how to achieve your life dreams Archives

Why Blogging Will Create More Visibility For Your Business

I am so excited to write this post….Now don’t get me wrong, I am not the “Mrs perfect, expert blogger”…..But I’ve been blogging for the last 4 years and know it's powerful. In the process I also discovered writing as a creative outlet, wohoooo how great is that. Before I forget…. please forgive my twisted english and misspells, as it’s not my first language 🙂

Today I'm writing in a coffee shop with a view of the old city hall. The farmers market is set up with lots of stands offering delicious veggies, fruits, fish, meet, chesse and scented flowers. The smell of deep fried fish and spices is in the air….ah, life is good.

Ok now back to blogging…My first blog, which was about vision boards….would show up on page 2 of google after only 3 months, which was a real achievement…Ok, now I would love to share with YOU what I learned and why blogging ins helpful for your business.

Over the last few years I have participated in lots of classes, seminars, mastermind groups and so on, enjoying the chance to connect with many people who desire to have a more global business presence and live their life purpose, doing the work they love to do.

After talking to lots of wonderful human beings…I now have a good picture about the most common problems, when starting and/or growing a business online. So what do you think are the most common problems when starting a business?

Yes you are right, you need to find customers, so you have to be visible and no…they don't come out of the blue, even if that’s what some law of attraction gurus tell you. Believe me I tried this strategy for a long time and it did not work. Unfortunately you need to apply certain actions and strategies to be found… otherwise you will get lost in the jungle of other websites.

Your potential client has no idea that you are out there with your wonderful service or product. As a result you might think that nobody is interested in what you have to offer……but it might just be a problem of being visible.

Just to throw this in as a sidenote: People sometimes don’t do the necessary actions, but are unconscious about the fact that they don’t do them. The result is that they think… their efforts are not working…… This process is unconscious and it’s a mind strategy to keep you safe, within your comfortzone.

Do I hear you say? This is crazy? Yes it is…but it’s true……. Try this experiment, be mindful and watch yourself…. Being aware of it myself and many other coaches I talk to, I actually noticed myself doing this…. I hate to admit… Has this ever happened to you?

When starting or growing a business, one of the most important things you need to do in order to become known and attract customers is to create visibility. Most of you know how to do it for your brick and mortar businesses… Advertise in the yellow pages, gazettes, magazines, word of mouth, go to networking events and the whole shebang. But what about online?

If you follow the online marketing gurus, which I did, they all say: start a blog and write posts….. Oh my… how to set up a blog, write, social media….No clue what to do, so many options, don’t know where to start. I was in total overwhelm.

Yep I know what it feels like, I’ve been there…..When I started I was perplexed, I was not very techie on the computer. I never saw myself as a writer, I never thought I’m good at writing, but I just did what they told me to do and guess what, after I got over the resistance I started to enjoy it 🙂

Now what are the technical benefits? By writing blogposts on a regular basis, Google will think your website is more active. With every indexed page (new blogpost) you add, there is one more chance to show up in the search engines, so it’s a fantastic tool to create organic SEO and drive free traffic to your site.

I will not get into SEO, but websites like hubspot, or other experts will be a great source of more technical information. Just google experts in SEO and you will find great information, even for free. My worpress site also has a great Plugin to help with SEO.

The blog content will be available for as long as you have your blog, so if people are searching for something you write about, it will take them to your blogpost, even years after you wrote it.

The other great benefit is that you have your own original content to share on social media, so if people get to know you through reading your blog they start to trust you and if you engage enough they eventually convert to customers and clients.

Write about subjects that helps solve their pains. Yeah, it’s always about that, you have something…. they need this something and boom, if the 2 connect it can be a match made in heaven. Write what you are interested in, be personal, make it fun to read. Nobody likes to read boring "manuals".

You will need a weblog, social media setup and a good linkedIn profile and if you use it regularly it will create interest and customers for you, the key is to post on a regular basis, not once a year, that would not be enough. If you don't know how to do it get help, get a coach, a tutor, or start a mastermindgroup.

Find out about your client's pain and write about a solution to this pain or challenge. Now you have an interesting subject to write about, something that your customers are interested in. First you find a good theme, then you need a great title. What would people google who have this pain? Your title should reflect the answer to this pain, so do some research on google. How to find a great title for your blog.

Simple recipe, isn’t it? For example; if you’re a business or life coach you want to know

Who do you want to coach
What’s keeping them from doing the things they want to do

Let’s say your customers are women over 40 who are looking for a new life direction. What would their problems be?

They might have an idea what they are passionate about, but they don’t know how to realize it. They feel stuck, they might be afraid to leave their comfort zone, or their environment might not support them.

Now you can write about that, or how people can balance their lives, be healthier, more courageous, more successful, more confident, and more. Offer them tips and tricks, be the light at the end of the tunnel. Anything that might be of interest to “your tribe.”

Ps: I love to go write in different cafes, or at the library, it’s stimulates and inspires me to have people around, plus it’s more fun.

Ok my friends I hope this helps a little, if you feel stuck and need some help, take advantage of my “Coaching to help you move forward trial session”, it’s my gift to you, just

e mail me at maritasteffe@gmail.com

If you are inspired to add something to this post, or you have a question, please leave a comment, I love to read them 🙂

What Makes You Come Alive?

What Makes You Come Alive?

Hello my friends, I hope your holidays were peaceful and nourishing and that 2015 will be a great year for YOU all. I would like to start my new blog series with my favorite question: What makes you come alive, or in simple words: what gives you great, vibrating positive energy?

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” Howard Thurman

Oh, what a fascinating question. How do you feel when you hear it? Did anybody ask you this question before?

Does it irritate you?
Does it inspire you?
What else do you feel?

Just to be honest: if anybody would have asked me this question 10 years ago, it would have irritated me. In those days I had very little awareness and would have translated it with: am I still breathing? What a stupid thing to ask? Hmmm, yes that was me then 🙂

Now I get excited and I want to mention all the beautiful things that make me come alive. Deep meaningful conversations, helping other people believe that they actually can change and live their dreams. Help someone to be open to see their own greatness and to own their own value.

Sharing insights that inspire others, to know that there is always the possibility of a wonderful life. Knowing that most limitations are self made and can be overcome.

I love it when I can support people to take care of themselves by eating healthy foods, being mindful, excercising, enjoying nature. I love to hang out with like minded people where I get support and inspirations.

Wait there is more: going on little adventures, even when it's just a new hike or I explore some new areas with my bicycle. I get excited when I do something different, learn something interesting, take a new class, meet someone new.

Feeling alive, is enjoying the simple things in life, expressing ourselves, being creative, being playful……. just for the heck of it!

Now let's explore what drains energy.

For me the biggest energy drain is negativity, it totally zapps me, being around gossip is bad for me too, just like judging others or being judged. Tiredness and being around uptight people who don't understand me is bad too.

When I don't get fresh air and can't exercise it drains me, when I am dishonest or get angry it drains my energy, noise and negative news ………..Well I'm sure the list goes on but I will stop here. If you come up with other goodies please share them with us.

So what makes you come alive? Please leave a comment to share with others.

PS: Don't wait to do all these good things until you retire, start NOW.

English is not my first language please forgive twisted grammar and misspelled words 🙂

Why Is It So Hard To Try New Things?

Why Is It So Hard To Do New Things?

How do YOU feel when you desire to make changes in life. Do you feel ecstatic, do you feel anxious, or do you you feel neutral about it?

The fact is that changes are very hard for most people, that's why they rather stay in painful situations. Even if the change comes with the promise of a great life, it gets ignored and pushed onto the "famous back burner."

Do YOU know "someone" who stays in a miserable job, a bad marriage, hangs out with friends who are not a pleasure to be around, but holds on and on and complains and complains, but does not do anything about it?

Why is that? Sometimes the job isn't even paid well, so what the heck is going on? Could it be security, or better said the illusion of security? The job might be gone tomorrow, the company might be downsizing, the owner might be changing, the new boss might not like you. Job gone anyway…………………there is no security and it's better to face it.

Knowing this might help YOU with stepping out of YOUR comfort zone and experiment with new things. Maybe it's looking for another position, maybe it's finally creating the business YOU always wanted to have.

Yeah why not, it's good to face the fear head on and do it. Life is short and too precious to be lived in comfortable misery.

Find some helpful tips below, to be more courageous and start to initiate some life changes, even small ones.

Find a group of other people who want to do the same
Get some motivating inspiring books
Participate in some personal growth seminars
Get a coach
Don't tell you dream buster friends, you know the "ones" who don't dare and do not want their friends to dare either

It is very hard to do it alone, YOU need to have people who believe in YOU and support YOU. I myself initiated several major life changes in my life.

When I was 24 I moved from Germany to California, started 4 businesses. Around 52 I left my husband, started on a quest to find my life purpose and moved back to Germany when I was 58.

By the way in case YOU wonder….I found my life purpose 🙂

Every little step was scary as hell, but I did it and know that YOU can do it too.

Overcoming the fear and the resistance is the first step……………..This sounds weird but it's true, the fear and resistance will always be there, so there is nothing to get rid of or overcome. The only thing that can be done is to not let it stop YOU.

How can we do that?

Feel the fear, accept it welcome it and tell yourself that it's ok to try a little experiment, or venture out into new territory. It's ok, no lion will come and eat YOU 🙂

The more experiments YOU make the more empowered YOU will feel.

Really…. what do you have to lose, there is not security to hold on to, it’s an illusion.

Try a session with me and find out if YOU might get inspired to discover something new. Go to the contact tab and e mail me to schedule a 2 part session, it's my gift to you. I can't wait to meet YOU.

There Is No Program That Will Do It For You

Are YOU like me and you tried many programs and seminars just to wonder why the hell nothing is working? The sad truth is that all the programs in the world will not help you achieve your life dreams, or whatever you expected from it. I am not saying that it is a waste of time, seminars and programs are still my favorite thing to do, but now I see it as kind of a vacation and a great place to get inspired and meet likeminded folks.

When I started to be interested in human potential and spirituality, I wanted to believe that if I just take one more program, I would get it, but I did not. For many years I went from one seminar to the next success seminar and expected that one day I would get the answer to my problems and my dream life would just appear in front me and I would live happily ever after. Well, unfortunately it did not work, can you relate?

Don't get me wrong, I had a lot of fun, met wonderful people and learned a lot of great material, but the big change did not happen this way.

So what can be done? I experienced that I need to do the work of exploring myself, recognizing the patterns that served me as a child, but not as an adult and practice new behavior. Success and transformation are an accumulation of things and if we are left to our own devices, most of us will miserably fail.

Continue reading “There Is No Program That Will Do It For You”

The Law Of Attraction And Vision Boards

The Law Of Attraction And Vision Boards

As a life coach it is important for me to offer tools that work. Vision boards are one of them; they are fun, creative and highly effective. The key is: YOU have to believe that the process works, if YOU doubt it, the process will not work.

I quickly want to tell YOU about my last magical experiences with vision boards: last year I created one with lots of photographs of houses I took in my hometown in Germany. Guess where I live now, in exactly this town, in the center of the city close to everything. It started with a tiny idea to make this move, nothing more…………….. Please trust the magic and make one, do it for YOU.

The law of attraction states that we attract into our lives anything that we give attention to, regardless of whether it's positive or negative. Now this is important: If you constantly think about negative things, guess what! YOU will attract the same energy into your life, YOU will be a crap magnet! It’s a quantum physics law, it states that we attract anything into our lives that we give attention to.
If YOU focus on negative thoughts YOU attract things that are negative, if YOU focus on positive YOU will attract positive events, people and things.

A vision board is a tool, to use to focus on positeve and inspiring images and words. YOU do not have to paint the pictures in YOUR mind, YOU just look at them, it’s the easy way to visualize YOUR life dreams. So start now and create YOUR life YOUR way and achieve YOUR life dreams.

How to make and use a vision board
YOUR personal vision board is limited only to YOUR own creativity and imagination. Some people have produced simple vision boards and others have made vision boards that could sell at art show for hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. But let me tell YOU: artistic ability is not a prerequisite for creating a functional vision board. Anybody can do it and anybody will have a blast creating it, it’s so simple and creative, make it playtime

YOUR subconscious mind works in pictures and images, so make YOUR vision board as visual as possible with as many images as you can. Add inspirational and motivational words towards the end, they can be written onto the images, or YOU can type and print the words, cut them out and glue them onto the board.

Each picture on YOUR vision board should evoke a positive emotional response from YOU. The sight of YOUR vision board should make YOU smile and fuel YOUR passion to achieve your dreams every time YOU look at it. Be inspired by the images and feel them!

Place YOUR vision board in a prominent location where YOU have a chance to see it as much as possible. YOU need to constantly expose YOUR subconscious mind to this feel good energy. The more YOU look at your vision board, the more YOU feel it, the faster YOUR dreams will manifest. YOU do not have to know all the steps to get there. YOUR subconscious mind will do it for YOU.

Negative feelings like self-doubt and criticism can damage the delicate energy that YOU generate with YOUR vision board. If YOU notice these feelings YOU must do something to neutralize them.
Practice affirmations, they are very helpful to override negative thoughts and neutralize negative emotions. But it does not mean that YOU do nothing. YOU must listen to your intuition and YOU must go out and meet people.

Now let's get started and create YOUR life YOUR way. The more YOU manifest, the happier YOUR lives are, the better this planet will be. There is no prerequisite for creating a functional vision board and the procedures I’ve outlined below can be used by anyone. Let me know what happens and leave a comment, I love YOU all 🙂

Simple Tips To Find What You Love To Do – Part 2

Simple Tips To Find What You Love To Do – Part 2

Hello again my friends, today we will explore a few more tips on how to find the things you love to do. Below are a few questions that I would like you to ask yourself. Yes it may be strange to ask yourself, but it's more like asking the question to the universe, you’re higher self or whatever you want it to be.

We have all the answers inside of us and yes even if you do not believe this you have them too. The trick is to get quiet enough to listen. The stronger your personality is; the harder it is to listen, so please, please, please do yourself a favor start to meditate and listen, it's the only way 🙂

• What are you passionate about?
• What is your biggest dream?
• Who do you want to become?
• What do you want to give?

I suggested 3 simple tips in the first part and today we will explore a few more. Please take the time and do the action steps, otherwise you can be sure that nothing will change. Small action steps repeatedly taken are required in order to create your dream life and please do remember: Everything we do that's new will feel uncomfortable.

7 years ago I did not have any idea what my passions are and if somebody asked me about my goals, it made me feel uncomfortable and I was avoiding the answer. It made me feel bad that I did not have any; actually I was afraid of goals, I was afraid of them because I knew that it would require commitment and commitment scared me, it was associated with: that's too hard.

Life felt stuck and I thought there must be something wrong with me, if I cannot answer these questions. The good thing is: today I am crystal clear about my passions and the goals I want to achieve and all I did was practice all the little simple exercises and practices, I am giving you right here.

The answers just appeared like magic out of nowhere, but I had to let it go when they come and how they come.

◾Get your local community college schedule and sign up for a class
◾Go to the museum, or a concert and get inspired
◾Take some time out and do something completely different
◾Get some inspiring books, for example the "Artist Way"
◾Find some interesting groups on Meet Up and join

Always, always, always keep the meditation going, even if it's only a few minutes. It will help you to get beyond your conscious mind, into the subconscious mind. You must make it part of your daily routine like food, drink or exercise, yes it's that important. Just let it happen whatever idea comes up: explore it.

The mind does not want to do new things and will come up with all kinds of reasons why not to do it. It's not the mind's job to make us happy; it just wants to keep us safe. This sounds self-defeating and yes it is. But the good news is that with some awareness and practice we can learn to move beyond the fear and do it anyway.
This is it for today, please leave a comment and if you have tips that I did not mention, please share it.

More instructions about:" how to make a vision board" when you watch the videos or click the links below

Vision Board Samples

Vision Board Meditation, created by Marita and lead by Marcela Manesis

How to help visualize and manifest your fitness and health goals with a vision board

Simple Tips To Make Your Life Fun – Interview With Dave Buck MCC

Simple Tips To Make Your Life Fun – Interview With Dave Buck MCC

I hope YOU are well and life is fabulous and inspiring.

Today, I am so thrilled to introduce you to my teacher and mentor Dave Buck, CEO of Coachville LLC, Master Certified Coach and founding member of the transformational leadership council.

Coach Dave has changed my life with his wisdom and the concept to bring more of the spirit of play into people's lives. That was one missing element in my life. For whatever reason, I turned everything into a chore.

Even when I liked what I was doing, after a while I lost my joy in it and it turned into an energy drain. At 57 years old I decided to change my career from interior design and real estate to coaching, this not only changed my career but also my behavior and my way of thinking.

Most people told me, oh no way YOU are too old to start a new career, but I think YOU are never too old to start a new life. All we want is to be happy, to live a life that’s interesting, stimulating with meaningful, supportive relationships around us, it's never too late for that!

Find out why and how having a coach can change your life.

Coaching is helpful for people who want to get better at something in their life. Athletes have coaches to get better at their game and the same concept applies to personal coaching.

People hire coaches to

Find more joy in life
Be more creative,
Be more successful in business
Have more fulfilling relationships,
Live healthier more balanced lives.

Not only that, it will give you a wonderful support system, someone who believes in YOU.

How does it work for YOU when YOU are left to your own devices? When YOU listen to the interview you will hear what just happened in a coaching session I had last week, a new insight I got that might improve my life even more.

A coach can help YOU see situations in a new light and help YOU find the answers within yourself. Yes it might sound kind of wowoooo, but that’s how it works.

Ok, I will stop now, enjoy the audio and if it inspired you please leave a comment.

Oh, I almost forgot, if you get inspired by our conversation and would like to try a session. Take advantage of my fabulous offer: A 30 minute exploratory coaching session with me. It's my gift to YOU and it might give YOU some ideas on how to bring more fun into your life. Just click the contact tab and let me know.

Blessings

Marita

click the triangle below to listen 🙂

Change Your Life With Gratitude

Change Your Life With Gratitude

Happiness and gratitude vibrate at the same level of energy. Somehow it's hard to know what happiness is, or how to generate it, but most of us know what gratefulness feels like. So let’s keep it simple and just bring more gratitude, or thankfulness into life.

Yes, I know, it's not always easy to be grateful, especially when everything goes wrong, but that's exactly the most important time to be thankful. Make it a daily habit. Add it to your daily schedule together with exercise and meditation. Remember why you do it: you want to attract good things into your life!

I found this wonderful quote in one of my books: It's said to be from the Matthias gospel”

"He who HAS will be rewarded with more, but the one who HAS NOT, will even lose the little he HAS."

What does this mean? It's not exactly fair: unless we add gratitude to "having and not having." If we have gratitude we get more good things, if we don't have it we lose what we have. "The law of attraction," in action.

Continue reading “Change Your Life With Gratitude”

Do You Believe You Can Create Your Life?

Do You Believe You Can Create Your Life?

If you say no, then why?

I also did not believe I can create my life, it took me a long, long time. Somehow I could not believe that I can be successful, that I can be and have what I want. Success was for other people, the "lucky ones." Does this sound familiar to you?

Well thank god, I changed my mind. I now believe that I can create my life and that I can have and be what I want to be.

Continue reading “Do You Believe You Can Create Your Life?”

Be Creative And Empower Your Life – Make a Vision Board

Be Creative And Empower Your Life – Make a Vision Board

Hi, Marita here, I hope YOU are well and will find a little bit of inspiration, or a glimpse of hope in this post. Today I want to share one of my favorite tools with YOU, the process of making a vision board. I have to admit, I am a vision board junkie once I start I cannot stop. But what the heck, to get lost in creativity is a good thing and it's healthy, better than to get lost in drama, resentments, drugs or alcohol………. I know, I've been there 🙂

I just completed a whole wall in my new apartment in Germany. All my beautiful art is in boxes in California, so my designer friend had the splendit idea to transform some walls into vision walls. MY first wall is about 10 feet long by 5 feet tall. I look at it and it makes me laugh, I look at the paint brush loaded with paint and I want to paint……. I look at all the wonderful people and it inspires the wish to organize a community of like minded people. The wish brews to help transform peoples lives, by inpiring hope and possibility that DREAMS are not frivolous, but are our birthright.

Three questions to ask yourself before YOU start.

Where am I
Where do I want to be
What do I need to do

A vision board is a roadmap to your dreams, to help YOU find out what YOU would love to do and get in touch with YOUR life purpose. The great news is that YOU have the answer inside of YOU…. the bad new is: it's not obvious, but hidden inside the subconscious mind. Please don't despair, because a vision board is a magical tool that can help YOU to get access to the unconscious and will find the answers and motivation to keep YOU focused on YOUR dreams and goals.

Do I hear YOU say: this is too simple it cannot work for me, my life is complicated? I know, I had the same thought in my head. Accept the voice, but let it know that you want to try it anyway, While working and training in the field of human potential and spirituality, I learned to not listen to the "dreambuster" in my head, but to be willing to do it anyway. I actually would say that this has been the highest achievement over the last 10 years of transformation: to be open, to believe in possibility and to do it anyway.

To be creative, is to be in YOUR element, to be in your zone of joy and contentment, to express the gift you came into this world for. It's a happy place to be. Can you imagine to be able to enjoy this state of being and to empower your life at the same time? Make a vision board it's empowering, it's very creative and it's fun! Vision boards are collages with intentions, they can be simple and they can get very artistic and elaborate. A hand drawn creation can be just as effective as the more complicated, layered collages.

What matters is the intentions YOU have and how meaningful these intentions are in YOUR life and for others. If YOU have an intention of becoming a millionaire, that's fine, but it might not really inspire YOU to do the steps required and your subconscious mind might not be motivated enough to spring into action to help get YOU there. The key is: YOU need to be inspired to get your subconscious mind into action!

So make it juicy, be inspired about something worthwhile. YOU do not have to save the world, but try and find something that inspires positive change, maybe in YOUR circle of friends, or neighborhood. Let YOUR heart speak and bring love to the world, might just be enough already!

What you need to make a vision board

Glue sticks or yes paste
Scissors
Posterboard
Your choice of magazines
Printed images (optional)
Patience
Trust
Willingness

How to make a vision board

Start with a 5 minute meditation
Listen to your favorite music
Tear out the images that inspire you
Start attaching the images onto the board
Finish with inspiring words

What To do With a Vision Board

Hang the vision board where you can see it
Look at it as much as you can
Feel the images
Believe that you can achieve your dreams

By Making a vision board YOU take inspired action, it's a tool to "create your life your way". Let me know how it's going 🙂

Please enjoy my custom meditation to get YOU into the creative zone. The meditation is lead by my healer friend Marcela Manesis.

How to make a vision board to attract the perfect partner