Once a year for the past 3 years I’ve had the privilege of being on the radio show of Jim Blasingame, The Small Business Advocate. Every time I talk to Jim I have a blast and this morning’s show was no different. Jim has no problem keeping up with my ADD, taking our conversations all over the place but always someplace GOOD. I’m honored that he’s asked me to come back as a regular guest, starting with quarterly in early 2010.
His shows contain a lot of great (free!) content so after listening in to our chat via the link below, check out some of his other interviews! You’re bound to learn a lot…
Following is a guest post provided by Anne Barber and Lynne Waymon. I’ve seen Lynne speak and not only is she engaging and fun, but her advice is immediately actionable and valuable!
I just got off a members-only webinar offered by the Women Presidents’ Organization titled “Economic Recovery – what does it mean for your business?” Even though I got an A+ in economics in college (many moons ago), I have to admit that trying to understand how we got into the current state of affairs from an economic perspective leaves me feeling, well, stupid. After tweeting a simple comment I interpreted from our speaker to be simply “things are looking up”, I received a barrage of responses back from people sharing their economic theories. Woah. Now I feel even MORE stupid. The whole experience led me to ponder: Where do we go to find the truth?
So suppose I want to learn about what got us into this economic mess (besides the obvious mortgage/financial fiasco – that’s not the WHOLE story…). Is there a history I could read that isn’t slanted or biased in some way? Surely, it isn’t on Wikipedia. And if it is, I’m not totally confident
These past several weeks have been absolutely crazy for me. I’ve been working almost non-stop and, honestly, I have loved every minute of it.
When working with current and aspiring entrepreneurs, I talk a lot about finding your passion. I used to say that you know you’ve found your passion when you’re engaged in a task and time passes quickly.
I don’t believe that anymore. After all, time passes quickly when I drive the repetitive 40-mile route home from teaching 2 nights a week. More than once I have arrived home somewhat surprised that I didn’t remember the drive. Has that happened to anyone else? Sure. But does that mean we’re passionate about driving? Not necessarily.
Special thanks to Carol Coughlin, CPA and Principal of Bottom Line Growth Strategies, Inc. for this guest post. Great information everyone can use!
Businesses love sharing news about their successes. Not only do they enjoy tooting their organizational horns, but they should share good news. It’s good business to tell customers, stakeholders and the public in general about the great things that are happening.
However, with a large number of businesses now in adverse financial situations, many owners are questioning whether sharing is such a good idea right now. They are asking:
I recently organized a reception to introduce prospective members to the DC-Chapter of the Women Presidents’ Organization. In addition to discussing the awesome organization and the power of peer advising, I wanted to provide some business value at the session. To that end, I invited Gloria Bohan, Founder and CEO of Omega World Travel, to an informal discussion about how innovation helped her grow the business she founded over 34 years ago into its current 800+ employees and over $1B in sales.
Gloria never really set off to start her own business. She became enamored with cruising on her honeymoon. They had been upgraded to a suite on the QE2 and had such a delightful time, Gloria caught the cruising bug. The next cruise she took, however, didn’t include an upgrade to a suite, but she couldn’t help but notice all the upgraded travel agents. She wanted what they had – access to travel opportunities. And that is how the idea for Omega World Travel was born. As she framed it, “Inspiration carries us where we didn’t even know we wanted to go”.
Over the 34+ years that Gloria operated and grew her company, innovation in all forms was at the core of the company’s success. Gloria credits their “gearshift” mentality – flexibility with ability to change directions – as crucial to survival and sustainable growth. They had to continually understand and tap into their clients’ evolving needs. She also saw huge benefits in making everyone in the company think entrepreneurial – a philosophy that we both share.
We were privileged to participate in the launch of the newest ACTiVATE program at Texas State. My former co-instructor here in Maryland, Terry Chase Hazell, is leading up the awesome instructional team there and has done a fantastic job recruiting a sharp group of incredible women to join our ACTiVATE community.
ACTiVATE at Texas State
In the all-day session we led, we focused on helping them get to know each other and build community while exploring their personal goals for starting their own business. In addition to having a lot of fun, we saw some real potential. I have no doubt there will be some great new technology-based businesses coming out of that program.
My daughter and I had an interesting conversation the other day about her PE class at school. She’s a sophomore in high school and is taking team sports for PE. As one of a handful of girls she is, not unexpectedly, in the minority with a LOT more boys in the class.
Normally, my daughter is fairly aggressive on the sports field. She enjoys getting dirty and doesn’t shy away from a
challenge. In this class, however, she’s been holding back. Playing flag football, she would be open and never get the pass. In volleyball, the ball would be coming right at her and a ball hog (guy) would come from behind and take the shot, never giving her a chance. She got tired of fighting, and decided it wasn’t worth it. It wasn’t worth the fight.
I get frustrated every time I hear stories of women who are unwilling to help other women. In fact, I’ve heard hushed confessions from successful women who have realized that they are actually harder on other women than on men in the same role, such as competitors or potential partners – even customers. Why is that? I think I’ve figured it out.
Success Scarcity.
Although it isn’t limited to women, success scarcity is an inherent and subconscious belief that someone else’s achievement will somehow limit our ability to be successful.
Last week, Renee and I gave a talk titled “Getting to Shiny Penny Hell and Back” at the Global Creativity Economy Convergence Summit in Philly. For those of you who aren’t familiar with “Shiny Penny Hell(TM)”, it is that moment when you have so many new ideas – shiny pennies – that you’re overwhelmed into inaction. It is a good place to be if you know how to get out (which, of course we do!). The session went really well - a packed room with over half the attendees requesting copies of our presentation. We had a lot of fun, too! Bonus.
Blogger's Hub View
The funny thing was, the very next day I found myself immersed in my own “Shiny Penny Hell(TM)” at the World Business Forum. As a member of the Blogger’s Hub, sponsored by IBM, I had a great seat and wireless internet to hear the ideas and insights of thought leaders in business, economics, marketing, leadership, the economy and the environment. Although we had some glitches with the internet connection early on, once they increased and secured our bandwidth, the tweeting and blogging went uninterrupted for two days. Unfortunately I had to leave half way through the second day but I believe I got the gist around the general themes that emerged from speakers such as Bill George, Patrick Lencioni, Gary Hamel, T Boone Pickens, and film legend George Lucas. Following are the over-arching messages that I took away from this powerful lineup: (more…)
teaching 2 nights a week. More than once I have arrived home somewhat surprised that I didn’t remember the drive. Has that happened to anyone else? Sure. But does that mean we’re passionate about driving? Not necessarily.
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