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Posts Tagged ‘mompreneur’

The Successful Entrepreneur: Fairy Tale or Truth?

Monday, February 25th, 2013

By Guest Blogger Angela Giles

Do you ever feel like your pursuit of your “dream career as an entrepreneur” is just a big, fat waste of time?  That no matter what you do, what path you take, there always seems to be a roadblock in the way?  And it seems almost pointless to try harder, or even think about it?

Is having a successful career as an entrepreneur just a fairy tale like those you were told as a child?

You aren’t alone.  From time to time, almost every woman I know who has that entrepreneurial itch has felt like that.

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Four Mistakes To Avoid When Starting a Home Business

Friday, January 25th, 2013

By Guest Blogger Erica Bell

2013 is looking like a great year to get off the fence and become an entrepreneur. Starting a business from home sounds like a dream and indeed, running a home-based business has its perks! You can be close to family, work on your own schedule and build your passion into a business. However, common mistakes are often made by those starting a new home-based business. Mistakes from forgetting about government regulations, to not sticking to an effective schedule and business plan, to not marketing your new business properly. Home business owners have a lot to keep track of.

As you get ready to launch your home business, here are some entrepreneurial mistakes to avoid:

Ignoring Planning

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5 Things Great Leaders Do… And Failing Ones Don’t

Friday, October 12th, 2012

By Guest Blogger Roxana Hewertson

Whether you are a female boss leading a large team, an entrepreneur running your own business, a woman heading a volunteer committee, or a mompreneur with a handful of employees, driving a team can be challenging.

Are you a GREAT leader or an “AT RISK” failing leader? How do you know? What would your staffers say? What would your own supervisor say?

Today’s post is for the women in leadership positions.  While there is a seemingly endless list of things to consider when asking yourself ‘how am I doing?,’ it’s prudent to specifically focus on your attitudes and behaviors.  The biggest differentiators between great leaders and failing leaders- the great leaders demonstrate the four core emotional intelligence metrics: Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness, and Relationship Management.

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The Liz Lange Interview: Her Maternity Empire, Motherhood, and More

Friday, April 20th, 2012

Liz, I’m thrilled to have you, a savvy entrepreneur and mom grace our blog. I don’t think Liz Lange Maternity needs much introduction– most of our mom readers know this well-known, fantastic brand. I loved my Liz Lange Maternity clothes when I was pregnant- comfort, style, affordability. Please tell us the story of how Liz Lange Maternity was born.

I never intended to be a fashion designer or an entrepreneur. I graduated from Brown with a BA in Comparative Literature. And after working at Vogue for a few years, I left to go work for a struggling fashion designer whose work I admired. While there, and in my 20s, my friends started to get pregnant (I myself was not pregnant, but I was newly married and it was that time in my life.) They all had the same complaint– that they couldn’t find anything that they liked to wear while pregnant (This was 1996 – maternity apparel landscape was very, very different!)

I noticed 2 things that led to my aha moment: my friends were spending (they had no choice, nothing in their closets fit!)  So I knew that pregnant women were definitely spending on their maternity wardrobes, and they were spending on items they didn’t like. And two, that they looked much better when squeezed into a stretch tight non-maternity outfit than in an oversized traditional maternity outfit. So I thought, “I get it, maternity clothing needs to be fitted and stretchy and women will buy it because they will like it and they will actually look great.”

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The New Moonlighting – Starting Your Own Company While Keeping Your Day Job

Thursday, February 16th, 2012

By Guest Blogger Alisa Ahlstone Lewis

Are you ready to start your own business? Do you have your brilliant idea, the passion, smarts and confidence to make it happen, and a fabulous support team around you? Are you are totally ready to go for it? Just remember, you may not want to quit your day job just yet…

I am conservative, or maybe just practical, when it comes to major money matters in my household – especially when it comes to cash flowing into my bank account. I knew I wanted to start my company, Sweet Peas & Stilettos, and I knew it was going to be a huge success one day, but I was not ready to give up a steady paycheck to make it happen.  I decided to start my company at the same time I was already juggling life with an active toddler and a demanding job that required me to travel every week. Some people told me I must have been crazy and completely out of my mind – I like to think that I was highly efficient and organized.

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10 Lessons From 10 Years in Business: A Mompreneur’s Tale

Friday, January 27th, 2012

By Guest Blogger Virginia Champoux-Sokoloff

When I was young, no one told me what to expect out of life. They’d just say life is filled with ups and downs, so you gotta learn to roll with the punches. Good advice? Maybe. But what if all you needed to do was invest in what you have, trust your gut, go after what you want, and have fun doing it?

I graduated with a degree in Communications. I then climbed the professional ladder and landed a high pressure, demanding job in Public Relations for the International Air Transport Association. In the midst of it, I met an amazing man and got married.

From the very moment my husband Jay and I decided to share our lives together, we were faced with serious decisions. Jay suffers from cystic fibrosis, so a regular 9-5 job would be difficult since he would likely spend lots of time in the hospital. It then became our priority to shape our life in a certain way, so that we could deal with unexpected hospitalizations.

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Making Your Passion Your Paycheck

Thursday, August 11th, 2011

By Guest Blogger Maya Brenner

As a child, I always loved stones, beads and all things that sparkled. I used to take my mother’s hippie turquoise jewelry apart, only to put it back together, re-worked into a much better design… at least in my opinion. Years later, when it came time to choose a career, I pursued a master’s degree in social work. My interest in jewelry hadn’t exactly diminished, but I saw it more as a hobby at that time. Certainly not something one could have as a career.

So, I was 25 years old, working in New York City with drug-addicted adolescents and making beaded jewelry at night to calm my nerves. I always kept the latest issue of US Weekly on my desk at the office, and was fascinated with the celebrities and their style— something that my co-workers always found time to tease me about. I hated the clothes that social workers were expected to wear—our clothes needed to be conservative and not too stylish or revealing so as not to elicit “inappropriate” attention from the clients. Nothing even close to what I was seeing in the fashion magazines.

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