Art for the sake of Art

I remember a year ago my hair stylist telling me she didn't understand the "hype" over art, and she did not understand the concept of spending thousands of dollars on an art piece. I told her that every piece was unique and each piece doesn't effect everyone in the same way. While on a trip to Arkansas my stylist went to a small folk town and visited the local shops. She was immediately smitten with a sculpture in an art studio totaling more than three thousand dollars. She had never encountered anything that moved her so much. She said her knees went weak, and she had tears in her eyes. She said the emotion, movement, and feeling it gave her was indescribable. At that moment she joined the obsession, Art for Arts Sake. To this day she admires that piece in her bedroom. The feeling has not changed, and she is so respectful now of all things art.

One of my most passionate obsessions is art. I can't exactly afford this obsession, but luckily I can admire it from afar. Art can take on so many meanings, and so easily move you, simply because of the color, movement, or arrangement. I have started commissioning local artists to show their work in my studio. Two of my favorites are Marabeth Quinn and Kirk Seufert.

You can view more at AB Home Interiors

Being an entrepreneur

Being a business owner, designer, shop manager, janitor, accountant, and everything in between can be a daunting task. I often wonder how other women do it, especially when they have children. I tend to hone in on one thing and I am ruthless in my endeavors to make it succeed. So how is it that other women can be a loving wife, mother, business owner and friend before calling it a day?

I choose to make lists. I feel more organized by doing this. They don't always work but I make the effort to be as organized as my counterparts. But as I sit here and think about all the things I wish I had in order to morph into wonder woman, I realized that the best thing about this blog is our connection.

What do you do to make each day easier?

How do you stay on track and stick to your "to-do's"?

What is your best quick tip for running your business?

What do you do each day to break away for a few moments of peace?

Let us know your thoughts on what makes your day tick.

Desperate Times equal Desperate business?

I have learned over the years that attitude is everything. So what do you do after a year or more of slumping sales, a downward economy and a new kind of savvy coupon shopper? By shear determination we have hung on by our fingernails. Recently it was brought to my attention that our newsletters, flyers, mailers, and up to date info about our company are seemingly desperate! *GASP* Despite a positive attitude, and a jolly outlook that it would get better, the days have turned into months which has now turned into a year and so on. I have found myself worn out, jaded and out of ideas. Did I know that my newsletters, flyers and up to date info were on a downward spiral showing to the world that I was worn out and jaded? No. But they were mirroring my own personal feelings on a subconscious level without me realizing it.

With this new found "a-ha" I set out to make a change. Little did I know I would quickly fall right back into my pattern and head down desperate road. So what do you do after a year or more of slumping sales, a downward economy and a new kind of savvy coupon shopper? Hire a consultant. Get outside feedback. The chain of command or shall I say pattern will not change without some outside influence. It may be harsh, and you may not want to hear it, but if you don't you will end up in the downward spiral with no way out until desperation turns ugly.

You may say to yourself that you cannot afford a consultant. You may say you don't need one. Well I say you can't afford not to, and if you are reading this, like me, you need to get out of your desperate times.

Remember as individuals we mirror our surroundings. We are in an increasing environment of lack, less is more, and survival. Pay attention while you watch TV. Count the commercials that focus on saving more, get more for your money and roll back pricing. As business owners we mirror this mentality and in turn get desperate for that savvy coupon shopper that drains us, and allows us to get jaded and tired. A consultant can give you outside answers. They can step back and look from the outside in, without emotion and the "yea but" syndrome. We are personally invested in our business's. We don't want to be told that we are doing it wrong and we don't want to hear the ugly truths of our horrible reoccurring patterns down desperate vs prosperous road. Get a consultant.

I believe whole heartedly that an outside influence will change the way you look at your daily business, and the verbiage you use to sell it. Instead of 'yea but' and 'I cant because' you will learn to step back and say 'ok how' and 'I can with'. It will open your eyes to a whole different, and BETTER reality of business.

Social media solutions

So sorry for the lack of attention I have given this blog. I thought that my slacker friend Kristen would contribute, but she is apparently a lackey. Thats what happens when you give an associate a bottle of booze and a little quiet time.

I just returned from High Point market. What a treat. Very tiring but when there is free booze and sandwiches (can we say TWO of my favorite things) its hard not to make it into something 20 thousand more times special and enjoyable. Not to mention all the free pens, tape measures and slippers! Yes, I said SLIPPERS. When your feet hurt that bad, slippers are just the thing.

I went to several seminars and the trend in speeches was the increasing popularity in social media. Blogging, twitter, facebook, linked in, and many others. Even iTunes makes it easy for a user to create their own podcasts. How great is that? Well I really enjoyed all the tips and tricks, but I think the most valuable tip I learned was this:

1)Keeping up with social media as a business owner is very time consuming and difficult to keep up with on a regular business. Have your interns put together a list of topics for the next three months. Then all you have to do is fill in the blanks.

2)Another great tip. Have every person on your staff contribute to the company blog, tweets, and company facebook wall. It creates a personal connection with everyone around you and allows people to get to know who you really are and what makes you tick.

And don't panic if you don't have staff or interns to help you with these things. Create staff. Maybe your cat, or young child can be a contributor. Make it fun and light. Everyone finds comfort and giggles in something unexpected. And the best part is you will grow your following and company!!

Self-Promotion is Not a Dirty Word - WomenEntrepreneur.com

Self-Promotion is Not a Dirty Word - WomenEntrepreneur.com

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The concept of "batching"

I discovered the wonderful and talented Ali Brown through the social media mania of twitter and have not looked back. Band of Barbies was created to empower, enlighten and instruct woman entrepreneurs on the secrets of how to run a successful business with PASSION and ENTHUSIASM. She is light years ahead of the game, and BOB has a few years to catch up, but I came across her article on "batching". A powerful time saving technique to help all of us do everything on our checklists and still have time for friends, family, and social events.

Most business-owners don't enjoy handling administrative tasks. We prefer to be brainstorming for that next big idea, executing our business plan, or out networking to build buzz. The good news is that there's a simple way to handle repetitive tasks more efficiently and make more time for the fun stuff.

It's called batching.

Basically, batching allows you to carve out a chunk of time and plough through a bunch of similar tasks at once. Once you get into the groove with a certain task, you'll usually notice that you become more efficient, but you'll lose that momentum if you switch gears too often and keeping starting different projects.

Here are five areas where batching makes sense.

1. Email. Some productivity experts recommend that you turn off email notifiers, check email just a few times per day, and alert important contacts so they'll know when to expect a response. That way you won't get sidetracked each time a new message pops up. Even if you don't have the will-power to swear off email for most of the day, you can save time by flagging emails that require a detailed response and setting aside a chunk of time to respond to several emails at once.

2. Invoices. Depending on your business cycle, it may make sense to schedule a day at the beginning or end of the month to send out invoices. Or you may need to spend an hour or two each week to process that week's invoices. Whatever your time line, it makes sense to handle a stack of invoices at once rather than dropping everything to handle them as they come in.

3. Phone calls and consultations. If you need to schedule several meetings, then set aside some time to make all your calls at once. You may end up leaving a few messages, but as long as you're in a phone calling mindset and have all the numbers in front of you, you'll ultimately save time. I teach members of my Millionaire Protege Club to batch their coaching calls with clients as well - condensing all calls into just two days a week frees up your other days for project work.

4. Blogging and social media. If you use blogs and social media to promote your business, then batching can be a huge help. Perhaps spend a few hours at the beginning of the week writing up several blog posts at once and schedule them to publish throughout the week. If you're on Twitter, then services like Hootsuite.com allow you to schedule tweets to automatically publish at specific times of day so your followers continue getting updates from you even if you're busy doing other things.

5. Other administrative or housekeeping tasks. The concept of batching can be applied to other aspects of your life, too. For instance, if you need to write thank you notes after a wedding or baby shower, you could batch the thank you notes and write several at once. If you want home-cooked meals for your family but don't have time to cook from scratch each night, you could make a large batch of food on Sunday evening and reheat it throughout the week. Look at the tasks you perform for work or home on a regular basis, and you'll probably find other examples, too.

By batching similar tasks together, you'll be amazed by how much more you can accomplish without working longer hours!

Offered to you by: Self-made multimillionaire entrepreneur and Inc. 500 CEO Ali Brown. She is devoted to creating financial freedom for women globally through the power of entrepreneurship. To learn how to create wealth and live an extraordinary life now, register for her free weekly articles at www.AliBrown.com

How to overcome Negative Influences

Everyone's goal in life is to achieve, in some form or fashion, a level of success. Whether that success comes from being a savvy business owner, successful manager, stay at home mom, or the world's most successful couch potato. So technically speaking our business in life is to be successful. Most importantly our purpose is to achieve happiness and through this we attain true success. However, in a spiraling economy, and a cloud of negativity swirling around like a dust bunny, the vacuum of persistence to stay positive has lost its electricity.

As church is to Sunday's 90% of the human race DEFAULTS to negativity when times go south. We as a society have come to EXPECT things to just come to us. And if they don't we are for lack of a better word, not as fortunate or lucky as "they are". So how do you protect yourself from the invasion of the devils workshop of negativity? How do WE become one of "they's"

I think Napoleon hill said it best:

" Nature has endowed us with absolute control over one thing, and that is thought"

In 1929 following the crash of Wall Street the people of america were consumed with lack, poverty, desperation, foreclosure, job loss......sound familiar?? Everyone was consumed with fear. And those that succeeded like Rockfeller, Kennedy, Carnegie, Stone, Vanderbilt, had one thing in common. They protected themselves against negative influences. They refused to succumb to the outside influences. They refused to accept the norm and follow the heard. They were leaders rather than followers. They rose above the evil supremacy of overwhelming negative pressures, and mastered happiness in all forms.

Our economy is in dire straights. We are feeling it, hearing it, seeing it, reading it, dreaming it! It effects each and everyone one of us in different ways. But remember that you have the power to step aside. Recognize that we are susceptible to SUGGESTION. Our greatest weakness as a race is to be overcome with fear and to except too often the word IMPOSSIBLE. The news, the magazines, the internet, your friends, family, co workers. The influences are everywhere. Unfortunately the heard, raptured and engulfed with fear, refuses to move or budge. Paralyzed with worry, panic, anxiety and apprehension we too get wrapped up in the tornado of terror. SO how do we avoid this constant invasion of self destruction?

1) Stop complaining. It is what it is. The old world IS GONE. We will not be where we were for many years. And that is ok. It forces us to be resourceful and creative, and open our minds to new challenges...like getting to know that neighbor that has lived next door to you for five years!

2) Stop finding fault with everything and everyone. It will get you no where. Look for the good, and find the glasses of lemonade with your new, fresh lemons.

3) Stop being hopeless. It will get better, especially if you change your outlook. Donate your time, give back, give to others. You will be AMAZED at how rewarding it is. Better than any pair of new shoes or golf clubs.

4) Stop worrying. It causes indigestion, headaches, and poor health. Really ask yourself: Where can I channel this unused energy into? Soup kitchen???Church? Neighbor?

5)Stop tolerating negative and discouraging influences in your life. It is extreme but I have completely stopped watching the news in all forms. I watch happy, stupid shows, meditate, clean, read, and read inspiring quotes.

6) Find someone or something that encourages you, inspires you and makes you feel GOOD!

If you follow these guidelines you will find yourself less agitated, worried, and strapped with fear. Help each other out. Many people feel that true success is a great career with lots of money. Americans define themselves through their careers, level of income, recognition, and status quo. But that is not TRUE success or happiness. True happiness is a happy home, great friendships, a supportive family, a career that you LOVE, and a little money to have great BBQ's with those cherished friends and family you love.