Great Social Network/PR Resource for Women Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurial Quote of the Day:

“You see things, and you say, ‘Why?’

But I dream things that never were, and I say, ‘Why not?’”  – George Bernard Shaw

 

 

 

Hello Fabulous Women!

I recently learned about another website/PR resource/online social network for women entrepreneurs called Savor the Success.  I spent some time on their website and decided to sign up for a free membership myself.  Go check it out and see what it has to offer you and your business! 

Different online resources all have slightly different focuses and strengths – this one seems to focus primarily on networking and PR, with free PR tools and opportunities and a PR Co-op,  which is described as a group of female entrepreneurs banding together through Savor the Success and its PR resources to create a buzz for its members’ individual brands.  Makes PR sound downright fun when you put it that way, doesn’t it? J

There is no doubt that networking online is one of the keys to building a successful business in today’s world.  There are many online venues to choose from – check Savor the Success out and see if it will be a good one for you!

 

On Track and On Purpose, Business Coaching for Women Entrepreneurs, Business Woman Coach

Staying Positive Ain’t Always Easy

Entrepreneurial Quote of the Day:

“Nobody can make you feel inferior without your permission.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

Hello Fabulous Women!

Want to know the truth I’d rather you didn’t know about?  One of my New Year’s goals was to get myself into the writing groove and blog at least three times per week.  Fact is, today is January 23^rd and this is the first time I’ve blogged this year. 

(Caution: You are now about to step inside Ann’s mind.  At the moment, it’s not a pretty place.  You may want to take a friend with you, and be sure to get out fast.)  “Oh, man, have I screwed up!  All the experts say that if you have a blog, you need to blog a minimum of three times per week.  Minimum!  I didn’t even do one!  I should have produced at least ten by now, ten gems of wit and wisdom to move people forward and brighten their day and change their lives. 

“Who am I kidding?  Why did I think I could do that!  It’s exhausting just thinking about it.  What was I thinking when I started this blogging crap?!  These women are all going to quit reading my blog because I’m totally useless and pathetic.  I should just quit.” 

Okay, I’ve regained some semblance of control over my wayward mind.  Not pretty, was it? 

I imagine some of you have some similarly fun and inspiring thought patterns running through your minds at times.  Hopefully, none of you have fallen short of any of your new year’s goals quite as thoroughly as I have with this one, but you may be just as hard on yourself, maybe even worse!

We all know that staying positive and not listening to that negative, dream-killing voice is one of the keys to creating success and happiness in both our lives and our businesses.  We all know that, but there are times when knowing it doesn’t help, and we just can’t turn down the volume on that voice.

For those times, I’d like to offer another way to deal with it.  Instead of trying to turn the volume down, deliberately turn it up.  That’s right, turn it up!  Take those very thoughts and feelings you are trying to get away from and deliberately exaggerate them, make them bigger and bigger and bigger until you get how ridiculous and unreal they are.

The more you fight against your own thoughts, the more real and serious you make them.  Instead you can just recognize them as what they are – thoughts – and play with them.   

If your inner “anti-cheerleader” is telling you that you are a loser, then start playing with the whole thing.  Start telling yourself you are the biggest loser of all time, the Queen of all Losers, the Loser Float in the Failure Parade, the cherry on top of the Loser Sundae.  Starts to seem not so real and serious, doesn’t it?

If that “anti-cheerleader” (I’m getting this image of a demon-y, anti-christ kind of creature dressed up in a cheerleading outfit.  Red eyes and blond curls — creepy!) – anyway, if he/she/it is telling you can’t do it because that you don’t have a clue and never will, tell yourself they won’t even rent you a clue at the clue store, you wouldn’t know a clue if it hit you in the face, you couldn’t find a clue in a field full of horny clues in the middle of clue mating season.

Getting the idea?  It’s even more fun when you share it with a friend and see what you both come up with. 

If you think it can’t be that simple, well, it isn’t always, but I can assure you that it worked for me today to get me out of my writer’s block and get my first blog post of the year written!  Without my taking those negative thoughts and making them bigger and badder by sharing them with you all, I never would have moved past them and gotten started on my new blogging year. 

With that out of the way, now I can be realistic and re-commit to a new goal powerfully.  I’m changing to the goal to blogging twice a week, and the experts will just to have to deal. 

Happy New Year, Fabulous Women!

On Track and On Purpose, Business Coaching for Women Entrepreneurs, Business Woman Coach

I Acknowledge You for 2008

Entrepreneurial Quote of the Day:

“You don’t get to choose how you’re going to die. Or when. But you can decide how you’re going to live now.”  –- Joan Baez

 

I Acknowledge You for What You Did in 2008

Hello Fabulous Women!

Happy New Year to all of you!  There is no other time of year when it feels quite so appropriate to stop and take stock of ourselves and our lives.  So rather than bucking the trend, I’m going to urge you to do just that, and I just want to make sure you include one key ingredient in your review of the past year, and that is this: 

Acknowledgement.

Acknowledgement is one of the most important, fulfilling, motivating, healing and inspiring facets of human existence, yet it is so often overlooked and put off for another time.  I want to urge each and every one of you to ask yourself these two questions about the past year:

Who made a difference for you this year, and how could you acknowledge them for that?

Who could you acknowledge for the difference they made in your life this year?  Let’s face it, this was one heck of a year, and none of us made it through it on our own.  I encourage you to take the time to make a list of at least ten people you would like to acknowledge, and then go ahead and acknowledge them, let them know how much you appreciate them and the difference they make.

Here’s my list:

1)    My husband Michael for being extraordinary and loving and totally committed to creating an amazing life for our family

2)    Each and every one of my coaching clients for giving me the profound privilege of making a difference in their lives and allowing me to do what I love most and get paid for it

3)    All of you who allow me to reach out and make a difference through my blog – thank you all!

4)    My two daughters for inspiring me to be my best every day, and for helping me not take myself too seriously

5)    My book club ladies for their company, understanding and many belly laughs

6)    My website company for excellent service all year long

7)    Friends who have kept calling me and made sure we got together despite my crazy schedule

    My attorney for being a great guy and doing a great job for us

9)    Our Thursday night group of friends for all of their love and support and their commitment to me and my family – you all rock!

10) My husband (again), because I really couldn’t have gotten through this year without him

 

And now for question number 2:

What would you like to be acknowledged for having accomplished in 2008? 

It may be something you did, something you said, or just who you were for others.  You might want to be acknowledged for being a great friend, a supportive co-worker or boss, a caring parent or child.  It might be a specific accomplishment or goal, or it might just be that your positive attitude impacted the people around you all year long, day in and day out. 

If you can’t think of at least ten things that you want to be acknowledged for, I respectfully suggest that you are either being too modest, or you aren’t even trying, or you are telling yourself that acknowledgement doesn’t matter to you, which would make you the only human being who’s ever been born who doesn’t need to be acknowledged, which doesn’t seem too likely to me!

Here are ten for me.  I would like to be acknowledged for:

1)    Being a great coach and helping my clients move forward powerfully in their lives and businesses

2)    Finding new marketing solutions for my business when the bottom fell out of my previous marketing plan

3)    Pulling off a great Christmas for my daughters this year, despite what felt like “no time and no money” to work with (they rated it the second best Christmas ever, second only to the time they got a real puppy under the tree, and let’s face it, I’m never going to top that one!)

4)    Keeping my house in some semblance of order despite the demands of my job and business

5)    Being a great mom

6)    Being more in touch with friends who live far away than I was last year

7)    Doing the daily work it takes to be a great wife and partner, and being able to honestly say that my marriage is stronger and better than ever

    Losing about 15 pounds healthily – fitting into some of my old clothes!

9)    Writing relevant and helpful blogs for all of you on a pretty regular basis (not as regular as planned!), even when I didn’t feel like it

10) Being a great friend

 

One of the best ways to get yourself centered and empowered and ready for great things in 2009 is to take this time to acknowledge yourself and others for what mattered the most in 2008, so go for it!  And I wish each one of you a very happy, healthy and prosperous new year!

–Ann

On Track and On Purpose, Business Coaching for Women Entrepreneurs, Business Woman Coach