Winter Wear

As is typical of Atlanta, the temperature has gone from 85 degrees to 35 degrees in the span of about three hours. The onset of chilly temperatures mandates many changes, like making sure your furnace is running, sealing up little cracks in window seals, and making sure hands and noggins big and small have mittens and warm wooly hats at the ready.

I noticed this time last year that my productivity dropped a little, and I realized it was indirectly caused by the colder temps. I was jumping up about every twelve seconds to remedy something – everything from a too-cold beverage to chapped lips. I am going to save you a bundle of time with one little tip: outfit your office for the cold weather just like you do your home. That’s right, no matter where you work, whether a cubicle or your cute, new, environmentally-friendly smart car while you make sales calls – you’ll be tons more productive if you’re comfy.

Here’s a peek at my must-haves to keep me chugging along when it comes to working when the heater’s been cranked and it’s cold outside:

A bottle of creamy lotion I can smear liberally on my hands or face. AHAs and anti-aging components optional, but preferred.

A tube of Victoria’s Secret lip gloss. I love it, and may be addicted. There, I’ve said it. Seriously, it smells great, it’s shiny and it doesn’t make you gag if you accidentally ingest it. It comes in lots of pretty colors. It is heaven in a .46 ounce tube is all I’m saying. Feel free to get your own, but my children have learned the hard way it’s a very bad thing to take my lip gloss away from my desk.

Cough drops. Strangely, a sore throat seems to crop up whenever it is time to buckle down and work, much like a first grader with a tummy ache when it’s time to go to school.

Kleenex tissues. See above.

A carafe of coffee mixed with cream and sugar to my specifications. Keeps me from running to and from the microwave. A genius invention, the Thermos carafe.

Another fun tip, from a friend who is a mom and a teacher: stick a tube of lip balm, a trial size of antibacterial hand sanitizer and lotion and a few cough drops into a pocket of every family members’ coat. A loud whistle to demand the attention of others optional but preferable. Teachers are geniuses.

Now, bundle up, stay moisturized and be careful out there!

You Say It's Your Birthday

Today is someone special’s ninth birthday. Man, things have changed since I was a little girl, when you got a two-hour (max) birthday party at your house. Don’t get me wrong, but these days -- WOW, birthdays are quite something.

In celebrating the girls’ birthdays, all the following have occurred twice – once for each youngster:
· Special handmade birthday invitations that actually required sewing
· Slumber parties that included their favorite dinner (for ten of their closest friends), cake, ice cream, gifts, games, movies and sugar-filled breakfasts the next morning (including Yoo-Hoo and Sunny D, which pass for chocolate milk and orange juice in my husband’s book)
· A gift from their mom, dad and sister
· A special shirt publicizing their birthday to anyone who might have failed to notice
· Special birthday lunch at school, including cupcakes for all their classmates
· A trip to the American Girl store (hosted by a doting grandmother and aunt)
· Their favorite meal for dinner on their birthday

Bottom line, we enjoy the joy the fanfare brings to the kids’ faces, and a birthday is the perfect excuse to make special people feel celebrated.

As adults, we might look a little silly if we wore a special t-shirt displaying our age or demanded all our friends bring us a wrapped treat on our special day (not to mention once we get to a certain age we’re more likely to be perfectly happy if a birthday slips past unnoticed.)

If you have a business, don’t let an anniversary pass by without a celebration – at the very least by sending a news release to the local media and an announcement to your customer list. For example, if you are a work-from-home mom celebrating a full year in your photography business, let people know! It’s the perfect excuse for an adult to celebrate an important accomplishment. In today’s world, a flourishing business is certainly something to be celebrated.

So here’s to accomplishments – whether it is weathering another year in the complicated life of a pre-tween, or celebrating 10 years of helping business owners avoid federal prison for tax evasion.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to round up 9 candles and make a cake.

Get In The Game

You know when you meet someone who’s going places? I am not talking about a visit to the jungles of Africa on a humanitarian mission – I mean someone you know is a mover and a shaker, who has that “it” factor? A combination of vision, personality and motivation that somehow spontaneously combines to create great things?

This is the type of person I found in Heather Smith Rocker when I met her about five years ago at a community service meeting. I’ve been lucky enough to continue to work with Heather in a volunteer capacity and as one of my favorite clients (and perhaps have a glass of wine or three along the way.)

When I discovered the Atlanta Business Chronicle was naming its’ “Up and Comers,” –a who’s who of the under-40 crowd - I immediately wrote a 500-words-or-less nomination for Heather.

Guess what?

She’s a finalist!

I am not surprised. She serves as the executive director for the non-profit Women in Technology, is the chair-elect of the Atlanta Women’s Alliance, is the immediate past president of the Junior League of Gwinnett and North Fulton Counties, the State Chairman for Georgia’s Junior Miss Scholarship Program, advisor for the Georgia Tech Young Alumni Council and a member of the League of Women Voters of Atlanta.

I’ve written about this before, but it’s a message worth repeating. Keep your eyes open for contests, award ceremonies and business competitions you can enter – whether it’s with a major business weekly in a large metropolitan city like the Atlanta Business Chronicle or a “best business idea” on a web site your target market frequents. Even if you don’t win, being recognized will likely send some business your way and it will definitely garner the right sort of attention for your resume, sales kit or your own web site.

In the meantime, I’m heading to the awards gala with Heather on Nov. 13. Wish her luck, and we’ll keep you posted!

A Prediction

Many a hobbyist has displayed their wares at a show – whether it be at a huge retail market like “America’s Mart,” where you have a representative that sells your product to major retailers across the country, or at a small craft show at your tiny town’s fall festival.
In Atlanta, there’s a show that falls somewhere in between – it’s the Marist Holiday Traditions show, and it is the place to holiday shop for those cool, one-of-a-kind gifts for your loved ones (or to treat yourself.)

If you live within a day’s drive of Atlanta, mark your calendar for Nov. 1, get your Christmas list ready, and head to Marist for the day. You’ll see the most amazing things – like the pottery you see here, by my brother-in-law Scott.

This show is the perfect spot for Scott’s Pots because the folks who will be at this show (aka his target audience) are well-heeled with an affinity toward beautiful things for their homes.
I could go on at length about how beautiful Scott’s pottery is, or how carefully he plans each piece to make sure it’s just right, or the thought he puts into the colors he’ll use to make each piece perfect – but I think these photos accomplish that task.

I will, however, warm your heart on a chilly autumn morning by telling you that although this man is extremely busy with a full-time job, a wonderful family, as an active volunteer at his church, as a member of a band that’s so good they’re recruited for political events and even college fraternity parties …. he is always willing to take the time to help my girls create special pieces. In fact, he designed the coffee cup I am drinking from this morning, had my seven-year-old paint it, fired and delivered it after he and my sister hosted the girls for a whole weekend. Lucky me.

Here’s the message: if you are a creative business owner with a wonderful product, you could fill your calendar nearly every weekend with some sort of show to sell your wares. Don’t. Find the ones that are the right fit – the ones that will bring the right customers to your door.

In fact, in any business your chief marketing strategy needs to be finding the right venue for your product, whether that is finding the best trade show to attend for premium networking or finding the right boutique in which to sell your wares.

For those of you coming to Marist, be sure to stop by Scott’s booth (although I am going to try to convince him to reserve a few pieces for me!) If you can’t make it, e-mail Scott at scott@scotts-pots.com, to order a one-of-a-kind piece.

I’ll be there with my cute friend Kelly (and creative businesswoman/community leader/stay-at-home mom extraordinaire), first thing in the a.m., coffee in hand, scarf around neck to fend off the nip in the air, and a little cash in my pocket. I can’t wait, and hope to see you there!

Changing Seasons

Nothing strikes fear in the hearts of Americans like an economic recession. No matter if you are fairly well-to-do and this recession means you are cutting back a little on Christmas and cooking dinner in instead of eating dinner out, or if the rising gas prices and cost of goods means creative bill paying and serious downsizing, you are affected.

Sustaining a business when the businesses that aren’t closing their doors are slashing their budgets is tough, but the thought of starting a business seems crazy. I can hear the hearts of women with fabulous product and business ideas, breaking just a little. “Such a great idea,” she thinks. “But there’s no way I can find customers in this economy.”

Not so fast. I am no economist (is that my Economics 101 professor’s laughter I hear?), but here’s what I know: nothing works the news media into a frenzy like painting the darkest picture possible while simultaneously working all of us into a lather with every, single possible horrible scenario for certain financial doom. I’m not saying the situation isn’t serious – that much is obvious even for those of us who only add if a calculator is available. What I am saying is “this too shall pass.”

For every season of turmoil and uncertainty, there is a sunnier day around the corner. For you genius work-at-home moms, stay-at-home moms, working women and retired women with a wonderful idea, don’t let these tough times slow your momentum. Do some research. Explore creative funding options. Find a partner. Start a brainstorming group of like-minded women. Do something, anything to keep your business idea moving forward.

Like the leaves on this gorgeous tree, things will keep changing. Make sure you’re ready for the next phase.

Let Me Check My Calendar

Sometimes I feel like my calendar and to-do list(s) have become an actual extension of my body, like a phantom arm ― even though it’s not physically attached, it still itches. A lot.

I also find the more meetings I attend, phone calls I take and emails I read, the longer my to-do list becomes and the more meetings I have to attend, which results in more emails and phone calls.

I must confess, I am a bit of a calendar and list-making junkie. Give me a stack of clean, white steno pads and new box of medium-point blue ink pens and I can formulate a not-so-evil plan to take over the world.

Wouldn’t it be nice if someone did all the planning for you? Determined your top priorities, mapped out a time and place to take care of those priorities and made sure you had all the supplies and resources available to insure your ultimate success?

Here’s a secret: in the media world, people do that very thing. It’s called an editorial calendar, and it’s a great tool for finding the right publication to pitch a story about your business – and the right time to make the pitch.

Most newspapers have editorial calendars that determine a theme for each issue of their publication (even larger, daily papers usually have some sort of editorial calendar, although usually for special sections), and most of them will send you a copy. For free.

Candy Waylock, editor of Northside Woman in Alpharetta, Ga., gave me the skinny on how that publication uses editorial calendars to determine how to fill their editorial space.

“Northside Woman works out a 12-month calendar of content,” says Candy. “It helps direct our editorials subjects as well as focus our advertising efforts.”

For example, a newspaper might focus one month on real estate, another month on retail and another on technology. If you are a boutique owner hoping for a feature in your local publication, it makes more sense to pitch your story as the paper is planning its retail issue.

Many publications post their editorial calendars online (check the advertising section), and if it isn’t online, simply call the advertising department and ask them to e-mail the calendar. As Candy said, most publications focus both their editorial content and their advertising into one publication, which is the reason most advertising sales departments keep the information handy.
Once you have the editorial calendar, find out what the deadline is for the issue you are focusing on for your story. Then start pulling together your information to pitch to the right reporter at the appropriate time.

And if you find someone who will take care of my other calendar(s) for me, please let me know. In the meantime, I have to make a list of my lists. With medium-point blue ink, of course.

Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes. How do you measure, measure a year? - From the musical Rent

Sweet Size

When I was a youngster, trick-or-treating meant claiming a full-size candy bar at nearly every house you visited. You might find the occasional single-wrapped butterscotch, and there was always the dental health advocate pushing toothbrushes on unwitting little witches and ghosts. But generally speaking, a worthy trick-or-treater was coming home with a load of great big candy bars. So when did these mini-packages of candy appear?

I am not knocking the mini-packs - quite the contrary. As a mother of two young girls with heads full of sweet teeth, I love these new mini-packages of candy this younger crew of goblins expects these days.

Why do I like the smaller package? It is the perfect parcel of sweets for a youngster (okay, and their mom.) Not so much sugar that the kids are climbing on the ceiling, and just enough to satisfy the desire for something sweet.

And so it goes with marketing. In these days of troubled economic times, hiring a huge advertising or public relations agency is out of the question (and would be unwise) for most small businesses. On the other hand, completely eliminating marketing is the worst thing a business owner can do when trying to drum up business from those carefully watching their pocketbooks.

The solution is hiring a consultant for your marketing needs. Need a brochure? Find a great copywriter. A new web site? A good designer is worth your every penny. Need to publicize an event? A top-notch public relations consultant will get the word out to the media without breaking the bank.

The sweet thing about a consultant is they come with all the experience, but without any extra calories like the expensive overhead of an agency or investment of a full-time employee.

Here’s a lesson I’ve learned the hard way: it is not a sign of being proactive or extremely organized stocking up early on Halloween candy … it’s just an excuse to satisfy the sweet tooth of someone who’s a little too grown up to trick-or-treat. It is, however, proactive (and smart) to continue to engage in marketing efforts today, because it is imperative stay top-of-mind with your customers. In the meantime, eating a candy bar the size of a half-dollar never actually hurt anyone.

Put "eat chocolate" at the top of your list of things to do today. That way, at least you'll get one thing done. ~Author Unknown

The Fun Factor

“I hate life right this minute,” was the exasperated and dramatic declaration from my almost 9-year-old last night. By all accounts (at least from a third grader’s perspective), her day had been tough. Lots of homework, her two hour dance class ran late, she didn’t get the part she wanted in her theater company’s Christmas show, and she lost TV and computer privileges for failing to clean her room. My advice was to get some rest and see if things seemed a little brighter with the dawning of a new day.

Sometimes I have days like that, too. It’s easy to get bogged down with the boring stuff – taking care of a shipping error on a package your customer never received, dealing with a crashed computer, or your entire day being thrown off schedule because your mechanic failed to tighten a hose under your hood that needs to be really tight in order for your car to continue to run (yep, happened to me just last week.)

I have found on those days (or really any days), that if I can focus on the reason I am doing “what I do,” I can breeze through those annoying tasks, easily deal with a seemingly inept vendor, or be kind to a scattered client.

So when I am “hating life right this minute,” I remind myself to see the happy look on a client’s face the morning the write-up in the paper appears, or the girls really enjoying their dance classes, or maybe even a new pair of super-cute shoes sitting on the shelf in my closet. I think enhancing our own lives and the lives of those around us is the real reason we work – whether work for you is as a high-powered attorney, a small-town boutique owner or a mother managing a household of kids and all that entails.

As you can see from the photo of my daughter (who is growing her hair for Locks of Love), the morning dawned quite bright today. Here’s to focusing on happy times and making sure fun is always a factor – because when it boils right down to it, shouldn’t that be the real reason we all “do what we do” every day?

"One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it's worth watching,"--unknown