Over the past few weeks, I’ve enjoyed watching the Winter Olympics with my family
. I find the Winter Olympic Sports exciting and I’m in awe of the skill and determination of the athletes. As I watched the closing ceremonies and listened to interviews with those athletes who were taking home the “gold,” I was reminded how Smart Women entrepreneurs could learn a lot from Olympic athletes.
Posts Tagged ‘business’
Smart Women Entrepreneurs Can Learn a Lot from the Olympics
Thursday, March 4th, 2010Smart Women Have a Marketing Mantra
Thursday, February 25th, 2010I recently attended a conference 
for women business owners and ran into a woman I had not seen for some time. She looked a little unhappy when I approached her. I asked her if everything was going well and she shared with me that she had just lost a big client. In fact, this big client was more than 50% of her business. Wow! I’d be upset too. She was in the process of figuring out what to do next to rebuild her business back to a successful place. As we talked, I started thinking about the “golden” rule in business for Smart Women: Always have a marketing “mantra.”
Smart Women Entrepreneurs, Solids, and Fluids
Thursday, February 4th, 2010A few weeks ago, our family took a trip to the California Science Center for their “family lab day.” 
It was a fun and educational experience. There was one experiment that had to do with the difference between solids and fluids, and it got me thinking about Smart Women entrepreneurs and their businesses. Does your business need to be solid or fluid? Actually, both.
When you first make the decision to become a business owner, you as an entrepreneur are very “fluid.” After all, you’re probably a solo-entrepreneur trying to do everything yourself! There aren’t any rules about how to do anything. The goal is to get some clients and earn an income—right? After some time passes, you begin to realize that this “fluid” aspect of your business is not working. You are “surviving” and you want to be “thriving.”
Smart Women Give Their Clients an Experience
Thursday, January 7th, 2010Last week, my husband
Greg and I went mobile phone shopping. I had one of those flip phones that allows you to make phone calls and that’s about it. I couldn’t email anyone or look up anything on the web. I really needed a better way to stay connected!
I’ve been with the same mobile phone company for 9 years. Hard to believe, right? I’m slow to commit but once I do, loyal to the end! So the first place I went was to my current carrier’s store to see what they had to offer. When we entered the store, there were a quite a few people waiting and so we got in line and waited our turn. Not once did anyone say, “Thanks for waiting, I’ll be with you in a moment” or “Sorry for the delay, someone will be right with you.” Nothing. No eye contact. We felt invisible. I had quite a few questions about the new phones and was anxious to get my questions answered. When it was my turn (about 20 minutes later) something happened that was shocking. The person behind the desk looked straight at us and then just turned and walked away! I was stunned and frustrated at this point.
Smart Women Can Learn a Lot About Business from a 3rd Grader
Thursday, December 3rd, 2009Recently my son Jack, who’s in 3rd grade, had to do a book report and I spent some time guiding![12-03-09Article[1] girl holding pencil studying](http://www.smartwomensolutions.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/12-03-09Article1-girl-holding-pencil-studying1.jpg "12-03-09Article[1] girl holding pencil studying")
him through the process. His teacher had asked the report to consist of 6 elements: Title, Setting, Main Characters, Plot, Problem, and Solution. This got me thinking about how Smart Women could use this exercise to create a clear and focused plan for their business and entrepreneurial dreams.
Having a firm foundation is essential for any business to have sustainable growth and long-term success. What do you need in order to create a firm foundation for your Big Idea, Dream, or Goal? You need the same 6 elements that my son Jack used in his book report:
