I Quit…

February 8, 2010 in personal development, self-care, small business | 3 comments

…a coaching certification program I was enrolled in. This is highly unusual behavior for me. I want to share my process.

I don’t need to mention the name of the organization because this is not about them. Many other students in the program are  satisfied. It’s about me, how I value my time and the work that I’m doing.

The class met regularly by phone from 12:30-2:30pm every Wednesday. Classmates called in from California to Denmark. We’ve been together since October and the others will continue the process into July. But I wasn’t feeling a sense of connectedness with the material or the other participants. I wasn’t inspired or motivated by the weekly documents I downloaded from the digital library. I began to resent not being able to schedule anything on Wednesdays during that time period. I noticed how my body was responding to the notebooks on my desk and anything related to the program.

One of the key learnings I received during the in-person training for this discipline, which I adored, is that the body is the midwife to the mind. Feelings in our bodies (we shouldn’t ignore) will show up before words have formulated around them in our brains. We need to trust these.

Although I had a satisfying conversation with the founder of the program about my complaints (which she took to heart), the bottom line was that it didn’t work for me. And that’s enough to know. Speaking with her and then letting my classmates know was challenging. This is the grown-up stuff of life and business that confronts us regularly. How we move through it is a measure of our maturity and the willingness to be humble and teachable.

I’m feeling a little more mature, definitely humbled and also free of what felt like an obligation.

I Want New Old Friends NOW!

February 4, 2010 in Balance, persistence, personal development, success, women business owners | Tags: , , , | 3 comments

I’m in Sarasota, FL this week visiting friends and taking a break from the winter weather in the Northeast. I had two invitations to visit good friends with homes down here, and I jumped at the opportunity.

Linda Koe (pictured with me here) and I met several years ago when a colleague suggested that we might have similar creative interests. At the time, I was running my art business and Linda was selling vintage quilts and other artifacts. We partnered to create events called Celebration of Traditional Crafts which attracted lots of attention and sales including a write-up in the New York Times Connecticut Section.

As our working styles meshed and our sales grew, so did our friendship. We always celebrated after each success over lunch and conversation. We’ve since both closed those aspects of our companies, but the friendship remains. Here we are pre-bike ride around Anna Maria Island, a charming area and a good flat ride for this amateur cyclist.

I’m at the beginning of some new business relationships now that are inching forward more slowly than I’d like. Am I the only one who wishes that I could have that old-friend feeling with new prospects? One of the things I’m realizing in my maturity is that my winning style is, and always has been, slow and steady. I have to admit that I’d still love to have that immediate hit of excitement and success. But the relationships and business propositions that have been the most rewarding for me and those I work with are the ones that have developed slowly and over time.

Please, Judge This Book by Its Cover

February 1, 2010 in branding, goal-setting, self-promotion, small business, women business owners | Tags: , , | 79 comments

#1

#2

I’m very excited to share my goal with you of re-publishing Soul Proprietor myself this spring. Kim Barron of New Leaf Design is creating the design layout and cover. Which brings me to this blog entry.

Knowing the old saw about not judging a book by its cover, I’d like your opinion. I do believe we most certainly judge books by their covers and want your input.

It’s time to vote again!

I’ve narrowed down the selection to two images. The fonts and quotes you see are interchangeable. The feedback I’m looking for is solely (or soul-ly) about the photo. What are your thoughts and why?

I will put all responders names into a hat (regardless of which image you selected) and draw a name to receive a free copy when they’re fresh off the press, so do let me know your thoughts. I’ll announce the winner at the end of February and will consider all responses from now until 2/22/10.

Thank you for reading this and sharing your valued opinions.

Fearless Fridays – Malene Barnett

January 29, 2010 in branding, coaching, inspiration, lifestyle, marketing, personal development, self-promotion, small business, women business owners | Tags: , | 2 comments

Years ago I had an intern come and work for me from my alma mater, Mount Holyoke College, during the January term when the campus shut down. Rachel Atkinson was an art major and came daily to my studio to help me with my creative projects. Because her father owned a thriving graphic design business, she wanted to share some of his resources and expertise with me. One day she brought in a carton of resumes he’d received for a job posting. This was in the early 90’s when everything was hard copy.

I was wowed by the variety of styles, formats and sophistication the applicants demonstrated. You could immediately toss aside 1/2 the pile for lack of originality.

Which leads me to my friend and client Malene Barnett who recently purchased and renovated a building in the Bed-Stuy section of Brooklyn. That’s a fearless enough feat to accomplish. But what really knocked my socks off was the email I received from Malene advertising the rental of her freshly minted apartment offering.

No Craigslist.com for this extraordinary woman. She created an 8-page pdf  (cover image above) of her creation placing her property in an elite category and immediately qualifying her prospects. Let me know if you’re interested and I’d be happy to connect you to Malene. By the way, breaking the mold of the repetitive red brick facades is another measure of Malene’s strength of character and determination.

The message here: Take the risk to be bold, break the rules and get noticed. Might just get you a tenant or a job.

Minimizers – Arm Yourself!

January 27, 2010 in coaching, networking, women business owners | Tags: | 8 comments

One of the most talented women I know, and I know tons of very talented women, sent me an email after attending my Remarkable Women Network event in Darien last week.

She wrote: I dragged myself to the event feeling like there were 29 remarkable women and me, but the positive energy charged me up and gave me the strength to start creating myself again.

My hunch is that not one other woman even remotely suspected that this participant felt that way, and that one or two of the others actually harbored the same sentiment. What’s a woman to do?!

I know this is a syndrome in our society. I’m sad that all of these enormously capable, brilliant and contributing women have such monstrous gremlins on their backs dragging them down, sometimes to the point of paralysis. I’m so glad this woman did whatever it took to pep-talk herself into showing up. That’s the big lesson here. That if your self-talk is just a tad stronger than those negative voices, the rewards are incomparable.



SCORE One for Entrepreneurs

January 25, 2010 in branding, networking, small business, start-up business, success, women business owners | Tags: , | 4 comments

Because I’ve known about SCORE for decades I assume that everyone else knows about them, too. But I realize that this organization is still a relatively well-kept secret. SCORE stands for Service Corps of Retired Executives and offers an amazing resource to small business owners nationwide. Basically, it’s an army of brilliant retired executives, men and women, who offer their services free to entrepreneurs at all levels.

I learned about SCORE in my 20’s when my father, recently retired, joined their ranks and would discuss his clients’ imaginative ideas (anonymously, of course) over dinner. He was thrilled to be giving back some of his business expertise and tickled when his client ran with an idea and succeeded. Over the years I’ve consulted SCORE advisers with excellent results.

Just recently, in an effort to expand my Remarkable Women’s Network I signed on for another round. I’ve been meeting monthly with two gentlemen who feel like the best cheerleaders in the world. Not only are they offering their suggestions for broadening my market, but they’ve also referred some of their successful women clients to attend my events.

Today when I went for my check-in, I was met by a third counselor. My two guys love my model so much they brought in the SCORE program chair and invited me to facilitate a demo session for SCORE clients. Mark your calendars! On Wednesday, February 24 from 7:30-9:30am there will be a co-ed session based on my networking design for SCORE clients only. By the way, anyone reading this has the opportunity to become a SCORE client. That’s an entirely free service. The event I run for them will also be free.

What makes my groups unique is that I offer them only to already successful women business owners who want to meet other successful women business owners. At my Remarkable Women Network events participants exchange information, support and inspire each other and get solutions to current challenges. While the format will be the same–self-intro’s and mini-mastermind groups, the population will be not be. Hence the value-based pricing on my offerings. Women business owners choosing to pay $50 to meet other successful women offers a different demographic group than SCORE’s no-cost event.

A wise friend once told me you can shop gourmet at Stop & Shop, but it takes longer and you have to be more discerning navigating the aisles.

Not Satisfied?

January 22, 2010 in communications, personal development, self-care, women business owners | Tags: , | 9 comments

Back-to-back client calls Tuesday morning brought up the same issue–inadequate results from contracted work. After hearing my clients’ frustration with their vendors and brainstorming action steps to move forward, they were still left with two challenges:

  1. Disappointment with the referred vendor
  2. Indecision regarding payment

In one case a designer failed to please the client’s aesthetic. In the other, a writer missed the mark on a bio she submitted. Who’s to blame? Do you still pay, and if so, how much? Further, how do you prevent this from happening again in your future?

For those of you who are pulling out your notepads to jot down my pearls of wisdom, sorry. There are no short answers to this because there are always extenuating circumstances. Each situation needs to be handled individually. But you can take precautions and follow certain principles.

Most important: Address the issue with the vendor directly. Tell him/her of your unhappiness and say what you would like to have happen. From this point the conversation can go in many directions. My advice is to be sure to have it.

Second, what you can take control of is how the work arrangement is set up in the beginning. And that means creating a written document. Here’s a mantra for you: Reduce all deals and business agreements to writing. A Letter of Agreement needs to be a standard template you keep in your files for all future business relationships.

You’ve heard the saying, “A short pencil is better than a long memory.” Having the terms written out, how much/by when/kill fee, etc.  gives you something to refer back to. Keep it simple, but do it.

With no written agreement you may get stuck with the bill. However, that $50 or $5000 may be money well-spent. I often say to my clients, “It just cost you $500 to learn that course towards your MBA.”

I’d be very interested to hear your stories on this subject, particularly ones that came out happily. Curious minds want to know.

The Very Famous Sharon McCormick…Sort Of

January 20, 2010 in small business, success, women business owners | Tags: | 7 comments

There’s an ages-old perception out there that what we conjure up in our imagination is reality. When I wrote my first book Decorating Eggs and flew to North Carolina to work with the editor and art director, I was sure that authors were met at airports with red carpets and roses by the dozen. In fact, the editor (not a limo, by the way) came to meet my plane about 45 minutes after it had landed. That was a reality.

So, when Sharon McCormick and I were on the phone this morning, I had to laugh at her dose of reality. On a very snowy New England day earlier this month Sharon, a widely publicized interior designer, was at Home Depot selecting some hardware for a job. She had on her L.L. Bean duck boots, a parka, muffler and hat to ward off the bitter weather. As the clerk rung up her order, Sharon handed over her AMEX card. After examining it the woman at the register commented, “You know, there’s also a very famous designer in Connecticut by the name of Sharon McCormick.”

Sharon, touched, replied humbly, “That’s me.”

Without missing a beat the cashier looked at her quizzically and asked, “Really?”

Really! Take a look:

Betsy K – Organizer Extraordinaire

January 17, 2010 in delegating, home office, inspiration, organizational skills, small business, support, women business owners | Tags: | 6 comments

I’m so proud of my dear friend, colleague and organizing professional Betsy Krobot. Her image is featured on the front page of the current Fairfield County Business Journal with an in-depth article about her business.

Besides being headline news and having her business publicized, what tickles me about this particular press piece is that the before-and-after featured behind Betsy is MY laundry room! I’m not afraid to reveal what a mess I was before Betsy arrived to help me.

I’m such an advocate of hiring professional organizers. Some of the areas that have helped me throughout the years, due to the talents of Betsy and others, are:

  • Keeping a master notebook
  • Moving my art books out of my business area to make room for more business opportunities to flow in
  • Creating notebooks to track projects I’m working on
  • Providing me with a tickler file
  • Using the principles of feng shui to attract business and allow positive energy to circulate in my office and home

If you’ve never hired a professional organizer before, I suggest you try out their services this year. The return on investment is exponential. Your productivity will increase and your frustration level will be minimized. I know from my own experience how valuable Betsy’s and her colleagues’ services are.

Clean a Closet, Find a Boyfriend

January 14, 2010 in Balance, coaching | 15 comments

There comes a time in every entrepreneur’s life when she has done EVERYTHING possible to make something work and it’s not happening. Take my fiber artist client for example. She is having her graphic look re-designed, and it is in the hands of the branding expert with the deadline pushed off until late January. Her marketing pro has all the contact information needed for the big cyber push coming up at the end of the month. There’s nothing more to attend to there.  A table that needs its final coat of paint for her display is being held up by the designated artisan who is suffering from a bad back. Getting the picture? Hasn’t this happened to you?

What to do?

I asked her what else was on her list? She mentioned that she’d really like to complete her home renovation that has a couple of items still not addressed, like the tiles for the kitchen and bathroom floor, plus some new fixtures to purchase.

My coaching fieldwork assignment for her: Go buy a toilet.

My friend Betsy the professional organizer insists, and I agree, that miracles happen when you get busy and productive in another arena of your life. Her mantra is, “Clean a closet, find a boyfriend” a miracle she has experienced and witnessed time after time.

The principle behind this is allowing the Universe to do its share. When you know in your heart that you have crossed every t and dotted every i, then it’s time to let go. Stop stirring the pot. Just allow. This is hard work for doers.

If you were God and saw two people working really hard at the same task and one of them tried to do it all herself and the other said, “I’ve done all I can do. I need some help here,” who would you choose to give a hand to?