Please help me welcome my special guest blogger, Tonya Taylor, with some great advice for any business owner or anyone who feels intimidated by technology….

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How many of us knew how to walk, talk or do anything when we were first born? NONE! As we grew from an infant to a toddler we learned you had to crawl before you walk. That same philosophy holds true as an entrepreneur, however when it comes to technology we let 4 of the most dangerous words in the English language stand in our way…

“I DON’T KNOW HOW!”

So many women are not investing in technology or training for their business or themselves. Having no (or poor) technology doom most who try, and prevent others from even trying. They are constantly working harder not smarter because they are afraid of technology.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am not saying an accountant can try, then, instantly become a database programmer, nor can a real estate agent morph into a web designer. Even if you aren’t particularly savvy with technology, that doesn’t mean you should be afraid of it.

Some entrepreneurs fear of technology, lead them to utter those 4 words (not to be confused with four letter words, that’s another topic!) more often than they realize. As a result, it’s hard–overwhelming to get started.

When was the last time you updated your internet (web) browser software? “I DON’T KNOW HOW!” Regular software updates can provide better and quicker service and are crucial to keeping your home office computer or your home office network as secure as possible.

When was the last time you updated your Office templates? “I DON’T KNOW HOW!” Microsoft offers free templates for work, home, and play. Importing pre-designed templates into Microsoft can save you time and money.

When was the last time you attended technology training from your home or office just using your phone and computer? “I DON’T KNOW HOW!” WebEx offers free live and recorded webinars and webcasts from industry experts. Principal Financial Group offers free teleclasses for Women, from Leading Experts.

You get my point?

The challenge is for you to replace 4 of the most dangerous words in the English language with these “I WILL learn how” to use technology to propel my small business to the next level.

About the Author

Tonya R. Taylor, is an entrepreneur, consultant and publisher of 101 FREE Tools To Grow Your Business. Need to address tomorrow’s technology needs today?

“101 Free Tools to Grow Your Business” is a handy reference guide for small business owners who don’t want to waste MONEY. You’ll get the tools YOU need to power up your business fast! Visit www.101FREETools.com to get your copy of this special report.

Those of you who know me (or who have seen me in the summer) know that my hair is naturally very curly. God gave me curls and I spend most of my time trying to lose them. So as I was packing for my recent trip to Thailand, I made sure I had a power converter so my hair straightener (called a flat iron) would work. I learned the hard way that I needed one when we were in Italy last year. I guess those 220 volts shooting into my 110 volt appliance wasn’t good - I fried my Chi just by plugging it into the wall. So this time, I was prepared…or so I thought.

The first night I was there I had been out at the pool and walking around town and was badly in need of a shower. I was supposed to meet some folks for dinner so I had to make it quick. Yea, right. When I plugged in the flat iron I didn’t smell that awful odor of electronics burning so I thought I was safe. I wasn’t going to toast two of them, but this one wasn’t even getting hot. Nothing. I tried it in the little shaver outlet in the bathroom too, but didn’t get anything other than a strange hum that couldn’t have been good. Hungry, I decided to go au-natural and left with a wet head to go eat dinner. My hair looked fine at first but by the time I got back to my room after supper the frizz had settled in. I had to make a presentation the next morning to 150 people and this was just not how I had envisioned doing it. I had to make a plan.

One thing that I have always found helpful in difficult situations is to accept the worst and then work to improve it. Worst case: I have frizzy hair. Most of the people who were going to be in the audience didn’t know me, though they’ll think I did a bait-and-switch on the head shots in the conference program. They would think I meant to wear my hair in a frizz ball. Once I had accepted that, I then worked to improve upon it. I wanted to make sure that wasn’t what happened.

As it turned out, the hotel had a converter that I could use, which is the one in the picture. Yes, it looks a little scary and the hum made me a little nervous, but it worked. I may need to get myself checked out for radiation poisoning at some point, but thankfully I made my presentation with perfectly strait locks. Even if I hadn’t I was ready.

How often in our lives and our businesses do we get to the first part – imagining the worst – and then stop there? Dwelling on the negative does not help. Accept the worst case scenario and then move on, working like heck to make sure it doesn’t come to pass. Although this particular incident may be trivial, I’ve had plenty other opportunities to practice this philosophy when the stakes were higher – a lost customer, an illness, or bad economic forecast – and I know it works. Have you tried it? How do you deal with unexpected events that may not be so good?

I admit it – I was nervous about venturing out into Bangkok on my own. It was surprising to me, really, because I love to travel and have travelled internationally many times. I was really looking forward to my trip, too, but had begun to get anxious about a week before my trip. I think it all started when I talked to others who had been there. They warned me about the crowds, the pollution, and the strict dress rules for getting into temples. I suppose my expectations were set fairly low and I had resolved myself to treat the trip as just business.

When I arrived in Thailand, it was midnight (a day and half after I left my home!) so I didn’t get to see much but interesting people in the streets and colorful taxi cabs. When I woke up the next morning and looked out my hotel room window, I started to feel foolish for being nervous. After all, I had wandered through many a foreign town before, except that had been almost all in Europe. This was my first trip to Asia. Why would I want to stay in my hotel room? Sure, there was work to do, but when would I be in this city again? I decided it was time to face my fear and venture out on my own. It wasn’t that the fear went away; I just pretended that I wasn’t fearful. I was practicing my own “fake it ‘til you make it” advice. And I am so glad I did!

The first people I met were from Manchester, England. They had come to Thailand because on of their daughters was getting married in Chang Mai. Then I met a group of four women who had come to Bangkok on a girls’ weekend (how come I can’t get my girl friends to do something like that!?) to shop. A couple of them just happened to be Texas A&M graduates like me or had children who graduated from A&M. They were instrumental in helping me part with my money in the silk shop. Finally, I met two women, Debbie and Jane, who were from Texas (like me!) but their husbands’ jobs had brought them to Bangkok to live for a few years. They were so nice and helpful that Debbie even offered her assistance if (and when!) I brought my family back to Thailand. To top it off, they were working on starting up a new business! Amazing. No such thing as coincidence.

The trip that started out as just business turned into an incredible experience that left me wanting more. By facing my fear and taking the tiger by the tail (yes, the tigers in the picture were real and they were spectacular!), I found a new place to travel with my family and acquired some custom-made silk clothes to boot!

Thanks to Mastercard Small Business services for interviewing me and posting this podcast on top hiring mistakes that many entrepreneurs make. So if you’re growing your business and thinking about hiring folks, listen to this podcast first!

Don’t laugh, but I’ve decided to teach myself how to juggle. For those of you women entrepreneurs like me, especially you moms, we already know how to juggle our lives, or at least we’re trying. Every day it seems like there is more than one ball that needs to be kept in the air between work responsibilities, home, kids, spouse, etc. But what I’m talking about here is the physical act of juggling. Yes, I went out and bought a set of three small bean-bag balls to learn how to juggle and in all honesty, it has turned out to be harder than I thought. So you’re probably asking yourself - why in the world would you want to do that? It is simple: I feel like I need to learn something new that is physical. I believe that by expanding my physical capabilities I will also augment my mental and emotional capabilities at the same time.

Think about it: when is the last time you really challenged yourself physically? As entrepreneurs, we feel challenged mentally and emotionally every day, but the physical stuff…not so much so. Sure, I exercise and maybe try to do one more set of repetitions with my weights, but that’s not the same thing. I am talking about doing something that you’ve never done before. Something you’ve always wanted to do.

One thing that I’ve noticed in my attempts to juggle thus far is that I am failing…A LOT. I drop more balls than I catch but find the failure good for me. It’s humbling. It’s FREEING. I don’t HAVE to be good at everything I do. By trying something new, I’ve given myself permission to be a student again. To learn. To practice. To grow. I’ve given up the notion that this new skill is something I can acquire in a weekend. It’s going to take longer and it’s going to take a lot of practice. That’s a good lesson to embrace, because every new thing we do in life generally takes practice. It takes time. And most of the time, it’s uncomfortable. I mean - my kids LAUGH at me (lovingly, of course). But they’re no better at it.

In talking with mom entrepreneurs, I realized that by definition of what we do we are all jugglers. I don’t think it is limited to parents, either, because I know many folks without kids who happen to have lives outside of the companies their building or running. Really - it’s possible! So one of my other goals in taking on this new challenge is that when I give a speech to busy people and talk about balance, I want to be able to stand on the stage and juggle. In front of everyone. Crazy? Perhaps. But I’m doing it anyways! Ok, you can go ahead and laugh.

So when is the last time you physically tried something new? Did you find that you grew in other ways? What did you learn about yourself??

After staying up to catch the riveting end of last night’s Super Bowl, I heard a great quote on the news that made me think about business.

It was Perfection versus Persistence and Persistence won.

Now think about that in terms of your business or even your life. Many entrepreneurs who struggle do so because they have a hard time getting rid of their perfectionist tendencies. I find this especially true for women entrepreneurs, though the need to be perfect is not relegated to the female gender. Certainly, I know many men like that too, but the thing that kills women is that if we have that tendency, we have it in all parts of our lives. So not only does everything need to be perfect in our businesses or at work, but it creeps into our home and applies to our kids, too. From my experience, trying to maintain perfectionism in every aspect of your life, especially when there are many facets to it, is a sure road to an early grave which is accelerated if you have children.

In growing a business, you can not expect everything to be perfect. You have to prioritize and then be willing to let some things go. This goes double at home if you’re raising children while trying to grow a business or pursue a fast-track career. So what if your daughter’s shirt is wrinkled!? In my house, my kids are responsible for putting away their laundry so if their clothes are wrinkled, that’s not my problem. In business, most of my file folders have hand-written labels on them. To some people, that may feel sloppy but even though I have the labels I can print out on my computer, I rarely take the time to do it. It just isn’t important. There are things that need to be perfect or close to it, but it can’t be everything.

What is more important than being perfect in every aspect of business is being persistent. It is in keeping forward momentum when an obstacle is thrown in your path. It is looking for “How Can We?” rather than just saying “We Can’t.” What do you do to keep moving forward? Where does your ‘boot in the butt’ come from?

Persistence won the Super Bowl for the Giants (along with some great efforts by the team!). It can be the fuel of success for your business, too.

When we were at the USASBE conference last weekend presenting the ACTiVATE program for an award, one woman stood up and said that she could not imagine enrolling in a woman-only program. She was a bench PhD and felt that she had learned a great deal by ‘toughing it out’ in a man’s world. I explained to her that having built my business in a very male-dominated industry I could understand her point, but from my experiences with the program through the last 3 years, I have seen a real benefit to the single-gender environment. It may not be for everyone, but for some women it made all the difference in deciding to join and succeeding in the program. Vivian Armor, one of the program’s Primary Investigators and the Director for the Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship at UMBC, then pointed out that at our recent recruiting sessions, she has been asking if it mattered that the course was for women only. About half agreed that it was essential. By the end of the program, however, 100% of the participants have consistently stated that the single-gender environment was important. What changed?

The ACTiVATE program focuses on mid-career women who have already been out in the “man’s world” and been successful in it. That would lead us to believe, then, that being around all women might not be so critical. Some, like the woman mentioned above, actually feel it would be detrimental. I have to confess: several years ago I actually left a Business Roundtable because it was all women and I wanted to get male insight and advice. My perspective is different now.

While I agree that women can learn a lot from working and collaborating with men, one of the key factors in the success of this women-only entrepreneurship training was that having a single-gender environment is safe. It provides an atmosphere in which women who are already accomplished and used to being tops in their field can experiment and take risks as they learned new skills. While there are some people (insane as they are) who enjoy the discomfort of trying something new, most avoid it or at least shy away from doing so publicly. Starting a business definitely takes you out of your comfort zone. It is very different than the corporate environment and you have to rely, at least in the beginning, completely on yourself. It is not for the faint of heart, motivation, or energy.

The mutual support I have witnessed between the participants not only within the same ACTiVATE class but across all of the program’s alumnae has been inspiring. We are truly creating a New Girls Network to compete with the Old Boy’s one and we’re not alone. The Women President’s Organization provides single-gender support for women presidents with revenues over $1M. Count Me In’s Make Mine a $Million Program (for which I am a mentor) brings together women entrepreneurs who have already started a business but want to grow it beyond the magic million dollar mark. Having done that I can tell you – it’s not easy - but by bringing these women together, there is a real magic about doing it together. And it seems to be working!

An article in Tuesday’s Telegraph, a UK-based newspaper, confirms that this is not just a US phenomenon. Women all over the world are realizing that learning how to start a business within a group of other aspiring women entrepreneurs, or whatever commonalities make for an affinity group, is powerful. It doesn’t mean, however, that we should lock out the men from being involved in our business start-up or growth. It means having that like-minded support group as a base can give you an edge. The USASBE judges must have agreed. ACTiVATE won their national award for Best Specialty Entrepreneurship Education Program.

I am curious about your thoughts…agree? Disagree? If you’ve been involved with a women-only group, what was the draw for you?

Check out my Guest Blog on the Washington Post website. It is about a teaching opportunity I had with my daughter and her homework. Leslie Morgan Steiner, who writes the column/blog every day and is the Author of Mommy Wars, opens up some great topics for discussion…and there is ALWAYS a discussion!