CRAVE ladies, meet Allison Maslan. She is the CEO of Allison Maslan International and President of Blast Off! Life and Business Coaching. She is a highly acclaimed author and an international motivational speaker. Allison has a vibrant array of successful businesses to her credit and has assisted thousands of her clients in attaining a new level in their lives by helping them identify and reach their personal and professional goals. We caught up with this busy and successful woman to ask her a few questions we were just CRAVEing to know!

What would you say is the best advice for readers in your new book, Blast Off! The Surefire Plan to Launch your Dreams Into Reality?
I give so much life and business advice in Blast Off! However, I feel the most important advice is to act now on your dreams and goals. Otherwise you will be having the same conversation with yourself in six months or even six years. You see, our dreams are mere fantasy until we put them into action. So point your head toward your Big Picture Visions and take small steps toward them every single day. Do not listen to anyone that tells you it cannot be done. Before you know it, your dream will be glowing in the palm of your hands.

What is the best piece of advice you could give about running a business?
Best entrepreneurial advice: Never take no for an answer. When you hit a wall, get resourceful and find another pathway. Make a right or left turn, build a bridge, whatever you need to do to make it work… but never, ever accept that there is no option. The more creative are, the more secret doorways you will find.

What inspired you to write your book?
I am an entrepreneur and lover of business. I am woman, mother and lover of life. Over the past several years I built nine of my own companies, and as a strategic coach and a homeopathic physician, I have helped thousands launch a life and business experience they can feel passionate about. I feel now that its time to share my success system with as many people as possible. Every time I hear from a reader telling me that Blast Off! has changed their lives, my whole being smiles. That is what it is all about.

You are currently touring the country to promote your book, which cities can we expect you to be going?
So far I have been to Los Angeles, Phoenix, Charlotte, Cleveland, Denver, Dallas and San Francisco. Next, I will be in Chicago Aug. 25-28. I am doing a book signing at 7 p.m. Aug. 27 at The Book Cellar, located at 4736-38 North Lincoln Ave. I am also presenting a High-Octane Mastermind Gathering at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 26 at The Motel Bar in Chicago. This year I will also be heading to Salt Lake, Vegas, Portland, and New York. All if this information is on my Rocket Tour page on my website.

In this crazy wired-world, we all need to get away, unplug, recharge but man it’s tough to make that happen! Good thing we have those friends that make us make it a priority, they do all the planning and we just have to show up (easier said than done). Getting ready to get away is so much work, but when you get there…it’s way worth it!

I was lucky enough to be invited to a girls’ retweet recently and the goal was to get away and spend some focused time on projects that were never getting done for one reason or 50 other reasons. We went to a beach house and upon arrival realized our fancy phones didn’t have service. After a collective high-pitched horror scream heard around the world, we settled into the idea of enjoying the next 4 days being off the grid, getting things done (we had wi-fi at least whew) and connecting the old-fashioned way.

It was a rough detox, complete with shakes, the DT’s and blank stares at our phones just freaking over what was going on in the wired-world without us…OMG what WOULD we be missing?!

We quickly filled that void with chocolate, red wine and walks on the beach. We found our shoulders sinking back down from our ears (with the help of the massage therapist we brought with us) and the swelling in our thumbs going down. We were so happy to let our 10,000 words a day flow as opposed to being corralled to 140 characters in a text or tweet.

Of course the walks on the beach were still captured on our fancy phones for posting later to prove how much fun we had. It made me think of that age old questions, “If a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it does it make a noise?” I wondered, “If we walk on the beach and have fun, but don’t take a pic and post it to Facebook did we actually have fun?”

Disconnecting was a challenge, we have all become so dependent on that mobile phone crack. But what a fabulous experience…we slept in, we created amazing things (yes on our laptops), we sat by a fire pit and told stories and made s’mores. We belly laughed, we talked about boys (some 4 yrs. old and some 40), we breathed in the fresh salt air and we ate…holy cow we ate and it was great! And not a #4 from the drive-thru window but homemade grandma recipes of chicken verde and snack bars…like the good old days!

Let’s be clear…I have a foot firmly planted in both camps. I love me some texting but I also love making memories in person (a dying art). I love the tools that allow you to be connected 24/7, heck Facebook allows me to attend my high school reunion, daily, without having to buy a cocktail dress or loss 20 lbs. But I worry that my kids couldn’t keep track of their shoes from day to day but they haven’t misplaced their phones in five years. Are they so wired and dependent that they won’t know how to play capture the flag without that tech appendage?

I challenge all of you to go rogue…try it, disconnect and in that space you may realize how great it is to really connect, maybe even at a fabulous girls retweet!