Yesterday I had the good fortune to have lunch with an established mentor and the question floating around the table was 'how do you know your worth as a consultant'? I thought the answer rang true for any business owner and here’s what I got from the conversation. When you’re not sure of what you know, you charge for everything This is true for all industries, when you … [Read more...]
To My Business With Love
This column has given me the venue to talk about a lot of the little quirks we face when running a small business, but I realize the one thing that I haven't fully addressed is the sometimes dysfunctional but always loving relationship I have with my business. Yes, I admit it. I am in a long-term relationship with my business, for better or worse. So SPC my love, here are the … [Read more...]
Control Your Brand!
As a small business owner many things are out of our control. As daunting as this seems, I attended an event here in D.C. a few weeks ago that challenged small business to think about their brand in relation to the perception of their CEO. Big companies manage this perception, but as big business the CEO's are somewhat removed from the process. Small business don't … [Read more...]
Choosing the Right Mentor
Everywhere you turn you’ll hear successful men and women sing the praises of a personal business guru, someone who will guide you through the minefield of this entrepreneur experience. What they don’t tell you is you will have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your guru. So to save my fellow entrepreneurs from a rough journey, here are some things to consider when … [Read more...]
Do Bosses Really Listen?
Today has been a common theme of acknowledging that ‘I guess I should have listened better’. I missed the event details for my daughter’s science competition, missed some bathroom renovation details, and didn’t notice that my client hadn’t signed the check until at the bank even though it was mentioned earlier. As I came to this conclusion I wondered if as bosses we do the … [Read more...]
Why Taking a Chance Matters
This week I had the opportunity to attend an event for the Center for Women in Business, sponsored by the US Chamber of Commerce here in the District. There was a wonderful conversation that took place amongst our distinguished panel of female Fortune 500 executives; the topic was “who took a chance on you?” As that topic was discussed it struck me, as entrepreneurs every … [Read more...]
The 5 Friends Every Entrepreneur Needs
We entrepreneurs are an optimistic set; some would even say we have our head in the clouds. Some of us are cautious, some bean counters by nature and some of us are the dreamers. We are the people that can actually visualize the dream happening. With this near foolish optimism, there are 5 friends that every kind of entrepreneur should have. The Cheerleader This is the … [Read more...]
The Success of Failure
Entrepreneurs are created for a variety of reason, but the most pressing question is 'have you been successful because of skill or luck?' Most entrepreneurs will be very offended at this question, but it has merit and whether we like it or not every story of success is tinged with the luck. You were at the right place, with the right product and you met the right person. Just … [Read more...]
When the Student is Ready, a Teacher Appears
As I listen to the stories of the business world and how many mistakes CEO’s make, I think about how no one talks about the lessons that they learned on the way to that success. There is a tendency to hold out successful business owners as gurus, when the reality is that they were blessed with good teachers and the ability to learn from previous failures. For some of us no one … [Read more...]
How GenX Affects Your Business
I was doing something decidedly none business yesterday (replacing my dead dryer) and the sales representative that was helping me was glued to his IPAD. Now I applaud the store for the use of technology to create a more accurate account of inventory, but to run a business you actually have to talk to your customers! The sales representative was great; he was friendly and … [Read more...]