Being an entrepreneur isn't easy. Putting yourself out there in such a way opens you up to criticism, makes you confront your fears and forces you to recognize your limitations. But it also shows you how to harness your unique skills and gifts, teaches you delegation and discipline, and even patience and persistance.

As a fulltime mom and fulltime business owner, I sometimes feel overwhelmed with all there is to do each day and frustrated by a lack of time. In those moments, I try to remind myself that what I'm learning from being a mother and from my young daughter applies to my business as well. I truly believe that my success in business is a direct result of my own personal growth. And nothing has helped me grow more quickly than being a mom!

To further the point, since I invested in my first personal development info-product (Tony Robbin's Personal Power in 1989) to my recent attendance at the Power of Collaboration SuperConference in NYC, whenever I make the effort to work on myself, my business takes a leap forward.

This wasn't apparent at first, but over the course of this year, where I've made the concentrated effort to focus on my personal growth consistently, my business has flourished as a result.

It's kind of amazing, actually, to start connecting the dots as to why I would struggle with certain things in my personal life and then face those same issues in my business. Once I started addressing those things that were holding me up personally, the blocks came down in my business as well. AND the money and clients started flowing in, more easily and more consistently.

(And conversely, there are things that I was very good at handling in my business that I wasn't so great at handling in my personal life. Once it was concretely pointed out to me that I had the skills already, that I just needed to apply them to my personal life to get similar results, those personal challenges started to disappear.)

So now when I get overwhelmed and frustrated, I remind myself that everything I'm learning and doing, even if it's repetitive (what toddler doesn't love repetition?), is teaching me something that can be applied to both my business and my life, even if it's simply to be more patient or to relax and enjoy the present moment more!

Copyright (c) 2006 Alicia M Forest and Client Abundance