I am woman, hear me roar!

It isn't women's history month (that's March), but I thought a post about the power of women was in order today because Danielle, Sarah and I have started a women's networking group here in Vancouver, BC. Our first event is quickly approaching (Dec. 3rd - mark your calendars, female Vancouverites!) and it'll be a great night for anyone looking for a little inspiration and motivation during these uncertain economic times. Our speaker is Sue Paish, CEO of Pharmasave and former corporate lawyer. She will be speaking about her new role as CEO of Phasmasave and the process of deciding to leave her job as one of the most powerful corporate lawyers in Canada to pursue her next goal. If you are a "woman on the rise" in your industry, or a woman who already knows what it's like to work your way up the ranks, this event will certainly be of interest to you.

"Stop watching !@#$ING LOST!"

Here is a 15 minute keynote address by Gary Vaynerchuk (Wine Library) from the Web 2.0 Expo NYC

I LOVE this video. I've been following @garyvee on twitter for some time now, and apart from being wildly hilarious and endlessly amusing, the guy is clearly onto something. Most people will watch this video and think "but it's not that easy! I can't just decide to start doing something I love and make money off of it, otherwise everyone would be doing it." And you know what? I think everyone SHOULD be doing it. Part of what I love about being an entrepreneur is "the hustle" as Gary calls it. The constant fire in your belly and yearning to devote every waking hour to whatever your passion (your business) is. A while back, I blogged about how hard it was making the decision to quit my day job to strike out on my own and start Fave Handbags. And I admit, if it weren't for my amazing support system (Karlo, you rock!), there were a million times when I might have packed it in, and gone back to my old job. But what keeps me going is what Gary is talking about - Passion and Patience. I have the passion to keep going, and since nothing has ever happened for me overnight, I have the patience to see this through to the end. I'm completely inspired by Gary, and the many others who are doing what they love and I hope you find some inspiration in this video too.

What keeps you inspired?

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Ignorance is(n't) bliss

"Admission of ignorance is often the first step in our education." - Stephen Covey, Daily Reflections for Highly Effective People: Living the Seven Habits

Current mood: Reflective
Currently listening to: Erykah Badu - Baduizm
Currently reading: A Beginner's Guide to Starting a Shop on Etsy

I'm ignorant. There, I said it. And as business guru Stephen Covey states, this is the first step in my education. This is not really a revelation for me, I've always known that I don't know enough (ha!). Today, though, I am speaking specifically about the various aspects of social media marketing/web2.0. I don't know enough and in realizing that I don't know enough I have now embarked on my social media education. A while back, I attended a seminar about social media marketing/web 2.0 and was fascinated by all of the marketing opportunities out there, but I didn't actually make a move to implement any of the strategies at that time. Of course, I've had a facebook page for personal use for ages now, but I didn't use it for any business reasons. I wasn't on Twitter, I didn't know what StumbleUpon was, I knew nothing about RSS feeds/readers, I didn't know about social bookmarking, I didn't know what a mashup was; gosh I could go on and on about what I didn't know!

Anyways, the point is now I know what I didn't know. And I am having a blast right now learning about all of the amazingly effective social media marketing tools out there. I'll be sure to regularly update you on anything I find, since I'm sure I can't be the only social media marketing newbie out there! I'm starting with focusing on how to utilize facebook as an effective, no-cost/low-cost way to market Fave Handbags, since I'm already on Facebook. Right now, my favourite resource for facebook strategy is http://whyfacebook.com/. A lot of people don't realize the opportunities that are available on Facebook, and Mari has tons of great articles about the profit generating side of things.

Now, I'm off to work on my Etsy store and work on increasing my interaction with my Facebook and Twitter network. Here's wishing everyone a productive and educational week!

Inspiration for the would-be entrepreneur

A year ago I quit my full time job to follow my dream and start my own business. Deciding to strike out on my own and forgo the comfort of receiving a regular paycheque with someone else's signature on it was by far the scariest and most important decision I've ever had to make. For me, it was not an easy decision by any means, since I loved my job and the people I worked with, and for the most part was content with my career. It would have been very easy for me to stay right where I was - working my way up in a company that I believed in and felt appreciated at, having a regular 9-5 job with a stable income guaranteed every month and enjoying my evenings and weekends off to have a personal life (which any business owner will tell you doesn't happen once you've started the business). But the entrepreneurial bug, as they say, bit me and held on for dear life; it wouldn't go away until I had at least tried. (If you can't stand cliches, then I suggest you skip the next couple sentences!) Someone once said that "as you grow older, you'll find the only things you regret are the things that you didn't do," and I knew that I'd regret it immensely if I didn't at least try my hand at being a business owner.

Now, once I'd made the decision to give it a go, staying motivated was key. I'm not going to lie, there were millions of times that I thought to myself "this is crazy, who are you to start your own business? This will never work, you should just go get your old job back" and I had to work at staying motivated despite the many obstacles that I faced throughout the whole start up phase of my business. One way that I stayed motivated, and I think that this made the difference between packing it in and giving up when the going got rough for me, was by constantly immersing myself in books and articles about successful entrepreneurs. One of my favourite books is "Starting from Scratch" by Wes Moss. In it, Moss shares the stories of 21 "regular people who made the entrepreneurial leap" and are now thriving in the business world. Reading their stories and seeing that they all faced and overcame the same obstacles that I was now facing was truly inspirational to me. Others books that I read and drew inspiration from were "The Bear Necessities of Business: Building a Company with Heart" by Maxine Clark, the founder of Build-A-Bear Workshop and "Pour Your Heart Into It" by Howard Shultz, Founder and CEO of Starbucks. I've read tons and tons of business books, including the standards like "The E-Myth" and "In Search of Excellence" etc, but these 3 in particular stood out for me, as they are about regular people like me who took took the leap and made it. I would recommend them to any would-be entrepreneur looking for a little inspiration during the tough times of following your entrepreneurial dream...

Going live...

Wow, I can't believe this day has finally come! Today, our website, www.favehandbags.com, went live on the net, and I have to admit some days I thought it was never going to happen. It was almost a year ago that I decided to quit my job as office manager at Nannies on Call to make my dream of starting this business a reality, and it feels like much longer than that. This is also my first foray into the world of blogging, and it's something I'm going to have to get used to. It's a little strange, isn't it? Kind of like giving the world constant access into your personal journal, or better yet, a glimpse right into your brain and the crazy, wacky or sometimes boring thoughts you spend your days dwelling on. Me, I've been eating, breathing and sleeping this handbag business for the last year, and I have to say it has been the most exhilarating year of my life.

When I was attending the Venture Program at BCIT, which is an entrepreneurial skills training program, we were strongly encouraged to start a blog. People obviously blog for many different reasons, some strictly personal, others purely professional, and some are a mixture of both. My blog will be the latter; I will attempt to update weekly whether it be personal or business matters that find their way into this lil' ol' blog o' mine. I can't say for certain that I will be able to maintain my intended weekly schedule of blogging, but I will do my best. For now, I'll end this entry with the inspirational quote that helped me through the past year and kept me motivated and moving forward.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

- excerpt from A Return To Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles, by Marianne Williamson