Lip-Sticking

Stumbling Right Along...

by Yvonne DiVita

It's 2:00 a.m. and you're up pacing the floor, mind racing with thoughts of this, that and the other thing. You can't sleep, there's far too much going on in the business to sleep! You have orders to fill, or clients to call, or blog posts to write, or any number of other things that keep popping into your head like little soap bubbles... clinging, the way soap does, to your brain cells, preventing you from sleeping.

Does pacing help? Does braving the still, cold night... disturbing the cat despite your best efforts to be quiet... work? Are you now in control of those nagging thoughts or...are they just multiplying, even as you struggle to tame them?

Being a small business owner is hard. Yes, it is! Generally, if it's your business, you're in charge and regardless of how many employees you have, or contract workers, or even volunteers... the buck stops with you and if orders don't go out, or if they're mangled somehow, or if someone on staff has words with a client or if orders are down this month and payroll is up and... you get the drift. IF anything happens that causes angst, it's your fault, it's your responsiblity, and you'd better fix it!

Taking Steps Toward A More Accountable Business

Guest post by Blog Manager Robbi Hess

As a solopreneur that works from home I have the luxury and freedom of a schedule and wardrrobe of my own making. I also have the isolation and loneliness and void of having no one to bounce ideas off of and no one to be accountable to. I don't have a boss hanging over my shoulder expecting resutls by 5 pm. Sure, I have clients that expect results, but as long as they're delivered in a timely fashion, it doesn't really matter if I perform at 6 am or 6 pm or midnight, right? Wrong... if I want to have any kind of a lifestyle.

Last week I made the leap and "got" an accountability partner. My partner, Anne McAuley, is involved in the same field of expertise that I am and that's a boon as we know the obstacles faced in that career path and we can help each other brainstorm and our connections feed off of each other. We sent messages to each other of the items to which we wanted to be held accountable and when we got on the phone we hashed them out, set goals and planned for another talk. I think it's going to work! 

Friday Musings - The Dad Factor

by Yvonne DiVita <<<< We're on Facebook... didn'tcha know!

I have a friend who writes a parenting blog. It’s a great blog, full of eating healthy, educational musings and advice and other kid topics. It’s a group blog with other writers who feel their comments on parenting are important. The difference about this parenting blog is that… it’s written by a Dad. And, the other members are also Dads. These are men who care about their children – they take them to the doctor, they shop for them, they read them stories, they go to parent/teacher conferences. In essence, these are the other half of the parenting equation, and they’d like a little recognition, please.

“Aren’t Dads important, too?” my friend asked me one day during a conversation about how ignored and neglected Dad bloggers are.

“Of course!” I said. But, then I began to wonder – I may think Dads are important, but the consumer brands paying daily homage to Mom bloggers don’t seem to feel that way. Dads are routinely ignored in their sales and marketing messages. Why is that?  

In the early days of blogging, before the popularity of sharing thoughts, experiences and career advice online became not only acceptable but sought after content, even Moms felt ignored. It seemed that the prevailing 20^th century idea of a Mom was more connected to Betty Crocker than Anne Mulcahy . Moms  who blogged weren’t being asked their opinion. They weren’t being sought after as brand ambassadors, and they certainly weren’t courted as conference attendees or speakers. Moms were the silent majority. When they did get noticed, it was likely in a story asking why anyone would pay attention to them  –Moms talking about poopy diapers and baby formula – who wants to read about that?

The Key to Getting Your Team on Track—Give them All D’s

Guest blog by AmyK Hutchens, AmyK International, Inc.

Imagine if you could get your team on board to work in concert and change the future of your company for the better. What if, in the process, you were also able to give them a greater sense of worth and to inspire them to work toward new goals as a team?

Which enhancements to our product or service will make the biggest difference?  How can we cut costs?  Do things better, faster? Stand out from the competition? Every day you are faced with a myriad of challenges in making important decisions, creating innovative plans and taking action! The most critical of these steps is the initial decision you make, and I’m here to let you in on a secret to success – the best decisions are often not made alone.  By charting the path alone and expecting your team to follow you are missing out, not only on important feedback, but on using the decision-making process to gain buy-in and acceptance.  Instead, you will be amazed at the options that will arise when you give your team D’s.

Thursday musings: The Power of a Woman's Face

by Yvonne DiVita

Helen of Troy is thought to be one of the most beautiful women in the universe. I will admit I know little of the Greek myth other than that - and I have no idea what the concept of 'beauty' was back then. But, the myth of Helen of Troy perseveres and the world continues to think of her beauty as awe-inspiring.

So, too, we hear people marvel at the Mona Lisa and her enigmatic smile - often calling her, "beautiful." One expects in her day, she did exude the beauty given to women of class. 

In today's world, neither woman would likely be labelled beautiful. These are women who appear, to me, at least, to be bare of face (no false eyelashes, or lipstick, or mascara, or under-eye concealer)... these are women who were confident, worshipped, and appreciated, for their femininity - more than the length of their eyelashes, or the color of their lips.

Mind you, I know women from time immemorial have used aids to enchance their cheeks, and lips, and hair - the better to appeal to the men in their lives. However, for the most part, women born before the acceptance of full-face makeup relied on other means to be enhancing, and were often criticized if they stooped to artificial means to be more beautiful. Of course, no woman of the day would have been seen with... spectacles (glasses, to you and me: remember: Dorothy Parker said it best: men seldom make passes at girls who wear glasses.)

Enter - the current discussion over Hillary Clinton appearing bare-faced, with glasses, on camera.

Friday Musings: Why are politicians so angry?

by Yvonne DiVita

I get it. All's fair in love, war and politics. So, you have to be angry and confrontational, if you want to win. Or do you?

Is it about tearing down the other guy, the other party, the other whatever? Or, is it about showing me what you're going to do that's better? I say it's the latter, but none of today's politicians have gotten that memo. Come to think of it, no politician in the history of politcis, well, in the history since I've been following politics, has gotten that memo. 

A lot of politician say that's what they're going to do: "I'm not running a hate campaign! I'm running on my princicples! I'm being honest and forthright and on the side of the people."

Yeah, sure you are. If you're on the side of the people... answer me this:

The Woman Who Made Furs Fabulous

Article by Chloe Spencer 

While I was doing research for my Huffington Post article I was writing on the fur industry and why you should buy faux fur, I came across a site called Fabulous-Furs. But the furs on this site were faux, and looked just as real as their counterparts.

I was amazed…I looked through the collections of full-length white mink coats, coyote vests, and fox shawls, which all looked so real, except that they were only a few hundred dollars each instead of tens of thousands of dollars each! All beautifully made with high quality fabrics, and the best part, never harmed an animal in the process.

In fact, animals were helped in the process. Fabulous-Furs donates to hundreds of non-profits for animal rights every year. It is also the finest faux fur clothing company in the World, with celebrity customers, TV appearances and products sold at Saks Fifth Avenue. You're probably thinking, wow that is fabulous! All thanks to a woman named Donna Salyers, who put the fabulous into furs.

Women You Should Know: Spotlight On Ordinary Women Doing Extraordinary Things

From the Editor's Desk. This came across our desks and we simply had to share! Check out their website for more information on the co-founders. 

Women You Should Know a website founded by entrepreneurial mavens Jen Jones and Cynthia Hornig in September 2011, delivers an original and refreshing look at the many exceptional, everyday women all around us who have outperformed, innovated, discovered, defied and soared. The site, fast gaining momentum, is designed for and about dynamic women, covering their drive and passion, their interesting stories and professional talents, what they care about, what they consume and how they live.

“Over the course of our careers and lives, we continue to meet women who inspire us or who we find truly interesting. They are accomplished, building their own self-made futures, reinventing themselves or just doing really cool things. But, these women don’t get the attention they deserve because their stories don’t necessarily have the glitz and glamour that make for a splashy news item or headline. With Women You Should Know, we set out to create a community where these anything-but-average women’s stories could be told and heard,” explains Jen Jones, Co-Founder and Managing Editor.

It Takes as Much Energy to Wish as it Does To Plan

by guest blogger, Maureen Berker Boyt

‘Tis the season to make plans for next year, fa la la la la, la la la la! Affectionately known as ‘planning season’ here at Moxie, this is the time of year to roll up your sleeves, take stock, and make plans for what you want next year to be like for your career or business. I can’t say it any better than how it was stated in this quote from one of my favorite women of all time, Eleanor Roosevelt,”It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.” 

Never been a planner? Here are a few quick and dirty, ‘get it done’ approaches to making great plans. 

1) Take stock. Ask yourself a series of questions: What went well this year? What were my/our screw-ups? What did I/we learn? How do I want my career or business to look at the end of next year? If I waved a magic wand and everything went perfectly, what is my career/business/world like? 

Can we talk?

Guest post by Mary Anne Shew

As a female reader, my first reaction to the title of this book was, “Well, of course relationships make or break success!” Women get this and build their lives around it.

No question, relationships are not exactly favorite topics of discussion no matter what the situation. In her book, Elephant in the Room: How Relationships Make or Break the Success of Leaders and Organizations, Diana McLain Smith’s focus is the workplace where difficult relationships among those at the top of an organization are the “elephant in the room” that no one wants to talk about.

The first two parts of the books provide excellent insights into the components and mechanics of relationships. In “Understanding Relationships” she explains that we bring our own characteristic ways of interacting with others given our behavioral repertoires, which are organized around key themes such as power, conflict, control and success. Over time patterns emerge around these themes with ingredients such as the emotional responsibilities we seek, the interpersonal rights we claim, and the psychological rewards we want to get.