Six things for Letting Go and Realizing Your Potential

We have all heard the popular song Let it Go from the Disney movie Frozen performed by Idina Menzel.  The words are profound:

Let it go, let it go
Can't hold it back anymore
Let it go, let it go
Turn away and slam the door!

I certainly have invisible shackles that hold me back from achieving the most I can be but I realize them, and I work on them.  I believe there are six steps in letting go and realizing your full potential:

1. Let go of the past
2. Walk away from Life Energy Suckers
3. Let go of Fears
4. Embrace Change
5. Be Grateful
6. Live in the Moment

Let Go of the Past

You can’t start a new chapter in your life if you keep re-reading the last one.  

~ Author Unknown

Our memories exist, and good or bad memories can be triggered by many causes.  I journal and have for over 20 years.  I can read about my past and put it into perspective.  I am only human, and I have made mistakes.  I keep learning and growing from my mistakes and also my successes.  This year marked a death of a past boyfriend that was truly a turning point in my life.  His sudden death made me realize again how short life is but how I had taken his friendship for granted.  I truly miss being able to call him whenever at any time of day and be able to have that support system.

But I am not going to let my past control my present.  I can constantly relive the moments with him, or I can tuck them safely away and try to create new moments.  He was partly responsible for me starting my business and for getting me out of my comfort zone.  He taught me about wanting more.  Working hard to play harder and the joy of traveling.  He taught me great life lessons, but as much as I want him to be in my present and future, he is my past.   I have to let go of his memory and take the lessons into the present and future.  By dwelling and reliving moments I am letting the past control my present.

Walk Away from Life Energy Suckers

We all know that person who hangs around just to suck the living “life energy” out of you.  You feel exhausted, bored, anxious, irritated, stressed, threatened, overwhelmed or depressed about 30 seconds after they speak.  These unhealthy attachments bring about delays in our progression of our goals. 

Another energy sucker is a person who constantly asks for your advice, yet always does the opposite of what you told them, an askhole.  I love to help people.  I love entrepreneurs and have either donated to their projects or even housed them temporarily until they got their project off the ground.  But if a person in my life does not respect or take my advice then I am ready to help someone who will utilize my help.  My mother used to say, and I am unsure who the original author is but “you can't help someone who won't help themselves.”

Free up the time that the “life energy” suckers are taking by establishing strong personal boundaries and enforce them by saying “No.”  I strive to spend time with people who are happy, motivated, curious, wanting to learn, positive, and full of integrity.  A “life energy” sucker does not fit in with my goals and aspirations.  I will decide whom I spend my time with.

Let Go of Fears

Do you have one of those fears that plague you?  I have several that debilitate me somewhat.   The fear of falling, Acrophobia (fear of heights), and Atychiphobia (the fear of failure).  So what do I do about it?  I force myself out of my comfort zone.  I went skydiving this year for the second time.  Now mind you my eyes were closed this time, but I still got myself out of the airplane at 14,000 feet.  It was tough, the airplane was really small, my foot got stuck, and the instructor was mean and ornery. 

Then on one of my hiking adventures I got stuck on a slick rock about 15 or 20 feet up and my fear of falling kicked in and a friend had to come up and hold my hand to get down.  That one was the worst as I had a small panic attack.  I hug a wall every time there is a drop-off, but I continue to push myself.  Huyana Picchu and the Inca Trail in Peru were both challenging, but I made it.  Your fears are a roadblock so get out of your own way by facing your fears and working through them.

Embrace Change

The hardest change in life is the changes we need but don’t want.  I realize I am the only one that can initiate, incorporate and execute change in my life.  I am in control.  This month has had me housing several members of the Jamaican Bobsled Team.  I provide housing and in return, I get to experience true joy and happiness from the Islanders who completely apply the mantra “don’t worry, be happy.”  The team members are truly optimistic and happy go lucky and embrace change. 

We go through a lot in life.  We go through change, difficult times, loss and sorrow, extreme happiness and joy and that forces change again. It is a never-ending stream of changes in our lives as well as accepting those changes.

I find the easiest way to embrace change is to be open and listen to new ideas.  Seasoned entrepreneurs have a lot of advice that if you simply ask questions and really listen to their answers, you will get profound ideas for your own business.

I am constantly finding ways to motivate myself and increase my personal productivity.  I have to change my daily activities and add structure.  I have to make time for personal physical and emotional growth to ensure my highest capabilities.  I want to defeat my fear of failure and succeed by facing it head on with positive change.

Be Grateful

I try to simplify my life, love people, be compassionate and caring, communicate honestly and truthfully with integrity, and remember there is always another person or many other people who have it so much worse.

Life is not perfect, but my life doesn’t suck.  I put my life in perspective and see the good as well as the bad.  I really have nothing to complain about.  I am very talented and have a great family and many close friends as well as business acquaintances.  I have a home, car and a career that I love.  I realize what I have, and I am so grateful.

Live in the moment

When you truly live in the moment, you increase your awareness of the little things.  I am mindful of other people’s talents, their small acts of kindness, their willingness to share their life experiences and how I can incorporate unique and meaningful experiences into my own life.  Each day is a blank page that can be filled with new unique and meaningful experiences.  Doing something new or meeting someone new adds to my already full life and I love those moments.  They bring a breath of fresh air.

In conclusion, it is a great reminder to let go of everything holding you back and live in the present while progressing toward a bigger and brighter future with hope, anticipation, and excitement for the positive things that are going to come.  Maintaining a positive attitude and letting go of the things that bind you will bring positive results when the timing is right.

Why start a government contracting business?

I have owned DynaGrace Enterprises, a Woman-owned Small Business (WOSB) and 8(a) firm for almost a decade.  So why did I start a government contracting business?  The answer is quite simple.  I was younger and dumber and wanted to see if I could.  I did not know what I should have known when I started.  Maybe this article can give you some insight and help you determine if it was the good idea you thought it was. 

There are several types of government contractors, and the one I am most familiar with provides services to the federal government.  The manufacturing part and being able to offer a product to the government might be better for you, but I am not as familiar with that type.

Federal government contracting can be a way to start a small business.  The market is worth over $100 billion in sales to small businesses each year.  Providing services or products to the government is quite different than selling to the commercial sector.

Government contracts can guarantee ongoing revenue to your business. A stable cash flow enables a business to develop marketing budgets, hire staff and grow their business intelligently. Reoccurring monthly business generated from government contracts can also hedge against months that are slow. In fact, many contracts have 3-5 continuous year contract terms.  Keep in mind though it can take 30 to 90 days to get paid.  But once the payments start you are usually fine.

The procurement process for a government contract is extensive.  You can speed up this process by marketing to government customers that have a budget.  That can be like finding a needle in the haystack.  The government goes through cycles for services.  Sometimes they ramp up contractors and some years they ramp up on civilian employees. 

You should be prepared for long hours when responding to solicitations.  The last couple I have lost to very low bidders.  I am not sure how they expect to give any benefits to their employees, but the government will get what they bid for, hence the term, “low bidder”.  It is like buying the cheapest vehicle and realizing the plastic cracks in the sun after a month of owning it.  I refuse to win a bid on the backs of my employees so the contract goes to a company that will.

The good part is I have some fantastic employees, and I have met some wonderful business people who are involved in government contracting.  I started out as a civilian employee way back when and then worked for about four contractors before starting my own small contracting business.  Having a small budget or lack of budget is a huge problem.  The government employees in charge of budgets are usually friendly and appreciate the services we have to offer. 

I would never even have thought about having my own business, and this opportunity has given me the experience and the pleasure of being an entrepreneur.  It is an excellent way to get started and the SBA offers some training but expect to learn a lot on your own and with the help of mentors.

Choosing a Company Name (DynaGrace Enterprises)

Choosing a business name can be one of the most difficult parts of starting a business because of the availability of the name or the domain.  The company I have had since 2006 had just gone through a trademark suit that could have been won with a lot of litigation.  I didn’t want to change the company name from Sensory Technology Consultants but because of the thought of expensive litigation we had to change.

I happened to find the domain available but only after extensive help from family and friends including a Facebook “Name my company” page.  For DynaGrace Enterprises, I went to Business Name Generator.  I started with my grandmother’s name, Olive Grace.  I was like how many companies have that name.  Well, it turns out a few have derivatives of that name.  But then I liked Grace.  Now I don’t share my middle name very often because my brother’s always used it when I tripped.  But now that I am an adult I love the name and think it is beautiful.

So what did I want to portray in my company besides elegance and grace?  Well, we aren’t dancers or ballerinas but I did want the feminine aspect in the name.  What would make it better?  How about a word meaning power or strength?  So I went to the Thesaurus and entered “power”.  I got several words, but one stood out, “dynamism”.   Then I went to dictionary.reference.com and looked up the word “dyna”.  The definition was perfect, a combining form meaning “power,” used in the formation of compound words. 

A quick search on domain names revealed that dynagrace.com was available, and DynaGrace Enterprises was born.  I felt incredibly lucky, and we had a meaningful name that combined into a great tagline, “Between POWER and GRACE lie EXCELLENCE.” 

Coming up with a name turned out to be the easy part.  After changing the name with the State of Utah, there were other things to consider especially in the realm of government contracting.  I will outline those steps in a subsequent blog article.

Mentors - Who is holding me accountable?

Starting a company is hard, so you're going to need a lot of advice along the way.  If you are like me, you have constant ideas flowing about a new idea for a product or service.  You cannot stop thinking so what should you do to execute at least one of these ideas.  

The answer is finding good mentors.  

I have had some excellent mentors that have held my hand, called my bluff, and gave me pros and cons of ideas.  These people are my personal board of directors that know me and can tell me the holes in my ideas.  Is it a good idea or not?  Is the idea profitable?

I recently read Keith Ferrazzi’s Who’s Got Your Back.  This fantastic book offers the advice to build more supportive relationships.  Ferrazzi provides a nine-step approach to creating what he calls “lifeline relationships,” an inner circle of trusting support peers who serve as advisors, cheerleaders, and accountability watchdogs. These mentors respect you enough to tell you like it is.  Ferrazzi invites you to “let others help.”  Your professional development means more when you let others help.

I have one mentor in particular that I hold a phone call with every two weeks to see how my progress is going.  He holds me accountable for my goals and especially my progress on these objectives.  We discuss strategic tactics and whether these goals are still working or whether we need to change the direction to adjust to changing environmental issues.  I trust him, respect him and he holds me accountable and we work through ideas and execution of those ideas.  In turn, I discuss what is going on with him, and we have a win-win situation where both of us profit both economically and personally.

Without my mentors in my defense contracting business, DynaGrace Enterprises, I would never have known how to organize my accounting records in preparation for a DCAA audit.  My mentors helped me prepare several technical and cost proposals for competitive solicitations and also helped me market my business to government clients.

Because of mentors I have been able to achieve my goals and make them faster because of my personal board of directors.  I suggest you start building that board sooner rather than later and your success knows no limit.

What? A radio interview? Me?

Being a serial entrepreneur I started networking as a means to get out and meet people.  My primary market was not entrepreneurs but the poor federal employee with little to no budget.  These employees are visited by me and other defense contractor business development sales people on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.  I found myself working at a home office a lot and missing the water cooler talk so to speak.

My adventures into networking took me to a group called SLCircle (Formerly known as Entrepreneur Circle).  I have been involved with this group for over two years and I am on the board for this large networking group located in Utah.

I got the chance to speak on Women in Business and that led me to my latest adventure, a radio show.  Tysen Webb of the GoForItShow.  How does one prepare for a radio show?  With Tysen it was easy.  He guided me through the questions and I just answered them off the cuff.  I arrived at his recording studio in his basement and he put headphones and a microphone in my face.  We took a selfie of course.

 

We talked about my early beginnings in a small Utah town called Morgan.  How I started my first entrepreneur effort.  We talked about my new company BigSexyWords.  Listening to it later I realized I did have some ums and pauses but it was super fun.

Please listen to the podcast here -> http://www.goforitshow.com/59/

I am extremely grateful that I get to influence other entrepreneurs through my life story and get to meet people like Tysen Webb.  So many talented people in the universe!

Have you helped an entrepreneur today?

According to this article 5 Qualities of Successful Entrepreneurs, an entrepreneur has:

1. An unwavering passion.
2. Open-mindedness
3. The desire to be an expert.
4. A forward-looking approach.
5. A constant flow of ideas.

1.    But do they have money?  Very few can follow their dreams because they don’t have the financing.  I have personally fed entrepreneurs, let them sleep on my couch for a few days, and the ultimate happened this weekend when I let an independent film crew film a horror movie trailer, Diabolic, in my house.  This meant feeding them and having them invade my personal space two nights in a row.  It was a small sacrifice on my part and I hope the trailer finds them money to fund their project.

I have been able to start a new business because my other business is self sustaining…for now.  The business is BigSexyWords and we are copy writers.  I have given writing projects away for free not only to help other entrepreneurs on their way but give my own writers a chance to have some different projects that will enhance their writing ability and also give me a test of their skill.

I have been in business for 8 years and I have had excellent mentors and help along the way.  It makes me feel good to give back.  The point is I am an entrepreneur and I love other entrepreneurs and their projects.  It is exciting.  It is a drug to feel the positive energy and the excitement of them believing in their passion.