| By Tara Vossenkemper, PhD, LPC

I’m not a naturally business-minded person. I wasn’t raised in an entrepreneurial family. I didn’t grow up around people who talked gross and profit. I didn’t know anybody who owned their own business. I didn’t major or minor in business. My family wasn’t especia...

We all have something we want to do. The most successful entrepreneurs can inventory their strengths and fill in the gaps with far more gifted people in identified areas. The most successful are the ones that understand the value of their time and hand over tasks that do not justify the "expense" of...

Your heart is racing, your chest is tight, and you can't ever seem to catch a full breath. You tell yourself if you could only get to the office earlier, before everyone else, you would get caught up. If you could just skip lunch and stay an extra hour, you'd be able to sleep better. Your issues are...

Day 6/500

Writing Prompt: What in this world makes you feel so small? What are you in awe of? 

Four years later, I can't even remember why. 

I had owned my business for an entire year, and we were finally starting to see a little money from our exhausting efforts. The holidays were coming up, ...

Prompt: What do you always have an excuse for? 

This weekend I read the book, Brag Better by Meredith Fineman. I listened to it, actually, with my eleven-year-old daughter riding in the back seat. We were on the way to Suntan City so I could get a spray tan. 

           My first audiobook experien...

Do you think your team could win the business Olympics?

Prompt: You are the coach and your team is losing an important game. Write a speech to motivate your team to a win.

I survey the field where the team works frantically. Sweat rolls off tiny faces as they perform their tasks in the hot summ...

Prompt: Name your biggest pet peeve. Do you bring it to a person's attention when they annoy you with it. 

 I need to start by saying I don't necessarily get annoyed with this pet peeve; just a little sad. When I was a kid, like all kids, I had situations where I felt disappointed. Someone promises...

Prompt: An alien has just abducted you. Give three reasons why it would send you back to earth.

"Awe, look at those tentacles. And your eyes—they are as big around as cantaloupes," I say to the creature that just sucked me up into his forcefield. I can't be mad because he's so darn cute. He doesn't...

Backstory: Just last week, I flew to New Jersey to attend the Next Level Author workshop, hosted by Mike Michalowicz and AJ Harper. I stumbled upon a bookstore in which I got lost for nearly an hour. Not literally lost, but I couldn't stop looking, imagining, and soaking it all in. A journal called ...

Not too long ago I had an evening away from the family, so I checked myself into a swanky hotel right in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the closest “big” city. It wasn’t long before it turned 7pm, and I was staring out the window, unsure what to do with myself. I could go for a walk, grab a ...

Dread. 

You know the feeling.

You sit with your family at night playing a game, eating dinner, watching tv, hanging out, but internally you’re racking your brain thinking about your business.

Why am I not making more money? Why do I feel strapped every month? Am I paying my employees too much? It...

 Social what? Oh, the terms. They come, they go, some I know, most I don't. I'm getting old, I suppose.

"You need social proof," they said. Wait, I'm on social media. Does that count? I like my bourbon at least one hundred proof, Is that the same thing? No, okay. Never mind, I'll Google it. 

Those...