Whenever I tell people about the consulting work I do, and about my company PrinceHeron Communications (www.princeheron.com ), I always tell them about Roaring Women. Why do I do that? Well…firstly I can’t help but smile when I say the name “Roaring Women”. And we all know that smiles are contagious. I tell them about the tag-line “Let the cat out of the bag” and that “We’re changing business – and the world, and we’re teaching our daughters to do the same”. For me and my customers, it adds another layer of meaning to the work that I do and my commitment to succeeding in and growing my own company.

I don’t usually join groups, so the fact that I’m a Roaring Women member surprises people who know me. I tell them that the Roaring Women web site offers so many resources to help people build their business and all I have to do is set aside some time to log-in to the members area and read the documents, watch the presentations and listen to the archived Blog-Talk Radio segments. I also get inspired at the Roaring Women meetings by the guest speakers and the women I meet.

One of my issues is that I have so many ideas I can end up almost catatonic with a bowl of popcorn and a rented movie because I don’t know where to start or what to work on first. I always manage to push through this mental paralysis and Roaring Women is one resource that helps me do this. For example,

In October, I met our guest speaker, Terrill Welch (www.awomanbehindwomen.ca). I bought and read her book “Leading Raspberry Jam Visions: Women’s Way”. In Chapter 2, she describes a method of using index cards to determine and act on short and long term business visions and goals. “Great tool,” I thought. “Now I need to apply it!”

So…last month I reread Mandie Crawford’s book “The New 52: How to turn your business into a money making machine in one year or less using 52 simple strategies of one wildly successful woman”.

I wrote 17 of the strategies on index cards. This year, when I’m feeling unfocused about what to do for my business, I’ll shuffle the cards and choose one to focus on. One of the strategies involves slowing down…so I’ll still get my popcorn and movie time J

If you’d like to know which strategies I chose, send me an email fiona@roaringwomen.com . If you’d like to know my results from implementing these strategies, let me know and I’ll send you a bi-monthly update. In fact, having to report to someone on your progress is one strategy for ensuring success.

According to Malcolm Gladwell in his recent book - "The Outliers", 10,000 hours is a magic number.

After doing years of research, Gladwell found that the so called 'experts' in just about any field - from music to hockey, from business to art, have one thing in common. They have had the opportunity or taken the the time to do whatever they do longer than others who are not considered experts.

Gladwell studied cases like Bill Gates, professional hockey players and hundreds of other experts and found that the only difference between the experts and those who never became experts in their field was time and practice. And 10,000 hours was the magic number. It took about ten thousand hours to put enough information and to practice with the information one has collected - to bring them to the top of their field.

What does this mean for you?

If you are working your business part time - this means up to ten years before you can expect some decent level of success. If you are working diligently at your business - and you add to that 'thinking right' you can expect success in five years!

Yes - ANYONE can be successful - and ANYONE can become an expert. It all takes time and effort. But stick to it - and you will achieve what you set out to achieve!

Winston Churchill was right when he said "Never ever quit"