Discussion with a local businesswoman

I had an interesting discussion with a local business woman this morning.
She was talking about another lady who had had a run of bad luck in her business decisions and was had now resigned and was returning to her ex husband down the south coast.

Her question to me was do I know any others who have made similiar decisions?
The answer- YES! Plenty.

She wanted to know-WHY?

I think for everyone it's going to be a different reason, but there are times when we all doubt our own ability and question our intuition. This is where is where it is helpful to have someone to bounce ideas from, hopefully someone with a similar outlook and experience. This is where it is important to find these people and make them your friends!
Whether it's a chat over coffee or pounding the pavements together and tossing ideas around.

Keep in mind it has to be helpful for both participants, give and take, otherwise it is draining on the other person to only listen to their problems all the time and of course offer each other positive encouragement- not just platitudes.

My recent survey results on Women in Business

Since my last posting, I've been busy planning my steps in Inspiring Women for this coming year.
In my contacts with other ladies at the moment , it seems that many are in the same phase of planning.

To get a better idea of my members thoughts at the moment,I've been doing a survey and one of the questions is "The phone rings, Lotto have phoned to tell you you have won a million dollars. What do you do next?"

This question was designed to see if the money pressure was off your business, what would you do with the freedom? Buy shoes to your hearts content? Have a holidays? Expand your business?

Interestingly, even though the poll hasn't finished yet, the strong response seems so far to be-take a holiday and give myself the time to plan & dream about the business. (Also followed by investing).

Which makes me then wonder- is money the way of finding more time in our day? Surely not!

But the perception must be strong, as not having to work to earn immediate money means our time can be spent being creative with our brains instead of working in our businesses.

By the way, if you want to run your own questionnaires for free, a great website to visit is www.surveymonkey.com
It lets you design a large variety of questions and gives an instant analysis of the results. If you upgrde to a paid version the options are even more.

A common dilemma- children and grandchildren

Last week was a terrific time to catch up with old and new friends.

A common theme though seemed to be reoccurring. Women who had grandchildren were either quietly complaining (or suffering) with grandchildren as substitute babysitters.
Don't get me wrong, both these women adore their grandchildren!

But it seems to me that women who are usually strong in business are puppydogs when it comes to looking after their grandchildren. One, has been paying for all the nappies, food etc even though her children are on great wages and she is suffering financially.
Sure the kids pay "mum" a small fee but this doesn't even cover the expenses.

Kids seem to forget that their parents are people struggling to pay their own bills too, often without the corporate wages that some kids seem to take for granted. I wondered whether it was a pride thing- as people sometimes find it so hard to speak honestly with their family but can speak easy to friends, or are we trying so hard not to hurt our families feelings?

Happy New Year-2008 here we come!

After having another year of incredible opportunities and not enough time or money to expand on them, I've made some changes to see if I can keep 2008 on track!

This year has already started with some incredible surprises, including a very old friend that I worked with 25 years years ago and was like my mentor when I was in my early 20's.
Her husband contacted me and told me she had died. He had brought her body back from Singapore to Sydney for the funeral. Could I go the next day to the funeral?

My memories of her fun and incredible sense of humour all came back to me. A past carefree life we had of working, living and loving. She had moved away, had children etc.

I had started working in a different industry and making a new life in my new work and eventually started a new business on the northern beaches of Sydney. Not only did it make me reflect on my own mortality as I was supposed to have died myself 4 years ago but it also made me think how we take so much in life for granted. Mostly all the simple things, like smiling, walking, writing, driving etc. Any of these are are constantly taken for granted but are small pleasures when we find we can do them again after a period of abstainance.

Finding myself back at work this week has been a challenge as motivation is lacking. I find my body wants to stay on a break and even when I reason with myself that I HAVE had a break my body doesn't want to follow what my brain is reasoning. So far, most people I have run into have the same feelings. Luckily my work doesn't really start until February and I try to keep January for dreaming and planning for my business. Once I start being logical with work I find it hard to be creative, so this time is important, not only for reflecting but also for planning the future.