2009:
The Year of the
Awakened Entrepreneur™
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Vision: The Soul of Your Business
my article in Open Exchange, Jan. 2009
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Preview
You, Inc.™
Reinvent Yourself
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From Writer to Expert Telecourse
Jan 19-Feb. 23
Mondays, 6:00-7:30PM
click here for info and to register.
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QUICK HITS
2009 Marketing Plan: Social Media Marketing, Dehyped
What Your Clients Need: 2009 LOHAS Trends
Best Books for Business Owners, Inc. 2008 review
Good News ALLTOP
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My early 2009 Action List:
New Wordpress template (and help with transferring plug-ins)
New Web Banner
Purchase MacBook Pro and HD camera
"Recruit " International Travel Companion(s)
Get the "Right People on the Bus", for New Multi-Format Courses & Coaching Series
BUILD JUICY, TRANSPARENT,
VALUE-CREATING
COLLABORATIONS!
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Jan 20: SF BAY
Celebrates the Inauguration!
You'll find me at both events! |
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Warm Greetings to All!
I trust this message finds you feeling refreshed with new possibilities, and ready to take committed action this year.
In
the past few weeks, I have received well over 50 messages inviting me to
participate in workshops, teleseminars, meetings and groups for setting intentions this new year.
photo by Michael Deutch - Ga  lapagos Islands, 2008 These invitations inspired me to create an overarching theme for the year by declaring this to be "The Year of the Awakened Entrepreneur™. An Awakened Entrepreneur understands that it's not just about YOU OR ME any longer. We have entered a whole new game of interdependence and collaboration. Vision is the Soul of our Business, and Committed Action, the fuel. Read more.
Last week, along with approximately 20 others, I started my vision board for 2009- with images of
actions I commit to this year. I'm sharing just a few of these commitments here:
FOSTER a CULTURE of TRUE COLLABORATION In December, I
attended the year end San Francisco Women in Consulting meeting. Of the 70
or 80 women business owners in attendance, I discovered that many were offering similar or complimentary services and targeting similar audiences.
Many attendees was asking for leads or referrals to clients, yet I wanted to hear more about what their clients wanted and needed. I was looking for pitches that answered these key questions:
What do I do best? Who am I serving? What do they need? How can my business fulfill that need?
I thought, "Wouldn 't it be wonderful if we could combine our expertise and offerings with authentic and transparent collaborative models?" Successful non-profits have been doing this for years, building coalitions and networks that share resources, expertise, and human capital. Peter Senge teaches very sophisticated decentralized, collaborative models with his systems approach in the private sector. And LOHAS just published their 2009 business trends. Coalitions and affiliations are in the Top 10.
How much more could our clients benefit if WE-small businesses and consultants- created more collaborative "One-Stop Shops", that serve our clients' needs in all areas: Strategic Planning, Marketing & Social Media, Human Capital & Leadership Development, Technology, Legal, and Financial?
GET THE RIGHT PEOPLE on THE BUS
We
have a new leader. He can't do it alone. With the right people on the
bus, small steps lead to big change and transformative results. This
year I am personally committed to staying very awake and alert with
each step, and thereby expanding "OUR" fields of influence.
As collaborators, having the "right" people as"power partners " is crucial. One of my mentors, Jim Collins, author of Good to Great, makes some interesting distinctions between "Effective" and "Great" Leadership. Great leaders, he claims, first hold a vision and attract the right executive team , BEFORE executing a strategic
plan. "Effective" Leaders create their strategic plan and then search for the implementers, which, according to Collins, can result in a lot of silo structures and organizational fragmentation. Stephen Covey's in his newest publication, The Leader In Me, has taken leadership even further, by introducing personal and collaborative leadership models and practices to youth and future generations.
INCREASE value-based SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING with Relationships, Learning, and Resource Sharing In some of my free time in past 11 months, I've been immersed in studying WEB 2.0 business, marketing, and collaborative learning trends, teaching myself new skills, testing collaborative technology tools, and asking for help, which I still need a lot of! It's been a very motivating learning curve, and I am loving it!
I took my website down about five months ago, and am now blogging with a WordPress site. The template still needs more visual customization, (any wordpress geeks reading this?); I love the collaboration inherent in Wordpress. Now, my readers (You!) can respond transparently, with added information, insights, resources, and links. I invite and encourage you to subscribe to my weblog and posts. You can leave a comment on any post, as well as forward posts and your comments to others. I sincerely welcome your participation.
COMMIT to EXPANSION with new publications, course offerings, and media With conversations birthing and potential collaborations brewing, stayed tuned for an upcoming "Awakened Entrepreneur™" course series delivered in multi-formats, aiong with on-going group coaching. To join the development conversations, and participation, I invite you stay connected via:
Let's invest in our "inner economies". Take a break from the news, and come play with me.
It's a new world, and We are creating it!In partnership, Sheryl R. Severaka "Coach Shera"San Francisco Bay Area
510.336.9161 (o)
415.713.7727 (m) |
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