The Entrepreneur's Secret Sauce

On a scale of 1-10, how FOCUSED are you today? I'm an 8 today, much better than yesterday's all-over-the-map 6! Post your # below...

3 Lessons Learned from My Kids on Mother's Day

I had the unusual opportunity to spend the entire day with 2 of my three kids, completely uninterrupted by a volleyball tournament or a Little League game. My oldest son is away in college, but even he had a long distance message for me. Reflecting on my lovely day as I tucked the youngest in last night,  I thought I would share the lessons my kids taught me yesterday as they each celebrated their mom - me!

1. Someone has to take the lead.
Having a daughter in the middle of two sons is a God send.  Often when they are thinking about sports, girls or girls and sports (that isn't a typo), she in all of her fourteen and a half years of wisdom, is always thinking ahead. She plans, strategizes and documents all of her to do's. When she was 10 and wanted to remodel her room, she gave me a PowerPoint presentation - slide animation and all!  While I am sure the boys would have eventually come up with something special for me yesterday (Catch in the park? A smaller than usual load of college laundry?), my future GirlPreneur took the lead, designed the breakfast menu, delegated preparation assignments and had the camera ready upon delivery. So organized, so one-step-short-of-bossy but completely on track. Amazing! Not sure where she gets it from... :-)

2. Mistakes happen but it's all about the recovery.
Then there's my youngest son.  Twelve is just about the age when passive aggressiveness seems to rear its independent head.  Apparently he was assigned to ride his bike to the bakery to get my favorite morning buns, but decided that it was too early and he wasn't getting up when she commanded him to.  Of course she nobly replied to his insubordination with, "Fine, I'll get them myself but you aren't getting any!" After she left, he dragged himself into my room, shared the story and asked, "You don't think she's really not going to give me one do you?" I resisted telling him that you get what you give, it was Mother's Day after all. But I did say that she wasn't happy with him, so who knows if she meant it or not. Suddenly he got a bright-eyed look on his face and said, "I know, I'll go cut the strawberries so when she gets back, that part will be done and then I'll probably get a morning bun!" With that he bolted down to the kitchen to start earning his breakfast back. And sure enough, she so appreciated him stepping up to help, she let him have two!

3. Texting is efficient, but a phone call is priceless.
Those of you that have teens are probably mad text-ers like I am. They trained me early and they trained me well.  Too well. So well that sometimes I forget to call people for important things and just ping them a quick text instead. Not the best habit but I'm working on it.  Anyway, imagine my surprise when my 20 year-old son CALLED me to say Happy Mother's Day.  I thanked him profusely for calling and said that I was surprised that he didn't just text me. I obviously insulted him because there was a long pause before he said, "Wow Mom. Texting isn't good for everything. Sometimes you just need to call people for important stuff." Ouch. Got it son. Thanks for the reminder.

So after mothering for 20 years, I am still a mom-in-progress, and more often than I care to admit, my best teachers are my kids!

How was your Mother's Day? Share with us below... xo, jgw. 

Want to get 10 more business lessons to grow a bigger and more profitable business? Click to get our popular Ten Times Mindset audio at The WELL!

I <3 NAWBO!

Awesome time speaking for NAWBO San Francisco tonight. Sharing my point of view on growing and valuing woman owned companies makes my heart sing!

Believe in Yourself (you CAN grow a business that you love and I'm here to help you every step of the way)

Today is Your Day!

"A step in the wrong direction is better than staying on the spot all our life. Once you're moving forward you can correct your course as you go." ~ Maxwell Maltz

The Lease is the Killer

Catch my quote in BloombergBusinessweek today at http://ow.ly/kzHSL so you can be sure to avoid this situation (and I don't mean a bad hair day lol!).

Join me for dinner May 9th?

I love this soooo much!  Post yours below in the comments and I'll make one for you too! 
Fill in the blank: Keep Calm and _________________.  Try it! 

3 Power "Ps" of Time Management

As an entrepreneur, mom of 3 and a wife of a wonderful hubby that needs attention too, TIME is always on my mind! 

What time is it? What do I NEED to get done today? Now? This week? 

These questions are constantly rolling around in my mind all day - usually times 3 - business, family, and personal. Exhausting! 

So in order to keep the time monsters quiet, I utilize a simple system that I start every day with.  I like doing things in 3's (mostly because more than three starts to feel like too much), so here are my Daily 3 P's of Time Management:

1. Plan
Seems obvious but you must plan your day, EVERY day.  For a while I was skipping this step and end up chasing my tail around and around all afternoon. Dumb! So now, I commit to spending 10 minutes planning out all of the tasks that should get completed each day, and if you do the same, your day will hum by productively and profitably! (Notice I said "should". There's always tomorrow, so don't kill yourself if you can't manage to get it all done in a single day).

2. Prioritize
This is huge. Don't necessarily start your day with the task you listed first, because chances are it's not the most important thing to accomplish that day.  Our natural default tends to be the easy tasks or busy work, when we really only need to focus on what we determine are the "A and B" tasks, which should relate to anything sales, marketing and revenue generating. All other tasks that are important but don't directly generate revenue should be designates as "C's" and should only be worked on AFTER all of the A's and B's are completed. Chances are the C's aren't as urgent as you think they are anyway, so focus on the "A & B Money Movers" and watch the magic happen!

3. Practice Time Blocking
OK, I stretched the P on this one a bit, but 3 P's sound better than 2 P's and a B! :) Practice time blocking is based on the fact that we can usually only focus for about an hour, so block out 50 minutes for each A and B task and take a 10 minute break after each 50 minute block.  This way you are protecting time for your most important tasks and also building in time to let your mind and body recharge a bit before jumping into the next important activity.

Bonus Tip:
Use a business journal to document every single day.  In the old days I was a dedicated Day Timer user (dating myself back to the 90's I know...), but since I live and die by my iphone and ipad now, I use a Moleskine journal (Moleskine.com) to plan, prioritize and document my day.  Specifically, I start each day with a new page dated at the top and write down my tasks, voicemail messages, brainstorming doodles, etc. for the entire day.  I especially like that it fits into my purse (there are several sizes and formats to choose from), it's great for taking notes in a meeting, and it has a handy flat pocket in the back for business cards etc. 

There you go! Simple, powerful and FREE! My favorite kind of tips!  

What are your best time management tips? Share in the comments below! 

Get Smart About Your Social Media Marketing

According to a newly published report by Pew Internet, 75% of all adults online are on Facebook (talk about fishing where the fish are!).

Get smart about where your target market is hanging out in this free, easy to read report:

http://pewinternet.org/Commentary/2012/March/Pew-Internet-Social-Networking-full-detail.aspx

By the way I post a lot of great tips like this on our Facebook page too!

Your Turn...
Do you use social media for marketing? Leave a comment below and let me know!

Rubbing Shoulders with a Shark!

Standing next to ABC's Shark Tank resident shark, Daymond John, founder and CEO of the $350M FUBU clothing empire at #InfusionCon 2013.

Hopefully some of his shark smarts rubbed off!! :)

Fish Where the Fish Are

When I was the Director of Sales & Marketing for the Sheraton at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco (way back in the 90's lol!),  I always used to tell my sales managers to "Fish Where the Fish Are". What I meant was that it's much easier to attract a customer (fish) if you drop your sparkly lure into a pond stocked with those that will most likely be attracted to what you offer them.  

In your business, what is the overflowing pond 
that your most targeted fish swim in?

In many cases, trade associations are great places to find raving customers.  Trade associations are groups of people who gather for a common interest, so if your product or service can support their interests (as end users or referral sources), your company will quickly become the shiniest lure and your net is guaranteed to overflow! 

Are you currently marketing your business to trade associations? Post a comment to tell me about it or ask a question below! 

Try at Trial Membership!
www.21DaysatTheWELL.com

Don’t Miss This Upcoming Webinar at The WELL!

“How to Create Your 90 Day Sales & Strategy Plan”

Thursday, February 28^th at 10-11am PST / 1-2pm EST

During this high impact FREE one hour training course (a $97 value), you’ll:

·        Discover how to focus on just the clients with the highest revenue potential and forget the rest

·        Learn to prioritize and get things done and then delete the time drains

·        Receive a powerful, yet simple tool to track and achieve your 90 day revenue goals (so you can repeat the process again and again!)

Reserve your spot here >  http://tinyurl.com/WELLthyWebinar, and be sure to attend live as the recording will only be available for WELL Members.

Now is the time for you to get proactive about growing your business to a million and beyond (or a business that makes you feel like a million!), so reserve your webinar seat today http://tinyurl.com/WELLthyWebinar and we’ll talk to you very soon!

Warmest regards,

Coach Julie

P.S. Be sure to forward this message to other smart women who are serious about growing their business and income this year… Just send them to http://tinyurl.com/WELLthyWebinar and we’ll “see” you all on the call! Julie

MONDAY MO! "Never Shy Away from Ambition"

A friend forwarded a link to this video of millionaire #WomenEntrepreneur Tory Burch, and I loved it so much (she is smart, direct and inspiring), I thought it would be be perfect to share with you for a little Monday Mo! Ambition goes hand in hand with thinking bigger, so watch her short but powerful message about why it's important to be ambitious.

If you like Tory's video, post a comment below and share your ideas with our wonderful community at The WELL!  :) xo, j.


.

 P.S. Have you sarted your trial membership at The WELL yet? If not, get started now at http://replenishatthewell.weebly.com/get-a-trial-membership.html and see you on the inside!

78? 98? 48? What's your business' score at The WELL? www.ReplenishatTheWELL.com Take the assessment and then accelerate! #womenentrepreneurs

How will your biz score? Take the quick but enlightening assessment for #womenentrpreneurs at www.ReplenishatTheWELL.com then RT your score!

Priceless #MomPreneur Moment: "My gross sales are $50 for babysitting and my net profit is $50 too. YES!!" - My 14 year old #GirlPreneur! :)

Women Entrepreneurs Telling it Like it Is! Thanks American Express OPEN!

Happy Marketing Monday! 

If you've already downloaded the "Grow to a Million RoadMap" audio (and if you haven't you can do it now by registering in the column on the right >>), you know that there are 7 X!Ponential Principles that drive the 7X! Coach system. 

We all need to get a lot of work done today 

(it's Marketing Monday after all!), so for now, let’s just talk about the X!Ponential Principle of PURPOSE.

I know what you’re thinking. Oh no, not another lecture on finding your PURPOSE. Nope, not here, not me. But what I do have to offer is a completely different way of thinking about purpose, 

which by the way leads to passion, 

which is ultimately your treasure map to profits!

As an X!Ponential Principle, I want you to think about PURPOSE from the perspective of these 4 questions:

1)    WHY are you building what you’re building? WHY is that your response to the WHY? 

2)    What are the DANGERS to what you are building?

3)    What are the STRENGTHS that will help you build what you are building?

4)    What are the OPPORTUNITIES to help build what you are building?

  

If you can clearly answer these 4 questions (because clarity is nectar of financial freedom), not only will you be able to visualize and create your million dollar roadmap, you will also be able to communicate your roadmap to your team, no matter how big or small your team is.

A clear team is  a confident team (that includes team you, yourself and you!), which is the first giant step towards growing a million dollar business.

OK, your turn. Ponder and then pen your thoughts.  No need for perfection- just honesty and authenticity.

Until next time, have a great week and remember, don't just think big...

THINK X!Ponential! 

Warmest,

Julie