Debra Kasowski

Stop Letting Your Troubles Keep You Awake at Night

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Do you dread getting up in the morning and going to work? Are you having trouble sleeping? Are you tossing and turning trying to get to sleep but nothing seems to work? Are you having trouble concentrating on simple tasks? You have many thoughts running through your head – all going in different directions. Some thoughts may be about how you are going to make ends meet or meet payroll, some thoughts may be about an interaction you have had or that you have yet to have with someone, and some thoughts may be that you no longer have passion or meaning in the work that you do. There can be many different thoughts troubling you. Don’t let them steal your joy, your happiness, or your sleep. You do have the power to change “what-is” to what you want it to be.

Identify What is Troubling You. You need to assess where you are at. What is troubling you? Is it one specific thing? Has your work become repetitive and routine? Do you look around and wonder if anyone else is feeling the same? Maybe you are wondering why you do not enjoy what you are doing anymore or you long to start your own business or jump into your side business full-time. Whatever is it, you do not have to face it alone. If you feel you need to brainstorm ideas or create a strategy, you can hire a coach to help you build an exit strategy or a plan. If you feel how you are feeling is related to anxiety or depression, a counselor or psychologist is the best person to support you.

Reflect on What Brought You Joy that You Stopped Doing. Everyone has things that they have built into their lives that bring them joy outside of work and business that creates anticipation and harmony (which some refer to as balance). Family vacations, listening to music, going for the morning run or partaking in sunrise yoga, or entertaining or long leisurely lunch with friends tend to be put on the backburner when we get consumed with work and family obligations. It is important to bring the things made you come alive back into your life. When you are happy and fulfilled, you not only share that happiness with others, you give them permission to do the same.

Decide What You Really Want. What are you passionate about? What makes you come alive because you have the burning desire to pursue it? The clearer you are, the clearer the path is before you to reach your destination. If you want to be a full-time entrepreneur, what does that look like? How will you spend your days? What is your product or service? How will you expose your product or service to the marketplace? If you want to change careers, what are you changing to? Do you need to go back to school?

“If you have a strong purpose in life, you don’t have to be pushed. Your passion will drive you there.” – Roy T. Bennett

Set a Date for Your Transition or Exit. Write down a specific date in which you plan to resign from your current role. Start planning backward from that date. What do you need to do to prepare for the transition? Do you need to save up a certain amount of money? Do you need to put together a training manual so you do not leave your replacement high and dry without some knowledge or history of your role?

Brainstorm What Barriers, Obstacles, or Roadblocks May Show Up. It is important to have these challenges in your awareness but do not focus on them. Know that there are internal and external roadblocks that may appear and brainstorm ways you may tend to them should they arise. You will be mentally prepared. They do should up.

Design Your Plan and Work the Plan. Write out your plan and create small milestones along the way. Breakdown each part of your plan into smaller tangible pieces; otherwise, you may get overwhelmed by all the things you feel you need to do. The daily actions will start creating momentum and propel you forward.

Celebrate Your Success. When you achieve your goal or reach your milestone, it is important that you take some time to acknowledge how far you have come from where you were. You took matters into your own hands and made decisions for YOU. You do not want to live with regret wondering what would have happened if you only made the leap.

Inject what you love doing into your life. If it does not make you say, “Hell yes!” or “Absolutely”; it means, “Hell No!” or “Not a Chance!” Life is too short to not do what you love and leave your signature out in the world.

What goal have you set that will make you jump out of bed in the morning and go after it?

DEBRA KASOWSKI, BScN CEC is an award-winning best-selling author, transformational speaker, blogger, and Certified Executive Coach. She has a heart of a teacher and is certified in Appreciative Inquiry and Emotional Intelligence. Her writing has been published in a variety of print and online magazines. Debra Kasowski International helps executives, entrepreneurs, and organizations boost their productivity, performance, and profits. It all starts with people and passion. Sign up the Success Secrets Newsletter and get your free mp3 download today! www.debrakasowski.com

How to Handle the Pressure of Being an Immediate Success

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“Nobody works better under pressure. They just work faster.”
― Brian Tracy

It does not matter if you are a new leader or if you are entrepreneur launching a new business, there is an underlying pressure to be an immediate success. This is one of the top challenges that leaders face today. Some of the pressure is from the teams you lead or the senior leadership you may be answering to. The other pressure may come from family, friends, or investors with the expectation that failure is not an option. There is this expectation to deliver results and the pressure is on from all directions.

As with anything new, it takes time to develop competencies. Some knowledge, skills, and abilities are expected, however, any leader with a few years of experience under their belt will tell you that even though you reached one level that there are new challenges at every level along the way. Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s book, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, discusses how leaders often think that the same skills that got them their current level of success will be the same ones that get them to the next levels of success. However, new challenges are faced and new knowledge, skills, and abilities get refine. You do not know your capacity to handle new situations until you are in them.

“Pressure is a word that is misused in our vocabulary. When you start thinking of pressure, it’s because you’ve started to think of failure.”
― Tommy Lasorda

Be Prepared to Commit to Being the Leader or Entrepreneur You See Yourself to Be. You can choose to be interested in your role or you can choose to commit and passionately pursue the vision you have. Ensuring that you are ready and prepared to face the challenges you face with a positive attitude means that you are over 50% of the way there.

Don’t Put Too Much Pressure on Yourself. Be kind to yourself. We are often our own worst enemy with putting unrealistic expectations on ourselves to perform. Mistakes are inevitable. You will fail. Learn to fail forward by being open and willing to learn and improve.

If You Do Not Know Something, Admit It. Don’t pretend to know something you do not. You could be putting yourself at risk. Why risk it? You can learn what you do not know, ask for advice from a professional or someone who does know what you don’t, or ask questions to help find out the answer. People would rather do business or work for someone who admits when the do not know rater than pretending that they do. Chances are you are not expected to have every answer. You are expected to know how to find it. Ask questions!!

Expose Yourself to New Situations. The more situations you work through, the greater the experience you will have. You will learn, adjust your course, and grow from the experience. Take time to reflect on how the situation unfolded and how it may be handled differently if a similar circumstance occurred again. A person is only as good as the experiences they have been exposed to.

Learn as much about the Industry as possible. By learning as much as you can about the industry, you are setting yourself up for success. You will be able to understand the trends and how to position yourself best in the market place. You will able to be more strategic with your decision making.

Stay Solution Focused. The more you look for solutions the more likely you will be to find them. When people focus on the roadblocks and challenges, they often find more of the same.

Discover What the Expectations of Your Team or Senior Leadership Are. How do you know if you met expectations if you do not even know what those expectations are? You could be putting needless pressure on yourself to have immediate success and you do not need to!

Take Time Out to Recharge and Rejuvenate. Excelling in a new role can be challenging. You want to ensure you are taking time to look after you. Eat right. Get some exercise. Sleep Well.

Remember that there are very few overnight successes. The people who we think are overnight successes were the people you spent many late nights refining and honing their crafts. There were sleepless night and many sacrifices made. A little bit of pressure can improve performance and motivate you to work at improving. Too little pressure you may procrastinate or become complacent. Too much pressure and you will become overwhelmed. You may even stop taking the actions need to get results.

Release the pressure! Step into the leader you know you CAN BE! Above all, BELIEVE in yourself!

DEBRA KASOWSKI, BScN CEC is an award-winning best-selling author, transformational speaker, blogger, and Certified Executive Coach. She has a heart of a teacher and is certified in Appreciative Inquiry and Emotional Intelligence. Her writing has been published in a variety of print and online magazines. Debra Kasowski International helps executives, entrepreneurs, and organizations boost their productivity, performance, and profits. It all starts with people and passion. Sign up the Success Secrets Newsletter and get your free mp3 download today! www.debrakasowski.com

Start Loving Your Numbers or Break the Bank…You Choose

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Everyone loves money when it is flowing to them and not so much when it is flowing away from them. Money is not something that most people grew up talking openly about yet money is something that needs to be talked about. If you are running a household, a business, or an organization, knowing your numbers is crucial in decision-making. To make good financial decisions, you need to know what money is going out and what is coming in. I am not a financial advisor nor am I guaranteeing you a profit. You are in charge of how you manage your money. I want to encourage you to pay attention to what your numbers are telling you. I have learned that I need to tighten my financial belt in different areas to achieve my goals. Money, sometimes, needs to be redirected to pressing priorities or to where it will have the greatest impact.

Know what your financial goals are. Whether you are growing your business to reach a certain revenue or profit, you want to have some idea of what that number is. If you are planning a family vacation, you do not need to slap it on the credit card. You can do some advanced planning and drop the headache of dealing with the bill after you come back. Enjoy the vacation, know your numbers and save for it. You can save to save but you must have some idea of a number you want to achieve to know when you have reached it – it will be most satisfying! Write down the goal. Ink it so you can think it!

Know where your money is flowing. Keep track of where your money is coming in from and where it is going out to. Measure daily if you can, otherwise, weekly and monthly. You may catch overcharges and maybe even some undercharges. Are you investing your money in the right places? Could you be redirecting it to other places? Where is money being wasted? Are you buying too many gifts, grabbing too many lattes, or investing in marketing without a return on investment? Track your income and expenses. Are you waiting for money from anyone or are they waiting on you?

Know what you are willing to sacrifice, modify, or put on hold until you reach your goal. Are you organizing your errands? Are you buying things with an intention or randomly because it feels good? Can you limit the lattes or lunches? Where can you cut back on groceries (put buying steak on hold for a few weeks)? Instead of eating out, can you host a potluck or dine in? Are you willing to get part-time work if needed? What are you willing to do to make your goal become a reality?

Know what is working, what is not working, and what you can improve on. Evaluate what is working – keep doing more of it! What is not working? Stop it! What can you do improve on…do it!

Start loving your numbers…they might seem scary to look at in the beginning but when you start seeing the numbers climb and the debts decrease you will be in love. You will be able to reach some of those goals you have been thinking about, “Someday I will _________”. Instead of thinking about it, you will be able to say, “Today I will ________”. Wouldn’t that feel great? Your numbers are the pulse of your household, business, and organization. Do a pulse check and see where you are? Don’t wait until tax time to know your numbers. Your numbers also drive action. What needs to be done to make you love your numbers?

DEBRA KASOWSKI, BScN CEC is an award-winning best-selling author, transformational speaker, blogger, and Certified Executive Coach. She has a heart of a teacher and is certified in Appreciative Inquiry and Emotional Intelligence. She is a contributing writer for Diversity and Fabulous at 50 magazines. Debra Kasowski International helps executives, entrepreneurs, and organizations boost their productivity, performance, and profits. It all starts with people and passion. www.debrakasowski.com

7 Critical Mistakes Business Owners Make and How to Avoid Them

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At one time or another, we all make mistakes. Some mistakes are bigger than others. Some mistakes are more forgiving than others. The most important take away from a mistake is to hopefully learn from them so you do not make the same mistake twice or even three times. Often, we do not know what we do not know until we realize what we don’t know shows up in ways we would not rather remember.

“Success does not consist in never making mistakes but in never making the same one a second time.”
― George Bernard Shaw

There are several business owners who think I will build it and they will come. I was one of those people. I have learned many lessons along the way about attention to detail to making decisions based on cash flow to remembering to hit the record button when doing an interview for a new product or podcast. All mistakes have a consequence whether it be in loss of time, money, resources, or even reputation. All mistakes can teach us a lesson. Mistakes are an opportunity to make better decisions and take different actions which lead to different results. There are many critical mistakes that can be impacting your bottom-line.


No clear vision. You need to have a clear vision of what you want to achieve with your business. If you do not have a vision, you cannot expect to take actions the will create meaningful results. You cannot expect your employees or customers to follow you if do not have a clear message around your vision. Everything in business starts with a clear vision! Get clear on what you are wanting to achieve before you invest a ton of money and time.
No goals or plan of action. If you do not know where you are going how do you expect to get there? You need to get your ideas and plans out of your head and onto paper. Write out your SMART goals – they need to be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely. Once you have the goal, you can come up with strategies to achieve it – otherwise, you will wander aimlessly.
Not tracking your numbers. We all love it when money is coming in and the bank account numbers get increasing; we do not always love it so much when the numbers are decreasing. Keep a simple spreadsheet and track the flow of money coming in and going out of your business. It can be very eye-opening. When you track your numbers, not only to you see what is working and what is not working, you can make decisions about you need to stop doing or what you need to start or to continue doing. Keep doing what works – sounds obvious but if you are not measuring it you will never know.
Do it all ‘solo’. One of the biggest mistakes as a business owner or entrepreneur is that you want to do everything yourself. Your business or start-up is your “baby” and no one can look after as well as you do. In the beginning, you may do everything. As your business grows, you can only stretch yourself so far before you will need to start delegating to be able to meet the demands of the marketplace. Initially, do everything is an asset. You understand what needs to be done and you can also set expectations around how you want it done or not done. Start delegating small projects or tasks and as you feel comfortable delegate more. You need to focus on your strengths on what you do well.
Not looking for ways to improve. Too many people when they hit success get complacent. They fail to see that they need to be on the look out for new ways to do things. It may be streamlining systems and processes to become more proficient. It may be implementing ideas discussed with a mentor or something you read in a book. Try new ideas. Test new ideas. You never know when that one tweak increases customer demands.

“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”
― Albert Einstein

Looking for ‘get rich’ quick strategies. There is no ‘magic’ pill or ‘get rich’ quick strategy that is going to grow your business. Many people are drawn to this type of marketing because of the promise of a quick fix to a problem ailing them. Cookie strategies do not work. If you want your business to grow, you need to build relationships, let people know what you are doing, and take the actions necessary to make things happen. You may need to sacrifice outings, lattes, and shopping sprees in the process. A sustainable business takes time and patience to grow. Put in the work and reap the rewards.

Not celebrating success – big or small. You might jump out of the gate with great vision and focus on building your business. If you do not stop or at least pause and acknowledge your smallest wins you will not notice the big ones. You will run out of motivation and the steam to persevere through tough times. Tough times can happen but they do not last. The duration is even shorter when you celebrate and are motivated to continue to take action before halting production. Therefore, you hear about people who quit too soon.
Avoid making these critical mistakes. It was Maya Angelou that said, “When you know better, you do better.” If you have been making these mistakes, you need to make a change to get the results you want. There is no turning back once you have this awareness. Your business success depends on you learning from your mistakes.
DEBRA KASOWSKI, BScN CEC is an award-winning best-selling author, transformational speaker, blogger, and Certified Executive Coach. She has a heart of a teacher and is certified in Appreciative Inquiry and Emotional Intelligence. Her writing has been published in a variety of print and online magazines. Debra Kasowski International helps executives, entrepreneurs, and organizations boost their productivity, performance, and profits. It all starts with people and passion. Sign up the Success Secrets Newsletter and get your free mp3 download today! www.debrakasowski.com

Episode 90 – Turn Someday into Today with Lisa Larter

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Meet Our Guest:

Lisa Larter, founder of lisalarter.com, is a Business Consultant, Social Media Strategist, and Speaker.  She works with businesses to maximize their profits and scale beyond their dreams, using social media, relationship marketing, and dead-simple, eye-opening systems.  She’s helped increase the visibility and profits of a wide range of clients — including retail groups, authors, realtors, brick-and-mortar businesses, shopping centers, online entrepreneurs, and, her favorite big-name advisee, Deepak Chopra. His feedback? “Lisa, you’re the best.”