EB: Dear Jennifer:You’ve been contributing to WomenandBiz.com since March 2007, when we published our 6^th issue. We truly appreciate your expert contribution. Through your articles, our readers came to learn a lot about internet marketing, social media, website design and content and just a little bit about yourself and your own experience. I thought it would be interesting to also learn more about how you got started, the challenges you faced and overcame, and your successes. Would you share your journey with our readers?

Could you tell us about yourself before becoming an entrepreneur?

Jennifer: I think I have always been an entrepreneur at least that is what my family tells me.  I grew up in Providence, RI and as a kid I was always coming up with crazy business ideas. One idea was a yardsale that had a friend of mine dressed like the Easter Bunny for neighborhood kids to take pictures with.  Even then I was looking for a hook to get people to stop and shop.

EB: What was your education and professional experience? Were they helpful to starting your business?

Jennifer: My journey is a bit different, I started my 3^rd business my junior year of college.  That’s the business I have today.  My first two businesses were launches and failures out of the gate because I didn’t understand the importance of planning and relationships.  My third attempt was different – I used the professors in my business school at Hofstra University as an advisory board.  They allowed me the flexibility to learn and really use what was being taught in class as value for planning my business.  The answer is yes my education and professional experience was very helpful.

EB: When did you establish your business? Jennifer: August 1997

EB: What were your goals when you started your business?

Jennifer: My initial idea was to launch a multi-media company, but I decide to focus on the web because it seemed to be more me. My vision was to grow into a full-service company that helped small businesses utilize technology as a tool for productivity and marketing. Have they changed in any way? How? My vision has shifted – I am focused on the same market but offering more services.

EB: How did any outside advisors make a difference in your company?

Jennifer: Jennifer Kushell was the first catalyst for me and from there getting involved with networking groups with businesses that were more established than my own played a big part in where I am today.  Going to these round tables and soaking up their knowledge and advice was the best education ever.

Tell us about The Technology Therapy Group and the products and services it provides.

Jennifer: The Technology Therapy Group is a full service web design, development and marketing firm.  We call it therapy because whether you’re launching a small website, an online community or an ecommerce store you need a firm that can take you through each step.  Prepare you for all the questions you don’t even know to ask and the future you didn’t know was possible.

EB: What do you find most rewarding as an entrepreneur?

Jennifer: This is my favorite part.  Connecting, sharing and having a passion for my business.

EB: What advice would you give an aspiring entrepreneur?

Jennifer: I have 3 tips. One, don’t alienate yourself – passion comes from outside sources and whether you’re a solopreneur or head of a staff of 100 you need to get out and meet people.  I find more ideas and rejuvenation in decisions when I’m out with clients and other entrepreneurs.  Secondly, you never stop learning.  Every week I make time to catch-up on trends and changes between technology and marketing today there is so much to learn. Third, growing means change, but hold on to the quality you wanted from day one. If you have to take a step back to go forward do it.

EB: This issue of WomenandBiz.com’s theme is “Business Check Up”. Could you tell us if you do business checkups regularly, and what are the most important areas you check?

Jennifer: Actually we’re going through one now.  We’re doing a check on quality control, staff productivity, client communication, internal communication and marketing effectiveness. We’re finding our issues and we’ll work through them, but the economy has played a role in this check-up.  Client’s are in need of more support than before and it is effecting how we run our business. We are evaluating new policies that will impact our growth and I have to share that it is not an easy process.

EB: What are your plans for the future?

Jennifer: My plan for 2009 is to launch a second business.  The company is called Twin Goat Media and we are focusing our efforts on viral and social media through online video content.  We started our first campaign with Technology Therapy Group by creating a weekly show called News & Notes from the coach.  Each week we take a popular question and answer it with video and animation.

For more information about Jennifer Shaheen and The Technology Therapy Group, please visit www.technologytherapy.com. To read articles by Jennifer Shaheen on WomenandBiz.com, please visit http://www.womenandbiz.com/author/jennifers/.

How is your business doing? It is time to do a business check up and find out. This way, you can knowingly choose to improve the areas that are not working so well, and to maintain the ones that are helping your business thrive.

Some of the areas you might consider reviewing are: Operations – are you maximizing all your resources?; Marketing strategy – how effective is it?; Advertising materials – do they need a makeover?; Personnel – if you have employees, how satisfied are day?, how equipped are they to answer client’s questions?; Customer service – are you able to go above and beyond your client’s needs?; Financials – how well are you managing the business money?; Website: Is your website up to date and user friendly?; YOU – how are you doing balancing your business and life?

Once you are aware of your business current situation, there is always an action you can take to move forward. WomenandBiz.com’s guest writers discuss how a Business Check Up can assist you in identifying gaps and then taking action to fix them.

We are also featuring two successful entrepreneurs:

-          Maureen Borzacchiello, founder of Creative Display Solutions Inc.

-          Deborah Wielder of Contractor Compliance and Monitoring, Inc.

Please feel free to post comments, and share the actions our guest writers inspire you to take in order to grow your business.

Success,

Elisa Balabram

Founder and Editor, WomenandBiz.com

U.S. SBA NY District Women in Business Champion of the Year 2008

EB: Dear Monique:

It’s been over a year since we featured you on WomenandBiz.com. Could you give us an update on your business?

Monique:  Dessert Noir Café & Bar in Beaverton, Oregon, has now been open for four years as of January 29, 2009.  In addition to delivering great desserts, fantastic cocktails, and delectable savory dishes, we focus on supporting the local community and being “the place” in Beaverton for live music, local art, and special events.  (And a few celebrity appearances from Oscar-winner Morgan Freeman, a close business advisor and mentor; screenwriter Mike Rich; Columbia Sportswear’s chairman Gert Boyle; and others have helped generate buzz, too.)

Since we last touched base, Dessert Noir Café & Bar has received more local recognition in the media, including a feature as “Restaurant of the Week” on KATU Channel 2’s “AM Northwest” news magazine show and a highlight as a “Hot Spot for Romantics” in the “Destination: Beaverton” special section of The Oregonian.  We’ve also made some strides on the national stage with having one of our “liquid dessert” cocktail recipes featured in Mocha, food writer Michael Turback’s 2007 book on chocolate and coffee.

Despite the good news, it’s still tough sailing on the high seas of this economic and financial crisis.  Sales were down in both 2007 and 2008 as we felt the effects of the sub-prime mortgage fiasco before it was widely reported and even our most fiscally prudent, financially secure customers suffered job losses and watched the value of their investment portfolios plummet.

EB: How has winning the 2008 Make Mine a Million $ Business Program changed or helped your business?

Monique:  Upon winning the 2008 Make Mine a Million $ Business award, I joined a movement of women who are determined to chart their own path as successful entrepreneurs.  Particularly as the world faces the challenges and adversity of this current economic downturn, women entrepreneurs have a valuable, critical role to play in the long-term health and vitality of our global economy.

Specifically, the award has helped me with getting more recognition, publicity, and credibility for my business.  Also, the program provides opportunities for winners to take advantage of a broad range of services designed to assist them with all aspects of their operations.  For example, I worked with an executive coach on the “softer side” of my business to become a better leader.  I also consulted with a financial planner to analyze my company’s financial health and build a foundation for growth.  Finally, corporate sponsors like American Express, FedEx, and Dell Computer provide merchandise and discounts on their services, all of which I’ve been able to use to support the business.

EB: Congratulations on getting your book “Divas Doing Business: What the Guidebooks Don’t Tell You About Being a Woman Entrepreneur” published! What is the key message that you want to deliver to aspiring women entrepreneurs as they are contemplating going into business for themselves?

Monique:  Thank you very much.  It’s an amazing achievement, and I’m really happy that it’s finally done and on the market.

The key message for women who are thinking about pursuing their dream of entrepreneurship is this:  You need more than conventional wisdom.  Women entrepreneurs like you and me need to provide that helping hand to our fellow sisters starting out in business and give them a boost up the entrepreneurial ladder.  In my book, I provide how-to advice combined with experience on the ground and in the trenches that can help them avoid the pitfalls, obstacles, and challenges these women surmounted.  I get help from nine pioneering women who pass on their hard-won tribal knowledge and share with aspiring entrepreneurs what it takes to start and manage a business and to see it thrive and succeed.

EB: You have assembled an impressive lineup of women entrepreneurs as contributors who are very well known in their respective industries. How did you select your contributors and approach them to participate in this project?

Monique:  While the women entrepreneurs profiled in Divas Doing Business are well known in their industries and have received national recognition, they are not household names like Oprah, Suze, Tyra, or Martha.  In other words, if someone is immediately recognizable by her first name, I figured her story has already been told enough times.  Readers want to hear about other inspirational women who are inventing breakthroughs, beating their competitors, commanding the respect of their peers, sparking cultural trends and social movements, and successfully running their own businesses, thereby rewriting the rules for women in the working world.

Also, I wanted to ensure that readers can relate their own personal experience to what the entrepreneur has done.  For example, readers certainly admire how Oprah Winfrey has turned Harpo Productions into a media powerhouse, but she’s out of reach for most women who are thinking of starting a media company.  On the other hand, Divas Doing Business contributor Crystal McCrary Anthony, who’s making a name for herself in media and entertainment as an author, TV personality, and movie producer, can provide a more realistic, closer-to-home example of someone who’s getting it done.

I approached Morgan Freeman to write the foreword and all of the women entrepreneurs to participate in this project with one simple request:  Can you please help me?  I knew a few of them already, like Morgan, Lisa Price, and Jacqueline Rhinehart, advisors and mentors who have worked with me on various projects.  For the others, I simply did a lot of background research to find women whose personal experiences and insights would add tangible proof to the concepts set forth in the book.  Everyone was gracious and happy to support me.

EB: How can people find out more about your book?

Monique:  You can learn more about Divas Doing Business and find links to purchase the book at my web site:  http://moniquehayward.com/books.aspx.  The book sells for $19.95 and is available for purchase from Amazon.com as a trade paperback or as a download for the Kindle wireless e-book reader.  You can also download it as a PDF ebook from my web site.

As tough economic times make coping with the impact of natural disasters even more painful for my fellow small business owners, I’m donating a portion of the book’s sales proceeds to PLAN!T NOW.  This is Morgan Freeman’s charity that provides assistance, research, and educational programs for individuals, businesses, and communities at risk for hurricanes and coastal storms.

EB: What’s next?

Monique:  Sell books!   Seriously, I will continue to actively write and speak on issues affecting women entrepreneurs and small businesses. It’s tough out here when you’re a small business owner who’s getting squeezed on both ends of this crisis — from consumers who aren’t spending and banks who aren’t lending. This is getting to the point of being a vicious cycle that’s helping no one.  We need more voices like mine to create awareness of the issues and push our government and business leaders to start focusing more attention on the survival of our small businesses that are responsible for generating wealth in our communities.

With the business itself, given the current situation with the economy, particularly as Oregon is especially hard hit, I have focused on being lean and efficient in order to survive and thrive.  I have cut our losses dramatically despite declining revenue and continue to find creative, innovative ways to spread the word about my business.  Our loyal customers have been sticking by us as they want to see us succeed because they are happy that Dessert Noir Café & Bar provides them with a local alternative to the corporate chain game. Everyone encourages me to keep going and hang in there, and that makes me hopeful about the future.

Sometimes the realization that we’ve fallen out of step with our customers comes from hard experience:  A drop in sales…    the loss of a valued client…   or an event that has to be canceled or (worse!) loses money.

While these ups and downs are part of normal business life, we can smooth out the road by periodically reality-checking our message.

Ready?

Step One:  Reality Check Your Pitch

Most women in business have heard of the “elevator pitch” (a description of your business that can be delivered in the time it takes to ride on an elevator with someone), but that doesn’t mean we all use this key tool to maximum effect.

If you don’t have (or don’t use) a pitch, run, don’t walk to Laura Allen’s http://www.15secondpitch.com/.  Laura created my tagline-Making Good Speakers Great, and Excellent Speakers Extraordinary-which I have now had quoted to me by total strangers, as in “Oh, yeah, you’re the woman who makes good speakers great and…?”   

That’s messaging Nirvana!

If you already have a good pitch, make sure that:

• You’re using it constantly
• It represents your current offering, and
• It’s attracting the interest you want.

If any of these aren’t true, it’s time to re-examine your pitch.

Step Two:  Reality-Check Your Audience

Many of us got into business with an idea of who we would be serving-but our customer base may have evolved with time.

Ask yourself: 

• Who do I speak to about my business? (flight attendants? civil engineers? moms with young kids?)
• Has that answer changed since the last time I updated my messaging?

If yes, it’s time to reconfirm that your old messaging is right for this new “audience.”

The next two Steps will get you going:

Step Three:  Reality-Check Your Offerings

The last six months have re-arranged pretty much everyone’s bottom line, so how we organize and describe our offerings has to change, too.

For example, last summer I wouldn’t have created a teleseminar called “Ace Your Next Job Interview.”  But after two clients in a row called for interview coaching, I saw the light. 

Whether your offering is a service or a product, ask yourself what special benefit it provides for your specific customers in today’s environment: 

• Yoga classes can be: (a) the road to inner peace, or (b) a way to get fit for the fight
• High-end artwork can be (a) an aesthetic self-reward, or (b) an alternate investment in a world gone mad
• Childcare services can provide: (a) a basic necessity, or (b) the ultimate luxury (not worrying about your kids while you work)

Your advisors, friends and customers can help you take a fresh look at the benefits your business offers.

Step Four:  Reality-Check Your “Ask”

In the non-profit world, an “ask” is a request that you make of your listener(s).

“Asks” are important in the business world, too.

Many of us claim that, when we talk to people about our business, we’re “just educating them,” or “just letting them know we’re out here.”

This is almost never true!  Don’t you want to “ask” this person to:

• Visit your website?
• Sign up for your newsletter?
• Come to your store?
• Give you their opinion?
• Book an introductory session?
• Tell their friends?
• Direct you to leads?
• Join you for coffee?
• Request a proposal?

All these “asks” have one thing in common:  They offer your listener (or audience) a chance to move one step closer to the benefits your business provides.

Don’t deprive people of that opportunity! 

Make an ask (of whatever kind) part of every conversation about your business.

Summary:

We constantly speak about our businesses.  We can fine-tune our messaging and achieve greater success by:

• Getting (or tuning up) a powerful pitch
• Reviewing “our audience” (who we talk to)
• Upgrading the relevance of our offerings (starting with how we describe them), and
• Making an ask-every time.

Enjoy implementing these four tips-and please let me know how it goes!

Here are just a few examples of where not consulting a “legal doctor” caused huge problems down the road:

• “Henry” ran a small import/export company. One of his employees filed a (baseless) sex discrimination claim. But because he didn’t have an employment manual outlining the grievance procedure in these situations, the court scrutinized every single decision he made. Defending the claim (which was ultimately dismissed), he had to spend over $100,000, when a $5,000 employment manual would have protected his company.
• “Nicole” spent ten years trying to build her consulting business, which she owned with a partner. The years passed – as they do quickly – and Nicole suddenly found herself caretaking for her mother, with no meaningful exit plan. Because she and her partner hadn’t worked out a partnership agreement, she lost thousands of dollars in value when she had to sell her interest in the business.
• Given the shaky economy, Ziva, a graphic designer, found that her clients stiffed her for payments. Or insisted that she had agreed to provide them with a wider range of design services for the same money. Ziva had been using a client contract that she downloaded from her professional association, but had never had it properly reviewed to make sure that it covered all of the issues she needed.
• Lauren was facing a legal “cow pie” in the form of a major lawsuit. Even though she formed a corporation for her business, she ran her business and personal finances out of the same account, never filled out annual minutes for the company, and routinely forgot to put “Inc.” on her agreements and invoices. A disgruntled supplier sued her corporation and Lauren individually. It took close to $50,000 to disentangle the situation in the courts and nearly drove Lauren to bankruptcy.

Do you have a business attorney to review your legal health?  If, like these entrepreneurs, your business practices aren’t “fortified,” you could find yourself (and your company) on the receiving end of a big mess – big enough to make your bottom line flat line.

Whether it’s called a “legal audit,” “checkup,” “risk assessment,” or a “legal maintenance evaluation,” it all means the same thing:  letting trained professionals examine your situation and shore up any weak points.  You can’t correct what you don’t measure.  Once you have a clear picture of your company’s legal health, you’ll know what needs fixing and what can put you on the path to business growth. 

When you have a company that’s legally healthy, you help boost its value.  Investors delve into all of the legal nooks and crannies to look for potential problem areas when doing their “due diligence.”  If you’ve taken the steps to keep them at bay, you’ll give purchasers a great sense of ease and confidence . . . which will ease open their pocketbooks as well.  Best of all, you’ll sleep better at night knowing that your company stands on a solid foundation. 

As long as the year is still fresh, make sure you schedule a visit to the juris doctor and get your company fit for prosperity! 

Still overwhelmed by the thought of a legal audit?  Visit my website, GreatBusinessLawResources.com, to purchase your copy of my business assessment tool, “Is Your Business Legally Healthy?”  It will identify your major legal “illnesses” so that you can save money when working with your attorney!

While it’s important to maintain objective awareness of measures that indicate your business’ health (e.g., size and quality of your client base, cash flow, projected revenue, etc.), it’s a mistake to focus on what’s wrong with your business, how poorly it’s performing or what isn’t happening that should be, etc.

If you believe all the recent (and ancient) literature supporting the concept that thought is creative, it becomes apparent how powerful our thoughts are in creating eventual outcomes.  Regardless of what you believe, most will agree that pessimistic thinking rarely leads to realization of one’s dreams.

The greatest value of knowing where you are is that it helps clarify where you want to be.  The truth is we often become most easily aware of what we want by experiencing what we don’t want.

Research indicates that we can best reach our goals by continuously focusing on their achievement. Those most successful not only think about what they want, but also imagine that they already have it. (Of course, their success also involves taking appropriate action).

It sounds pretty straight forward, but here’s the tricky part:  focusing on what you want is very different than dwelling on what’s not yet in place-or bemoaning the undesired aspects of the current situation-very different.

Most of us need to retrain our minds to engage in continuous positive thinking.  This requires focus on what is working well in challenging situations (there’s most always something), as well as envisioning future desired outcomes.

Each time we catch ourselves in negative thought patterns (e.g., scaring ourselves about awful things that could happen), we can gently guide our minds to the safety of more positive thoughts. 

No matter what your business’ current state, keep in mind that things are always changing.  I encourage you to focus consciously and often on what you want those changes to be.  While positive thinking can take practice, its fruits can be amazing!

I’m willing to gamble that right now, you have a slow leak in your business.  And, odds are, you won’t address it until you have a flood.  What you need to understand is: slow leaks cost more over time.  A cost most business professionals can’t afford to absorb.

Where is this slow leak?  It’s rooted in the time you loose trying to locate a misplaced file.  Drip.  It’s in the hours and days that are lost when your main computer is otherwise non-operational.  Drip.  It’s the sales conversations where you try to explain what you do, over and over again, to a “prospect” with a glazed-over expression.  Drip.  The leak is the lost business opportunities because you fail to follow up with contacts you make at networking events and add them to your automated marketing/keep-in-contact funnel.   Drip.  Or, what about overdue invoice that is no longer on your radar?  Drip.

In short, your business systems – or lack thereof – are your slow leak.  On average, slow leaks cost professionals like you, $5,000 to $27,000 a year.  Ouch!

What can you do?  Three things:

1)    Step away from your business and take a long, hard look.  And, be honest. If not, you aren’t fooling me, you’re crippling yourself.

2)    Write down every inconsistency, every inefficiency, and every slow leak.

3)    Develop an action plan to plug or repair those slow leaks, starting with the biggest leaks first.

The good news is, there is an upside to having a slow leak – you have time to fix it.  Whatever you do, don’t wait to fix the leak and wind up with a flood.

——————————————————

Lena L. West is the CEO of xynoMedia Technology http://www.xynomedia.com/ a company that makes social media easy to use, manageable and worthwhile for businesses of all sizes.

There are only four ways to generate new potential sales opportunities:

1.      Marketing activities to generate prospects who will pick up the telephone and call you

2.      Contacting existing customers or your circle of influence for referrals

3.      Face-to-face or social networking/web 2.0 efforts

4.      Cold calling

While all four of these types of activities will generate leads for your business, only one is directly under your control. The first three of the listed activities are essentially passive in that once you undertake the activity you then must wait for the prospect to come to you. Because you have to wait for the results (prospects coming to you) these processes also take longer. When you pick up the telephone to contact a prospect directly, however, you are able to go to that prospect and initiate a conversation that can turn into a relationship which turns into a sale.

In today’s economy, cold calling is also one of the most economical ways to generate new business. It does not require expenditures in new equipment or infrastructure or staffing. All you need is your list and a telephone. When done well, cold calling is a direct, targeted, efficient and effective way to generate new business.

That said, here is your 2009 Cold Calling Checklist:

1. Target your market. Answer the questions:

• “Out of everyone in the entire world who may buy my products or services, who is most likely to buy my products and services?”
• “Who is most likely to buy a lot of my products or services and then come back to buy more?”

The answers might be types of companies, a particular industry, the size of company in employees or revenue or the answer might be the types of individuals, their age, where they live, their level of education. The bottom line is that the more specific you are about your market, the easier it will be to find qualified prospects and the more they will resonate with your message. And, by the way, to be effective you need to target your market for any type of marketing or prospecting activity, not just for cold calling.

2. Create your message. On a cold call you have approximately 10-30 seconds to grab and hold your prospect’s attention. And, bear in mind, it is harder and harder to get people on the telephone these days. It is therefore imperative that you craft your message before you start making calls. Winging it simply does not work. Figure out how you will introduce yourself, the key points you wish to make, and the goal of your conversation. Your script does not have to be word for word, bullet points will do. Figure out answers to the objections and/or questions you are bound to hear. Write it all down.

Make sure that you write your script the way you speak. Written English and spoken English are different and if you write a script in written English and then say it, you will sound phony. If you have a hard time crafting your script in spoken English try recording yourself and then writing it down.

3. Practice out loud. If you are new to cold calling or uncomfortable with cold calling, practice your script out loud. Do some role playing with friends and/or colleagues. Call your voice mail and record yourself. The idea is to become comfortable with the words and the approach. Once you are comfortable you can simply be yourself, say what you have to say and most importantly, listen to what your prospect has to say.

4. Make phone calls. Nothing happens without action. Commit to making a certain number of dials every day or spending a certain amount of time every day. Put that commitment in your calendar and do it. Set yourself up to succeed by making your commitment realistic. It is best to make a small commitment and do it every day. Successful prospecting is not about making one phone call (or even sitting down one day to make 100 phone calls) it is about making many new contacts over time.

5. Track your results. If you are not tracking, you do not know what works. This is true for cold calling and every other type of marketing or prospecting activity.

For cold calling, you want to track Dials, Completed Calls (meaning that you actually speak with the decision-maker) Appointments and then how many of those Appointments turn into Sales.

Tracking will tell you if the list you are using is a good one. Tracking will tell you whether particular approach works in a particular market. If you change approaches, tracking will enable you to know which one works better. If you have hired someone to make calls for you, tracking will enable you to tell if they’re doing their job and how well they’re doing their job.

Wendy Weiss, “The Queen of Cold Calling,” is a sales trainer, author and sales coach. Contact her at wendy@wendyweiss.com. Get Wendy’s free Special Report, Getting in the Door: How to Write an Effective Cold Calling Script, at http://www.wendyweiss.com/.

Have a strong passion for what you do and you will be good at what you are doing. If you are truly happy at work, you won’t have to drag yourself out of bed every morning and you’ll find that the time will fly by during the day.  Your optimism will radiate and positively influence the people who are around you.

2 – Invest time on clients

Personalize and customize your work for each individual client. You don’t want to create generic plans and ideas that apply to everyone just because it saves time. A small amount of extra effort goes a long way, clients will appreciate the attention and detail you have provided to tailor your services to their needs.  Even just a handwritten thank you card is sometimes enough.

3 – Network

Networking is the best way to market yourself and your business.  By meeting other people not only can you advertise your products and services, but you may be able to learn something from others.  Networking events are a great way to connect with other business owners to share ideas.

4 – Don’t talk the talk if you can’t walk the walk

Often times you may think you have the edge over your competitors, but if you don’t know what you are talking about, they have you beat.  Always be sure to do the research you’ll need to back yourself up and be prepared for any questions that may arise.  Frequently review your gathered information to form new ideas and opinions.

5 – Listen to feedback

Always be open to positive and negative feedback. Positive feedback reinforces a job well done and provides a certain level of confidence.  Criticism is just as important as praise because it highlights areas of growth and may present ideas to stimulate your business.

6 – Create an inspiring work environment

Surround yourself with things you love whether its pictures of family and friends, walls painted in your favorite color, or a beautifully scented candle.  By being surrounded by these relaxing and cheerful reminders everyday, you will be motivated and inspired to press on with your work.

7 – Teamwork

Successful businesses are always a collaborative effort.  Make sure to hire a motivating staff that understands and shares your business goals.  Working towards a common goal will unite and encourage your team.

8 – Never loose curiosity for learning new things

Seek fresh inspiration and always be open to new growth opportunities. Don’t be afraid to break your routine; small changes in your daily routine can lead to invigorating experiences and creative thought patterns.

9 – Setting goals  

Always set personal and business objectives.  Goals give you something to work towards and leave you feeling accomplished when they are achieved. 

10 – Work/Life Balance

Even if you love your work and want to channel all of your energy into it, don’t forget that your family should always come first. Spending time with them will give you the support and encouragement that you need to achieve your goals at work. 

11 – Ask for help

If you are feeling lost or overwhelmed, don’t be afraid to stop and ask for help.  Sometimes all you need is a fresh set of ideas and opinions to get you back on track.

12 – Keep your cool

Don’t let yourself get overwhelmed, this will prevent you from being productive, or worse, your hair will fall out! Nobody’s perfect, and that’ ok. You’re allowed to give yourself a minute to vent and take out your frustrations, but bounce back fast.

13 – Strive for the highest quality in everything you do

14 – Act in a professional manner

First: Set a goal.  Be specific.  For example replace ‘get in shape’ with ‘go to the gym 3 times a week’ or ‘take a long walk 4 times weekly’.  Replace ‘stop eating sweets’ with ‘eat only 2 deserts per week’.   Replace ‘I can’t’ with ‘I will’ or ‘I do not want to’.  It is crucial to be very specific when talking about resolutions, building new habits, and taking care of yourself.

Second: Keep a personal calendar:

This may seem too easy, however it is the most effective way to check in and keep an eye on the ways you care for yourself.   I have done this for years.  It works.  Use a wall calendar or print out blank calendar months from your computer.  Do not write business, family or doctor’s appointments here.  Make a list of activities you enjoy, find relaxing and stimulating.  Place, hang or staple this list near your personal calendar.

Use this to record:

-All activities from your list you do

-Time with friends

-Quality time spent with your partner/ lover

-Quality time spent with you

-Quality time with family members and/ or children

-Books read for pleasure, films viewed, shows attended

If you are working on specific goals record them here, for example:

-Include times of judgment and times of personal praise

-Note days when you value your work and days when you feel you are under-performing

-Note when you go to the gym [not how long or what you did, just that you went]

-Include the number of glasses of water you drink each day

-Note your lunchtime walks

-A yoga practice

-Number of cups of coffee

-Number of cigarettes

-How many hours of sleep you get each night

Remember: This is YOUR personal practice.  Keep track of what is important to YOU!

Make sure you use a calendar that allows you to see the entire month at once.  This way you can quickly see how you are faring in your daily self-care.  This is not a place of self-punishment or cheating.  Do not think of it as a showing of what you are not doing.  Rather it is a place to practice encouragement and investigation.  Use this calendar to keep little notes for yourself.   Write down how you feel after a week of making time for loved ones, exercise and deep breathing.  Give yourself ‘pats on the back’ for weeks of self-awareness and listening when your body needed rest. 

Third:  Use your time of personal self-care ‘check-in’ to explore and examine what truly works for you.  You may find a supplemental journal becomes appropriate.  Again note what you are trying, how it makes you feel and its impact on your over-all productivity and happiness. 

Have fun taking care of you.  This is not a chore.  Build flexibility into your life. Allow your personal calendar, and perhaps journal, to be the reflection and testament to your growing awareness of who you are and how you work best.

In a culture focused on high-tech, complex solutions, this may sound over-simplified.  I often have clients cast quizzical looks when I suggest it.  However there is nothing so direct as a clear picture.  Using a paper monthly calendar gives you a clear and tangible map of where you have been and what you have been doing for you in the course of the month.  It also creates accountability to you for your self-care practice.  These are invaluable tools indeed.