Guest post by Lena L. West, Social Media Strategist

Four hundred and sixty four.

That's the number of people Oprah Winfrey's company, HARPO Studios, has in its employ.

Like many people - especially women - I spent a good chunk of this weekend familiarizing myself
with the content on Ms. Winfrey's new OWN televsion network. I say "familiarizing myself with the content" as opposed to "watching TV" because I can already see, just in the first few days, that her network has C-O-N-T-E-N-T. If content is Queen, then Oprah's the Empress.

Each year at the end of the year, I go off the grid to make sure I "arrive" in the next year in a way that is calm and collected and also to do some logistical planning. This year, I was starting to feel badly because I spent so much time consuming the content on OWN that I was wondering if I was wasting time that I usually spend transitioning. It was anything but wasted time.

I watched a brilliant couple reclaim their lives from clutter and hoarding. I mean, you just have to heart a show titled Enough Already!

I watched the All Star Team (Oz, Phil and Suze) talk about poop, finances and what it's like to be a 56-year-old virgin!

I saw a courageous wife reclaim her sexuality after years of religious dogma had taken it's toll on her psyche.

And, I just UBER-HEART the fact that Oprah launched her Master Class series with a profile of Jay-Z (arguably one of the rest rappers alive, if not THE best). Many people think that the series was lauched with Diane Sawyer. Nope. That's just how they advertised it. Jay-Z went on first at 5:00am on Sunday morning. I know because I saw it and watched every minute. Finally someone who understand this man's genius. Whether you agree with his lyrics or not - do. not. sleep. on. Jay's. business. prowess. He's a force. And, he's someone who has, for years, been a "mentor in my head".

And, as I watched these people on my television screen, I began to connect and think, if they can do this, what can I do?

So, back to that number -- 464.

That, too, made me think...it's like my business coach always says, when you're preparing to take the next step in your life, you have to look at people who are where you want to be and ask yourself, "What would this kind of a person do about X?" X being whatever decision I need to make in my business. It's another way of "acting as if" and putting yourself in their shoes. Successful people act, think and roll a certain way.

464.

• What would someone who has 464 employees do about goal setting for the coming year?
• How did someone who has 464 employees find and hire the right people?
• What kind of support does someone who's running a company with 464 employees require?
• What kind of resolve and tenacity does someone with 464 employees have?

Whether you want to have 464 employees or 4 employees is not the issue here. It's a matter of taking yourself out of your day-to-day and leveraging the energy of a connection you feel with someone else (your own "mentor in your head") to propel your business forward. The more you can think like them, the more you'll act like them and the more you at like them, the more results you'll have like theirs. Success leaves clues.

Happy Second Decade of the Millennium. Let's get it started.