An Update on Life in "The Cycle of Passion Killing"

For a blog titled "Freedom Through Passion" I'm not sure I'm really living up to the weight of this name right now.

In my last post I mentioned how I was struggling with the balance of my desires and how I want my ambitions to flourish from a place of passion instead more than reward.

But to be honest, I have no idea what I'm doing with my life 99% of the time. Sometimes I feel alive and other times, more than most, I feel I have placed myself in a routine because I feel I've failed at the other things I have pursued.

I've read and agree with the philosophy that failing over and over is actually a success and the character needed to be a true entrepreneur. Right now I feel I am stuck in a place of fear of failing again-but my soul beckons me so often whispering words like risk, adventure, independence and invention.

My soul is crying out to me, but I've tuned out it's voice so it decided to scream at me and make me completely restless. Thank you soul.

I am a woman of ambition and invention and when I am not in a place that heightens and supports this it's like chopping off the head of a flower or moving an outstretching bud into darkness. It suffocates me.

Sometimes, we need to slow down and take a look at our lives and not make excuses for denying our passions. These are my excuses right now: Money. Support. Community. Disappointing others. Past failures. Even writing them down feels pathetic because I know that the worst thing that could happen is I quit my job, lose a reliable check and a couple friends. But the truth is if I were honest with myself I really don't believe things could be different.

Honestly, I am not sure what to do with myself right now. It comes in cycles and every time I enter in I convince myself this time it will be different. Here's my cycle:

I'm not sure when this cycle will break, but I do know that I need to commit to an idea and pursue it without the "Feel like a failure" phase sucking me back in. I cannot let myself enter "The Cycle of Passion Killing" anymore.

Right not I am in the "Get sick of having a job" phase. For me, "The Cycle of Passion Killing" averages from 3-5 months. How do you kill an entrepreneurial spirit? You can't. Nearly impossible unless you want to live a life of no happiness, no passion, no adventure and most of all-no life.

So.... what now? I am asking myself the same thing. I wanted to write this mainly to help me process what's going on, but also to reach out to others like me for support and encouragement. What would you do in my place? How do you keep yourself from entering "The Cycle of Passion Killing"?

We shall see what is next on this adventure of life! I have ideas and other things I am pursuing right now aside from my 9-5 and next time I get to the "No immediate results" phase I am going to do whatever it takes to break out of this cycle and enter in the Passion cycle of awesomeness!

That's all for now folks. No real call to action really. Mainly just an update on how I'm feeling in life right about now. I hope this reaches some of you and calls you to action to live out a life of passion, purpose, and meaning- in whatever way that relates to you in your own Cycle of Passion Killing. 

It is time to break free family!

5 Successful Entrepreneurial Women

On the list of 100 Top Entrepreneurs Who Succeeded Without a College Degree seven of them were women. 

There are just those stories that you hear about that make you wanna shout "HEY I CAN DO THAT TOO!"

I was seeking out on the web specifically women entrepreneurs and i'll admit it has been a difficult task. Keeping in mind rights have changed over time, I understand why most of the Top 100 list is men.  

I support, listen, aspire and learn from many entrepreneurial men. While equally, I want women to be empowered to step up in the entrepreneurial world and inspire more women. It could create a wonderful snowball effect of beauty ;) Sometimes, there's nothing like hearing it from a lady. 

These powerful women definitely made the list:

Rachael Ray 

+Rachael Ray Show 

@rachaelray

Food Network cooking show star, food industry entrepreneur, with no formal culinary arts training. Never attended college. 

Ashley Qualls 

+Ashley Qualls 

@AshBo 

Founder of Whateverlife.com, left high school at the age of 15 to devote herself to building her website business. She was more than a million dollars by 17. 

Gabrielle Berstein 

+Gabrielle Bernstein 

@Gabbyberstein 

Bestselling author, influential thinker, Youtube vlogger and Founder of Herfuture.com. She grew up in New York and attended Syracuse University with a degree in Theater.

Marie Forleo 

@marieforleo

Wrote the bestselling book, Make Every Man Want You: How To Be So Irresistible You’ll Barely Keep from Dating Yourself published in 13 languages. Marie has been interviewed by Tony Robbins as one of the world’s leading lifestyle and online marketing experts and mentored young business owners at Richard Branson’s Centre of Entrepreneurship in South Africa.  

Danielle Laporte 

+Danielle LaPorte 

@DanielleLaPorte 

Creator of the Desire Map: A guide to Creating Goals With Soul. She is passionate about creating a life that we love living. she skipped out on college to learn what she was really interested in and it brought her to the place she is now-inspiring, encouraging and motivating other ladies.

Other great resources: 

Female Entrepreneur Association International 

Women's Entrepreneurship: Issues and Policies  

The Lionesspreneur  +Natasha Clark 

Unlock Your Unlimited Potential

How do people follow through on their potential?

What is it that makes this rich get richer and the poor get poorer?

We know that it has something to do with mindset of course.

One man, who has changed people’s lives in a record time of eight minutes, surveyed a range of successful people to come up with a simple,practical formula. Tony Robbins’ life purpose is to change people’s lives. He is not only someone to emulate, but someone who emulates others very well, too. For that reason, I want to share a practical, life-changing way of thinking.

It used to be impossible to run a four minute mile. So why is it that after one man made the impossible possible 37 people were able to do the same thing over the next two years? It was because Roger Bannister did more than just physical practice. It was his certainty that he could run a four minute mile that allowed his body to get him to his desired result.

How does it work?

The potential we have is infinite. Anyone can do what has or has not been done. Whether or not we use that potential depends what we do.

The action then determines the result.

Now, this all sounds pretty simple, right?

This is where people begin to categorize themselves.

Here's the thing. Most people already have a certainty or belief of their potential before they ever take action or see results. This belief is what drives them to their action and gives them their results. These results then reinforce their belief. Old beliefs may keep them from their real potential.

So for example, I could have an unlimited potential, but little action and little results. Does that mean I have little potential? No, it means I don’t believe that I have unlimited potential.

If I believe there is little potential I am going to then take little action and my results will be lousy. The  discouraging results will reinforce what I believe is true. It’s all because my belief from the beginning is what I identified with and acted upon.  The cycle continues to spiral downward as my results get worse and I become more and more certain that I have little potential. But I don't.

How do I believe in my unlimited potential?

Start with a “must”. I must do this because I have no other options. This business must be successful or I will have to be dependent on my parents again, go to school, and get a job. I don’t want that! This “must” cannot be a “should”. Like: I should start a business that’s successful. That’s not enough. There are no other options but the “must”.

I must believe that what I am doing is going to work.

What do I do when I don’t believe in myself, take action or have the results I need?

Start at the results. I envision what it is that I must have. Basically, I see the results as if they are already here; I already have what I want. This builds my belief and actions and the results follow suit!

The cycle will happen no matter what you believe.

Although right now, I understand you may be nowhere near to what you want or need. When you have an unrealistic vision your belief in your potential and actions join the cycle and bring to life your envisioned results.

We have to condition ourselves to believe the things we don’t yet have so that our potential and actions bring us to the desired results.

A study done at UCLA concluded that we consciously exert control over individual neurons in our brains. Researchers revealed that humans regulate the individual activity of each neuron to intentionally alter their outcome. Individuals in the study manipulated the behavior of an image on the computer by only their thoughts!

This means that no matter what we have thought, seen or experienced we have the power to manipulate, control and change our thoughts to become our desired results.

We can override what we see or believe by focusing on and envisioning our results. When the desired results are clear in our mind, we have the power to fuzz out old beliefs and actions and begin our upward cycle of progress.

3 Things Businesses Need to Know About Google's Biggest Change-Hummingbird 2014

You may be asking what all this hub bub is about the new Google Hummingbird. Or maybe you’re thinking “What the heck is Hummingbird? I thought it was a bird, not something to do with Google”.

Of course, I was thinking the same thing. I even went as far as searching ‘hummingbird’ on Google only to find myself scrolling through a lot of lovely photos of a quaint little bird.

The fact is, Google SEO (Search Engine Optimization) experts are talking about Hummingbird because it’s imperative to know the curve we are on and not be behind it. To understand the scope of these changes would be incomprehensible unless you heard it from Google’s search chief himself, Amit Singhal, who says “It’s really big.”

Okay, so you can comprehend that, but algorithms, content, and linking may not come as naturally. If you are a newbie to the whole Google, SEO, rankings stuff and you want to know more for your own education, Search Engine Land gives a great brief overview of Hummingbird.

(I’m sure if you are a friend of mine you have heard me talk about it quite enough. Thank you.)

In this article, I will reveal how Hummingbird implements a more conversational search style (in response to the growing mobile data usage), why you should care about your social status and how to use links to boost your legitimacy- and ultimately your business.

The change began officially in September 2013. It affects 90% of your search engine results.

Hold the press, 90%? Yes. 90%. That means only 10% has stayed the same. I’m sure it wasn't necessary to say that, but I wanted to emphasize the scope of changes they made! It may not have affected you, but they are still slowly testing and implementing changes that could affect your website, blog or profile.

Allow me to explain to you what Google Hummingbird really is (obviously not a bird), why you should care about it, and what you can do to benefit from it.

1) Google has implemented a more conversational search style.

What does that mean?

It’s not all about your keywords anymore.

In one example about the effect on B2B sites, Harrison Jones, from Search Engine Land tells us:

Instead of focusing on a keyword Hummingbird values sites based on the user intent of the search, and ranks pages based on the context it would appear in a conversation.

Why should you care?

Hummingbird is not looking at your keyword as much as it is on the content of what your site has to offer. 

Jones also states “You’ll need to create new (non service- or product-oriented) content around the topic that’s geared toward providing quality information for those searching and talking…” about your keyword.

What do you do in response?

Jones would tell you to “Use these keywords to help build a list of topics for new content. These topics can be used for blog posts, thought leadership, social media posts and any other form of online content marketing”.

Basically, the content is what matters. When someone is looking for you, Google can connect them to you best through a blog on that topic, for example.

2) Google is judging your social status.

What does that mean?

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, any social media platform has you attached to it as an author and ultimately will affect your ranking.

Why should you care?

Since you, as an author, are connected to any of your social pages and those are included in your ranking having a stronger social status online will give you the perfect opportunity to meet with your target market.

Jim Yu, from Search Engine Land, leads the way sharing the secrets of Hummingbird’s strategy. He says “With the release of Hummingbird, it’s expected that social signals will have more of an impact on Google rankings. It’s already been shown that increasing engagement on Twitter can increase search rankings, and Google Plus profiles and pages have an impact on ranking as well”.

What do you do in response?

Yu recommends some tips:

·         Participate in Google Plus, Facebook, and Twitter, whether you’re a business or an individual. Here, he offers some specific suggestions for getting the most out of Facebook Graph search.

·         If you’re a business, don’t forget about LinkedIn. Here are some tips he provides for optimizing your LinkedIn company page.

3) Implementing links will make you more legitimate in Google’s eyes.

What does that mean?

Nate Dame, another expert from Search Engine Land explores the impact of link building and shares this information with us:

“Everything we do should also focus on the end user. More than ever, link building needs to be focused on providing real (significant) value to users. Is our site worth the links we are trying to earn?”

Why should you care?

Bottom line, Google will reward you when you give real value to your users through your links to other helpful sites. Especially links to other sites that are ranked higher than you. On the other hand, they will most definitely punish you if when you drive false traffic to your site and when you promote your link for the sake of promoting instead of providing real value.

What do you do in response?

Dame suggests “Integrating link building into your overarching marketing and content marketing strategy is the only way to be future-proof — and open up new opportunities along the way”.

For example, if you were to write an article on the topic of protein powder to promote your health shake a good idea would be to add a link to another more highly ranked site that would give your readers more value and give you a better ranking.

In Summary

Professional blogger and founder of TechLila, Rajesh Namase, wraps it up well when he says:

"The objective of Google hummingbird in the long run, as it has been for all Google algorithm updates, is to reward natural websites and blogs and tackle those designed to play the search system and attract traffic to low quality web pages. Be natural and honest, and Google will reward you with the exposure in the form of the search engine ranking it believes you deserve. Try to play it and cheat, and Google will reward with no ranking at all – and may even delist you”.