The Independent Business Woman - 7 Powerful Steps to Get What You Want in Business

By Consuelo Meux

Are you ready to give up the 9 to 5 "rat race" and think about starting your own home based business or Internet marketing business? You might be ready to become an entrepreneur home based business professional and you have the self-confidence to do it. So why shouldn't you profit from your ideas instead of profiting another company owner?

Financially, you know you'll never reach your desired goals unless you take the risk of being an independent business owner. But the question remains, what business would you start if you could? You can feel in your heart that tug that tells you to take the risk to do an independent business. Before you pack in that weekly paycheck, take time to evaluate yourself and your future with some real honesty. Take time to pray and hear the calling of your heart towards the right business for your life. You want to change your life for the better, so let's start.

You Can Do It Do you know that you have the potential to do and be anything you want? You are created in the image of God so you have the ability to be creative in your life. Some of this creativity can be used to build a unique business that is really needed in the world. Most women have different perceptions of what is the ideal business life; and that ideal can range from owning a retail store operation to setting up a regular income from a web based membership site. Unfortunately, many women fail to reach their aspirations because they can't get a solid, clear picture in their mind of what they want.

Search for Your Heart Desire Take the next few days and embark on a fact-finding journey that will be a life-changing experience for you. First, sit down and pray about exactly what you want in as an independent business owner. Be specific about identifying your passions so you can focus all your efforts on that particular desire. To reach real success in a business effort, seek the true desires of your heart and be ready to recognize the type of home based, internet marketing or retail business you want to spend time doing.

Seven Questions to Help You Know The woman who always changes her mind or who gives up easily when the going gets tough, will never get anywhere. If you're a bit confused and aren't sure what you really want in life take time to answer these questions:

What makes your heart beat with excitement?What makes you happy?What are you constantly thinking of day and night?What do you want to do with the rest of your life?What do you enjoy doing?What are your obsessions?What things make you jump for joy? Write down all your possible answers to the above questions. Write down everything, no matter how silly or unimportant it seems. Put all your desires on paper that answers any of the above questions.

When you complete responding to the questions, go back, study your answers and circle five to seven items that interest you the most from your list. Then, without taking a lot of time, evaluate and choose with your heart (emotions or intuition), not your mind, the one and only thing worthy to spend all your time and resources on and that brings out the best in you.

A Personal Example I can share with you that I had to take time to do this. I had about five different areas of interest in the beginning of my Internet business. The reason for this was because I never wanted to really acknowledge what I really wanted to do with my business. I wanted to create a networking group for Christian women in business. The group would welcome all women, but the primary difference would be the tone and attitude of the organization. I could use my knowledge of business, organizations, and marketing, but focus on a market that is sorely underserved; Christian women who work in the world of business.

For some reason, I didn't honestly make that statement to myself for a long time. As I look at my old writings and some websites I started, I see that my focus was too mixed to really let the public know my business focus. When I honestly stated what I wanted to do, everything began to fall into place. I was able to develop my mission, value statement, and business plan for the Association and move forward.

How to Make Anything Possible Now, what if you know you want to work in an area that might not be right for you because of your personal circumstances? For instance, what if you want to be the next star of a woman's basketball team? If you're over 20 years old and never played basketball, you'd have to realize that this is not a reasonable choice. But if you have a love for the sport, you can always think of something related to basketball or sports.

How about starting a women's basketball publication and interview stars of the game? Or perhaps a site that features women's basketball sporting goods or a basketball memorabilia business?

Let me give you an example of how you could use your love for a sport even with a basically unrelated topic. Take a look at how I used basketball as a metaphor for learning how to write Internet articles at Slam Dunk Articles ( Http://www.slamdunkarticles.com). This gives you an idea that you can start to focus on favorite ideas in many different ways.

Listen to Your Heart The most important thing to remember, no matter how impossible your idea seems to be, is to listen to your heart. Even if other people disagree with you, be firm with what you really want. Others may offer comments or advice, but the final decision is always yours to make as you are the one to live with growing and nurturing your business. Concentrate on what you want, not what others want.

Get Started I know of women in businesses that are being very successful by pursuing topics that others tried to talk them out of doing. Some have sites based just on a particular type of craft and have built strong membership sites. Others take a basic topic that is growing in interest, such as how to organize your home better and making loads of money in the process. These women followed the leading of their hearts. They spent time in prayer and were sure of the direction that they were to pursue in their business.

Too many women live lives in quiet desperation waiting until a perfect time to take the time to do what they really want to do in life. There is a desperation that time will pass them by and they will never realize her true calling in life. You will surely feel this way it you know you are supposed to start working on your dream and you keep hesitating out of doubt or fear.

Take the time now, to search your heart and decide what you really want in life more than anything else. Do the exercise above and be honest with yourself. You don't have to share the information with anyone else yet. Just sit quietly and pray about your decision.

Keep your pen and paper nearby as ideas begin to come to you and write everything down without judgment. You are getting ideas from your deepest understanding that you can use to form your future business plan; in fact, the more outrageous your ideas, the better. That means your original creativity is coming out and you are starting to really focus on what's uniquely yours to do in life. Begin honoring each moment in every day of your life. Live life, remembering, that you don't know God's plan for you. Don't take for granted the life that you have. Live every day as if it were the last day you had and stop leaving your dreams to be started next week, next month, or next year.

If you are serious about becoming the woman you know God created you to be, you have to take the risk to ask yourself what you really want to do in life in the world of business. Sign up for the mailing list of the National Association of Christian Women in Business (NACWIB) for more information on how to get started. Also get some resources to help you build the business of your dreams. Once you know what it is you want to do, find out the steps it would take to make the dream come true for you. You will never know the success you could have in your home based business as an independent entrepreneur until you get started.

Consuelo Meux, Ph.D. is the Founder and President of the National Association of Christian Women in Business ( http://www.nacwib.com). Get two special reports when you sign up for the mailing list at http://www.Christian-business-women.com the Quick Start Business Plan Template and Seven Bible Habits for Increased Business Success.