We live in a society where it’s very easy to present polished and edited versions of ourselves — that ‘perfect’ shot on Instagram or gushing post on Facebook — only showing the best parts of our lives. To be truly authentic, we need to go past that superficial level and look within ourselves to find our true self. This is how people connect with people and how they connect with your business. It’s about connecting with your thoughts, beliefs, values and goals and allowing these to come through in how you lead your life. Questions to ask yourself to connect with your authentic self: What are my true desires? What are my real values? What are my beliefs? What do I want to achieve? Am I being my true self? Being authentic in business is about building loyalty and trust. People want to feel they are being told the truth and see the real people behind the business. They will buy into a product if they feel their values align. By opening up to people, you create greater connections with your ideal clients, so they get to know you better, then start to like you and trust you. People buy from businesses they trust. And, as a consumer, by choosing and being loyal to authentic businesses, people are also saying something about their personal authenticity.

Mindset is everything for business owners. The success mindset is a certain way of thinking; it’s about the way you approach challenges and mistakes. It builds confidence, resilience, enthusiasm and positive outlook on business and life in general. Mindset development leads to learning skills that allow you to work better and feel happier in all areas of your life. A negative self-destructive mindset can lead to self-doubt and low confidence, reflected in your performance and business. This usually leads to failure. Perhaps you are reading this because you want to improve things. Now is the time for you to change and develop your new success mindset. By reprogramming your negative thoughts, making changes and creating new habits, you will start seeing a positive effect, make progress and train your mind to succeed by developing the success mindset.

Before I had my two children, I was a very independent and ambitious woman with a vibrancy for living my best life. A creative and curious dreamer, as a child, I grew up in the beautiful country of Slovakia with the belief that I could do anything I dreamed of, a belief system nurtured by my parents. I was determined to work towards having flexibility and freedom to be my own boss and have my own business one day, that would fulfil my ambition to be successful and have everything I dreamed of. After studying psychology and a career working in London companies in business and marketing, I got married to the best man in the world, we bought a house and started a family. I was getting closer to my dream.

Being a mum already feels like a full-time job. When I wanted to start my own business a few years ago it felt almost impossible to have any time for a business and myself. However, having my own business had been a dream for a long time and I was determined to make it a reality. I quickly realised that being a mum adds to our skills; we are organised, flexible, patient and used to waking up earlier; this worked in my favour. I still had to make sure that I managed time to create balance between work and family. Here are my top five tips: 1. Be realistic about time Time is limited with family responsibilities. It helps to be realistic how much time you can locate to your business and yourself every day. Plan ahead — work with people in your household as a team. Discuss every evening what plans you have for the next day and synchronise diaries and tasks. Having family organised allows you to focus on yourself and your business. 2. To-do list Weekly planning to focus on three main things Every morning, think of three tasks for the day Make a list of monthly tasks 3. Prioritise A to-do list can be overwhelming so go through it and categorise; urgent and important, non-urgent but important, urgent but not important and non-urgent and not important. 4. Routine Waking up early before the children gives you a block of time to exercise or work on a particularly important task. Equally, if you are a ‘night person’, then that is also a time for such activities. Kids love routines; it gives them sense of security knowing what’s happening and what to expect. Allow for days off for quality time with family and friends and yourself. Rest, relax and recharge. Turn off your phone giving you space to reconnect with yourself. 5. Do not be afraid to ask for help: Learned to delegate Get help around the house and consider childcare Involve children in helping with house chores A virtual assistant or coach might be helpful for your business and keeping you on track Connect with likeminded people to discuss any problems and share experience Remember to Celebrate This is an especially important part and acknowledges what you have done or achieved, either by gratitude or a weekly treat. It will take time to implement these tips and for them to become routine. Be consistent and do not give up. Work smart, not hard, and be organised.

I am sharing with you a story I have told hardly anyone that relates back to WHY I do the work that I do today. If you really intend to transform your business, that you need to get started working on your mindset now... Why? I will share my personal story that started my mindset transformation. I haven’t shared this story with many people yet, but I think it should be heard. “We often think that starting a small business is a big deal, it’s stressful and we are not good enough, no money, no time and so on…Can you relate to this? Before we even start looking into it, we scare ourselves away just by thinking like that, we end up giving up. I believe, and I apply it with my clients that doing something you love should be fun and rewarding process. Yes, it takes courage, requires self-discipline, responsibility, it is hard sometimes, it’s challenging and exciting but fulfilling at the same time. It gives you that satisfying feeling of doing something for yourself and moving somewhere. And that was the reason for me to have my own business. Whenever I was thinking about starting my business, I used to say to myself… WHEN I have more time…, WHEN my children go to school…, WHEN I finish my course…, WHEN I have a website…, WHEN, WHEN, WHEN… Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I used to do this. I wanted it so much, but with WHEN I was just buying some time simply because I was scared to take that first step. Looking back now I know that there is never right time to for anything, it’s all about making that decision and going for it! I used to WAIT and WAIT and there was always something in my way or something happening that would not allow me to do what I dream of. I really believed that the right time will come. I got so tired of waiting, so one day I decided that no matter what will come in my way I will deal with it as and when it comes. I was determined to do whatever it takes to start the process of my own dream. And that’s when I turned my thinking around and made that shift in my mindset. I was determined to give it my all. Everything I have! This was a huge transformation towards my own personal and business success. I realised that I cannot predict what life will bring and I shouldn’t let that hold me back from following my dreams, from doing what I love. START WHERE YOU ARE and START NOW! NOW is the right time.” I know it's easy to put things off... and to tell yourself that you'll get to it later. But in this case, I really want you to avoid that temptation. You are here for a reason! In fact, if you're not absolutely eager to get started rocking with your Mindset Development and changing your life forever, then you are missing on a huge opportunity to make changes in your business and life in general. So, please do yourself a favour and start making those changes NOW! I know you can, Zuzana x