Have you ever thought about the correlation between a weight loss journey and entrepreneurship?  I've recently connected the two.  If you spotted the correlation yourself, then awesome and I'd love to hear how you see them syncing up.   So summer 2016 for me is about 2 key objectives, a) starting my business, and b) weight loss and getting my fitness back.  To achieve both I've been spending the first part of the early morning on the treadmill where for one hour I walk and run to achieve around 9000 steps. My aim is to average around 12000 daily steps.  This morning effort really boosts that number to achieve my daily step count. It also helps with the 2nd objective of starting my business by helping me get clear, having a healthy mindset and achieve my daily 'to do' list about what I need to get done.  Apart from this morning exercise boost, the majority of my day is very sedentary. I spend a chunk of time in front of the computer or in meetings, a car or just relaxing. Its pretty hot outside so going out really isn't advisable so getting my exercise done first thing is crucial. I'm not a afternoon gym person nor an evening person so the mornings gets it done.  

​anyway....

So during these sessions I've been listening to a podcast called 'Tips of the Scale'.  It's a great podcast and community about people sharing their weight loss journeys.  I have found all these stories inspirational and really help boost my own weight loss journey.  Me and weight loss have always been at odds but I know I'm healthy and fit.  I don't have an issue running a 10km run and so I do pride myself on that achievement.  This coming winter I plan to get some more runs under me. I'm even contemplating doing the 42km Dubai marathon as opposed to the usual 10km - which I've been doing for 6 years. Still not sure. The distance does bother me!!!

I was listening to a particular podcast with a lady called Elizabeth Benton and she spoke about how alot about how weigh loss and motivation is a mindset thing.  I heard her loud and clear. There are times on the treadmill where I just want to stop and give up but I try super hard to not listen to that inner voice and tell myself that this is awesome and my body needs this fitness. 

But as I listened and ran I thought about my other key objective and that was starting my social media business.  I realised as Sam (the host) and Elizabeth chatted that there were similarities between a weight loss journey and entrepreneurship.  I'd never made the connection before.  But here it was. So I wanted to share with you these connections and so when you are next at the gym or know someone on a weight loss journey you can totally relate to them.  Only the topic is different. 

Entrepreneurship is an all immersing experience

The other day I interviewed a very smart and astute business woman called Saana Azzam - she is the founder of MENA Speakers and she said, 'Entrepreneurship is an all immersing experience'. I couldn't agree more with her statement.  The whole subject of passion for your idea, creating it and making it happen just totally takes over your life. You eat, sleep and breath the subject and are constantly fired up by the energy that this passion it creates.   You spend your time talking, sharing, building, thriving and trailblazing all in the name of your idea so you can see it become the vision you had in your head.  Weight loss is very much the same.  It is an all immersing experience. With weight loss its an all or nothing experience.  You have to exercise, pay attention to your food, educate yourself, stay informed, read and just embrace it, in its totality otherwise you will not break old habits or achieve the goals you so want to see and feel.

Isolation

With both weight loss and entrepreneurship there is a heavy sense of isolation despite in both cases you will have the support of family and friends around you.  When you are building your business you spend a lot of time in front of the computer reading, building and strategizing. A lot of this time can be on your own or quite lonely.  Unlike in a large corporate office you have teams or individuals that are involved in the same projects or tasks as you.  The same with the weight loss journey. It can, a lot of the time be done in isolation. You go the gym but folk rarely speak or interact, you go to dinner and you are having internal conversations with yourself about the menu.  What looks good, what's off the menu for you, how can you compromise so  you can still enjoy yourself but have something yummy!  You do these conversations in isolation too.  Well I do!!  Ultimately you have to make the effort yourself, you have to take responsibility even with community and friends around. That is what isolation can be.

Endless Courses and Diets

Elizabeth spoke about the number of different diets she had done during her life to lose weight. All promised weight loss and all promised a new level of confidence.  She would lose the weight and then as soon as the diet was done she would see the weight return. An endless cycle of torcher for her mentally as well as physically.  Entrepreneurship is very much the same.  How many of you have bought the, 'I went from $0 to a six figure dollar sum in 4 months - and my life change forever' courses?  Who has done it?  I have.  Eventually you learn schemes and quick fixes NEVER solve the problem long term nor do they deal wit the fundamental space in your head which makes all of this effort happen.

The Emotional Journey

Weight loss and entrepreneurship are both emotional journeys.  You've seen that classic iceberg picture where it dissects the iceberg so you can see the tip and what goes on under water and that truly is a mental and emotional journey.  There are great days, awful days, give up days, I'm done days and the best days.... oh the cycle goes up and down like the stock market.  Its the same with your weight loss journey... those days when you've worked out all week, you've kept to your plan and then you get on the scales and nothing has changed or you've even put on a pound. Those days are the worst.  Then there are days when you eat a burger and you are having an 'off' day and you lose weight!!! what is that all about!!!  Anyway the key thing is, is that that too is an emotional journey. For both entrepreneurs and those on their weight loss journey they all have to constantly stay aware of their thoughts so they don't impact your feelings and land up creating a negative day or experience.  I find this correlations the most fascinating!

Have to Find Like Minded People

Finding people like yourself really is crucial to your growth and your confidence.  I find that when I speak to non like minded people they can often question my intent or direction and then land up causing me confusion and mental misdirection in my head.  That really does annoy me particularly for both my journeys through weight loss and entrepreneurship.  I have to remind myself that I'm dealing with their fears and reckless attitudes, not mine!  When I was younger found myself to be more easily persuaded by someone else's ideas and thoughts. Today I still have that a little bit but i do make sure I remain in a questioning state as best I can. Its a muscle I have to keep training I suppose.  Its the same with both entrepreneurship and weight loss - find people that relate.  Find people that you can connect with and 'get' where you are coming from. Its so easy to be sucked into negative non-like minded people who might think they are coming from a place of caring and sharing but for you its all wrong and it you don't nip it in the bud you could fall pray to negative thinking and falling from your objectives and mission. Find your Tribe.

So, what do you think? I'm sure you can see the correlations yourself and probably a lot more like I mentioned earlier.  Both journeys are filled with hurdles, bumps, detours all sorts of moments and you just have to forgive yourself when the negative stuff comes around and just push through. Both are long term goals that require consistency, energy, positivity and mental strength.  I'm working on both and its without a doubt tough  They are both heavily intertwined and not separate objectives for me - they both feed from the same source and if I can keep the power up hopefully by the end of year I would have lost the stone I'm hoping to lose, ran a number of 10km or further distances that i wanted and my business is pushing through to it s 6 month anniversary.  Its a social media service for women in business, business if you are interested.  

Thanks for listening or reading, which ever way you consumer your knowledge.  Do let me know where else you see a correlation in your own journeys. It might not be weight loss and business start up but that's ok. I'm looking for patterns.  Have an awesome day.

​​'I love it when people come passed in the Mall or in a cafe and say thanks for helping me find a job'.  Its for that reason Elsbeth loves what she does.  She strives to connect Women to jobs in Qatar and further their career.

Elsbeth is the Founder & CEO of Global Women Qatar, Qatar’s first and only recruitment agency to focus exclusively on the recruitment of women.  Elsbeth and her partner recognised a gap in the market for a service focused on the recruitment of women.  A very niche area but they discovered that companies were looking to employ more women in Doha to diversify their workforce. Read More & Listen

Whether you realise it or not, so much of your life is based around negotiation. But if you’re an entrepreneur and driving your own business, negotiation is critical.

Make no mistake: the most successful of entrepreneurs go in with a game plan. They’re not seeking to be popular or labeled ‘nice’. They’re looking to seal the deal on every occasion.

So, if you know negotiating doesn’t come naturally to you, we’ve put together 5 steps that’ll help to get your negotiation skills where they need to be.

Ask for what you want
In the art of negotiation, there’s no room for skirting around the subject or being tactful. Be assertive without being aggressive, and question anything you need to in the moment. Don’t rely on follow-up emails to do the job for you if you’re a little shy or not all that confident within yourself.

Always be prepared
It’s hard to negotiate with another party if you don’t know anything about them. When you walk into any meeting or catch-up session, knowing your strengths and weaknesses is key. Of course, knowing the other party’s strengths and weaknesses is also highly beneficial so that you can structure your pitch accordingly.

Know what is negotiable on your end
Chances are, you’re going to have some factors that are negotiable and others that just aren’t. Know each of these and remain firm regardless of the events that unfold. There is no room for emotion when it comes to negotiation.

Make sure you listen
One of the biggest flaws people tend to have is that they don’t listen. The best negotiators will ask what they need to and then listen intently. If you do struggle with negotiating, this really works in your favour because you’re allowing the other party to do most of the talking and to steer the conversation. Just make sure you don’t wind up being totally silent – doing so definitely won’t help your cause.

Aim for a win-win for all
Fact: people love talking about themselves and their worries. Remember, when you’re negotiating, you need to consider the other party’s needs as well. It’s not all about you… successful negotiators often have the knack for making others believe what they are suggesting will benefit them immensely.

If you’ve read this list and are feeling intimidated, remember that like everything else, this all gets easier with practice. The best negotiators have spent years honing their skills.

And hey, there’s no harm in asking mentors for advice either.

If you’re an entrepreneur who’s been through this tough journey already, share how you managed to overcome your fears and worries.

Let’s face it, starting a business is hard. If it were easy, everyone would be throwing in their day jobs to work for themselves.

So, yes, it is hard and anyone who tells you otherwise is simply lying.

Chances are, if you have taken that leap of faith into the entrepreneurial world, you don’t actually have all of the answers. And that’s totally okay.

Read or hear anything by the most renowned names and they’ll tell you they learned the hard way. By making mistakes, dusting themselves off and hitting re-set.

Here are 5 of the most common mistakes to avoid when setting up a new business.

Avoiding these speed humps allows you to focus on making mistakes that are unique to your brand and you can learn a lot more from.

Mistake #1 – Spreading yourself too thinly
Unless you’ve discovered how to transform yourself into Wonder Woman or Hercules, you can’t be everything to everyone. You can’t always say yes to everything. Instead of trying to do absolutely everything, focus on the things you’re really passionate about and if you have to let an opportunity slip by every now and again, let it be.

Yes, you’re an entrepreneur but you’re also human. That means having a break – spending time with family and friends needs to be made a priority.

Don’t take our word for it, read Entrepreneur’s Doing two things, that’s one too many piece.


Mistake #2 – Teaming up with the wrong people
If you’re intending to work with a partner, you need to make sure that he or she is the right fit for what you’re trying to accomplish in the bigger scheme of things. It’s important to work alongside and put together the right team of people who will complement one another and work towards a common goal. If you’re all on different pages, essentially, you’re working on different endings to the book.

Here’s another Entrepreneur article to back up what we’re saying.


Mistake #3 – Not building the connections that matter
Networking – it’s talked about a lot lately and when you’re driving a start-up company, it can be a real stretch to make the time to meet and greet people. Often, doing so means catching up on your work at odd hours at either end of the day.

While not everyone you make the effort to have a coffee with will become a customer, you never know who they may pass you onto down the line. Being able to build relationships and connections is incredibly important for any company, much less a start-up business. Have a listen to this podcast we did with Simon Phillips a networking specialist and his 10 magic tips to networking.


Mistake #4 – Failing to see the bigger picture
Being an entrepreneur is stressful and at times, you’ll need to take calculated risks that could mean reaping some incredible rewards or on the flipside, losing out. Entrepreneurs are big-picture people – they’re not thinking about cashing in that $50 from the next sale. They’re thinking about what that $50 is going to go towards building to help take their business to the next level. Shortsightedness and entrepreneurship is like mixing oil and water (it’s a disaster!).

Love your movies? Check out this list of ten flicks that explore the stories of great entrepreneurs.


Mistake #5 – Forgetting to have fun!

Often, running your own show is a hard slog and people can get caught up in the cycle of simply moving on to whatever is next on the list. Every week, schedule in time to think about why you chose the path you did and one thing you can celebrate from the week that has just passed. Acknowledging these small wins and showing gratitude for even the smallest of accomplishments will help to keep your motivation levels up. And set out some time to relax too. If you relax you will learn more. Check out this article that gives you some ideas of how to relax and learn.

We can also help here too.  If you are in need of a breather? Load up your iPod or whatever device you use, jump on that treadmill and listen to some great entrepreneurial stories we’ve featured here on The Learning Curve.

You don’t have to look too far for inspiration: look to those who have walked the same path.



If you’re an entrepreneur – new or experienced – what would you say have been your key mistakes? What would you add to this list?

Who gets lost sometimes in the maze of social media technology.  I know I do.  Sometimes its nice just to get some bite size pieces of information to give your brain a chance to understand a bit then move on. Well we did this in this podcast with Keith Keller.  Apart from having a fun and enthusiastic chat about the awesome 8 of the social networks, Keith helps us get clear about what they are and how we can best use them. It can be a confusing world but one step at a time can help you get through the mess. Listen Now.

Do you worry if you are getting paid what you worth?  Do you understand why it could possibly be like that?  Do you know how to overcome this issue? Annemarie Cross, Money, Marketing and Mindset Business Coach can help. Annemarie has figured out the formula to get paid what we are worth.  You have to listen to this.  Stop Self sabotaging yourself and get a pen and paper because this was an eye opening podcast this was.  Lots of 'Take aways' from this one, with a lot of head bobbing as I could see what Annemarie was saying.  I have more clarity now about a few areas I need to change in my life and in my work.  Who knew, a money mindset could impact us so profoundly!  Even if you don't have clients and you 'self sabotage' yourself when it comes to your relationship to money this episode will help.  Its AWESOME!!! Listen Now

Heard of Snip.ly?  If you haven't you must check it out.  Its a really cool tool that brings url shortening, sharing content and traffic generation together in a powerful way.  In brief, if you find content that you love to share with your audience but you also want to drive users back to your own website then this tool will make that connection for you.

Here's how it works:-

a) First we find content that we want to share with our audience. 
b) We open up our snip.ly account and copy and paste the url for the content.
c) Snip.ly will ask you to fill out a couple of additional boxes to include the words for your call to action and the link for the webpage you want link to this article.
d) It will then create the link (snip.ly) for you which you can then share with your audience.
e) When your readers read the article you have shared they will also be able to see your call to action window in the bottom left. And if they want to they can follow your link.

Here's an example of a snip.ly i have done. Which connects a story in one of our local papers on content that I think matches my target audience but also links back to my other podcast shows.
http://snip.ly/g9LJ (copy and paste and see it working for yourself)

This awesome tool could also be used within your website to encourage more interaction on your website.  So for example in my website I could snip.ly my podcast about one expat entrepreneur with another to encourage readers to move around my website.

Its a great tool and one that I will be making use of within my website and with content that I share.  I would really recommend this tool.  Check out the snip.ly website and the video to help you really understand how it works.  The creator of Snip.ly Michael Cheng has created an awesome solution to sharing someone else content but connecting your own.  

LOVE IT....

thanks so much Michael for this cool tool.