Be Green – reduce your mail!

If you are like many Americans, you did some or all of your holiday shopping over the internet last year. You purchased items from web pages and online stores that you don’t normally shop. You purchased from Smith and Hawken for your cousin who is into gardening, and your mom is a huge fan of J Jill. But you-–not so much.

And now in January, you are starting to receive catalogs from companies that you have no interest in…and your mailbox is beginning to get crowded with unwanted catalogs. Rather than having to contact each one to stop the mailings, there is a FREE and easy way to remove yourself!

Visit the Catalog Choice and you can easily remove yourself. Sign in and then select from thousands of catalogs that you no longer wish to receive. It just can’t get any easier. The mailbox will be relieved and your holiday bills will be much easier to find! Isn’t that great! Check it out, it really is simple!

While you are on the site, go to the blog and check out the Park School video. Third graders rule!

Create The Life You Deserve!

 Each and every once of us have so much in life to be thankful for; however, some people simply complain about what they don’t have. I find myself asking a simple question quite frequently–What are you doing to make the effort to go out and get what you really want?

And do you know what I most often hear? Excuses! That’s right, it is easier to sit around and complain than to actually make the effort to go out and create the life you really want. The silliest thing to believe is that you can keep doing the same thing repeatedly and get different results.

But isn’t that what you do? Let’s be honest, that is exactly what most people do and that is why they are unhappy with where their lives are. We must always remember that life is not a spectator sport! Your life is to be lived fully and passionately. So if you’re not jumping out of bed each morning excited about what adventure the day will bring, perhaps you need to strive for more in your life.

Believe it or not, but you are fully capable of creating the life you dream of; the live you deserve. Everything you want in life can be yours and it all starts with a dream. So what is your new life going to be like? Remember, dream BIG! When you’ve got your dreams, all you need to do is simply work towards them and accomplish what you want with determination and a positive mindset.

So dream about the life you want, the life you truly see yourself living; but instead of just dreaming about it any longer, go out and make it happen!

Marketing Is NOT Selling!

  Most people equate marketing with the dreaded “S” word–Selling. Successful marketers know that marketing is not selling, marketing is about education.

What? Education? What does education have to do with selling you ask? Everything. Your position as a successful marketer is that you will educate as many people as possible about your service or product. When you come from a point of service, a point of educating consumers, all the dynamics change.

This is why it is so important to have systems in place to help you educate your prospects. For instance in my business Girls Who Network, we have several educational systems in place. We have the blog, which you’re reading, that provides a lot of useful information for our prospects. We have monthly newsletters that provides useful information, we have a free weekly call called Girl Power Hour that provides useful information and we offer strategy session that provide education as well.

Girls Who Network comes from a point of serving and educating the community, this way interested prospects have the opportunity to contact us and see if they want what we have to offer. By educating them we have broken down the traditional “I don’t want to be sold” barriers.

So think about your business. Rather than “selling” your prospects, how can you “educate” your prospects. Hey “teacher” try this and watch your sales soar!

Will Your Business Survive?

When you first start your business, you hear all the stories and statistics about how few businesses actually grow and thrive after the initial startup. Starting your business is just like anything that’s new, it’s fun and exciting. And then it becomes less fun and it gets harder and harder until it’s really not that much fun at all.So what can you do to keep the thrill and excitement alive in your business and make sure it survives? Hire a coach! There comes a time in everyone’s business when they need to reach out and get the support they need.

Shama Hyder founder of After The Launch is a small business consultant and coach that specializes in working with businesses that are going through these “growing pains”. Shama has the expertise, knowledge, resources and team that will help you stay the course and keep moving forward building a successful business.

Unlike other business consultants, Shama has a coaching background so she helps you deal with the emotions that you are going through as you build your business. Starting and running your own business can be the quite the roller coaster ride and Shama helps you celebrate the “ups” and get through the “downs”.

As a small business entrepreneur many of us need the support of a coach, so that we can make if through the difficult times. Running a small business can be very lonely and many of us need someone that can listen to our frustrations and give us feedback to keep going and keep growing.

Shama offers the best of both worlds, she’s not only a small business consultant and coach, but she too is an entrepreneur, so she has walked a mile in our shoes. Shama is not only insightful but she has the energy and positive spirit that will help you through the toughest of times. Shama has the unique ability to make you feel courageous and hopeful while also helping you develop business strategies that will help your business survive.

I believe that many businesses would not have failed if the business owners were able to keep their spirits alive. And that’s what Shama Hyder provides the motivation, inspiration and expertise to help you and your business survive and thrive.

And not only is Shama the best when it comes to all things business, this gal has it going on in the kitchen as well. If you’re lucky enough to work with Shama she may give you the best chocolate cake recipe ever! Me being the lucky girl that I am, I was able to squeeze the secret recipe out of her and if you’re ever having a bad day, what’s better than the best chocolate cake in the world to make a girl feel better!

Social Networking Helps You Make Friends and Influence Spiders

 Social bookmarking is a system of sharing internet bookmarks with other Internet users. There are many websites that allow you to share your favorite web pages and network with other users. Here are a few of the most popular:

Technorati – This site allows users to share their blogs, photos, videos and more and boasts almost a million and a half visitors each month.

del.icio.us – This site is a very popular and was one of the first social bookmarking sites to really take off.

Digg – This site receives 8.7 million visitors each month. Visitors can look up any topic and receive instant information and statistics.

StumbleUpon – This is a relatively new site and it combines myspace with social bookmarking. Users can make up 5 of their own pages on any topic they want.

Reddit -This site allows users to view what’s new, what’s hot at the moment and what the weekly stats are.

MyBlogLog – This site combines social bookmarking, blogging and social networking.

ma.gnolia – This site isn’t quite as big as some of the others but it is very easy to use and has a lot of information to make the process of social bookmarking understandable. This is a great site to get started with.

These sites are all varied and, while they share in social bookmarking, they are all geared towards different audiences. To get the most out of these sites you may want to combine the use of several of them. For instance, you can list your blogs on Technorati and ping the site when you update your blogs; then join a site such as StumbleUpon and set up five web pages about various topics found on your own website.

For instance, if your website featured information on women entrepreneurs, one of your StumbleUpon sites could feature information on time management for women entrepreneurs and another page could feature information on setting up a home office for women entrepreneurs.

Meanwhile, keep your bookmarks in del.icio.us to share with other users and visit a site such as Tailrank to keep track of what other people are blogging about. This can inspire new blog posts for your own blog, which would then mean you’d have more pings for Technorati and the cycle would just start over.

All of these elements would work together to create more buzz for your website and introduce you to people with similar interests. This could lead to more web traffic and even some future joint venture partners, which, in turn would lead to even more traffic.

For all you internet newbies out there (like me,) visit Heather Masson, she’s the go-to-gal on Internet Marketing, Web 2.0 and social networking. Heather gives you the latest, greatest tips and advice and cuts through all the hype. Heather also makes all the “geek speak” easy to understand.

How to Become Famous!

Want to create a little buzz about your business? Here are some step by step strategies you can use to get your message out and position yourself for success.

• Create your “pitch” and develop a news “hook”
• Put out online and offline news releases on a regular basis
• Appear on television, start local and build to national appearances
• Do radio and podcast interviews, these can be done over the phone, so look outside your locale
• Determine community needs and find a way to fill them, this will give you great local publicity
• Find a way to tie-in to charity events
• Do public speaking
• Write a book and become known as the expert
• Write articles to submit online to ezine directories

So there you have it, strategies anyone can use to become famous!

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

 I love to ask the question “Who wants to be a millionaire?”, everyone gets so excited! Want to get a crowd of people sitting on the edge of their seats listening to every single word you say? Tell them you’ll share the secrets to becoming a millionaire!

Then just for fun, I ask the following question; “Who wants to work 60-80 hours each week, have all their friends and family telling them that they’re crazy, “it’ll never work”, no money or time for vacations, work through the weekends, pinch pennies till it hurts and feel really lonely most of the time because no one else believes in you or your dream?”. Funny thing about that question, no one says they want that kind of life. But guess what, that’s how most millionaires start off.

I know there are lots of people out there talking about how easy it is to become a millionaire, that there’s no struggle involved. Okay, if it’s that easy and there’s no struggle involved why isn’t everyone a millionaire then? I’ll let you in on a big secret … it isn’t easy!

Now remember I said it wasn’t easy, I didn’t say you couldn’t do it. The question is are you willing to make the commitment and do whatever it takes to create the life of your dreams or are you going to settle for mediocrity? Do you want spend the rest of your life, thinking I shoulda, coulda, woulda?

Now I’m not an authority on this, but I think we only go through this great big, incredible adventure called life …once. So why not make your life the best life you could ever possibly imagine! All those well-meaning people around you telling you what a failure you’ll be, those are their insecurities talking, it has nothing to do with you and what you’re capable of. Besides it’s your life not theirs, why would you live your life based on what they want you to do?

Do you want to come to the end of your life and realize that you were living someone else’s dream and not yours? I’m not saying everyone wants to be a millionaire or should be a millionaire. But I do think everyone has a dream for their life, so whatever your dream don’t you owe it to yourself to go out and live it?

Who cares if your dream seems wild and crazy, if it’s what you want and you’re willing to do whatever it takes to make it happen, think about the wild ride you’ll have along the way. Sure you’ll get scared, you’ll doubt yourself and the sacrifices may be many. But what an incredible, happy life you’ll live! And isn’t that what life is truly about … being happy? So what’s your dream? Who wants to be a millionaire?

Business Startup Tips: Licenses and Permits

When you’re first getting started in your business, you may not realize that you may need some licenses and permits to operate. Some licenses and permits are expensive so you’ll need to figure that into your startup costs. Also, some licenses and permits may be difficult to get, such as a liquor license for your new restaurant. Make sure you’re following all the rules and regulations, you don’t want to work hard and build your business only to have it closed down because you failed to get the necessary permits and licenses.

Here’s a list of the most common licenses and permits; regulations are different for different businesses and vary according to location as well. Do your due diligence and make sure you’re compliant.

Fictitious Name (DBA)-If you’re a sole proprietor or partnership and choose to operate a business under a name other than your own name, this is called a fictitious name (DBA “doing business as”). You may be required to register your fictitious name.

Business License - Contact your city’s business license department to get a business license. This will give you the right to conduct business in your city.

Health Department Permit - You’ll need this to sell food directly or indirectly to consumers. The health department will want to inspect your food preparation facilities before giving you a permit. Some cities have strict gidelines and requirements governing where you can prepare food and may require a commercial kitchen facility.

Liquor, Wine and Beer Licenses - In many states you’ll need different permits to serve wine, beer and hard liquor, check your local regulations carefully. The rules and regulations for these types of licenses are very strict and can be confusing, contact your local alcohol beverage control agency.

Fire Department Permit - Again whether or not you need this permit depends on your local ordinances. If you have an office where people will congregate (such as an office, restaurant or store) you’ll need one of these permits.

Sign Permit - Cities may have restrictions on the signs you can use outside your business. Check you local regulations as well as with the landlord if you lease business space.

County Permits - If your business is located outside a town or jurisdiction you may need this license.

State License - Check any regulations that may apply to your specific industry. You may require a state license to practice certain occupations such as medicine, dental, hairdresser, chiropractor, nursing and a spa facilities to name a few.

Federal License - Federal licenses are genrally for radio and television stations, meat packers and investment firms.

Air and Water Control Licenses and Permits - If you burn any materials, discharge anything into sewers or waterways or use products that produce gas you’ll require an air and water pollution permit.

This is a quick overview of licenses and permits that you may need for your business. Always check your local, state and industry requirements to make sure you’re in compliance.

Where Can a Hip Chick Go for Automotive Advice? Ask Patty!

What’s a girl to do when she has a serious question about her car? Well there’s a great web site just for us chicks that are totally clueless about cars, it’s called Ask Patty.

You can ask Patty just about anything related to the automotive industry; you can get advice on car purchases, financing, maintenance, and other automotive related topics. “Patty” also made new car buying easier for us girls. Shop for your new car at Patty’s network of certified chick-friendly car dealerships throughout the United States. Another smart, savvy woman entrepreneur building a business while helping the girlfriends out!

Do You Run Your Business Like a Girl?

Did you know that men and women run their businesses differently? Women entrepreneurs focus on passion, intuition, developing relationships and while they’re looking for profits, they’re also looking for balance and flexibility in their lives.

Elizabeth Cogswell Baskin wrote a great book titled How to Run Your Business Like a Girl. The book gives you the inside scoop, all the details that other successful women entrepreneurs share about starting and running successful businesses. And don’t think it’s all a bed of roses, they share everything; good and bad.

What makes this book so great is the women in it share the details of how they started and built their businesses and it’s presented in an entertaining style; you feel like these are your girlfriends sharing their secrets. The women all seem down to earth sharing their successes, struggles and failures.

How To Run Your Business Like a Girl is full of great tips, resources and strategies, I highly recommend this book to all aspiring women entrepreneurs as well as women that currently have an existing business

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