Her Habits Are a Part of My Entrepreneurial and Personal Spirit #IWD2015

Posted on March 8, 2015 by MarleneMB

Her smile and twinkling blue eyes welcomed me as I entered the classroom. Sister Mary Catherine was my fifth grade teacher. She stood perhaps 5 feet 3 inches. She wore her habit over her gray hair that protruded from beneath it. She had a soft voice that she did not have to raise for the twenty plus kids to pay attention to her.

Being a student of Sister Mary Catherine was a blessing for me. Today I share what I learned from this wonderful, strong woman that laid the foundation of my Entrepreneurial Spirit. I hope I am able to give her the honor she is due on International Women’s Day #IWD2015. Here are some of her habits I learned:

Be Welcoming: I was terrified of my first day in my new school, Sacred Heart, in my new country, the Untied States. I came from Jamaica at the age of ten. My mother immediately enrolled my sister and me in this school. Interacting with new people and learning new customs was overwhelming. But Sister Mary Catherine’s smile was the beginning of my lesson of welcoming strangers with warmth.

Defend the Weak: It was rough for me to make friends with some of the students. The bully of the class had her crew tease me about my Jamaican accent. Whenever, they started, Sister Mary Catherine immediately stepped in. Her small stature seemed to grow into a large shield in front of me, as she reprimanded these students to leave me alone. In her defense of me, Sister Mary Catherine taught me to stick up for justice and those that need a voice.

Use Your Knowledge and Skills to Win: She discovered that I had an aptitude for mathematics and science. Sister Mary Catherine would encourage me in these areas. She and my mother agreed that I would get extra homework to increase my knowledge and my skills in these disciplines.

Sister Mary Catherine entered me into a Science and Mathematics contest, I placed first in the school. I represented the school at the county level and placed third in my age group. This taught me to use my passion, knowledge and skills to go after the things I want.

Sacrifice: American History was a challenge for me, because I was an immigrant. Sister Mary Catherine told my mother that she believed that I could skip the sixth grade and move to the seventh; if I mastered American History. She sacrificed her summer vacation to tutor me in American History. Her sacrifice opened a new world to me, the love of history. I won the History award at my school’s graduation ceremony two years later.

Research: Whenever I didn’t know a subject, Sister Mary Catherine encouraged me to research it. My mother purchased a set of encyclopedia (remember those) for me to explore the areas I didn’t understand. With Sister Mary Catherine’s prodding, I utilized those books many times to learn more. I still do conduct research in my career to learn new ways of marketing my products or to make a decision on a matter.

Compassion: Sister Mary Catherine’s compassion for others, her love of her faith, her sacrifice to make children like me become better people in this world, are just a few of her habits that I take with me everyday. Whenever I’m mentoring young children, the youth in my Toastmasters club, young adults or the grown folks, I draw from her’s habit of compassion to share with them.

Becoming an entrepreneur is a frightening journey. Yet armed with the lessons I’ve learned from Sister Mary Catherine, I know that it takes sacrifice to get where I want to go. It takes research to learn more about my field of expertise and how to service my clients. It takes having a welcoming spirit to get the clients to open up to me. It takes sticking with it to get through the doubts and fears. Finally, it takes using my talents, skills and knowledge to win in business and as a leader.

There is so much that I recall about Sister Mary Catherine that it would take pages to write about her. I did this in my book Live a Diamond Life, A Life of Purpose: Diamond Cutters. Diamond Cutters are what I call my coaches and mentors. The folks that have positively impacted my life. Sister Mary Catherine is one of my important Diamond Cutters.

Below are some of the medals I won at Sacred Heart School because of Sister Mary Catherine’s efforts and habits. Though I appreciate them and they sit in a special place in my home. They cannot replace the admiration and love I have for Sister Mary Catherine. I lost touch with her. I tried to reach out to her, but the school has since closed. I pray that she realizes the difference she made in my life and the lives of many other students. Thank you, Sister Mary Catherine!

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Ready To Be Your Own Boss? Develop These Three Habits First.

Posted on March 2, 2015 by MarleneMB

“You’re not the boss of me!” My little 5-year-old niece said to her much older brother one day. He was telling her to stop running in the house. I had to hide my smile as I instructed her to listen to her brother, because he didn’t want her to get hurt.

Reflecting on her declaration of independence, I thought about the times I wanted to scream the same thing to some of my bosses. How I yearned to venture out on my own. Once I finally did, I realized it wasn’t so easy.

Gone were some of the predictabilities of having someone to tell you what to do. Gone was someone holding you accountable for getting your tasks done. Gone were the scheduled meetings that helped you to keep things on track.

Three of the big challenges for me were: self-discipline, accountability and time management.

Harry S. Truman once stated: “In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves… self-discipline with all of them came first.”

1) Self-Discipline: I had to summon my willpower to do the things that makes a business successful. Even the ones that I didn’t enjoy. Sometimes I had to push myself to act, instead of overthinking a project. I created my business plan. I took the time to research the marketplace to find my target audience.

Cold calling is not fun, but I make it fun to get to my prospects. I make time to read and learn more about my audience. Continuous learning also helps to improve my skills. This ensures that the products and services I offer is up-to-date and relevant.

Before you head out on your own, think about some of the bad habits you have. What could cause you to stumble if you do not control yourself? Make a note of it. Commit to practice self-discipling. The more you practice self-discipline in a certain area of your life, the easier it is to accomplish that task.

“As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” – Proverbs 27:17

2) Accountability: It is difficult to keep oneself accountable. Therefore, I turn to others to keep me accountable. I have a few great friends that I can share what goals I have to meet. They hold me accountable for achieving those goals. My mother notorious for keeping me accountable. If I tell her that I’m writing a proposal for a client, during our next phone conversation she would ask if I’ve finished it. She does so, because she cares about my success.

Find your accountability partner. Someone that genuinely cares about your success. Share your goals with him or her. You will be grateful to know that amazing folks are in your corner helping to make you better.

“Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four hour days.” – Zig Ziglar

3) Time Management: Zig Ziglar’s quote is so true. We all have twenty-four hour days. Yet, we may think there is just not enough time in a day. I used to believe that strongly. Until I took Dr. Stephen Covey’s course “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.” It was one of the best courses I participated in. I learned to management what I do within the 24 hours I am given. I also learned to set priorities and say no to things that do not impact my productivity or positivity level.

As your own boss, you will need to prioritize your activities. By planning your activities throughout the day; you are able to adjust your schedule should an emergency come along. Once you deal with that emergency you can quickly return to your schedule. It is eye-opening to see how many hours one can waste when we don’t plan or budget our time wisely.

As I mentioned, being your own boss won’t always be easy. Yet, if you practice self-discipline, hold yourself accountable and utilize your time properly, it won’t be as difficult. Perhaps you will be able to declare your own independence to your boss, like my 5-year-old niece did to her older brother.

Come learn about writing your first book and get a copy of my book: Live a Diamond Life, A Life of Purpose: Diamond Cutters, Saturday, March 14, 2015 3-5 p.m. at the Dania Beach Paul Demaio Library, 1 Park Ave., East Dania Beach, FL 33004.

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What Are You Waiting For? Start Your Business Today!

Posted on February 18, 2015 by MarleneMB

“Start-up success is not a consequence of good genes or being in the right place at the right time. Success can be engineered by following the right process, which means it can be learned, which means it can be taught.” ~ Eric Ries

Do you DREAM of starting you own business? Many people have the desire but don’t know where to start! They would say to themselves: “Someday I am going to own my business.” “One day, I’m going to quit my job and start my own company.” BUT one day “NEVER” comes!

Why don’t people get started? What holds the back? Why the mental paralysis?

1) Fear of Failure

2) Fear of leaving the familiar, i.e. working for someone else

3) Fear of the level of effort it takes to start and run ones own company

I get it. I was there. FINALLY….I realized that “someday” “one day” is NOW! We can’t turn back the hands of time, we cannot “FAST FORWARD” the future. What is certain is TODAY!

We know that tomorrow is not guaranteed and we don’t want to be that “could of”, “would of”, “should of” type of person—–right?

My Dad told me that he regretted not becoming an artist a week before he died, this broke my heart. It was an awakening moment for me. There is no gift like living life with passion and doing the things you love to do. One of the things I love doing is helping people achieve their purpose and their goals. A week after we said good-bye to my Dad, I started my journey of owning a business.

“You have to do what you dream of doing even while you are afraid.” ~ Arianna Huffington

If you feel stuck, unfulfilled, scared or in a place where you are not moving towards your dream…”Starting Your Own Business….. WE CAN HELP!

Join us for this informative Webinar on what it takes to make “YOUR” dream of self-employment a “REALITY”!

What You Will Learn…

Characteristics of a successful Entrepreneur
Defining The Vision
The 5 Steps To Starting Your Own Business
Transformation: from Dream to “Reality”!
The Business Plan!

Live your Dream! Live it Now!

RESERVE YOUR SPOT NOW!

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Entrepreneurs Create Their Own Circumstances

Posted on January 24, 2015 by MarleneMB

Many people dream about starting their own businesses, but they haven’t started planning for theses dreams to become a reality. Others are stuck in the planning stage. They keep waiting for the right situation or hoping for the right person(s) to come along and help them. My son, Tarik, and his friend, Daniel decided not to wait on others or for the perfect situation.

Instead they started from where they are with what they have. Tarik and Daniel met at the University at Miami during freshmen year. They bonded right away. Tarik attended school for acting, but he also loves writing and directing. Daniel went to school for film production and editing. They are now living in LA working hard to get into the entertainment business.

As most of us know, it is a very difficult industry to break into. The competition is very strong. Here is the interesting thing. Daniel and Tarik isn’t waiting to be discovered. They are not sitting around hoping that someone will give them an opportunity to act or to produce movies. They started their own business on a shoestring budget. They enlist the assistance of their friends who are fellow budding actors.

This cuts down on the need to spend large sums of money for actors. This gives the others opportunities to showcase their skills in these mini-videos that Daniel and Tarik create. Working with their small budget, Tarik and Daniel also learned to film in areas such as their apartment, public places, etc. I’m happy to see that these young entrepreneurs are creating their own opportunities. They are not waiting for the right circumstance, they are creating their own.

Do you dream of starting your own business? Learn from my son and his friend. Don’t get stuck on dreaming or planning. Create your own circumstances. Give it a try. Here are some suggestions to get started:

1) Create a Business Plan – Yes. Although it is not a most, it is recommended that you put together a business plan. It doesn’t have to be complicated. The business plan should help you

figure out what it is you will be offering
what are your costs
what will you charge for your product or service
how you want to market your product or service
who is your target audience
who are your competitors

2) Create a name for you business. Purchase the URL for the business name. The fee is low of this. You don’t have to establish a website right away. Yet there are lots of free sights such as WordPress that you can utilize to establish a website.

3) Marketing Materials – You can have someone create marketing materials for you on websites such as fiverr.com or elance.com for relatively low cost.

4) Network with Complementary Businesses – In my speaking business I reach out to event planners or organizers as a part of my networking circles. They are a great lead source for my speaking business. I also provide them with names of speakers for their events. Always work to have it become a win-win relationship. If you are constantly taking and not giving you will lose your contacts.

5) Tell everyone (not necessarily your boss; if you are still working a full-time job) what you are doing. Word of mouth is still one of the greatest way to get the news out about your new endeavor. My friends and family are my biggest advocates. I get referrals from them. They also send me leads and give me great suggestions for making improvements in my business.

Starting a business can be scary and exciting at the same time. Yet as I observe my son and his friend in their pursuit of building their business, I’m proud of their efforts. Although they are both working jobs to fund their business, they continue to work at making their dream a success. My son called me the other day to tell me he is working three jobs. I said: “Great! Now you are a true Jamaican! Your grandmother will be proud of you.”

Both he and Daniel wants to succeed and they are doing the things that will bring them closer to achieving this. Here is the latest video they made. I hope you enjoy it.

The Girl:

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Entrepreneurs: A Major Lesson Learned from the Academy Awards Committee Faux Pax – Diversity

Posted on January 16, 2015 by MarleneMB

OSCARS DIVERSITY.001 — Image from cloudfront.net

The envelops were opened to announce the nominations for the coveted 2015 Academy Awards. Generally, this is a highly visible occasion to help build the excitement leading up to the televised Academy Awards event.

But something seemed amiss. None of the nominees were people of color. Also, a majority of the behind the scenes categories excluded women. The “Twitterverse” exploded with tweets of condemnation. YouTube lit up with videos of people ranting in disbelief. Not has something like this (exclusion of people of color) happened since 1998!

You may think: “What does this have to do with my business? I don’t care about the Academy Awards.” It does have a great lesson to offer you in your business decision making: Make Room for Diversity.

The Academy Awards Committee members are estimated to be close to 6000 people. According to an article in the LA Times 94% of these members are Caucasians and 77% of male. Only 2% are Blacks and 2% Latinos. This does not reflect the audience that view movies in the United States, let alone across the globe. Hence, the greater probability a situation like this will occur.

Here is some of the things you can do to avoid making the same mistake:

attracting-a-diverse-audience — Image from Soapboxsample.com

1) As an entrepreneur, it is critical that you think of the demographics of your target audience. Include folks on your staff (if you have employees) or in your circle of advisers (especially if you are the sole-proprietor) that reflects your target audience. We are told that one should diversify one’s financial portfolio to maximize the gains in the marketplace. The saying is true if you want to maximize your probability of the success of your business.

older-worker-handshake — Image from medreps.com

2) Oftentimes I have witnessed older workers being pushed out of corporations or not hired due to their age. This is not a great practice in my opinion. Some of my best advisers have been older workers, or as I liked to call them “seasoned workers.” They have years of work and world experiences that I can harvest to help me solve problems that I encounter.

Technology changes. Usually, people’s emotions and some behaviors remain the same for generations. Some of my seasoned advisers have helped me avoid bad business decisions that have saved me money. They have also given me great advices that caused me to earn more money.

3) In the same breath, don’t excluded younger workers because you perceive them to have less experience. I would rather take a chance on someone with less experience that have the willingness and the ability to learn quickly; than someone that has the experience but has no enthusiasm for the job.

A friend of mine was being considered to speak before a particular group. The event planner told someone that she (the event planner) thought my friend wasn’t seasoned enough in that particular area. Yet my friend helped her clients take their income from 5-figures to 6-figures in a matter of months! Obviously to me and my friend’s clients, she was doing something that was working well and could offer great information to the event planner’s audience. But the event planner had blinders on that state one has to have certain experience over a length of time to be considered “seasoned.” How unfortunate for this event planner and her audience.

Large group of ethnicity — Image from Mitchcommongroup.com

4) Include women, men, and minorities on your staff and in your circle of advisers. We all have our individual experiences that may limit our views that also limit our marketing reaching. Having a well-rounded source of viewpoints from various backgrounds (regardless of race, creed or sexual orientation) may give your business the spark it needs to attract more clients on a local, national and global level.

I thought my target audience were immigrant women. The more I deliver my keynote speeches or sell by books, I find that my message resonates with a lot of men from various backgrounds. It was a wonderful surprise. Now I include more men on my lists of advisers. This gives me a greater opportunity to spread my message and to earn more income.

globe450 — Image from smallbiztrends.com

5) Include people of many nationalities as you can; if you want a global reach. As you know, the explosion of the internet has allowed entrepreneurs to have access to international markets. It seems wise to include people of different nationalities in your circles.

My circle of associates, advisers, and clients hail from many different countries with different cultural experiences and spoken languages. I revel in this diversity, because it has enriched and enlightened me in so many ways.

Did the Academy Awards committee miss a great opportunity to promote its brand in a golden light? Only time will tell. It seems that the uproar from the lack of diversity of the 2015 nominees has dulled the shine on this body of decision makers, and unfortunately taken some of the spotlight off its nominees.

Avoid the faux pax of the Academy Awards Committee. Include diversity in your staff and circles, professionally and personally. Let the tweets award your business with praises for its inclusions and successes.

Find out how I learned these tips and more from my Diamond Cutters, my mentors and coaches, pick up a copy of Live a Diamond Life, A Life of Purpose: Diamond Cutters today.

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