When most entrepreneurs think of obtaining the financing they need to build their businesses, they usually think of banks as a likely source. But the reality can be otherwise. Banks can be tough for entrepreneurs to deal with, but if you understand the bank’s decision making process, you will put yourself in the best possible position.

To some degree we all are a little out of synch with fantasy versus reality when it comes to our businesses. For me, it used to be finances. Somehow I figured the receipts would just sort themselves. Needless to say, this never happened.

Recently I had a conversation with a friend of mine. She is a former, highly successful model who is now building a highly successful network marketing business. As we are both entrepreneurs, we talk a lot about our businesses, we egg each other on, give each other advice, commiserate…
My friend was feeling frustrated. “Amateurs,” she [...]

With fall fast approaching, I’ve been thinking a lot about hats lately. I am a Creativity and Life Coach and owner of a business called Art n Soul, Inc. (www.artnsoulinc.com), so people often come to me at transitional points in their lives…to try on a new hat, so to speak. I’ve had women on the [...]

Admit it. Way before you started your company – you began to fantasize about it. You yearned to break free of your hum-drum job and show the world just how amazing you are. You daydreamed during meetings, pondered possibilities on your commute. The mere thought of your anticipated new life made your heart beat faster. [...]

The World Wide Web has opened up the possibility for so many people to start selling their products online. Every day someone looks at the web and they say to themselves – “How can I capitalize on this growing medium?” The story is a common one, today Martha is making cookies or jewelry or pillows [...]

Daydreaming has gotten a bad rap.
As adults, we certainly are not encouraged to do it. We are taught to believe that if we want to make it in life we need to be focused, driven, and yes, practical.
And even as children arrive in school they are snapped back into reality with comments like, “Davey, pay [...]

Communication Styles and Personality Types
Effective businesspeople need to be aware of the communication styles and personality types of the people they meet. Whether you find other people’s styles welcoming or challenging, it is your responsibility to adjust accordingly to make a positive connection. Those who are the best at this skill know their own [...]

In 1921, Stanford University began studying children who had genius level IQs. They discovered that IQ or intelligence is not the most vital element for success. Rather, it is self-confidence, perseverance, and an inclination to set goals. In other words, the simple act of acknowledging and defining what we want to accomplish is more important [...]

I have met a lot of entrepreneurs who proudly tout their one-page agreements like they have found the Holy Grail of business contracts. But that’s rarely the case. Sometimes, 1-pagers are more like Dixie® cups: inexpensive, designed for uncomplicated situations, and if you drop one on the floor, it won’t make too much of a [...]

When you’re ready (already) for dreams to come true…
Dear Jill,
During the past few years, I’ve gotten in touch with some dreams for my professional life. I’ve read books on attracting what we want, but don’t seem to be making much progress. Is there any particular “secret” you’d suggest?
Thanks,
Jenn
Dear Jenn,
Although some dreams seem long in coming, [...]

Smart entrepreneurs know the difference between a cool idea and a profitable one. If you have a natural eye for new and interesting ideas, you probably have had many fantastic thoughts as to how to create or improve something. Don’t let those dreams go to waste. You need to put them into action to make [...]

There are tons of resources out there that claim their process is easy or that their solution is easy to implement. Believe me some things are easy but be careful with wanting EVERYTHING to be easy. What am I referring to when I say EASY? Have you seen those office depot commercials with the big [...]

All successful people are big dreamers. They imagine what their future could be, ideal in every respect and they work everyday toward their distant vision, that goal or person.
-Brian Tracy
Every individual begins life with two fears: the fear of loud noises and the fear of falling. As children we play “grown up.” Who we are, [...]

Let’s face it, staying motivated and inspired can be challenging especially when we get caught up in daily stressors. One of the books I keep handy for just those days is The Four- Fold Way by Angeles Arrien, PH.D. I LOVE THIS BOOK!
The author is an anthropologist, author, educator, and corporate consultant. On page 21, [...]

Cheryl Diamond – Background
When did you start modeling?
At fourteen. It was quite a change from my former vocation as a ballet dancer and touch-football aficionado. But, I was getting too tall for dance and in the twilight of my career as a tomboy. Modeling seemed like a good idea.
How did you get involved in [...]

It is interesting that we are featuring Amy Gibson in the Dreams and Realities issue, and you will learn why as you read this interview. Amy Gibson is an inspiring entrepreneur and role model and the founder of Crown and Glory Enterprises, a company that offers wigs and counseling services, and she established her business [...]

As I recently thought about my accomplishments last year, I asked myself four questions:
* How did these accomplishments serve me?
* How much effort and energy did I put into these accomplishments?
* Were the results mediocre or excellent?
* What could [...]

While we should have been protecting the environment well before Al Gore’s movie, An Inconvenient Truth, the reality is it took that movie to send a shockwave throughout the human race. Now more than ever, we’re looking at our individual lives to see how we each can make tiny changes that add up to a [...]

Question: How can you easily and inexpensively promote your business without the need to be a techno-wiz (or hire one) and still be sensitive to the environment?
Answer: The telephone
Cold calling, simply picking up the phone and contacting prospects directly is not only green, according to the Direct Marketing Association; it’s the most effective way to [...]

Green is the theme on everyone’s mind nowadays, and big businesses are finding out that going green can be helpful for the environment and their wallet(s). Company’s like Google and Hewlett Packard are paying close attention to the energy used by their computer networks. They are both using and finding ways to cut energy consumption [...]

Communicating Effectively While Working Virtually- Tips for Success
by Georgette Pascale and Liz Kohn
Working virtually undoubtedly has its benefits, but owners and employees alike face many challenges in creating a successful business environment in this unique field. As a virtual team– a project assistant working closely with a mother and president of a small business– we [...]

Believing that I was born for the service of mankind and regarding the care of the commonwealth as a kind of common property which, like the air and the water, belongs to everybody, I set myself to consider in what way mankind might be best served and what service I was myself best fitted by [...]

Summer is a time to reconnect with people, be outside, take life a little less seriously, and enjoy the warm weather.
One of the most precious aspects of being alive is sharing our lives, and connecting to others. Our relationships with friends, family, and co-workers remind us that we are all connected to each other. They [...]

Do you wish you could do well by doing good? Would like “green” to mean both earth-friendly and solid profits for your company? Do you want your business to prosper without having to feel that you’re a greedy capitalist? If so, you may want to consider “cause-related marketing” and its cousin, socially conscious companies, for [...]

Kermit the Frog famously said that it’s not easy being green. It may have been hard for a puppet frog, but it’s becoming more and more critical for businesses. Our heedless, throw-away culture has been replaced by rising sales of hybrid cars, nationwide recycling programs, and even fast food packed in paper rather than Styrofoam. [...]

Time To Give Something Back!
Dear Jill,
I’m an independent consultant and have spent many years building a healthy practice. I’ve been approached several times by professional associations to take on volunteer roles, but have chosen instead to focus on my business. I’m at a point now when I’d like to volunteer, but am not attracted to [...]

“We have a responsibility to help create opportunities for those with the potential to excel but lacking the resources, and to use the fruits of our success to help build a better world for future generations.” Stacy Francis
At my financial planning boutique, Francis Financial, I have aligned charitable giving activities with long-term corporate objectives. I [...]

Starting your own business is hard but starting a business that involves the community is harder.
As a MBA student I decided to establish a social business venture that would not only benefit the community I came from but would be economically sustainable, educational and environmentally responsible. Almost as important, I wanted to work on a [...]

Bodanna
Since Bodanna’s operations run the whole gamut (from raw clay to the selling of finished product), I have found that all my professional experience has been extremely relevant. When we develop new product lines, the product development experience in sourcing, understanding customer needs, and manufacturing on a larger scale. My experience at Barneys, Macys [...]

Riley Weston – Background
Please tell us about your Education/background
I finished high school and tried college for a short time. As soon as my parents realized I was using it as an expensive hotel, I was done! I knew I wanted to be working so thankfully, it all ended well. Professional experience
I started at the very [...]

By moving through and letting go of our fears, we can envision and create the life that we truly want for ourselves. By contrast, when we let our preconceived notions about ourselves and our fears take control, we can be paralyzed by them.
Marilyn Ferguson, author of the global bestseller “The Aquarian Conspiracy,” sums up letting [...]

We all procrastinate, and, while doing it sometimes helps us, often it hurts our productivity, our results, and even our self-esteem. Most of us realize that we’re doing it, realize that it’s probably taking more energy than actually doing the task would, but we don’t know how to deal with it. Fighting procrastination is actually [...]

Most writers, artists and entrepreneurs know that getting stuck sometimes just comes with the territory. When stuck happens, we all have different ways of dealing with it – pulling our hair out, gritting our teeth, breathing, taking a vacation or avoiding it altogether.
Here’s a simple mnemonic system that I like to use to get unstuck [...]

Since we are all creatures of habit, the prospect of making changes can be unnerving. The good news is that every business owner faces challenges, setbacks and roadblocks, and have come up with solutions that may help you get unstuck
“I think that the first and most important change was in my attitude! I had made [...]

One of the most frustrating experiences for a career changer is knowing you want to make a change but not being sure what you want. You can end up feeling like you’re stuck in a room behind a locked door and you don’t have the key.
What can you do?
1. Take a break. This isn’t always [...]

Rise in female-owned businesses
No one would disagree that recent statistics about growth in female-owned businesses are encouraging. According to the Center for Women’s Business Research, “nationally, women-owned firms continue to grow at twice the rate of all firms. Between 1997 and 2006, the number of majority women-owned firms grew 42% to 7.7 million from 5.4 [...]

It was turning out to be a great year. As a filmmaker and a company owner, opportunities and resources were coordinating in unison. In April 2006, I just finished working on a feature film that was headed for major distribution. A week after the production of the film, I was in DC networking with investors. [...]

It’s time to start thinking about who is going to actually BUY from your business. Most companies have more than one type of customer. Take a moment to think about one of these customer groups, or “target markets”. Do these customers share any physical and/or behavioral characteristics? Why are they attracted to your product? What [...]

The Thursday morning started calmly enough. In the office early, a fresh cup of steaming coffee by my side, I was ready to dive into the day’s work.
Then “Alice” called. The wife of a client I had served in a small matter several years earlier, she had an urgent situation: she needed to sell her [...]

OK, so you’re stuck. You’re stuck more than a band-aid was ever stuck on your finger. You’ve been sending out emails, mailing postcards, and printing brochures, you’ve built it, but nobody’s coming and nobody’s responding. What do you do?
The three keys to an effective direct marketing campaign are: LIST, OFFER, and CREATIVE. It’s like a [...]

When Others Bring You Their Problems…
Dear Jill,
I seem to attract people who want to tell me their problems. This is a pattern that happens at work, as well as in my personal relationships. I started my own business three years ago, and I still get calls for help from people at my old company. Is [...]

It’s been a few issues since I’ve had the time to write an article for this magazine, but when I was recently asked to submit a piece on ‘getting unstuck’ my first thought was “…How appropriate is that!”
You see, the past few months have been rich with remarkable change and achievement for me, not only [...]

Get into the spring swing of things and make a fresh start! This is the perfect time to get unstuck and achieve prosperity and success.
Reflect and Review
Dust off that initial business plan and review the company goals and objective you set in 2006. How many goals and objective did you achieve? If you were unable [...]

In the last 21 years, I have coached and counseled more than 2,000 people individually and in group/workshop formats to achieve dreams and reach goals. Staying self-motivated is a challenge for many; requiring decisions and action to sustain momentum.
Most of the time, clients come to me because they feel stuck. They feel stressed, frustrated and [...]