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Niche is Rich, Broad is Broke

November 30, 2011 by Mollie | Comments (0)

“Great great night! Even though I don’t own my own business so many great things learned tonight and to apply to my life. My poor husband couldn’t get a word in tonight when I got home — so inspired! Thank you CRAVE!” -Amy Hedman Turnbull

It was a night of inspiration and storytelling at the CRAVE Seattle business chat on Tuesday November 29th. The topic of conversation was the November subject we’ve been discussing, “Flip it Before You Ditch it!” Flip it is a favorite topic of CRAVE Founder Melody Biringer. It’s about changing up a business idea before you move on and try something else. Coming at an issue from an opposite perspective can sometimes help you see a solution in a different light. In addition to hearing the guest speakers talk about their experiences in business the floor was opened up to attendees of the CRAVE chat to talk about their personal insights on flipping different parts of their life. Below are the top six highlights from the chat.

1. Niche is rich, broad is broke, shared by guest speaker Devani Freeman. Devani explained the importance of really focusing on a specific niche in business rather than trying to be really broad.

2. Barbie Hull a CRAVE entrepreness and guest speaker talked about the importance of bouncing ideas off other like-minded individuals when faced with tough business decisions. Brainstorming and collaborating with others can be very powerful.

3. Find your niche and declare it.

4. “Gravitate to what feels natural to you.” -Melody Biringer. If what you’re doing currently in your business or life doesn’t feel right or isn’t working, pay attention to the things you do that you thoroughly enjoy. Figure out the skills that come naturally to you and do something about it.

5. If you have a niche and it’s not working, flip it.

6. Think about your personal life experiences, maybe you have one that others can relate to. Flip your life experiences and passions into a business that helps others.

“I feel renewed and so thankful to have had the opportunity to meet such great women! Thank you for the event and thank you to Cake Envy for the location and yummy treats.” -Kirsten Helle, Mesa de Vida

Big thank you to Cake Envy for graciously hosting our chat and to our speakers, Barbie Hull, Devani Freeman and Melody Biringer. Learn more about our CRAVE chat’s by visiting our website.

Flip the Way You Plan Your Day

November 21, 2011 by CRAVE Blogger | Comments (0)

CRAVE entrepreness and marketing coach, Stephanie Ward talks about flipping how you get through your to-do list. Flipping it doesn’t have to mean changing everything about your business or rewriting your business plan, it can be something as simple as flipping how you organize your daily tasks to maximize productivity.

I know it’s a radical idea, the death of your to-do list so bear with me while I explain.

Think about it, a long to-do list is a giant energy drain and waste of time.

Have you ever noticed how the list keeps growing instead of disappearing?

Imagine waking up every morning feeling confident that you have enough time to accomplish the goals you have set for the day.  Picture yourself wrapping things up at the end of the day knowing that you have not wasted your time or energy and that the actions you completed are supporting you in creating a profitable business.

Intrigued?  The great news is that it is simple to kill your to-do list.  Here’s how.  First, take a long hard look at your massive to-do list and put a number one next to the actions that are high priority (I know, I hear you shouting they are all high priority, trust me they aren’t).

Go through the list again and rank the medium priority actions with a number two and low priority actions with a number three.

Now, get out your calendar and take each high priority action and place it into your schedule.  Choose a date that it will be completed as well as a realistic block of time for completion (start and finish time).  Continue doing this with the medium priority actions and finish with the low priority actions.

This will work for you no matter what kind of calendar you use.  Choose a system that works for you.  The concept of integrating your actions into your planning is much more important than the type of calendar you use.

New opportunities do come up and you can update and adjust your planning as needed.  The difference is that now the things you have planned are already prioritized so if something new comes up, you will be able to consider its importance in relation to existing priorities.  This is much more effective than simply adding another action to the bottom of a list.

Also, make sure you schedule in some free time each day for unplanned things that come up.  If you can’t find a place for some of the low priority actions don’t worry, I have a solution for you below (see benefit number three).

Let me confess something, I know to-do lists don’t work because I am a former owner of a long to-do list (that never got done).  Since I killed my to-do list and consciously thought about what I really want to get done, I am much more productive and feel confident about the direction of my business.

Benefits for You:

1. Doing this forces you to reconsider what you are doing with your time and this allows you to get clear about what your real priorities are.

2. You will have a realistic picture of what you can really accomplish in a certain time period (each day, week, month, etc.).

3.  There will probably be some things that won’t fit into your schedule and this gives you a chance to consider dropping them or delegating them.  I like to call this your “to-don’t” list.  If you are a solopreneur and don’t have employees who can pick up the slack, you can always outsource.

4. You will reduce overwhelm and stress because you will no longer be confronted daily with a giant list of things you know you won’t get done that day.  This way you will get more accomplished, stay on track, and remain focused.

5.  You will feel great about the actions you plan to take each day because you know they are aligned with your long term goals and that doing them will move you forward toward reaching them.

Anyone who is serious about building a sustainable and profitable business needs to be sure they are spending their time and energy on the right things.

Are you are beginning to see that a long to-do list that isn’t prioritized with actions that aren’t connected to a actual dates for completion isn’t efficient?

It can be scary to integrate your to-do list into your calendar and I promise, it is worth it.  What do you have to lose?  Try it and if it doesn’t work you can always go back to the never-ending list of things that never get done.

Stop living in denial about what you can realistically get done and choose to plan and execute profitable actions that will grow your business!

© Stephanie Ward

Stephanie Ward is the Marketing Coach for Entrepreneurs who want to set their profits on fire!  Grab your FREE copy of the special report ’7 Steps to Attract More Clients in Less Time’ plus business building tips, at: http://www.fireflycoaching.com.

Building New Relationships in Business

November 18, 2011 by Mollie | Comments (0)

New York Times Best Selling Author and business strategist Carol Roth talks with CRAVE Founder Melody Biringer on flipping her perspective and building new relationships in business.

CRAVE Business Spotlight: WeVillage

November 17, 2011 by Mollie | Comments (0)

Here at CRAVE we’re inspired by the smart and savvy entreprenesses featured in our CRAVEguies. Whether you’re a business owner in San Francisco or a business owner in Amsterdam, as entreprenesses we all share common goals in that we want our businesses to succeed. Here is an interview with CRAVE entrepreness Karen Beninati, owner of Portland based company WeVillage. WeVillage is an urban play care for children where parents can drop their kids off in a safe and engaging environment.

WeVillage is the brainchild and conception of Karen Beninati. The idea was born out of this single mother’s love and appreciation for providing quality in every aspect when working with children. Her own love of children and her experience with child/parent relationships garnered during her volunteer experiences at her son Luca’s schools.

1. Tell us a little bit about what makes your business unique?

We are the only place where at anytime you can drop off your child, with no appointment needed for all day or a few hours. We are also open very late.

2. What is your favorite thing about owning your own business?

Freedom and helping others.

3. If you had one piece of advice to offer women wanting to start their own business what would it be?

Do it, and do not let barriers prevent you from continuing to push forward. Make sure you have a good support system, and don’t sweat the small stuff. Success will happen, maybe it’s not exactly what you imagined right off the bat but you have to start somewhere, and it will become everything you didn’t imagine.

4. Do you have a role model or mentor?

My Fiance Paul, he is exceptional in business and he gets it, he loves me unconditionally.

5. What motivates you on a daily basis?

Being the best I can be, and completing my goals and staying true to my intentions I set when I started WeVillage.

6. Why did you start your business?

To provide a service unlike anything out there, and to build something people can be proud of.

To learn more about WeVillage or Karen visit her website wevillage.com, WeVillage is also on Facebook and Twitter!

Flip Your Food and Feel Fabulous!

November 9, 2011 by CRAVE Blogger | Comments (0)

Ever noticed you can sense when you’ve made a mistake or bad decision in your business?  It is not always crystal-clear but perhaps you were nervous about taking a particular step, ignored your intuition, pushed through then realized CRAP, I’ve made a bad move!  Don’t worry, my dear.  There is not a single crave-able lady who has not made a poor business decision or hit a creative wall after spending hours and hours with their particular business baby.

The beauty of being business owners is we are driven (some may even say compelled!) to see our businesses thrive and are very quick to regroup and get things back on track.  The problem is that many times we jump right back on the same track that led us to the crappy business decision in the first place.  This is a sign the business blinders have been on far too long.  We need to slow down, step back and see what needs to be flipped!

The same thing goes for our food.  Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results (thank you Mr. Einstein), and yet how often have we jumped from one diet to the next thinking, “YES, this is going to be the one that works!”?   Or popped open a can of diet coke hoping it would squelch our sweet need only to find it gets us thinking about chocolate and that left over piece of cake in the fridge?  Especially when trying to eat healthfully, it is extremely difficult to see that what we are eating may not be working.

So how do you know when your food needs a flip?  Here are three easy-to-identify signs that will get you on the right track:

1)     You are a super slug in the morning- Granted some of us are simply not morning people. However, if you find that when your alarm goes off your head, eyes, arms and legs all scream NO!!, this is a sign that whatever was for dinner (lunch or breakfast) the day before is not working for you and needs a flip.

2)     Crazy cravings- Cravings are not a bad thing.  They are simply your body saying, “Hey, I need something!”  Where problems arise is when you misinterpret these cravings and eat the wrong thing, which then continues the craving cycle. 

3)     Eating for Function- If you are eating out of the sheer need to survive, girlfriend we have got some serious food flipping to do!  Food certainly is needed to stay alive however there is also great joy and unbelievable flavors and tastes to be gotten out of the experience of eating.  It’s often when we eat those “health” foods (think cottage cheese, a dry bagel and salad with lite dressing) that our tongue eventually rebels and says, “Give me ice cream or give me death!”  There is a happy medium between eating for function and going hoagie-heaven, hog-wild and more often than not, a quick food flip will do the trick.

So the next time you are craving like crazy, need a double venti mocha to get out of bed, or are completely uninspired by your bowl of special K, consider giving your food a little flip.  It may just be exactly what you need to start feeling fabulous!

In the meantime, I’d love to know what you have done in the past to flip your food or what you plan to try.  Reach out and tell me in the comments below.   Come on, don’t be shy!

Jamie G. Dougherty is the owner and founder of Jamie Living, Health and Lifestyle Coaching and food guru extraordinaire!  She is a certified Holistic Nutrition Coach with a private and corporate practice that offers assistance nationwide. She is the author of the wildly popular e-cookbook, Spring Forward to the New You: 30 Delicious and Cleansing Recipes for your Fabulous Figure and is the food guru to busy, frustrated women ready to let go and become healthy, fun and fabulous! Be sure to join Jamie on Facebook and Twitter and get your free 5-STEP GUIDE TO FABULOUS at JAMIELIVING.

Should You Leave Your Clients Behind?

November 7, 2011 by CRAVE Blogger | Comments (0)

When you’re starting out, doubt creeps in quickly. It’s easy to second-guess decisions or mull over details that end up being irrelevant. But don’t let this feeling lessen the value of your knowledge. Believing that your own instincts aren’t valid because you’re a bit green to the business world is a mistake.

The number one thing I would challenge any business owner to flip is their perspective. Always, always, always go with your gut.

What is your gut? It’s your intuition, that instant feeling that something is going to work or not.  It’s a clue your high level brain delivers to spur action long before you can put it into words. Harvard professor and psychologist Howard Gardner puts it this way, “Gut instinct is basically a form of pattern recognition.”

Recognizing clear patterns of behavior in people sets clear expectations. Life experience alone exposes the variety of viewpoints. And business experience even more so reveals people’s beliefs in many other areas- business strategy & ethics, life motivation & goals and respect for & treatment of others.

This experience transforms your gut from one of pure emotion-driven instinct to what Linda Rink, President of Rink Consulting, calls, “an informed gut.” An informed gut is fueled by the knowledge of industry trends, an understanding of clients & prospects and routine assessment of team members.

Once you have an informed gut, you’ll find it essential for the following decisions:

1. Leaving Clients Behind

If you have to rationalize their attitude, behavior or unwillingness to pay your set fees, don’t take on that client. Don’t be afraid to turn away potential clients that are going to nitpick or penny pinch the entire process—you’ll always feel you can’t deliver and they’ll feel they’re overpaying for something they don’t love.

2. Expanding your Business

At many points in your business you reach a proverbial crossroads.  It seems growth is inevitable, but it’s also daunting.  Should you invest in expanding your team now, or wait? Outside factors will try to sway you, but you know what will propel your business to continued success. Don’t hold back simply because an economist wants to tell you it’s not the right time, stick to your informed gut.

3. Calling it Quits

If you’re working with a vendor that doesn’t have the same values, you can’t rely on them to help your team provide a positive client experience.  And the same goes for a team member; they may have the appropriate skill set to get the job done, but they may lack the ability to deliver with the timeliness and attitude you value.

Shifting your perspective does not come easily.  It takes time to strengthen your ‘informed gut,’ constantly growing in information and experience while more devotedly relying on those gut checks— first impressions or reactions. But once you recognize the value of these instincts, you’ll find your decision-making process becomes more fluid and less cluttered with regret. So go ahead, flip it!

Maria Orozova is the President & Creative Director of The MOD Studio in Austin, Texas. MOD is a boutique design studio and the creative powerhouse behind many local and national brands, and our 16 ADDYS and 19 GDUSA awards prove it. For more information visit www.themodstudio.com or follow us on facebook.com/theMODstudio and twitter.com/theMODstudio

Flip Your Business Upside Down

November 4, 2011 by Mollie | Comments (0)

CRAVE Founder, Melody Biringer talks about flipping life and business upside down.

November: Flip It Before You Ditch It

November 2, 2011 by Mollie | Comments (0)

Happy November! We’re thrilled to announce our new theme, Flip It Before You Ditch It.

Have you ever considered doing the exact opposite of what you’re doing right now? Maybe with your whole business, maybe with a small part… brainstorm what it would look like if you completely flipped it! This is a valuable exercise that, at the very least, will inspire a myriad of new ideas for your business.

We can’t wait to get the conversation going about our topic, Flip It! Do you have examples of Flipping It? We want to know!