Ep #44 Charitable Giving Strategies
June 11, 2008 by Elizabeth Potts Weinstein
Elizabeth speaks to Maggie Keenan, Ed. D, Founder and Chief Giving Strategist of givingadvice about charitable giving strategies for your small business. Maggie shares the importance of creating a giving strategy for your business, 5 ways charitable giving improves your business’ value, and how social networking and charitable giving work together. Elizabeth answers a listener question of the week about juggling time between a home business and life; and then shares her Entrepreneur’s Success Tip of the Week: Being in the Moment: Acting as if You’ve Chosen It.
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Transcript: Elizabeth Potts Weinstein welcomes small business owners, entrepreneurs and anyone who dreams of opening a business someday to this empowering hour of the Wealth Spa Radio Show where you’ll find answers to your most pressing financial and legal questions. Now here is your host, Elizabeth.
Elizabeth: Welcome everyone this is Elizabeth Potts Weinstein, your host for thewealthsparadioshow and I want to welcome you to this week’s show-it’s my first week back from vacation and I’m going to tell the vacation story (laughter) later on in the show because it’s a big story. Anyway, what we’re doing for this show this week, first I have a guest, Maggie Keenan, she’s on - we’re going to be talking about charitable giving and I know a lot of us, as small business owners and just as human beings do a lot of both monetary donations as well as other kinds of giving in our community and today we’re going to talk about how the five ways of charitable giving can help improve your business’ value. Then the second half of the show, I’ll be answering a question from one of you all - and this question is about juggling-you know- time, your personal life and your home business and some tips about that . And then as we get close to the top of the hour, I’ll be sharing my entrepreneur success tip for the week and actually telling a little bit of a story about my vacation and the creepy stuff that happened. And this tip is about being in a moment, specifically when the craziest have happened acting and proceeding as if you had chosen those things-even though they may have been crazy and frustrating at the time. Okay so let’s get back to the beginning before we get on with Maggie, I just want to remind you all -if you’re going to miss any part of the show or you’re going to not be able to attend live to any shows in the future, you could always go to thewealthsparadioshow.com. That’s thewealthsparadioshow.com. To sign up to get shows automatically delivered to you by email, by RSS feed or via iTunes. If you don’t know about iTunes and RSS feeds, just sign up for the email because I know you know how to do that stuff. And also we’re putting transcripts of shows up on there and I know of at least one transcript up there and we’re going to be putting future transcripts up there so if you’d like to read shows as opposed to listen to them or sometimes you want to go back and revisit something that we’ve talked about specifically in the show, we’re going back and transcribing some of the past shows and then going for the future, we’re transcribing future shows. So that will be up on there for-if you’re like me and you like to read stuff -you’re a visual person, that could be available for you. And we will be have it where you can purchase CDs of shows or purchase print copy transcripts of shows too. So that’s coming in the future.
Alright, so let’s get to our guest for this week, I have Maggie Keenan on with us. She is the founder and chief giving strategist of giving advice, creator of the six step Impact Strategy Model and has an upcoming book which is called Small Businesses Give Big and Maggie’s recognized for providing philanthrompic (philanthropic) - I know I’m not saying it right -strategies for a better way of doing business and inspiring business owners to give back in a smarter, more effective way. She works with community-minded small businesses to create a charitable giving strategy and community involvement programs that make a difference for the businesses’ bottom line and then also for the community -whether we’re talking about your local community or you know-people on the other side of the entire world. So thank you for being on the show with us today, Maggie.
Maggie: Hey, Well, it’s so great to reconnect with you, Elizabeth, thanks
Elizabeth: Oh yes, so and for those of you who may not know, Maggie and I actually had done some stuff together in the past. Last Summer we did a tele-class together about charitable giving and I was doing the money tax stuff and Maggie was doing the strategy stuff. So it was a great call. I think you sell that CD on your website.
Maggie: I do. Actually it was like almost to the year today as we speak. It’s actually July the 11th, I don’t know why it’s so vividly fixed in my head but yes, the transcript - not the transcript but the tele-class -our whole teleclass is available on my website for purchase.
Elizabeth: Okay, great. So let’s get on to today’s topic. What we’re talking about today is about taking your charitable giving - you know -a lot of us business owners are doing something -you know-we’re giving some money to charity or to some - you know-we’re helping out to some organizations in our community and we don’t-maybe we don’t really have a strategy . We’re kind of just doing it as ad hoc. We want to take what they are doing and things that we want to do in order to improve our business. So, today, Maggie, a lot of small business owners do do some giving -is it -is it more important now than it used to be -actually for small business owners to be strategic about their giving?
Maggie: Oh yeah, most of today than it ever has been for -really for several reasons. #1, is I think that corporate America has really brought us to a kind of the awareness to what they’re doing and we’re almost giving but we’re small businesses across America, there is just definitely a greater awareness of disparities that are going on in the world and there’s a sensibly social responsibility that I think small-any business really has or feels to be a part of and really, consumers today, they’re demanding it of businesses-big or small. They are actually investing in -when I say investing, you know, not I mean stock-wise but investing in companies that really stand for something a little bit more than beyond the bottom line.
Elizabeth: Right. And so because that they give, there’s always going to be something competitive out there and some of the customers making a choice about who to work with-they may choose someone who does have put some charitable giving things that matches their personal values.
Maggie: Right. Yeah and that -it does influence some buying behaviours.
Elizabeth: So, you know- is there a particular trend that‘s going on with small business owners. Do you see them on small businesses and small business owners doing different things than they used to do in the past?
Maggie: Yeah, I think what we -what I see today happening is that first of all the onset of small business America really giving back in a bigger way than what we used to -you know-30-40 years ago. But they’re also kind of reaching out more globally, so their giving and investment is beyond just their own backyard. So that they’re more aware of-you know– what is happening in other countries that and really because it just increased globalization and technology, we have that information available to us today. So that’s really one of the biggest trends that I see. Yes, even in tough economic times.
Elizabeth: Oh yeah, I think it’s -you know-it used to be that a lot of small businesses would sponsor the local whatever-you know -and give money to the -donate stuff for their auction to the local thing but there is a-now it’s much easier to get involved with organizations that -you know–are worldwide or even in other specific countries and other parts of the world because you could do stuff over the internet.
Maggie: Oh yeah and one of -probably one of the -even like the trend within a trend, Elizabeth, is micro financing to entrepreneurs, individuals in other countries, just so they can sustain a business and feed their family. So there are organizations that -I see small business owners and entrepreneurs investing and giving back to because they know what it’s like to want to be in business and you know-make it, and have dreams and so they’re the type of organizations like your Kiva.
Elizabeth: Right
Maggie: Yeah
Elizabeth: And that’s something I actually donate to and part of the profits from my books goes to Kiva-and for people who don’t know, Kiva is -is a kiva.org -probably-
Maggie: Right, right.
Elizabeth: And what they do is they-it’s like they facilitate, you’d be able to do microloans to people in another country. So for instance, there was a woman in Russia who had a business where she sells lingerie, actually. And her -she wanted to like expand the business and be able to have a warehouse and things so she applied with a local organization to get micro funding and for me to find that local organization, that would really be hard, but I can go to Kiva and say, okay I’m willing to put up whatever amount of money to pour through a loan and they facilitate it working with the local people so there’s someone making sure that money isn’t being embezzled.
Maggie: Yeah, right. And Kiva is just like a top notch traded by the watch dogs and they’re probably the most effective at micro financing that’s out there.
Elizabeth: Right yeah and so I got them both where I have-I have some money that I pledged that’s getting loaned out and I also donated money to Kiva itself for their overhead and things like that so….it’s really fun because you get to see-read the little stories of the people you donated money to. So there’s a much -one thing to charitable giving is very different we really do have to get a connection with the individual people you’re helping.
Maggie: Oh. Yeah and what really-and I don’t want to have to use the word sell here in the -like the way we use the word sell but what really sells is faces and stories because that’s what we connect to. And it’s one of the reasons why social networking sites are becoming so popular for charitable organizations, because they are really able to reach a large number of people. Other than just your own web presence, through pictures and stories.
Elizabeth: Oh yeah. Okay so we’re going to talk about the five ways of charitable giving can and it can improve your business value. So what’s the first way it can improve business’ value?
Maggie: Well, one of the first ways is it helps to enhance the business’ image. And it does this in a number of ways but really there are some studies that are out there and not to get too bogged down on research but it’s the one that said 90% of Americans -you have a more positive image of a company who supports charitable cause because what consumers are most interested in is that the business is socially conscious -is community-minded. So -like I said previously, consumers are really demanding this of businesses so it does help to enhance your business image when it is really down with the strategy and another -we’re going to go into that further and it’s tied into the communication plan.
Elizabeth: Right. And I think - one of the things I’m sure you have talked about to is it gives another way for you to communicate with your audience and for you to do PR and all these other kinds of things. It is one more thing to talk about.
Maggie: Right. Exactly. And it’s not to dress up your philanthropy in marketing because people are pretty (inaudible 11:26) and pick up on that-but there are ways to do it where it really is authentic. Authentic to what you really want to achieve through your giving.
Elizabeth: So enhancing your business image is the first one, what’s another way?
Maggie: The other one would be it helps to increase brand awareness so for example when you have two brands that are equal in price and quality but really the consumers are making the decision on -or what influences their buying habits is when or if a business or company is associated with a charity or funds particular causes. So most definitely, this particular type of -and that’s a significant strategy for businesses-to really put in place is a giving so that whether you’re a solo-preneur or a small business owner or a medium-sized company, it helps to -it heightens your brand awareness because your brand has -it’s differentiated from your competitor and that’s powerful -that’s really powerful.
Elizabeth: Yeah. So that’s the second thing we’re talking about and then after it, we’re about to go to break, after the break, we will be back and we’ll be talking about the other three ways that charitable giving can help enhance your business -stay in tuned for that - after the break.
BREAK
Elizabeth: Welcome back, everyone. This is Elizabeth Potts Weinstein -your host for thewealthsparadioshow and this week we have Maggie Keenan on the line with us and we’re talking about how charitable giving improves your businesses’ value and went through the five ways that she’s talking about today. The first two is enhancing your business’ image and the second is heightening brand awareness. So Maggie, what’s the next do you want to talk about on how charitable giving can improve businesses’ value.
Maggie: Well definitely can affect the bottom line by increasing sales for the business and that’s supported by if as consumers, they are known to switch brands, to one that is aligned with a charitable cause. They refer their families and friends to a business that is community-minded and when a company also kind of employs a cost-marketing strategy which is a part of an overall strategy, that also can increase the bottom line. So all of these together, when you have a strategy in plain in place, you’re benefitting from the other elements that charitable giving really can make a difference-the ways that it can make a difference for a business. The likelihood of an increasing sales is significant and it does. And that’s why big corporations are engaged in it.
Elizabeth: Yeah. I mean, fundamentally, they -the companies who have had -you know-privately traded stocks, can’t just go around and donate money to things just because (overlay) -their job is to make a profit. Right. And it increases the bottom line as you know (inaudible 17:40) So what’s the fourth thing you want to talk about?
Maggie: Yeah the fourth one is that it helps to build customer loyalty as a matter of fact, one piece of research I read just a few weeks ago says that 72% of Americans have greater trust in companies that are aligned with social causes and with that comes the notion that consumers want to do business with a business that stands for something-that stands for social value-that incorporates that into their culture of their business. And that is also-when we you say community -minded, but raises awareness about social issues that are right there in their own community as well as across the globe. So consumers are really aligning themselves and here’s a great example -was - I had to go to this big thing in California - I was telling you about on the break earlier last week, you know, I can share that in a month or two but I went to the department store -you know-new suit, new shoes, new make-up, you know, the whole (inaudible 18:49) because I had to look savvy — and I went to the department store went up to a particular counter and made a few purchases and it was so great because the sales representative, on a little 4 x 6 index card, black and white, said you know we do the recycling(inaudible 19:07) - - and in just like two or three sentences, ________it just bolted off her tongue she said -we recycle our -you know-bring back your emptied containers because we recycle them and oh by the way, x per cent of every sale that the company does, gives back to -they support three issues-so, and I was like, -Great! Because I have - I’m so glad that I diverted myself from the other counter which is a pretty top notch line of cosmetics to this one because - I was like -that’s so cool! So then -that does increase/build customer loyalty. And the fifth one is that particularly for small businesses, it really helps to increase your business’ visibility-especially when your giving is at the local level versus investing in social causes that are on the other side of the world -even though most people today are so aware of what is going on in the world. There’s still an essence or a mentality of “here in our own backyard”. So if you’re a local -you know-small business owner and giving back right there in your own community, then you can rest assured that the people that you’re working with, your vendors , your suppliers, your customers really do see you as a kind of a good neighbour concept. Yeah and that helps to really gets the word out about -especially good at the small community but it does happen if you’re in larger ones like you’re in Atlanta and San Francisco as well. Bu it does increase your business’ visibility. Here again, they all have to be tied into a strategy that links your communication to it.
Elizabeth: Right. So (inaudible 20:48) of this strategy, I know -I’m sure that almost all small businesses -almost all small business owners are giving back in some ways they perform, that you know-even if it’s on a personal side, giving money to some charitable organization, to your church, you’re buying the candies for the kids, we do all this stuff and also giving away time and - you know- donations to the local organizations but a lot of them is not really as charity -it’s just kind of -you know-someone asks you and you give a hundred dollars to this and $20 to that -whatever-you know-so how do we take that intention and then -you know, actually have a strategy? When do we need to start thinking about having a strategy?
Maggie: Oh the defining moment is now. As a matter of fact, if you are just in the nick to start-off or you’re just getting ready to launch your business or if you’ve been in business for just a few years-it doesn’t quite matter where you are on that continuum . The defining moment is now because the excuses of-”Oh I don’t have enough money to give now, I will later”-or “I’m so busy now, I don’t possibly have the time to volunteer but when I can hire some other people to do -I’ll have more time”. They’re all excuses and so the defining moment is really now. So no matter where you are, you can begin a giving program at any level for your business today.
Elizabeth: So what does that really mean having a giving program or strategy. I mean-is it kind of like -putting together your mission statement for it or what do you - what really are the parts - where would you start?
Maggie: Well, the parts are on-parts is really what my impact. It’s what my six step model is all about. But like you said earlier if people – most businesses, they definitely treat it like a side project. Mission statement is part of it, and there are other elements that make up an entire strategy but what I will say is that you really have to define clear goals, social goals and your business’ goals for giving but without a strategy, without having an integral part of your business, it will never - you will never reap the impact or make the difference that you really think you’re doing. So buying the kids - you know-the candy bar or giving the cause a colleague asked you to do network, they -that is just what we call a check book charity writing approach. And so businesses will just -it’ll never-you’ll never reap the rewards -personally, business or the community because part of the strategy involved, how the community and costs of social benefit.
Elizabeth: Yeah.
Maggie: So it’s a mutual benefit.
Elizabeth: And you know, I found personally, a couple of years ago -I figured this out was - you know when I’m giving all this relatively small amounts of money to places I personally didn’t feel like I was making much of a difference, but then my husband had said Ok, what’s our goals-what are the things that are really important to us. And one of the things is like Kiva donating to micro funding. I think one of the other things is libraries and then the last thing was schools. And so then we’re able - now we can know when to say NO. And I have reasons to say-well, I’ve already defined our goals for this year but you know - you can - feel free to mail us something.
Maggie: That’s an excellent strategy. And one that’s -it’s kind of incorporated to the six steps. And what that does is - it actually -when you have that in place-your goals are in place and/or your focus, it cuts down on the number of times you actually have to say no and when you do say no, you don’t feel badly about it and the non-profit staff individuals that are soliciting for your donation or contribution completely understand that. So it’s not like NO because of we don’t like you. It’s NO because this is our focus and it helps them to then really align their energy and effort where it really should be spent.
Elizabeth: Yeah
Maggie: Yeah
Elizabeth: And it’s also great because then we give money, we give a significant amount of money to one thing and its like -Wow, you’ve made a big difference and we can see it . And then you - you know - when you give more money to one thing, you cannot - you get a special stuff and it’s kind of more fun.
Maggie: And you also feel more invested in the organization and people don’t, I think, realize that-and I’ve been on the other side-the fund development side as professional fundraiser for a number of years where the non-profit -the charity itself, needs to develop and cultivate donor relations. So while every dime or dollar does help their cause, you know, at some level, that one time $25 check is not as significant to them as over three years a hundred dollar checks.
Elizabeth: Yeah
Maggie: Yeah
Elizabeth: So what’s the biggest mistake the business owners are making when they’re thinking about –you know - putting this fund thing together.
Maggie: Yeah. First and foremost, one of the things I see is that every-just picking with the pink because it’s popular and not to diminish the cause that pink is associated with breast cancer awareness is not an important cause-all causes are worthy but I say that because it’s not - it shouldn’t be like what is the cause for the moment or the flavour of the month -
Elizabeth: Right
Maggie: Or everyone’s going green because green is the way to go —-
Elizabeth: Yeah, I know - everyone’s like that -they’re green (inaudible 26:08)
Maggie: Right - which is a whole - that’s like social responsibility where giving is only a part of a whole corporate social responsibility-as a whole other thought . But yes, taken with the pink, because it’s popular - and I think-the other thing , Elizabeth, is really treating their giving as a side project or it’s further down in the list of things to do as a small business owner because you’re doing everything else in your business.
Elizabeth: Right . So we only got like a minute and a half or so left - I want to give you a chance to share with everyone how they could get more information from you about this.
Maggie: Oh Yeah. Great! Well, my website is www.givingadvice.com and for small business owners, they can peruse that - I also have the monthly ezine which the sign up link is on the homepage and —
Elizabeth: Do you have a special report or something that people can ..
Maggie: I do have a special report which is really the five ways Giving Makes the Difference for Businesses in great detail - it explains why’s and the how’s and what business owners can do. And to get started, I offered the new strategy session which I just launched this past winter. And that sign up is also on the home page-that takes you right to the giving strategy page.
Elizabeth: Alright. If someone wants to talk to you for an hour on the phone or whatever and get started - set themselves up right - that’d be a great way to do that .
Maggie: Yeah. That’s a great way to start.
Elizabeth: Alright. Ok, everyone you can go to www.givingadvice.com – to get more information from Maggie and then I’m going to - I’ll show that email -that website address after the break also. Thank you so much Maggie for being on the call with us today.
Maggie: Thanks, Elizabeth
Elizabeth: Thanks. So we’re going to go to our break, after our break, I’ll answer a question from you all and then we’ll be talking about our entrepreneur success tip of the week. We’ll talk about all that–after the break.
BREAK
Elizabeth: Welcome everyone. This is Elizabeth Potts Weinstein, your host for the wealthsparadioshow and in this last half an hour, we had Maggie Keenan on with us-we’re talking about charitable giving strategies. If you wanted more information about that, you can go to her website which is www.givingadvice.com where you’d meet some information about - she has a free ezine with a special report and she also has a one-hour strategy session. So if you just want to get started and you don’t want to pay for a big giant thing, the great way to get some advice from her to really put together a concise strategy for you. Okay so that’s www.givingadvice.com. And if you’ve missed any part of the show, you can always go to www.thewealthsparadioshow.com to find out to get the show delivered to you automatically and in the future shows, we’ll get you automatically as well as this show once it’s finished. Again that’s www.thewealthsparadioshow.com. Alright so let’s get in to the next part of the show and this is when I answer a question from one of you all. And just for anyone of you listening to our show, if you go on www.thewealthsparadioshow.com, there’s a place for you to submit questions. You can call in and submit your question using your phone or you can actually just type it in in an information box. You can also go on to the group for thewealthsparadioshow that’s on Facebook or of course you can always send us email with your question that you’d like to have answered on the show. The question I’m answering this week is about juggling time and as many of you know, I have a home-a business I operate out of my home - I have a three-year old daughter and a husband and a life and all this stuff going on. How do I juggle all of that. The question is -you know- how is juggling time and a home business working out for you? Do you have any advice for the rest of us. Yeah -it’s been a really interesting journey. It really has-the last - let’s see, I made the decision to leave my last job I will ever have -like five years ago now. I can’t believe it’s been that long. It’s almost exactly five years - it was on the Fourth of July weekend. I had a friend in from out of town and as I was sitting there eating Chinese food, I was like -yeah-and mentally, I made the decision on my head. Ironically, it was actually, I got a fortune cookie and I was thinking about - quitting my job and starting a business -opened up the fortune cookie and see the little fortune was -you will be successful in a business of your own — . I was like -it’s a sign from the universe or God speaking to me in fortune cookies (laughs) I say -Yes, this is what you should do! Anyway, so it has been a very interesting adventure and my business has changed a lot over the years and I have learned so many things both as a small business owner and also as a mom. My daughter is now three years old - so (inaudible 33:46) – she was born there and during this time. Here’s some advice and here’s something that I want to show to you all. The first is that it really is an adventure. It is a process. It is a journey and things are constantly changing and running a small business is fundamentally desperate than being employed. You know, I found that when I had a “job”, that my job and my personal life were very much separated. Now of course I was an attorney in a big law firm , I - you know-I was checking email at home - but back then I actually - I escaped working in a law firm right before I would have gotten a Blackberry. Like - I JUST missed getting a Blackberry. So I didn’t have the Blackberry then but - so I was checking email at home all the time and didn’t have a little bit of overlap but fundamentally, work was work and home was home. Running a business is different because it becomes your life. And I mean that both in a good and bad way. When you have a business at home, you’re always at work and you’re always at home. Everything overlaps and gets mushy-which on one hand is absolutely challenging because you feel like work is always there and home is always there and how do you balance these at once-you’re always multitasking which is an incredible inefficient way to work. On the other hand, it’s wonderful and the thing that goes along with this whole (inaudible 35:13) adventure is you really must have a business that you feel passionate about because it’s your life. Because you’re not just going to go to the office and leave the office and come home and enjoy your life - it’s all squished up together. It’s all mixed up together so what you do need to do something you’re passionate about. Or at least most of it -you know-bookkeeping and filing and junk that you may not like but you want the majority of what you’re doing and how you’re servicing clients and the products that you sell and the marketing that you do, and what you’re actually doing majority of the time be something you enjoy because it’s -that is a huge chunk of your life. So that’s my first recommendation is - you know-when you’re choosing your business, as you’re making changes to your business, really keep in mind that this is your life. And so as such, your business needs to be something that you’ll passionately enjoy. That’s one of the reasons why my business changed over the years. You know-part of it was a pure business decision but part of it was - I needed the physical act that I was doing during the day be just the things that I love. Because someone’s intertwined with my life. That’s #1. #2 is plan for flexibility, plan for change. This business’ been a gigantic challenge for me over the years especially since I had my daughter because I’m the kind of person who had -you know–a schedule, and a calendar, and had planned out everything and once I had my daughter, there was this inherent amount of chaos that was introduced into my life. And not just because children are chaotic in general but because they change all the time and having to do a child care issue, I’ve gone through nannies, I’ve gone through pre-schools and when she is sick - what happens if she’s sick-of course when I had a nanny then, she could take care when she was sick but what happens when the nanny is sick? I mean-there’s always issues going on and like right now, my husband is having back problems and is not able - and is in the house right now-listening to this radio show. That’s a whole different - a whole different way to exist. So there’s always constant change going on in your life and as a small business owner who works from home, it’s even more intertwined and for planning for and being ready to deal with the changes, both in your business and in your personal life, you can make it a lot easier - because it is inevitable — (inaudible 37:46) that’s going to happen. When I first started and didn’t have a nanny, I first started working my business with my daughter and had a nanny, I thought , Oh child care(inaudible 37:58) is solved, right? Childcare problem solved. But then she got pregnant and when she had to quit to raise her own child, and I went to a home (inaudible 38:06) for nannies -couldn’t find anybody . It was a gigantic struggle. Until I finally figured it out how to manage a child care issue not just from how to deal with a child care issue but how to let it go and how to build a flexibility into my business and actually changed my business . (inaudible 38:26) and I needed as much. That’s #2, planning for flexibility and expecting change-and it’s a lot, not just of planning but about mentally expecting it . #3, let people know about your life. Clients , customers on your websites, in your communications, in your ezines -talk about your story. If you have a home business, if you have kids at home who are there when you’re working on your business, don’t be afraid to show that to all these people. You know a lot of us, when we first started our business, and this is true for me - my first website went out -you know-four and a half years ago, I tried to look real corporatey - I tried to look like I was big and gigantic. And what I found was that - you know Yah-people — I pulled it off- some thought I was big and gigantic it was very entertaining when they pulled up to my house to meet with me -as a client, and they were expecting a big office building and I was in this little -this little cottage. I thought in my business, the more I’ve shared my personal story - that way people boiled down with me more and I become more successful but then when the crazy stuff happen, people are more open to be more flexible about it. So when I had to reschedule a meeting because my daughter is sick . When something just put off because something personal happened. You know-when a construction was going at my house, and people are talking to me on the phone and they can hear the construction in the background. Whatever is the craziness that’s going on, because I‘m sharing it with people, they’re much more flexible not only because they know about it so they’re more flexible and understanding but because more flexible people are attracted to me. And the people who can’t deal with that, the(inaudible 40:18) to be my client because they can tell through my website that I have a chick and rice kid, dadadadda-they don’t like that, they will go somewhere else which makes my life better and their life better and it would be better for them and better for me. That’s #3-share your life with people. Now you don’t have to share everything that’s private - if there’s certain parts that you’d like to keep very private, that’s fine. I mean you may not want to share your children’s name, you may not want to put pictures of them up-well, you can share the fact that you have kids and tell cute little stories about them. Don’t be afraid to do that. #4-is judge your business and your success by your own standards. And I really recognize this lately for myself is I still have this feeling that as an entrepreneur I should be working 70 hours a week or 50 hours a week or some huge amount of time. And I would keep track of how many hours in a day that I work and somehow feel successful if I worked nine hours that day. Really, it’s not about how many hours you worked. It’s about results that you create both in your personal life and in your business. And that shift of thinking is really important because as an employee for most companies -for most corporations, you’re putting in the - you know — basic time in their office. Your working from 9:00 to 6:00 or whatever your paid time requirement is and you have your Blackberry and it will be on call and you’re not -of course they want results from you but they also want man-hours from you, right? When you’re a small business owner, you may have some hourly requirements because you know-you’ve built maybe your building clients by the hour. But really, it’s about results. How much money are you making, are you completing the goals you’ve set for yourself? Are you fulfilling obligations to your clients and customers -it’s not about how many hours you’re working or what someone else thinks the results should be from yourself. You may decide that you want to have a business where you may only be working for 15 hours a week and maybe you’re not making as much money as you could if you were working 80 hours a week, and you’re fine with that, because it’s the way you created balance in your life. So my #4 recommendation is judge yourself by your own standards. The more you let go of how many hours I need to work in a day or whatever - I’ve began to get the same amount of stuff done in less hours which is a much better way to live - much more balance in my life.
Alright, so that’s the question for the week. After the break, we’ll be talking about the entrepreneur success tip for the week which is about being in the moment acting as if you’ve chosen it. And so stay in tuned for that - after the break.
BREAK
Elizabeth: Welcome back everyone, this is Elizabeth Potts Weinstein, your host for thewealthsparadioshow and I want to welcome you back after this break. Before the break I was answering a question from one of you all about juggling time and having a home business and any advice and if you missed out on any of that, you can always go to thewealthsparadioshow.com to listen to an archive of the show or get it delivered to you automatically later. So, let’s get in to the entrepreneur success tip for the week. Every week I share a secret of successful entrepreneur’s tip for the week and sometimes, it ‘s not purely about business. A lot of times, they’re actually mental stuff about personal development. Because as small business owners, as entrepreneurs, we are the business, in a lot of ways-it’s very important to - you know-make those mental shift that we need to do to really be successful. So this week, as I talked a little but about earlier in the show, I will be telling you a little of the story of my vacation. And the tip of the week is about being in a moment. Acting as if you have chosen it. When the crazy, unexpected whatevers that happen, act as if that was what you’ve chosen and proceed forward that way. When I first heard this -advice, when I first heard this suggestion, it made me frustrated enough that - sounds like -well-and it’s not just compromising. You know - when something crappy happens, when someone does something stupid-when the frustrating thing happens, if you act as if you’ve chosen it, you’re not just compromising - it ‘s really interesting-I’ve been experimenting with the (inaudible 47:29) principle in my life and it really has changed how I react to them. So fundamentally, stuff is going to happen. Bad stuff, good stuff, it all comes at you in the world. And one of the secrets to having a more enjoyable life is how you react to those things. Because really it’s one of the things you can’t control. You can’t control what comes at you-all you could control is your thoughts and your brain and how you perceive that. Now what do I mean by that? Well, as you may have known, I talked about it a little bit before-we were on vacation last week - or tried to go on vacation last week. What we did was we rented an RV and it’s a pretty small one, about 24 foot and (inaudible 48:13) -and we’re driving from here and San Jose over to Yosemite which is about 4-4.5 hours away. Well with an RV it’s more like five hours, especially with a three-year old and etc. So we rented an RV, drive from here to San Jose to Yosemite and we finally go to Sequoia National Park also. We got the RV later than I thought and hacking to get it longer than I thought. So I thought we were going to leave about 4:00 o’clock in the afternoon and we ended up not leaving till 6:00 o’clock at night. And I was in a complete insane rush getting out of here and by the time we left, the (inaudible 48:54) were already here, so I thought pretty lame because the (inaudible 48:58) had already shown up etc. or we’re going to be gone-dadaada-so that kind of flustered and frustrated me and the guy came with the RV and we took off. And as we’re driving down the highway, half an hour later, I start mentally going through my head about all the stuff I forgot. I realized I forgot the - all the root vegetables-the potatoes and the onions. All those fruits that sit on the counter like apples and bananas-didn’t bring any of that stuff. It all sits there on the counter. I also forgot the butter- didn’t bring any butter. I bought olive oil and - but I had no butter, no margarine , no way that I’ll make toast with butter on it. (inaudible 49:35) oh my God, how am I going to cook these meals-putting all these meals and I don’t have the onions and I don’t have any butter - I mean I was just going to this bliss - I was so frustrated -and my husband said Shall we go back and - of course I can’t go back we’ve gone for 20 minutes -it’s insane and we need to get there because - you know- it’s going to get dark. And also-of course we could go buy stuff — I mean, they sell products between here and Yosemite there are stores but that’s not really what made me feel better. I went back to this concept of acting as if you have chosen it and - the person who really brought us down to - who helped me make it up with one of the business in my life is Marie (inaudible 50:21) and I bought Marie ____on time management program. But true enough time management talks about life and stuff. And thoughts of myself -I was thinking about what I have listened to her on her CDs and about the onions and about the butter-well let’s pretend-I’m going to pretend that I decided -had chosen to not bring onions-and I’ve chosen to not bring butter. Let’s go to that menu of-as if I have it in my head - of what I have written on my sheet of what I (inaudible 52:52) what I cook and think about what I do is-I mean -let’s pretend that I didn’t plan on bringing in butter. How would I make these things. So give me one example of what happened. And of course they helped me realize, you know - life will go on without any butter. But when I got on that cooking stuff, I cooked-I obviously cooked things without onions and butter. For example, one of these I was going to make was corn in the cob - and how do you make corn in the cob without butter, right? You have to put butter in your corn in the cob. But I had olive oil. I was like-maybe I put olive oil on the corn in the cob . I don’t know-maybe it’ll still taste good. Well let me tell you-if you’re going to make corn in the cob on a barbeque - you know-wrap it in foil and everything- use olive oil instead of butter. It was amazing. Olive oil on corn in the cob. I’m actually going to put that in my recipe like in my blog or something because olive oil on corn in the cob is absolutely amazing. Why am I telling you about the olive oil, the corn in the cob and how good it is, this is already an example of if as you’re an entrepreneur, there’s going to be things coming at you all the time. You have clients who are upset with you. The -you know-orders are not going to come in right-something’s going to be a typo that was in your book - the (inaudible 52:11) is not going to do things right- something’s wrong with your website-there’s going to be junk to happen all the time. And so I accepted that at first, you’re going to be upset, of course. Because you’re a human being but then what I suggest to you is look at that and say, well, let’s pretend that I intended it to be this way. What would I do now. To pretend is really hard. How could I ever intended for typos to be in my book. I said that because I ‘m doing a lot of proofreading in my book and I’m finding typos. You may say, once you get a printed copy of your book and there’s typos in it, well I intended that because I was going to come out with a - it gives me a reason to send out into their mail and tell everyone who had bought the book. It was an amended thing or something. Give me an excuse to send out anything. Well, the point is, not only will you be a happier person because you’re not going to be as frustrated -because you’re going to see the opportunity in all this that you presumed —all things to happen. But you’re also going to discover amazing new things. So I could have settled on my whole trip and be frustrated that I didn’t have any butter. Okay? But not only was I not frustrated-I didn’t even care that I didn’t have any butter -I discovered the olive oil on corn in the cob recipe. So I was able to discover something that was wonderful and I’ve actually cooked since I’ve gotten home. So when these crazy stuff happen, look for two things. First-changing a few things is -you know-if I hadn’t - if I had-let’s pretend that I had chosen it. To keep yourself from being frustrated but then second, look for that opportunity-if you had chosen for this, how could you make it work? And you may discover something even better than what you originally intended, You may discover your olive oil on corn in the cob recipe. Okay, we’re about to the end of the show. I wanted to share with you again Maggie Keenan’s website address one more time-that’s www.givingadvice.com - if you’re interested in learning more about charitable giving and how you can use it for your small business, and then of course if you missed any part of the show or want to have future shows delivered to you automatically, you can go to www.thewealthsparadioshow.com that’s www.thewealthsparadioshow.com. Next week we’re going to have (inaudible 54:37) who’s going to be speaking with us about backing up your computer. So really keeping back ups of your computer stuff is a type of protection for your asset. It’s an asset protection strategy. He’s going to give us some specifics about you know, why you need to do this, what you really need to do - is it enough to just -you know- copy stuff on a - burn that stuff in a CD rom -how do we need to go about this so we are really protecting one of the most important assets of our business which is all the stuff on our computer. So again, you can go to www.thewealthsparadioshow.com to listen to this or any future shows or past shows that are in our archives and read the transcripts-thank you so much for listening today and I look forward to speaking with you next week. Buh-bye.
Tags: Business Strategy
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