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Empowering Women Going through Relationship Challenges: The Untold Stories of Divorce Coaching by Lilly Parks of @naked_recovery

April 11, 2019 by Melissa Stewart Leave a Comment

by Lilly Parks

The good news is that the divorce rates in the US have started dropping since 1990, and have followed a downward trend since then. And thanks to millennials who are doing things differently, the rates will likely continue to decline. This is according to a sociology professor at the University of Maryland, Philip Cohen, in his analysis of the American Community Survey (ACS) data.

Still, the divorce coaching industry is thriving, but not for reasons that you’d normally associate with it.

Divorce coaches make a living out of helping people, cope with the breakdown of a relationship. They also empower these men and women to become better. This makes divorce coaching a rewarding business, what with a bigger cause behind it. But the real reason that lawyers work with divorce coaches is that they’re the ones who take care of the non-legal work that lawyers and their legal staff generally don’t do.

It’s easy to associate divorce coaching as something similar to therapy, which is not exactly far off. But these independent third parties provide more than just encouragement, guidance, and motivation. Their work also covers pre-divorce, during a divorce, and after divorce.

The roles divorce coaches play

Before a divorce
● Assess a marriage to identify if there’s still hope to work on the marriage or if a separation or divorce is the only solution
● Assess the counseling needs of parents and children
● If the decision to get a divorce is final, prepare clients for the upcoming journey
During a divorce
● Help clients work through their financial and personal needs
● Encourage sound decision-making by providing clear information about the divorce proceedings to clarify thoughts and concerns
● Help a client build a personal support system

After a divorce
● Help set goals for the future
● Share the positives of divorce based on their own experiences since some divorce coaches have gone through divorce themselves

How divorce coaching helps and empowers women

● Hand-holding

While your friends and family can provide support, relying on them comes with its own emotional baggage. Family members could be pushing you to take your ex to the cleaners or suggest many ways that you can hurt the other party.
As an independent third party, a divorce coach can create a non-judgmental, patient, safe, and supportive environment for you to get down to what really matters without pressure. Emotions are also excluded.

● Overcome separation

And the emotional turmoil that comes with it.

Grieving the loss of a relationship is one of the many things that women go through following a breakup or divorce. A divorce coach will help you deal with the loss and then help you build your support system.

One of the first things they look into is the immense confusion you are experiencing and then help address your overwhelming emotions and fears.

Part of their job is to discuss major concerns, such as:
● How can you manage financially?
● What will happen to your children?
● How do you break the bad news to your children?
● How do you deal with co-parenting?

With a seasoned divorce coach, you will be able to navigate through the financial, legal, and practical challenges of divorce.

● Grow and learn

There are lessons to be learned following a divorce. But unless someone is guiding you to the right path, you may not see those important lessons. You could get stuck in the grief stage, never to move on from there. You could choose to use alcohol, drugs, and food to cope with the fallout rather than take good care of yourself.

The right divorce coach can help you appreciate the good side of such a horrific experience.
It is possible that you chose the wrong partner. You made mistakes that contributed to the breakdown of a relationship. By identifying what went wrong, you’ll know better next time.

● Help reboot and create a new life

After a divorce, the focus of coaches is to help a client establish a vision and goals for the future, both for the short-term and long-term.

This is how divorce coaching empowers women, especially women who experienced self-discovery and happiness following a relationship breakdown.

Short-term goals may include going on a divorce retreat to learn about mindfulness and meditation. Many women who went on a retreat post-separation came home with a new perspective. They got to know who they really are, which is the greatest gift you can give to yourself. Another goal is to travel a lot, which some women say has helped them re-evaluate their values in life.

A good example of a long-term goal is to live a healthy lifestyle. A study that appeared in the Journal of Women’s Health showed that 80,000 women became healthier after a divorce.

A divorce coach can help you set similar goals for yourself.

If you want to take back your power, you will find a guide and supporter in them.

Once you’ve rediscovered yourself, you can start building a new life, a new career, and a new you.

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Lilly Parks is a Divorce Angel and part of the dynamic Naked Divorce team. She is committed to helping her clients find the path towards healing and has been providing assistance to those who are going through the difficult trauma of divorce for more than 5 years.

Becoming a Holistic Entrepreneur in Four Easy Steps by Dez Stephens of @RadiantCoaches

April 10, 2019 by Guest Post Leave a Comment

by Dez Stephens

Most entrepreneurs hope to make money outside of someone else’s control, someone else’s payroll. They might have left the corporate world for something more meaningful. They might be searching for something special to fulfill their career dreams.

Entrepreneurs commonly focus on one thing, and it’s typically money. They continually strive to replace a full-time income with a self-earned paycheck. This focus can lend itself to financial tension and create a lot of unwelcomed stress.

Other entrepreneurs focus on the hustle. Either way, this one-sided targeting can get them in trouble because it’s just that – one-sided. This can lead to major imbalances in their professional careers and even their personal lives.

Supreme Self-Care
Taking care of oneself as an entrepreneur is vital to success. Without it, the whole system collapses. This might entail taking a walk and getting some fresh air when a break is needed, or even getting a weekly massage or acupuncture treatment.

Walk the Talk
It’s vital as a holistic entrepreneur to live the way that we would recommend to others. If we don’t take great – not just good – care of ourselves, we are not leading by example.

Caring is Daring
When we focus on self-care as a daily regimen instead of a once-in-a-while activity, we are purposefully nurturing the most important thing in our business – ourselves!

Pampering is Powerful
Sometimes we downplay the benefits of a great massage or getting some fresh air on a nice walk. Turns out that these simply practices are powerful when it comes to how much they can impact the quality of a workday.

Many entrepreneurs work from home and it’s easy to get isolated emotionally and mentally. Taking care of these needs is so important for overall health and well-being.

The Holistic Rule of 10
An easy way to make sure that entrepreneurs care for themselves is to implement simple self-care activities. These include getting proper rest, hydration and movement each day.

10 Hours of Sleep Daily
Humans are well-designed to sleep for 10 hours each night, but very few do so. Sleeping in a cool dark room is ideal, and a great night’s sleep does wonders for having the energy needed to get through a workday.

10 Glasses of Water Daily
Staying hydrated helps the mind stay clear and the body look great stay strong. It doesn’t matter how big the glasses are – just get them down.

10 Minutes of Movement Daily
Movement can include ten minutes of stretching or jogging in place or a walk around the block. Better yet – high energy for 2 minutes, then low energy for 1 minutes – repeat 3 times.

Each of these practices have a “10” in them so they’re easy to remember. Ten hours of sleep, ten glasses of water and ten minutes of movement. These can easily be scheduled into everyday life.

As many entrepreneurs know too well, working for yourself is the hardest work they’ll ever do, so it’s important to optimize physical, emotionally, mentally and spiritual health.

Life Purpose
Many entrepreneurs find meaning in their work. They are driven by their passions and are inspired by their dreams. The ones who succeed are likely to be the ones who take a holistic approach to life and the work they love.

Find Some Purpose
Holistic entrepreneurship is about finding a purpose in what you do. We don’t need to be grandiose about it. Sometimes it’s as simple as finding meaning in the everyday small tasks.

Purpose vs. Presence
We don’t have to “go to the mountaintop” to find a purpose. All we need to do is to get quiet and clear. Being present is something so basic yet, for some, something so elusive. When we get present, we can much more easily sense purpose.

Personal is Professional
As entrepreneurs, we kid ourselves that we have a personal life and separately a professional life. These two worlds are constantly intermingling so it’s imperative that we seek our purpose in both. Gratitude for both helps.

This means treating a life as a whole – not in separate parts like recreational time, community connections, physical wellness, emotional stability, spiritual groundedness and mental clarity.

Instead of being “all in” professionally with a neglected personal life, entrepreneurs can find a beautiful balance between their work and their time away from work.

Life as a Whole
Entrepreneurs who pay attention to both their personal and professional needs tend to thrive as self-made business owners. When someone puts too much effort into their career without nurturing their relationships or caring for their bodies, they quickly become unproductive.

Holistic Means All Parts
Living your life and running your business “holistically” means that you are paying close attention to all the moving parts. Your business is a living-breathing entity that is always responding to the ways in which you treat it – so is your personal life.

Notice What You’re Noticing
Take a moment to observe what you’re observing. Notice the bodily sensations. Notice your breath. Notice your thoughts. Notice your feelings. Notice any resistance – any comfort or discomfort. This awareness will help you pay attention to the things that need attention.

Whole and Hole
When we get intentional about all the parts of our business and life, we might find some missing parts. Maybe you realize that you’ve neglected your physical health or your friendships. Maybe you notice you’ve let go of some favorite hobbies. The awareness this brings is the first step in creating the holistic balance you naturally crave.

The whole purpose of entrepreneurship is to succeed financially and otherwise without having to rely on others. This is also true in all areas, not just financial.

When entrepreneurs implement simple healthy practices, they are much more likely to make it through the hard times that are inevitable with the harsh-yet-fun reality of working for themselves.

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Dez Stephens is the Founder & CEO of Radiant Health Institute, a social enterprise and prominent international coach training school that certifies individuals to create vibrant, professional, private practices as holistic life coaches, wellness coaches and business coaches. She is a certified life coach, master trainer and marketing strategist. Dez is also co-executive producer of the documentary film, “End of the Line: The Women of Standing Rock” highlighting Native women fighting to keep clean water on their Native lands in North Dakota and beyond.

How To Leverage The Power Of Video For Your Business by @XLConsultingGro

April 9, 2019 by Elaine Slatter Leave a Comment

by Elaine Slatter | Featured Contributor

Nothing says it better than a picture…..well yes there is something better, the power of video for your business. All the popular social media platforms are emphasizing video content. How can you get started and use video marketing and leverage the power of video? Here are some tips to help you.

Get Started By Using The Video App On Your Smartphone Camera

This is the easiest way to get off the ground. People like authenticity and nothing beats being you, talking about things that you are passionate about. Keep the videos short and sweet, one message per video and around 1-2 minutes are ideal. These types of videos are great for Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. If you are not sure how to take good videos with your smartphone, check you this YouTube how to video.

Other things to consider are, a smartphone tripod or selfie stick, lighting options, either natural light or professional lighting kits, remote button and a lapel mic. All these items can be purchased at a reasonable price from Amazon.

Professional Video Shoots Have Their Purpose

If you are launching a book or a prestigious event, or a product, then consider a professional video shoot. Video shoots should tell a story. Add an emotional element that appeals to your target audience and it will pull them in and prompt your followers to share your video.

Start A YouTube Channel

YouTube is the #1 place people go to learn “how to” _____________ . Yes, fill in the blank here. It could be how to apply makeup, how to cook different foods, exercises to eliminate “muffin top”, how to use Canva etc. Once you have created your channel, you can work on building an audience and over time, monetizing your YouTube channel. Currently, channels will require 4,000 hours of watch time within a 12 month period and at least 1,000 subscribers before you can get ad revenue.

Even if you aren’t interested in monetizing your YouTube channel, you can direct your audience to subscribe to your feed for all the new and interesting things you are creating to support your audience. Subscribers will be automatically updated on new videos you have launched. To encourage subscribers to your channel you can use Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to talk about your channel. You can even have a ‘giveaway’ incentive for YouTube channel subscribers to help build your channel.

When posting your video don’t forget to categorize it, tag it and put any links to websites (including your own) in the description.

Show Up Live On Facebook And Instagram

Facebook groups and Instagram TV are great venues for live video. It’s always a great idea to invite people ahead of time to watch your “lives”. If you schedule them on the same day and time each week, you are more likely to get your tribe to tune in to hear what you are going to say.

Conduct Video Interviews With Interesting Guests

Using the Zoom technology (free for one on one recordings) you can split the screen, invite a guest and record the session for posting on any of your social media channels

Post video on the home page of your website

Nothing helps visitors to your website understand your business than the power of video. To produce a video about how your company serves its clients you can record a video on Lumen 5 free of charge or use software such as Powtoon to make an animated video.

Post Testimonials On Your Website

The best videos to post on your homepage are short and snappy testimonial videos. Instant referrals from people who love your work. Yes, you can film them with your smartphone. They can be filmed at your location, your client’s location or just about anywhere without a distracting background.

How to Make Your Videos More Professional?

Make sure you edit them and add some snap with a bit of music and branding intros and outros. If you are a little tech savvy then you can do it yourself using these tools:

Editing on iPhone or iPad: iMovie, Voice recording on iPhone or iPad: Voice Memos, Editing on Android: 10 best free apps. Voice recording on Android: Voice Recorder.

If you don’t feel confident and have a small budget, Fiverr is a great platform to find a video editor/producer. Look for a 5* review with around 100+ reviews and you will have a few choices to pick from.

Have you tried the power of video for your business? What channels are the best for you for audience engagement?

Top 3 strategies to stay consistent with your blog by @mominbusiness_

April 8, 2019 by Vanessa Cast Leave a Comment

How to stay consistent with your blog

Blogging consistently is not an easy task. Most people start their blog with tons of illusion, but the lack of consistency kills their lovely child (blog) before even start.

And if you have kids around, this consistency thing can become a real challenge.

It’s really important that you know how to stay consistent with your blog in order to be successful.

There is going to be things every day that will affect the way you have organized your tasks, sometimes life gets in the way, and you need to be flexible enough to absorb those changes and stay consistent with your blog

Whatever you do, don’t quit, adjust!

I just prepared a very nice printable with 18 pieces of wisdom that will help you keep your motivation up at every moment!

My top 3 strategies to stay consistent with your blog

I want to share with you the 3 most important tips I use to stay consistent with my blog.

1 Keep Yourself Accountable

Share your goals with your blogging partners.

Once you share your goals, you’ll automatically feel more committed to get it done.

You want to be trustworthy, so you keep your word and get everything done on time.

You can also share your goals with your couple or even with your readers.

Exposing yourself will help you do whatever you can to deliver what you promised.

2 Get Rid of Distractions

You need to be aware that there are online and offline distractions.

What is the difference?

Washing the dishes, do the laundry, cooking, cleaning the house, buy some groceries, etc, are offline distractions.

And of course, checking your social media account every second, email notifications, 50+ WhatsApp groups, etc, are online distractions.

Offline distractions are a real problem when you work from home, to avoid these kinds of distractions, you need to imagine that you’re at the office.

During office hours you can’t wash the dishes or go to the supermarket.

To combat online distractions you can try the Pomodoro Technique.

This method uses a timer to break down work into intervals, traditionally 25 minutes in length, separated by short breaks. This will help you improve your concentration.

3 The Realistic Publishing Schedule

There is no such thing as “the right publishing schedule”. You should stick to the schedule that works for you.

In my case, posting on a daily basis is impossible, so I try to post every 15 days or once a month.

You can start slow, posting once a month and then move to twice a month once your writing becomes more fluent.

Just go with the publishing schedule that works for you and avoid committing to an unrealistic schedule that will drive you to quit your blog.

Next steps

You can start applying these 3 strategies, but I really recommend you to create your own ones. Nobody knows you better than yourself. I’m sure that you are aware of what you need to do to stay consistent with your blog.

So, move into action and get it done!

I wish you happiness, love and the courage to live your life according to your priorities ♥

The One Secret to Be Efficient With Time in Your Business by @CasiYost

April 5, 2019 by Casi Yost Leave a Comment

by Casi Yost | Featured Contributor

We all complain about not having enough time to do our work. I don’t think we really have an issue with time, but rather how we use it. I stumbled upon this efficiency method years ago but didn’t know the name of it. Now I do and I can’t wait to share it with you.

Before you start, prioritize. We all know our own schedules and the priority of things that need to be done. So essentially you and only you know which items are the most important. This is the one thing that you have to think about and the rest is easy. I promise.

I’m talking about the Ivy Lee method. Lauryn Evarts from The Skinny Confidential talks about it, James Clear, author of Atomic Habits talks about it in his book and tons of other successful people use it to cut through the noise and get things done.

How it works:

You have a list of items you have to do right? We all do.
What you do is you list the top six most important things in order that they need to be done.
The kicker is that you can’t move to the second item or anything else until the first item is done. You also need to remove any distractions and focus completely on the task at hand until you are done. Then you can move to the next item.

This is extremely effective and I think is the perfect antidote to all of the technology, calendars, noise and social media that gets us off task in the first place.

If you’re someone who has your to-do list on three different calendars, sticky notes, two notebooks, and a planner, then you really need to boil it down to one central place.

For me, I have a google document that I essentially word vomit onto and list all my goals, ideas, to-do items, and keep it there. I pull the most important things out of it and put on my list for the day.

To be clear, I look at my google doc and physically write down my list of six items on a piece of paper. Then I don’t have any of the other items distracting me.

I usually do this the night before. I look at my calendar and see what I have to do the next day, what items are needing me to do them right away, and those definitely get priority.

This method isn’t complicated but that is the genius in it. It is so simple and easy to do that you eliminate “decision fatigue” and can get rolling right away on your work.

Anyone ever stare at their inbox and wonder what they should start working on? Yep. Same here. This method allows you to just list all the things you need to do, prioritize them and get them done. Nothing weighing on your mind or distracting you.

Let me know if you employ this and how effective it is for you! I would really love to hear!

Any other methods that work for you drop them below!

All the best,

Casi

How to Marie Kondo Your Financial Life By @AZAnswers

April 4, 2019 by Ann Zuraw 1 Comment

by Ann Zuraw | Featured Contributor

If you haven’t joined the Marie Kondo movement let me explain why it may be a smart financial decision to give it a try.

For those of you unfamiliar with the movement, Marie Kondo is an organizing consultant and author. She wrote the “The Changing Magic of Tidying” and now has a popular series on Netflix where she can teach you how to de-clutter your life and find what truly brings you joy.

What I learned from Marie Kondo is to set up a system that you can maintain long-term. It is easier to get organized when you follow a system and do it consistently. For example, get in the habit of taking a step back and thinking through a purchase before you buy. If you take a moment before you purchase an item, especially an item that is essentially a duplicate to what you already own, maybe you’ll skip this purchase and save the money for something more essential. It would be great both for your wallet and our environment as it will prevent the need to fill up our landfills.

Another great habit is having a place for everything so that after you’re done using it, reading it, or opening it, you put it back where it belongs. By developing these systems, there will be no need for an annual Marie Kondo purge because we will begin to change the behaviors that led us in the first place to over-consumption and holding on to things that we will never use again. So today, I advise you to join the fun and take steps to make your physical and financial environment clutter free.

As a financial advisor, I recommend you start de-cluttering and organizing your financial life as well as your financial security methods. Here are a few areas to consider:

We are at tax time, and many documents and information are needed before you file. Do you have a consistent system to organize and help you remember what to include every year? It can be as simple as a checklist.

Where do you keep all your financial information? Do you have a system to keep it confidential? Or available? It can be locked in a secure file or stored as an encrypted file in a cloud program.

How safe are your login passwords for your financial accounts? Your logins are sources of information that put your financial life at risk. Pass-codes should be changed regularly and contain at least twelve characters which include both upper and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols and never use duplicates to reduce the impact of a data breach.

Do you have a secure place to store your pass-codes? What if you lose it? Is it on the cloud? You can keep a hard copy in a secure locked file or better yet purchase a pass-code manager which will encrypt your pass-codes and save them securely in a cloud program.

How secure is the information on your laptop, cell phone or wallet, should any of these be taken? Technology keeps getting better, and in return, you keep increasing your reliance and use of it which means you also need to keep track of what information is stored on each of these items.

Do you have an inventory of what is in your laptop, cell phone, and wallet? I personally have switched to digital files both in my business and my own Doing so has helped with security; also, I found a need to clean up and organize this information continually. Even though I am not physically holding the paper-my cloud is getting overloaded—like my closet. When this starts to happen, I find it taking much longer to find the information I need because it is not organized. So just like putting my socks folded neatly in one container—I need to put all my tax information for a specific account in a folder with the year identified, rather than just one large catch-all “Tax” folder. In addition, separate which information I need/want to keep long term, and which can be deleted after a specific time-period to reduce digital clutter.

When you start the practice of following a system that helps you keep things simple and organized you will begin to feel more confident and in control of your personal and financial life. You will also have a lot more free time to do the things that you love.

Best, AZ

The fashion world creates logos that look-alike

April 3, 2019 by Guest Post Leave a Comment

by Natalia Raben

Perhaps you have noticed the recent graphic design trend in the fashion world. More and more brands choose to redesign their logos into more minimalistic ones. As a result, the general audience often finds them looking… sort of the same. Or at least very similar. However, is that really the case? Let’s look closer at some of the fashion houses that are considered to lack creativity when it comes to their rebranding or even assumed to be copying the designs of their competitors.

The monograms

Chanel and Gucci are two luxury brands that run using famous minimalistic monograms. Each includes round shapes formed by the initials of the founders’ names – Coco Chanel and Guccio Gucci. There are speculations as to whether CC is actually from Coco or perhaps a shape from a stained glass of a monastery orphanage in Aubazine where Chanel grew up. Nevertheless, no matter what the origin is, the perception of the audience stays the same: both logos use symmetrically arranged, round letter. When shows apart, some people easily confuse Chanel with Gucci. However, once the two are presented side by side, suddenly the differences are big enough to tell them apart.

The fonts

In the fashion industry not only the monograms become similar but so do the logos featuring the brands’ names. In the past years, many fashion houses adjusted their typography into a more modern one. Think about brands like Saint Laurent Paris, Balenciaga, Burberry, Berluti or Balmain. All of them share the same characteristics. The brand name is in a black color, the logo uses uppercase typography and the font applied is sans-serif. The trend is so strong that, in the coming years, more fashion designers are expected to implement similar changes, no matter how well established, famous or luxury their brand is.

The logo trends reasons

Most likely, each one of us thinks: “Why?”. For many of these brands, the old logos stood for heritage and traditional values. Why would Burberry want to adjust their branding when the previous one worked so well? The reasons are multiple. First of all, fashion houses set or follow trends. Since the industry presents a new logo trend, in order to stay relevant and on track, brands follow it. Secondly, simplified typography, such as the sans-serif fonts, give better legibility on small apparel. Moreover, it fits all items and products. A simple and contemporary-looking logo can be sewed into all sort of clothing or accessories. As the co-founder of a graphic design company UnderConsideration, Armin Vit, said: it is like wearing a black-tie tuxedo—classically stylish, but muted enough such that it doesn’t steal the show.

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Natalia Raben takes care of marketing at DesignBro. Lover of design, photography and the arts.

Owning Your Financial Future by @wendykrichards

April 2, 2019 by Wendy Edwardson Leave a Comment

by Wendy Richards-Edwardson | Featured Contributor

Sheownsit.com is a wonderful place to read inspiring stories of talented and fearless young women who are building businesses, relationships and putting themselves out there. Ladies, do you know how truly special and courageous you are?

As a relatively successful entrepreneur who didn’t get going until much later in life, I hope, from time to time, I can provide tidbits of wisdom from the School of Hard Knocks.

So if you are feeling a sense of bravado at the moment, I would ask you to pause and give me your attention for a minute. I know you are all very busy planning, building and imagining spectacular success stories, but this is news you can use!

As my biography suggests, I am a late bloomer, discovering who I was and what I wanted to become after my 50th birthday. Sometimes I think my circumstances were a blessing and other times not so much. Life is full of twists and turns and when you are young, you cannot see the whole road ahead.

Unlike many late bloomers, I was not merely shifting gears and setting out on a new adventure of self discover. Without pointing fingers or making excuses, the truth is I found myself having to give up my home, my savings and all the resources I thought would be in place for my retirement. I was, in the truest sense of the word, broke after 50.

I am far from alone. Female friends and business acquaintances I have known for years are finding themselves in the same boat. The circumstances may not be the same: divorce, disreputable money managers, addiction, bankruptcy or poor health, have contributed to women ending up with little or no resources in mid to late life.

At a recent business luncheon, I recognized a woman (I’ll call her Jane) who I first met over 25 years ago. It so happened that she and her business partner/husband were having work done at the law firm where I was employed. Jane and her husband had a highly successful land development company and her over-confident manner reflected her success.

I approached Jane at our luncheon and asked how things were going. Well, after the marriage failed, so did the business. She ended up declaring bankruptcy and being the sole supporter of their daughter. She is still in litigation with her ex. Jane was a smart business woman. What could possibly have gone wrong? This wasn’t supposed to happen! Jane, like so many others just like her, had put all her eggs and trust in one basket and had no backup plan.

I got no pleasure in hearing this. I too had been an independent, self-reliant woman. I always believed I could do anything! But then again, I thought I had endless years of life ahead of me. There was plenty of time. I also believed that when someone said to me, “Don’t worry about it. I’ve got this.” then there was nothing further for me to do.

I assumed that if I trusted those I loved, believed they had far more business sense and had my best interests at heart, everything would be all right. I don’t know the science behind it but for some reason women still tend to allow others to control their lives by thinking they know better.

After working in the field of litigation law for many years, I can tell you that partnerships usually fail. Approaches to future ideas and money can change over time and partnerships erode. With good contracts in place, protecting your assets and having an exit strategy, you will survive these detours in your plans. Keep YOUR assets in YOUR pockets! I was always told if you want to destroy a friendship, become roommates or business partners. I have found this to be true in both cases.

So here is my advice from the trenches. When someone says to you, “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you”, accept the compliment and then ignore it. Take charge, do the work and, under no circumstances, allow someone else to control or guide your life or finances. It is not fair to them or you. Best intentions aside, sh*t happens. You must rely on the one person that ultimately will take care of you. That would be you!

I know it’s hard but fast forward 10, 20, 30 years. If you truly want a successful future, you need a backup plan today. Have you got one? It everything should fall apart tomorrow, you are going to need that Plan B.

Risk Management for Small Businesses by @SaabyConsulting

April 1, 2019 by Karen Jensen Leave a Comment

by Karen Jensen | Featured Contributor

We are a nation of small businesses. In fact, over 90% of U.S. businesses have less than 20 employees. But many small businesses aren’t developing or implementing a risk management strategy – and that’s a big mistake.

I know as small business owners, we wear a lot of hats, but there are tried and true business practices that are absolutely necessary to ensure business success – risk management is one of them.

Risk management doesn’t have to be scary or intimidating. It should be part of your overarching business plan. (If you don’t have a business plan, you might want to consider writing one of those too)

Are you a small medical practice? Running an Airbnb property? A restaurant with public wifi? An exporter of goods or services? Have an Etsy or Ebay store?

What is a risk management strategy?

There are lots of fancy definitions, but a solid risk management strategy really sums up everything about your business, how you keep it running and what you will do if it stops running (by design or by accident).

Some examples are:

your cash on hand and what you owe (financial risk management)
identifies and protects your proprietary information (Intellectual property risk management)
protects your customer and employee data (governance and compliance risk data)
your business continuity plan defines your business will do in the case of an unplanned event

I talk with so many small business owners who really have no idea of what their current state of business is.

The beauty of a small business is that you can make it anything you want. If you design jewelry and sell it at local green markets on the weekend, you probably don’t need a lot of complicated software. But if you want to build an Etsy store or your own website, you are going to need to know some basics.

Free versions of anti-virus and malware aren’t as good as paid versions. It’s essential for an online presence to employ reasonable tactics to protect your information and your systems.
Outdated software isn’t supported by the manufacturer. Windows 7 hasn’t been supported since 2015. Yes, the security patches will be deployed until 2020, but seriously? Why are you still running Windows 7?
Make a list of all the software applications you use. Are they current? Do you use them? This doesn’t take long and should be part of your business continuity plan.
Review your business credit card statements as carefully as you review your personal statements. Recurring charges that are unnecessary? Services you don’t use with recurring billing? Think lean and mean. Only buy what you need and don’t pay for things you aren’t using.
Do you have employees? Consider writing an employee handbook. I know quite a few small business owners who hired friends and family, who later sued them for employment practices. Think hard about hiring friends and family. If you decide to do it, make sure you define roles and set clear business practices.
If you want to build a growth strategy, make sure your business is in order. Spend the money to have your business reviewed by a small business attorney and a financial expert. You can’t get an SBA loan without 2 years of tax returns, so it pays to get this all set up correctly in the beginning. There are lots of attorneys and financial planners who specialize in small business architecture. Invest in your business!
Let’s talk about technology. Technology can be such a big and frightening word for small businesses. There are so many emerging technologies to follow, sales pitches about the new software you “must have” and just keeping up with the day to day requirements.
Small businesses are the weakest link in the cyber security chain. Over 60% of small businesses that are the victims of cyber crime go out of business in six months. Can you do business without your customer database? There are numerous reputable tools to help small businesses be cyber secure. Many of them are also free so there’s no excuse!

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Why You Should Consider Getting Certified as a Woman Owned Business and How to Do It by @CorpNetNellie

March 29, 2019 by Nellie Akalp Leave a Comment

by Nellie Akalp

It’s 2019 and although the playing field for women-owned small businesses should be leveling out, the truth is women entrepreneurs still need some help to get a leg up on the competition. That’s where getting certified as a woman owned business can be beneficial. The federal government and large corporations are the nation’s biggest buyers of goods and services, and they often set aside contracts specifically for women-owned businesses. These contracts can be lucrative, reliable sources of income.

If you want to go after federal contracts (either as a prime contractor or subcontractor), you’ll need to get certified through the Small Business Administration (SBA). The SBA designates two categories for certification: Women-Owned Small Businesses (WOSBs) or Economically Disadvantaged Women-Owned Small Businesses (EDWOSBs). There are presently three nationwide organizations that the SBA has approved as third-party certifiers. They are:

The Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC)
The National Women Business Owners Corp.
The U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce

You can visit their websites to see which types of certifications they offer, check their fees for certification and find out about any other beneficial programs they offer. Once you are certified, you can be added to the organizations’ databases of women-owned businesses and attend matchmaking events and trade shows they host to help women find federal and corporate contracting opportunities.

What Do You Need to Get Certified?

Depending on what type of certification you’re seeking, some requirements may vary slightly. To qualify for a WOSB, the business needs to be:

At least 51% unconditionally and directly owned by women who are U.S. citizens
A woman must manage the day-to-day operations
A woman must make the long-term decisions for the business
A woman must the hold highest officer position in the company, and
This woman must work at business full-time during normal working hours

To qualify as an EDWOSB, you must meet the requirements above, plus have:

Personal net worth (assets minus liabilities) of less than $750,000
Adjusted gross income average over three years of $350,000

For more on the specifics, see the SBA website.

To prove that a woman or women own at least 51% of the company, you must show that they have direct involvement in the daily operations of the business. This is to weed out married couples where the male owner gives 51% ownership of the business to his wife, even though she is not actually involved.

There are no requirements regarding size of business or length of time in business to obtain certification. However, if your business is less than a year old, you might want to wait to apply for certification, because you will need to provide profit and loss statements, a balance sheet and your business’s prior year’s tax returns to help prove the business is actually women-owned and -operated.

In addition to these financial documents, you’ll also need to provide:

Identification such as a birth certificate or passport
Business plans
Corporate documents
Business licenses and permits
Bank account information
References from key clients and customers

Depending on which organization is certifying your business, an on-site visit may be necessary. For example, the WBENC requires an on-site visit as part of your initial application and then every three years thereafter as part of the recertification process. (You won’t be taken by surprise: All site visits are scheduled with the business owner in advance.)

Although it is possible to self-certify online at Certify.SBA.gov, it can be less time-consuming to get certified by one of these third parties, since they take care of the nitty gritty details for you.

Once you’re certified, it’s time to get busy announcing your new status to the world. Promote your certification on your website and in your marketing materials, take part in events held by your certifying organization, and register with FedBizOps.gov to get your business noticed by federal government agencies looking for certified women-owned businesses.