The day after Hurricane Irma hit Orlando, FL, I spent time with my nieces and nephew. Little did I know that they were going to teach me how to operate in business.
Yes. These are valuable points they taught me:
To be innovative when thinking of my customer
Avoid the pitfalls in business
Have a Plan A, B and C!
Take time to rest – Balance Life
Great Teamwork and Leadership are important for a business to succeed.
Marlene M. Bryan is a Distinguished Toastmaster, DTM. She is a certified speaker and leader by Toastmasters International. Marlene is the owner of Small Biz Evolution, LLC. She is a Keynote Speaker, an Author and a Business Consultant.
The commitment I made to write everyday for 100 days, consecutively, is not always easy to do. There are days like this one that I don’t feel the creative juices flowing. My muses are all still sleeping.
But I get out of the bed, put on my workout clothes (workout is now one of my rewards for writing) and sit in front of the laptop (okay the Chromebook)! Then, I let the thoughts flow, like these, of exactly what is roaming about in my pretty little head…one of my brothers have said that I have a peanut head…guess that is little enough.
Writing for at least 15-30 minutes shouldn’t be so daunting. Yet, the times like this one, are like riding that mountain bike up that last hill before you get to the finish line. You have to decide whether to quit at this moment, or do you just push on through the pain to get across that goal line.
Here I am pushing through the fog. Did I tell you that there are fogs floating in my brain? How can a peanut head have fog? I don’t know, but it seems I do. Thank goodness there is a cure for this: Caffeine!
The will to write can be strengthened by just writing. The thing that motivates me is that I’m not writing for myself. The message that is inside of me (screaming to get out} is meant to be shared with others. My message may help someone else.
So it is with your message. If you don’t feel like writing, or you doubt what you write will be good enough…write anyway. Write in the mindset that it’s not for you.
Write about a problem that you encountered and how you solved it. Write about love. Remember, love conquers all. Write about arguing with yourself about buying that pair of shoes. Okay, maybe that was me arguing with myself about the shoes. Recovering addict here.
The point is, just sit and write. Just maybe, maybe you will surprise yourself with the outcome.
Now to reward myself with 30 minutes of workout. Happy writing.
Marlene M. Bryan is a Distinguished Toastmaster, DTM. She is a certified speaker and leader by Toastmasters International. Marlene is the owner of Small Biz Evolution, LLC. She is a Keynote Speaker, an Author and a Business Consultant.
Today is recognized globally as the day of love, Valentine’s Day. It is great that we recognize and appreciate that we love others. But what about loving ourselves. You can’t truly love until you love yourself.
As an entrepreneur, it is easy to get lost in the hustle, to grind till you drop. But at what cost? I’m guilty of that. In fact, I’ve been accused many times of being a workaholic! Sadly, it’s true. I’m learning to dial back a bit without the fear of losing my edge.
One thing I’ve learned is that I have to love myself more. That means allowing myself time to rest, exercise and feed my mind. Making the time to get all this done while still doing the things I need to get done for my clients is a challenge. So I have learned to maximize my time, effectively.
This is where Audible comes in. I invested in the monthly subscription for Audible. As much as I love to read, I don’t always have the time to stop and read. Audible app provides me the opportunity to listen to a book while I am driving, exercising, waiting for an appointment or cooking. Now I’m hooked on listening to professional and personal development books.
Often, I listen to three books at different times throughout the week. Currently, I’m listening to The Power of Broke by Daymond John (Shark Tank) and Daniel Paisner. The stories that they share about other entrepreneurs are both inspirational and informative.
The book provide tips that I can use in my business, especially for controlling my budget while making a pivotal change in direction. It also gives me a feeling of “I’ve got this!”
While listening to some of the Audible books, I have uttered “Yeah!” or “Amen!” on the treadmill at the gym. Needless to say, I’ve gotten some “what’s with her” looks.
What’s the bottom line? Making the time to enrich yourself mentality will help your grind game. Take the time to Be Your Own Valentine and Love Your Mind!
Marlene M. Bryan is a Distinguished Toastmaster, DTM. She is a certified speaker and leader by Toastmasters International. Marlene is the owner of Small Biz Evolution, LLC. She is a Keynote Speaker, an Author and a Business Consultant.
s women entrepreneurs, business leaders, and trailblazers, we often use the cry of Sisterhood as our mantra. Yet, I find that we are not living up to that sisterhood at times.
In my business, I work with entrepreneurs. I help them to develop their businesses. Some of my clients are keynote speakers. They hire me to get them speaking engagements, coach them within their businesses or help to manage their businesses. A good portion of my clients are women.
Lately, I have been calling on some women organizations to book my female clients for their events. What I discover is that some of the events have “Women Empowerment” and/or “Sisterhood” as the themes. Yet when I speak with the event planners, they say things like we don’t pay our speakers! What!? Watch the video to see my opinion on this matter…
Let me know your thoughts on how we can improve this and really stand behind “Women Empowerment” in the name of “Sisterhood!”
Business man holding Fearless on blurred abstract background
You rarely find winners lacking confidence. Look at the average person with confidence and you will see that often he/she wins and is surrounded by people that want to be around him/her. To win in sales you have to be confident in:
Yourself
Your sales ability
Your product and/or service
How do you build up confidence?
Challenge yourself to do things that you shy away from doing
Do the things that others don’t want to do and do it to the best of your abilities
Study techniques that will help you do be better at what you do
Learn about your products and services inside and out
Learn about your competitors products and services
Learn about your target audience and what the burning needs
Provide your target audience what they truly need
Don’t be afraid of hearing no…be persistent but not a pest
Share your knowledge…as you share you will gain a reputation for being an expert in that area
Hang out with other winners…don’t hold hands with losers
Don’t believe me if confidence matters…check out this awesome guy dancing…listen to the crowd’s reaction.
Marlene M. Bryan is a Distinguished Toastmaster, DTM. She is a certified speaker and leader by Toastmasters International. She is currently member of the Public Relations Team. She provides her services to over 3800 members throughout the district. Marlene is the owner of Small Biz Evolution, LLC. She is a Speaker, an Author and a Business Manger/Agent for Professional Speakers.
