Did You Miss Me?

Thank you to all for your e-mails and inquiries as to my whereabouts in the blogosphere.

I'm here! I didn't drop off the face of Blogger for any negative reasons. On the contrary, both of my ventures have been growing and keeping me quite busy.

In August, Maternitique had joyful news with the arrival of a bona fide celebrity customer. She kept us busy for several months and the excitement was just too much for me to handle! No really. I couldn't eat. I couldn't sleep. I almost cracked. Hence, I dropped the blog.

While the store has been getting more mature and shop-worthy, I've also been developing relationships with truly fabulous copywriting and consulting clients. Websites, proposals, newsletters, direct mailings, press releases, brand platforms, articles...I've been working on just about everything! In fact, you can see updates to my portfolio here.

To answer all of the "Are you going to keep writing your blog?" questions: I don't know.

If I do, I'll be irregular with posting. While there's so much I could write about, so many lessons learned over the last several months, new books and resources to share with you, and so many new developments in the world of marketing and business ownership in this s**thole we call an economy, my plate is really too full.

But in case you were wondering, I've missed you! There have been so many times over the last few months that I've thought, "Oh, that would make a great blog post," or "I have to share this teachable moment on my blog."

I'll do my best to check in again and try to share with you. Feel free to do the same!

It's Official: I Have Low Standards

The process of positioning myself as an "expert" has begun, but I can't say that it's taking off quite as planned.

Those media mentions I was expecting from the big name magazines for women - "Bitch" and "Parenting" - haven't happened. Whether the stories were "killed," haven't appeared yet, or I just didn't make the cut, I don't know.

I did, however, manage to be included by name with a reference to one of my businesses in an article about succeeding in the work-life balance as a mother working from home. The article, entitled, "How She Does It: 75 Multitasking Moms Weigh In," was apparently posted in July at Stay at Home Mom Answers, an online community to support stay-at-home moms.

Here's the mention:

After email threads and discussions with these 75 women, one recurrent piece of
advice rings through repeatedly:“Lower your Standards.” For some, like Tara
Bloom, a divorced mom of an 11-year-old daughter who manages online maternity
and baby business Maternitique.com, those “standards” apply to the definition of
“clean home.”

To read the full article, click here.

Okay then. I'll point out that I offered advice in the interview, too, but apparently the most newsworthy thing that I have to contribute to the discussion of how to balance work and life is that I can't do it and maintain a clean house at the same time.

Which is true...and why my writing clients are never invited to meet me at my office.

Tune in next time when I'm quoted in Entrepreneur magazine admitting to working for days on end in my pajamas without bathing.

Change In Which We Can Believe

I passionately *despise* Barack Obama’s grammatically incorrect campaign message—even though my editing stylebooks no longer declare ending a sentence or phrase with a preposition as grammatically incorrect. I can’t help it. It’s how I was taught. I cringe every time I see one of those placards in someone’s window and have to correct it—out loud—every time.

The fact that we so often read, hear and use sentences that end in prepositions has made the practice acceptable. It is no longer incorrect. Our definition of intelligent grammar has changed.

And if there’s anything we can believe in, it’s change. (Cringe.)

Change is inevitable. Seasons change. Economic circumstances change. Consumer demands change. There is no such thing as static. Everything changes.

As a small business owner, how you handle change is a critical factor in your success or failure.

Proactively planning for change can open up new opportunities and lead your business into new directions. Embracing change as it comes can position your business for successful growth.

Allowing for change by being reasonably flexible, responding to external forces or events and keeping an eye out for ways to modify your business can prevent you from being left behind. When you are open to change, your business can stay current, fresh and continue deliver what customers want.

But in the day-to-day aspects of managing a small business, change can be an annoying time-suck.

Every year software programs require upgrades—many of which upset your delicately balanced electronic equilibrium. Why doesn’t the latest version of Ad-Aware work like the last one did? Now that I have the latest, fastest high-speed wireless Internet connection, my fax won’t answer calls. And let’s not even get started about upgrades to Windows operating systems and the problems those cause. Suffice to say I know a great many people who solved their Windows Vista troubles with a new Mac.

You can spend months researching, negotiating and securing terms for vendor accounts only to have your star performers suddenly discontinue your best-selling product line. Or change their names. And so you have to begin again to research replacements, negotiate new terms and update your materials with the new information.

Suppliers raise their prices. Dependable employees leave. Office Depot discontinues the specialty paper you use for your in-store promotions.

Yes, everything changes.

Dealing with those regular (sometimes it feels like daily) changes is part of a small business owner’s life. After more than a year of being self-employed, I have finally learned to build into my schedule some flex-time each week so I have room for those inevitable annoyances. Expect the unexpected, as the saying goes.

What techniques or tips do you have for dealing with change? Share with us your strategies for coping with change.

The Power of Humor, or, Goodbye Mr. Carlin

I laugh at myself every day. I usually try to laugh at other people just as often.

And as I've ventured into so much unfamiliar territory over the last year—new business relationships, new responsibilities, new mistakes, new opportunities, new situations—humor has been essential to keeping me sane through it all.

Some situations, like the time I spent almost $6,000 on a customer acquisition campaign that was poorly conceived and yielded nothing, have been so painful and tough to swallow that it was hard to know whether I should laugh or cry. But given the choice, I almost always prefer laughing.

And when it comes to healing my self-doubt and rebuilding trust in my own decision-making, humor is a magical balm. Taking myself less seriously is a necessary step to forgiving myself when I screw up.

Humor is also a fantastic antidote to fear. Consider the moment in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban when Professor Lupin shows the students how to disable the Boggart, a dark creature that appears to each victim as her greatest fear. The spell that defeats the Boggart turns it into something comical. By putting roller skates on a giant, blood-thirsty spider, you can laugh at it. The thing of which you were most afraid loses its power; you regain control.

Starting up a business is a journey rife with moments of stark terror. I use humor often to shore up my courage so I may conquer my fear.

The news yesterday of George Carlin's death made me pause to consider how much I value humor in my life. Knowing he isn't here anymore to skewer hypocrisy, play with language, mock our sacred cows and dismantle the power of obscenity makes me sad. But that he left us to much to laugh about is a rich legacy indeed.

Mr. Carlin, you will be missed.

Following are some of George Carlin's jokes to help you keep laughing along your entrepreneurial journey:

If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done?


Some people see things that are and ask, Why?
Some people dream of things that never were and ask, Why not?
Some people have to go to work and don't have time for all that shit.


Most people work just hard enough not to get fired and get paid just enough money not to quit.


Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.


The very existence of flame-throwers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves, You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done.

Finding Free Stuff for Your Business

I will let you in on a little secret I've learned as a boot-strapping entrepreneur and small business owner: the Internet is a wealth of special deals and free stuff.

Sure, you already know you could search on eBay or Amazon for great prices on name-brand merchandise. And maybe you've learned from my previous posts about how much free advertising you can get on Craigslist and how many free ways there are to promote your business online.

But did you know that you can find discounts, coupons, promotional codes and giveaways on many products and services that you use for your small business?

Bloggers like more successful than me, for example, arrange deals from the likes of Yahoo! and MSN to provide discount offers for new advertisers in their sponsored search programs. Don't believe me? Type "Yahoo advertising promotional code $75" in Google search to find some. When I opened my advertising accounts with Google, Yahoo and MSN, I loaded them up with more than $200 in advertising credits.

Similarly, I was able to refer a friend of mine to a partner website that offered a coupon code for 20% off all services for new e-newsletter account sign-ups. My friend saved a bunch on her custom designed e-newsletter and account management services.

I recently found another resource on John Jantsch's DuctTapeMarketing blog: free magazines. Makes sense. After all, publishers are always looking for ways to reach new subscribers. It doesn't cost them much to give away samples or subscriptions of their magazines—they print and mail by the tens of thousands; what's one more?! Sign up to receive free Business Week, Creativity and other business rags.

Free pens from promotional imprinting companies, free shipping boxes from the USPS, discount digital printing of postcards and business cards, advertising special offers...everybody wants your business, so every price is negotiable.

What are your favorite scores or resources for free stuff? Share!

The Top Five Surprisingly Necessary Qualities For Small Business Owners

(Note from Tara: This post is by Mark Silver, and appears on his Heart of Business blog. Used with the author's permission.)

It’s no joke, many small businesses end at a young age. Their owners, burnt out, broke, or simply preoccupied, give them up for good.

It can be a long, winding, rough path to get a business going. I’ve heard the same stories you have about the overnight sensations. But, for the vast majority of small business owners, it can take a lot of elbow grease and a lot of time before there seems to be any solidity.

When someone does move the sewing machine back into their home office, dusts off the resume, and heads back out into the job market, sometimes my heart aches for the missed opportunity and broken dreams. Other times I just nod, thinking it’s the best choice.

When is it which? And, more personally, how do you know whether you should stick it out and keep pushing, or give up?

A baseline assumption before we begin.

There are obvious questions: Are you providing a quality product or service? Do people need, use, and pay for things similar to what you’re offering? I’m going to start with the assumption that these are already established.

The real issue is that business comes, but not easily. You’ve been working really hard at it, and you’re exhausted and wondering if you should give up.

What does it really take to raise a business?

It doesn’t take an MBA from Harvard, or anywhere else. It doesn’t take spiritual enlightenment (although a grounded spiritual practice helps tremendously). And, it certainly doesn’t take a once-in-a-era miracle.

But it does take certain qualities. Five of them, in fact.

The Top Five Qualities

Everyone I’ve seen who’s gone from struggling to successful in business has been able to access these qualities, perhaps imperfectly and inconsistently, but they’ve got ‘em, and they cultivated them. And it pays off.

1. Vulnerability.
It’s okay to take off that armor, Lancelot. It’s too heavy and hot, anyway. Vulnerability is when you are open to letting things in. Want more money? You need to be vulnerable. Need help from others? Vulnerability. Learning about your blind spots, or something new about marketing… yup, vulnerability.

It’s the ability to say “I don’t know.” It’s the willingness to risk falling in love, and opening your heart. It’s when you say: “I can’t do it on my own. Can you help me?”

On this entire list, I rate vulnerability as the single most important success indicator for small business owners. Without it, you’re alone in the world, and can’t receive what you need. And, it’s hard to access the other four qualities without it.

2. Creativity.
Here’s how I define creativity: the ability to see how unlike things go together. Kinda like Sufism and Business, right? Creativity isn’t the power to create something out of nothing- it’s the insight to see what odd, strange, unlike things can be combined to be useful.

This helps in creating unique offers. This helps in finding a place to fit your home office when there isn’t a spare bedroom. This helps in spotting opportunities and niches.

It’s actually a poetic quality- and successful business owners cultivate this ability to fit odd pieces together in (sometimes) useful ways.

3. Trust. (or Faith.)
The stereotype is working seven days a week, late into the night, getting it all done. Yet, you can’t work ten to twelve hours every day and be truly productive. Things start to break down. You miss opportunities, fall blind to miracles. You need spaciousness.

And to get that spaciousness, you have to have trust. Without the deep trust in your heart that you are going to be okay, you can’t wrestle your to-do list to the ground and leave things, sometimes important things, undone, so you can access your creativity and aliveness.

4. Sovereignty.
You are in charge. It’s important, with vulnerability, to get advice, to learn, to let other sources of wisdom and experience guide you. But, when it comes down to it, you set the course.

Your business is a precious being, a vehicle for hopes, dreams, and transformative work in the world. It can provide a living for you, and perhaps others, and can help many people with some problem that’s creating struggle for them.

Finding inside yourself the willingness to act, sometimes with less care and more boldness. To take actions and make decisions, even if they are at times messy and imperfect. To be the captain of your ship. Without Sovereignty, you don’t have a business, you have a job.

5. Patience.
Wait for it… wait for it… Actually, the quality of Patience isn’t about waiting for your ship to come in. Patience is described by Sufi author and scholar Neil Douglas Klotz, in his book The Sufi Book of Life, as a pathway:

“This pathway can also help us work with projects or relationships where
progress is likely to be slow, over a long period of time. The heat of patience
and discomfort may, like a cooking compost pile, produce amazing future effects,
ones we couldn’t dream of…”

You aren’t going to make (six figures, a million, insert your lofty goal here) by New Year’s. Or by next New Year’s. But maybe three or five New Year’s hence, you just might. If you have Patience.

Can you order these Qualities on Amazon?

Uh… no. You can’t. That’s the troubling thing with these kinds of intangibles, you can’t buy them, you can’t create them, you can’t quantify them.

So, how do you get them? Let’s do the quick one-two-three.

Finish reading this article at Mark’s blog...go.

Mark Silver is founder of Heart of Business, a business consulting and healing practice that incorporates the Divine into work. He’s a Sufi healer and successful independent business owner in Portland, Oregon. Read more about Mark at Heart of Business.

Happy Anniversary to Me

May 2007 marked the official beginning of my life as a self-employed copywriter and an entrepreneur.

As I look back on the year, I’m struck by how much I’ve done, how far I’ve come and how truly exciting this new life is.

Referrals and repeat clients are now keeping me solidly booked as a writer. My Craigslist advertisements are refined to such a point that I pick up new clients each week. At networking events and in the community, I’ve learned not to introduce myself as a copywriter (a title which means absolutely nothing to the average person), but as the person who “translates business owners’ passion and vision into marketing messages that sell.” Today, instead of leaving networking events with nothing but pockets full of business cards, I leave with new clients.

As spring arrived, Maternitique blossomed as well. Persistence in marketing paid off. And so has my commitment to constantly improving it and seeking excellence. Through seeking feedback, studying page view trends, analyzing conversion rates and identifying my most effective lead sources, I’ve discovered ways to make the store more appealing, more effective at converting browsers to buying and, most importantly, to make it speak to the consumers I’m trying to serve. While there is still not enough business to make the store a raging success yet, the “trends are in the right direction,” as my boyfriend reminds me.

What amazes me the most about all of the lessons I’ve learned and exciting achievements I’ve accomplished in just one year, is just how far a distance it is from where I started. What began as a hope and a dream—to be self-employed as a writer—has become reality. The company that began as a fantasy—a place where modern, professional women can go to feel beautiful and nurtured as mothers—now exists and is growing exponentially.

Wow.

Creating these entities was, and is, a process. It came step by step, moment by moment. First, I had to exit the “rat race”—to be willing to leave the most traveled road. I found signs posted by others on this independent pilgrimage and followed them, putting my faith in their advice. Then came the hard part: staying the course and trusting my own sense of direction when things didn’t seem to be looking like I’d expected them to.

This week, I had dinner with a colleague and shared the snapshot of my endeavors with him. When I was done, he asked: “What are you going to do in the near future? What’s next?”

“Continue.”

Start-Up Leader in Corporate Social Responsibility Shuts Down

Oh, I'm so sad at this news. Just yesterday morning our local news source quoted the President and CEO of Nau, Inc. saying that the company was closing in on its capital raising goals and was poised to take off.

Then later that afternoon, the company announced instead that it is closing its doors. I just read the news in my morning's paper, but apparently it was put up online yesterday at World Changing.

For those of you who haven't heard of Nau, they were a Portland start-up that manufactured eco-friendly clothing and deployed a radical business model of sustainability. From their corporate charter to their employment practices to the low carbon-footprint of their retail locations, the company was committed to living and breathing environmental leadership.

The bold founders of the company dreamed big, acted big and enacted big goals, successfully garnering international attention for their efforts and more than $35 million in venture capital investments.

But it wasn't enough.

And the news is a heavy dose of reality to those of us starting businesses of our own. It's a humbling reminder that included in the reality of starting up a small business is the looming possibility of not making it. And if a heavily financed company led by top-level executives from companies such as Patagonia and Nike can crash and burn...what about the rest of us?

Chills.

In March, I met Nau CEO Chris Van Dyke after he delivered an inspiring keynote address to kick off the Shop 08 Conference for retailers. His belief in the utter rightness of companies to protect the community, employees and the Earth was practically tangible. His belief that it is possible for companies to be committed to profitability as well as to a social bottom line was sincere.

I believe in those things, too, and I know that with the closure with Nau, the passion, beliefs, goals and visions of the founders and employees don't disappear. They will find their way back into the market soon.

Salesforce for Google Apps Available Today

Salesforce.com and Google have announced today that "they have integrated Salesforce’s customer relationship management software and Google’s suite of office productivity applications, which includes e-mail, word processing and spreadsheets programs, into a single software package." (NYT)

If you already use Salesforce.com as your customer relationship manager tool, you can now sign up for Google apps, or sign into your existing Google apps account, to activate the new relationship.

The partnership means that Salesforce.com and Google apps launch side-by-side and work together, eliminating the need for parallel or duplicated tracking of e-mails and sales related documents. For example, e-mails to sales leads that you send via your Gmail account can now be simultaneously tracked inside Salesforce.

The best part of this deal for small businesses is that these services are "web apps," or "web applications," meaning they are hosted and delivered over the Internet. You pay a small monthly subscription fee, rather than having to purchase, installation, store and maintain the software on your business's hard drive or network.

Go Scare Yourself

After a six-week hiatus, "Boston Legal" returned to ABC last night with a new episode. It was the kind of occasion that would have warranted turning off my phone, except that the only person who would call me that late at night is my boyfriend, and he knows to wait until after the show.

Determined not to miss a single second of a new BL, I tuned in to ABC five minutes before 10 pm and caught the end of "Dancing with the Stars"—the moment where the hosts bid sayonara to celebrity comedian and radio show host Adam Corolla and his dancing instructor and partner, Julianne Hough.

In the final moments before the credits, the show host put the mike to Adam and asked him a question that was clearly intended to lead the comedian into an opportunity to do what he would normally do: make a joke. But instead, Adam said something to the effect of: “I did this show because it scared me and I thought it would be a good idea to do something that scared me. I’m glad I did. To everyone watching who is afraid, too, I say just go out and do it. You don't know what rewards you'll reap from the risk.”

This morning, I received a similar message.

For a week or so, I’ve been subscribing to CEO/Entrepreneur/Attention-Getter Peter Shankman’s Help a Reporter Out newsletter. The e-mail from Peter that greeted me this morning says:

So I spoke to a class at NYU last night, talking about marketing and creativity.
I suggested that they do one thing every day that scares them. I suggest the
same to you. Today, do one thing that scares you.

In less than 12 hours, I heard two people give the same advice.

Coincidence? Or divine instruction? Whatever you believe, when synchronicity like that occurs to me, I take heed.

Today, I will do something to scare myself. And I pass on the encouragement to you to do the same.

Taking the leap to self-employment was terrifying. Starting a second company, self-funding it, and taking the idea out into the world for people to judge has, at times, conjured sensations of being in mortal danger. These are intensely frightening undertakings.

But throughout my life, I have always found that confronting things I fear has been the right choice. It has forced me to challenge myself and my assumptions. As a result, I have always found skills, loves, friends and opportunities that I would otherwise not have discovered.

No matter where you are in the self-employment process, chances are you can benefit from a shake up, too.

If you're only considering starting a business, but haven't yet done anything more than talk about it, today is the day to put your foot forward.

If you've started a business, but there is an element of it that frightens you, today is the day to face it.

If you've successfully been in business for a period of time, today is the day to look at your dusty widgets and ask yourself, "What is holding me back from taking this business to the next level? What am I afraid of?"

Life is too short to be afraid, my friends. Go scare yourself.

Taking Care of You: Surround Yourself with Supporters

(copyright for the above image belongs to Despair, Inc.)

Along the start-up path (and throughout life, really) you will encounter a variety of people. I’ve written about how helpful and supportive strangers, acquaintances and friends have been so far in encouraging my business’s start up (see "Don't Do It Alone When You Go It Alone"). But what about the others?

Not everyone is as helpful as they appear/claim/hope to be.

From vendors who supply a product you need—but they don’t pursue your account and take forever to answer your requests for information—to unresponsive or underperforming service providers with whom you contract, not everyone is able to give you and your business a hand up.

Some people actually bring you down.

One woman I met recently talked about how unsupportive her friends were during her business’s initial start-up. It’s not that they didn’t want her to succeed, they were just immature and more interested in partying than sitting and listening to their ambitious, precocious peer lament her start-up woes.

A friend of mine felt that she lost weeks of time moving her small business forward when a sales rep from a packaging supply company was dragging her feet in getting answers to her.

“I learned who I don’t want to do business with,” she told me. “It was just as important a lesson as finding out who I do want to give my business to.”

And she’s right.

Like the Will Rogers quip, we can learn from everyone. Only some people teach us what we don’t want and how we don’t want our business to run.

One of my business mentors told me once that a critical element of nurturing yourself as a CEO and entrepreneur is to surround yourself with supporters. While realistic and honest feedback is essential, people who drag you down emotionally, discourage you, or otherwise leave you feeling "icky"are toxic. They drain your confidence and hold you back.

If there are vendors who require you to do more than your share of the work, ask yourself, what I am paying for? Cut your losses and find someone you can work better with.

If your friends aren't able to take the time to listen to you, or you feel less excited about your business efforts AFTER you speak with them, then stop talking with them about it. Connect with a group of entrepreneurs or sole proprietors who can offer true support and encouragement.

If a supplier is unresponsive to your requests, find someone else who can provide the resource you need. You don't have time to waste on them! One of their competitors will be happy to prove to you that their service is the better choice.

Even people can be dusty widgets that you have to ditch to move forward toward achieving your goals. Take a look at your energy drains and then take measures to replace them with positive influences instead. It makes a world of difference!

5 New Year’s Resolutions for this Small Business Owner

Determined to be successful as a business owner in 2008? Me, too. Here are my New Year's resolutions. Have some of your own to share? Let us know!

1. Check out assumptions.

When I launched Maternitique last month, I had a promotional plan in place. I executed it. I held my breath and watched as the results fell short of what I expected.

I did the right steps of researching, planning, budgeting. What I didn’t do was ask those more experienced—or even anyone at all—what to expect. My steps were correct, but the expectations were too high.

In 2008, I resolve to more frequently ask fellow business owners for feedback and to consult with my team of advisors.

2. Enlist help.

Friends and family have been offering for months to help me check in inventory, spread the word about my store and take some of the grunt work off my shoulders. In 2008, I resolve to accept help.

3. Set SMART goals, not just goals.

I’m notorious for ingenious ideas, creative suggestions and out-of-the-box thinking. But my goals are often lofty, complicated and ambitious. There are often so many players to involve, so many elements to coordinate and so much labor entailed that they don’t come to fruition in the timeline needed or as flawlessly as imagined.

In 2008, I resolve to narrow down my big ideas into specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely (SMART) goals. At least I resolve to try.

4. Make better use of my time.

The most SMART goals in the world won’t go anywhere without investing time and effort into them. To select the best of my ideas, involve other people in testing them for appeal, and really sink my teeth into executing them, I need to focus, create detailed plans with objectives and show up to work each day to make it happen.

In 2008, I resolve to be more respectful of my time.

5. Be a better boss.

Being my own boss is a joy. I love having freedom and no higher authority to report to. The downside is that when I’m not performing at my best, I become an irritating, frustrating boss.

Lately, I have lost my focus, thrown up my hands in frustration more times than I care to count, avoided working on problem areas and could probably have earned some kind of award for procrastination. Have you ever had to work with someone like that? It’s demoralizing. In 2008, I resolve to be a better boss to myself. I resolve to treat myself as if I were one of my employees.

Other suggested New Year’s resolutions for 2008:
Chicago Daily Herald

Small Business: Canada at About.com

Small Business Trends

San Francisco Chronicle

Contemplating Existence

This morning my father gave me a 1983 article from Harvard Business Review called, “The five stages of small business growth.” In it, author and accounting professor Neil C. Churchill labels Stage 1 as “Existence.”

In this stage, businesses struggle to stay open. The business owner *is* the business. Existence depends on the owner’s investment of considerable personal energy, direction, capital and time.

The professor continues to explain that at this stage, there are three critical issues for businesses. They are:

1. attracting enough customers and performing the tasks of the business well enough to be viable


2. expanding from initial customers to a broader sales base


3. having enough money to meet the cash demands of the start-up phase
   
   Both of my businesses—the copywriting one and my new maternity retail store that opened last month—are in Stage 1. With both efforts, I’m attracting customers and succeeding in delivering the services. The question of viability, however, is still up in the air for both entities, as is the consideration of expansion.
   
   As I distill all of the questions and worries I have about my two fledgling businesses into those three, small-but-significant ingredients, I find some relief from the start-up stress.
   
   I am confident that I can meet the first two challenges. I believe that both businesses have the capacity for success in their quality, concept, service delivery and in meeting genuine consumer needs. The remaining challenge, according to Professor Churchill, is money. From where I sit, though, there is one more: time. I need time to gain traction and critical mass, as well as enough money to buy the time and the means to gain traction.
   
   What a relief, then, to know I can access more money (I haven’t yet maxed out credit cards, sought a business loan or tapped my friends and family for cash).

I guess now I must learn to be patient with myself as I learn how to use my time and money to their greatest impact.

Dusty Widget Blogger MIA?

Since the beginning of November, I've been quite busy gearing up for the opening of my new store store, Maternitique.

Many things went according to plan, but some didn't. Some of the results were expected, but some -- not so much.

I could blog about how to plan a grand opening (and how not to!), lessons learned with publicity and online PR, the people and resources that helped me along the way, the stress, the veering off the business plan, the value of the business plan, the unexpected discoveries...and I will.

But not right now.

It's really, just all too fresh. I'm going to try to take a step back from it all, smile through the holidays and...breathe.

Find Your Passion and Follow It

Last night I was at a party and found myself answering a lot of questions about my businesses. Because I'm so close to the launch of my second venture, I naturally focused on how hard I'm working these days. I talked about the long hours and how focused I've been on dedicating my energy to both companies.

When one of the guys I was talking with said, "It must be a drag to work that hard," I was surprised. I hadn't meant to sound like I was complaining. I'm not. But it is what it is: a lot of work.

"I'm happy to work this hard," I said, "because I'm excited about what I'm doing. I love what I'm creating, and I love that it's mine."

On Thursday, I wrote to my public relations agent about my ideas for an editorial pitch to a major women's magazine. She responded this way:

"Looks good Tara! You can tell your heart is really in this. I was just reading
an article this morning from one of my favorite motivators and he quoted:
When starting your business look for a product that you really like, use and
enjoy yourself personally. You can only sell something to someone else if your
heart is in it. And if your heart is in it you will enjoy using the product
yourself and be successful and the money will follow."

I know the advice to "love what you do and the money will follow" is trite, but people keep repeating it because it's true.

As an entrepreneur and small business owner, you really do have to be passionate about the business you're starting or running. To keep yourself energized and pushing forward when the going gets tough, it takes something more than the draw of a paycheck. It takes love, passion, and intensity. And like the romantic equivalents, when you share your passion, you might be surprised at how it grows and turns into something more beautiful and amazing than you had imagined.

The Joy of Bookkeeping

October has been the month of QuickBooks.

I'm learning how to keep my business's books and all the component parts included with that responsibility: setting up the chart of accounts; viewing and reading reports; customizing invoice templates; and creating the record-keeping systems that will help me track my profitability, sales, and inventory.

Because the extent of my knowledge about QuickBooks, accounting, bookkeeping, and business reports could fit in a sandwich baggie, I planned on hiring professional help to get me up and running when I launched my new businesses. I wanted to be trained and at a conversational--if not fluent--level of competency by the time we were done. After all, I'm the CEO of one company and the sole proprietor of another. I should know my books like the back of my hand.

With a $2,500 budget for my first year's accounting expenses, I expected to be able to get the training and set-up I needed, plus my first year's taxes. Since I'm only going to be open for business for two or three months of the entire fiscal year, it seemed like plenty of money.

So in August I had a junior associate at my financial firm come and spend two hours with me setting up my chart of accounts--which she did incompletely. A week or so later, I opened a business bank account and in September I had to write my first check. Stumped as to how to enter my equity contribution and bank information into QuickBooks, then how to write a check, I called my firm and spoke for 20 mintues with another junior associate about how to complete those tasks.

Then last week, I received my first bill from my firm. It's more than $1,000.

Time-out.

At this rate, the $500 online course from Intuit sounds like a bargain.

But I'm a hands-on learner, not someone who retains and integrates information gleaned from a computer screen. Reading about the nuances of double-entry bookkeeping on a white window doesn't sound wise knowing my learning style.

It was time for a new strategy or a new accountant! I opted to seek less expensive help from someone who could walk me through the basics of QuickBooks and save the financial firm for tax time.

I reached out to Richard Witherspoon, of Witherspoon and Heath business consulting. My friend and fellow business owner had introduced me to Richard several months ago and I was impressed at the time by Richard's knowledge of IT systems and QuickBooks. How I wish I had begun my QuickBooks learning curve with him first!

For 1/3 of the price tag, I've been able to spend several hours with Richard setting up my systems and operations. Without fear of what it will cost me, I've been able to ask questions. What's even better, he's given me written, customized, step-by-step instructions. If I forget what we did together, I have typed notes from him after our session.

A god-send!

Plan A sounded good and looked good on paper, but like every part of my business plan so far, the reality didn't match the paper image. Thanks to Richard's help, however, I'm likely to stay within my budget, and even more importantly, I'm ready for business.

Advice for starting your own business

As soon as I announced that I was starting my own business, people began to comment.

From the well-seasoned to the just-well-intentioned, perfect strangers to best friends, everyone has had advice to share. And the amazing thing is that some of what I’ve heard in the last five months has been just the nudge I needed at the time to help me overcome an obstacle I was facing.

As I reflect on how far I’ve come in such a short amount of time, I want to share some of the best advice I’ve received so far. If you’re facing doubts or are stuck with a problem, I hope these simple-but-effective thoughts help you, too.

Trust your instincts.

If your instinct is that a product won’t sell or a service you could offer would be a hit, trust what your nose tells you. Our instincts exist to propel us forward and help us thrive. Learn to follow them.

Go with your gut.

Where our instincts propel us forward, our gut reactions keep us back when necessary. If a potential deal, partner, investor, location, or supplier doesn’t feel right, trust the gut feeling and avoid it.

Give yourself options.

A few months ago, I had to choose between paying my illustrator for either two or five renditions of new logo designs. Obviously, there was price difference. A fellow entrepreneur ~ and graphic designer ~ advised me to give myself options and ask for the larger package. I’m glad I did. There’s something to be said for casting a wide net.

Just get it done.

Then again, sometimes there can be too many choices. Sometimes, you just have to push forward and get things done. When you’re stuck or overwhelmed, make yourself jump into a task and knock it out of the way. You’ll feel better afterward. And remember: not everything has to be perfect the first time.

Protect your confidence.

It’s easy to look at some of the things you have to do to start a business and think that someone else could do them better than you can. My mentor shared this common experience with me and gave the following advice: “Protect your confidence.” Don’t let anyone or anything erode the confidence you have in yourself and your idea. Sure, others might be better designers, or manufacturers, or whatever…but your business idea belongs to you. Only you can make it happen. Find supportive mentors and friends and soak in their support and encouragement.

Write down your mission and keep it visible.

One day while I was lamenting how easy it is for me to get distracted from my purpose, my boyfriend suggested I copy my mission statement from my business plan and tape it onto my computer monitor. “Keep it eye-level,” he said. “You have to be able to see it at all times.” It’s helped. Whether I’m discouraged, distracted, or bored with what I’m doing, I just glance up at my words of purpose and I instantly feel encouraged. Try it!

A "Yoga-as-Business" Metaphor

When I first started learning yoga, I was stunned at how holding my body still in a pose could appear so effortless from the outside, but feel so intense on the inside.

As I was going through my series of yoga poses this morning, I thought about how learning to be a business owner is similar.

For years, I used to look at successful people who own their own businesses and think that they made it look so effortless. But just like practicing yoga, it only appears to be effortless from the outside. On the inside, both require strength, discipline, and focus.

The Double-Edged Sword of Perfectionism

I’m curious how many other small business owners feel both compelled and trapped by perfectionism.

On the one hand, my desire to present a polished final product to customers is driving me to pay attention to the smallest details. This is a good thing because the attention will yield a result that makes me proud and that people will respect.

On the other hand, it’s taking so long to learn about those details and to make every minute decision so carefully, that I wonder if I’m making it harder for myself to do what I need to do. It’s a bad thing if I’m not able to move forward on other objectives and higher priorities because I’m “sweating the small stuff.”

For example, I’m spending a surprising amount of time trying to create business cards that represent my commitment to quality—without spending a fortune on four-color offset printing. I’ve been on the phone with my graphic designer and a friend of mine who manages a print shop. I’ve driven out to look at Pantone books and spent close to an hour with both of them trying to explain the difference to me between Pantone colors and CMYK blends for digital printing.

I’ve reviewed one set of proofs, was unsatisfied, and now have to go look at another proof sheet, even though the machine that created the second proof sheet can’t use the heavier stock paper that I want.

Ultimately, I may end up choosing a specialized digital printer from California, and then flying proof sheets up to me in Oregon.

And all of this is will be to create a product that isn’t even up to the high standard that I want—recycled card stock paper printed with environmentally-friendly ink.

My way of coping with my own perfectionism: I allow it to exist and give it space, but I reign myself in, too. I set a time limit for how much I’ll work on the source of vexation and at the end of the time, I move on to more important priorities.

A waste of time? Or a valuable commitment to quality? What do *you* do when your perfectionism crosses the line from being useful to being an impediment?

Delegate, Delegate, Delegate

As a small business owner, you love to do everything, don’t you?

Why not? You can. You’re a multi-talented individual who doesn’t know the meaning of the word “can’t.” You get things done. You move things forward. You’re a builder, innovator, visionary and technician. You aren’t afraid to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty.

But just because you *can* do everything, doesn’t mean you *should.*

To be able to grow your business, achieve personal and financial freedom, and lead others to be the best they can be, you have to turn things over to others. Otherwise, as your business grows, so do all of your job responsibilities. Sooner or later, all those balls you juggle will become more than you can handle.

Letting go doesn’t mean abdicating your managerial duties or ignoring how your business is running. It means setting expectations of what should be accomplished and how. It means documenting your expectations in writing and communicating them verbally to staff and contractors. It means monitoring people’s ability to meet those expectations and it means rewarding them and celebrating them when they get there.

Identify the jobs you do best and focus your energies on doing those things yourself. The other stuff – delegate!

Smart delegation is the best way to ensure that your business fuels your life, as opposed to sacrificing your life to fuel your business. As Michael Gerber says in the E-Myth, the excitement of being an entrepreneur is in working *on* your business, not working *in* it.

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