Determine Your Ideal Profession & Life-style

Do Your Homework Once you have identified one or even a few desired professions-collect as much information as you can about them through online research, recently published books and journals, and most importantly informational interviews with people who are currently in that industry.  Many people are aware that LinkedIn is a free online resource where you can search within your greater network of your friends or colleagues for their acquaintances who are working in your industry of interest.  Ask your colleague or friend for an introduction and then request a brief 20 minute telephone call or a meeting over coffee.  These people can be your best ‘real world’ resources for what employers will be looking for when you are ready to make a move. It is critical to understand whether the industry is growing, what they are looking for as far as talent, and whether you will need to acquire a specialized type of education or certification or job experience to be considered for the profession.    

Formulate Your Strategy Once you have a solid idea of what type of skills, experience and/or training you will need to make your career transition, I then work with clients on sketching out a strategic action plan.  Some of these beginning actions might include: opening up lines of communication with previous bosses so that they are ready and willing to act as solid references, updating your resume and any online profiles, and evaluating whether you are prepared for relocation and/or having to take a pay cut to enter into your preferred industry at a lower level than where you currently stand at your company.  One of my clients’ Eric wanted to transition from working in the financial services market into a medical device sales position.  He had learned from the informational interviews that sales companies were going to want to see concrete examples of his desire to win, self-direction and proven public speaking skills.  So, Eric sought out opportunities at his current workplace such as presenting at large staff meetings, proposing a new initiative to improve client confidentiality concerns, and  dedicated himself to improving the ‘areas for development’ that were raised in his last performance review.  Eric also learned more about what he needed to prove along the way of his interviewing process with a variety of different sales companies and eventually made his transition after almost a year’s time.  

Be Prepared to Sell Yourself The concept of selling oneself can be very anxiety producing and uncomfortable for many people.  One can best overcome these concerns by focusing their efforts on learning as much as they can about what it takes to be successful in their targeted profession.  Having this ‘curious focus’ takes the pressure off of the individual to always be talking about themself and allows them to approach potential leads and eventual employers with a clear understanding of how they will be an asset to that particular industry and that specific company.  For example, Dan had been working in the editorial world for 8 years and was eager to make a transition into work that was more personally meaningful.  He set his sights on sports marketing but was very apprehensive about how he would break into such a popular industry and how he would overcome his discomfort with the concept of networking.  He began by learning everything he could about the industry as a whole as well as what companies had offices in his hometown of Chicago and how they differed. Next, he found out about a specific networking group for marketing professionals, through an informational interview and eventually began attending their events. Over time, Dan built up contacts within the sports management field as well as the confidence that he would be able to convince an employer that he would be an asset to their particular company and composed a portfolio of his work that highlighted his selling points.   

Ramp up Your Life Outside of Work! It is equally important to be sure to balance out the other aspects of our lives: Personal Growth/Health, Relationships and Leisure, while we plot our professional transformation.  While your professional situation may not change as quickly as you would like it to, it doesn’t mean you can’t have a life! So, try to focus on what can be controlled in your life—and ramp up your personal life.  For example, push yourself to accomplish something you might not have ever imagined for yourself like: completing a triathlon, joining a music band or writing a short story.  Oftentimes, people end up opening doors to their desired path when they are not even looking.  An example is a woman named Patty who was determined to break into the wine import industry but had not had any success in setting up an informational interview or making a personal connection so to learn more about the field.  She followed my ‘homework’ and finally pursued a long postponed hobby—starting to practice yoga.  Within two weeks of joining a yoga studio, she discovered that the studio’s owner was a big time wine importer and generously invited Patty down to his business to shadow him for a day once his wife made the connection. You never know where your ‘breaks’ are going to come from!

• Crisply communicate not only what you are ultimately in business to accomplish but also why there is no one else like you who can deliver on your value proposition and why you are in a class of your own.
• Describe the future reality for your clients and partners that is a result of your work, so that they know what they are working towards with you and why they chose you.
• Be prepared to address apprehension and objections that may be a by-product of them choosing your ‘way’ versus business as usual as well as an explanation of your ROI.
• Remain open to necessary adjustments and tinkering that will allow you to better serve your customers.
• Walk Your Talk! Make sure you model the same behavior which you speak and write about.
• Keep in mind that varying audiences are going to warrant specific core messaging and value propositions.
• Ask yourself how you are inspiring change within your community.  You have to instill hope and faith that you  have the answers that the world needs. Get creative!
• Like it or hate it-you are selling your vision and purpose.  So, think about questions you have as a consumer as far as ‘satisfaction guaranteed’, commitment time frame, consumer reviews, etc.
• Remain open to and committed to learning about future trends within your industry and adapt accordingly.

What do I mean by this?  Well, as young people we all develop certain coping techniques and beliefs that enabled us to navigate our early relationship patterns.  It is that Darwinian response that allows us all to survive what for some may not have exactly been a “Leave it To Beaver” type reality, and adapt in a way that is not always totally reliant on adequate and positive responses from our caretakers.  As we evolve, and are fortunate enough to find lovers, friends, and a community where we have healthy and balanced relationships–sometimes our former coping mechanisms and negative core beliefs we interpreted about ourselves from our early world, can get in the way.

Now, the challenge as adults is to:

1) IDENTIFY your negative core beliefs and maladaptive coping mechanisms

2) PROCESS how and why they played a functional role for you as a young person

3) UNCOVER what the cost is to you as an adult when you continue to hold on to them

4) LEARN to let them go and to live your life with less conditions, more freedom and greater possibilities!

So–what’s holding you back today?

1) The new emerging sales rules abide by the 4 R’s: Reach, Relevance, Relationships, and Resilience. Key takeaways: You need to me in more places than ever before (networking, social media, industry events, etc), potential prospects want more value, results and proven ROI than ever before, you have to be reliable, consistent and trustworthy, you need to plan on everything taking longer (sales cycles are now being drawn out even longer), you must aggressively network and golden rule: you must follow-up with your prospects throughout and after the sales cycle.

2) Always be prospecting. Seize every opportunity and situation you find yourself in both personally and professionally as an opportunity to identify a prospect/potential new client/referral. Be creative-think outside the box to find and create leads. Tap into your sphere of influence. Follow-up on leads. Be persistent, not pushy.

3) Analyze your customers. Understand their key needs and challenges, discover their hot buttons and determine their intentions upfront so you do not waste time with prospects who don’t have the need or budget for your service/product.

4) Make sales presentations: Find any opportunity that you can to address a group of potential clients/ i.e. your target market and make your value proposition come alive, tailor it to your audience, communicate your key benefit.

5) Be prepared to overcome objections: Objections means that your prospect is interested and is merely trying to alleviate risk. The most common objections are regarding time, value, money, location, quality, trust-so be prepared to provide alternative solutions to all of those aspects of your business.

6) Close the deal! This is the most critical part of the sales process–remembering to ask for the business.  Know when it is time to stop selling (typically after the prospect has said a series of ‘Yes’s’ to your open-ended questions) and start test closing (offering ‘if/then’ trial closes) and then be ready to close for a written commitment for your services and products: “Which package of services would you like to sign up for today”, “When would the best day be for me to deliver you your purchases today?”

7) Follow through. Ask for testimonials, referrals, arrange a reunion, thank them with a handwritten note and a gift.

In closing-remember that people buy from people they like and who they trust.  Become a trusted advisor to your prospects and focus single-handedly on helping your clients solve their problems–and in time, they will have solved all of yours!

This is my second interview in my ‘Profiles of Inspiration” interview series. This fabulous interview is with Maria Ross, Chief Marketing Diva of Red Slice based in Seattle.  Maria’s first book, Branding Basics for Small Business, was released today! NOW FOR SALE at www.brandingbasics.info.

1) What is your ultimate vision for Red Slice and do you consider this vision part of your ultimate legacy?

 I didn’t start Red Slice intending to build a big global branding agency or anything. I just wanted to do work I like with people I like who are passionate, friendly, smart and respectful. I was jaded by some past experiences in high tech marketing where executives were making the wrong decisions, not thinking about the long term, and who were just plain disrespectful or arrogant about people’s time and efforts. I was sick of it, so I decided to be my own boss and only work with people I selected. In this way, I can constantly build my legacy of going the extra mile, delivering quality work, and helping others build a strong company and offer value. When you come from that place of mutual respect and passion, you can climb mountains for people and know the effort will be appreciated and rewarded. I also wanted to help “clean up the marketing and brand pollution” that is out there, and help people realize that they need to be smarter about their branding. Now I’m on a mission to make entrepreneurs realize that a brand is more than a logo – and I think I’m really succeeding in that mission. My official mission is to help companies “engage, inform and delight” their customers and that is my personal missions as well.

2) What are the core values of Red Slice and do those values correlate with you personally?

Red Slice is me and I am Red Slice, so everything from my Guiding Principles to my Mission are my personal ones as well. My mission is to Engage, Inform and Delight. Whether I help a business do this for their customers – or I personally do this when speaking, teaching, writing, or even acting (another passion of mine), it’s about making a connection and evoking an emotion. If more companies did business from this brand perspective, you might have more Apple’s and Nike’s in the world. In addition my Guiding Principles are: Work Hard, Play Hard; Do what you say you will do; Treat everyone with respect and honesty; The devil is in the details; Be prepared; With blessings come responsibility. Especially with that last one, I try to use my good fortune to benefit causes I care about, like animal welfare, child welfare, and getting medical help to war-torn countries. If I can use entrepreneurial success to support the causes close to my heart, then that is an amazing gift.

3) How much thought/planning/designing went into differentiating Red Slice from your competitors?

Quite a bit. I could have gone the route of calling myself “Maria Ross Consulting” but coming from an ad agency background, that just seemed so boring to me. I wanted to create a business that was memorable, fresh, fun and innovative. If I’m going to help companies stand out, then I need to walk my talk, right?! Everyone and their mother seems to be a consultant these days so I wanted to find a way to package up my unique skills and experiences in a way many people were not. I also tout specific differentiators all the time, like the fact that I’ve worked on both the client and agency sides and have worked on both B2B and B2C brands – which gives me a more holistic perspective. Finally, I do not shy away from talking about my writing and acting passions: that creative edge is another differentiator for me. How many people are creative Type A personalities?! Many people told me not to do this, but I figured that again, I could attract the people I wanted to work with if I represented myself authentically. It’s a nice Litmus test!

4) Congratulations on the recent publication of your book, Branding Basics!  What was the best part about the experience thus far?

Thanks! I’m so excited to package up all my advice and unique experiences to help people build their own strong brands and looks at branding in a more fundamental way. This was actually an unexpected opportunity but when it knocks, you really just have to answer. And I’m so proud of myself for taking advantage of the unexpected turn and publishing this book, which has been a dream since I started writing stories at 6 years old. It also feels good to pass on all these examples, good and bad, from my own work experiences and use them for the benefit of others. I really believe small business owners have such a unique opportunity to build a strong brand but they just go about it the wrong way. They think it stops at the visual design, or they cut corners, or they don’t think bigger about how every single, solitary interaction with a customer is a chance to seal your brand onto their hearts. Amazing things happen when you build a business based on passion and value – the profits soon follow when it’s done right. The book can be ordered at www.brandingbasics.com and is also available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble.com , Borders.com and even in Kindle format!

5) What are you most proud of as it relates to your work at Red Slice?

Helping businesses “clean up” their messages or visual branding to properly tell the story they had in mind all along. That “A Ha!” moment is always a thrill for me. I work with fabulous designers and writers who can bring a vision to life: they just needed me to translate the vision in a way that could be understood. I love when clients say, “Yes! That’s exactly what I wanted to communicate!” or when they see how they have not been doing themselves any favors with selfish messaging: talking about what THEY do, rather than what CUSTOMERS want to hear. And I love the gems that form when we’re brainstorming. Business owners have the power to create their brand – they just don’t always know how to approach it or where to start. I feel like a guide in that respect and I love it.

6) How are you reaching your target market? 

Amazingly, all of my clients have been referrals, but I started heavily using my blog and social media to influence people. I’m a writer by nature, so the blog was a great way for me to reach my audience and deliver value. I also had to build my business from scratch, as I had just moved to Seattle and was only here 3 months before hanging my shingle. So I had to try a lot of networking groups (some fit, some didn’t), connect online, leverage Linked In, etc. My business is a referral business, so I don’t believe blind mailers will net me new clients – but that’s a brand choice I have made. I also have some dream companies in mind I’d like to work with that are in my radar – when I have time to pursue them!

With referrals, initially, I was getting a lot of “Can we have coffee so I can pick your brain?” I did this a lot at first and realized I was giving away something for nothing. My product is my brain! It’s my experiences and advice and I learned early on you can’t just always give that away. So going back to the “pick the clients I want to work with” if someone can commit to a paid initial meeting, then a) I know they are serious and have budget (if they don’t have budget, you can’t waste your precious time!) and b) I could feel good about putting a little extra research and work into that meeting so it really was valuable for them. Often, these initial meetings do convert to sales because you are putting your best foot forward and they see the value of why they need you.

To be honest, this still morphs and grows for me. I tested different things at first. I initially meant to pursue companies like the ones I’d worked for, but then got into the vibrant entrepreneurial small business community. Now I’ve righted the ship a bit, so to speak and balance the two.  Small businesses are so much fun, but they can’t always spend in a way where you can be super successful for them.

7) What do you most dislike about being a business owner and how do you deal with that aspect of business?

I’m an extrovert, so being alone is awful: no one to bounce ideas, catch you if you fall, stay up to date on Quick Books! So I network a lot and meet people out for coffee. My partners that I work with are amazing and I love to brainstorm with them. I’d say the hardest part is dealing with taxes and the books – I’m not a numbers person and the tax laws are so damn confusing, it kills me. I spend so much time trying to make sure I’m not breaking any rules!

What do you most enjoy about being a business owner and how much time do you get to spend doing that part of your job?

Flexibility and freedom! Being able to go get a coffee in the middle of the day, or hang out with my dog or set my own schedule. It’s hard because you have to, well, “set your own schedule” and its easy to get distracted (especially with Social Media!) but I am someone who needs a bit of structure so I make it for myself. I set days of the week for client time when I can, hours for networking, try to only go to 1 or 2 events a week, etc. I need to make time to remember I’m working for myself for a reason and not let my own business consume too much of me. I set strict boundaries on weekend time (don’t log in if I can avoid it or unless there is a deadline) and try to leave my home office for the night when my husband comes home. If you don’t set those boundaries, you will lose yourself in all the freedom!

9) Where do you find inspiration as a business owner?

Everywhere! From individual entrepreneurs who come to speak at networking events, to those I am just lucky enough to meet in at such groups. I get inspired by reading stories in the press of people who are following their passion and turning it into profit. I get inspiration from the big companies who do branding “the right way” and I know my efforts are not in vain. I have also tapped into some great women locally who are super sounding boards, who do really cool things, and who are blazing trails and making things happen. I get inspired by activity, progress and creativity – as well as by those who are Zen about their career, take time to breathe and enjoy life’s simple pleasures. It can be easy for small business owners to get caught up in a competitive Rat Race of their own if they are not too careful – I had to step away from some people and groups because of that. So surround yourself with people that are doing things the way you want to be doing them – not just those who are selling out, selling their soul, or working themselves to death to be successful!

The first honorees for our ‘Profiles of Inspiration’ series are sisters Tiffany Bachman and Leslie Suter of 2010love-a sustainable, charitable lifestyle brand including apparel, home goods, art +literature, and food-related products. Ultimately, 2010love was created to inspire people to make a positive change in their own lives and the lives of others, starting now.

What is your ultimate vision for 2010love?

The message we are spreading through our business could be considered what we’d like our kids (and ultimately, humanity as a whole) to aspire to and embrace. There is so much potential for well-designed products to be useful, responsible, and helpful to others in need either by functionality, positive messaging or charity … so why isn’t everyone doing it?

What are the core values of 2010love?

Loving what matters, Sustainability, Well-Being, Philanthropy, Family, Design with Purpose.

How did you develop your business model?

Our bread and butter company, Handshoe Design Collaborative (HDC), is our brand strategy and design business that developed 2010love as a ‘side project’ to use design as a philanthropic mechanism… so HDC is really the model we are working from. The thought and planning that went into differentiating HDC from our competitors basically came from the combination of common sense and our unique passions: we have big-city, award-winning, agency experience that can be offered at a lower price because we have little overhead.  Secondly, we are passionate about working with companies who are focused on sustainability, education, responsible growth and food because these are the values very important to us and increasingly more important, to the world.

Business planning for 2010love evolved in a two week time frame.  We had always had dreams and plans to develop a project to give back, but the mark was originally sketched out for something entirely different. When we saw the mark, we instantly saw its potential for something greater. I asked Leslie if she thought people would wear it on a t-shirt, she said  ’YES!’, so we printed shirts, did a photo shoot, started a blog, got a face book and twitter page, opened an Etsy shop-and we were in business. Thus far, the positive response we’ve had from customers and press has now made it apparent that 2010love does have the legs to grow. So, we are currently developing the concept into a separate business and we are very excited about it. Everything happened a little organically and serendipitously, which maybe is how it’s supposed to be when good things are happening…

Why do you think 2010love is having so much success today?

Well, I’m not sure how you measure ‘success’, but we certainly have received a lot of positive feedback, sold a nice amount of shirts and are piquing the interest of some good folks who know how to make things happen. We think this is occurring because the design of the mark is simple, interesting and powerful, and can be translated by most everyone despite their language. Furthermore, its meaning (and I’ll quote from a post we did on the blog): “… resonates with them (people) somewhere personally. Some place… deep down, this important, essential truth (love) that has been around since the beginning of time, has begun to inspire action because it’s being seen in a new way on a new day. Love crosses partisan lines, religious boundaries and beliefs, socio-economic levels, language and geography. Positive action is the result of love. A simple, positive message CAN gain enough traction to create a chain of individually inspired positive actions around the world… if people can understand they hold the power to make it happen. “

How are you reaching your target market and then converting to sales?

Right now we are reaching our target through social media, word of mouth, and of course… t-shirt advertising (which are all incredible forms of advertising and visibility). Conversion to sales?: People see the shirt, hear about the message and the charitable contribution, and want to buy one. It also helps because the mark is a highly interpretive design… many individuals want to commemorate something special to them whether it’s a change in their life, a wedding, a birth, or become part of a movement or group, that is trying to make a difference in the world. We’d like 2010love to become that group…

What do you most dislike about being a business owner & how do you deal with that part of business?

I think our least favorite part of being business owners is the back end organizational stuff… bookkeeping, IT, backup, etc.  We prefer the creative, strategic, business development side of things.  However, being a small business means we handle most everything right now and to deal with that, we just try to take one day at a time: we work a lot of nights and weekends, but balance it all out with good music, good food, friends and family and of course, good wine. We also have an amazing network of friends and professionals who help us when things reach too far beyond our expertise.

What do you most enjoy about being a business owner & how much time do you get to spend doing it?

The best part of being a business owner is that we have the opportunity to do what we love. Certainly there are aspects of being a business owner that are not as fun as others, but generally speaking we can take our passions and put them out there for the world to like… or not like…. but at least they’re out there. It also allows us, as women and mothers, to have flexibility for our families. Sure, we may work nights and weekends, but we can also arrange to be there to pick our kids up from school or put them down for a nap. Technology has certainly helped this as well, where we can work almost anywhere at anytime to keep up with the flow of our business. So I guess we get to spend a lot of time doing that part of our job… being creative, ideation, evolution, dreaming… from the time we wake up to the time we go to bed (and even as we sleep) we are coming up with ideas.

Where do you find inspiration as a business owner?

We are inspired by good people who do good things, and make it their livelihood. We are inspired by beauty, wit and really good design. We are inspired by simplicity. We are inspired by powerful, successful female business owners… (you know who I’m talking about.) We are inspired by what the world truly needs today, and I’m not talking the next ipod or other means of convenience… I’m talking the in-your-face truth of where we stand as a human race, the consequences we and our children must face in the future, and the actions we must take, now, to make a difference.

Thank you Tiffany Bachman and Leslie Suter.  We LOVE 2010love!!  For more information about the 2010love project, please go to 2010love.com.

Freelancers /”Solo-preneurs”/Consultants are all up against an overall cutting back of spending and a trend of ‘doing it yourself’ rather than employing ‘us’ to support their businesses.

Grass roots manufacturers & designers are up against China and the scale of major chains and franchises’ band widths.

However, with the explosion of online social and professional communities providing free and limitless growth opportunities for our businesses, the need to succinctly and enticingly communicate who we are, what we offer and how we deliver our product has never been more important. This ultimate goal of branding ourselves as our core business offering is differentiation and specialization.

To stay ahead of these trends, you need to clearly and consistently communicate to your ideal target audience your very own why, who, what, how and where. Here’s what I mean:

Why?

What is your ultimate vision & mission for your business?

What do you intend your LEGACY to be?

Who?

Why are you the best person to do what you do?

What are your core values as they relate to your business identity?

What unique story is YOUR business telling?

What?

What are you doing to ensure that your business model is aligned to attain your vision?  Have you positioned yourself appropriately for growth?

*It is critical to design multiple streams of revenue so that you can work on optimizing various audiences at different times for different reasons and simultaneously cross-pollinate clients to additional products and services within your business model.

How?

How are you delivering your core value proposition, your unique business story and your product/service to your ideal target market?

Where?

Are you part of not only networking organizations but also national and international forums, organizations, conferences, social media, etc. where you are staying on top of the global, national and local trends of your specific industry? You goal is to develop expert status within your industry amongst these communities.

Are you clearly and consistently communicating the right message throughout everything you do?  Where/how do your clients spend their time (at work, home, leisure)—and how can you infiltrate/share your business offerings with them at various times throughout the day?

Are you developing strategic partnerships and gaining increased visibility as well as giving back to your own community through sponsorship of events/philanthropy?

• Don’t go into business purely to make money. The reality is that you probably won’t make too much money for quite some time, and even if you do-you very well may end up out of business because your priorities were misaligned.
• If you like what you do and think that starting your own business is a path towards greater happiness and wealth-you are misinformed. By becoming a business owner, the time that you will actually spend practicing your trade will become less and less as you will spend the majority of your time in management and business growth.
• Go into business navigated by a mission statement that espouses your authentic intention for your product or services. For example, the DragonTree’s mission statement is based around restoring health and making people feel like they belong, it was never about selling a luxury service.
• The buck stops here! Once you as a business owner understand that everything that occurs in and around your business is managed and determined by you, decision-making should become much more clear.
• Do not take ‘no’s’ personally, they are simply ‘no’s’. For every roadblock there are endless other opportunities to get to a ‘yes’. Simply keep asking and do not let one ‘no’ prevent you from reaching your goal.
• In regards to employees-hire slow, fire quickly.  If an employee has issues with matters that they should have learned from their mother (like not getting to work on time), fire them.  However, if there is a training opportunity for a loyal and committed staff member and you have the time to teach, then teach.
• Know your financial goals precisely.  Understand down to a daily basis exactly how many sales you need to make every day to reach your growth plans.
• Define your vision as specifically as you can-otherwise you will never get there. Then, proceed without a flinch of hesitation and arrive at your intended vision as if there was no other way to grow.
• Be as explicit as possible and then put everything in writing in all of your business relationships-especially when you are working with friends.

Thank you Briana-you are a fountain of inspiration to myself and to all that you touch in our community.

1. PREPARE-Before you talk to a reporter, know your story. Focus your broad knowledge of your subject into three key messages that tell a complete story. Think about what you would like the headline to be, and what you want the reporter – and your audience – to remember. Often, the messages state a problem/situation, followed by a solution/next step, and finally offer the credibility of your organization to provide that solution or input.

2. THINK NEWS- Messages should offer some information that is new, that goes beyond what others have said, or that identifies a new issue or trend. Don’t sensationalize, but think about what can make your story more interesting, more compelling.

3. SUPPORT YOUR STORY WITH SPECIFICS-Facts/figures-don’t worry about citing particularly daunting numbers, rather just provide some context with numbers that will allow the audience to better appreciate the scope of your work, examples, anecdotes, quotable language-in other words vivid words and well-turned phrases that are catchy but not too clever and will help to crystallize your story.

4. CONSIDER THE AUDIENCE-Whom are you trying to reach? Consumers, potential business customers, decision-makers? Make sure your messages and your supporting information are tailored to your audience. Avoid jargon – use language they will understand. When possible, put a face on it, meaning, give an example of a person or situation that your audience can relate to and appreciate.

5. DEVELOP-Develop a list of questions that are likely to be asked. Be prepared for obvious negative questions, but also be ready to answer the supposedly “easy” ones, such as “Tell me about this study / your company / your perspective on this issue.” Keep up with the news in the days before your interview and be ready to deal with related events or developments.

6. DELIVER-Once the interview begins-take control. Don’t wait for the reporter to guide you through your story. Begin at the beginning, deliver your messages early and often, explain, re-contextualize, repeat yourself as necessary. If you are reacting to news, hold your ground. If you are promoting a story, don’t make the reporter “pull teeth” to get it.

7. USE FLAGS-Phrases such as “What’s most important…” “The key thing is…” “There are three critical factors…” signal to the reporter and the audience that you’re about to say something vital.

8. BUILD BRIDGES-Don’t just answer the question. Find the ways to go beyond the answer to your message. Be more expansive, offer additional information, return to an earlier point. Make sure you spend more time on your story than on other, less important, topics.

9. TURN NEGATIVES INTO POSITIVES-Don’t be defensive and don’t over-explain your response to the negative. Instead, deal with the negative – without repeating any negative language – and then bridge to a message. Remember to end on a positive.

Ladies Who Launch has identified the top twelve barriers that prevent more women from launching their own businesses.  Do any of these barriers ring true for you?  A brief explanation of the ways in which Ladies Who Launch is addressing these barriers is also provided.  What else is preventing you from working towards your entrepreneurial aspirations?

1. Lack of business networks: Ladies Who Launch provides women with access to consistent and integrated online and offline networks through the Local Community franchise structure which includes monthly meetings, events and workshops with online extensions and applications. Ladies Who Launch Linc Up! meetings and LIVE events are specifically geared towards networking.

2. Lack of role models in the workplace: The Ladies Who Launch flagship Featured Lady stories provide women with weekly success role models, guidance and advice. Additionally, Ladies Who Launch features its own successful STRATA members that have gone through its programs and launched and grown their businesses.

3. Lack of growth and expansion capital: Access to resources and content based on their profile that will enable women to understand the strategies around fund-raising. LWL also provides education around this area through the Fresh Entrepreneur workshop offering.

4. Lack of entrepreneurial education / training: Ladies Who Launch provides “nuts and bolts” business education delivered across both channels: Online and Offline. Online this education is delivered in the form of weekly webinars with expert partners on a range of business topics identified to be relevant and important to women entrepreneurs. Offline, the same topical structure and access to experts is delivered through a monthly meeting membership structure.

5. Negative self-perceptions (i.e. self-confidence, fear of failure): Ladies Who Launch validates the feminine approach that women use to start and launch businesses and gives women the tools and support to leverage these traits to be successful. Distinctly feminine traits that we have identified include: “Using connecting to move forward”, “Starting organically, testing plans as they go”, “Giving back as a component of launching or reason for launching”, “placing a high level of importance on creativity, passion, lifestyle flexibility and control” as primary motivations for wanting their own businesses”. Ladies Who Launch has built a strong and recognized brand around delivering all of its content and resources in a distinctly feminine way that speaks to women specifically in an environment they deem safe and reliable.

6. Access to credit and financing : Ladies Who Launch is actively identifying key funding partners through banks or investors that are interested in reaching these targeted women and facilitate these connections through advertising and promotional vehicles on the site.

7. Child and dependent care responsibilities : Provide access to resources and content based on their profile that will enable women to understand solution based alternatives to lower stress around this area. LWL provides education around this area through the Fresh Entrepreneur workshop offering in terms of building a support team to enable business growth.

8. Discourse of entrepreneurship inherently male, with traits of defined counter stereotyped female traits: Ladies Who Launch just launched a second workshop offering: The Fresh Entrepreneur which provides women with more robust business content, including road-mapping, monetization planning, and an accountability structure, all delivered using the signature feminine voice of the Ladies Who Launch brand. This workshop combines the typical Male /liner approach to launching with integration of the feminine approach unique to the Ladies Who Launch philosophy

9. Lack of turnkey solutions from trusted source: Ladies Who Launch has identified four distinct market segments (Dreamer, Pre-Launcher, New Launcher and Established Launcher) and is currently evaluating and developing solutions to address each segment. Ladies Who Launch will essentially re-merchandise the way these solutions are currently being delivered and offered to launchers.

10. Lack of adequate marketing, PR and distribution for their products and services: LWL currently offers high-profile public relation opportunities to its Local community membership base through weekly emails and the opportunity to self promote thru classified and directory listings

11. Lack of roadmap, clear path and focus: The flagship Ladies Who Launch Incubator Intensive Workshop provides women with a platform for gaining clarity, focus and momentum around their business projects. Ladies Who Launch provides women both online and in-person, with an environment of like-minded, motivated women that is conducive to success. Additionally, with the new and improved re-merchandized Ladies Who Launch website that is solutions-oriented and using a custom approach for each market segment, Ladies Who Launch will be able to better deliver turnkey solutions, including roadmaps and inspiration that is relevant to each user.

12. Fear that starting a business will mean family and personal life sacrifice: Work and lifestyle integration is the fundamental principle of which the LWL brand is built upon and is the sole reason LWL has grown exponentially. The strategy of the entire site is focused on absolving or reducing this fear by providing concrete solutions in order for women to succeed in business and in life.

For more information about the Ladies Who Launch community here in Portland, please contact the Director Katie Kelley at KKelley@ladieswholaunch.com and go to www.ladieswholaunch.com/portland.