MaineBusiness.com

Coming from Dallas, I understand a little craziness about snow being in the forcast, but I didn't expect it from Mainers. The BOLD Women Celebrate Entrepreneurship event scheduled for tomorrow (Tuesday) February 26, has been rescheduled for Tuesday, March 11 due to overwhelming concern about the forcast.

As independent business people we deal with all kinds of inclement situations and somehow we make it to the other side. That's not to say some steps we take should not have been more closely inspected. So, I defer to the majority and postpone the BOLD event; not for a lack of Boldness, but for a modicum of sense.

Bold Women will be celebrating Entrepreneruship on Tuesday, March 11 at the Cumberland Club, 116 High Street, Portland, ME $10 in advance or $20 at the door. Call 207-221-3492 or email me for more information.

This is National Entrepreneurship Week, February 23-March 1, 2008. That's us, at least in most people's minds. So give yourself a hearty pat on the back. Drink a toast with your beverage of choice.

This week was conceived by The Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education. They convinced Congress to pass HR 699 in support. The idea is to encourage the implementation of elementary, high school, and college programs to give students the tools so that they can become the entrepreneurs of the future.

What are those tools? I'm not exactly sure, but I am sure of one thing. Whether you're just starting your own business, or if you've been in business for a while, one of the most important things to know is what you don't know.

I've been working with small businesses, mainly independent "knowledge" professionals, for a while now. They include accountants who know all about taxes, but little about marketing. They include marketing consultants who spend all their income and forget to put some back for taxes. They include architects who can build houses, but not a retirement fund.

When I started out in business, I sure didn't know everything I needed to know - and I've still got a lot to learn. I've also had many clients, but not one of them knew everything that he or she needed.

Every one of them knew their specialty well. The lawyers knew the law and the marketers knew how to market and the commercial artists could develop great looks for a business. But none of that matters if you don't know something important, then it sneaks up on you and bites you in the backside.

This National Entrepreneurship Week let the educators worry about what to teach students so they can become entrepreneurs. In the meantime, you and I need to stop and think about what we don't know that we need to know ...then be BOLD and do something about it.

In honor of National Entrepreneurship week please join me tomorrow, Tuesday, 2/26, as BOLD Women Celebrate Entrepreneurship - a great networking event. The Cumberland Club, 116 High Street, 2/26 from 5:30 to 7:30 pm, $10 advance registration and $20 at the door. Call me for more information; 207-221-3492.

To find other special events going on this week in Maine go to www.eWeekMaine.com

I just ran across this and thought I would pass it on. Many of these free online seminars are little more than infomercials but I have higher hopes for this one. The Microsoft Small Business Summit has something for everyone in their 4-day lineup. It's a live, online broadcast March 24 - 27. Check out the Microsoft Small Business Summit.

I just came across a piece in the Bangor Daily News titled, "Technology, Creative Economy a Challenge in Maine." Here's the part of the article that caught my attention.

"The creative economy is a term coined by economist and sociologist Richard Florida in his book "The Rise of the Creative Class". The creative economy consists of any and all people who run businesses that involve creation and innovation and are frequently entrepreneurial endeavors. These people are artists, writers, architects, scientists, software engineers and graphic designers, among others."

That's us! That's you and that's me and that's every independent knowledge worker. We spend our days coming up with creative solutions for our clients and then help our clients turn them into results. That means we face our own critical challenges.

First, we have to make the time and find the space to be creative. We might be good at getting ideas, but we're more likely to have them bubble up when we're comfortable and doing something that doesn't really engage the mind. Those are things like taking a shower or doing the dishes or exercising or driving.

Then, we have to capture the ideas so we don't lose them. A small digital voice recorder, a pocket notebook or a stack of index cards are all good ways to make sure we remember the good ideas we get. I keep a pad of paper and a pen on my bedside table. I'm always waking up in the middle of the night with the greatest ideas!

We need to make sure that we get enough mind-food, and by that I mean idea diversity. Think about it as a cross-ideation of good ideas. This "cross-ideation" is one of the aspects that has made my Ocular Forum so successful. Bringing a problem to a group of business owners in varying businesses generates solutions you would never have thought about on your own. Good ideas spring up from the things we experience and think about. We get better ideas - and solutions - when we get information from a variety of sources.

Lastly, but not leastly, we must carve out the time to turn our good ideas into practical processes and take action. Nothing will happen if you don't do anything. Once we have good ideas we have to poke and prod and twist and combine them into something that works and makes a difference for us or our clients. Then we have to do something.

Be BOLD and take the action to improve your own personal creative economy.

I'm writing this post on Valentine's Day and love is in the air. Most independent professionals I meet tell me they love what they do. That's easy. Of course we do. Otherwise, we would be working for someone else.

My Bold question is: "Do you really love your business?"

It seems so simple. If you love the core work that makes you money, then you will dive into it with enthusiasm, relish the details that drive great performance, and get energy from the process. If you don't love the "business", you'll probably do better in the long term by finding something else to do.

If you love what you do, business is like a game of pinball. You do all the things you need to do to win, even the things you don't like. Then you get to keep playing without putting more money in.

Do you love your employees? If you have people working for you, do you love them? They should give you help and energy. If not, it's time to do something.

Do you love your clients? We spend a lot of time with clients. Do you love them? You do your best work with your best clients. Working with your ideal clients makes life easier, more profitable and you'll have happier clients also.

What is the common connection with the clients that you really love to work with? Figure out how to get more of them. Are there clients that you hate to deal with, who drain you of energy? It's time to take the Bold step and help them move on.

Do you make enough money? Only you know what "enough money" is for you. But if you don't make "enough" then you'll be frustrated and stressed no matter how much you love your work and your clients.

This is more than either gross or take home revenue. Do you make enough to provide the insurance you need? Are you building a retirement plan? Are you making enough to take time off?

It's easy to say you love your work without giving thought to loving your business. The BOLD thing to do is ask yourself some tough questions. Then, act on the answers.

Staples just released the results of a telephone poll of US businesses with less than 20 employees. That's me. It's probably you.

The poll-takers quizzed small business owners on their work habits. Here's the basic findings:

"For most of the managers surveyed, the standard 40-hour work week does not apply." (no kidding)

"Nearly two-thirds (62 percent) work well beyond a 40-hour week, and one in five (21 percent) work a double week, logging an extra 40 or more on-the-job hours. Those surveyed site business growth (9 percent) added responsibility (7 percent) and "trying to keep up" (5 percent) for their heavy workloads. Some managers have compensated for these increased work demands by letting work trespass into once-sacred personal time."

I knew that we worked a lot. My January 8 entry noted the survey (again, businesses with fewer than 20 employees) that found over half 'sleepwork'. Talk about working overtime.

Most of us work these long hours, in-part because we love what we do. The other reason is because we don't know any other way to build our business. It's not until you stop and take a breather that you notice just how much we are sacrificing other parts of our lives to our businesses. About a fifth of the people polled said they worked during dinner four or five nights a week. Half said they cut back on family time to work more.

This concerns for a couple of reasons:
1) We feel if we aren't doing something, we're not being productive. However, we actually need time away from work to do better at work. Study after study says that if you're rested you work better and have a better attitude. Think of all the money and effort invested in improving the quality of our products, services, staff, policies, procedures, etc. What have you invested on improving the quality of your midset? We spend so much focus on re-engineering our business but almost nothing on reengineering ourselves, the one's who actually make things work... or not.

2) We have friends and family and important people that we don't see during work yet who are vital to our well being. Those relationships can help us through tough times, as I've talked about before. Strong relationships, like successful businesses, don't happen by themselves. We have to do our part and make the investment required to keep them strong.

Some time in the next couple of days, stop for a minute. Think about how you spend your time. If it's not the way you want to be spending it plan to do something different. Then be BOLD and do it.

This falls in the 'better late than never" catagory. Thought you might like to know that this week (Feb 4 - 8) marked the second International Networking Week. Even though it's only one 'official' week, we independent types should celebrate the key role that networking plays in the development and success of our business year-round.

I just picked up Jeffrey Gitomer's Little Black Book of Connections and want to pass on a sage observation he made. "All things being equal, people want to do business with their friends." He goes on to say, "All things not being equal, people STILL want to do business with their friends." He's right, you know? We don't need more techniques and strategies. We need more friends.

When's the last time you attended a networking event looking to make friends? Be BOLD and keep that focus next time. See how it works for you.

BTW, here's a brief 8-minute video of Ivan Misner, President of BNI, talk about International Networking Week. For more information visit the International Networking Week website at www.InternationalNetworkingWeek.com.

The Portland Press-Herald recently carried a story with the headline: "Selling? She'll Find Home's Suite Spot." The main topic of the article is about Paula Jalbert's current business, staging homes for sale. But what I really found interesting was her colorful professional history that lead to this current endeavor.

She had her first business when she was 25. Since then she's had several different kinds of businesses from owning various retail stores (cards, furniture and gargoyles) to managing a spice shop in Road Town, Tortola in the BVI.

We all do what we do based on where we've been. Take Paula's story; she's owned several different businesses, worked in a number of different environments and they have all taught her lessons that she uses today. One key lesson, and one we should all take to heart, was from her earlier experiences; running retail businesses selling "products". Today she leverages that experience in her staging business by thinks of the homes she stages as "products" rather than simply real estate. She considers the target market (the most likely buyers for a particular property), and what decor would appeal to them most? The décor the buyer prefers isn’t a factor.

Consider for a moment; what your thoughts were the last time you were working on your website, a brochure, post card, or some other marketing project for your business. How many of you made a decision on a color, type font, picture, etc. because "you liked it"?

I'm working with Peter, a portfolio manager in Boston and we're discussing websites, BLOGs, writing for publications, etc. He says to me, "I really like the color combination of yellow and red. Let's do something with that." Well, that's fine that he likes yellow and red. Companies that are targeting Peter should take that into consideration. Peter, on the other hand should be more concerned with what women between the ages of 40 and 55 with non-real estate investible assets over $250,000, living in the Metro West area of Boston (his ideal client) would like to see representing their trusted investment advisor / manager. It may be yellow and red, but I'll bet not.

We "independent" professionals value our independence. That's why we chose self-employment or run our own business. A friend of mine says that as far as he's concerned, "working for someone else is the worst case scenario." However, it's important that we are not so independent that we loose site of who we need to keep happy in order to stay independent.

Take a minute and think about who your best clients are. Now consider your website, your office decor, your marketing collateral, your wardrobe (yes, wardrobe), etc. Is there a disconnect? Is what you have in place based on what you like or what will speak to your ideal clients? Be BOLD and be honest. Look for opportunities to improve your image / your brand in the eyes of your ideal target market.

The web is great. There is a vast amount of information out there that can help you have a better business and a better life. The big challenge is sorting through and finding the best resources among all the rest. Here's one I recently found that I thought you'd like.

The reporters use the web all the time and sometimes, even the NY Times reporters need to find information and don't have a good source. For more than a decade they've used various NY Times"Navigator" pages as the starting point for their searches. (Not to be confused with the Netscape Navigator Web Browser)

Rich Meislin at the Times develops and maintains the Navigator pages. I'm pointing you to the Business Navigator where you'll find links under the following general headings.

Markets
Investing
Companies
Banking & Finance
Government
Business News
Business Directories
Miscellany

Check it out. You're bound to find a source of information you didn't know about. The CEO Express link alone will keep you busy for a while. It's an unbelievable resource. Just be BOLD and watch the time. You can get "lost in search" real easily with this tool.

Last night I was in Boston at the monthly NAWBO (National Assoc. of Women Business Owners) meeting. It's a wonderful group of strong, intelligent business women running companies large and small. My business is one of the small ones and when introducing myself I continue to struggle with the "what I do" response. My work, and therefore my company, is actually a catalyst for business and professional growth. So, last night Gloria, the president of a staffing firm - $12 million in sales last year - asked me what I did, Susan, standing next to me, said "She's a wonderful business coach." Ughhhhh. Coooooach?! "Oh, no." I thought.

I thought about this on the long drive back to Maine last night. Why was I feeling this way? And I realized it was because I wasn't alone; many people have a similar perception of "coaches". Why IS that? Granted, there are a lot of coaches out there who may not be very good; but then again there are plumbers, carpenters, car mechanics, etc. who shouldn’t be out there, as well.

Why is it that top performing athletes have professional guidance from people whose sole responsibility is to help them perform better? Yet when it comes to our businesses – or, if I may be so BOLD – our lives, we think we've got it covered?

I have no idea. However, from someone who has worked with a coach, I will tell you, without a doubt, it has been worth every penny.

Here’s what it gives you:

An objective point of view. Particularly if work alone, having someone who can help you sort through the ins and outs, the opportunities and the fears is tremendously helpful. You can't see yourself working any more than an athlete can see himself playing. A coach sees what you can't.

A paid professional. Although your spouse and/or friends may be willing to listen and offer input on important issues, because of your relationship with them they will never be completely impartial. Also, with friends and your spouse it can't be all about you, all the time. On the other hand, with your coach, it is just that; all about you. Your time with the coach – as with any professional you hire (attorney, doctor, etc.) – is dedicated to you. A coach also understands when to push back, when to encourage, and when to remain absolutely silent.

A time to focus. I have to admit, there are those times when I'd rather just keep working and not take the time. Those tend to be the times I need the session the most. The appointments force you to stop running, check your course and make sure you’re headed in the right direction.

So, am I a coach? I suppose some of what I do is coaching and that’s a good thing.

If you think coaching is only for people with "problems," you're looking at the wrong side of the equation. If you want to be among the best and play in The Big Game, consider a coach. Coach Belichick would agree. Go Pats!

Two wonderful coaches right here are Rhoda Mitchell, New Leaves and
Barbara Babkirk, Heart at Work. …and if you want a catalyst to get your professional business to the next level – or, er a business coach, be BOLD and call me.