Merry Christmas To You!

The crown jewel of the holiday season is here!

I love the Christmas season and all the festive activities that it brings. As a person of faith, this season means more to me than gifts and hectic shopping at the mall. The reason for the season to me is to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and all the other activities are the cherries on the top. No matter what your personal reason for the season is I hope you take time to enjoy it with family and friends. My wish for you is that you experience all the laughter, light & love your heart can handle!

Merry Christmas & Keep IT Sunny!

Winding Down 2019 For Your Business

I can’t believe the end of the year is upon us.

I hope you are taking time to reevaluate your business goals to make sure you are on the right track. If you are thinking about building a team of professionals to help you reach your goals start with your tax professional. As we wind down 2019 and move into 2020 things can become hectic and the reality of the tax man coming to knock at your door may seem far away. The truth is that next month kicks off all the tax season frenzy and you need to be ready and that starts with making sure your books are ready for your tax professional.

If you don’t already have someone in mind then take a look at Dave Ramsey’s Endorsed Local Providers to see if there is someone near you who can walk with you through this very busy financial tax season.

Keep It Sunny!

Tis The Season To Start A Side Hustle!

WGN Morning News. We're not drunk, we swear. Weekdays 4-10a.

The life of an entrepreneur is not for the faint of heart!

As a fellow entrepreneur in startup mode, I can understand the wild rollercoaster ride that comes along as you are trying to build your business. Things can get dicey fast and the holiday season brings no relief as you juggle all your obligations along with playing Santa to your family and friends.

So what is the answer?

It’s time for a side hustle gig.

There are so many opportunities that are available and Jeremy Harrison at hustlelife.net wrote a great article that offers some great ideas to help you to start bringing in extra income. The life of an entrepreneur is fun, exciting and exhilarating. It can also be stressful as it relates to income. There are many opportunities to create extra cash that will alleviate the pressure and have you dancing like the people above well into the new year.

Do you have some fun side hustle ideas? Share in the comments below!

&

Keep IT Sunny!

How To Ease Your Tax Woes

Now that Turkey day is behind us and the madness of Black Friday is over it is time to turn our attention back to our business and more specifically how to best prepare for the taxman. The first thing to do is just breathe like the picture suggests and create a game plan that will allow you to win and breeze through this as stress free as possible. Check out the previous post that I wrote on how to do this and I hope your tax prep season is truly stress-free.

Keep IT Sunny!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Today is one of my favorite holidays to celebrate. In the hustle and bustle of day to day living, we can forget to be thankful for what we already have. As you go out to shop in the black Friday madness and gather around the table with your family take a moment to remember the reason for the season. It is truly to be grateful that you are still alive filled with your gifts and talents to share with the world and surrounded by love. In all the madness it is good to take time to remember that.

Happy Thanksgiving and Keep It Sunny!

The Calm Before The Turkey Madness!

Can you feel it in the air? The Black Friday ads flooding your inbox and flashing across your television screen. As you drive down your neighborhood there might be pumpkins and Christmas lights up at the same time:)

It

Is

HERE!!

The holiday season is upon us and it is a great time to enjoy stuffing ourselves with so much food we couldn’t think of ever wanting to eat anything again. It is also a great time to STOP right now and just breathe and relax.

Take some time to give yourself a pat on the back for being brave enough to go after your entrepreneurial dreams. It can get hectic and crazy but it is always worth it to share your gift.

Yes, the holiday madness is here but you don’t have to go crazy in this season. Take time for yourself to do absolutely nothing and enjoy it.

Keep IT Sunny!

Are You Ready For The Tax Man?

It is that time of year to start looking at your books to make sure they are in order. The taxman will come knocking in a few short months along with contractors looking for their 1099’s.

Are you ready to meet these demands? Do you have a tax professional in place already to help you navigate these choppy waters?

If not then it is time to get in gear. Check out this post I previously wrote about finding an endorsed local provider that can help you get with minimizing your tax bill and alleviate your stress during this time of the year. I also wrote a post about how to minimize your tax bill that I will be using for my own business.

Keep It Sunny!

Welcome To The Month Of November!

I love November. It is filled with delicious eats, festive holiday celebrations and beautiful changes in nature.

It’s a great time to start planning for the upcoming year for your business. Dan Miller from 48 days thinks so too and has a great tool you can use to jot down your thoughts and start getting your ducks in a row.

This month we will take a look at ways you can increase revenue in your business, effective networking tools and getting ready for the tax man.

I hope the year has gone well for you and you are excited to hit the ground running for 2020. In the meantime take a step back to smell the pumpkin spice coffee and revel in the presence of the sweet sounds of the holiday season. Welcome to November!

Keep It Sunny!!

Hey You Desk Potato! Yeah That Means YOU!

I don’t know about you but working from home as a business owner sometimes leaves me feeling like the picture above. I get into a good groove working on a specific project and when I look up an hour has easily passed me by without me getting up for a good stretch break. I have an exercise schedule that I usually follow but lately, I have been so enmeshed in projects that I have been skipping some of my activities. That is one of the reasons I started my own health & wellness Meetup for women (sorry guys:) so that I would be forced to get out in the world and be active.

As the increase of remote working moves forward, it does bring with it some health concerns to be aware of. According to an article on Time.com, “Income instability and poor access to affordable health care have both been linked to reduced physical and mental health. There’s also evidence that people tend to“overcommitment” to work and find it difficult to disconnect or relax, which they say negatively affects their mental health.” There are ways to stay healthy and achieve success as a remote entrepreneur. Check out these tips from Entrepreneur.com. I hope they help you to get moving throughout your day and stay fit.

Keep It Sunny!

Are You Still Out of GAS?

Recently, I joined about 1,000 women as a participant in the Mudgirl Run here in Las Vegas.

I started off great with a ton of energy as I ran with the group toward our first obstacle course. As we progressed through the 3K course I noticed that after each activity my energy started to wane a bit. When I hit the final obstacle course I started climbing through the roped holes and realized that I was just out of gas and had to come back down. That is how we are sometimes as we navigate through our entrepreneurial journey. We start off excited and full of enthusiasm and then as we face challenges in our business and we start to lose energy.

This is something that every business owner goes through and most often it serves as a pinnacle turning point in their business journey.

It is at this crossroad that they decide if they will choose to move forward despite the challenges they are facing and run across the finish line or if they will end their entrepreneurial journey.

No one becomes a success in a silo. It takes a team to help you win.

In the business world, this could take on the form of a business coach, mastermind group or a networking group. We all need someone to stretch out their hand to us and give us a tug to make it through the inevitable challenges that arise as a business owner. As I climbed down the ropes on the last obstacle course and instead walked around to the other side, my friend was there waiting for me with a smile and a pat on the back. She grabbed my hand and we hoisted our arms in the air and ran across the finish line with pride.

I finished the race and you can too.

Keep It Sunny!

Welcome To The Month Of October!

Autumn is here along with all the fun activities and delicious food that comes with this time of year.

As we continue to wind down for the year we will look at how we can tie up loose ends for year-end and get ready for the year ahead. If you didn’t have a chance to check out my post from last week about tax planning for the end of the year take a look here.

There are only a few months left to hit those targeted business goals and get your books in shape for the new year. I want you to end this year on a relaxing positive note.

Keep It Sunny!

End Of The Year Tax Planning

It is that time of the year when it is a good time to start to take a look at your books to make sure everything is in place for your tax professional. Are your books up to date? Do you have a trusted tax professional in place already? If not check out a previous post I wrote about those two subjects and put some solutions in place right now so that you are not stressed out come tax time.

Keep IT Sunny!

Are You Frazzled & Stressed Out?

If you are feeling tired, stressed, frazzled and have dreams of relaxing on the beach then it is time to stop and just BREATHE!

I wrote a blog post a few months ago about how you can create more peace in your business in 3 simple ways. Take some time this weekend and see if my tips can help you get back on track.

:)

Keep IT Sunny!

Are You Making Any Money In Your Business?

“Money, get away
Get a good job with good pay and you're okay
Money, it's a gas
Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash
New car, caviar, four star daydream
Think I'll buy me a football team” Roger Waters - Pink Floyd

Money is a popular subject in songs, conversation and in business. If you are not making any of it then you are the worlds’s best hobbyist. If you are not making enough money then you will soon be looking for a “good job with good pay” as reference in the Pink Floyd song above.

Do you know if you are making any money? If your response is yes I looked at my checking account then you are not on the right track. The only way to know if you made a profit in your business is to look at your financial statements specifically the income statement. If your books are not up to date then you are flying blind. The end of the year is approaching and more importantly estimated taxes are approaching even faster in a few days. If your books are not up to date how will you know how much or how little taxes to pay the IRS. Yes, money is a popular subject for many reasons and for good reason.

The over arching goal as an entrepreneur is to make a profit so that you can continue to share your gifts with the world.

Are you making any money in your business? If you are not sure then it is time to stop and figure it out.

Keep It Sunny!

Welcome To The Month of September!

Welcome to the month of September!

I love this month it starts the beginning of fall and says goodbye to the summer. It also starts the final countdown towards the end of the year. This month we will take a look at how we can get our businesses ready for that final countdown in the areas of bookkeeping, marketing and networking.

Keep IT Sunny!

August Bright Spot Round Up!

August is going, going, GONE!

I hope you had a productive month and in the meantime had a little bit of fun!

During the month I had a chance to get out and play with the ladies from the new Health & Wellness Meetup I created for women. We took time to discover a different side of living in the Las Vegas Valley. Most people only are familiar with the Strip Corridor but there are a lot of hidden treasures here that are not related to gaming. I know “GASP” :)

I also had an opportunity to discover new ways to share my services with potential clients and how I can add value to their business by listening to some really great podcasts.

My favorite podcaster, John Lee Dumas from Entrepreneurs On Fire had some really great guests who specialize in using Facebook to connect to your audience; Manuel Suarez & Lucas Lee-Tyson. If you have a chance it is really worth checking out and as always I have a few blog posts that I wrote for you this month to help you with different business challenges. Cheers to August and I hope it was a good month for you.

Keep IT Sunny!

3 Unique Tools To Help You Find Customer Leads For Your Business

Are you hearing the sound of crickets in your business instead of a busy phone ringing off the hook? If so then it might be time to try other means of finding your ideal customers. Here are few ideas that you can use to get your great services in front of those amazing customers who need it:

Bark.com - According to their site, “Bark.com is a web-based services marketplace that helps small businesses get new business by connecting people to the services they need.” Check them out here.

BetterHelp.com - According to their site, “ BetterHelp is the world’s largest e-counseling platform. Their mission is to make professional counseling accessible, affordable, convenient - so anyone who struggles with life’s challenges can get help, anytime, anywhere.” Check them out here.

Nextdoor.com - According to their site, “Nextdoor is a social networking service for neighborhoods.” What better way to get up close and personal with your neighbors than to offer your awesome services to them in a fun interactive way. Check out the site here and how to market yourself on Nextdoor here.

Running a business can present many challenges and knowing where to market your services to potential customers can be overwhelming. The lifeblood of any business is having a steady pipeline of customers to serve. I hope that you will find more of your ideal customer by using any of the 3 tools above. Let me know which resource worked for you and share in the comments below.

Keep IT Sunny!

Welcome To The Month Of August!

The summer is rolling along and kids are winding up their summer fun before they head back to school. I am sure that parents are either beaming with joy or waiting for the calm before the storm as soccer practice and other sports activities leave them feeling like an Uber driver. :)

August is a great time to start fresh and get ready for the second half of the year. It is also a great time to reevaluate your business goals to see if you are on track to reach them.

Are you on track?

Do you need help getting there?

Take a look at how a coach can help you reach those goals so that you can finish 2019 strong.

Keep IT Sunny!

July Bright Spot Round Up - Be Inspired!

Wow! It seems like July blew past us so fast that you have to sit down and take a breathier. :) I hope you took time out to enjoy the 4th of July holiday with your friends & family while giving thanks to the men and women who bravely serve our country.

This month we took a look at the reason’s why we started our businesses in the first place. We used Simon' Sinek’s Ted talk on “It All Starts With Your Why” to help reenergize us and get us refocused. We also took a second look at the post I wrote about easy goal setting to help achieve our important business goals.

America is the land of opportunity. It’s a place where you can start with zero dollars and an idea and make magic happen. As July comes to a close check out these amazing entrepreneur stories below. Most of them started with nothing and rose to the top of their game to offer new and exciting products and services to the marketplace.

Shireen Yates - Co-founder & CEO of NIMA, “Nima Sensor is the first portable device that allows you to test if there is gluten or peanuts in the food that you’re eating. Their goal is to empower consumers with another tool to help make safe food choices.”

Elizabeth Rider - Founder of “The Elizabeth Rider Blog & Host of the TV show Elizabeth Eats, certified health coach, online influencer, international blogger, and wellness expert built a seven-figure online business from scratch using an iPhone and a laptop.”

Payal Kadakia - ClassPass Founder, built a multi-million dollar business based on her passion for dancing. “In its Series C funding round earlier this year, ClassPass was valued at a staggering $470 million.”

Alberto Perez - C0-Founder of Zumba, (my favorite way to workout:) Alberto and his partner “launched the brand in 2001 and began, for a fee, teaching instructors moves they could then relay to their students. In the following years the idea took off and now The workout is taught in 200,000 locations, including hospitals, schools, and community centers. Instructors--there are more than 100,000 of them, by some estimates--pay a fee to get licensed, then a $30 monthly subscription to receive videos with new music and choreography. The company also has an apparel line that's been reported to sell 3.5 million units per year.”

I hope you got a boost of energy to help propel you toward your business goals. July is pretty much in the record books but there is still a tiny bit of time to push those goals across the finish line.

Get an extra boost of inspiration by reading the stories of these entrepreneurs who went for their dreams after the age of 50.

Keep IT Sunny!