Day 5

March 17, 2010 in Balance, family, home office, lifestyle, persistence, personal development, self-care, women business owners | Leave a comment

Hurry up, Guys!

I’m getting out of Dodge today. We still have no power in my neighborhood due to the broken toothpick-looking utility pole featured in yesterday’s blog post. I’ve continued to ‘make do’ by hitting libraries and Starbucks for their wi-fi capability, coaching from my car to keep my cell phone battery alive, emptying the fridge and practicing gratitude for the warmer and longer days. Fortunately, I had promised to take my daughter–the one who celebrated her birthday last week–to Kripalu for two days of R & R. We leave late this morning.

We’ll be back home Friday afternoon at which point I hope to have power back. My plan is to spend the weekend attending to all the details and planning that fell by the wayside during the survival period. I’ve shown up for everything on my schedule, albeit not as coiffed as I would have hoped. I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating. As a business owner I get to choose which 12 hours a day (!) I will work. I actually can’t wait to get back to my desktop computer and landline. Ah, the things we take for granted…

Day 4

March 16, 2010 in Philanthropy, coaching, delegating, miracles, networking | 1 comment

Life without power continues to be a challenge. Here’s a photo of the bugaboo keeping my neighborhood in the dark.

Born with an entrepreneurial spirit, I’m finding a way–blogging this morning from Panera Bread where there is free wi-fi (before the public library opens), showering at my fitness center, putting on my makeup by daylight coming through the kitchen window for last night’s Remarkable Women’s Network event.

Also, today I let my clients know by text that they’d need to call my cell phone for our sessions. I sat in my car with the motor running (fortunately, I drive a hybrid, so it didn’t use up any gas) and coached from the driver’s seat. Appropriate, no?!

This is getting old. It may go on until Friday, we’re told. But here’s what I’m grateful for:

That I live in a country where I am completely assured that this will get resolved.

That it’s Daylight Savings Time and I can still see things in my house without the benefit of my battery-powered lantern until about 7:30pm.

That I have owned a MacBook since last June which retains its battery power for 4-5 hours, or about 3 hours longer than my Dell laptop held out.

That good friends offered me showers and a place to stay should I need it.

That 21 Remarkable Women showed up for last night’s event in spite of whatever was going on at home. One woman even saw an added benefit of the evening that she could charge her cell phone there while networking. I love being around positive, action-oriented people.

Plan B

March 14, 2010 in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Plan A today was not to go to the Westport Library. It was to play catch up in my office after a busy couple of days out of it. However, Mother Nature had other plans. The severe storm yesterday took down not only the tree on my street, but also several power lines in my area, so there’s no current going through my house today.

I trekked over to the nearby library only to have the door held open by a 10-year old boy entering with his family. “Lose your power?” he asked, probably due to the backpack and tote I was sporting. “40% of Westport lost its electricity,” he announced. So, I wasn’t surprised to find the outlets full of computer plugs, nor to hear the announcement a few minutes later over the PA system saying, “We’ve done what we can to set up as may plugs as we can. The Senior Center also has its doors open if you need to go someplace after we close at 5pm.” Felt good to know the status, that they were paying attention and also offering solutions to the dilemma. Made me grateful that I live here, that power will be restored and that this is only a short-term challenge.

Louis Who?

March 12, 2010 in Balance, family, lifestyle, self-care, small business, women business owners | Tags: , , | 2 comments

Today is my daughter Laura’s birthday. I got up super-early, finished my draft of acknowledgments for the new edition of my book, and will hop onto the 11:30am train to NYC to take her out for lunch. We’re going to Hangawi, a Korean vegetarian restaurant recommended by the Organic Coach, Gina Paterno Villalobos.

Tonight the entire family is going to see Laura’s selection of entertainment–Louis CK performing at Caroline’s Comedy Club.

Once again I am grateful for the lifestyle business I have created that allows me to take a Friday off at will to celebrate the most important people in my life.

BTW, tomorrow I’ll be facilitating a networking program for SCORE in Darien. It doesn’t even feel like work, although most people will be spending their Saturday doing non-work related activities.

This photo was taken a few months ago at Denyse Schmidt’s open house. Laura selected the quilt behind us for her holiday gift. It looks terrific on her iron-frame bed.

Who Wouldn’t Post This?

March 11, 2010 in branding, inspiration, marketing, persistence, self-promotion, small business, women business owners | Tags: | 2 comments

After seeing the piece I wrote earlier this week about the AUTHOR license plate, Olga Adler sent me an image of her marketing equivalent. I filed it in my Blog Images collection and may have thought of it again, but got a helpful reminder from Olga today with the message: “I got you a better shot of my license plate – better lighting and cleaner car… “

Who could resist? Olga, if you haven’t guessed yet, is an extraordinary interior designer with a flair for marketing as well. She reports that she often gets direct business from her vanity license plate making it a worthwhile investment.

Note what thought and persistence this took on Olga’s part. While it wasn’t top-of-mind for me, it was for Olga, and she made a second attempt to pursue an opportunity for exposure. That’s what wins the day, Business Owners.

Have I missed anyone? I’d love to share your auto-marketing.

And the winner is…

March 10, 2010 in marketing, self-promotion, small business, support, women business owners | Tags: , | 10 comments

In February I gave you the opportunity to vote for your preferred cover of my upcoming new edition of Soul Proprietor. And vote you did! Hundreds of you viewed the post and almost as many actually cast a ballot via your comments and e-mail messages to me. I heard MANY opinions.

Among my favorites were (paraphrased)

“You can’t go wrong! They’re both great.”

“Absolutely #1!”

“Absolutely #2!”

“Neither! Bring back the one with the egg on the cover.”

What’s an author to do? What most resonated with me was the desire to have my image looking right at the reader. My vanity actually preferred the photo in #2, but the marketer in me said, “Don’t turn them off by looking away.”

Years ago I brought two mock-ups of my first brochure to the owner of the Artists Market in Norwalk for her opinion. One sample piece was an artistic origami style design which opened in a clever and intricate way. The other was a standard folder with interchangeable pages for easy updating and image replacement.

I was in love with the intricate one for artistic reasons. I could see the trouble my evaluator was having even opening it and desperately wanted her to overcome her frustration in deference to its beauty. But this was a retail store owner, not a museum curator. She unhesitatingly selected the simpler version. “You’ll drive your buyers crazy with the other one, pretty as it is. Less is more.”

Bowing to the wisdom of the crowds, I’m opting for (drum roll, please) cover #1. I pooled all of the entries regardless of which you voted for and selected the winner: Lisa Braithwaite a valued reader and frequent commenter on my blog.

Please note that I was most interested in your thoughts on the photo. I’m working with my designer on taking the type out of my hair and other distractions.

Thank you, ALL, for your interest, your time and your valued opinions.

Now That’s Marketing

March 8, 2010 in branding, communications, inspiration, marketing, networking, self-promotion, small business, success, women business owners | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

I had a double-header Friday morning spending time with remarkable women. Barbara Weltman and I met for coffee at the Starbucks in Greenwich, a midway point between our home offices. We get together a few times a year to compare notes, catch up and share what’s going on in our businesses.

I was tickled to find out that Barbara took my advice to get a virtual assistant a few years ago and whom Barbara raved about during our meeting. I thanked her again for connecting me with Jim Blasingame whose Small Business Advocate radio show I just appeared on again for the 7th time.

When I left our coffee date I saw this car parked directly across from mine. I did a big double-take on the license plate, then saw the driver of the car opening her door. I called to her and said, “Your license plate is really great!” We chatted for a minute or two about her writing and she walked away. I called back to her and asked if it would be okay to blog about her license plate and her. She generously agreed.

I had just met Sarah Darer Littman an award winning author of books for young people. I was inspired by the courage it took to request the license plate with that word on it. AUTHOR. I wondered how many of my colleagues and associates would be so bold. I see it as an act of courage, faith and confidence. I applaud Sarah.

Lena’s Wisdom: Hooray for Online Press

March 5, 2010 in business, communications, marketing, self-promotion, women business owners | Tags: | Leave a comment

It’s not often that I select a comment to become a post, but Lena West’s remarks regarding my Myth of Press posting a week ago warrant that attention. I thought I knew a lot about what to do with press once you’ve gotten it, but Lena enlightened me about online press which is its whole own animal–one I’m coming to embrace.

Here’s what she said [my comments are in the brackets that follow hers]:

This is why online articles are golden. Many times people snub their noses at online media coverage, but I LOVE it.

It stays around forever and is indexed by the search engines. [Unlike paper media that is used to wrap the garbage the day after it's printed.]

It is easily shared with others–no scanning necessary. [Not to mention envelopes, stamps and a walk out to the mailbox.]

You can create links from your website and/or blog to the great information.

It’s instantly global.

Online media coverage used to be print media coverage’s ugly second cousin. Not so much anymore.

Thank you for enlightening me and my readers, Lena!

SHAME – A Lurking Enemy of Good

March 1, 2010 in communications, personal development, self-care, women business owners | Tags: , | 15 comments

Thoughts of coulda, shoulda, woulda flashed through my head last Thursday evening as I waited for the endless rainstorm to convert to snow as had been predicted. I had postponed my event for that night after hearing the dire predictions measured in feet of snow, not inches. I knew there would be women coming from the far reaches of Connecticut and did not want to put anyone in harm’s way. So I picked a new date with host Marjory Abrams, let the caterer know it would now be held on March 15, then proceeded to contact everyone on my list via e-mail and phone.

I missed one person who called me from the appointed location at 5:30pm to inquire about the event. Seems I had completely missed her registration and had not entered her on my list of attendees. She never got a phone call or an e-mail message with the change-of-date explanation.

I didn’t see her name on the list and thought the error was on her side. When she got home she forwarded me her receipt which had inexplicably never made it to my Outlook inbox. Stuff happens.

I immediately called and apologized, but the aftermath of my error stayed with me. I was mortified. I beat myself up.

Then I had a good talking to with myself. I’ve learned an acronym for SHAME:  Should Have Already Mastered Everything. I learned that well growing up. The message I would hear was something like, “And of course you know that…” which set me up. If I did know, it was self-evident that I should, and if I didn’t know, well, there was no excuse. I learned to fake it or keep my mouth shut. Neither an appealing option.

Here’s what I said to myself on Thursday: Jane, you did the absolute best you could. You handled this situation as you would respect someone else’s handling of it. And you made a mistake. You called the person, offered to make good on the error and apologized from your heart. That’s enough. Move on. Do something now that feels good to you. And I did.

What ways do you make amends for human (or other) errors in your business relationships?

(BTW, there are still a few spots left for this Remarkable Women’s Network event at Boardroom in Stamford on March 15.)

Talk About Branding!

February 26, 2010 in branding, delegating, home office, inspiration, organizational skills, personal development, self-care, women business owners | Tags: | 2 comments

I had the good fortune to use the organizing services of Emily Vetrosky of Organized Interiors by Emily last week. I gave Emily my wish list, then left to run a meeting. When I got back I was happy to see the results of her efforts.

One area of concern is the drawer where I keep all my correspondence materials, collections of cards I’ve bought throughout the year and envelopes and notecards I enjoy using. But I had a nanosecond of discontent when I saw the label Emily had printed out with the word ’stationery’ misspelled. I’ll never forget an elementary school spelling lesson that taught ’stationery’ meaning writing supplies has the letters ‘er‘ as in paper.

Anyone who has seen my intricate artwork knows my attention to detail. It was a tiny error, but it would bug me every time I opened that drawer. I sent Emily an email thanking her for her outstanding work, then gently letting her know the correct spelling of stationery. Not an important complaint, but thought she’d like to know. She was most gracious.

I knew I’d eventually print out my own label, but it was not a high priority. So you can imagine my delight when I opened my mail the other day and found this:

Besides being an excellent organizer, I now have the experience of Emily as professional, gracious and responsive. I can’t wait to recommend her! Oh! I just did.