Luxe Living: 8 steps to a super confident Summer!

I thrive on routines and schedules, so allowing the flow of Summer ease without giving up my work or creative endeavors. It's important to stay in tune with your dreams + goals so you can feel more confident in your life and about your days. 

The topic of confidence comes up a lot in my coaching sessions so I created a love letter with 8 ways to have a more confident Summer. When I sent this love letter out,  I received the best response from this letter so it felt appropriate that I make it into a sweet blog post. 

ONE: Look in the mirror.

Try to fall in love with what you see. You may not be bathing suit ready and that’s okay. Just pick out one thing you like about yourself and highlight that! Say for example you have great legs and you feel good about them. Get yourself some pool side dresses that show them off, pick out some fun shorts that highlight them. Get some great lotions that keep your legs smelling great and shiny. Take yourself on hikes and walks to beef them up even more. Be grateful for them! Get excited and proud of your legs. Your hair, your teeth, your shoulders. Whatever your one thing is, have a SUMMERTIME love affair with it.

TWO: Embrace being uncomfortable.

We can’t always be good at everything or have it all figured out but we can find the joy in things that are uncomfortable. It can be such an exciting adventure. When you can handle the uncomfortable things that life brings, it gives you a sense of calmness in the craziest of storms.

People are always attracted to that person because they offer a sense of strength. Can you imagine how it must feel for Hilary Clinton to be running to become the first female president of the United States. Something about that really speaks to me as a woman in business for myself. I am challenging myself to not be afraid of doing something that hasn’t been done before or out of my comfort zone.

Why not try a new class, sign up to a new volunteer opportunity, take your kids on a small road trip and learn something new with them, switch sides of the bed with your significant other. Shake up things in your life, get uncomfortable and see how that creates some confidence in you this summer!

THREE: Create your calendar.

Sometimes when we don’t know where we are going, we don’t have that sense of assuredness that we feel we need to be calm and confident. So take out your calendar and start filling yours up. Call up an old friend you haven’t seen in forever and book a lunch at a place you have been dying to try. Summer is always a good time for a fun road trip with friends, or a great time to have friends over and try a new recipe.

Take a class for a new language or create a list of books you MUST read this summer. Here are a few of my favorites. Put it on the calendar. There is something about seeing a full calendar with things to do that gives you a sense of pride and confidence. Also, when you always have something to look forward to next, you kill the FOMO vibes and have a constant sense of excitement about you. How awesome is that?

FOUR: Confident Smiles.

Put a smile on your face at all times! Even if you have to fake it till you make it, smile at everyone and everything. Smile at your coffee mug in the morning if you have to. If you are out and about, smile at the grocery store, smile at the people next to you in line at the airport, smile at everyone you come across. Smiles are everything!

FIVE: Enriching and Empowering conversations.

Have you ever had a friend or a mentor that you could just talk to for hours? Where you get really deep and the conversation is exciting and empowering. Have more of these! I think its important to surround yourself around people who light you up, see the best in you and have your back.

I literally live for these conversations and I LOVE being this person for my coaching clients. They give you a feeling of connection like you aren’t alone in the world. Make more time for these people in your life. Perhaps take a trip to a local winery with one of these friends and make a super fun day out of it.

SIX: Let your love flow.

One way to spread love to people is through food. I love to have people over and cook for them, something about preparing food for another creates a bond between you, its a sharing of love. This gives a sense of family, togetherness and its totally a beautiful thing.

Having a sense of connection to others gives you a feeling that you belong and are needed. As women this is essential for our wellness. You don’t have to be the best chef or the ultimate hostess to do this ( see some easy recipes here ). My sister and I love to make extra special breakfasts and lunches together. It’s just a small thing but it makes our whole day feel exciting and fun.

SEVEN: Find your element.

My element is water. Anytime I can be around it, I feel better about everything. I feel so confident because I am in my zone. If yours is heights, take a trip to the tallest building in your town and look out from the top and take in the view. If you love the earth, go to your local park and read a book and have a picnic. Whatever you feel you need to really connect with nature, I highly suggest doing it. It will give you a sense of balance, restore your wellness and give you a glow.

EIGHT: Invest in your sanctuary.

Now of course I add this to the list because I believe in the importance of a space that supports you in being the best version of yourself. A space that helps you create the life you dream of. I just took on a new E-design client, who hired me to help her create a master bedroom that is like her and her husbands favorite hotel because they are ready to start their family and have a baby.

She believes in the power of her environment and is changing up her space to help her achieve her dreams. What would a newly styled up home office be like for you? Or a backyard patio for dining outdoors with family and friends? Whatever you want to create for yourself, use this summer to invest in your nest!

images via: Oprah.com | me | Heidisbridge.com

6 savvy business secrets from a mom boss millionaire, Lindsay Teague Moreno {book review}

This post breaks down 6 savvy tips and tricks I learned from the book Boss Up by Lindsay Teague Moreno.

There is just an unspoken bond between women who are moms and are also passionate about building a business. Blissful Entrepreneurship is my biggest passion

Just because you have a baby doesn’t mean you automatically become someone who forgets all about her own passions. That has certainly been the case with me. So, when I come across a woman who admittedly feels that way about her own life, I couldn’t help but feel connected to her.

That’s what happened in the first few pages of reading Boss Up by Lindsay Teague Moreno. My girlfriend let me borrow this book because this quarantine I’ve been on a reading spree.

It’s important that women in business and in motherhood prioritize their time to get better, learn and grow so that you can come out on the other side of it, up-leveled.

Because I loved the book so much, I felt like I should share my notes of inspiration and 6 of the tips I highlighted in this the book.

Related reading: 12 of the best business books for women entrepreneurs

6 tips from a mom boss millionaire:

1. Finding Your Why might be the most important thing in your business.

There is a Japanese word for your “why” called your Ikigai. Your Ikigai is the “reason you get out of bed in the morning.” If you don’t know your why, you are less likely to succeed through the long term. In business, there are ups and downs.

Right now is the time that everyone is pivoting, shifting, having to shake things up in order to stay busy. I have been doing this myself, working on really focusing my business around my “why”.

So, what gets you up out of bed every morning? What pushes through the thoughts of worry, failure and fear? What keeps you strong enough to pivot, restructure and step up in an even bigger way?

This is how she teaches you to find your why. Ask yourself 3 questions. What do you do? How do you do it? Why do you do it? Then get really honest and specific with the answers. Then take it even deeper….Who are you outside of being a mom, wife, friend, etc? What do you want your legacy to be? What do you want to experience in life? After you thoroughly have done this, begin to share your “why” with everyone. See where that takes you and your business.

2. Network Marketing is a a great opportunity for a new mom, or stay at home mom.

Listen, I know a lot of people have a high resistance to MLM’s or other network marketing companies. Think of the essential oil businesses, Arbonne, Monat, etc. These are all companies that provide a business model for making money off of your downline, teams and their sales.

I don’t know why people hate on this type of company so much. How I see it is, your friends are making money off you, not the big box retailers. It’s empowering to see the people around you succeed and you can all enjoy it together. It creates a supportive community around you and moms need that more than anyone.

I’m all about supporting my friends in MLM’s. With the right training on how to market and sell, you can create an amazing, lucrative business for yourself! On the flip side, I’ve seen people hate the business because they tried it and failed. Well, they probably didn’t have the proper training and weren’t able to step outside their own head and market properly.

Listen ladies, if you are in an MLM or want to be , call me! I’ll help support you in how to grow that business online). Lindsay Teague Moreno wrote this really descriptive re-cap of her first year in her MLM business, read it here if you want to get some motivation + inspo.

3. Standing out and Being Different is a requirement to succeed in your business.

Do not be afraid to do different things. A huge part of this is pushing past your fears of being alone and been criticized. I personally think it’s difficult to keep up with being different. I have an easy time coming up with unique and innovative ideas but they are always shortly followed by someone else. For example, when I put together my vision board method that in my opinion was different, brilliant and actually gave people wildly successful manifesting results, I saw someone had copied it and sold that method on their website within a few months.

For me, it hurt because I knew the person but I also believe in karma. And I knew that spirit would bless me with new ideas. Which showed me that in order to be successful, you have to continually be innovative and come up with your own things.

I know it can seem impossible to constantly keep up new idea but this is why your connection with your spirit, your creative flow, is SO IMPORTANT. Your innovative ideas are what will set you apart so you need to be plugged into your higher self to continue to overflow with those ideas that are unique to you.

Don’t be discouraged if you don’t think you are creative like that. You have those ideas inside of you, they just may be blocked. If you are blocked in your creative ideas, you may want to look at your home office Feng Shui.

4. Determine your business model.

Are you a freelancer or an entrepreneur? A freelancer is someone who gets paid for their work and time. An entrepreneur is someone who trains others to do what they do to scale and grow the business. Which one are you and which one do you plan to continue for the long term?

I’m the girl with vision, with ideas but I’ve always had a hard time hiring people to do what I do because the things that I do, because I love doing them so much.

Here is an example in my own personal life: In my jewelry business, Love Ashlina, I’ve really been working on that. There just isn’t enough time in the day for me to create my crystal bracelets, I love making them for each person.

However, the demand outweighs my ability to supply them for those who need/want them. So, this is where I need to get outside of my own head and take my side business to the next level. I’ve got to train someone to do what I can no longer do. Is there a way you could grow an aspect of your business in some way?

5. Great Leaders Inspire Action.

How good are you at telling your story? You want to learn the art of storytelling in order to lead people to join your tribe. Watch this Ted Talk X Simon Sinek. He does a great job articulating how effective a story can be. People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.

In your business, how can you get better at telling stories. For an interior designer, how can you start telling the story of your services?

For me, it took years…which is what led me to finally incorporating Feng Shui into my work. Instead of advertising, I began telling the stories of my clients and how their lives improved after my design services.

We worked on so much more than just decorating their home, we worked on their lives. Then I made it a requirement for my clients to be open to working on themselves in addition to decorating their homes. Then they told that story to their friends about the experience.

That’s how my business continued to grow. I told my clients the story of themselves. And then, I began to train other designers on how to incorporate personal growth into their business model through my course The Paid Decorator.

This is how telling a story, grew my business. How can you stop selling your services and add story telling into your business? Maybe you can just begin telling your story on your website and social media outlets. (Hint: read the book Build a Story Brand)

Here is the framework of a story:

-Exposition (introduce the characters).

-Rising Action (introduce the conflict).

-Climax (emotion & action taken to resolve conflict).

-Falling Action (the resolution of the conflict)

-Resolution (moral of the story).

6. Get comfortable with your desire for money.

The Boss Up Book Tip: Get comfortable spending money on investing in yourself and your business, pay people for their services and get comfortable asking people to pay you for your services. This is such a true point that really resonated with me.

We all have a complicated relationship with money. The reality is we take on our parents and grandparents relationship with money. I actually spent 2,000$ on a coaching service that specifically helped me to heal my relationship with money. I know that sounds like a lot of money and it is but it was totally worth it to me because of what I was looking to get out of it.

I needed to shift up my energy around money, I had serious money blocks. When it came down to it, I figured out that it wasn’t difficult for me to manifest money, I always did, I could always pay my bills, etc. I could Feng Shui money for my needs all day. But I wanted to break through my block on making more money, getting to the next level of financial freedom.

My personal block was around releasing money. I would hold onto things and not throw them away because I was thinking of the “money” they cost (like ill fitting clothes or shoes). This is where Feng Shui really helped me work on my relationship with money in a practical way. I began to remove anything I was just holding onto because of the “money”.

Once I did that, I made space for more money to come in and it always did. So, to the level that I am able to spend or release money, is the amount of money I was able to manifest and call in. I advise you to really learn this principle.

In addition to this, you need to get comfortable paying for a business accountant to take a look at your financials, too. In every area of your business where money is concerned, form a better relationship with money. Respect other people and their efforts to make money too. Tip well, pay people well for their time and pay up front and on time for whatever you buy from them. And as you spend the money, have good energy around that. Everything is energy, don’t forget.

Okay, I will leave you with that for now. I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I did reading the book and writing about it. If you enjoyed this post, you may also like this one too.

Love you, Ashlina

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My 3 part Mompreneur Master podcast series

🖤 Day One: 10 distractions to eliminate so you can successfully launch your business at home

🖤 Day Two: How to Create Systems To Help You Show Up Consistently

🖤 Day Three: Get UN-STUCK in Your Life and Business, Mindset Tips to Try