Here are Women Who WOW’s top predictions for women entrepreneurs in 2018.

WARNING: If you read ANY of this, please read ALL of this. There is some “good news” I’ll share first… but even the BEST of the news ushers in some challenges that you must FIRST acknowledge — and then leverage– if you’d like to squeeze ALL of the potential out of 2018.

So, first…. the statistics, which the NFIB says is the best we’ve seen in the United States in over a decade. The bottom line is that RAW OPTIMISM in business is UP. There are more people becoming business owners, more business owners confident about the future, and more business owners investing in their business.

Good news?

Certainly. SOARING consumer confidence intersecting with SOARING entrepreneurial confidence is exciting. But, there are VERY FEW things in life that are either ALL good… or ALL bad.

In fact, this incredible statistic is EXACTLY what will lead to some small business struggle in 2018. We’ll get there, but first…

I want to BEG you to read these trends and predictions and consider HOW they may impact YOU… and how you could LEVERAGE them to create your best year yet.

Ponder them.
Mull them over.
Get curious.
Brainstorm.
Think critically.
Don’t “just” read them.

btw, these predictions are listed in NO particular order.

Prediction #1: Big ANYTHING will become even MORE distrusted in 2018. This goes for big pharma, big medicine (people and pets), big government, big education, big “food” even. No longer will the big, established brands and conglomerates feel “safer” or more trustworthy than the small, lesser-known entities.

In fact, the opposite will continue to be true. Small will become MORE trustworthy, just because they’re not “big.”

This will make room for small businesses to come in and take some pretty massive market share. So look for your MOMENTS to slide in and present yourself as a BETTER option than the “big names” in your industry.

PREDICTION #2: Convenience will become even MORE huge… more expected… and more in DEMAND. Amazon is moving into the food delivery “business,” with their Amazon Restaurants. There’s also Uber and Uber Food, Grub Hub, Amazon Lockers and doctors who are no longer requiring you to go through the hassle of making an appointment.

Convenience, convenience, convenience. Be sure you’re constantly questioning how you can do what you do but make it MORE convenient for your market. OR that you are SO well positioned and well-branded that they will wait for two days in the rain with no tent for the opportunity to buy a ticket to work with you.

Or maybe, do BOTH. =)

PREDICTION #3: Small business confidence will bring in MORE competition. Combine this SOARING confidence with the continuing GIG economy and what we’re left with… is more competition. This has the potential to drive prices (and profit) down, so pay very close attention to how your POSITIONED (as the preferred voice, the preferred option) in your industry.

PREDICTION #4: The market will become even NOISIER than ever before. This is due to not only the INCREASED # of business owners and their ZEAL with their soaring confidence… but also due to the growing number of ways they can reach us… with ease and — in many cases — for free.

Books.
Podcasts.
Live streams.
Stories.
Social Media.

If you think it’s noisy today, it is.
But it’s getting noisier.

Consider going where it’s MUCH quieter. (Like Direct — snail — mail.) And also, find/create BRAND AMBASSADORS… real life, real people, in the real world who naturally endorse your brand.

PREDICTION # 5: The B.S. will increase, start to pile up and STINK…but it isn’t going anywhere. An opinion will continue to be paraded as fact. The public — it seems — PREFERS hearing their own opinions echoed back to them over fact and so VERY FEW people are demanding an end to the madness.

It will continue.

Your industry — and mine — will have to deal with the B.S. peddlers.

The solution? BE the truth teller in your industry. Point out the B.S. Call out the lies. Shine LIGHT on common sense, battle-tested, true today and true tomorrow TRUTHS that YOUR business is built on.

Tell the truth always.
Become KNOWN for it.

In 2017… being “authentic” was enough to allow you to stand out. In 2018, being authentic is expected. Your market actually doesn’t want you all glossed up and corporate-ized. So, show up authentic, yes… and also show up with the unfiltered TRUTH. Show up DAILY as the truth teller, if you want to SOAR past your goals in 2018.

So, that’s that people… My predictions for 2018. If you’d like to lock arms with me in 2018… If you’d like me to walk with you and hold you accountable in 2018… join us at WomenWhoWOW.com

Don’t forget to check out my Facebook Page to stay up to date with all my content.

The post 5 Predictions for Women Doing Business in 2018 appeared first on b. michelle pippin.

FOR WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS, IT’S ALL ABOUT CHOICE.

This post will start out exciting, empowering, and also a bit aspirational… And then, it may feel a bit like a punch in the gut. You’ve been warned.

Women entrepreneurs are some wildly persnickety peeps.
We want to choose.
Where we work, how we work, with whom we work.
We want to choose how we dress, how we price, how we show up, which clients we take on, which projects we work on, which cities we travel to.

I’m not throwing stones. This is how I do business myself. According to MY priorities,
without Compromise.

But here’s the thing.
We choose all of these things up front.
We write out the plan for our business,
put together our vision boards,
and then… FORGET.

We forget that the TRULY POWERFUL choices are made every single day. We forget that EVERY CHOICE we make…
is either…

taking us closer to our goals,
or
moving us further away.

We forget that every CHOICE we make is either bringing our dream business to life… OR

… choking it out with excuses,
… drowning it with distraction,
… beating it down with resistance.

We forget that this dream of ours….
is OURS for a reason.

The BIGGEST DREAMS IN OUR HEARTS aren’t fanciful delusions, friend… They are OURS….

Ours to protect.
Ours to nurture.
Ours to grow.
Ours to SEE THROUGH TO FRUITION.

Like a baby in the womb, or an infant in your arms…

If YOU won’t protect, provide for and nurture that dream of yours, then WHO WILL????

And here is where it gets tough.

Your dream,
your purpose,
your calling….

IS JUST LIKE THAT INFANT.

It requires you to CHOOSE,
— day in, and day out —
to care for it,
to protect it,
to SEE IT THROUGH,

EVEN WHEN YOU DON’T FEEL LIKE IT.
Even when you’re heartbroken over something.
Even when you’re afraid and unsure.
Even when you’re busy.
Even when you’re not at your best.

Your dream will come to life when you choose EVERY SINGLE DAY to bring it to life,
through
the
power
of
DAILY
choice.

Through the power of YOUR DAILY CHOICES.

So you can CHOOSE easy
or convenient
or “when I feel like it.”

OR

you can go all in.

The choice is yours, friend…
but think for a moment about your CORE purpose.
The difference you want to make in this world.
The calling that you and you alone are UNIQUELY qualified for.
The purpose that you KNOW is YOUR SOUL’s WORK.

If not YOU, 
then WHO?
If not NOW,
when?

It all comes down to the choices we make DAILY.

Do you want a daily shot in the arm
to keep YOUR Entrepreneurial dream
alive and well?

That’s just ONE of the many benefits of membership. JOIN US! womenwhowow.com.

Don’t forget to stay up to date on all my content on my Facebook Page.

The post For Women Entrepreneurs, It’s All About Choice appeared first on b. michelle pippin.

So, it wasn’t even 8 weeks ago that I excitedly announced that I held not one — but TWO– spots on page ONE when you searched for “women entrepreneurs” on google.

Today, I guess the algorithms changed or the search engine gods got mad at me or something because I’m nowhere to be found, for the exact same search term. Am I sweating it?

Nope.

Because I found a way to win the search engine game a long time ago.

HOW DID I DO THIS EXACTLY?

I decided not to DEPEND on the search engine game at all.
It was so complicated… and I couldn’t make sense of it, so I got frustrated and just said “screw it.”

And I decided to CIRCUMVENT the search engines altogether.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN EXACTLY?

Well, I decided that I wouldn’t invest MUCH in a system that was constantly changing and that I didn’t understand. Instead, I decided I’d go DIRECT.

INSTEAD of trying to please the search engines… so they’d MAYBE grace me with a page one spot… I’d go DIRECTLY to the people, the groups, the journalists whose attention I wanted and EARN that attention…

I’d show up,
unable to be ignored.
Via snail mail in some cases.
Via a phone call.
An interview request.
A hand-written greeting card.

I’d show up and just knock on their door.
I’d introduce myself (and Women Who WOW) to influencers who could (and SHOULD) be talking about the women in our tribe and just let them get to know us.

In this way, I show up in a competitive vacuum…
with a clear purpose…
in a closed system…
and in a way that grows relationships, and not just views.

The truth is, I was PUMPED to find myself on page one of Google for such a WILDLY POPULAR (and location-generic) search term like “women entrepreneurs.” I HAD given some attention to this goal in the recent months…. mainly simply adding “women entrepreneurs” to a lot of my blog post titles. And, you know, it worked.

For a time.

But for the six weeks or so that I graced page one of the google… do you know how much my income went up as a result? NOT MUCH!!!

In fact, nearly ALL of my income STILL came from people/groups/influencers who didn’t FIND me on google, but who I deliberately made AWARE of me through other means.

Bottom line, friend…

WHENEVER possible, take matters into your own hands.

Don’t leave yourself VULNERABLE to Yelp and their fake review sites or to Google and their constantly changing “algorithms.”

Instead, create a HABIT of doing something EACH and EVERY day to introduce yourself to people who SHOULD know about you… to people whose attention you SHOULD have. Don’t sit back and wait like some “good girl.”

Go out there and DEMAND the attention to deserve.

Women Who WOW members will come together tomorrow for our “VMM” — or Virtual Mastermind. Our topic: 27 Ways to Circumvent the Search Engines And WIN Way More Than Page One Position.

Yes, I’ll give 27 actions I take REGULARLY to keep my brand (and my bank account) growing. But, the CORE of this is about your willingness to WAIT… or not.

The CORE of how I developed these 27 action items is based on a couple “mental technologies” I call IMPATIENCE and DEFIANCE.

If you ARE a woman who wows, invite your friends to take a look at membership…. If you are NOT one of us, PM me for details or go and check us out over here: womenwhowow.com.

Don’t forget to check out my Facebook Page and stay updated with all my content.

The post 27 Ways to Win the Search Engine Game appeared first on b. michelle pippin.

This is for those with huge dreams.
Those that dare aim for the “impossible.”
Those who may be called “dreamers” by their families (and friends).

This is for those women — like me — who demonstrate the sheer AUDACITY of believing and betting (always) on themselves.

This is for those who have (perhaps in the past) dreamt big… and failed, for those who leaped for the moon and landed… on their face. This is for those who MAY be starting to doubt. Even just a little bit.

This is for those who refuse to be dulled,
refuse to be ruled,
refused to dumb down their goals to meet what the world thinks is “do-able” or “reasonable” or “realistic.”

This is for us… the seriously driven women entrepreneurs of the world who know that — for us — “playing small” is just another way to die slowly each day.

I believe this analogy will change everything for you.
It may reignite your dream.
It may rekindle your determination.
In short, it will show you just how reasonable your BIGGEST dreams are.

Let’s go.

I travel a familiar road several times a year… typically en route to one of Shelbey’s softball tournaments. Each time I pass by this farm, brilliantly named, “BLACK GOLD FARMS.” Now, I don’t know the story behind this farm, but I do know that this is how farmers tend to see their land.

They can look out over acres of dirt,
and see a great harvest.
And YET, no one calls them dreamers.
No one accuses the farmer of being too ambitious.
No one thinks the farmer silly or foolish or gullible when he looks over an expanse of NOTHING SPECIAL and believes for something abundant.

No one pities the farmer who looks over acres of dirt and sees BLACK GOLD, thinking, “Awww… poor guy, he really thinks he sees something there.”

No one wonders when he’ll “get a real job.” No one questions his sanity — or his judgment — when he sets out EVERY MORNING before the sun and goes to that empty field of dirt and works it…. until sundown.

WHY?
WHY can the farmers see black gold and no one bats an eye… yet when we share what WE see in terms of our own harvest, people “don’t get it.”
And WHAT DOES IT MATTER?

Here’s what DOESN’T matter: what THEY think of your own version of black gold. Their pity, that “dreamer” label they may have put on you, their disbelief in what may be possible for you.

NONE of that matters.
Screw ’em.
But also…
Also — SHOW ‘EM.

Here’s the deal with the farmers.
THEY see the black gold.
THEY see the potential.
And then they WORK towards the harvest.

They plow.
They plant.
They water.
They protect.
And they nurture.

They do all of this DAILY — before they ever see the first little green sprout. And they KEEP doing it DAILY until the day of the harvest.

Why?
Because of what THEY see.

Now, let’s bring this home.
We know that farmers take an empty field, plant seeds and grow a harvest. We’ve seen it.

But DO NOT FORGET:
we’ve also seen some version of what we want, too.
We’ve seen it in real life. MAYBE in the life of someone who is now a celebrity or now a “big time” whatever, but they were ALSO once “dreamers.”

The beginning, friend… is VISION.
Being able to see what’s not there.
But the KEY… is ACTION.
Taking daily action towards your dream.

You see, part of the reason we don’t think a farmer “foolish” for seeing what’s NOT THERE, is that he works the land DAILY. We see him creating his own harvest. We see him show up, and we have NO DOUBT that he should expect an abundant crop.

We BELIEVE in his field of “black gold,” because his actions say he’s SOLD OUT to his end result.

I want you to SELL OUT to your dream business too. That’s why I’m hosting a 6 week INTENSIVE on this topic. 6 weeks to experience shifts that go so DEEP within us, they will create aftershocks that propel our business well beyond any place it’s been before.

6 weeks of selling out to YOUR ultimate vision.
6 weeks of carving out any root of disbelief.
6 weeks to eradicate the disease of playing small.
6 weeks to get so clear on your own version of “black gold” that you can look out, see the abundant harvest and IMMEDIATELY know your next best steps to take.
6 weeks that will change EVERYTHING and have you poised to take new ground at a record-setting pace.

Will you give me six weeks to SELL OUT?

Here’s what we’ll cover:

• The story about my own business, of my OWN selling out that I don’t tell often because I don’t want to be sued… but it is a HUGE key to my success.
• Your history of selling out, to build your confidence. (This is where you ALWAYS do your best work.)
• What would be WORTH you selling out for? Laying it all on the line for? Defining your own BLACK GOLD vision in a new way that makes a “whatever it takes” commitment seem like the only reasonable commitment to make.
• What selling out really looks like, daily, in your CURRENT life. (P.S. I won’t ask you to shave your head, sell everything and move across the world… as was my fear years ago regarding selling out.)
• Defining and then defying the irrational fears of selling out.
• Step by step “selling out to your dream business” planning.

And so much more! Women Who WOW members, you’re already in. You don’t need to do anything. Week one will start on Monday, October 23rd.

But, if you are NOT a member of Women Who WOW… you can join us. Doors are OPEN and you can get in on this 6-week intensive for as little as $97 per month. I could sell this training for $497 and fill it in less than a day. But, WomenWhoWOW members get THIS and a full library of other training — not to mention a loyal, active, accomplished community of other women entrepreneurs at their back — and PRIVATE time with me…

for $97 per month.

Don’t miss out, join us now at WomenWhoWOW.com. Don’t forget to check out my Facebook page for daily videos and to stay up to date on future posts!

The post Black Gold: Women Entrepreneurs Who See What’s Not There appeared first on b. michelle pippin.

I’ll never forget — way before any of my online marketing/blogging/etc. would have been worth copying — finding a woman who had (word for word) copied my entire website. EVEN THE ABOUT ME PAGE.

She was from my area, and while I didn’t know her, I reached out to her to discuss the, um, “situation.” She denied it, of course… saying that it was a coincidence.

Saying she’d NEVER even SEEN my site.

She hung up, however, when I marveled at the fact that she and I were both married to public school teachers named Chris, had three kids the EXACT same age, named Summer, Shelbey, and CJ, she apparently went to the same church, same high school, same college. Isn’t that special? =)

Anyway, most business leaders will tell you to NEVER copy someone else, but I’m not most business leaders. The truth is, we are born with an innate desire to mimic. It’s how we learn most everything in our early years.

We are also — of course — born so incredibly unique in every way, with an innate desire to fully express who WE are as individuals.

In business, I suggest we use both.

WHAT TO COPY, THE COMPREHENSIVE LIST:

1) Behaviors. If you want what “they” have, take a look at what “they” do. if you want to be thin, look at the habits and behaviors of thin people. If you want to be rich, look at the habits and behaviors of rich people. Behavioral congruency will lead to RESULT congruency.

There is no 2nd thing to copy. =)

WHAT TO KEEP ORIGINAL: EVERYTHING ELSE, of course.

Your message.
The way you bring your message.
Your phraseology.
Your analogies.

Stay 100% true to your own twisted little view of the world. =) Stay absolutely true to you.

So, if you see someone getting the results you want to get online. Don’t try to talk like them, cuss like them. Don’t try to wrangle your own beliefs around to match their own. OF COURSE.

But DO watch what they’re DO-ing…

Are they doing Live streams once a day? once a week?
Are they blogging directly into Facebook or sharing a link directly from their site?
Are they using images with EVERY post or only certain kinds of posts?
How are they using groups?
How often are they releasing a new podcast?
What seems to be their approach with the media?

This is no different than reading a biography of a great leader. You DO study other great leaders, right? Soaking up the habits, the tendencies, the beliefs they all have in common???

This is no different, it’s just in real time.
So, look at what they are DO-ing
and then
do it ENTIRELY
YOUR
EXQUISITELY
UNIQUE
way.

Here’s to US!

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The post When to Copy Someone Else and When to Stay Original appeared first on b. michelle pippin.