All posts by Amira Alvarez

Denial will get you nowhere

By Amira Alvarez What happens when you deny your desire? You cut yourself off from your purpose and your destiny. Plain and simple. Sometimes denial looks like not acknowledging what you truly want, not owning it or even seeing it. At other times, once you've felt the pull of what you want, denial…
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Creating Easy

What happens when you deny your desire?

You cut yourself off from your purpose and your destiny. Plain and simple.

Sometimes denial looks like not acknowledging what you truly want, not owning it or even seeing it.

At other times, once you’ve felt the pull of what you want, denial looks like making excuses (yes, I said excuses) like…

  • I don’t have money for that.
  • I need to use my money for something else.
  • I don’t have time for that.
  • This isn’t the right time.
  • I can’t do this.
  • This is for someone else. This won’t work for me.
  • I need something else. [Squirrel!]

If you want it, you want it. (Stop making excuses.)

You will know a desire because you are drawn forcefully toward it. There’s a strong urge. A pull.

You will know denial because it will make you feel tight inside. This tightness is the cutting off of yourself from your desire and ultimately from your destiny.

The tricky thing is that…

Your subconscious mind will attempt to keep you from going after your desires because this always means some sort of CHANGE… usually a BIG change.

To your subconscious, change is a big no-no.

Change = risk. Risk = danger. Danger = potential for hurt, pain, death.

It tries to get you to avoid change at all costs, even at the expense of you living out your full potential.

It throws up all the “rational” excuses to keep you safe and same.

Trust me. I know. I’ve made each and every one of the excuses above. But they’ve never moved me forward. Nope. Never once.

Each time I’ve moved forward and made big gains in my life and my business… it’s been by making a decision in favor of what I want.

I choose it quickly (before I can make excuses that justify staying where I am) and take a leap of faith knowing that if I desire something, my will will be behind it and I’ll make it happen.

What do you desire for your business? Your life? What will you choose today?

Claim your outcome.

Amira

 

 

 

 

Business acceleration with ease and grace

By Amira Alvarez My wish for you is for you to make a quantum leap in your life and business. What do I mean by that? I mean finally, truly owning your desires and actualizing them. (No compromises.) This starts with getting really clear on... 1) Your desire for your BUSINESS. What do…
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Bootcamp, Business, Uncategorized

My wish for you is for you to make a quantum leap in your life and business.

What do I mean by that?

I mean finally, truly owning your desires and actualizing them. (No compromises.)

This starts with getting really clear on…

1) Your desire for your BUSINESS.

What do you really want to be doing?
What direction do you really want to be headed?
What business model lights you up?
Who do you really want to serve?
And so much more…

This is about letting go of “shoulds,” of what other people tell you to do to build your business, and the “smart” yet perhaps soul crushing direction you may have taken or out grown. It’s about trusting yourself and your desire for your business, and then getting out of your own way. No compromises here.

2) Your desire for your INCOME.

Are you looking to coast and have more of the same? Most likely not, otherwise you wouldn’t be here reading these words.

Most likely you desire to grow and make a big leap in your income. Your desire is large. Let’s own it and let’s put a number to it. This isn’t about pulling a number out of the sky or being “greedy.” This is about owning what you truly desire right now.

No compromises and no made up desires. Your real number.

3) Your ULTIMATE desire.

Beyond money, which is very important and which we won’t shy away from, we’ll get really clear about what drives you. What’s your purpose? What’s the legacy you’re creating for your family, your community, this planet? What are you here to do?

[SIDE NOTE: My purpose is to help highly ambitious entrepreneurial women have a fully actualized life. A life that makes them pinch themselves everyday… Do I really feel this good? Do I really make this much money? Do I really have this much faith and trust in myself, my life, this world, the Universe/God? Do I really get to experience this much love, connection, ease, and peace? Do I really get to have it all? The answer is yes. All of this, however, requires that you make a quantum leap in who you are being. This means releasing the beliefs and programming and clearing away all the crap that stops you from BEING who you really are at your core. When this happens, you can powerfully serve the world from a place of wholeness.]

4) Your desire for your LIFE.

While we’re getting clear on what you want as your new income level, the vehicle for your income (business model), and your core purpose for doing what you do, we’ll take a look at how you want to live while making this happen.

How do you truly desire to live on the daily? What does this look like and feel like? There’s a quantum leap happening here as well.

Here’s a hint: You don’t change your business first and then get to have the life you want… whether that means more time for yourself, more time to nurturing your spirit, more connected relationships, more intimacy, more love, more fun, or more energized, peaceful flow.

“The way you do one thing, is the way you do everything.”

To actualize an amazing business, that fills you up and makes you excellent money with the kind of effortless ease that you dream about, we need to work concurrently on how you’re showing up in your life right now. There will be huge positive changes here. Good is not great. I know you want great.

Why all this talk about what you desire?

Because it always starts with and comes back to desire. What do you want?

“You are what your deep, driving desire is.
As your desire is, so is your will.
As your will is, so is your deed.
As your deed is, so is your destiny.”
— Brihadaranyak Upanishad IV.4.5

I realize destiny is a heady word.

To put it another way, to get where you want to go, to have what you want, it starts at the beginning with that first step of claiming what you desire right now.

Are you ready to make a decision to have what you want now, not some shadow compromise?

Take a stand. Own it. And watch yourself make a quantum leap.

Successful women choose ease, amira alvarez,

 

 

How I overcame my biggest visibility gremlin

what do i do with my hair how to decode your visibility blocks
By Amira Alvarez One of my biggest bug-a-boos used to be doing video. Ugh! I just wanted to hide. It seemed so complicated. (I see you Mr. Visibility Gremlin!) But not just the technology side of things.... Also on the "me" side of things... How do I show up? What do I say?…
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Life Stories

One of my biggest bug-a-boos used to be doing video. Ugh! I just wanted to hide.

It seemed so complicated. (I see you Mr. Visibility Gremlin!)

But not just the technology side of things….

Also on the “me” side of things…

How do I show up? What do I say? How do I say it?

And especially… What do I wear? And MY HAIR… what do I do with my hair????

I think my hair, when it came right down to it, was my biggest gating factor in doing a video.

Now you might judge me for being vain. Go ahead. There’s some truth in the vanity call.

I do want to see myself as put together and beautiful. And I want others to see me this way as well.

But I’m also a little bit wild. I’ve got a good deal of crazy-goof-ball-wild woman in me.

I’m certainly not “contained.” I’m exuberant. I’m passionate. I talk with my hands… even when I’m NOT excited.

And my hair represented this dichotomy.

I wanted to look professional and put-together because I am.

But I didn’t want to become someone I’m not… I didn’t want to be so polished that I hid the real me.

This internal conflict was completely beneath the surface until I dealt with the “hair question.”

I finally saw this and recognized that for me to show up and do video, to take this visibility step, I was going to have to let ALL OF MYSELF come out to play. When I did this, doing video became EASY.

Yup, it took a come to jesus moment with my hair. (Can you believe I’m admitting this?)

But for me my hair represented all these divergent parts of me that I was trying to compartmentalize instead of embrace.

Once I got that I could embrace all of me, I was home free.

Sure there’s a lot more to getting out there with video… but for me THIS WAS HUGE.

This was about me living my message and being in integrity with it.

Do you see that?

If part of my message is that you have to bring YOU to your business and that when you do this it makes things so much easier, you can see how hiding a part of me would make things hard for me. It’s totally out of alignment with my message and this equals hard.

Now you…

What exactly is stopping you from taking your next visible step in your business?

Does it represent, deep down underneath the surface, a conflict with YOUR message?

Amira

 

Getting Over Being Salesy (the high integrity way).

By Amira Alvarez Have you ever been sold something that didn't live up to the hype? Have you ever been on the receiving end of some sort of marketing and gone "eewww"? It's gross. It leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Your whole being reacts and says that's so not how you…
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Tips of the Trade

Have you ever been sold something that didn’t live up to the hype?

Have you ever been on the receiving end of some sort of marketing and gone “eewww”?

It’s gross. It leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Your whole being reacts and says that’s so not how you want to be.

That’s good. Because it’s bad mojo.

But just because you don’t want to show up like this doesn’t mean you can sit back and not show up.

That’s called hiding. (And it’s pretty horrible for your biz.)

So what do you do?

Your internal voices are shouting “don’t be salesy!!!” They’re sending out warning signals and shutting you down.

What you do is LISTEN TO THEM.

Yup.

You don’t ignore these voices. You don’t push them out of the way and just get on with your marketing.

But you also don’t let them overwhelm you or shut you down.

You listen to them and figure out what they’re trying to tell you. You decipher their message.

What are they trying to tell you? How are they trying to keep you safe and out of danger?

Most likely they’re saying something like… watch out for over hyping and being disingenuous.

Okay, that’s good to listen to. You don’t want to over hype your product or service. You don’t want to be disingenuous.

But then the wise you needs to take this a step further and not just leave it there.

You need to ask and evaluate… am I actually over-hyping? am I actually being disingenuous? (You’ll get a yes / no answer.)

If yes, don’t throw the baby out with the bath water… just tweak what you’re saying or what you’re doing to be more aligned with what you’re delivering, your message, and you.

This will feel true and good. It will feel like your whole body quiets down and goes “ah, yes.”

If no, you’re good to go.

Either way, go back to that internal voice, that little gremlin, and speak to it…

Tell it…

Hey, thanks for bringing this up. Thanks for this warning. I really appreciate it. I checked in on what I’m doing and made some changes and feel aligned with this now. We’re good to go and it’s safe for us to do this now. Are you on board now? Is there anything else that needs to change before we move forward?

Reading it here like a conversation may sound weird.

But really… that self-talk is happening all the time. You might as well bring it front and center and lead the conversation where you want it to go.

This is how you get over being salesy.

You check in. You get clear on what’s off for you. You course correct. And then you take your right-size, aligned action.

This is how you rock your business without contorting your soul.

Amira

 

 

 

What to do when nobody is buying?

By Amira Alvarez Persistence. Sticking with it. Not giving up. It's so key to having a successful business. Easier said than done though in a lot of ways. Especially when the crowd boos. And here I'm not speaking metaphorically. I recently read about John Adams, composer of Grand Pianola Music. When he debuted…
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Classic Post, Inspiration

Persistence. Sticking with it. Not giving up.

It’s so key to having a successful business.

Easier said than done though in a lot of ways.

Especially when the crowd boos.

And here I’m not speaking metaphorically.

I recently read about John Adams, composer of Grand Pianola Music. When he debuted it in 1982, the crowds boos. Literally boo. Can you imagine that?

And now? He’s one of the most beloved composers of our time. BELOVED.

What if he gave up because the crowds boos, because the critics, official or self-proclaimed, said “it’s bad”?

Or worse yet, what if he took this to mean “I’m bad at this composing thing”?

This is the same for you.

The analogy is…

  • What if nobody is calling or clicking?
  • What if nobody is liking or sharing?
  • What if nobody is signing up or buying???

And what if the crowds boo, ’cause there WILL BE CRITICS…

Do you stop?

How do you keep going despite the response and feedback you’re getting… and should you?

Do you say, maybe I made a huge mistake? Maybe I’m doing this all wrong and I’m completely off course?

Yes, you do. Of course. You do ask those questions.

But from a curious place, like a scientist.

If you’re too in it, you will only see the critic’s version.

“The crowds booed and this means I suck and everything has gone to hell in a hand basket, I’m going to crawl back into my hole.”

But maybe they weren’t ready for what you had to say? But they will be in 2 weeks, 2 months, or 2 years.

Maybe they weren’t your people, your tribe, or a good match…

YET over there, if you take the blinders off, there are thousands of people ready to connect with your art, your writing, your work, your philosophy, your message, your product, your service.

If you stay locked into that one interpretation of the experience, that’s all you see.

You miss what else might be going on. You miss out on the magic that might be right on the other side of this experience.

To see other possibilities, you need to look in different places, eyes open, heart open, for different clues.

AND you need to look INSIDE.

Inside of you, what are the answers to these questions…

Is the work that you’re doing, your art, your offer, your marketing aligned with how you want to show up in the world? (If not, course correct. If yes, stay the course.)

Do YOU love what you’re putting out in the world? Are you doing your best work? Does it meet your standards? (If not, course correct. If yes, stay the course.)

Your answers will shine through underneath the noise of your ego. Listen to your SELF.

Course correct or stay the course. In either case power on.

Don’t let the feedback derail you. Let it serve you.

Persist.

Successful women choose ease, amira alvarez,

 

 

How and when to hire a virtual assistant

Tips of the Trade

You know that voice…

It starts out as a gentle nudge in the back of your mind, a whisper of a thought…

It says….

Maybe someone else could do this? 

Then it grows a little louder with… 

Maybe my time and talents would be better spent working on my GENIUS work? 

And then before you know it becomes a GIANT tumbleweed of urgency?

I NEED HELP!!! Aaaaahhhhh!

You there?

Then you’re WAY PAST TIME to hire an assistant and bring on team.

It’s much better to make that hire and grow your team before that level of urgency sets in.

When you’re already in overwhelm, you might not have the bandwidth to think through and thoroughly assess what you need.

Start a wee bit earlier OR if you’re already in overwhelm…create a little time and space and copy my system.

1) First, I started with some list keeping.

I love me a good list. It takes the chaos in my head and instantly makes order. Ahhhh…

I wrote down everything I could think of that I could use help with as well as the salient qualities I was looking for in an assistant.

Do this for a week or so, keeping Evernote or a Google Doc open on your browser and kept adding to your list.

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2) Ask for referrals.

You could ask your business coach or biz colleagues.

You could ask in groups on Facebook.

I’d much rather have someone who’s referred as there’s a bit more skin in the game when you’re running in the same circles.

You’ll also get lots of input about the great, the bad, the ugly of working with VAs. Lots of “learn from my experience” stories.

There are excellent VA companies as well–get a recommendation to one!

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3) Reach out to the referrals.

Use this step as a way to filter people. In your email, ask them specific questions or use an online application form.

Make sure there is some detailed element that they need to respond to. This is your filter for thoroughness and details.

Do they answer thoroughly? Do you like their responses? Are there typos? (The small things count.)

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4) Dig deeper into what you need

I looked at all the work I had and prioritized it… What would really help me get to the next level, not just take work off my hands? 

I ranked what was most important and colored coded the tasks. (Yup. I really did.)

Then, I thought through interview questions that would help me get to know them and to see how they’d approach the kind of work I had.

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5)  Interviews.

I suggest setting up Skype calls so you can meet them “face-to-face”.

Pay attention to how they answer questions and what their thought process is.

Do they ask you questions for more clarification? Are they confident in their skills? Did they bring up solutions that are new to you and make sense? Are they clear communicators? 

Pay attention to their energy and vibe, and how you feel when speaking with them.

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6) Decide

Ultimately, you’ll have some good options from which to choose.

There are variables in style, energy, cost, experience, and technology know-how.

What is MOST important to you?

I also suggest having your final candidates do a Kolbe assessment.

Don’t know what the Kolbe is?

It’s a way to assess your strengths.

For most entrepreneurs, we’re what’s called “quick starts”… we like to get things done right away when the idea strikes us. (I’m off the charts in the quick start category. How about you? Do you know what your work style is?)

Although we’re quick starts, we’re not so great at the stuff that comes after the initial burst of energy.

You need someone who’s great at the details and follow-through.

Purchase a Kolbe for your top two candidates. It’s worth it.

Assess the results and choose.

And finally, don’t settle…

If you can’t find someone who has all the qualifications, consider splitting the job in two and hiring the right person for each part.

If you have any misgivings about someone, listen to that. Your gut reaction is telling you important information. Don’t just say yes because they look good on paper.

Get exactly what you want.

Amira