The Time to Prosper

Why now is the best time for creating your most successful future.

OK, first let’s acknowledge the elephant in the room: the recession. We’re in one. It’s frustrating and sometimes scary. Now that we have that out of the way, let’s get to the real issue: you.

You are where you are today because of your choices. Sure, recessions, layoffs and stock tumbles have happened before and will happen again. Jobs end. Recessions come and go. Life happens. And it isn’t always easy. But what you must understand if you want to thrive while everyone else around you is floundering is that you have choices and those choices create your reality. Read more

Yes, You Can Build a Business or Launch a Product… Even in This Economy!

On the journey to launch a product idea, the very first step is often the most difficult to take. Why is that? Because you have to know what the first step is. Most people who have never run a business have absolutely no clue what to do with their great idea. Instead of focusing on only step No. 1, they start to paint a big picture, get overwhelmed mentally, and tuck the idea back into their head.

Sound familiar?

Well, maybe it’s finally time to take action. Yes, even in a sluggish economy. Read more

Who Says You Can’t?

Author writes about go-getting women

Susan Casey’s list of “friends” is extensive. Some were born in the 1800s, while others haven’t graduated from high school yet. And many, she never met. But an avid researcher and lover of “detective work,” as she calls it, Casey combed through libraries across the country, hungry to meet women inventors. She now knows so much about them that she calls most—dead or alive—friends. “I feel like I know them,” she says.

Her far-reaching memory harkens back to a “brilliant” woman who came to the United States in the 1920s and built the first solar-heated house. She jumps to the story of the hardworking secretary Bette Graham, who secretly invented Liquid Paper in the 1950s to cover up her typewriting mistakes. Casey’s research was published in Women Invent!, a book about female pioneers of their time.

“These women were pursuing their interests in a very intelligent way—and following through,” Casey says. “They say, I’ll figure out a way to do it. I’m gonna make this happen. It’s inspiring.”

Casey talks about her favorite women inventors, unable to pick just one. She tells the story of Rose Totino, of the famous brand of frozen pizzas, like she’s a long-lost friend: “Rose settled in Minneapolis, and nobody there knew a thing about pizza,” she explains. “Rose would take pizza to the PTA when they were asked to do a potluck. And people thought, Wow, this is great! And it caught on!”

Casey’s book was published in 1997—just before the advent of the Internet and online search engines. She spent nearly 18 months in a Los Angeles library, “zipping” through microfiche and making notes for her book. “It was really fun. For a lot of these women, I had to search in books and call historical societies to find anything about them,” she says. “Now, I Google their name and five biographies pop up.”

Still, the lengthy research process is what Casey found fascinating. “Spending several years talking and researching about optimistic people is inspiring,” she says. “There’s a model of every kind of person in this book: chemists, balloonists, secretaries. When I speak, I teach girls and boys that anyone can use their ideas and create something terrific.”

Make an Impression

One of the most common misconceptions about searching for a job is that the person with the most or best experience is the one who gets hired. The truth is: You’re more likely to be hired for a job based on your connection with the interviewer than on your qualifications. And the best way to forge an instant, powerful connection with your interviewer is to define and communicate a strong job-seeker personal brand. Read more

See a Need. Do a Good Deed.

To those who think you can’t have it all, woman entrepreneur Kim Lim says, “Watch me.”

As a single mother, owner of two businesses and recipient of three academic degrees, Lim has had her hands full during the past few years. But following painful divorce, and with the creation of two new and starkly different career paths, Lim forges ahead. She says today, she’s doing everything she’s wanted in life, all at the same time. Read more

The Secret to Success—Anytime, Anywhere

When you think of success, what comes to mind? Do you think of living in a huge mansion on a hill, with more money than you could ever spend? Or do you think of days filled with happiness and a career that you find personally satisfying? Whatever your idea of success is, you can rest easy knowing it’s only a few small steps away.

Surprised? Most people are. It’s far too easy to become buried in the avalanche of responsibility that comes with adulthood, leaving us feeling like it would be easier to climb Mt. Everest in a snowstorm wearing a mini-skirt and stiletto heels than to achieve our dreams. Read more

An in-JEAN-ious Idea

Alison Barnard believes smart entrepreneurial risks are worth the rewards.

When Alison Barnard researched the idea for a blue jean boutique—where women could try on different brands, sizes and styles of jeans and receive input from denim experts—she knew she was on to something good. She also knew that if she didn’t pursue the idea, someone else would. “I knew I had to act on it,” Barnard says.

Read more

Take the Entrepreneurial Plunge!

Get the info you need to build a thriving business.

Starting and running a successful business takes time, energy and a lot of know-how. You may be able to make the time and ready to expend the energy, but if you are new to the world of business ownership, where do you get that knowledge? Read more