Progress not Perfection

My daughter is in Kindergarten and is having a hard time learning to read. In an effort to help her stay excited in the process, I bought her a reading game.

Soon after she begins playing I hear her exclaim, “This is the best game on Earf!“

“Earth,” I say.  “Earf,” she replies.  “Ear-TH,” I carefully enunciate.

Then in true Porky Pig fashion she says with a smile, “This is the best game in the WORLD!”

My purpose for giving her the game was to get her excited about reading. Here she was, showing her excitement for the game and I am now focused on her speech.

Then a thought came to mind: Strive for progress not perfection. This is the mantra we must all hold in our hearts. It’s an old adage but it will always ring true. 

I keep reading about potential entrepreneurs just spinning their internal wheels, staying stagnant and never progressing; but not for lack of drive or ability but because of indecisiveness or inaction.  Don’t be the one with all the ideas bubbling under the surface. Don’t lose focus. Don’t make excuses. Make progress, take action.

You won’t be perfect. You can’t be. Strive for constant progress.

 
I invite you all to comment on how you are progressing in your entrepreneurial efforts.

I Dare You to be Bold

Remember when, as kids, you couldn't pass on a dare? Well, in that spirit- today I dare you to be bold in the pursuit of your dreams.

This past weekend, I joined a terrific G+ community (+virtual assistants) and soon after, one of the members contacted me privately. She was an administrative professional who was ready to throw in the towel, feeling overwhelmed with launching her home based virtual assistant business.

She worked as an administrative assistant for several years and felt secure in her administrative abilities but found the whole start-up process daunting. Most people agree. But so what?

The more we talked, the more I heard a laundry list of excuses. We finally got to the root of her issue: she was afraid of failure and success. I find this is often the case with budding entrepreneurs.

We went through an exercise of "what if" where I introduced several success and failure scenarios and the more we went through the "what if" situations, the more confident she became when she realized that either she already knew her next steps or knew where to look to find solutions. 

So today, I challenge you to delve a little bit deeper into your internal well and boldly acknowledge your obstacles- and one by one- conquer them.


Tag, you're IT!

Successful Crowdfunding Campaigning Workshop… We have lift-off!

Having personally raised over $8 million dollars for various clients, most of you already know that I am a huge advocate for collaborative fundraising.    

What most of you don’t know is that I have spent the past few months designing a crowdfuning workshop curriculum for folks who are interested in crowdfunding campaigning.   Although the platform of crowdfunding is relatively new, seeking financial backing is not.   

I have kept the virtual professional and budding entrepreneur in mind by specifically designing this crowdfunding workshop to allow the participant the opportunity to learn how to pragmatically plan, write, discuss and launch their own crowdfunding campaign.   

Additionally, as an active peer mentor, virtual assistants and administrative consultants alike have asked me how they can leverage their existing skills and add crowdfunding campaigning to their services provided.  To maximize accessibility, there are day, evening and Saturday options.

Successful Crowdfunding Campaigning Workshop Includes:

SESSION 1:  Planning a Successful Crowdfunding Campaign  (1 hr)
SESSION 2: Writing a Successful Crowdfunding Campaign     (1 hr)
SESSION 3: Case Studies and Crowdfunding Roundtable      (2 hrs)

SESSION 4: Launching a Successful Crowdfunding Campaign (1 hr)

OPTIONAL: One on One Campaign Critique (30 mins)

Learn More or Register >>

Virtual Professionals United

I am really excited about seeing people finally migrating to or adding Google+ to their social toolkit.  Even though it boasts over 175 million users, it really has been such an under utilized platform by most entrepreneurs and virtual professionals.

I wanted to call your attention to two new communities that have just sprouted up that are designed specifically to connect virtual professionals with other virtual professionals.  Get in on the ground floor and help in building new two awesome communities: +Virtual Assistant Forums & +Virtual Professionals Mingle

Feel free to invite my audience to your G+ community by adding the link and brief description in the comments section of this post.  (Add me +Rachael Alford  to your circles & I will do the same)

First Blog Post on my Own Blog

Since I have been so dedicated to my clients (shameless plug), I have been lax about launching both my website (http:www.RachaelAlford.com) as well as my blog.

My website is a place where you can view my service offerings, contract me for services and sign up for workshops. I look forward to sharing my insights and musings with you all and welcome your comments.