How does your business make a difference in the world? In 2006 I began an intensive coaching process with Rob Seidenspinner of Sage Circle Coaching. Rob is a personal and professional coach and I was looking for specific insights into how my personal "story" was influencing my business outcomes. The benefits I’ve seen are as follows. Not all of these are directly … [Read more...]
Breaking the Stereotype Code: Do Women Really Talk Too Much?
We have come a long way since we won the right to vote in 1921. In just about 90 years we are no longer barefoot and pregnant. We can go anywhere on the planet with or without a man at our side. We can be called “Ms.” To our men’s “Mr.” and the word spinster has become archaic. (What would be a name for an elder man who did not marry?) We're finally becoming more equal in our … [Read more...]
Your Product or Service: How to Price it Right
I've always believed that you must price your particular product or service at a level that provides value for others at a price they're willing to pay. There are two parts of a price tag: one is the actual sale price of the item. The other is the value that the purchaser finds in buying that item. The actual sales price is just a number. However, the item is essentially … [Read more...]
How Much Help is Enough?
There is a pivot point we all need to find between being too caring or too cold when employees have personal issues. Women, hard-wired to be compassionate and consider others first, often get stuck in the caring rather than cold region. Here is an example: Roberta, a valued administrative assistant who does great work and is dedicated to her company had … [Read more...]
How are you doing on price?
I first published this discussion six months ao. Since then, I have had more and more discussions with my clients about their pricing strategies and being squeezed in this market. In a lean economy, many sales and business development people feel obligated to discount their prices; at least, the discussion of price and where it fits in the sales strategy becomes more … [Read more...]
Busting Stereotypes
Every once in a while I meet a woman who has quietly taken stereotypes, looked them in the eye and with a quick flick of the wrist lobbed them into the discard pile. Rosie Saez a Senior V.P. of H.R. at Wachovia Bank is a stereotype buster. She has been in the world of banking for over 20 years and has participated in helping change this mainly male dominated world over … [Read more...]
Drupal, Joomla, WordPress, or Custom Content Management?
Having built over 250 websites in the last ten years, I have a good sense of what tools would be a good fit for a particular project. If you're thinking of building a website for your own business, you'll want to identify some key needs around the following: 1) your budget -- how much can you realistically spend 2) your timeline to get the website up -- when do you need a … [Read more...]
Five Principles for your Project’s Success
Having done my Malcolm-Gladwell-esque "10,000 hours of experience" (in his book Outliers, Gladwell suggests that it takes 10,000 hours for someone to become an experienced professional, in any field), I feel like there are some fixed principles that apply to all of our clients, who run the gamut from nonprofit to small business to public agency. We've found that the individuals … [Read more...]
10 Ways to Build your Web Effectiveness
Introduction: Maintaining content-rich web profiles are the most efficient way to market your specific services to your niche audience. I recommend you devote the bulk of your marketing budget to developing excellent content and lots of it, with some additional funds set aside for design, production, and maintenance. Your web properties include: websites, blogs, wikis, … [Read more...]
Authentic Leadership
I was recently at the Pa. Governor’s Conference for Women with the theme of “rethink, resolve, renew”. It was a mighty meeting. There is nothing like thousands of women who are claiming their power to partner with their male counterparts in the world of work. One of the sessions was of exceptional interest to me. The theme was about enabling authentic leadership. That word, … [Read more...]