Ladies Who Launch

Webinar:Entrepreneurship as an Encore for Women

On July 17, there will be a valuable and informative online seminar for women who aspire to be successful entrepreneurs.  The New York Time's Shifting Careers Columnist Marci Alboher will be one of the panelists as well as Mark Freedman and  Rebecca White.

Webcast Details
Live Interactive Webcast
July 17, 2008
6:30 - 8:00 PM Eastern Time
Price: $59

Register
Click here to register

How to Unleash your Inner Sexpot

Would you like to unleash your inner Sexpot?
Pole dancing is the latest trend in workouts it is true. It is Audacious. It is bold.

And fun.

It makes me feel juicy, bodacious and empowered. It trims my waistline and causes me to think differently about who I am being in the world. All that from 2 hours in a very intense and pleasurable workout?

Yes.

So consider this.
If all matter is energy and the Law of Attraction says that like
energy attracts like energy, then imagine the kind of gorgeous
energy you can create by giving the pole a whirl?

There is much to be said for my pole dancing classes and I have
noticed a change in how I approach everything in my life.

As Sheila Kelly, the founder of SFactor has said, "Soak in the
pure, unadulterated flow of your life. Breathe it in and exhale
everything in your mind until your entire being is just bliss. Let
your body float with soft, languid moves that are simply organic to
your being. When you step outside into your day you will notice
something has shifted."

I think I am (finally!) becoming the exquisite creature I was meant to be.
When you uncover your inner sexpot you also uncover your creative
center, which helps you to think of great new ideas for your
business and gives you the lift-off to actually complete what you
start!

Imagine that?

One of my coaches, Andrea J. Lee of Vancouver, British Columbia often speaks about doing activities that open you to your most sensual and creative self. For me it comes from movement and there is nothing like gathering the courage to dance with a pole...and do it gracefully. And also not be afraid to flop on the floor and try again.

If you are looking for a way to shape up your body, mind and spirit
then the Sfactor may just be the thing for you. They have intro
classes and studios are opening all over the place.

Even Oprah loves it.
You will too.
It's Pure Audacious power.

Go on check it out. You know you want to.

http://www.sfactor.com

Nancy Mindes, Chief Audaciousness Officer
Audacious Ladies Coaching Company
http://www.NancyMindes.com

In a Service Business? Ten thing to do NOW

Recently I received a note from a new coach wanting to know how to get off to a good start...when I looked at what I shared I realized this would be good information for any person in a service business where the emphasis in on YOU! IF you are the business YOU are in trouble....here's why

In a service business, you cannot make money unless you are available. I have been coaching since end of 1999  and I quit due to burnout...it's all about you and you cannot make money with out you. YIKES.... You MUST change this to generating other streams of passive income or you will be exhausted, frustrated and will give up eventually. I can teach you about this and I highly recommend you do this.  Read the Secrets of the millionaire Mind and attend  a Millionaire Mind Intensive.  This has literally changed my LIFE.

2. Get yourself help as soon as possible whether you think you can afford/deserve it or not. I did NOT and started to DROWN. Now I know better. Hire yourself a Virtual assistant and or live- in-person assistant so that you can work on only that which you love and focus energies on marketing not paper pushing.  As you grow get a bookkeeper, a lawyer and a business manager.

For peace of mind resign NOW as the general manager of the universe. Some places to shop for a VA check out AssistU.com for Virtual Assistants also the IVVA Get creative, hire college students, interns, your neighbors' kid or a friend who needs a job right now while she looks for a new one.

Rule: Hire slowly. Interview carefully. Make sure it's a good fit. check out: www.collegehelpers.com, elance.com or guru.com

3. Network, network, network. Make yourself well-known. Join Ladies Who Launch and other organizations where your ideal clients are. Get out and meet people. Ask questions find out what they need and want. Build relationships. See how you can contribute to others. Get a simple website if you are not online, do that NOW. As you grow update and change. A website never stays static anyway (or shouldn't) so just get one up there for starters if you haven't. If you like to write a shortcut would be to get a blog. Oh and start building your email database.

4. Rule about what to be doing: If it's a Hell YES do it, if it's not it's  a Hell NO...so pass it, delegate it or dump it.

5. Rule about cash flow: Do not give up your day job until you have your cash flow in place or get another day job that is less demanding but gives you fuel to pay for all the pieces of parts of ensuring your success as a business. A service business such as coaching or massage is not just a calling it is also a Business with a capital B.  I kept my job as special event director at the Fashion Group during my 4 years of training at Coach U and beyond.

6. Make sure you have a coach to keep you in action and accountable. My coach Margit, is TOUGH and I love her for it.

7. Never-ever undersell yourself. Do not be afraid to name your price and get it. If you put yourself "on sale" or bargain with people you will attract people who you may not want to work with and kick yourself later for agreeing to accept less. Watch for this.  People who serve others have a tendency to undervalue themselves.  Avoid it. You have much to offer the world.

And another thing: I learned this from Kendall Summerhawk...Raise your prices from time to time, especially if it makes you uncomfortable. If you have spent years training, as I did,  for what you do and you have life or business experience that is of value, monetize it. Believe it or not your clients do expect to pay you. If you want, have a scholarship for a few clients who are deserving and cannot afford to pay you at the  moment when they get successful guess what happens?, I do this and it's great.

7. Ask for referrals and refer to others. This is an important revenue stream and way of creating your business community.

8. Ask for the business when someone calls you. Service people often leave this step out and wonder why they have no clients. ASK, "so when would you like to get started?"

9. Enjoy yourself and if you are not, STOP and regroup. I left coaching for 18 months to go work on the 2004 Democratic presidential camapign which really gave me a new perspective on life along the way I used my coaching skills for enrolling people.  After a stunning defeat, I joined the Ladies Who Launch Incubator in 2005 and began my coaching business again.
LWL gave me the uplifting and the  liftoff I needed in a very big way.

10. Here's my business plan: Simplify my life. Connect with others. Have more fun.
Have an audaciously fabulous day!

The Secrets of the Millionaire Mind and the Millionaire Mind Intensive changed my life. It will change yours especially if you are in a service business or a solo practitioner of any kind...

Secrets of the Millionaire Mind Book>>>get this!
http://www.secretsofthemillionairemind.com/a/joyful_deliciousness

The single most important step you take no matter WHAT service you offer is to keep learning about the business of business along with deeply understanding who you are from the inside out and who do you get to be when you are doing the work you love.
Come and see who I am at my website
http://www.NancyMindes.com/

The home for Audacious Ladies and the men they love

Leaving Corporate America: Amy Phillips

I have to say I have never really worked long in Corporate America… I worked for a national insurance company for a year, so I guess I did get a taste of it.  I couldn't get out of that company fast enough to join a start-up e-tailer when the opportunity came, and the main reason was, beside much better pay, that I could work on better and more exciting projects with the start-up company, and I had more freedom and more opportunities to work on a variety of projects.  Three years or so later, when the start-up was starting to become another member of the "Corporate America", I left that company too.  I felt like I was loosing the freedom and autonomy that I joined the company for in the first place, and the whole "office politics" thing was getting really tiring. I also felt like I had all this creative energy but nowhere to express it.

Escape from Corporate America

Pamela Skillings is a member of the NY Incubator and the founder of Skillful Communications, a marketing consulting and copywriting agency. Pamela is also a journalist and the author of the upcoming Random House book, Escape from Corporate America.

After twelve long years climbing the corporate ladder, I had all of the things that I thought I wanted. A six-figure salary, a fancy title, and an office with a view.

I had a “good job”, but I was miserable. Why? My job was demanding, but not challenging. Nothing about my work seemed meaningful or exciting anymore. I had finally climbed far enough up the ladder to see that I had no interest in climbing any higher. Worst of all, I was sick of feeling like a fraud.

My job dissatisfaction eventually had very visible effects on my personality. I was tired, I was cranky, and I was fat. I was tired of working endless hours, cranky about feeling trapped, and fat because the highlights of my day had become lunch and happy hour. Clearly, something had to give.

When I told my boss and co-workers that I was leaving to start my own consulting business, most of them thought I was insane. “Are you sure?” was the most popular response to my exciting news. They could understand the impulse – all of us had suffered together through countless layoffs and reorganizations and we were exhausted. But wasn’t I being a bit too hasty?

I felt like I had already waited too long. It was an undeniably scary, but unquestionably necessary move. I have never regretted the decision for a minute, not even during those scary first months when money was tight.

In fact, my launching experience inspired me to write a book to help others who feel stuck in Corporate America. I have interviewed dozens of experts and successful people inside and outside of Corporate America. Please email me if you’d like to learn more about the book or if you are interested in contributing your story.

Leaving Corporate America: Charlene Dupray

Charlene Dupray is the owner of South' n' France and a member of the Ladies Who Launch Incubator in Wilmington, NC.

In high school, I was voted "Most Likely to Succeed".  Determined to live up to the prophecy,  a decade later I found myself climbing a Madison Avenue corporate ladder as a headhunter for more than three hundred multinational corporations.  I lived in a great Upper East Side apartment, earned an impressive salary, and worked more than sixty hours a week.  Some might  have said that I was well on my way to achieving that high school superlative, but something was missing.  I didn't feel successful. On my quest to unravel the truth about success, I discovered a quote by Norman Lear.  He said, "Success is how you collect your minutes.  You spend millions of minutes to reach one triumph, one moment, then you spend maybe a thousand minutes enjoying it…. If you were unhappy through those millions of minutes, what good are those few minutes of triumph?"  I was  spending millions of minutes sitting behind a desk in exchange for money that I used to rent an apartment I didn't even have the time to enjoy.

Ecstatic escape from the culture of the cubicle

August 16, 1998 was the day of my liberation from the culture of the corporate cubicle. Upon returning from a two week vacation at our beach house rental on Fire Island, I knew that I was about to be set free from being a corporate drudge in a dysfunctional culture. My friends and colleagues were crying and I was dancing all the way out the door.
Afer receiving my "package"I was on my way to a new life. Freedom, flexibility and new adventures, I never thought possible.

Here's a few things to remember when you have had enough of working in the culture of the corporate cubicle.

Plan ahead and you can enjoy the ride.

I. If you know you want to go, plan your escape by  building your reserves. (In my case I received a nice severance, however I had been saving for this day for a long time.) My reserve of cash was ready when it was time to leave.

2. Build a reserve of contacts. Before you make the exits have you been getting out there and meeting people?  If you have, then when it 's time to go you will have more freedom to do what you want, more contacts to call upon.  If you haven't start now. Join social networks give people the gift of your time and caring. When I left I had a great consulting gig that landed in my lap because I had spent a great deal of time building up my networks and the relationships within them.

3. Build up a reserve of love. If you are not loving your job and you know that in the not too distant future you will either leave or be asked to leave, let your friends and family members know what is happening to you. Enroll them in the idea that their support and love is valued as you plan your move.

4. Build up a reserve of energy by taking really good care of yourself every day. Little things mean a lot. Eat well, get your z-z-z-z's and exercise will all help you later when you make a break for the exits. One thing I learned was that even though I wanted to leave I fell into a slump, I missed my friends, the technology help line and the corporate trappings for a while. Prepare by being in really, really good shape so you weather the storm.

5. Start to view your next act through a lens of your passion and purpose. When I left the corporate cubicle culture,I decided to do what I was already doing in the corporate cubicle along with my job as a creative services manager: personal coaching. Why? I love to inspire others to be their best, I was , so in 1999 I enrolled in the 3 year training program at Coach University and Success In Style was launched.  What is a dream you left behind because you had to play it safe and secure?

The gift you give yourself of following your heart will carry you along.

There is a Zen saying that has guided me often, "Leap and the net will appear."

Nancy Mindes is a member of the NY Incubator. She is trained profession Success Attraction Coach who works with women who want to be bold, live rich, play big and do good. Her perfect clients are those whose stars on on the rise creating businesses that make a difference and a profit. She is a featured blogger on Coachamatic.com and her website is http://www.NancyMindes.com

Leaving Corporate America: Jennifer Lee

Jennifer Lee is a member of the San Francisco Incubator and is the founder of Ayako Arts, specializing in unique handcrafted gifts for everyday intention and inspiration. Jennifer is also a certified coach who helps professional women seeking more balance and fulfillment to change their lives and live their dreams. Her coaching practice is called Change Journey Coaching.

 

I was a closet entrepreneur hiding out in cubicle land for nearly three years! Despite a successful 8-year consulting career and a recent promotion into a group I had coveted, I knew there was still something missing. I wanted to make a real difference in people’s lives and to have creative freedom. I took steps to eventually get out on my own. I juggled coaching courses, a year-long leadership program, and a part-time coaching practice, created my websites, worked with a spiritual coach and even started selling my handmade books and boxes. Yet, I resisted that final leap of actually quitting my so-called “ideal job.”

My turning point came earlier this year. I co-facilitated a leadership retreat through my friend Brighid O'Shaughnessy’s non-profit Cheryl’s Dreaming Big. Brighid and I helped the participants discover and claim their unique talents and dreams. We witnessed each person transform into a fully alive, authentic leader. I was doing the work I loved AND it didn’t even feel like work!

The Tuesday I returned to my day job, I felt the office suck the soul out of me. The high from the inspirational retreat had burst and fulfillment in my work was nowhere to be found. I knew it was time. Time for me to truly walk the talk and dream big myself! The universe whispered in my ear again the following night. That Wednesday, poet and “The Heart Aroused” author David Whyte, spoke at our company. He talked about the importance of having a courageous conversation with yourself to live your authentic life. Afterward, I had the privilege of driving David to dinner. In the car I shared with him how much his message underscored my search for meaning and wholeness in my work. He replied, “It sounds like you’re at a threshold.” I certainly was! I gave notice two months later and officially crossed that threshold on June 23^rd.

Leaving Corporate America: Tevis Gale

Tevis Gale is the founder of Balance Integration and a member of the New York Incubator.

That I left corporate America is surprising, but perhaps not as surprising as having ever worked there to begin with.  My parents were the hippy family, the Montessori teacher and philosopher, the Rolling Stone loving family who never knew a grass roots cause they didn’t like.  I wasn’t really the Alex P. Keaton of the family, but I was interested in being active, being challenged, and seeing what sort of mark I could make on the world.  Somehow the combination of these factors led me to corporate America, or rather, Global Business more specifically.  I got a masters in international business from the leading program at the time, and found myself quickly climbing the ranks at Coca-Cola, UPS, IBM, Korn-Ferry, and finally AOL.  Fueled with passion for testing myself and a conviction that business is just a bunch of people getting stuff done together, I loved to work.  But I took my hippy past with me:  the caring for the human factor, the propensity to meditate or breathe when stressed, and the discipline to practice self care even in the most chaotic of times. 

 

Leaving Corporate America: Jen Singer

Jen Singer is the creator of www.MommaSaid.net, a Forbes Best of the Web community for mothers, and the author of “14 Hours ‘Til Bedtime.” 

It was a Sunday afternoon, and I was in Florida with my fellow advertising executives and our clients for a three-day meeting. I was watching my client try to schedule her son’s third birthday party into her day planner. By the time she got through the meetings, marketing deadlines and product launches, she penciled the party in a month after his birthday. That’s when I decided that motherhood and Corporate America do not mix well.

I left advertising to start my own freelance writing business – before I had children. Now, I can schedule my work around my kids’ schedules. I write mostly when they’re in school, and I rarely take business trips that keep me away more than a night or two from home. This week, we celebrated my son’s eighth birthday… on the day before his birthday. Running my own business made that – and being at the school bus stop each day – possible.