Empowerment: The Ticket to a Fulfilling Life

Empowerment, as the phrase recommends, means strength.

It explains a person's ability to go to bat for himself or for almost anything that he deems right or against anything he considers wrong. It explains a person's ability to choose on their own without being determined by any kind of pressure from society, family or friends. Empowerment means grabbing the wheel, making your own choices and making your own conclusions.

Self-empowerment is another name for the same practice, which is building up one's character and soul. The road to being successful, accomplishment and happiness is lead by strength and empowerment.

The Route to Empowerment
The road to empowerment is a long one and along the way, an individual may face tons of barriers and mountains. However, we all have heard the phrase that "nothing is impossible" and getting past these limitations is no exception to the matter.

All people have this will. Our mind controls our will and this simple factor is what separates us from animals. Will influences a person's character. Thanks to this will, the heroes and the pioneers are recognized from the rest. This is the first step to 'empowerment'. You can not possibly adhere to a decision you have made for yourself without willing to stick to it. Making hard decisions, making them known to the world (regardless of how strange or silly it may look to your social circle) then staying with it when the whole world seems to be against you is all courtesy of a person's will and ultimately this will lead you to self empowerment.

Secondly, another really important factor that will lead people to the attainment of self-empowerment is self-confidence. Nobody will pay heed to you and your choices unless you attend to your own self. Besides, in order for you to clearly be able to CHOOSE, you must believe that you can do it. You will not have knowledge of that belief unless you have faith in yourself. Confidence can help you do wonders.

Self-discovery is another vital ingredient that will make your self-empowerment method complete. If this does not click right now, examine the following analysis: the know-how of one's self is important for a person to believe what she is capable of and what he can deal with. Due to that knowledge, you can be sure that your decisions fall in the realm of your abilities. When you settle on that base, you will be sure about the security of your plan. You will believe that it is executable. You will realize that it is worth fighting for and this very surety will contribute majorly to your empowerment.

Empowerment is the root to a fulfilling lifestyle. "A life worth living is a life worth fighting for". Nobody can help you avoid the dark trenches if you do not strive for an out.
Empowerment will give you that 'out'.

Time Management For Small Business Owners - Developing Skills, Methods and Tools

There clearly was a time when time management was usually considered to be something that is relevant only on the job. 

However, recently managing time in home and in your personal life is also very important. This is because, there cannot be any two thoughts about the fact that one of the most finite things that many of us have is time. Whether it's President Barack Obama or even a small time vendor in the streets of New York, many of us have only 24 hours and we should discover methods to make the best usage of the same. The truth is that it is also the most squandered resource for which we are to blame as individuals. 


The most common question that we come across from busy entrepreneurs and business people is how exactly to manage time effectively. While time management is equally important for job goers and employers it is all the more essential for entrepreneurs and business owners because their future and the future of many people is attached to it. 

Time management for entrepreneurs in particular is focused on developing some habits and skill sets over a period of time. 

To put in simple words, time managements is focused on developing a range of skills, techniques and tools which may come in very handy when it comes to prioritizing your time to accomplish certain pre-determined jobs and projects. So the main component for proper and efficient time management is focused on managing, scheduling and organizing your projects in such a manner that you are able to accomplish the most inside a given period of time. By such organizing and scheduling you could avoid duplication of work and unnecessary wastage of time caused by not having the required things in position. 


The greatest culprit as far as lack of time management is concerned is the curse of laziness which frequently leads to procrastination.

Postponing things and small jobs that could be completed now or within the day is something which should be avoided at all costs, especially if you are a businessman who has so much at stake. Laziness is something that cannot be pardoned for anyone and particularly if you're a businessman then it becomes a cardinal sin. 


The next thing that needs to be taken into account would be to figure out how to develop the art of biting only as much as you are able to chew. Taking up too many tasks at a time and never having the ability to complete a lot of them is something that is a classic exemplory case of poor time management. Further you should have the courage of conviction to state no to something that you feel is beyond your reach on a particular day or within a particular period of time. 


Last although not the least, you need to develop the habit of getting at least 7 to 8 hours sleep every day which will help you to raise early each morning and organize and plan work and time for the day in a much more effective and productive fashion.

A great book on this subject is one by Dr. Jan Yager called “Creative Time Management for the New Millennium: Become More Productive & Still Have Time for Fun”. In this book she teaches that “Managing your time well means managing your life well. People who handle their time well do it creatively. They practice creative time management by taking control of their time and therefore their life.

Learn Dr. Jan Yager’s key principles of Time Management by getting and reading her book called “Creative Time Management for the New Millennium” right now!

The Four 'P's Of Creating An incredible Business Within Today's Economy

Despite the fact that business is without question the best choice to move from a state of active income to passive income, the fact is that becoming successful in any kind of business is a tough job to imply the least.

It is a known fact that the success level of any start up company venture is less than 30 to 35% and more than 80% of new business owners close shops within 12 months of starting their company. That's why if you are one of those serious business persons able to make it big in your business venture, it is very important that you uncover ways and means by which you can ensure success of your business. So you should try and fully understand more about the four key elements or in other words the four important “P”s which help you in developing a great business.

First, it is very important to be aware of what the four important “P”s are to make sure that we can focus on all of them in some amount of detail. The four Ps happen to be Product, Place, Price and Promotion. Every one of them is extremely crucial and supporting to each other. If you want to succeed in your business you should have a well thought-out mixture of the four. Why don't we over the next several lines understand something more about all these business elements.

Product and even service without any doubt is the most important of the four P’s which we are referring to in this post. While creating the product or service it is very important to keep only the consumer in mind and find out what exactly he or she wants. The location, time and frequency of the usage, the branding of the product along with other important matters also form important components of any product.

The next important component is the “Place” in which the product or service will be available. Will it be available on his or her desktop or mobile computer or inside a physical store? Do you know the various distribution areas where he or she can purchase the product? Will the product be sold through a marketing and sales force or will it be sold and marketed primarily online as well as other forms of distribution?

Price is our next important and critical part of the success or failure of any business. The product should offer good value for money to the customer. Hence it is important making sure that the product will not be tremendously priced or lowly priced. You must carefully analyze, research and find out if the product or service that you are giving is price sensitive as far as the client is concerned. It should compare favorably with the competition both in terms of value and level of quality.

Last yet not the least, promotion is an important factor as far as your company is concerned. Even the most effective of products will never be successful if they are not marketed and promoted properly. That is why, you should take any help and assistance of professionals to make certain that the products will be marketed properly.

Generating Balance between Family and Business

The main reason why many people work practically 10 to 12 hours a day six days per week is for the primary reason for providing a better lifestyle to their spouses and children and see that they are happy. 

On many occasions they'd also like to be a part of the entire process of happiness, but seldom are they a part of it. Mainly because their business and work keeps them so busy and under stress, they miss out on this important and vital aspect of life. The primary reason for creating and generating income is to appreciate it with their loved ones which on the other hand get blurred in the whole operation of creating wealth and establishing revenue. 

Therefore, it is very important to find a middle path that will make sure that a proper balance is created between family life and business life. In the event that this isn't completed, it is bound to create friction and tension in homes and over a period of time the family members drift apart and don’t experience a love and a relationship within them. So let us over the next few paragraphs cover some of the things that could be carried out to create a perfect harmony between creating wealth and enjoying the same with your family. 

You can find thousands of bread-winners for the family who have the best of homes, cars and other luxuries but they aren't able to engage in these luxuries and are busy making more money or busy in finding options to protect their businesses from today’s highly competitive and unpredictable economic situation.

The main reason why some people give up their jobs has been to be self-sufficient and have evenings and weekends at their disposal. Such people thirsting for independence start their own businesses. But over a period of time they turn out to be slaves to their own businesses and therefore are worse off than they were when working a regular job. All the demands in having a business can be high especially while in the initial stages that you are in the process of taking off. Therefore, it is very important to learn the art of balancing business demands and your own individual and family life.

The very best starting point would be to make it a point to be home at least by 7 PM however much your work demands might be. With this objective you need to learn the art of delegating your work and supervising your people better. In the same light it would also be recommended to have at least Sunday’s for your own and for the happiness and well-being of your family. Unless totally necessary you should not get into the habit of working on Sundays or weekends. 

In addition you should also set out at the very least two weeks each year and try to move away from your home. Here again it is best to understand the importance of relying on and delegating work to the people that work for you. You must also keep them in good humor and state of mind and allow them to apply what you preach and do for yourselves. By doing this you can have a situation where you can actually be with your family and also manage your business efficiently and effectively.

Demand your family in aiding you develop your business plan and communicate openly with your spouse by being transparent about any adjustments that will or will not take place in your home. Explain to your loved ones what your expectations are during your transition from employee to business owner. Will they need to give up anything, if so how long? In case you’re home based communicate to your children what their boundaries will be, if any. As a family, ask one another if you are prepared to give up anything that is being impacted by the changes. The book Life Matters: Creating a dynamic balance of work, family, time, & money says that there doesn’t need to be conflict between the four areas of life: work, family, time and money.

This is a great book that will help you get better control of your life. Since you’ve read this far it’s safe to imply that you are focused on improving your life so buy this book, read it once and then read it again. As the Merrill’s say, “Family Does Matter.” 

Five Qualities That Have a Very Negative Effect on Success

There is an old saying that perfectly defines success. "It is not a sin to be born poor but to die so is indeed a big sin". 

In a world full of disputes and struggle, there also exists a lot of favorable circumstances and scope for business improvement and abundance set up provided you are aware of the success law. However, more often than not it has been found that people are unable to achieve our aspiring levels of success because we take all the principal steps that could be explained as things that can have a very negative effect on success. Let us over the next few paragraphs try and find out the five major traits that could be catastrophic to your success unless you are able to nip it in the bud. The following are the five dominant factors that could be a big hindrance as far as your journey to success is concerned.

The first valuable point that could damage or totally sabotage your success is being afraid of the unknown and fear of transition. If you are serious and would like to climb better heights in life we should always be happy to take hold of change and get far from the status quo. Staying within our comfort zone is an issue that is very much liked by most of us. However, such a bent of mind will be good enough for those aiming at mediocrity in life and business. Change is always for the better and concern with the unknown is something that is there only in our mind and there are ways and means to defeat this.

The following important point that could play a huge damper with regards to your success is concerned is procrastinating and putting off things. 

What you can do tomorrow needs to be tried and completed today itself if possible. Letting things drift and getting into the habit of piling up papers in your table could wreak havoc with your success standards and could pull you down in your career and job. It could also have an impact on your relationship at home and could destroy relationships over a length of time.
Our next important trait which could also play the role of a dampener is the behavior of worrying and always speaking negative about things, surroundings and life in general. This certainly is a very unhealthy quality which will not only cause you to become very inward looking, snobbish and unhappy, but will even result in people leaving you. You would over some time become lonely, frustrated and unhappy. Which means you should discover ways to develop the habit if being pleased and talking positive even when you find yourself in some trouble or under pressure and duress.

The fourth negative trait or quality is being in the habit of passing guilt on others and on conditions. If you are working in a team, you should know your responsibilities well and if you have slipped up or made an error in judgement somewhere you must have the courage to own up and admit the same.

As a final point, not being accountable to yourself and to the promises which you have made to you and your family members, your boss, your clients or vendors is something which is certain to have a very damaging impression as far as success of your career is concerned.

3 Different ways Of Thinking Outside The Box

Whether you will be running your own business or doing work for a firm or perhaps doing something which is near to your heart, it is very important that you should figure out ways and means to do it at a unique and totally different way when equated with others. This will help you to stand tall amongst the various other players using the same activity and will eventually set you apart from the rest. Doing things differently is frequently known as thinking outside the box and in today’s difficult and highly competitive online business and career scenario it is indeed becoming extremely important and critical to state the least. By thinking outside the box you will be able to come out with concepts and steps which may go a long way in making sure your company scales newer heights of achievements and increases by way of profitability, and bottom line. While there are many methods where one could think outside the box, for the sake of simplicity and easier grasping we have tried and put down three powerful techniques which if used regularly could help a lot in yielding the correct type of results.

The biggest problem with almost everyone is that we do not want to disclose new ideas and thoughts with other people because many of us feel that we will be made to feel silly and ridiculous as a result of such suggestions. In most cases some of the best ideas and thoughts which have now become game changers in the world of business were viewed as silly and unworkable ideas immediately after they were first shared amongst various people. Therefore , it is extremely important to speak out your idea even if it might look foolish to a few other sites. So if you experience an idea or thought that you really feel is out of the box or outright radical there's no harm allowing such thoughts and ideas to get cultivated in your mind.

Another important point that could be treated as the second important strategy to think outside of the box is to be able to look beyond the current definitions or “problems” and “solutions”. A typical situation may be one enabling you to find establishments desperate for answers to sell more to far more customers. Besides taking a look at this problem with the angle of selling alone it may be better to find out ways and means to provide value towards the products or services which will certainly help in selling more to more customers.Additionally the third and most important method of thinking outside the box is to always allow plenty of suggestions to flow as they possibly can. You could also research the potential for merging, juxtaposing and modifying various ideas that can derive from various quarters. The easiest way forward to think out of the box would be to come out of strait jacket thinking and try to be unconventional and radical. Only then will you be capable to come out with various new ideas that can totally affect the way you are doing business which eventually will reap in higher profits and returns.