Building a business is a fantastic and challenging experience. You can wake up exhilarated to begin your day and go to bed feeling overwhelmed and frustrated. The key to success is to maintain a positive, yes you can do it, mindset.

Easier said than done, right? Here are 5 keys to help you create and sustain a positive mindset so you attain the success you desire.

1. Surround yourself with successful and positive people. The influence people have over our own personal energy is amazing. Moods and attitudes are so easily spread – think about how much of a difference a simple smile from a stranger can make for your day and then magnify it 1000 times to demonstrate the power of positive and successful friends, family and associates. When you have people around you who inspire you, believe in you and want you to succeed, there’s no room for doubts and even when they creep up, they’re quickly swept away.

2. Create a mantra or an affirmation. Repeating positive affirmations has been shown to get people through tough times and to actually help them truly believe what they’re saying.  For example, “I am building a powerful and profitable business.” Many of the most esteemed business professionals have used the same affirmation strategy to attain their success. To find the right affirmations for you, consider writing a quick list of your doubts, insecurities and complaints. These can then be quickly turned into affirmations.  For example, if you write that you’re always feeling disorganized then your affirmation would be, “I am organized and in control.” Repeat your affirmations several times a day and feel the power of positive thinking.

3. Capture negative thoughts. We all have negative thoughts from time to time, however, negative thoughts and emotions can derail us and prevent us from achieving all we desire. Of course catching those negative thoughts takes practice and persistence. When you find yourself thinking negative thoughts or having negative emotions, find a trigger to turn them around. The affirmations mentioned above are a great way to turn the negative into the positive. You can also find quick pick me ups like a favorite song, a walk outside in the fresh air, or some exercise to help improve your mood.

4. Set goals/intentions and then be willing to let it go. The law of attraction says that we attract what we focus on the most. However, desperation, needing your business to be a success, sends mixed messages and a lot of negativity into the universe. Set your goals and intentions and then let them go. A certain amount of faith in yourself and in the power of attraction is necessary. Give it a try.

5. Be grateful. Gratitude is perhaps the single most powerful and positive tool for success. When you’re grateful for all of the wonderful things and people in your life the challenges you face seem significantly less important and are more easily dealt with.  Consider keeping a gratitude journal and make a practice of entering into it daily. That way, when you’re facing challenges a quick peek at all the amazing things in your life will make you feel as if you can tackle anything. Additionally, an attitude of gratitude helps you maintain a positive perspective and to face challenges as opportunities rather than obstacles.

Success is within your reach and with the right attitude you can accomplish anything you set your sights on. Embrace these five powerful mind success strategies and you’ll build a better business and live a happier, more satisfying life.

What strategies have worked for you?  Please share them with our readers!

Today, we’re going to take a look at how NOT to market your business, thanks to one of the “big dogs”: Pepsi (AMP division).  Mashable.com writes

The company recently launched an iPhone application [iTunes link] for its AMP energy drink called “before you score,” with “score” meaning (to put it in the most subtle of terms) having a successful night with a woman.

Beyond the premise of the app being rather risqué, it’s when you drill down to the specifics that it becomes much more, breaking women down into 24 types and suggesting “lines” to lure each one of them. If “successful,” the app also encourages users to brag about it over email, or even on Facebook or Twitter.

First, this is one of the most offensive premises I’ve seen in a while in the realm of marketing.  How degrading to encourage this kind of behavior, but then to encourage the user to degrade their “conquests” to their friends online!  This is unacceptable in every way that I can think of.

Aside from the morality issues of this application and the related advertising, how stupid are these marketers?  Women make 85% of all brand purchases…do they really want to alienate women?

I’m not going to go further into the above situation.  My point is…watch your advertising to make sure you’re not alienating your potential buyers.  Any comments?  Have you seen bad examples of advertising?  Let’s talk about it.

A while back, I talked about participating in a contest that another website was hosting.  Well, this week, I’m taking it a step farther!  I am actually running my own contest on www.celiacsupport.net.  So, what steps did I have to take to run a contest?

• Decide on what the prize would be for the winner.  In this case, it is a copy of the brand new, hot-off-the-presses book, “Once-A-Month Cooking: Family Favorites“.  A friend of mine is helping with the marketing and she knew that I would be a good person to promote the book, since the book has a 2-week gluten-free cooking cycle in it that would interest my readers on that particular website.  (Yes, I knew someone…but you could choose a product on your own and adapt this to work for you.)
• In this case, my job was to review the book and post my review on my blog.  The prize for my readers is a copy of the book.  I will be posting reviews, interviews with the authors, photos, and various other goodies from the book (quotes, recipes, etc.).
• Determine what your readers will have to do to enter your contest.  In my case, I am trying to build my email list, so that is the one requirement for entering.  However, visitors can earn extra entries by spreading the word via social networking.  I find that if you make the contest too difficult, people decide it’s not worth the hassle.
• Let people know that the contest is coming.  I posted a preliminary entry on my blog to build the buzz.  I tweeted it a few times and let my Facebook friends know about it.  Hopefully, the word will get around.
• Today, when the contest opens, my first post will appear and visitors will see all the details on how they can enter, when the winner will be chosen, and see a photo of one of the recipes I made from the book.  In addition to my own photos, I will also be using graphics such as this one (right) and a photo of the authors later in the week.
• I will be spreading the word through social networking throughout the week and hopefully, creating a buzz!

Please feel free to sign up, if you’d like to win a cookbook.  Only one of the 2-week cooking cycles is gluten-free; the rest are just plain great recipes!

Tell me your thoughts!  Have you ever run a contest on your blog?  Any helpful suggestions that you can add?  I’d love to hear them!  Sign up below, if you’re playing along with the Monday Marketing Meme!