I wish I could say I always wanted to be an entrepreneur.

After all, my father was one, my brothers run a successful business and I married an entrepreneur.

From my perspective, they worked long hours, talked about business all the time and always seemed to be thinking of taking things “to the next level.”

I didn’t understand that those long hours didn’t seem long enough when it’s spent pursuing your passion. That you cannot help sharing your enthusiasm about what you love and how you are going to change the world to anyone who has a minute to spare. And that having your own business opens up a whole new world of creativity and perseverance that you previously didn’t know existed about yourself.

I didn’t know any of this until I became an entrepreneur myself.

In a new country, with no local experience and no contacts, I began consulting until I could get a secure job. What was simply a bridge to the next “sure thing” turned into a never-ending road with an unknown destination.

In 13 years, I’ve gone down the bumpy road of entrepreneurship traveled by many before me, and learned a few good lessons along the way. I hope these lessons make your road to adventure a whole lot smoother:

1. Embrace That You’ll Never Know Everything

It took you years to be THE expert in your field. You struggled to finally make THE product that everyone’s talking about. However, if, after all those years of hard work, you think you know it all and stop learning, or stop innovating on product development, your business will either fail or eventually get left behind.

Curiosity and perseverance are some of the most important traits for an entrepreneur to embrace – why do things work and how can it be better? What would happen if I did the opposite of what is the logical thing to do? Who knows more than I do and whom did they learn from? Do I really know what my customer wants?

Assume there is more than one “right” answer and ask the difficult questions no one is asking. You might be surprised at the answers you’ll get.

2. Work Hard And Give Yourself The Gift of Time

One of the most frustrating traits of an entrepreneur is our impatience. We spend weeks, months, even years creating something we love and when it’s ready, we’re caught by surprise at how slow it sells: How come my potential client can’t see how brilliant our product or solution is and how perfect it is for them? How can they not want it right NOW?

In a market with ever-increasing noise, it really does take time for you to stand out and build a momentum with your marketing.  “Overnight successes” can often take 18 – 24 months or more. If you truly believe in your offering, keep working hard but give yourself the gift of time and know that you may need to take the marathon approach versus trying to sprint to success. Remember that childhood story? The turtle eventually beats the hare!

3. Be Willing To Succeed As A Result of Your Work

You should definitely be willing to fail as an entrepreneur, but sometimes what can hold us back is the willingness to succeed.  It seems counter-intuitive but many of us have a fear of success in some way.  We may believe: I’ve worked so hard but don’t deserve the good things and recognition that come my way. What if I can’t sustain my success? What if I take on something way over my capabilities?

Remember that many of your fears will be irrational if you look at them closely. Success is your reward for setting your sights on a seemingly impossible goal, pursuing it doggedly and sometimes making incredible sacrifices to get there.  YES, you are worth it, and yes, you deserve all the recognition and success that comes your way.

4. Keep Working Towards The Next Step

Having your own business can provide amazing freedom and flexibility in creating a lifestyle you want.  There are times though, where it takes great effort to get out of bed and hang onto your determination to keep going. You may be stuck on what you need to do next in order to reach your goal.

During these times, I remember an analogy a business coach shared with me: When trying to reach a mountain’s summit (your goal) you know the general direction is up. Even in the worst weather, when you cannot see the summit and don’t know how you are going to get there, you can at least see the next step.

In building your business, just keep taking the next step, work hard, and trust that you know what you need to succeed. You may go down the wrong path here and there, but you won’t know until you take that step…and sometimes the step you need to take may be asking for help from a guide who’s been to the summit and back!

Disclosure: I received compensation from Visa for sharing my views in this post, but the views expressed here are solely mine, not Visa’s. This post was sponsored by Visa Small Business as part of their #gobiz Sweepstakes for @VisaSmallBusiness. Visa will be rewarding small business owners with $10,000 in prizes for their hard work from October 25^th through November 17^th. Visit here http://hosting.thetenthwave.com/visasb/ for more details, and follow @VisaSmallBiz for ways to help make your small business more efficient and successful. Discover more at http://visa.com/business.

Photo Credit: The Femme Files

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Today we have a guest post by Matthew Toren, co-author of Small Business, BIG Vision.

In a world where technology, social trends, and economies change continually, rapidly, and without warning, one of the most important things an entrepreneur can do to remain competitive is create an atmosphere of flexibility within his or her business. In fact, it’s not an exaggeration to say that your company’s survival may very well depend on your ability to be flexible.

What is flexibility, and why is it so important?

I define flexibility in business as the ability for a company to make whatever internal changes are necessary to respond effectively to the changing outward environment, as quickly as possible. In other words, you’re ready for whatever happens in the market, and you’re able to turn it into opportunity by adjusting to the new paradigm almost immediately.

The reason flexibility is so vital to small businesses is because of what I stated in the first paragraph. The world is changing; it’s changing rapidly; and it isn’t going to stop changing – ever. Technology advancements and other market trends are accelerating at an exponential pace, and they won’t wait around for companies to adjust. As my brother Adam and I talk about in our new book, Small Business, BIG Vision: Lessons on How to Dominate Your Market from Self-Made Entrepreneurs Who Did it Right, for those companies that don’t embrace flexibility, changes in the business environment can mean significant setbacks. For those who actually resist change, they can spell disaster.

What does it take to create a flexible company?

When it comes right down to it, flexibility within a company is an attitude – a culture. In our book, we discuss a couple of phrases that we never like to hear: “Because that’s how we’ve always done it,” and “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” What those common phrases are really saying is that we’re not only resistant to change, we don’t even want to explore the possibility that there might be a better way.

To get away from that limiting attitude and create a culture of flexibility within your company, follow these three keys for success:

1. Listen.

Listen to your employees, partners, vendors, and customers. Never be afraid of feedback of any kind, and welcome suggestions and ideas. A flexible company culture depends on everyone associated with the company feeling comfortable sharing ideas for innovations, process improvements, and correcting shortcomings. Not only will your company be more ready for any unexpected change that comes along, you’ll become stronger and more cohesive in the meantime.

2. Really listen.

Take it one step further. In addition to being open to hearing ideas, go ask for them. Start a “Bright Idea” award system for employees. Convene customer focus groups on a regular basis, and include employees, customers, and even vendors in internal mastermind sessions. It’s one thing to say your door’s always open – it’s another to walk someone through it.

3. Open your mind.

If you follow the first two keys, you have ideas coming from all over. This is a very good thing, but only if you receive the ideas with an open, creative mind. I say creative because creativity is what allows you to see possibilities – to envision things other than the way they currently are. If you truly have an open mind, you approach ideas and obstacle the same way: Instead of “It can’t be done,” you say, “What do we need to do to make this happen?” With that frame of mind, you welcome change as an opportunity to improve and grow. And that is what flexibility is all about.

About the author: Matthew Toren is a Serial Entrepreneur (Co-founded YoungEntrepreneur.com), Mentor, Investor and award winning Co-Author of Kidpreneurs (Basic Principles of Entrepreneurship for Kids). Follow him on Twitter. Matthew is also co-author of the newly released book Small Business BIG Vision: Lessons on How to Dominate Your Market from Self-Made Entrepreneurs Who Did it Right.

Gymnast image by erin MC hammer

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Have you ever had problems keeping track of multiple project hours or forgotten to record a client expense between meetings? Billings Touch is a neat iPhone application for tracking time and invoicing clients-right from your iPhone.

I find that it’s also useful for anyone looking to make the most of time blocking.

Keeping Track

My team and I use Billings Touch to accurately invoice our clients for the right amount of billable hours and incurred expenses. Best of all, is that we can do all this wherever we are as long as we have our iPhone’s with us. Billings Touch is free but there is a full version available for purchase ($14.99) that lets you create and e-mail invoices right on your phone and sync with the desktop Billings for Mac.

Perfect Timing

The Timed Slip feature is by far the handiest thing in Billings. It lets you time yourself as you work on a project and when your work is complete, you can file your slip into a client folder, so you’ll always know where to find it. There’s also a pause button that you can press and it automatically saves your hours, letting you leave the app and pick up where you left off even several weeks later. In addition, you can track expenses, mileage, flat rate objects and quantity based slips.

An app definitely made for business owners, Billings Touch also lets you create client folders that keep track of open projects, payments, retainers and overdue invoices, so that you’ll never forget to bill your clients on time.

Billings Touch is definitely a great tool for any entrepreneur looking to get more done while on the go and I recommend giving it a try to see how it can significantly cut down on the time you spend billing clients.

Do you have any apps your business can’t live without? Let me know in the comments or by sending me a message via Twitter or Facebook- I’d love to hear your recommendations!

Photo Credit: Marketcircle

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Out-of-the-Box Blogger of Technology Ins and Outs

Our #FollowFriday-worthy recommendation this week is Amy Lee who blogs for The Huffington Post. Her one-line bio at the publication says, “Amy Lee writes for the Huffington Post about tech, and other things.” Yes, she does write about tech and other things — MANY other things!

Since December of 2010, Amy has been writing about technology from many angles. She blogs about new products that are noteworthy and occasionally shares technology user studies.

One thing I love about Amy is that she blogs about the how’s and why’s of technology companies and their actions in the market and towards their own products and unique technologies. It’s an enlightening perspective, which allows you to think deeper into the way business is handled in the technology and electronic world.

Amy also keeps tabs on the industry executives’ shifts and moves. She often writes about their new posts and explains their new take on companies they have joined or moved from.

Earlier this year the Huffington Post’s Tech Section also began a segment called “Socialized,” which features new social startups, from apps to services to websites – every day.  Here Amy contributes almost on a daily basis where she discusses the app or product in the easiest format to digest, with headings like “What it is,” “How it works,” “Why you’d use it,” and “How to get it.” It’s always fun to wait and see what will be her next feature.

Get to Know Amy

Amy is a Roslyn, Long Island native. She recently graduated from Yale in 2010 with a degree in English, Writing Concentration. Now why am I not surprised after enjoying her writing style and beat all this time?

We recently caught Amy in her busy schedule but she still so graciously shared her wit and warmth. See for yourself.

Laughs at: Everything from spam emails to South Park.

Hopes: That even those people who distrust and dislike what could be perceived as an obtrusive and overwhelming digitization of culture and activity will come to appreciate the exciting, the beneficial, and the beautiful in the technological revolution.

Thinks: In 140-character long thoughts — sometimes. Then I shake my head, pick up some Herman Melville and get back into the usual un-tweetified ramble of things.

Reveals: Not too much, especially not online — I spend too much time reading and writing about the dangers of over-sharing on public networks to really let loose in cyberspace.

Dream Coffee Date: Judging solely based on his representation in Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris,” it seems like Ernest Hemingway would be a bracing and rowdy person to spend an hour with. Of the living, I’d love to hang with IBM’s Watson with Alex Trebek as our mediator, just for kicks.

Is Inspired By: The work of William Gibson, who seems to have proved prophetic on any number of things that have come to define modern technology and our relationship with it. And he tweets!

If you or your client is a social startup that makes apps, services or websites, do track down Amy Lee to get featured at Huffington Post!

Follow Amy Lee on Twitter

Read Amy Lee’s articles in The Huffpost Tech

Catch Amy’s features in Huffpost Tech’s “Socialized”

Liz Estrella-Basilio is Elena Verlee’s San Francisco partner at Cross Border Communications. Together they work with start-up to multi-million dollar technology companies who want to get their story heard in traditional, digital and social media.

She recently revived her Twitter account and will be out on the prowl to find those who are truly #FollowFriday-worthy on Twitter. Follow her at @lizestrellab.

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In this guest post, Cameron Herold teaches us an easy, practical — yet effective — exercise for building the business we dream of. Cameron is a coach to CEOs in large corporations all around the world. After helping build multi-million dollar companies, Cameron is now a sought-after speaker, coach, and mentor.

Years after working with an Olympic coach, I realized that the process of visualization was a lot like building a dream home.  If you can visualize what the dream house–or your designer kitchen–looks like, then you can talk to an architect and explain the vision you have in your mind.  You can even tear photos out of magazines to help explain what you see in your mind.  Once the architect can ‘see’ the same vision as you, he or she can create the blueprints for your dream home.

When you have a blueprint for success, you are more likely to achieve your desired goal, whether it’s building a house, winning a sports competition, or growing a business. That’s why as a business coach and mentor, I believe that it’s essential that you communicate what your business is going to look like at every stage of its growth, but most importantly, what it’s going to look like in three years. I like this timetable because people will have a better idea of how to incorporate over-arching goals into their day to day work, since it doesn’t seem as far away, but isn’t in the same category as other daily tasks.

Just so we’re crystal clear: This blueprint or ‘Painted Picture’ isn’t a to-do list, a five-year plan, or a vision statement.  Vision statements are when everyone gets in a room and you pull together the words that best describe your business, and you create a one sentence vision or mission statement for your company that no-one reads and no-one cares about ever again.  This is different. This is when an entrepreneur, CEO or whatever you are plants one foot in the present, and then dips the other into the future, into what ‘could be.’

When you peer into the future, what do you see? What do you want to be there? What materializes in front of you as the epitome of success? Don’t worry about how you’re going to build it, just focus on describing what you see over the next three years. One exercise that can be helpful is to imagine you’re filming every aspect of your business: your employees, customers, supplier relationships and so on. Once you’ve completed this exercise in its entirety, you’ve created a ‘Painted Picture.’  Click here to download a chapter of my new book to help you with your painted picture.

Do you have a Painted Picture for your business? If not, try this exercise and let us know how it goes for you by posting a comment below. Or share your thoughts with me on Twitter or Facebook.

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Today’s guest post is by Cameron Herold, who’s been coaching, speaking to, and helping entrepreneurs all over the world to build their companies. While COO at 1-800-GOT-JUNK, he helped build the company from revenues of $2M to $150M in just six years and built a PR team that landed the company over 5,000 media hits. Cameron blogs at BackPocketCOO.com.

Richard Branson, Bill Gates, and every entrepreneur I’ve ever met has ridden the roller coaster of running a business.

The key to riding it out is that you’ve really got two choices: You can hold on and scream, or you can wave your hands in the air and have fun. Either way, you’re going to ride it.

I didn’t come up with the idea of the Transition Curve but what I figured out what entrepreneurs should or shouldn’t do when they are at each stage.  It’s one thing to identify the feelings at each stage, and another thing entirely to know what to do when you’re on the ride itself.

WARNING: DO NOT THINK THESE WON’T HAPPEN TO YOU. IF YOU’RE HUMAN THEY WILL!!

Stage 1: Uninformed Optimism

Uninformed Optimism is the stage on a real roller coaster just when you’re getting to the top. You have feelings of adrenaline pumping through your veins, excitement, nervous energy and many other feelings.

In the world of running your own business, when you get to this stage, you’re excited, filled with energy, passion and it’s fun.  No coffee is needed – you’re ON FIRE. You don’t really know what’s coming next, but you’re excited about the future regardless.

However, the excitement is also built on the unknown. You just think you’re invincible at this stage.

This optimism should not be discouraged but entrepreneurs need to recognize that’s what they’re feeling, and should harness it and use it to be successful. If you’re being coached or mentored by someone at this stage, ensure they don’t contribute to your already unrealistic expectations.  Don’t let them oversell or overexcite you.  Just harness the energy you already have.

Also, recognize that this enthusiasm and optimism won’t last.  In the near future, it will change and you will become increasingly disappointed, discouraged, and pessimistic. That’s normal, but also temporary.

Stage 2: Informed Pessimism

As you ride over the top of the roller coaster curve, you’ve now got a little bit more information and you have feelings of fear, nervousness, and frustration. You might even want to get off the ride.  You’re thinking, “I’m not really sure what’s coming yet, but I’m getting a little nervous in my gut about it!”

You’ll begin to become a little bit more pessimistic on your whole business.  You’ll focus a bit more on the shortcomings.  Your glass starts looking half empty instead of half full.

Stage 3: Crisis of Meaning

Then you hit a stage called ‘Crisis of Meaning.‘ This is when you’re really scared. You’re in despair. This is like you’re standing on the edge of a cliff ready to jump. Your thoughts might be something like, “Today the coaster’s going off the bottom of the track for the very first time. I’m going to die!”  You feel helpless, terrified and frozen.

Stage 4: Crash & Burn (optional)

If you don’t pull through the bottom of the curve and round the corner, then you will Crash & Burn. Crash & Burn is basically when you go bankrupt, are forced to sell or whatever other horrible catastrophe befalls your business.

Sometimes it takes a massive amount of effort, tears and tenacity to pull through this stage. If you’re working closely with a good coach they should help you identify in advance all of the support groups or activities which you can use to reduce stress and turn around these situations.

Often this is a stage where franchisees do much better than solo companies. Many franchisors are good at helping franchisees avoid problems at this stage because they have seen it so many times already with other franchisees. 85% of all solo businesses fail within the first year.  And something like 85% of the surviving 15% fail in the next four years. The odds aren’t good that you’re going to get through this whole curve.

The people that do actually get through it are the ones that recognize they are starting to have those feelings and quickly turn for support from whomever can help. You just have to ride it out, and knowing that you’re going to get through the other side is important.

Stage 5: Hopeful Realism/Informed Optimism

At the stage called Informed Optimism, you’re calm and informed.  You might even say you are cautiously optimistic.

Which stage are you currently in? Do share your thoughts in the comments below. Feel free to also send me a message on Twitter or Facebook.

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As I mentioned recently, I feel in my bones that big things are coming in 2011.

That’s as far as my own business is concerned. However, I’d also love to make it true for your business as well.

That’s why I’ve joined a unique program created especially for women entrepreneurs who want to start 2011 with a big bang — and big profits.

Introducing… Passport to Business Freedom

Passport to Business Freedom was designed to help you, the woman entrepreneur, skyrocket your business into new heights and create a bigger impact in the world… so you can finally enjoy the personal, lifestyle, creative and financial freedom you’ve been dreaming of.

This eight-week, exclusive membership program is going to help you get beyond New Year’s Resolutions (which are still good) and into implementing a plan of action.

I’ll be one of your resource persons and virtual coaches, along with:

• Ellen Rohr
• Carol Roth
• Liz Dennery Sanders
• Stacy Karacostas
• Maren Kate
• Michele DeKinder-Smith
• Nathalie Lussier
• Natalie Sisson

We’ll each be teaching a specific module on a topic that’s designed to accelerate your business. You’ll receive the content in multi-media formats. There’ll even be a virtual VIP members’ lounge where you can interact and bounce ideas with other members.

Is Passport To Business Freedom for You?

As excited as I am about this program, I also recognize that this is for a specific type of woman entrepreneur. Passport to Business Freedom is for you if you already have an online business… but are experiencing:

• stagnant revenue growth
• lack of direction for growth, expansion and financial freedom
• slavery to your business, which curtails your personal freedom
• entrapment in your processes, because you don’t have systems

You should also have:

• the commitment and determination to see your business through to success, despite the challenges
• emotional courage to try new things, even if they’re scary and uncomfortable
• the openness to look at yourself and your business honestly

As you may have noticed, Passport to Business Freedom is NOT for rookie female-preneurs. It’s a mid-level curriculum, which includes advanced business concepts in marketing, outsourcing, PR, and more.

Sound interesting so far? Go here to get all the details.

Or if you have any questions about Passport to Business Freedom, feel free to post them in the comments below. Or send them to me through Twitter or Facebook.

Image from Crestock Photos

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With an 8 year old and a 3 year old, all I hear around Christmas time is their wishlist for what Santa is going to give them.  So I thought I would join in the fun and create my own Christmas wish list for my business (and me).  I hope Santa is listening.

• A New Identity – Okay, not for me, but my logo and website for my 12 year old PR agency is…12 years old.  I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve been too busy trying to get client work done that I haven’t been walking my own talk in terms of branding.  Happily, I’ve found a great logo designer and I’m expecting my new logo sometime in February.
  Cost:  $600 for logo, still looking for an awesome wordpress designer/theme to wrap around it that won’t cost an arm and a leg (know anyone?)

• A New Phone – I have a first generation iPhone that I’ve dropped so many times I cannot hear it ring. But that’s partly why I love it so much. However my husband, sister and best friend now have the iPhone 4 and the only reason I want one is so I can do Face Time video with them. I also love the built-in camera that takes better pictures than… my camera.
  Cost:  $500 – 750 depending on the model

• Books – I know I should get a Kindle or iPad, but I still love the feel of real books. A book on my list to get is Howard Eaton’s Brain School which documents how children with ADD and dyslexia can benefit from the life changing Arrowsmith methodology. After a couple of years of cognitive brain exercises, the children go on to lead normal lives. Who knew the brain could be changed? Apparently so.
  Cost:  About $20 on Amazon

• Coaching – I’m poised for #bigthingscoming in 2011 and I know every time I’ve worked with a coach it jumpstarts my creativity, helps me take massive action, which of course in turn generates great results.  I’m blessed to have many “unofficial” coaches in my corner this year but it’s not the same as working with someone who works with me on a specific plan, over a specific period and who has been where I want to go.
  Cost:  The coaches I am interested in charge $1000 – 3000 a month.

• Heat – I’m a tropical girl at heart. Besides working in my pajamas, my next favorite outfit are a tank top, shorts and flip flops. Way before Spring hits, I need to be on a hammock, with my book and my iPhone, enjoying the sunshine. All that relaxation and vitamin D usually helps my creativity and I come up with my next big endeavour. I keep telling my accountant it’s a corporate retreat and very necessary to a successful business! Let’s hope he buys it.
  Cost:  Priceless.  It’s a must have.

What are you wishing for Christmas?  Share with me in the comments, on Twitter or Facebook and maybe Santa is listening too…

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Here’s a recent interview of me by David Siteman Garland of The Rise to the Top.

It’s only 36 minutes long, but David sure knows how to get the most from an interview!

Watch it and find out how I:

• got the interview, the “sneaky” way
• went from corporate employee to a sock entrepreneur and finally running my own business from home and operating it from two countries
• came up with the idea for PR in Your Pajamas
• became the go-to person in the world of public relations
• get things done by working with virtual teams
• really bring in the moolah in my home-based business

Enjoy the interview and please let me know what you think by posting a comment below.

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Today at the IAWBO blog, I share my top productivity secrets, who has affected me the most, and my biggest achievement so far. My answer will surprise you.

Click here to read the entire interview.

While you’re there, remember to claim your complimentary IAWBO Gift Bag, which includes over $1000 worth of products for women entrepreneurs, including my own 30-Day PR and Social Media Plan.

Enjoy!

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