I spoke with a client recently about visualizing. I asked how she pictured seeing her business in 12 months time. “Gosh, I don’t have time for daydreaming,” was her response, fixing me with a confused look. This made me slightly concerned considering her desire to develop and grow her business. However, after I carefully outlined this process of enormous potential, she … [Read more...]
Is It Profitable to Follow Your Passion? 4 Questions to Ask Yourself
There are many self-help programs suggesting that you need to follow your passion in order to achieve your dreams. It’s great advice for some, but if you are relying on it to earn a living, then using your passion as a foundation for your career may not be the answer. Here are questions to ask yourself before you decide that following your passion is the best business … [Read more...]
Are You Ready to Turn Your “Side Hustle” into a Business?
Side hustles are generally born out of necessity or passion. They tend to maximize our skills and capacities or release our creativity. Converting a side hustle into a business is often a slippery slope because whether your side hustle is born out of necessity or born out of passion, the realities of formalizing a business can be disheartening. A side hustle that generates … [Read more...]
5 Rookie Business Mistakes You Don’t Want to Make
As a business owner, there are some mistakes that you simply shouldn't make. Here are five rookie business mistakes that you need to avoid: 1. Bad Customer Service We have all experienced bad customer service at some point in our lives that has made us turn down a sale. Many times we walk out of a store because we are not greeted as we enter or as we shop. This is bad … [Read more...]
Take Your Business from Dream Phase to Success Phase
So, you woke up one morning and decided you had had enough of the corporate world… Maybe you had a baby or two and you thought, “Hey, why not do my own thing so I can watch them grow up?” A noble thought indeed. Too many parents do not see their kids much as they are working so hard to provide a living for them. Great, well… It is time to begin. But instead of beginning, … [Read more...]
50 Richest Self-Made Women in America 2015
Forbes has launched a new list that ranks people by wealth, and this one is dedicated to women who made their own money rather than inherited it or acquired it by some other means. The list of the 50 richest self-made women in America in 2015 includes entrepreneurs, corporate executives, designers, celebrities, and an author. The bar to get on this list was quite high. Women … [Read more...]
How to Find your Niche as a Potential Entrepreneur
So you’ve decided you want to work for yourself and you’ve been inspired to strike out on your own – excellent! You may have great work experience or recently graduated, or you may be returning to the workforce. In fact, there is no set definition of what an entrepreneur is composed of. The important factor at this juncture is your entrance into the marketplace – put simply, … [Read more...]
Self Confidence and the Female Entrepreneur
In Ireland, there is a strong, on-going government initiative to encourage entrepreneurship. In conjunction with the global recession of the past eight years or so, Ireland also experienced its own devastating banking crisis. During, and since this awful time, realization dawned that entrepreneurs are the backbone of our economy. Their strength, in the face of uncertainty, … [Read more...]
Connecting Women to Investors at Capital W: The Boston Women’s Venture Summit
Investor and businesswoman Sheryl Marshall started working with women-owned businesses and women venture funding in 1999 after spending years working in financial services where she fielded tons of calls from women looking for capital. She recalls, “Back then, only 2% of venture funding went to women-owned businesses, and most of that 2% went to iVillage.” This lack of … [Read more...]
3 Steps To Take Before Starting A Business
The other day I was watching a re-run of the show Reba and thought, “This is a great topic for a blog post!” Reba’s younger daughter needed money for her college fund. Since Reba and her husband were divorced, she asked him if he could help. In Reba’s mind, the way he could help the most was by selling his country club membership that he had for over 15 years. Doing that … [Read more...]