VISONOCITYMAGAZINE-IssueNo.13VISONOCITYMAGAZINE-IssueNo.15
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Stop Wasting Money On
Marketing That Doesn’t Work!
9 Lies We Tell Ourselves
That Adds Stress to Our Lives
How To Inspire Millennials
Through Praise
What’s Coming Next?

IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY
WITH 8 TIPS TO USE YOUR
TIME WISELY
Magazine Content
Feature Story
By SUSAN SOLOVIC
THE Small Business Expert,
New York Times Bestselling Author
10 MARKETING ROLES IN
THE NEXT TEN YEARS
By JOE PULIZZI
THE ROLE OF THE CEO IN
MANAGING MILLENIALS
5 MOTIVATION PRINCIPLES OF PRAISE
By KEN GOSNELL AfC
HOW TO WORK SMARTER
NOT JUST HARDER
7 PRODUCTIVITY TIPS FOR DAILY USE
By JESSICA DiLULLO HERRIN
PERSONAL GROWTH
STRATEGIES
By STACEY ALCORN
9 LIES THAT SABATOGE OUR SUCCESS
ARE YOU READY FOR THE CHANGE?

EDITOR Section
Controlling unexpected interruptions can make the difference
between meeting or missing our goals for the year. Susan
shows us 8 ways to regain the time we are losing to success
stealing daily disruptions.
Productivity is an important priority for everyone. This edition is
bringing you three great articles on this topic. Expert business
advisor, Jessica DiLullo, shares her routine on working smarter,
not just harder. One of her insights explains how you must set
boundaries between your work and personal life. A small
business owner’s work life challenges can cause devastating
results when not properly addressed, and cause unhealthy
stress. Jessica’s article makes life easier.
Stacey Alcorn exposes the 9 lies we daily tell ourselves. We
may not recognize them as harmful, but they could be
sabotaging our efforts to succeed. Negative talk that goes on in
everyone’s inner voice is constantly misleading us. Don’t let
these lies derail your focus and determination. Read Stacey’s
article and turn off the negative voice.
As a change of pace, we next turn to millennials, the fastest
growing members of the workforce. Ken Gosnell gives us the 5
principles of praise that motivate and inspire this emerging
generation of leaders. Once we’ve mastered motivating
ourselves, we must motivate millennials by understanding their
response to praise that also includes a challenge for them.
Read Ken’s article for more on what motivates millennials.
Looking to the future, Joe Pulizzi reveals 10 marketing roles
emerging in the next decade that will be used to attract, engage
and retain valued customers. Content and social media are
redefining traditional views and organizational structure. Joe
points out these new roles are not literally new jobs per se, but
are additional core competencies needed by all businesses.
Read this and get ahead of the game.
.
usan Solovic, THE Small Business Expert, shares 8
productivity tips that help you use your time more
effectively. Our most precious commodity is time.S
Editor’s Note
Be Smart. Take Action. Win Big.
Lucy Hoger, CEO
Editor and Publisher

Improve Your Productivity
By Susan Solovic, THE Small Business Expert, New York Times Bestselling Author
We could all use more of it these days, and who wouldn’t occasionally make
a deal with the devil for a few more hours in the day?
I'm talking about time. It’s the small business owner’s most important
commodity, yet it remains the most elusive. Especially when everyone needs
do more with less, it’s vitally important to use the time you have wisely and
efficiently.
Most of us know that having a schedule, and sticking to it works. But no
matter how often we repeat that mantra, we can’t control the unexpected. As
small business owners and entrepreneurs, we’ve taken the act of multi-
tasking – which experts swear makes us less productive – to a level rivaled
only by a mom of quadruplets.
PRODUCTIVITY MASTERY Section
8 Tips To Help You Use Your Time Wisely
But did you also know that something as simple
as standing while on the telephone will help you
get to the point of the call faster? Take a moment
out of your busy schedule to peruse the
following compilation of tips to improve
productivity by using your time wisely.
1. Evaluate how you’re spending your time.
Keep a diary of everything you do for three
days to figure out exactly how you’re
spending your time. Be honest, and you’ll be
surprised at how quickly those “few minutes”
add up to a large chunk of your day.
2. Prioritize. Prioritizing will make sure you
spend your time and energy on those things
that are most important to you and your
business. By starting your day with the most
important task, you will increase your
productivity and get your day off to a good
start.

PRODUCTIVITY MASTERY Section
3. Just say “No.” Consider your
goals and schedule before
agreeing to take on additional
work. It’s impossible to do
everything. Remember, when you
say yes to one thing you effectively
say no to something else.
4. Get plenty of sleep, eat a healthy
diet and exercise regularly. A
healthy body = a healthy mind.
Improve your focus, concentration
and energy level by taking care of
yourself from the inside out.
5. Write tomorrow’s “to-do” list
TODAY. By writing out a list for
tomorrow before you leave the office
at night, you will have an immediate
head start on your next day and be
ready for your new priorities.
6. Create a schedule…and stick to
it! For example, if a meeting is
scheduled for an hour, do
everything possible to keep it to an
hour. If necessary, download apps
on your smartphone or tablet to
keep you on schedule. Sometimes
a simple “reminder” tone, alarm,
etc., can help you move along. If
you really need a dose of
discipline, try a Pomodoro timer
along with the Pomodoro
technique.

PRODUCTIVTY MASTERY Section
7. Manage your email. Do NOT let it
manage you! Get out of the habit of
automatically opening an email
when it comes in, therefore
avoiding distractions. Set aside a
specific time (or times) to open and
answer emails. Many very
successful individuals hold off on
reading their email until the end of
the day!
8. Keep Social Media activity under
control. For most of us, social
media is a part of our daily
personal lives, and has also
become essential to our business.
If it’s necessary to your business
success to spend large pieces of
time on social media, create
separate accounts for business
and personal use. ONLY view
those essential to your business
during business hours.
Those tips should move you a bit
further down the road
toward productivity. However, as an
added bonus, I have one more thing
I'd like to mention. If you work from a
home office, you might be interested in
this article I recently wrote on home
office productivity, in part to
commemorate the annual "Organize
Your Home Office Day."
Sharing Our Expertise for Your Success.
A mentor is one of the biggest assets you can have in
business; someone who can help you navigate the
challenges of growing a business. Consider Susan
Solovic, THE Small Business Expert, your personal
mentor. Her proven strategies and lessons from the
trenches are sure to help you succeed.
Susan is an award-winning entrepreneur, New York
Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling
author, media personality, keynote speaker and
attorney. Behind every achievement, Susan embodies
ideas that make her universally —and intimately—
relatable to all entrepreneurs: hard work, fortitude,
and persistence. In a world of quick and questionable
viral fame, Susan is a rare commodity: she is what
she preaches.

How To Work Smarter and Not Just Harder
By Jessica DiLullo Herrin, CEO & Founder, Stella & Dot Family Brands
Learning to master my time wasn’t easy, but it was essential for my success.
As the CEO of a start-up and a mother of two daughters, I have rigorously
focused on honing my productivity to get the most important things done
every day – without running myself ragged. After all – we each get the same
24 hours, 7 days a week. It’s how we spend those hours that determines the
joy and value we create for ourselves and others in our lives.
While there are some days I don’t follow my own advice, in general, these
are the productivity tips that have worked for me:
1. HAVE A DAILY 15 MINUTE CHECK-IN WITH YOURSELF:
It’s easy to be ‘crazy busy’ without making real progress on important
goals. To combat this, I use a morning check-in meeting with myself to
reflect on what priorities I will tackle that day. What will matter a year from
now? Regularly review and focus on the written quarterly and annual goals
you set. If your day does not align with your goals, how can you best redirect
your time? If you can’t impact today, what can you plan today to impact this
week, this month and this quarter? This will be your most productive meeting
of the day, I promise.
PRODUCTIVITY MASTERY Section
7 Productivity Tips To Implement Daily

PRODUCTIVITY MASTERY Section
2. PLAN YOUR CALENDAR
BEFORE OTHERS PLAN IT FOR
YOU.
Do you get home each night exhausted
with more work to do, wondering what
you really accomplished? You may be
suffering from meeting overload. Here’s
the cure. Don’t treat your calendar like
it's an open sign-up sheet. Block 3
hours of no meeting time, in one-
hour increments, throughout your
day. This allows you to get important
things done without a conference room
summit. And when you are ready to
tackle a bigger project, reserve ample
chunks of time to focus and truly get it
done. Don’t amorphously work on a
project a little bit here and there. You’re
likely to be inefficient and spend even
more overall time completing the task.
3. MAKE SURE EVERY MEETING
YOU ATTEND IS ESSENTIAL.
Regularly prune your calendar of
recurring meetings that are no longer
necessary. Right next to the “Accept”
button there is a “Decline” button.
Always question – Is this the best way I
can add value to the most important
initiatives in the company? Be bold and
decline, just explain why.
When you do attend meetings, even if
you didn’t organize it, help guide the
meeting to productivity if necessary. Be
sure all meetings have a clear, focused
agenda. If the purpose is not
stated at the outset, try saying, “What
are we here to accomplish today?”
When you hear a general decision
made, drive it to conclusion and action.
Try saying, “Ok, to clarify – Who is
going to do what by when?” If you
notice no one is appointed to send out
wrap-up notes, volunteer to do so.
Sending out a clear summary with
appointed tasks and due dates ensures
action from attendees. Sound bold?
Yes, being productive takes leadership.
Just remember other people hate
wasting time too. Just be direct, kind
and even throw in some humor. Others
will thank you for it.
4. TALK IN-PERSON INSTEAD OF
ORGANIZING A MEETING OR
EMAILING.
Don’t let email dictate your priorities or
substitute for direct communication. I
greatly prefer in-person conversation
than scheduled meetings, email or
instant message. Talking to people,
face-to-face, avoids confusion and
quickens problem solving. That is why
time when you are physically present in
the office, without a meeting planned, is
essential. When you do email, be
concise to avoid back and forth. Think
of yourself like a call center agent who
prides themselves on first-time contact
resolution. Better yet, try eliminating
email for one week and see what
happens. You might surprise yourself
with what you get done.

PRODUTIVITY MASTERY Section
5. AVOID TIME TRAPS.
Once you take care of your calendar,
be sure to focus on the task at hand.
Are you constantly checking social
media, email, and Slack, switching
between windows and tabs on all your
devices? You are paying for it in
switching costs, which lowers your
productivity. Self discipline is essential
to maximize your time. Focus on one
thing at a time and complete tasks
before you look at something else.
Limit screen wandering to 5 minutes, 3
times a day (maximum!) after matters
of substance are accomplished. Do
not check your email during meetings,
and turn off as many desktop
notifications as you can. If it’s not
required that you’re paying attention,
why are you in that meeting at all?
6. RECHARGE BY ROUTINE.
Be as vigilant about charging your own
batteries as you are about charging
your beloved smartphone. This means
7 hours of sleep, daily exercise,
meditation and a healthy diet. Staying
mentally calm and physically fit will
help you perform better in all aspects
of your life. Too busy to take care of
yourself? Don’t let wellness be an
optional item that lands last on your
list. Rather, it’s the critical item that
fuels the rest of the tasks throughout
the day. After a thirty-minute run, you'll
have hours of higher-quality energy
later. The way I think of it, you don’t
have time not to exercise – even if it's

PRODUCTIVITY MASTERY Section
taking a walk at lunch time. I find it
easiest to exercise before my kids
wake up, so I most often rise between
5:00 and 6:00 am. I go to bed by 10:00
pm most nights. I also need to
recharge throughout the day, so I do
three, five-minute meditations to help
me stay focused.
7. SET BOUNDARIES BETWEEN
YOUR WORK AND PERSONAL
LIFE.
I used to think I had to always be
plugged in to create something
extraordinary. It turns out that “always
on” is a formula for burn out and rather
ordinary results. Setting boundaries
between your work and personal life
can improve the quality of both. Even
though starting and running a
company does not fit into 9-5, I leave
work by 6:00 p.m. to have dinner with
my family, and I don’t go into the office
on weekends. I draw a hard line on
travel – no more than 5 nights a month
away (on average), even if that
requires saying no to important trips.
In my house, we have a no-tech period
from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Touching a
device during that time is a grave sin
in our house, with rare exceptions.
These limits work for me and my
family. Find and set the ones that work
for you and yours.
Jessica DiLullo Herrin is the CEO & Founder of Stella
& Dot and the author of Find Your Extraordinary. The
Stella & Dot Family of Brands is the leading social selling
company with the mission is to revolutionize
entrepreneurial opportunities for women by creating the
modern home-based business opportunity. Our rapidly
growing brands, Stella & Dot, Keep Collective and Ever
Skincare lead with product innovation and offer the
ultimate combination of high tech and high touch. Stella
& Dot is profitable, backed by Sequoia and has been
featured in the Wall Street Journal, Fortune and the New
York Times, on the View, in InStyle and on The Today
Show and has paid out over $300 million in flexible
earnings to our 50,000 independent business owners in
6 different countries.
Original Article Published on LinkedIn
Improve Productivity: 8 Tips to Help You Use
Your Time Wisely

What’s Coming Next?

Did you know that nine in 10 companies create their own content to attract or
retain customers? That content is then distributed through social media sites,
blogs, email newsletters, webinars, magazines and even in-person customer
events.
We are all publishers now.
Yet, according to Content Marketing Institute and Marketing Profs research,
just one in three companies say that their content marketing is effectively
driving business. Most organizations are so used to traditional marketing
tactics that telling stories to create and sustain business opportunities is like
using a muscle that has atrophied.
Content – The Asset
Think about the dynamics of content creation for your business:
By Joe Pulizzi, Founder at Content Marketing Institute, Author of Content Inc.
10 Marketing Roles for the Next 10 Years
• Content is an asset. One story can
be developed into multiple content
assets, which can generate traffic
and interest for years, if not decades.
Most importantly, great content is the
main driver for developing an
audience — the greatest asset of all.
Even Coca-Cola, one of the biggest
spenders of traditional marketing on
the planet, knows they can’t
grow without spreading stories that
drive an emotional connection with
customers.
Are You Ready for the Change?
MARKETING STRATEGY Section

MARKETING STRATEGY Section
• Regardless of what the economy
does, or how your overall
marketing spend changes, great
content rises to the top and can
continue to fuel your business.
• Once an audience is created, an
organization can generate cash
from that content by selling
products and services directly, or
by selling access to its audience
(in the form of advertising,
sponsorship, or affiliate sales).
So think about it this way: What if our
primary goal in marketing is to own
content niches online; to build out our
content assets to grow and maintain
our audiences and subscribers (in
order to sell more)?
As Content Marketing Institute’s Chief
Strategist Robert Rose says, “In many
businesses (especially in B2B), the
marketing department is an order-
taking, tactical function that runs on
the hamster-wheel of demand
generation, trying to keep up with
“client” orders for new collateral,
press releases, case studies and, at
times, marketing-qualified leads
(MQLs).”
If our new call to arms is around
creating and growing owned
audiences, it’s clear that our
marketing skill sets may be, well, a
bit out of date to stay competitive
for the next decade.
The New Roles of Marketing
While there is no perfect structure for
a marketing organization, it’s
apparent that we are starting to see
marketing departments transform
themselves into publishing
organizations. And with that
transformation comes a shift in the
key business roles that marketers
must now fill. Don’t think of the list
below as new job titles, per se, but
rather as the core competencies that
need to be accounted for across the
enterprise.
Chief Content Officer
This is your content ambassador,
also known as an organization’s
chief storyteller. This person should
be responsible for setting the overall
editorial/content marketing mission
statement and integrating that
throughout the enterprise. As every
silo (PR, email, social, search, etc.)
starts to create and curate content, it
is the CCO’s responsibility to make
sure that the stories remain
consistent and make sense to the
audience(s).
Managing Editor
Half storyteller and half project
manager, the managing editor
executes the content plan on behalf

MARKETING STRATEGY Section
of the CCO. Whereas the CCO
focuses on strategy, the managing
editor’s job is all execution,
working with the roles below to
make the stories come alive
(including tone, style guides, and
content scheduling).
Chief Listening Officer
The role of the CLO will be to
function as “air-traffic control” for
social media and your other
content channels. This person
should be there to listen to the
groups, maintain the
conversation, and to route (and/or
notify) the appropriate team
members who can engage in
appropriate conversations
(customer service, sales,
marketing, etc.). This feedback is
critical to our content
actually making a difference with
our customers.
Director of Audience
This person should be charged
with monitoring your
audience/buyer personas, making
sure all content creators are
intimately familiar with their
characteristics, their passion
triggers, and what actions you
want them to take. The Director of
Audience should also be
responsible for building
subscription assets (direct mail
lists, email lists, social media
subscriptions) that can grow and
be segmented as your content
mission matures and expands.
HR for Marketing
As every employee and
stakeholder becomes a more
integral part of the marketing
process, it will be increasingly
necessary for marketing to work
closely with human resources to
make sure that employees
understand their roles in the
marketing process and to help
your organization leverage your
employees’ audiences without
creating conflicts or confusion.
Channel Master
Wherever your content is headed
(social media, email, mobile, print,
in-person, etc.), the channel
master will be responsible for
getting the most out of each
channel. What works best on
SlideShare? When should we
send our emails, and how
frequently? What’s the

MARKETING STRATEGY Section
appropriate ratio of owned vs. curated
content your business should
distribute on Twitter? Who is keeping
track of mobile strategy and
execution?
Chief Technologist
As marketing and information
technology continue to merge, there
will be a need for at least one (maybe
more) individual whose sole purpose
is to leverage the proper use of these
technologies into the content
marketing process. The person in this
role will be responsible for staying on
top of these ever-increasing changes
as they relate to the storytelling
process — from calendaring and
approvals to marketing automation,
freelancer integration, and emerging
technologies.
Influencer Relations
The role formerly known as media
relations will evolve into that of a
manager of influencers. This person’s
responsibilities should include
developing your “hit list” of
influencers, maintaining direct
relationships with them, and
integrating them into your marketing
process in the most impactful ways.
Freelancer and Agency Relations
As content demands continue to
evolve (and increase), your

your business is developing content
assets in the first place. Do you have an
analytics person in your organization? If
so, give them a raise and make sure
they understand the core objectives
behind your content marketing.
Yes, we are selling products and
services, but the way in which we do that
is changing faster than we ever
anticipated. This means focusing on
content as an asset — which, in turn,
means that our marketing departments
will continue to evolve. Putting the above
roles in place now will help make sure
the rest of your enterprise is prepared to
evolve right along with them.
Joe Pulizzi, author, speaker and evangelist,
is a content marketing expert dedicated to
helping companies grow profits by creating
better content. One of the founders of the
content marketing movement, Joe launched
what is now the Content Marketing Institute
back in 2007 as a true online resource for
those interested in content marketing and
brand storytelling. Joe started using the term
"content marketing" back in 2001.
CMI publishes Chief Content Officer
magazine and produces Content Marketing
World, the premier international event for
content marketing - now the largest content
marketing event in the world. CMI also
produces additional CMW events in Europe
and Australia.
Reach out to Joe on LinkedIn
MARKETING STRATEGY Section
organization’s reliance on freelance
talent and other external content
vendors will grow as well.
Organizations will need to cultivate
their own “expert” content teams and
networks, and it will be this person’s
job to negotiate rates and
responsibilities so that all members of
your team are united in their work on
behalf of your marketing program.
ROO (Return-on-Objective) Chief
This person will be responsible for
ensuring that there is an ongoing
return on marketing objectives, and
for communicating to all teams why

How To Inspire Millennials
Through Praise

LEADERSHIP MASTERY Section
The Role of the CEO in Managing Millennials
By Ken Gosnell AfC, CEO Partner, The C12 Group
Today's workplace is complicated. CEOs and leaders have to manage
multiple projects and demanding deadlines. They must also manage across
multiple generations with a various set of expectations and demands.
In April of 2007, The Wall Street Journal published an article entitled, "The
Most-Praised Generation Goes to work." The article focused on the new
generation of workers that were entering the workforce. The article stated,
"Now, as this greatest generation grows up, the culture of praise is reaching
deeply into the adult world. Bosses, professors and mates are feeling the
need to lavish praise on young adults, particularly twentysomethings, or else
see them wither under an unfamiliar compliment deficit." You can read that
interesting article here.
As this most praised generation enters into their organizations, it would be
wise for leaders and CEOs to think strategically about how to lead this
generation. Giving praise is really about creating value both for the
organization and for the people who are contributing to the benefit of the
organization. Follow these simple principles to create value in the twenty-
somethings who volunteer in your church.
5 Principles of Praise to Motivate and Inspire

The Five Principles of Praise:
Every CEO should follow these simple
principles of praise to create value in
the twenty-somethings who they hire
into their organization.
1. V – Victory: Praise should be
given for Victories won or success
achieved.
Praise should be given when victories
are achieved. Millennials This will help
the organization to accomplish great
objectives and to reach new heights
that once seemed impossible. These
young workers are outside the box
thinkers and are being raised to
complete new missions and
accomplish new tasks. CEOs can
help equip this generation by allowing
them freedom to branch out into new
areas and praise them when a new
victory is achieved.
Coaching Question: Do you pay
attention to the victories achieved
by the youngest people on your
team?
2. A – Authenticity: Praise should be
given in an authentic way.
Millennials crave true authentic
conversations. That want to be
praised for a job well done, but they
do not wish to be given empty words.
Look for the value in their efforts and
the particular effects that their efforts
bring. When you give praise, make it
as specific as possible, highlighting
their efforts with detailed examples.
Coaching Question: How can your
encourage more authentic
conversations in your company?
3. L – Listening: Praise can be given
to Millennials through listening to
their ideas.
CEOs should train leaders to listen to
the areas that these
twentysomethings are wrestling with
their self-esteem and self-concept.
Although they have been praised
greatly, many still struggle with self-
defeating talk. The wise leader will be
the one that can listen to the areas of
weakness and in those deficiencies,
call out their greatness. Jeff Martin,
CEO of Tribal Brands stated it this
way, "Young people need to be asked
what matters, not be told what
matters." When a leader can
encourage their team, the impact can
be long lasting.
Coaching Question: How well do
you know the youngest members
of your staff?
4. U – Understanding: Millennials
can feel appreciated when they
are understood.
This generation of leaders can multi-
task like no generation before them.
They have many activities and desires
LEADERSHIP MASTERY Section

that pull at their time and their
schedule. When they choose to
support a cause or mission, they know
that they do so at the cost of another
worthy cause. Leaders should
understand this fact and praise these
young workers lavishly knowing that
they have chosen this cause to
support. Such behavior can create
loyalty.
Coaching Question: How well does
your organization support the
wholeness of life?
5. E - Evenly: Millennials respond to
Praise Plus Challenge.
Praise can lose its profoundness
when given without truth. This
generation desires recognition, but
also desires to be challenged. Allow
your visionaries, both young and old,
to look into the future. Come along
beside these young people with ideas
to build upon theirs. The wisdom of
LEADERSHIP MASTERY Section
the old if done correctly can allow
the young to continue to move their
dreams forward in a strong direction.
Coaching Question: How well do
you team the older workers with,
the younger workers in your
company?
I once worked for a leader who would
say to each of his employees that you
are either an asset or liability. The
point that he was trying to make to
each of us is that we each had
something to contribute and if we did
not, then we were hurting the
organization. Today, many
organizations are filled with assets
through a new generation of workers.
If leaders don't learn how to praise the
most praised generation; however,
then they might be tempted to
become discouraged, disheartened,
and thus a liability to the
organization. It is the CEOs
responsibility to see that every person
in the organization is utilized to the
best of their ability.
As the CEO of the C12 Group Washington DC Metro and Maryland,
Ken Gosnell helps other CEO's and business executives find new
revenue streams by providing great resources for great leaders who
are building a great business for a greater purpose.
Every business owner needs a place where they can get a different
perspective. Every business owner needs a second set of eyes on
their business and their life. They need a place to generate new ideas
and thoughts about their business with people that will speak to them
with candor and honesty. Connect with Ken at
ken.gosnell@c12group.com
Ken Gosnell AfC, CEO Partner, The C12 Group

9 Lies We Tell Ourselves
That Adds Stress to Our Lives

PERSONAL GROWTH Section
Personal Growth Strategies
By Stacey Alcorn, Owner & Chief Happiness Officer at LAER Realty Partners
Here's a novel idea. Stop believing the lies you tell yourself and you'll
achieve all those big dreams you've locked away in the deep recesses of
your mind.
Yah...I'm talking to you.
Your life is a byproduct of the BS you propagate in your own head. If you can
cut out the lies, you can accomplish anything. Truth.
Here are the 9 lies we tell ourselves daily...
1. I don't care. I've come to notice something about myself and I bet you
can relate. Every time I say “I Don't Care”, the real truth is that YES, I do
care very deeply. I care so friggin much that the only way I can cope with the
emotions of caring deeply is to try to convince myself that I don't care at all. I
was involved in a business issue recently and I was explaining the story to a
close friend. As I told her the story, I was talking fast, raising my voice, and I
could feel tears welling up in my eyes. I then said to my friend, "Anyway...it's
no big deal. I don't even care."
2. It's just business. Stop lying to
yourself. There's no line that divides
life and business. It's all tangled up in
one massive web. When someone
tries to explain their behavior by
saying, "It's just business," the hair on
the back of your neck should stand
on end because what justification
would there be to treat someone
9 Lies We Tell Ourselves Daily

PERSONAL GROWTH Section
differently in business versus a personal
setting? Whether it be business or
personal, you are always dealing with
people and so everything you say or do
in business and life is personal, deeply
personal. "It's just business," is a line of
bull crap people dish out to justify why
they are being a suckwad to someone
for their own personal gain. Treat people
fairly. Treat them like you care about
them, whether it’s in a personal setting
or a business one, because it's all the
same. It's life.
3. I can't. It's going to be hard. Your
heart, mind, and soul will feel like they
have been tied to the trailer hitch of a
pick-up truck and dragged cross country
for fifty years. The fear will grapple you.
The obstacles will appear
insurmountable. You will want to quit
1000 times before you even eat your
breakfast each day. People will tell you
that you can't do it and there will be days
in which you believe them. This is more
than just a dream, it's your life. Of
course you feel like you can't. But, you
can. You can.
4. I am my career. I am an
entrepreneur, business owner, author,
speaker....blah, blah, blah. How sad is it
that we define ourselves by our
careers? I'm a living, breathing, person
with a heart, mind, and soul. I love. I feel
pain. I appreciate sunrises, rainbows,
and warm rainy days. I'm a creator,
a visionary, a thought leader. Stop
defining who you are by your career

PERSONAL GROWTH Section
because you are so much more. The
best of you has nothing to do with what
you do.
5. What doesn't kill me makes me
stronger. I understand why we tell
ourselves these things. Of course, we
need to get back out on the ball field of
life again tomorrow and sometimes the
only way to do that is to trick ourselves
into believing that the ass kicking we
took yesterday has made us stronger
and wiser. The truth is, there are lots of
hard things that you will go through that
will weaken you to your knees.
There will be obstacles that cripple you.
That doesn't mean you can't face those
obstacles, or bigger ones, in the future.
Just know that some challenges are so
great that you will question everything
you've worked for. That's normal. Not
everything makes you stronger, nor does
it need to. Better than strength is the
ability to keep showing up even when
you feel weak.
6. Tomorrow's another day. The only
guarantee we have is that we are here
right now. Keep putting off what needs to
be done and you'll never achieve your
dream. The only moment that matters
is now. If you can wait until tomorrow
then it must not be that important to
you, because the only time in which
you have to achieve your goals is now.
7. Money doesn't grow on trees. In
fact New Leaf Paper is an awesomely
cool company that makes paper out of
banana leaves, which in some small
way helps with the massive
deforestation issues that loom over our
heads. So, they have in fact found that
leaves which grow on trees can
translate to money. We tell ourselves
that money doesn't grow on trees to
trick ourselves into believing that we
should be ok living within boundaries.
The truth is money is all around us.
Anyone with an enterprising mind can
find ways to turn thin air into money.
Don't believe me? Ask the founders of
Uber, Facebook, and Tinder. All of
these founders started with the same
thing we all started with, zippo, and
each of them turned air into assets,
thus proving money does seem to
grow on trees, and in fact it grows
everywhere.

PERSONAL GROWTH Section
8. What comes around goes
around. When going after your big
dream, there are going to be people
who act pretty egregious toward you.
There will be friends who turn on you.
There will be times in which you are
used and abused. In order to sooth
your wounds, you will tell yourself that
karma will take care of the people
who have hurt you. My only advice for
you is this; don't hold your breath.
There will be people who purposely
hurt you, and then they will go on to
build fabulous careers and to live
beautiful lives. Forget about karma
and forget about the people who don't
serve your greater purpose. Wasting
even a moment wondering what's
happening in the business or life or
someone whose intent is to hurt you
is a massive waste of your time and
Stacey Alcorn is the author of REACH! - Dream,
Stretch, Achieve Influence and travels the world
showing business entrepreneurs how to REACH!.
Stacey is a regular contributor
to Entrepreneur and Huffington Post and has a
weekly podcast series entitled Leaders and Legends
on iTunes. She is addicted to awesome shoes,
reading, writing, cool people, and building business
empires, including the 5th largest real estate firm in
Massachusetts, LAER Realty Partners, closing more
than $1B in real estate sales annually. Her WHY is
her 5 year old daughter, Oshyn.
resources. On the road to big dreams,
remove the rear view mirror, anything
worth focusing on is in front of you.
9. I am the average of the people I
spend the most time with. We are
human beings with flesh, blood, and
beating hearts. We are miracles, each
and every one of us. You are an
average if you believe you are.
Otherwise, you are anything but
average. You can be, do, and have
anything in the world you want, your
possibilities are limitless, you are the
average of nobody, and the universe
conspires to help you achieve your
dreams. I surround myself with high
achieving dream chasers not because
I want to be the average of them, but
rather because they are a constant
reminder to me that none of us are
average at all.

ONE LAST THOUGHT…
Use your time wisely. Susan Solovic’s time saving tips
will help you (1) evaluate how you’re spending your time,
(2) prioritize what’s important, (3) just say “No’ to things
that don’t benefit your goals, and (4) get your life back.
Read this month’s feature article.
Work smarter not harder, with Jessica DiLullo Herrin’s
view on 7 ways to increase daily Productivity such as (1)
talk in-person instead of organizing a meeting or
emailing, (2) make sure every meeting is essential, and
(3) set boundaries between your work and personal life.
Do more in less time using Jessica’s tips.
Keep abreast of what’s happening in marketing. Joe
Pulizzi outlines 10 emerging marketing roles trending in
the next 10 years. The content we create must be
viewed as an asset that can fuel our business and reach
our audience in new ways. Read Joe’s article for a
complete list of new marketing opportunities.
Motivate and inspire your millennials workforce with
these 5 guiding principles of praise: (1) celebrate
successes, (2) be authentic in your praise, (3) listen to
their ideas, (4) seek to understand them, and (5) give
praise along with a challenge. Ken Gosnell’s article will
turbocharge your organization.
Recognize 9 lies we tell ourselves that can sabotage
our success. For example, sometimes we say “I don’t
care”, in reality we do care. It’s psychotically our way of
coping with our emotions. Stacey Alcorn article tells how
to avoid each self-defeating lie.
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