You know, there are times when my brain is simply too tired or overwhelmed to produce many (if any) new ideas. There is many a day when 4pm rolls around and I realize I haven’t thought of what to make for dinner for my family of five. I open the fridge and freezer and stand there, staring, literally hoping for something to jump out at me so I don’t have to think up what to cook. My brain is so tired I can’t even remember the standard meals I cook, much less come up with anything creative, new and exciting to try.
And then there are times, like now, that my brain is about to explode due to all the creativity coming out of it. I used to scratch down an idea on a piece of paper when it hit me. Then I started keeping them in my business notebook as they came to me more frequently. Now I’m creating whole spreadsheets of ideas to keep track of them, and they just keep coming.
Are you looking for something to write about for your blog, your newsletter, for an article, for a marketing piece, or for a special report, e-book or book?
Could you use some help brainstorming ideas for a new product, program or service you could offer?
Need a strategy for generating engaging topics for your podcasts, teleseminars, or workshops?
I’m happy to share with you a few methods I use for kicking my imagination and creativity into high gear. Hopefully you can find a few that will work for you, and you’ll be well on your way to developing some fresh content for your business this Fall.
Ten Ways to Come Up With New Content:
Focus on the part of your business you love. Just think about the parts that make you happiest. If you love talking, is there a new venue/forum that you haven’t tried yet? How could you teach others something about this thing you love?
Pick a partner and do some collaborating. You’re good at what you do; now go find somebody who complements your strengths and can help you develop your offerings in ways you couldn’t come up with on your own.
Check out your email inbox. Do you notice any frequently asked questions in there? Create a special report, an e-book, or a podcast that answers those questions and make it available to your customers and prospects. They’ll be grateful you did, and it won’t take you much creativity at all to answer these questions.
Create an add-on to something you already provide. Is your e-book/book selling well? Fantastic! Now create a workbook or study book that goes along with it so people can create their own path from the insights/lessons your book taught them. Doing teleseminars? Why not package your audio files with a questionnaire or worksheet and sell that as an information product?
How’s your existing product funnel? Take a good look at it and decide if/where there are any gaps. Do you offer products/services for free, low, medium and high-priced? Does one offering logically lead to the next, higher-priced one? Create items that fill in these gaps.
Have someone interview you (live or just recorded), asking you who your target market is and what their top challenges are. Answer these questions, and let the creative juices flow. Often times being asked questions and having to answer them in real time helps your brain think in ways that sitting at your desk all by yourself just doesn’t.
Ask your coach, mentor, board of advisors, supporters to review your website and all of your offerings. What would they like to see? Ask them to tell you what’s missing.
Keep a notebook handy. As ideas come to you, write them down. You will not remember them later. If you can’t get to your notebook, consider using the voice memo feature on your cellphone/smartphone, or even call your own answering machine and leave yourself a message with your bright idea. Do it IMMEDIATELY before you lose it! Great ideas seldom re-visit tired mompreneur brains.
Spend some time exploring–surf the web, search on keywords that are relevant to you and your business, and see what your competitors or colleauges are doing. Can you emulate something you see? Is there a way you can make it your own, with your personality, brand and flavor?
Get out of your office. Go for a walk, a hike, a bikeride, anything outdoors and in Nature. If you’ve been stuck for a while without new ideas, a change of pace and setting might be just what you need. Spend time with friends and family and turn off the “business brain” for a while. A little R&R goes a long way towards giving your mind the flexibility to generate new, different, exciting things that will benefit you, your business, and your clients.
I can honestly say that I never planned on being a radio show host, but it was only a matter of time that a person who loves to talk as much as I do could avoid it.
Back in March I signed up for an account with BlogTalkRadio and clicked a button that created my own show. A day later, I produced my first episode that was (and still is) available all over the internet. I couldn’t believe how simple it was, and I had no idea how much I’d enjoy doing it.
There is no shortage of “content” for my show–in fact, I tend to create my Audio Blogs around conversations, questions and problems that come up in my coaching sessions with my mompreneur clients. They love hearing their topics addressed on the show.
Do you have a question about your business that you’d like to hear featured on my show? Are you trying to figure out how to market what you sell, or why you can’t close a sale, or why everyone seems to love what you offer but they won’t pay for it? Or are you fed up with being the “only one” who can handle things in your life or your household, and really wish you could get some help? Tired of feeling angry, guilty or tense around the kids during the day since you know you have a week’s worth of work to get done–while being the fulltime caretaker of your children?
I understand all these feelings. I’ve been in most of these situations myself. So have nearly all of the mompreneurs I work with. And sometimes you just need to know that you’re not the only one experiencing these things or feeling this way (which I assure you–you’re not!). If you have a topic you’d like to hear or know more about, either leave a comment here or email me (lara at mombizcoach dot com), and I’ll respond to you immediately. I’ll do my best to feature all questions/comments in an upcoming Audio Blog on the Mom Biz Coach Show.
While my business coaching is aimed at supporting mom entrepreneurs, I came across this very inspiring article in Time Magazine recently that illustrates a trend I’m happy to see in the corporate world.
Women are different than men, and it turns out we do business differently than men. Well, I’m certain that the subset of women known as mompreneurs and WAHMs (work-at-home-moms) have an even more pronounced difference in their approach to business. (I know, I know, you’re laughing with me right now thinking about the last time you were on a business call while hoisting a naked toddler on your hip with one arm and cleaning up the accident she had on the kitchen floor with the other…. Yep, that’s a different way of doing business, alright!)
Read the article below and enjoy. It’s always interesting to me when large companies start emulating some of the results-oriented business strategies of entrepreneurs.
Reposted article from time Time Magazine, May 2009
Work-life balance. In most corporate circles, it’s the sort of phrase that gives hard-charging managers the hives, bringing to mind yoga-infused, candlelit meditation sessions and — more frustratingly — rows of empty office cubicles.
So, what if we renamed work-life balance? Let’s call it something more masculine and appealing, something like … um … Make More Money. That might lift heads off desks. A few people might show up at a meeting to discuss that new phenomenon driving the bottom line: Women, and the way we want to work, are extremely good for business.
Let’s start with the female management style. It turns out it’s not soft; it’s lucrative. The workplace-research group Catalyst studied 353 Fortune 500 companies and found that those with the most women in senior management had a higher return on equities — by more than a third.
Are the women themselves making the difference? Or are these smart firms that make smart moves, like promoting women? There is growing evidence that in today’s marketplace the female management style is not only distinctly different but also essential. Studies from Cambridge University and the University of Pittsburgh suggest that women manage more cautiously than men do. They focus on the long term. Men thrive on risk, especially when surrounded by other men. Wouldn’t the economic crisis have unfolded a bit differently if Lehman Brothers had had a few more women on board?
Women are also less competitive, in a good way. They’re consensus builders, conciliators and collaborators, and they employ what is called a transformational leadership style — heavily engaged, motivational, extremely well suited for the emerging, less hierarchical workplace. Indeed, when the Chartered Management Institute in the U.K. looked ahead to 2018, it saw a work world that will be more fluid and more virtual, where the demand for female management skills will be stronger than ever. Women, CMI predicts, will move rapidly up the chain of command, and their emotional-intelligence skills may become ever more essential.
That trend will accelerate with the looming talent shortage. The Employment Policy Foundation estimated that within the next decade there would be a 6 million – person gap between the number of college graduates and the number of college-educated workers needed to cover job growth. And who receives the majority of college and advanced degrees? Women. They also control 83% of all consumer purchases, including consumer electronics, health care and cars. Forward-looking companies understand they need women to figure out how to market to women.
All that — the female management style, education levels, purchasing clout — is already being used, by pioneering women and insightful companies, to create a female-friendly working environment, in which the focus is on results, not on time spent in the office chair. On efficiency, not schmoozing. On getting the job done, however that happens best — in a three-day week, at night after the kids go to bed, from Starbucks.
And here’s the real kicker. When a company gives employees freedom, it doesn’t just feel good or get shiny, happy workers — productivity goes up. Ask firms like Capitol One, which runs a company without walls or mandatory office time. Or Best Buy, which implemented a system called ROWE — results-only work environment — and found that productivity, in some cases, shot up 40%. Flexibility is no longer a favor to be handed out like candy at a children’s birthday party; it’s a compelling business strategy.
So we need to get rid of the nutty-crunchy moral component of the work-life balance and make a business case for it. It’s easy to do. In fact, a decade from now, companies will understand that hiring lots of women, and letting them work the way they want, will help them Make More Money.
___________________________
What about you? In what ways are you doing business “differently” from the way you did it in Corporate America? Or how is your strategy getting things done in unconventional ways? What are the benefits of being a WAHM when it comes to creating success in your business? Please share your story by leaving a coment, and help inspire all of us mompreneurs who sometimes get stuck on the setbacks that juggling work and motherhood can bring.
Guest post by Susan Gunelius from Entrepreneur.com
In my book, Kick-ass Copywriting in 10 Easy Steps, I teach small and mid-size business owners who can’t afford to hire professional copywriters how to write effective copy that will bring the results from their marketing efforts that they want and need. However, just as there are steps you must take to write great copy, there are also mistakes you can make that can destroy your marketing messages and reduce your ROI to a fraction of what it could have been. Whatever you do, don’t believe the five myths described below.
1. Consumers care about me and my business
No, they don’t. They care about what’s in it for them if they pull out their wallets and hand over their hard-earned money to buy your product or service. They don’t care that you’ve been a member of the local Chamber of Commerce for 20 years, and they don’t care how cute your kids are (so leave them out of your commercials, please). Consumers care about having their needs and wants fulfilled. The goal of copywriting is to convince consumers that the product or service you’re selling will meet their needs and desires, even if you have to create perceived needs and desires for them. In other words, your copy must focus on the benefits consumers will receive if they buy your product or service. It’s great that your business has operated from the same location for 10 years, but for the most part, consumers only truly care about what your business can do for them and how your business can make their lives easier or better. Those are the messages your copy should focus on in order to drive results.
2. I can use the same copy everywhere
No, you shouldn’t. Your copy should change depending on the medium where you’re using it. For example, if you’re writing copy for an outdoor billboard that consumers are likely to have only seconds to view while driving 65 miles per hour on a busy highway during rush hour, your message must be short and to the point with no room for confusion. However, if you’re writing copy for a direct-mail piece that will be sent to customers who have requested to receive information about your business, your copy should be far more detailed with messages that explain, answer questions, and create a sense of urgency to boost response rates.
3. I can use the same copy for everyone
No, that’s not a good idea. Different audiences will respond to different messages depending on their demographics, behaviors, experiences and so on. For example, if you’re writing copy for a direct-mail piece that will be sent to prior customers, your messages should be very different from those that would appear in a mailing to prospects. One audience is already very familiar with your products and services, while the other has no prior experience to draw from. Clearly, the messages to both audiences must be different to achieve the maximum response rates possible.
4. I need to sound smart in my copy Not always. The language and tone of your copy should speak directly to the people who are likely to see it. For example, if you’re writing copy for teenagers, your copy should be quite different from copy targeted at senior citizens. Consider McDonald’s, which goes so far as to change references to its brand name depending on the audience. Turn on MTV and you’re sure to see a McDonald’s commercial referencing the fast food chain as “Mickey D’s”. It’s also important to omit jargon unless your copy is intended for an audience that will understand and expect it. For example, a business-to-business ad might be an appropriate place for jargon. Again, it always depends on the target audience that you ultimately want to respond to your marketing message.
5. It’s easy to write copy
Never. Writing marketing copy is like no other form of writing. It defies many of the rules you may have learned in English class, and it relies more on subtle persuasion, psychology, creativity and an understanding of your specific business and consumers than any other type of writing. Not all writers are good copywriters, and not all copywriters are good writers. If you decide to write your own copy, study the craft prior to putting pen to paper. And if you decide to hire a copywriter to help you, remember that not all copywriters are the same. Only invest in a copywriter who has experience and takes the time to understand your business and your customers.
Susan Gunelius is president and CEO of KeySplash Creative Inc., a full service marketing communications provider and branding consultancy, and owner of WomenOnBusiness.com, one of the leading blog communities for business women. Susan is a marketing, branding, social media and copywriting expert with nearly 20 years of experience in the field. Her clients include small and large businesses around the globe. She is the author of severalmarketing, branding and social media books, includingKick-ass Copywriting in 10 Easy Steps published by Entrepreneur Press.
In one of my mom entrepreneur coaching groups, I was recently asked the following question:
Of the various marketing tools and methods you use, which has yielded the best financial return?
Can you guess my answer? I bet you can.
My favorite marketing tool is TWITTER. I get several leads a day directly from twitter. That’s why I’m so passionate about it. Let me expand a little on that, though.
I just hosted a teleseminar yesterday with my coach, Rhonda Hess, about automating your sales process to attract thousands of ideal clients. (You can click here if you’d like to listen to the podcast on-demand.)
In that teleseminar, Rhonda explained how we should all focus on a BLOG as our centerpiece. Write in your authentic voice, share your thoughts, wisdom, opinions, photographs of your work or products, lessons learned from a situation or experience that is relevant to your target market, etc. and you’ll start attracting readers who want to spend more time with you and ultimately purchase what you sell. Then everytime you post to your blog, you share it on twitter (and facebook and LinkedIn, etc.) with a link back to your blog. By doing this, along with asking for and responding to comments to your blogposts, you are building relationships and increasing the “stickiness” of your blog. Internet marketers use the term “stickiness” to refer to how compelling your website or blog is and how long your prospects “stick around” to read more on it. I use twitter as a vehicle to connect with people, to build relationships, and to deliver prospects back to my website and blog so they can learn more about what I do. Upon checking my blog statistics, the top referrer to my blog and website is almost always twitter.
Twitter is, of course, a free tool, but it does cost me my time. As a mompreneur, time happens to be my most expensive and valuable asset. That said, I spend very little time on twitter most days. I usually pop on and off for 1-5 minutes at a time several times a day. There are days I never logon to twitter, and then there are times when the kids are in bed that I’ll spend two hours on twitter chatting with friends and potential clients. I also use several twitter integration tools so that lots of what I tweet can occur automatically, saving me a lot of time.
As a return on my investment, I am currently getting a couple of warm leads each day from twitter. Given my very limited work schedule of only 10 hours a week (client-facing time), this is more than enough to fill my pipeline.
My second favorite marketing tool is my BlogTalkRadio Show. I’m finding that people all over the world are hearing me on the internet and already feel related to me because of this. As a result, my prospects are ready to hire me before we ever speak in person.
People like to consume their information in different formats, so if you’re not currently using audio or video as part of your marketing strategy, it would be worthwhile to consider adding these options. If you have no clue how you could integrate audio and video into an effective marketing strategy for your business, let’s set up a free 20-minute brainstorming session and get you started.
So what are your favorite marketing tools? Do you enjoy marketing or prefer to delegate it to someone else? Do you spend most of your marketing budget on traditional (print, radio, tv) methods or on Social Media Marketing? Please join the discussion and leave a comment below.
If you’re looking for a silver bullet, you won’t find that sorta thing on my blog. Ever.
That said, I do believe it’s both possible and necessary for mompreneurs to find ways to make more money while working less.
I’ve been answering a lot of questions in my coaching groups lately about the idea of creating a sustainable business model for mom entrepreneurs and work at home moms. The bottom line is this: if you’re running a business that is running you ragged, stressing you out, taking up all of your time and leaving very little of you for your family to enjoy, then you (and your business) won’t last for long.
One of the best ways to make your business sustainable is to learn how to automate some of the actions and processes you do over and over. We all have to develop strategies to find new clients and keep our sales pipelines full. This takes a lot of time, effort and energy for all of us mom entrepreneurs. Think about it–if you could get these tasks that you have to do repeatedly off your to-do list, you could spend your time doing something else, like go on a bike ride with the kids, or read a magazine while the kids run through the sprinkler, or you could spend some time creating a vision for the future of your business rather than just scrambling through all the work that has to get done.
Wanna learn some tricks that will help you get your business working while you’re working on your tan this summer?
Join me on Tuesday, June 23rd, at 12 pm ET when my special guest, Rhonda Hess, teaches us “How to Automate Your Business to Attract Thousands of Ideal Clients.” Rhonda is a Coaching Business Success Strategist and founder of Prosperous Coach. Best of all, she’s MY business coach! I’m delighted to share my fabulous coach and mentor with all of my listeners.
This free teleseminar is part of my WoMEN: What Mom Entrepreneurs Need Series. You can register to receive the freebies, Special Reports and other offers my guests make available to our listeners by going to www.whatmomentrepreneursneed.com and filling in the email form at the top of the page. You’ll also be notified when I add more speakers and more topics (which I occasionally do).
I know that I’m looking for ways to get out of the office and spend the lazy, unstructured time with my family that summer always brings. Having some systems that allow me to attract exactly the clients I want will give me the freedom to do just that!
You can listen live (or on demand once the call is over) via phone or over the internet. Just go to BlogTalkRadio to get details.
Do you have questions for me or Rhonda? Leave them here and we’ll do our best to address them on the call, or you can call in live to the show (go to BlogTalkRadio to get the dial-in instructions).
Many of us mompreneurs try to protect or hide the fact that we’re also solopreneurs, a company of one.
Why?
For most, we’re concerned that we won’t be seen as credible, professional, established, or simply “big enough” as compared to our competitors who have whole departments working for them.
But is this necessarily true? What if the thing that’s most appealing to your potential clients is your uniqueness? Are you trying to conceal that uniqueness in your marketing efforts?
If you’re using the “royal we” on your website rather than speaking straight from your heart and gut, chances are you’re not attracting your ideal clients and you’re spending a lot of time and energy trying to be something you’re not. I’m going to talk more about this on my BlogTalkRadio show in a few minutes. You can click here to listen live or on-demand (whenever it fits into your schedule) to learn how being real speaks a lot louder and sends a better message than believing that what you are isn’t enough.
With my three kids, who are almost 7, 5 and 2.5, I find that I really do need to be reminded that I’ll miss these days of being constantly needed. Quite honestly, there are days that I need to be reminded this about every half hour. Knowing that I’ll miss it doesn’t always make it easy to deal with the present moments that feel like eternity sometimes. It has nothing to do with how much I love my kids and everything to do with the developmental stages they (and I) go through. I can handle the whining, hitting, scratching, fighting, stealing, tattling, asking for snacks every 10 minutes, constant struggle to keep the toys picked up, the complaints about being bored or hating the food I work so hard to serve them, constantly being interrupted from loading the dishwasher or folding the clothes to wipe up another accident on the floor, then the tantrum that ensues when it’s time to try to get clothes onto my 2yo daughter who just wants to be naked all the time…but only if I’ve also done some things to take care of myself. I really can’t handle all that, especially in its 24/7 constancy, when I haven’t had a break from it in weeks, months, years. As I get older and grow in my role of motherhood, I find I’m having to learn how to take care of myself again just as much as I have learned to take care of my children.
Up until Thursday last week, I couldn’t last more than about 30 minutes from the moment I woke up in the morning until the first time I lost my temper with one of the kids. True, the littlest trigger could set me off (and my 2yo is nothing if not a master of stomping on all my triggers first thing in the morning!). Until Thursday, I could barely think about the fact that the kids will be out of school in two weeks, and then we have the long summer before us to be together constantly….All I could think was: “Oh my God.”
These are the thoughts of a woman who felt trapped, exhausted, stressed out, worn down, who couldn’t enjoy her kids.
Thankfully, on Friday morning, I woke up with a smile on my face, knowing that in a few hours, after the morning rush of prepping breakfast, lunch and dinner and getting everyone dressed, fed, clean and out the door to school, I was going to have two full days and one whole night to myself! And better yet, I got to spend it with two of my fabulous girlfriends! I had just about forgotten what it’s like to be able to do whatever I wanted to do, eat when I want, talk, relax, sleep when it suited me, and not have to worry about how everyone was doing. It felt so great to be selfish and self-centered for two whole days. Before this weekend, I hadn’t been away from my kids (and my house, with the laundry and all the responsibilities there, plus my business) since October last year. Living in Canada when our families are back in the States is a big reason for this. It’s just hard to get away without someone to care for the babes when they’re so little. So I just wanted to share that, although I was long overdue, a weekend away gave me the chance to recharge so I can love my kids when I’m with them. I’m the kind of mom who still needs some selfish time. When I don’t take care of myself, I can’t be the mom I want to be. When I do, I’ve definitely got more of myself to give to my family.
I think I’ll book a couple more of these small getaways this summer!
You signed up for both motherhood and being an entrepreneur (What were you thinking? Ha! You’d be in great company here .
You thought you’d be able to work less and be with your family more by working for yourself, but have found quite the opposite to be true.
You have noticed your competition doing strange, interesting, amazing things and are feeling like your own new ideas are about as interesting as reading “Good Night, Moon” for the 23rd time in a row to your toddler.
You’re ready to throw in the towel and “get a real job” (like the one you left behind a while ago because it no longer meshed with your values and priorities).
You have so many great ideas but lack the ability or knowledge of how to get them done.
You work because you are driven by your passion and purpose.
You are tired of doing your work for free or very little pay.
You realize you can’t call it a business if you don’t make a profit at some point.
You aren’t clear on your target market or how to reach them or how to create solutions to their problems.
Your heart tells you you’re doing the right thing, but your spouse or your family doesn’t understand why you’re working (and in fact, even resents your work).
If even a couple of these statements remind you of words you’ve heard coming out of your mouth lately, chances are you’re ready for a change. You’ve tried everything you know how to do to be successful, or to get the results you want, but nothing seems to work. That’s okay. We have all been there, and done that.
In fact, all the mom entrepreneurs who are members in my coaching groups have “been there, done that.” Most of the statements above come from comments made by my clients at the beginning of my program.
Here’s what they say once we’ve been working together for a while:
“Lara, you really have a way of saying exactly what I need to hear. I wonder sometimes if you’re somehow reading my mind.”
“I did exactly what you told me to do and I’m getting new customers and new orders from twitter several times a week now!”
“I didn’t realize before I joined this group how lonely I was. It’s so great to have a group of women I can trust and bounce my ideas off of. I love how we trade ideas with each other. It’s like we’re each others’ “Board of Advisors.”
“The most valuable thing I got from our coaching call today is that I’m not alone in feeling like I’m the only one who doesn’t understand this stuff, and the inspiration to stay committed to my goals thanks to everyone’s support!”
“Everytime I hear one of the other members share a story about her success, I get so charged up because I realize I can achieve my own version of success, too! You girls are amazing and are motivating the heck out of me!”
I’m a woman, a wife, a mom to three kids under the age of seven, and I’m a coach and an entrepreneur because I need to work in order to be satisfied and happy. It’s who I am. I’m a straight-shooter, an open and honest communicator, and extremely compassionate while still supporting you to do what you’re committed to, even if it’s hard and a little (or a lot) scary. I’ve learned a lot in my four years of coaching and running a business while raising a family. And I’d love to share everything I know about helping you be successful in the work you do while creating a life you love to live.
Care to join us? I have four openings in one of my mom entrepreneur coaching groups right now. We meet the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of each month for an hour at Noon ET via my free conference line. The cost is $195/person (with a maximum of five participants per group). Plan to make a six month commitment so you’ll get the full value of the coaching experience.
Call me (519-990-4458), email me at lara (at) mombizcoach (dot) com, or tweet me if you’d like to schedule a 20 minute session to brainstorm an idea and see if we’re a good match for each other.
Is it just me, or is the crazy busy-ness of summer all ready full upon us?
There is so much going on for mom entrepreneurs right now. What an exciting time for us to be in business, and for us to be learning and growing!
I have not one, but TWO very special teleclasses scheduled for next week to tell you about. One is about my new, favorite, hot topic: publicity for mompreneurs. The other is about one of the most important, foundational requirements for a successful life: taking exquisite care of yourself.
On Monday night, June 8th, at 8pm ET, I will host a special episode of my BlogTalkRadio Show with special guest Helen Coronato of weekendpublicist.com. Helen is a publicity guru who has created a fabulous virtual workshop in which entrepreneurs can create their very own press kits in one weekend. If you’ve been wondering about how to get the media attention you deserve without spending several thousand dollars, Helen’s tools, templates, live feedback and coaching will help you do just that. Our show will tell you all about her upcoming virtual workshop (on June 13-14) so you’ll know exactly what to expect. And there’s a special deal for Mom Biz Coach show listeners–you can’t afford to miss this, moms!
*** If you’d like to be eligible for the special discount Helen is offering to our show guests, be sure to swing by www.whatmomentrepreneursneed.com and fill in the email form. ***
And then on Tuesday, June 9th, we welcome LaSara Firefox as our guest speaker in the WoMEN: What Mom Entrepreneurs Need Teleseminar Series. In the sixth installment of this series, LaSara will share with us some “Daily Rituals for Self-Care,” something most of us mom entrepreneurs don’t get enough of. LaSara, mother of two, is a successful author (Sexy Witch a non-fiction/self help book), a life coach and NLP practicioner, and founder the Ecstatic Presence Project and Global Family Awakening: an educational, peace and humanitarian family adventure club. With all she has going on in her own life, LaSara is focused on creating support systems that support your whole self!
I feel so fortunate to be able to surround myself with such wise, supportive and generous women as Helen and LaSara. Please mark your calendars and visit the Mom Biz Coach Show on BlogTalkRadio for call-in and listening options for both shows. You can even set up an email reminder so you don’t forget!
I look forward to hearing you on the call!
If you have questions or comments for either of my guests this week, you can leave them here and I’ll do my best to address each of them.
And then there are times, like now, that my brain is about to explode due to all the creativity coming out of it. I used to scratch down an idea on a piece of paper when it hit me. Then I started keeping them in my business notebook as they came to me more frequently. Now I’m creating whole spreadsheets of ideas to keep track of them, and they just keep coming.
Susan Gunelius is president and CEO of KeySplash Creative Inc., a full service marketing communications provider and branding consultancy, and owner of WomenOnBusiness.com, one of the leading blog communities for business women. Susan is a marketing, branding, social media and copywriting expert with nearly 20 years of experience in the field. Her clients include small and large businesses around the globe. She is the author of several marketing, branding and social media books, including Kick-ass Copywriting in 10 Easy Steps published by Entrepreneur Press.
One of the best ways to make your business sustainable is to learn how to automate some of the actions and processes you do over and over. We all have to develop strategies to find new clients and keep our sales pipelines full. This takes a lot of time, effort and energy for all of us mom entrepreneurs. Think about it–if you could get these tasks that you have to do repeatedly off your to-do list, you could spend your time doing something else, like go on a bike ride with the kids, or read a magazine while the kids run through the sprinkler, or you could spend some time creating a vision for the future of your business rather than just scrambling through all the work that has to get done.
If you’re using the “royal we” on your website rather than speaking straight from your heart and gut, chances are you’re not attracting your ideal clients and you’re spending a lot of time and energy trying to be something you’re not. I’m going to talk more about this on my BlogTalkRadio show in a few minutes. You can click 
So I just wanted to share that, although I was long overdue, a weekend away gave me the chance to recharge so I can love my kids when I’m with them. I’m the kind of mom who still needs some selfish time. When I don’t take care of myself, I can’t be the mom I want to be. When I do, I’ve definitely got more of myself to give to my family.
You signed up for both motherhood and being an entrepreneur (What were you thinking? Ha! You’d be in great company here 
.
and for us to be learning and growing!
