Count Your Money Like You Count Your Calories & More

Clockwise: Robin Chase of Zip Car, me with Kimberly Weisul Editor-at-Large of Inc. Magazine,
Essie of Essie Cosmetics and Tory Burch of Tory Burch

If you’ve been following our Facebook page, you know that I had the pleasure of attending the Inc. Magazine Women’s Summit and the OPEN American Express CEO BootCamp for Women last week in New York (definitely lucky timing that they were just two days apart!).

While I took a tons of notes and posted and tweeted some, here are a few more valuable nuggets just in case you missed them:

Robin Chase, founder of Zip Car (who went public and then sold to AVIS - whoo hoo!) shared these great tips:

"Start with the minimum viable product to get to customers fast."

"Keep it really, really, simple."

"Be focused and clear about how you spend your money."

"Figure out the most important thing to focus on to prove the concept and then move to the next level."

"Build a company that your customers will want to send you love letters."

Alexa Von Tobel, Founder & CEO of LearnVest.com who has raised $40M in capital, all before turning 30, shared:

"Every dollar is as green as the rest until they aren't. Find investors who are experts in your field so not only are they giving you money, they are giving you proven advice." 

Elizabeth Cutlet & Julie Rice, Co-Founders of Soul Cycle, the 20-studio spinning class sensation shared: 

"Don't over think it. We met for the first time over coffee, 48 hours later we had a business plan and space, and 6 months after that our business was open." 

And last but not least - this is one of my favorites because most of us are experts at least half of this equation :) - from Jean Chatzky, The Today Show financial editor and bestselling author:

"Count your dollars like you count calories." 

Whew! That was one awesome week! After 2 full days of listening, learning, absorbing and networking, the overwhelming message I came away with was:  

Start small, have a big vision, 
and take steps every day to making it happen.

Simple, but hugely profound!

Speaking of steps every day, if you haven’t already, be sure to sign up for my new webinar tomorrow at 11am Pacific (it will be recorded if you can’t make it live), called “Finish Strong! 5 Strategies to Maximize Your 4th Quarter & Amplify 2014”. Here’s the link and talk with you soon! > http://tinyurl.com/FinishStrongWebinar

OK, more goodness tomorrow on the webinar and I'll talk with you soon!  jgw.