Everyone struggles with building and running a business. Everyone. Including me.

It’s not just beginners either, or people in their first year, or second year, or third.

Here’s the deal: Struggling is appropriate and normal for the stage you’re at, no matter what that stage is.

There’s a lot to learn and figure out in the process of building an online business. A lot…especially at the beginning. For example:

• The technology for your website and processing payments.
• The copywriting/text that will go on your site.
• What to sell people.
• Figuring out if there’s a market for what you want to sell.
• Content marketing.
• Paid advertising.
• Search engine optimization.
• Pricing of your products, programs, and services.
• How to launch those products, programs, and services.
• How to build your email list.
• How to run an online course with hundreds of people in it.

And those are just a handful of things from the larger group of things you need to get a handle on in order to create a successful online business. It’s a lot, and it’s not easy to learn.

Building and running a business is hard. Really hard. You will feel like stopping. Many times. And you know what? That’s okay. Keep going anyway. I felt like stopping a couple of weeks ago, again, and I’ve been at this for 9 years. [Read more…]

There’s something I’ve noticed missing in the several dozens of articles I’ve read over the last two years on the explosion of mindfulness meditation in mainstream business culture.

I’ve had a meditation practice for 18 years and have studied with a handful of different teachers in various traditions, mostly within Tibetan and Zen Buddhism.

From where I sit, with a foot in that world and a foot in the business world, it seems there’s something big that folks are missing out on with the benefits of mindfulness meditation in the business domain. It’s a skill you can develop after you get a handle on mindfulness practice, and it can make a significant and positive difference in your business if you use it regularly.

This other skill has been one of the most helpful tools for me in navigating the daunting challenges that have come in every business I’ve created. It’s helped guide my marketing, content creation, product and service offers, and even entire business models.

Today, I want to show you how to access this skill and how it can help you in your business and life. If you’re new to this kind of thing, this might be a little odd at first, but stick with me. This practice can expand your mind and the very sense of who you are. [Read more…]

It was a cool, November Thursday morning four years ago. Overcast clouds had just rolled in, and the air outside smelled like a snow storm was coming. It was election season in the U.S., and news of Obama’s second bid to win the White House filled the internet.

Our son was happily busy at preschool but as I sat at my desk that morning, my heart was racing as though I were running down the sidewalk at full tilt. I stared at my laptop screen, unable to decide what I should do next. Fear had locked up my mind.

I was smack dab in the middle of the second launch of an online program I had created, a program I had opened for the first time five months prior to that day, and that first opening was a great success. But this second launch? Was not going well.

Between my wife’s business and mine, we were alternating our online program launches every few months to keep our family finances as even as possible. Papa was was on the stage now, and needed to perform well. [Read more…]

Hi there! This post will take you on a quick, easy, guided tour to show you how to set up a Bluehost web hosting account and install a WordPress website in your account in about 10 minutes.

If you’re arriving here from somewhere other than our in-depth review of Bluehost, you should have a read of it right over here and find out why they’re our #1 choice for best web hosting service for small businesses.

Alright, let’s get to it…

How to install a new WordPress website on Blue Host in about 10 minutes.

Okay. Set a timer. Here we go. A new WordPress powered, Blue Host hosted website for the home base for your online business, and which you have full control over, can appear on the interwebs in about 10 minutes.

Here’s how to do it. Ready? Set…GO. [Read more…]