Don’t leave your day job just yet
If you’ve got an entrepreneurial spirit as I do, you have an internal drive that helps you in your journey as a business owner. It’s a “je ne sais quoi” motivation — hard to put your finger on, and yet, it’s there. You can feel it move you forward and keep you on...
Using time management techniques to create a better business
Time. It’s precious, because it’s limited. We all have the same 24 hours a day — but only 24 hours a day — to do everything we want to do. Due to time’s finite nature, its management is critical. . . .
Building a successful brand
How do you create an identity and build a successful brand for your business? It all starts with asking a series of questions to get at the root of what you want your identity to be and to whom you wish to communicate your message. First, think about how you want your...
Why you need to bother with branding
The idea of branding can conjure up a number of negative thoughts for a business owner: Branding takes research. Branding requires creativity and the brainstorming of new ideas. Branding uses valuable time that could be spent manufacturing product, serving customers,...
Six Reasons Why Your Business Needs to Be on Social Media
I’m guessing at the year, but it had to be around 2008. I was sitting on my backyard patio with two of my very best friends, enjoying a warm summer night and a glass of one of Michigan’s finest wines, when one of them asked, “So, are you on Facebook?”
“What, are you kidding?” I asked rhetorically. “I don’t have time for that crap.”
Little did I know, here I would be, nearly a decade later, telling you why you — and your business — better make time for it. . . .
The three biggest reasons why you should work from home
I know, I’m crazy — but taking a pole dancing class with my daughter sounded like it could be fun. On the first day of the class, we attendees all had to introduce ourselves and share what we did for a living. Of course, I said I was a creative specialist who worked from home. “Oh, wow, that’s so cool!” exclaimed a fellow classmate. “I wish I could work from home.” Moments like that always remind me, it is SO COOL that I work from home — and I am blessed. . . .
Is working from home right for you?
A few years ago, I was speaking at a networking meeting, specifically for women who were entrepreneurs, and when I said that I had my own business, in some way, shape, or form, for more than 25 years at that point (now more than 30), there was an audible gasp from the audience. I’m not sure if that illustrated amazement at how long I’d been working my business or how young I apparently looked despite having done so for that long. It made me laugh out loud — and I’d like to think it had something to do with my looks — but it did make me wonder. Maybe, for women who are first starting to create their own businesses, 25 years does seem like a LONG time — perhaps even too long for some? Maybe. I say that because, having now been there and doing that, I’ve come to realize that there are two sides to the work-at-home coin. . . .
The six elements of successful change
Over the last decade, I’ve gone through major transformations and I’ve been through a lot of changes, both positive and negative. When I reflected on what it takes to move from one way of doing things to another, I came to the conclusion that successful...