Expert Advice From Female Entrepreneurs Part 2
Following on from Part 1 where I posted excerpts from a webinar hosted by Amanda Gome, founder and publisher of the business E-newsletter Smart Company (www.smartcompany.com.au) called “Women on Top-How to Get There”.
In this installment, we examine how your skills can make or break the deal
Here are the 3 tips on the subject of Skills:
TIP 4:
USE YOUR SKILLS TO CLOSE THE DEAL
I think you have to have that bit of ruthless streak in you. You have to train yourself to do that ‘take someone by the throat’ kind of move in a nice way. But I think women are quite good at it. I think women are often seen as having these great powers of empathy and introspection and I think that they can use those in dealing with people.
If you’re in a meeting where you want someone to do something or you want to close the deal, you use those tools to close the deal, to read body language and understand where that person is coming from and use it. Diana Gribble
TIP 5:
DEVELOP YOUR OWN SKILLS
Treat yourself as if you’re a product of a business. If you are responsible for a brand in a business, you would sit down and say what’s my business plan for the brand?
So it’s doing the same thing with yourself. I want to achieve this position, so I need to have financial skills, I need line management, I need strategic thinking. Then you ask how am I going to collect those along the way? What are the different types of roles?
And actually talking about it and planning it with your respective family and with your respective employees.
If you want to be promoted and want to have a long-term view, really think about yourself and how you’re going to develop yourself and then go out and negotiate and get people to share that vision with you and agree to take you on that journey. Gillian Franklin
TIP 6:
IF YOU DON’T HAVE THE SKILLS, DON’T PRETEND
People shouldn’t try and pretend that they have skills that they haven’t because you will be caught out. I think what you should do is say this is what I love doing, this is what I think I’m good at. If I’m not good at it, I would like to be. I’ll go out and figure out how to get those skills.
This brings in the whole role of mentors that I think women do particularly badly. So you need to go and talk to people who have been there, done that and say give me advice. Ask them how they did it. Gillian Franklin
My 2 cents worth:
Regarding Tip 5 where Gillian Franklin poses the question of branding with respect to you the person, I am with her 100% of the way.
As a female executive, do you actively and consciously project your brand.
So my question to you is, What do you stand for?
Do you make yourself known as the person who wants the job every other person is vying for, and what have you done to distinguish yourself from the rest of the herd?
The reality is that even if you have done a terrific job to date, you still need some shameless self promotion to get your message heard and your brand noticed by the powers that be.
Ask yourself if you are up for it.
If not, email me and I can suggest some techniques that will get you over your self -consciousness.
Until next time, keep your eye on the prize.
Expert Advice From Female Entrepreneurs Part 1
Expert Advice From Female Entrepreneurs Part 1 “Women on Top-How to Get There”
Today I’d like to share with you excerpts from a webinar hosted by Amanda Gome, founder and publisher of the business E-newsletter Smart Company (www.smartcompany.com.au) 
Yes, I know the title it is a bit risqué and a tad misleading (sorry guys), but bear with me.
The content is vital even if you are a woman executive with no intention of starting your own company and becoming an entrepreneur.
Amanda invited 3 highly successful women entrepreneurs Diana Gribble, Gillian Franklin and Kristina Karlsson who also hold board positions to speak frankly about their experiences climbing the corporate ladder, give their views on the obstacles that stand in the way of women in their careers and how successful men do it right to get to the top.
Here are the first 3 tips on the subject of Vision:
TIP 1:
FOCUS ON THE END GAME
When I talk to women in their 20s and 30s and say to them how do you visualize what you want to be doing as a person when you’re 45 or 50, a lot of them say, oh I haven’t considered that. But to me, that’s imperative and then you work back and say: in order to be running this division in a big company, or having my own business or being a
CEO in a company, these are the skills I need to pick up along the way. So I think for women to be promoted, they need to be much more focused on the end game and then work back and say I need to do this along the way in order for me to get there. Diana Gribble
TIP 2:
DEVELOP YOUR VISION
Successful males in businesses spend very little time on reflection. They are always thinking forward and over the hill whereas women will be more inclined to reflect on what’s happening at the moment. I think developing the vision means clearing a space in your head to fill it with that vision. The vision is how you and your business can be completely different in three, or four or five or even just one year’s time. You have to think about what are the extra things, what are the opportunities.
You have to be looking towards and over the horizon all the time and have fantastic peripheral vision as well. Diana Gribble
TIP 3:
LEARN TO SELL THE VISION
Harvard Business Review research recently found that while women outshone men on most leadership dimensions, women fell short in one key area: developing strategy, a vision and selling that vision to stakeholders. Interestingly, that was the most prized skill that men value when assessing aspiring leaders. Women focus too much at just being great at their job. But they must look upwards at not just being good at their job but on developing strategy, vision and selling that upwards, to their board, or their bosses. Amanda Gome
My 2 cents worth: I think women are very detailed focused and terrific at multi tasking and managing the day to day running of a project/team/organization.
The big picture vista can be so blue sky that it doesn’t even enter her sphere of consciousness.
How does a woman counter this aspect that can blindside her career and ambitions.
I suggest taking time out during the work day, as busy and hectic as it may be and MEDITATE. I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again.
Meditation and quiet time to reflect and getting centered is the best thing a woman can do to get her focus back on track and be a timely reminder of why she is in the corporate world.
Women who are interested in advancing their career in business might consider looking into the St. Mary online MBA program.
More on this topic in the coming weeks.
Janet Attwood: Living Your Life With Passion Update
A quick heads up following on from my chat with Janet last moth.
If you still have a nagging feeling that you could/should be doing something else but are not sure, this may be of help.
Click on the tab and head over to find out more about what truly is your passion.
Cheers
The Importance of Self Esteem in Creating Succes
My article today is aimed at women who work in a corporate setting.
Your company may have a dress code stipulated or as with some industries it may be informal but you still need to turn up well attired.
My point is that women get to express some of their individuality in their accessories and colors.
So let’s look at this scenario-you have an unlimited budget for clothes, shoes, hand bag(s) etc.
You turn up in designer heels, dress and are immaculately coiffed.
You have burns scars to 75% of your body including your face, upper arms and have only one ear. 
How would you feel?
In a world quick to judge on the way we look and dress, some people might find that despite being well dressed, they would still feel like crawling under a rock.
I talked to Kelly Falardeau a burns survivor about her journey from hell to becoming an entrepreneur, motivational speaker and author of her new book “Self Esteem doesn’t come in a bottle”.
Listen to her pearls of wisdom
http://
Yes, she is out there standing in front of crowds knowing they will be staring at her scars and not giving a damn what they think.
She has self esteem.
Which brings me to the title of this article: The Importance of Self Esteem in Creating Success
Our ability to become wealthy and successful is determined by the level of our self esteem and self respect.
When we hold ourselves in high esteem and we respect us (the self) regardless of the opinion of others (which may be positive or of the knee capping variety), we have discovered one of the many secrets to wealth and success.
Three tips for maintaining your equanimity at work
Maintaining your equanimity, composure and internal sense of balance is a skill than anyone can develop.
I call it a secret weapon of the successful who seem to be able to navigate their way through an office environment that is studded with booby traps and minefields cunningly disguised as work colleagues; from the hypochondriac who painstakingly documents and broadcasts their every ache and pain (and bodily functions) to the angst ridden determined to share their life story and every other possible combination in between.
Our external world mirrors what goes on for us at the subconscious level. We attract into our immediate environment people and situations that remind us of what we focus on most within ourselves.
Ask yourself as you are reading this, what has been ticking over in your mind today. Was it a pleasant and happy conversation or encounter with another person, or was it you wishing you had the last word in an argument. Our best comeback lines are usually after the fact, sad but true.
Do you also notice that the same incident plays on high rotation in a loop fashion in your head, much like background muzak in a restaurant? It is just barely noticeable but it is there, insidious isn’t it.
So, the three circuit breaker tips I suggest are:
1) Check in on yourself
By that I mean, pause regularly during your work day and breathe; yes literally notice yourself breathing in and then gently exhaling. This is designed to slow down brain activity for 20 seconds, long enough for you to pay attention to your body instead of rushing headlong to meeting external deadlines.
This 20 seconds can be the difference between having a productive day or having a tense exchange with a co worker.
2) Eat your lunch away from your desk or work station
Being the office burning martyr will not get you a medal; removing yourself physically from your desk even if lunch is 20 minutes allows your brain to recalibrate.
Great for problem solving because it gives you time to mull over the facts (as you chew your food) without consciously thinking about coming up with a solution.
3) Remind yourself of what is important in your life
Keep a motivational quote on a 3 x 5 card by your computer as a reminder that you have a choice about how you are going to feel today; you choose how you wish to respond to your present circumstances.
Just reminding all you good people that I have a website devoted to mindset and financial freedom if you are wondering where some of the interviews have gone. Please head over to
Janet Attwood Interview: Living Your Life With Passion
It is always a delight to interview people who possess an infectious sense of enjoyment for life as it turns up.
In the case of my guest Janet Attwood this is expressed as a celebration of knowing and living her passion.
She is the co-author of the New York Times Bestseller, “The Passion Test-The Effortless Path To Discovering Your Life Purpose”, and co-author of “From Sad to Glad: 7 Steps to Facing Change with Love and Power”.
I was curious to find out if the saying “Pursue your passion and the money will follow” was really possible; and that was on the proviso that a person honestly knew what they were passionate about (in the first place).
Janet Attwood Interview (unlinked)
The rest of this blog and interview recording have been relocated to:
Rhiannon Rees Interview: The Courage To Live An Ordinary Life
I am very blessed to have access to many successful people where I get to ask about their journey to financial success. However, it is not often that I am inspired and amazed at their personal stories to the degree that I was when I spoke with Rhiannon Rees.
She is a business coach, humanitarian, entrepreneur, mother and author of “How to Climb Mount Everest in Sandals-The Courage to Live an Ordinary Life”.
Rhiannon shares her challenges of dealing with childhood abuse, a dysfunctional family, a brother’s suicide, a toxic business partnership, the surprise that comes with finding a cross dressing husband (in her lingerie), and living in a tent with her one year old son when her marriage disintegrated.
Most people would be forgiven for taking the default position of do nothing and be nothing should this have been their circumstances.
What was fascinating was Rhiannon’s mind shift that involved reading over 400 self help and psychology books and Adlerian therapy that dragged her from the precipice to living her dream life. Being ranked 4th Best Business Coach in the World for 2010 by Action Coach is fitting peer recognition.
Listen to what this heart centered entrepreneur with a whole lot of wisdom (and love) has to share.
Should you be inspired by her words and energy and want to know more, head over to http://lovelivingthedream.com/coaching/
Julie Steelman Interview: Sales is Not a Dirty Word
Julie Steelman knows a thing or two about selling; by choosing to see her sales role as one of giving overwhelming value and service to her clients it has made her debt free and allowed her to retire (at a very young age) to tropical Hawaii.
If you want proof, how about being able to generate $100 million in sales (this is not a typo) from clients such as Apple, Microsoft, Toyota, CBS Sony and Universal Pictures.
And this is when most people are struggling to make commissions and targets.
In her new book “The Effortless Yes: Get the Sales You Want and Make All You’ll Ever Need”, Julie shares her “a ha” moment after the very lean first two years in the business.
Her Road to Damascus moment can be summed up in one sentence, “It’s not about you, it is about the customer”.
Julie Steelman Interview (unlinked)
Julie’s advice: “Get over yourself because it is not personal; you’re here because you have something unique to give that can make someone’s life a lot better”.
Can’t argue with that kind of logic.
So if you have been finding the whole “selling” thing awkward, uncomfortable and downright icky (a technical term in the sales game), do yourself a favor and invest in Julie’s years of wisdom and practical know how-NOW!
Find Julie Steelman at:
http:// www.juliesteelman.com
Kristen Howe Interview: From Broadway to My Way
Kristen Howe is a Broadway actor and founder of Go Big Coach.
She understands that we all need to express our individual creativity and through her coaching Kristen has helped her clients find their passion and make a motza in the process.
In this interview Kristen explains her version of the Law of Attraction and how it has got her to the level of success she now enjoys.
Kristen Howe Interview Please go to http://yourmoneyandyourmindset.com
Dr Xenia Ioannou Interview: Her Inner Journey to Wealth
Dr Xenia Ioannou is a millionaire property investor, businesswoman, wife, mother and author of “Your Inner Journey to Wealth-A Guide to Developing a Millionaire Mindset”. 
Together with husband Angelo they founded Alexa Property Group with Real Estate Sales, Property Management, Acquisitions, Research, Education under this extensive company umbrella.
My interest in conducting these interviews has always been to uncover the motivation that spurs a person to become successful. Speaking with Xenia about her own experiences to creating wealth was akin to finding a huge nugget whilst prospecting.
Xenia Ioannou Interview (unlinked)
When a guest so honestly shares the challenges that turn up and more importantly how she overcame these challenges, well that is pure gold.
Xenia’s message is simple, “Take responsibility and don’t be a victim”. Equally important, “Find mentors and associate with like minded people who want to succeed”.
You can’t argue with that direct kind of approach that dare I say harks from her time as a medical research scientist.
Is it paradoxical that someone trained in analytical, scientific evaluation methods can point to an individual’s mindset as the determining factor for success (or not)? Let’s just say that the person most adaptable wins.
What this should mean to you dear reader is that within each and everyone of us is the potential to becoming successful and creating lasting wealth. So, are you ready to step up?
Xenia, to her credit has made it her personal mission to help every person who desires financial freedom by providing the necessary education they did not get at school.
Please go to her website to download Chapter 1 of her book.