Ladies Who Launch

Back To School: Teach This Time

September means back to school for kids and adults. Sometimes to move further in your business, you may need to take a class or two. However, experience is often the best teacher.  There is value in your years of experience and passion, and this fall you may want to teach a class instead of taking a class. It doesn't matter if you are an expert in knitting or networking, there is probably a place where you can teach.

Check online for continuing education programs at community centers, colleges, conferences, writing schools, senior centers, nonprofit agencies and see where can teach.  Ask around or even consider teaching someone in exchange for other business services that you need.

If money is not an issue, consider volunteering you services and sharing your knowledge with others. Teaching is one the best ways to validate your expertise to others.

Build It Before You Need It

It's August and many people are away for vacation. This is actually an excellent time to build up your contacts. You will meet other vacationers on the plane, in the hotel lobby or on the beach.  Everyone is relaxed so conversations flow freely. Sometimes you meet people that may not be immediately helpful for your business, but are good to people to know because they be an asset in the future for you or your friends. Since some leave business cards at home, then put their information on your mobile phone or even on cocktail napkin and organize things later like when you are on the plane on the way back.

Keeping Nickels: Get Flood Insurance to Project Home Business

People in New York City experienced torrential downpour and tornado that caused major delays and damage. If you are a freelance or home-based business, you may not have had to deal with a commute, but maybe other damages and financial loss occurred. If you own your home, and don't have flood insurance, then get it now. FEMA sets the rates for flood insurance and premiums are low. Check out FloodSmart.gov to estimate your premium and find an agent. Whether or not you own but experience business loss, then make a estimate of the loss and record it now as an expense in your bookkeeping. Do this by adding an account "Flood Expense" Any receipts relating to the expense (i.e., Home Depot) should be recorded. Then talk to your CPA or tax professional about how to submit and deduct expenses for tax purposes.

Design/Tech Stuff :: IPHONE! The Scoop

by Fashionmista aka That IT Girl and Katie James

Ladies:
I got the iPhone. There were many justifications to getting this, beyond "doing something nice for myself," including: "It was released in the month of my 30th birthday," "I got a new project" and "Gerdy (my dog) dragged me into the store on our walk that usually never involves W.95th and Broadway. How can I deny her."

Every time I take it out of my purse, people ask questions. If it's a man, his eyes glaze into a zombie stare and he says: "Is that the iPhone?" If it's a woman, she says: "Is that the iPhone? Oh, is that your cat on there? Oh! My cat...yadda yadda."
I have a picture of my gray cat Dinah on the phone as my wallpaper, which is not that unusual, but the screen is so big and clear, that it looks revolutionary. And I'm amazed at how many women zero in on the cat picture.

I'm timing myself for this post, to show you how the iPhone has improved my life. At 10:42am I took a picture of myself on the iPhone to show you how good it is.

See how good I look?  ;)  Kidding. I'm at Panera, working and listening to Sarah McLachlan. At 10:43am I emailed it to myself from my iPhone with one click. At 10:44am I answered an email while waiting for my picture to show up in my inbox (Panera has free wireless). By 10:45am, I had received the email, saved it to my computer, loaded up my FTP software and uploaded the picture to the FashionMista server so that it could display here on this blog. This means that at 10:42am I took a picture, and by 10:45am it was ready to go live on the web, whenever I finish yapping away on this post.

I was super excited when I got the iPhone, but really, I just felt complete. I am a Mac girl, so I have been waiting for years and years for Apple to release something that gives us a calendar and address book in the palm of our hands, just like everyone else.

iPhone Highlights (in no particular order)

• If it's not in a case, it slides into my cloth lined wallet.
• Address book and calendar synch with my computer via iTunes. It literally updates just like an iPod.
• When I synch the address book and calendar, the iPhone actually alerts me to how many contacts on each device - the iPhone and my computer, a PowerBookG4 - will be updated. This means I can type an event into my iPhone calendar, and it will fly into my computer calendar when I synch the iPod. Same with the Address book. And by "synch" I mean plug in the iPhone into my computer.
• While jogging and subsequently stretching, I can: listen to my 1200 songs while I jog, answer an incoming call from Boyfriend about when he is finishing golf, then send an email to a friend to reschedule drinks, then call my sister-in-law to pass along a thought on how she can get married housing at Ohio State. The best thoughts come while jogging in the sunshine, so it's best to have all the tools in one place to deal with or nurture all thoughts.
• iPhone earphones, which include a microphone to talk on, work as regular earphones. So I can plug them into my computer when working in a coffee shop. You could also have surround-sound phone if you like. Too consuming for me, but you might like it.
• While driving cross country on the highway in Ohio, I could quickly tell Boyfriend where the nearest Jiffy Lube was at the next exit, thanks to the Map function in iPhone that uses Google Maps.
• The Map function lets you zoom very far in to see small streets.
• Love the calculator. So cute and easy to use. My old phone calculator on my Nokia PDA reminded me of my TI-81 graphing calculator, but without the graphing feature.
• Ring tones. A personal favorite. Boyfriend's ring tone is an actual motorcycle that is revving up. My mom is a barking dog because her dog is always barking in the background when she calls me. My sister is chirping crickets because those are peaceful. My morning alarm are actual church bells, which actually don't do a great job of waking me up because they sound like real church bells outside, which is very peaceful.
• The clock and alarm. Spin the wheel and you set the time. Look at an iPhone and you'll know what I mean.
• Camera is fabulous. It sucks battery life, but is so convenient.

I'll stop here. I'm going to write more on the pros and cons of the iPhone on my That IT Girl blog, but I am happy I got it. Typing is one thing that will be quite different from what you are used to. It is not very easy to type and drive at the same time, since the keys are displayed on the screen. That's right. It means that you can not feel buttons for keys.

More to come!

Business Pitches and Business Plans

Technology can often make something boring seem like fun. Recently I found two new online applications Vator and Plan HQ that can assist you in developing business pitches and business plans.

Are your ready for your closeup?! A cool way to pitch your business to investors is to do an online video. Check out Vator.tv which allows you to upload 3 minute pitches about your business for free. This is great opportunity for start-ups to get the word out to potential investors. Plus, Vator.tv has competitions that you can enter as well.

To start your business on the right foot, it is good to have a business plan. If you are looking to develop a business plan and you are collaborating with others, then PlanHQ may be a solution for you. Plan HQ is business planning software that has all the sections of a formal business plan and can guide you on how to complete it.