and usethose social media schedulers I suggested where they can help you pick the besttimes that are most effective for that time zone. It saves you a ton of headache or just“winging” it.The Must-Haves of a Successful Online Business | www.ScrewTheCubicle.com

HOW NOT TO LOSE YOUR SHIT IN THE PROCESSBeing an entrepreneur is exciting. The taste of freedom and choice is amazing, forsure. With that, also comes responsibility and accountability to your business.Because, guess what? Just as you are the captain of this ship, you also have to be theone leading and guiding the ship.And a solopreneur can get overwhelmed in the process.I get it. There are times I say, “Shit, did I really quit everything for these hours??”And then I have to remind myself of the bigger WHY for this unconventional way ofliving and working. And THAT takes the cake.Most days.So here I am sharing with you my best tips (at this moment in my own life andbusiness), to not lose your shit in the process of building your business andcontinuously growing it.Tip #1: Start your day with an intentionNothing is worst than starting your day going right to your laptop and saying, “OK,what shall I begin now? E-mails? Client marketing? Blogging?” You’ll getmisdirected on what are priorities and end up doing so many things that may not beas important as what you REALLY need to do for your bigger goals.Start your first part of your day, even if it’s 15 minutes right in the morning after yourshower, or whatever your routine is for the morning…by being STILL.If it’s in your practice to meditate, start with that. Or just sit quietly and be still withyour eyes closed for at least 15 minutes. Think about what you want your day to belike. Pump those feelings you want to feel for the day. Is it joy, happiness, fulfillment,celebration, excitement? What is it? You don’t need to think about what you need toDO to have those feelings, just “What is it that I want to feel today that would beamazing?”Tip #2: Turn off everything and plan your biggest priorities before end of dayYou know how easy it is to get stuck into the e-mail vortex of clients and peopleneeding things from you. If you open p your e-mail first, what will happen is you’llget stuck into fulfilling what everyone else needs first, before your own.So take some time in the morning and write these down:• What are 3 “non-negotiables” that I have to do for ME that will help alignme with my goals for my business before the end of the day? These canbe things like:The Must-Haves of a Successful Online Business | www.ScrewTheCubicle.com

o Watch that 3 series video on copywriting so I can get started on spicingup my web contento Write a guest blog post and submit to at least 3 websiteso Brainstorm on the workshop program for 10 people I’ve been thinkingabouto Pre-schedule my blog series on a topic challenge to help engage myaudience• How much time do I foresee that I will need to complete those 3 things?o Put actual time for each task so you know what you need to “block off”o If the task seems like a hefty one of many hours, you may want toconsider re-writing the task in “bite-sized” format as a task of its ownand break it down• Who do I need to contact or can help me?o We always forget to that we don’t have to be alone. We can ask forhelp. Even if it’s a referral or contact of someone from a friend thatmay be able to help us move forward with something in our businesso Perhaps you need advice/mentorship from someone who has tackledsomething you have found hard to do. Reach out, and ask. If you don’task, you’ll never knowAfter you have done that, I would spend the first part of your morning tackling thosethings (if you can) FIRST, before doing the day to day tasks of e-mails, marketing, etc.That way you know you are always putting your business needs first, and constantlymoving forward with it, not just servicing clients all only without growing thebusiness.I usually spend 6:30 – 9:00am daily doing these non-negotiables for myself, because Ican then know, by the end of the day, no matter WHAT could happen, these prioritiesfor myself are completed. I can then sleep well at night knowing I moved forwardand feel COMPLETE.Tip #3: Self control and focusIf you’re like me where you thought multi-tasking is an actual efficient skill to have,well, be ready for a mindset change. I learned this and continue to learn this everytime I revert back to multi-tasking.Being able to focus on one thing at a time so we can give it our best energy and see itto completion is so much more effective than doing multiple things at once andcompleting them half heartedly or not at all. Things don’t move forward this way.A great way I have done this is to use an amazing app called Self Control for Macusers. It blocks off distracting websites (be gone, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and youcan set a timer of how long it should block you. There is NO master password thatcan reverse this – which is a good thing! I like to block off 1 hour for each nonnegotiabletask, and I know I’m dedicating that hour to focus and complete it.For PC users, you can use Stay Focused.The Must-Haves of a Successful Online Business | www.ScrewTheCubicle.com

Tip #4: No Business PornographyYup, business pornography. Just as bad as an addiction to regular pornography.You simply can’t perform in real life after immersing yourself in it.It can be easy to start on this addiction of looking at other people’s businesses andwebsites. You’re going to start saying, “Oh man, I have to add that too for mybusiness”, or “This looks so much better than mine, I got to fix this right away”.I’m not saying that it’s not great to be inspired by people’s aspirations and businessideas, but your business is unique too, because it has YOU in it. Copycatting howothers run their business can’t be healthy because it moves you away from creating abusiness that is truly on your own terms.And that is why you are doing it in the first place.So, get inspired, by remember to go back to how you want to do things that are trulynatural and genuine for you, and create from a place of authenticity. Spend the timeknowing how you can provide value and listen to the needs of your ideal clients,rather than seeing what everyone else is doing.Tip #5: Park itI bet you describe yourself as multi-passionate right? I’m also betting that you giveyourself a bit of a headache sometimes because you have so many ideas and youdon’t know to do with yourself after a blast of inspiration.Fear not, you don’t have to lose these ideas. But you also don’t have to implementthem today either.That’s why I use….the Parking Lot.The Parking lot is a wall space (you can use a notebook, whatever you think) I have atmy home where I have a blast of sticky notes of my ideas. Not ideas I need to dotoday, but a “It would be great if..” wall. That way I feel content being able toexpress my ideas and put them up, and it doesn’t feel like it’s going to waste.Not all ideas need or can be implemented right away. Sometimes it’s not the righttiming, or there are other priorities in your business that require your focus andattention to first, before you move on to these ideas.It’s also my area I can pull ideas from to add to a course, a coaching program, or aproduct later on. Kinda like a wall of goodies.The Must-Haves of a Successful Online Business | www.ScrewTheCubicle.com

AAAAND…NOW BREATHE.Take a deep breath, let the information sink in, and be content knowing you don’tneed to absorb every piece of advice I just gave you right away.You have this toolkit to keep to help guide you with jumpstarting your FreedomBusiness and Lifestyle whenever you need to go back to it.Be easy with yourself in this journey, there is no right or wrong to things, it’s all aprocess. So don’t beat yourself up over what you think you may have fucked up on.Because you didn’t. Any “setback” or “detour” is just an opportunity for you touncover something you didn’t know before.And can I just say, a huge Canadian bear hug for you for being your courageous andun-conformist self to stick your middle finger to the 9-5 life to create your own pathfor this amazing gift called life??I wish I was in front of you giving you all the love and excitement I feel for you forstarting this beautiful journey. You have made a life choice that is going to changeeverything else in your life.You chose to live a life of your own design.Since I can’t give you a bear hug in person, will you settle for a virtual one?Let me know how I can help, give me an online fist pump, or an e-hug and connectwith me below:FacebookTwitterInstagramTo freedom….and living your highest purpose,http://www.ScrewTheCubicle.comThe Must-Haves of a Successful Online Business | www.ScrewTheCubicle.com