Splash in The Spotlight! "Cici's Italian Butterhorns"

 Welcome to "Splash in The Spotlight at The WELL" featuring **Christine Falatico Frey, CEO of Cici's Italian Butterhorns**, who launched her business after her two children went off to college. 
 
“I just felt like it was my time,” said the self-taught chef, who learned to cook sweet and savory Italian fare from her Nana. 

Much to her delight, CiCi’s has become a family affair: Frey’s daughter helps with baking, her son maintains her web presence and marketing, and her husband packs product and schleps boxes. 

Christine's yummy butterhorns can be found at many fine food stores, so if you see them, don't resist! 

For more info, visit her website at www.CicisItalianButterhorns.com.  Congrats Christine and keep up the delicious work!

We're Talking Tactics! How to Stay Confident When You Push Past Your Comfort Zone

Splash In the Spotlight! "Candice Bennet & Associates, Inc."

Welcome to "Splash Into the Spotlight at the WELL" today, featuring award winning ** Candice Bennett & Associates, Inc. ** a full-service marketing research firm based in Virgina. 

Market research is a smart way to validate the wants, needs, pains, and desires of your potential clients and customers, so engaging an experienced firm like Candice Bennett & Associates is a great use of your research dollars! 

For more info, LIKE her page at www.facebook.com/CandiceBennettAssociates and visit her site at www.CandiceBennett.com. Congrats again to Candice Bennett, President of Candice Bennett & Associates, a certified women-owned award winning business!

#DailyGratitude in my office...

Baby You're a Firework!

Independence Day takes on a whole new meaning when you're an entrepreneur. Cheers to stepping up, believing in yourself and choosing to serve the world with your unique gifts and passions! xoxo #WomenEntrepreneursareFirecrackers!

Happy Successful Monday!

"Do one thing every day that scares you."

~ Eleanor Roosevelt

It's Marketing Monday!

Happy Frivolous Friday! Work hard until 1 and then go play in the sun!

"Always be more than you appear, and never be more than you are." -Bono

Is Your Headshot Hurting Your Business?

Recently I saw a Facebook ad inviting me to click on a link to watch a video and register for a webinar. The photo of the person in the ad was both fun and gorgeous, so I felt excited to click through to learn more and maybe even sign up. 

After clicking the link, I arrived on a webpage with a video of the person in the ad, but when I clicked "play", it was very obvious that the picture in the ad was taken a LONG time ago! The person in the ad was vibrant and spunky and the person in the video was much older, had gained weight and did not match the person in the picture. Now don’t get me wrong, the person in the video was fine too, but I felt tricked by the “promise of what to come” and began to doubt the authenticity of the person behind the ad and video. 

So I ask you… Is YOUR headshot hurting your business? 

If you’re not sure, here are 5 ways to decide if it’s time to have a re-shoot: 

1. You don’t look like your picture anymore. It seems obvious, but if you have lost or gained weight, your hair is much longer, shorter or greyer, or if it's been more than 3 years- it’s time for a re-shoot. Hair is the reason I just had a new picture taken. My last headshot was taken in December of 2011 which isn't too bad, but I was training for a marathon so I cut it very short and now my hair is about 10 inches longer! 

2. The picture of you is too small. People love to connect with your face, especially your eyes and smile, and if they can’t see you, they probably won’t get a feeling for the type of person you are. Don’t be afraid of an extreme close up either. This was how I solved my long hair problem. I cropped my picture down to mostly my face with only a hint of hair, and then my hair was no longer an issue and the viewer was able to connect with my personality. Try it- zoom in and don’t be shy! 

3. Your picture is too casual or too formal for the audience. Depending on the type of business you’re in, you may need to have a more formal shot or a more casual shot (and no, a selfie from your trip to Margaritaville last summer probably isn't a good idea!). Your wardrobe usually determines the tone of your presentation so think through colors, collars and jewelry to ensure that you are presenting an image in alignment with your brand message and promise. If you sell products, shoot a few pics holding or surrounded by them and show your fun side if it makes sense for what you offer.

4. Your picture doesn’t match your video. I’ve already shared with you my experience, so remember, if you are using video to market your services and products (and if you aren’t, get started ASAP!), make sure your current self and your frozen self aren’t too far apart. 

5. No picture at all. No picture might even be worse that an old picture! Today’s sales and marketing is all about transparency (trust me, they’ve already googled you before they called you), and if you don’t post a picture of yourself on your social media profiles and website, you might just appear… CREEPY! I know, creepy is a dramatic word borrowed from my 14 year-old daughter, but how can I do business with you if I can’t get at least a small feeling about who you are? Bottom line- don’t be a creeper, post a picture! 

I just had the pleasure of a new photo session with Nancy Rothstein Photography (I highly recommend Nancy if you’re it the San Francisco Bay Area!), and while it wasn’t inexpensive, neither is the value of what I teach about how to grow a profitable and sellable million dollar business (my brand promise), so it was money very well spent to illustrate my brand and content quality.

Lastly, if you aren’t ready to invest in professionally done photos, you can use a high quality camera (a newer smart phone camera will work just fine too) and have a friend take a close up shot so your clients can see your beautiful, credible and current face!

Have you had a positive or negative experience based on someone’s headshot? Post a comment below (I read every one personally!) and tell me what happened… 

Until next time! xoxo, jgw.

We're Talking Tactics! 3 Smart Tribe Tips to Engage More & Sell More Stuff

Women Entrepreneurs GrowatTheWELL.com (click to find out how you can grow a bigger, more profitable business that you love too!)

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!