The secret to my success is that I bit off more than I could chew - and then chewed as fast as I could! - Paul Hogan

Dear Roaring Women Reader,

This week I travelled to St. John's, Newfoundland - 'the rock' as they call it there.  I met with several business owners who proudly told me that if you can succeed in business in Newfoundland - you can make it anywhere.

It made me realize how lucky I was to be able to connect with so many women in business where I lived.  It also made me realize how important community is.  If these business owners here did not support each other - they could not survive.

The funny thing was - I had been afraid to travel to Newfoundland promoting Roaring Women.  They have many great government services for women in business - and I had painted this picture in my mind that they did not want anything like our organization. 

What I experienced was something very different than that picture I had painted.  The hospitality of the people there is phenomenal.  I felt honoured to have been there - and met some tried and true Roaring Women.  Many thanks to all of you for opening your places of business and sharing your enthusiasm with me.  (Watch for  a Roaring Women chapter there soon!)

STRETTTCHH

There's just nothing like stretching a little bit farther than you are comfortable with.  In fact it is our comfort zone that keeps us from getting things done.

Think about it!  If it's cold and rainy and easier to sit on the couch than it is to go to that networking meeting - then really how will you ever build your network?

Sometimes I think we take face to face meeting for granted.  But I was reminded last month of the importance when I subcontracted for a business - delivering products to a list of businesses.  Surprisingly over 15% of those businesses no longer existed - but were listed as open in many places.  So 15% of what was spent on getting a message to the client was wasted.  (which amounted to over $70.00)

For that amount of money, if there were an opportunity to meet with potential clients face to face, it would have been so much more effective.

First of all, the sender may not even know if the package was opened - or read for that matter.  However in person - when we have eye contact with someone we know we have their attention.  And we know we communicate the message we intended.

Secondly, when meeting someone while out networking, we not only see but can feel who that person is and begin making the decision about whether we want to do business with them or not - and vice versa.

So next time you are huddled in your nice warm living room, deciding to email someone you may not know instead of venturing out to meet them - think about stretching a little bit.  It's only when we bite off more than we can chew that we realize we can chew faster than we ever thought possible!

If you want something to change - you must first begin by changing yourself - unknown

When I was ‘driving’ the beat in my policing career, on a regular shift I might work with up to twenty-five other ‘guys’ and have the opportunity to take a call with up to half of them. After the call, we might sit side by side in our cruisers to write up notes or a report.

Inevitably, we would participate in ‘small talk’ and the question would be asked “so, what’s new with you?” A common response was “SSDD”. For those who don’t know what that means, it is “Same stuff, different day”. It may not be that our lives were that mundane, but it was a standard part of our small talk.

Unfortunately though, in many people’s lives they experience ‘same stuff, different day’ on a regular basis. They have the same problems that resurface over and over, they have the same bills and experience the same stress over getting them paid. They face the same issues on a regular basis with their relationships at home and at work.

If you have seen Bill Murray’s movie “Groundhog Day”, it is much the same repetitive process. For many people, this is life. At some point in time, we abdicate responsibility for the things that happen ‘to’ us and blame everything from the economy to the weather for the things we experience in our lives.

Read more here

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. - Anne Frank

He built a business built out of zero's and one's - and he loved every minute of it!  (Hint, hint - the binary system added to a bunch of electronics.  Can you guess who it was?)

Do what you love and you will never work a day in your life. We hear it everywhere! But every day I hear people mock that saying, or if not mock it, they simply find a dozen excuses about why is absolutely impossible.

It's almost like they enjoy denying themselves happiness. They insist on believing life has to be hard. Nothing is further from the truth. We make life hard by not listening to our inner spirit, honouring our talents and finding our purpose in life.

Some would laugh at the things I have done to make money; owned and operated a sheep and cash crop farm, did custom sewing and home decor sewing, sold sewing machines and knitting machines, sang in a band and as a soloist in churches, worked as a lifeguard, worked as a police officer, opened a professional organizing business, was a ski instructor, wrote two books and made money on them, spoke as a keynote, wrote for a newspaper, coached business owners and created a business unlike any other that ever existed like it making money at it when everyone else said 'you can't run a business like that - who would buy your products?". 

These are only a few of the things that I have done to pay the bills. And I can honestly say, that I have never been bored a day in my life.

Read more here!

According to Groundswell, there are 5 kinds of web participators:
Creators - creating new and original content
Critics - leaving comments on blogs and reviews
Collectors - bookmarking & tagging useful information
Joiners - maintaining profiles on social networking sites
Spectators - enjoying what others produce
Inactives - not involved at all

Which one are you? Different personalities clearly enjoy different levels of involvement. Enjoying YouTube videos is fine if you're a spectator, as long as the creators keep creating new videos.

While your participation level relates to your preferred style, it may also reflect how comfortable you are with social media.

Based on a post in the Influential Marketing Blog, I would argue that there are different stages in adopting social marketing tools:

5 Stages of Social Networking Acceptance

, the question is, where are you with using social marketing in your business? If you're not a Creator or a Critic and moving beyond stage 3 in your acceptance of social marketing tools, you'd be hard pressed to see results from social marketing. At best, then monitor what is being said about your business and respond proactively.

Useful things I found online:

Skype

* For some this is old news but it allows for low cost phone calls.
* Call other Skypers free from computer to computer.
* Set up a paid account and call any phone at very low rates
* Redirect your Skype account to your cell so that Skype clients can reach you free anywhere.

Free Conference Calls
Set up a free conference call with clients, or a family conference at Christmas.

Photo Editing
Edit your pictures free anywhere with an online connection using Photoshop.

Google Docs
Many of you already use this, but for those who do not, Google allows free online creation, online collaboration and saving of word documents, slide presentations and spreadsheets.

Create a brochure
Issuu.com allows you to upload a PDF document and converts it to an online booklet with pages that can be turned - just like a real book.

If you know of other nifty online tools, I'd love to hear about them.

Thank you Wilma Hartmann
Digital Daisy Inc.

December Meetings

Vancouver - December 11th - Christmas Meeting

Calgary - December 15th - Special Breakfast

Coffee & Coaching with Carolyn Cooper-McOuatt - December 15th

Laurie Finnigan
Fast Track Capital(Investor Relations Consultant )

Shirley Routledge
Sunlife Financial(Long Term Care Insurance Specialist)

Deborah Boland
905 466-4406(Owner)

Trish Petersen
Leap Into Life Inc.(Owner)

Lee Horbachewski
SimpLee Serene(Owner)