Segment 2: If Content is Queen, Where is My Kingdom!

Guest Author Bonnie Andrews continues her advice on building great web content into the New Year:

‘Great events make me quiet and calm; it is only trifles that irritate my nerves,’ said to be quoted by Queen Victoria herself. There is a lesson in this thought for us all. Our kingdoms, as they are, come with one trifle at a time. The great events are the celebration of many a trifling.

Let’s talk.

You have been diligently creating content for the past weeks or even a few months, but surely if content truly is queen you don’t feel you have much of a ruling . . . hang in there, time is generous to all those who are persistent.

The trifling is worth the celebration of any great event. Now, ask your self these three questions:

What are my goals in connection with my content?

What is the relevancy of my content?

How well developed is my content?

Once you can answers these questions, you can apply the ‘magic’ content formula: Create, Optimize and Promote.

Create

1) When you create content, text, video, audio etc. it’s important to keep your goals in mind and track them by creating an editorial calendar. The content creation process can be difficult and it can be easy, best said it can be what you make it to be; planning a content schedule will help keep you on track and moving forward.

2) Remember relevancy is key.  You can create, create, create all you want, but if in the process of creating your content you ignore the main discussions among your clients and those in your target market you have undermined your ability to enlarge your own little kingdom in the business world. Answer questions; they can be trending questions or from the proverbial jar. Just make sure you answer them with clarity and consistency.

3) Is your content engaging? It doesn’t have to be long or overwhelming; it does have to be developed. Make sure you follow through from start to finish and present your material in a way that keeps the reader engaged long enough to finish it.

Optimize

There are volumes of information available on optimizing your content. For now, focus on generating good content with only the necessary optimization tactics.

• Focus on one main keyword and one or two sub keywords
• Use the main keyword in the first 4 – 5 words of your headline
• Write a compelling summary that mentions your main and sub keywords at least once if not two times each
• Make sure your keyword density is at least a 3 percent ratio throughout the body of your article. You can use the Live Keyword Analysis tool to accomplish that
• Use bold, italics and underlining on keywords – search engines like emphasized text
• Use keywords for text links, not ‘Click Here’

Promote

Content can be re-purposed and promoted all over the Internet effectively once it’s created and optimized. We suggest the following steps for promoting the content you create. NOTE: Don’t forget the content is most important. Don’t get hung up on promoting and run short on fresh content.

• Submit to a blog on your own site first
• Create a Squidoo Lens or submit to article submission sites
• Make a Powerpoint presentation and upload it as a video to YouTube and other video sharing sites
• Use excerpts of your content to post to social networking sites and as blog and forum comments

There are a number of ways to optimize and harness the power of good content. Make sure that you are doing as much as you and your team can to conquer your own content kingdom and dominate your niche market.

Bonnie Andrews, Marketing Director at va4mom, is a mom who loves all the ‘hats.’ She is best known for managing a virtual assistant marketing team to generate killer content for others who have the title Mom, CEO, Doc, Chef, Taxi, Teacher, Coach . . . aka mompreneurs, and help them effectively grow and maximize their business opportunities. Follow Bonnie on Twitter @va4mom or hire her affordable virtual assistant team at www.MomEntrepreneurVA.com.

The Top 3 Priorities of Leaders

Written by Guest Author AmyK Hutchens

Leaders can’t do it all and shouldn’t. You lead the company. You don’t manage it. This fact implies we all know the difference between leadership and management. Truth is, we often don’t. Leadership seems fuzzier than it should be because those that managed us throughout our careers didn’t have it clarified for them either. While there are indeed a multitude of tasks leaders participate in, when it comes to leading a company, there are three critical items that should top every leader’s To Do list.

Job #1 for a leader:
Inspire and influence three specific areas: people, operations and strategy.
Without your inspiration, without your influence, the ship remains rudderless. Notice too, that my order is specific. People come first. Without humans, the right humans, being lead by you, nothing will get executed and your strategy will become obsolete. People are the backbone of your business. Strength trainers talk about building up muscle, fighting the aging process, and staying at your optimum health levels when you focus on your core, i.e. your back muscles, your abdominal muscles – all the muscles that keep you upright. People are your core. Strengthen them, build them, and they’ll keep your business upright and currently competitive.

Specifics:
1. Role model good thinking. Share your thought process. Ask questions that get your direct reports to think.
2. Coach. Spend time in one-to-ones, asking questions, solving complex issues, and getting your direct reports to engage in dialogue with you.
3. Share your vision. Clearly. Repeatedly. In detail. Enthusiastically. Share it again next week.
4. Conduct less formal performance reviews every quarter. Why wait until the end of the season to tell a player to change his motion?!

Job #2 for a leader:
Delegate.
A leader does not have time to set the compass for the organization’s direction, sit at the helm and scout the horizon, and go down to the galley to make tuna fish sandwiches for the crew. In all fairness, having lunch with the crew, is a great idea, making it for them is just not a good use of your time. 
Specifics:
1. What is your job? Inspiring and influencing people, operations, and strategy. Write down everything you currently are doing. Categorize it, prioritize it, and decide which tasks can be delegated immediately and which tasks need to be taught/coached more thoroughly so they can be fully delegated one month, two months, or three months from now.
2. Assess every task you complete to determine if it’s necessary and aligned with your 4 focus areas and goals.

Job #3 for a leader:
Embody values.
What do you believe in and stand for? If the almighty dollar is your God, then hire people who embrace this value and get ready to ride the consequences.  If healthy results through good, thoughtful decisions, respect and integrity are the path you want your folks to walk, then walk the talk yourself. Influence and inspire through praise of good behaviors, role-model your values, interview for values, correct when you see the opposite, and keep your values ever present and visible. The brain thrives on visuals and imitates what it sees.
Specifics:
1. Conduct a values assessment and determine your top 5. (These tools exist in many places). Have your executive team conduct the same assessment. Where do you all align and where do you differ? How can the similarities and differences be utilized to create an even stronger, valued based executive team?
2. Praise your employees for thoughtful, values based decisions.
3. Fire those who don’t foster, nor contribute, to your culture of values.

A leader does many things, and must do many things well to be successful, but those “many things” should be leadership tasks, not management tasks. And the first thing to do is to get focused on being a leader.

AmyK Hutchens, Founder and Intelligence Activist, AmyK Inc., is a speaker, trainer and business strategist. She is best known for helping business leaders capitalize on how the brain and human perception filters work to help them be more effective in business and their personal lives. Follow AmyK on Twitter @AmyKinc or visit at www.amyk.com.

Five Steps to a Stronger Start Up

Guest Author Joan Koerber-Walker shares the following startup advice:

Whether you are starting a business for the very first time, or a seasoned serial entrepreneur, start ups can be tricky.  There is an art to the process of starting a business.  Over the years, in counseling hundreds of start ups, I have found that there are five essential steps in laying the foundation for a stronger startup.

Step one:  Write it Down

Get your vision for your startup down on paper.  This allows you better share it with your team, potential partners and ultimately your customers.  Your vision for your startu should be complete, laying out what you will accomplish, how you will do it and the path you will  take to get there.

Step Two:  Assess Your Opportunities

Be clear and brutally honest with yourself as you assess your opportunities.  As much as we love our idea, there has yet to be a product that EVERYBODY needs.  Focus in on the customers who benefit the most from what you have to offer and work out plan to let them know you have it.  When others benefit greatly from what you have to offer, they share the good news with their friends and the business grows.

Step Three:  Know Your Strengths

Know what you and your company are best at and surround yourself with others who can strengthen your team with skills and talents that compliment yours.  When building your team, take advantage of team building tools like the Kolbe A to accurately assess how you and your team can best get things done.  A strength is called a strength because we are better at it.  Play to your strengths and partner with others to do the rest.

Step Four:  Select Your Partners

No one succeeds alone.  We all need partners and it is important to choose them wisely.  Whether you are hiring employees, choosing a business partner, or courting an investor or supply chain partner, do you homework and choose wisely.  The wrong partner can break a business just as a strong partner can make a business.

Step Five:  Manage Your Resources

Last, but never least, keep an eye on your resources.  Rarely do we have the luxury of staring a business with everything we could want or need.  Managing your resources well, be they contacts and connections, finances, inventory, intellectual property, or the reputation of your brand.  Companies with the right resources go the distance.  The path of a startup is an exciting and rewarding journey; the last thing you want to do is run out of gas and miss all the fun.

Joan Koerber-Walker is a two time Stevie Award National Finalist and Chairman of the Board of CorePurpose, Inc, and the Opportunity Through Entrepreneurship Foundation.  She also serves as Executive in Residence for Callaman Ventures and on the boards of for profit and nonprofit organizations.  As the former CEO of the Arizona Small Business Association and a past member of the Board of Trustees of the National Small Business Association she has worked with hundreds of small businesses and on behalf of thousands.  Chat with her on Twitter as @joankw, @JKWgrowth, @JKWinnovation, @JKWleadership and @CorePurpose or at her blog at www.JoanKoerber-Walker.com.

Your Website is Live! Now What?

Guest Author Bonnie Andrews of va4mom writes the following:

You started a business, congratulations!

One thing you will quickly find is that even if you have the greatest product or service on the face of this living planet, unless you package it correctly, it’s not going to profit you.So today we are going to talk about packaging your business in the form of a website – sound strange? Read on . . .

In this day and age if you have a business, you had better have a website. A website isn’t necessarily about selling things – it’s about positioning you and your new brand. It’s about developing a voice and an expertise in your market. It’s about building relationships through media and technology. Ultimately, it’s about your bottom line.

So how can you package your business on your website in a way that will boost your brand, grow your clients and sustain profitability? It’s all about content.

Content is queen!

I am sure you have heard this before, and rightly so because it truly is what propels your online presence.

Content is like that perfect pair of shoes that are fit for any occasion and style. You can dress them up or dress them down and no matter what you do, someone is always commenting on how fabulous they are – they always get attention.

And as we know from the famous fairytale when the shoe fits . . . it’s all about happily ever after. Good content on your website will always get attention for your business.

Content, when created thoughtfully can be applied to unlimited numbers of media channels, networks and streams. It can become a facebook update, a tweet, a blog post a comment on a blog or forum, a marketing slogan and outline for advertising materials.

So now that your website is up, don’t let it sit static. Just like you love that favorite pair of shoes, love the website that represents you and use it often. Try it out with different styles of content, and open up to additional streams of communication.

Use your website to propel your business. It will bring in clients and help you sell and market your brand successfully.

Are you stumped on where to begin and how to organize it? Here are a few good tips to keep things rolling smoothly.

Know what the hot topics in your niche market are. Pick out the two or three most common questions that are asked and create your own editorial calendar.

Answer the questions with your view point and expertise. Try and back things up with others opinions and good research too, it adds to your credibility.

Focus on 250 – 300 word articles at first. Keep it to the point and engaging.

Give your readers tools, tips and tricks within your article that help solve the problem.

Ask for feedback and invite them to come back for more.

Don’t let your website go un-noticed. Your presence online will directly correlate to the business that comes offline.

Bonnie Andrews, Marketing Director at va4mom, is a mom who loves all the ‘hats.’ She is best known for managing a virtual assistant marketing team to generate killer content for others who have the title Mom, CEO, Doc, Chef, Taxi, Teacher, Coach . . . aka mompreneurs, and help them effectively grow and maximize their business opportunities. Follow Bonnie on Twitter @va4mom or hire her affordable virtual assistant team at www.MomEntrepreneurVA.com.

Is Technology Killing Our Friendships

Guest Author Dena Patton of Chat, Chew & Chocolate shares the following:

Ask yourself this, how many times did I spend face-to-face time with my friends this month? Then ask, how many times did I text or email them? If you are a normal, busy woman you’ll say that you had two or less face-to-face downtime interactions with your girlfriends. Which validates my opinion that the more technology comes into our lives the more we will need the friendship movement from Chat, Chew and Chocolate (CCC). I created CCC to bring back that crucial girlfriend time and me time that we need in our lives.Through meeting with women in our local CCC chapters we get loaded up with me time and friend time, and for some women it’s the only time they get to enjoy it. When women feel supported, connected and empowered they are unstoppable and that’s the mission of CCC. It’s our monthly dose of 3 hours that are free from roles and responsibilities and filled with face-to-face time with fabulous women. Most of us have experienced isolation or feeling disconnected from our friends, and in many research studies they have proven that isolation from me time and friend time is a major source of stress, unhappiness and/or anxiety. I’ve pulled a few results from studies that show that me time and friend time are both healthy and crucial for our lives. 

According to CNN’s article on Friends enhances people’s satisfaction with life: Women across all strata of society feel overwhelmed with the insatiable demands on them. When asked what they want they answered “peace and time”. Princeton University’s research found that that women socialize less than they did 40 years ago which plays into account for our rising dissatisfaction. Surveys show the number 1 complaint American women have is that they don’t have enough time for themselves. Yet research proves being good to yourself is crucial to maintaining physical and emotional well-being, according to Alan Seibert, PhD.

Leading a balanced life means including your happiness, your well being, your friends and your ‘me time’ in your busy schedule. We are hard-wired to gather and to support each other, but it seems like life and technology are getting in the way of that. According to UCLA landmark Study On Friendship Among Women suggests friendships between women are special. They shape who we are and who we are yet to be. They soothe our tumultuous inner world, fill the emotional gaps in our marriage, and help us remember who we really are. By the way, they may do even more. Scientists now suspect that hanging out with our friends can actually counteract the kind of stomach-quivering stress most of us experience on a daily basis. A landmark UCLA study suggests that women respond to stress with a cascade of brain chemicals that cause us to make and maintain friendships with other women. It’s a stunning find that has turned five decades of stress research—most of it on men—upside down. Until this study was published, scientists generally believed that when people experience stress, they trigger a hormonal cascade that revs the body to either stand and fight or flee as fast as possible, explains Laura Cousin Klein, Ph.D., now an Assistant Professor of Biobehavioral Health at Penn State University and one of the study’s authors. It’s an ancient survival mechanism left over from the time we were chased across the planet by saber-toothed tigers. Now the researchers suspect that women have a larger behavioral repertoire than just fight or flight; In fact, says Dr. Klein, it seems that when the hormone oxytocin is released as part of the stress responses in a woman, it buffers the fight or flight response and encourages her to tend children and gather with other women instead. When she actually engages in this tending or befriending, studies suggest that more oxytocin is released, which further counters stress and produces a calming effect. This calming response does not occur in men, says Dr. Klein, because testosterone—which men produce in high levels when they’re under stress—seems to reduce the effects of oxytocin. Estrogen, she adds, seems to enhance it.

In the five years of running CCC I have hosted hundreds of events for thousands of women plus connected with thousands of our eclub online members, and my conclusions are the same as five years ago; 1) women need a support circle of other women 2) women need a regular break from roles and responsibilities to come back to center 3) as long as there is more technology than face-time, our relationships will suffer 4) women need to give themselves permission to have more me time, friend time and a self care plan so they can lead happy balanced lives.

Today, the noise levels in our heads are at an all time high. With invasive, 24/7 technology it’s hard to uphold boundaries, instead we give in to late night texting and facebook updates. But what’s at stake? Our well-being, our alone time, our friendships, and our relationships as we knew them? Cristin Norine is one journalist who took the experiment to reality. She decided to eat, sleep, cook and live in full view of a busy Portland street on the ground floor of a glass-front apartment for 30 days. During this time she will only have technology interactions. No more meeting friends for drinks or listening to live music or even fresh air. Instead Cristin is communicating through twitter and facebook updates and loads of texting, plus passerby’s are leaving notes on the glass on their way to work. To me this experiment only proves that technology is important, and always will be, but it will never take the place of the human touch, a hug, a coffee with your best friend, dinner with your spouse, a family walk in the park or simply being alone in nature.

What boundaries are you willing to put on your technology knowing that your life, your friends, your family, your well-being are waiting for you?

Dena Patton is a Life/Business Coach, retreat facilitator and Speaker. Read the rest of her articles by clicking her name (top/right of this page). She is also the founder of ChatChewandChocolate.com, which helps busy women lead balanced and fun lives. Info on her programs, speaking, retreats and coaching click here. Find her on Twitter @chatchew.

5 Key Steps for Product Creation – And What They Really Mean

Guest Author Marty Stevens-Heebner of Rebagz® shares her product development expertise:

So often people come up with great product ideas but imprison them in their dreams instead of making them a reality.  Why?  Because too often women in particular find the process too intimidating and so don’t create their passion product.   But manufacturing or product creation is really just a series of steps that need to be followed, and here are the 5 key steps you’ll need to follow to get started:

Sourcing – AKA where & who will make your product? You may have heard the word “sourcing” but didn’t know what it means.  It simply means finding the manufacturer that will make your product for you.  They’re the source you’ll go to for your finished designs.  You can make them domestically, as in here in the good ol’ USA, or you can go overseas to do it.  I make my handbags in the Philippines because a dear friend who grew up there suggested it.  If there are countries or regions of the US that you and/or your friends are quite familiar with, consider looking for suppliers in those places.  Embassies or consulates of countries you know or chambers of commerce in the US are excellent places to start.

Samples & prototypes – getting that first one made. There’s nothing more exciting than finally seeing that design you’ve been imagining for so long “in the flesh.”  You can have your first official sample made before or after you’ve begun sourcing; it’s really up to you and what schedule you have in mind.  What you need to do is provide a “plan” for them to follow.  For my handbags, I do detailed sketches, including measurements and written out details of what I’d like.  If you want to make cookies, get that recipe together.  If it’s something more intricate – especially if it has moving parts – there are product specialists who can even put together a bit of animation for you to convey exactly how things should work.  This is a very exciting part of the process!

Quality control.  The trick is, after you have your sample, you need to make sure all the products that come after it are as brilliantly put together as this original.  The supplier that makes them for you will of course do their own “QC,” as it’s called.  But that’s a little like the fox guarding the henhouse so, in my case, I have my agent over in Manila do a second layer of quality control, just to be sure.  That keeps your customers happy, and keeps them re-ordering.  We love re-orders!

Legalities & regulations – oh joy.  Protection, protection, protection.  Contracts are your friend!  Yes, a lawyer will cost you a bit.  But think of what it’ll really cost you if you can’t protect your product.  Also, you want to know what government regulations you need to follow for your particular kind of product.  I make handbags and have them imported.  So I have to have labels sewn in that say my company’s name and where they were made (the Philippines).  If you’re creating a food product, check with the FDA.  If you’d making clothing, there are usually flammability requirements.  Make sure you know these things ahead of time to keep your product flying safely through the process.

Who’s making your product and why taking care of them is good for marketing? Quite honestly, the thing that’s sustained my company through this economic crisis is its sustainability.  By that I mean the fact that my handbags are eco- and human-friendly, meaning they’re all made under fair trade conditions.  Reporters love our story!  So we’ve had lots of articles written about us.  That means more people find out about us.  Customers love that they can feel good about where their money’s going, that the bag they’re carrying isn’t made by someone making slave wages.  Doesn’t it cost me more to have our bags made this way?  Absolutely!  But I wouldn’t have it any other way, and I can tell you our customers wouldn’t, either.

The world’s waiting for your wonderful new product – so what are you waiting for?  There’s nothing quite as amazing as opening up the pages of a major magazine and seeing your creation there, or getting that first big order from a corporate client.  But the greatest thing is knowing that you created jobs for people simply because you had the courage to follow your dream.

Marty Stevens-Heebner is the president and creator of the award-winning Rebagz® Handbags line.  Recent appearances on the cover of WWD/Women’s Wear Daily and the “Today Show” attest to the mass appeal behind Rebagz’ vibrant style – and the company’s eco- and human-friendly message.   The company was even named 2009 California Small Business of the Year.  Marty’s also an author and has been called a “fashion outlaw” because of the chances she takes in her designs, her life and her way of doing business.  Coco Eco Magazine named her as one of their 2010 “Top 20 Inspiring Women,” along with Sheryl Crow, Anna Getty and Josie Maran.  All of Rebagz Handbags are made using colorful recycled materials and under fair labor conditions, and carry Green America’s seal of approval. Twitter @MartyHeebner

Invite Joy into Your Home

Guest Author Tiffany Walke Peterson shares three simple tips to create joy and overcome stress this holiday season.

As the most wonderful time of the year approaches, with all of its parties, gifts, crafts, and shopping galore, it often leaves many stressed out and exhausted rather than joyful, merry, and bright.

To assist you in creating more joy, peace and connection with your loved ones this holiday season, Tiffany Walke Peterson shares three simple tips to creating joy and overcoming stress this holiday season:

Tip #1: DECIDE what you want. As simple as this sounds, DECIDE that you want and choose to experience JOY today, tomorrow, and this holiday season. Once a decision is made in one’s mind, it makes it so much easier to be centered and reminded of that choice. The decision serves as like an internal GPS system for your mind. If you get off course, the navigation system will reroute you and get you back on track to your destination. In this case JOY is programmed in as the chosen destination. As Ben Stein has simply yet profoundly said,

“The indispensable first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: DECIDE WHAT YOU WANT.”

Tip #2: Be CLEAR on your top priorities. What is most important for you and/or your family to experience this holiday season? Is it sharing family memories of old? A service project such as Sub for Santa or doing a secretive 12 Days of Christmas for a family in need? Is it connecting with old friends via phone or Christmas cards? I invite you to become clear on the top 3 priorities for you to experience for you and your family this year. As you do so, you have now created clear guidelines and boundaries for yourself, freeing yourself up from the need to do everything this holiday season.

Tip #3: Be okay with saying NO. Once you are clear on your top priorities, you can now navigate where to say yes and when to say no. If it doesn’t align for you and your family’s most important priorities and if the outcome of saying yes to another outing will only result in a tired, worn out, and grumpy you and/or children, then honor your priorities and yourself by opting out of another round of sledding, cheese plate grazing, or wassail consuming event ~ unless of course it is one of your top priorities. Realizing and accepting that you won’t likely be able to attend every party, concert, or gathering that is offered this season, allows the space to create a truly more joyous holiday season for you will be more present and relaxed with the experiences you did say yes to. Releasing the need “to be perfect” is liberation in itself. As William Shakespeare has said, “Expectation is the root of all heartache.” As you release the expectation to be perfect or the pressure to cram your schedule to the brim, you will automatically experience more joy and peace this holiday season.

As you decide to create more joy, choose your priorities in activities, and honor what feels best for you and your family’s needs, you will be empowered to create the holiday season that is full of joy, merriment, love, and laughter. Cheers to you!

Happy Holidays!

Tiffany Walke Peterson is a Success Expert, Speaker, and Coach, focused on inspiring individuals and organizations in creating lasting change and stellar results by applying proven success principles, strategies and systems. To learn more about Tiffany and her programs, visit  www.TheLighthousePrinciples.com

Do You Think Like an Innovator?

Guest Author AmyK Hutchens writes the following:

“I approach every project with a new insecurity,” stated Frank Gehry from the Milken Institute

Global Conference recently, where some of the world’s greatest minds debated business, politics, sales and conservation. Gehry is a world-renowned architect of the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, Spain and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in LA, among others. Gehry, who was once told by a professor to abandon architecture as a profession, says that every project, whether it’s in art or business, requires a “Then what?” mentality. It’s in this moment that you put yourself and your mind on the line. Gehry compares this moment to the artist’s blank canvas. Running a business involves so many continual considerations: due diligence, budget, all the moving pieces, people and functions. But there comes a moment when each of us must step forward, bring our brush to the canvas, and ask ourselves, “Then what?”. And this is when we make our mark…figuratively and literally. At this point, you cannot let your insecurities and fear of failure stop you from painting that first stroke.

Biz Stone, Co-Founder of Twitter, follows a similar mantra. He believes that rules should not stop you from breaking them. As a teenager, while schlepping boxes for $10 an hour at a publishing house, he snuck his book jacket design in with a stack of others destined for the editorial graphic design department. His jacket was chosen! He then quit university and landed a job where he could be mentored by creative artists who were shaking up the publishing industry.

Years later, with 50M tweets per day on Twitter, Biz Stone says the key to innovation is learning how to combine art with sales…and do it quickly!

But how quickly do human beings challenge standardized systems and shift to more enlightened processes and innovative solutions? While listening to this distinguished panel, the hotel begins to set up a lunch area for hundreds of conference attendees. One staff member brings all the silverware packets out and stuffs them into plastic containers. A second staff member returns a few minutes later to then remove the silverware packets and arrange them on a silver tray, before a third staff person walks over, removes the silverware packets off the tray and stuffs them into two silver buckets.

Listening to a panel discuss the art and science of innovation while watching a ten minute cluster comedy of real world business inefficiency points out that creativity and great ideas do not stand on their own merit, but must be clearly communicated and then well executed. Perhaps the innovation equation is actually an addition problem: creative thinking +strong leadership + strong players + streamlined execution = true innovation–a lot of variables, in addition to creativity, and each vitally important.

As business leaders, how well have we focused on each critical element of the innovation equation?

AmyK Hutchens, Founder and Intelligence Activist, AmyK Inc., is a speaker, trainer and business strategist. She is best known for helping business leaders capitalize on how the brain and human perception filters work to help them be more effective in business and their personal lives. Follow AmyK on Twitter @AmyKinc or visit at www.amyk.com.

A Practical Optimist

Guest Author Karel Murray shares the following:

I see it in pallid faces everywhere I go. Uncertainty, hovering over bowed heads as heavy as a rain sodden wool coat. Eyes flickering nervously across a conference room sizing up opportunities and threats. I can feel the palpable, almost compelling, desire to blame someone, something… anything. If there is a convenient scapegoat, the rest of us could feel better knowing at least we didn’t contribute to the current economic meltdown.

Or did we? That’s what is keeping me up at night.

A Great Depression survivor, my mother knew intimately about deprivation, frustration, and exhaustion. By the age of 10, bitterly brutal work consumed her life – caring for her five brothers and sisters, preparing meals, attending school, and scrubbing floors. Planting, weeding and harvesting the family garden was essential to the family’s existence. If their crops failed, it meant the real possibility of starving during the harsh winter months. As a child, I remember staring open mouthed at my grandmother’s basement shelves brimming with preserved pickles, vegetables tomato sauce, peaches. Anything that could be preserved for the winter ended up cooked and stuffed into a mason jar.

Calculating the cost of every expenditure with a cold eye, biting down on a pencil with a determinedly set mouth, my grandmother paid bills and re-calculated the family savings book as my mother looked on. The joys of childhood were considered a frivolous exercise – what good was a child if they didn’t help out the family?

I remember watching my grandfather in his white shirt and suspenders hugging a rotund belly hunched over a machine part he was repairing in his own tool shop. His mantra “work eight hours for your employer, then four hours for yourself” compelled him daily towards reaching the goal of taking care of his family. And only when that commitment had been met for the day, a cold beer in his lawn chair seemed reward enough for a job well done.

Needless to say, these embedded lessons established a work ethic in my mother that eventually transferred to her children. Work hard, conserve, buy only the best so it lasts a long time, and spend money only when necessary. Only go into debt with a well laid out plan. Spend to double your money.

But, my problem is I don’t do well with deprivation.

I am, however, fortunate to have a husband who treasures his conservative Scottish heritage when it comes to money. Heavily investing in a 401K plan before we pay ourselves seemed to be a great plan. Hard, efficiently organized work made sense to us as we applied ourselves toward the accomplishment of our dreams and hopefully a financed retirement.

But a girl just wants to have fun, doesn’t she? And that, I believe is the crux of the issue concerning our economy. Somewhere along the line, I believe people got tired of not having “stuff” and decided debt created a way of acquiring those treasures now since “life is short”. Problem is… we are living longer than ever expected and the costs to “live it up” increase every year. News pundits continually state that Americans are one paycheck away from financial ruin. Our national credit debt load is staggering and is mirrored in the national debt.

Then our recent economy shift reared its aggressively ugly head and livelihoods became threatened. Recently, I asked my husband how our 401K plan was doing – the retirement fund we had been sacrificing for the last 10 years… his normally cheerful mouth hardened into a grim line and he muttered “Don’t ask.”

A nauseating lurch of my stomach, accompanied by a sheen of sweat on my forehead, was ignored as I asked “How bad is it?”

“The portfolio is down by 50%. But, remember, you haven’t lost anything until you sell. We are now buying more mutual fund stocks than ever with our same monthly contribution because of lower stock prices. Retirement investment accounts are for the long run… so we are going to hang on tight and wait for the economy to bounce back… which it always has before. Since I don’t have to retire for another seven years, we should be golden.”

And that is why I love this man. Practical and an eternal optimist. Or he just loves me so much, he doesn’t want me to worry myself sick.

In his words, he reminded me of a simple truth…It is about opportunity…not survival. It’s about staying the course with informed optimism… working eight hours for our employer and four hours for our families – every day. In times of turmoil, I believe we have a tendency to turn inward, hunching protectively against that which wants to do us harms. Opportunity requires we reach out…adjust as needed…recognize the possibilities and persistently refuse to be beaten down.

If business, as we knew it, has been impacted severely, then look for ways to capitalize in another direction. If you can’t visualize it on your own, seek advice from people you trust. Build a mastermind group of competent, positive thinking individuals who will provide a perspective you might not have considered.

Engage in appreciating the positive things in your life… a cat purring in your lap, a child’s laughter, or a cool beverage on a warm summer night filled with the song of crickets… Relinquish worry for a short while everyday and revel in a job well done.

To my grandparents and mom…this one’s for you.

Karel Murray is a Certified Speaking Professional, author of “Hitting Our Stride: Women, Work and What Matters” and “Straight Talk: Getting Off the Curb” as well as a business speaker who helps entrepreneurs and executives resolve interpersonal issues and balance their work/personal lives. Now, you can listen to her exciting, free interviews that will help you maintain and sustain a healthy business and a healthy lifestyle at http://www.JustForAMomentPodcast.com or sign up for her highly regarded free online newsletter “Think Forward!®” at http://www.karel.com

Repeat After Me: I am NOTHING Without My Team

Guest Author Amilya Antonetti, Founder and CEO of AMA Enterprises, LLC, shares the following:

At home, at work, and where ever we go in life, the strength of our teams and our teammates make all the difference.  Yet all of us struggle in life and in business to find just the right mix of people, with the right talents, and the right attitude, to help us along the journey so that we are not just reacting to life but becoming the leaders in our life, so that we can live a life by design.

In my own journey, I learned a key lesson.  As a leader, I am NOTHING without my team.  It does not matter whether it is in my role as an entrepreneur building successful brands, as a mentor to others who dream of taking their ideas from mind to market, as a friend, or as Mom.  Everything I do I approach with a TEAM mentality. Learning how to be the leader in your own life and mastering the art of teambuilding is a key life skill.   It touches everything we do across our community, our businesses, and our families.  It takes a TEAM to win. And not just any team.  You need the right mix of unique ingredients, the right tools, and some easy to follow directions and guidelines. Teams need to know when they are working within them or have stepped out of bounds.  Developing your natural leadership style and learning to building high performance teams does not happen in an instant.  It takes time and practice.  Not to mention a bit of trial and error.  After all, we can’t master what we don’t practice.

Over the past 15 years, I have had the opportunity to share the stories of my journey with live audiences, on television, and on the radio.  Over and over again women asked me,

• “How did you do it”
• “Where can I find great teammates?
• “Why is it important to have people on my team that are different than I am?”

This year, working with my team, we released The Recipe: A fable for leaders and teams to share the lessons we have learned along the way.  Instead of making it a dry business or self help book, we wanted to make it fun and educational at the same time.  Traditional learning techniques are sometimes hard for me but give me a rhyme, jingle, or story that that I can connect with and I remember it.  Show me how something works and I can apply it.  Give me the right tools to work with, and I can master them.  And, please don’t forget the helpful hints and directions.  The best lessons are the ones we can quickly learn, grasp the concepts and implement them for our desired results.  This is the goal my team and I accepted.  We set out to weave these elements into a story that answers How, Where, and Why in a way that makes you smile.

We each bring unique talents and we need each other if we are to succeed. In creating The Recipe my team included talented artists and editors as well as wonderful friends who helped spread the word that The Recipe was a “gem of a book” and together we celebrate its success.  Learning HOW to come together in teams can be the secret ingredient that makes the difference in reaching your goals, and that supports you in creating something great, and in living your best life.

Together all things ARE possible – it just needs the right TEAM behind it.

Amilya Antonetti turned a family crisis into a life changing solution that   launched Amilya’s Soapworks, one of this first household products for the “human and earth friendly” movement which consumers are embracing in waves today.  She’s a business owner, an executive and a Mom to a teen and a tot.  A popular personality on television and radio, Amilya has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, as a regular guest on The BIG Idea with Donny Deutsch, FOX Nightly Scoreboard, MSNBC’s Your Business with JJ Ramberg, Extra, and countless international radio and television shows.  Her latest book, The Recipe: A fable for leaders and teams, shares the lessons that she learned along the way and was released in 2010.

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