Women Grow Business

Be careful what you wish for.

Often when we set our sights on a goal, we are ill-prepared for what the achievement will mean for us.

In business, we often set aggressive revenue targets. We chase a certain dollar amount ($1 million, $5 million, $10 million) or we chase a percentage increase. (25% revenue growth, 50% profitability growth).

Sometimes we chase market growth, with plans to enter additional markets or industries.

And while we may master the skill of identifying and executing what we need to do to achieve our goal, we’re in uncharted territory without a map when we hit our target.

I’ve learned a lot over the past several years about the other significant changes that growth requires and brings beyond the bottom line.

When we think of growth, we really only think about a growing dollar amount. But here are just a few of the other elements that will (not “may,” but “will”) require a shift or change as you transition from one growth stage to the next:

Your personal role

As your company grows from perhaps a solopreneur structure to a company with contractors or employees, your role will shift from practitioner, to manager, to leader, and perhaps ultimately to adviser. It’s unavoidable.

You can’t stay in the trenches when you need to be at the 50,000 foot level to set your strategy and growth path.

Your employees

For a variety of reasons, employees that help you reach one growth stage may not be the employees you need to reach another growth stage. Of course each employee is different, and sometimes a long-time employee does evolve and grow with the company – in their original role or a different role.

But often, as a company grows up, it will require new experiences, ideas, and leadership.

Your advisers

Your advisers should be people who have already achieved what you want to achieve. They shouldn’t be people who are at the same place where you are. Your advisers ideally should have experience with the challenges you will inevitably face. As you travel your path and reach your milestones, it’s important to re-evaluate those people who are guiding you.

Your customers

As you grow, you will outgrow some of your customers. Customers that were ideally suited your company 5 years ago and seemed like the right size may seem too small or not strategic enough as you continue along your path of growth.

Your marketing strategy

As you shift your customer base, and continue to move in a more strategic direction, your message and outreach strategy will shift as well.

Your business development strategy

The opportunities you pursue will shift dramatically. You will need to close larger contracts to keep pace with your growth.

When you have a target of $1 million, a $100,000 contract is significant. When you have a target of $15 million, a $100,00 contract may not be worth the investment of your time, or allocation of your resources.

In the government contracting space, government contractors just starting out should start small – as a sub-contractor, or as a prime on very small, single contracts. Eventually, they can grow their infrastructure to support the pursuit and the win of programs (chasing contracts can be very, very expensive).

Ultimately, they will be able to pursue government-wide or agency-wide programs contracts that span 5 years or 10 years. But all of these strategies must happen incrementally, or the company can go under.

Unmanaged growth is one of the biggest threats to a growing business.

Your IT infrastructure

As you grow, your IT infrastructure will need to keep pace with your growth. Not only in terms of bandwidth, but in terms of hardware, software, applications, mobile connectivity, and security.

Your financial infrastructure

Growing companies have increasingly complex finance and accounting requirements. Your system requirements and your personnel requirements in this space will continue to evolve.

For example, government contracting firms over $5 million are subjected to many audits, which places an additional burden on the financial infrastructures.

Your recruiting strategy and HR infrastructure

As an organization grows, they must invest in their recruitment strategy, as well as their HR infrastructure to ensure legal compliance, and also to provide competitive benefits packages.

Your culture

This is sometimes a bitter pill to swallow. As a company moves from the entrepreneurial start-up phase to a more mature phase, the culture can’t help but shift.

The organization has to stop revolving around a core group of people and must shift to being process-centric.

Hero mentalities in which the company survives on the backs of a small group of employees is dangerous and unhealthy. Processes alleviate the burden of dependency, enable the company to function like a well-oiled machine, and strongly position the company for growth.

More from Women Grow Business:

• Mayra Ruiz asks, “Were you born to be an entrepreneur?”
• Patrica Frame tells a tale of business infrastructure

Cross-posted with permission from the DC Women’s Entrepreneurship Examiner

Image: Jason Samfield, Creative Commons

Regular contributor Marissa Levin is Founder and CEO of Information Experts. Marissa was named a 2008 BRAVO Award winner, and a Smart100 CEO for both 2009 and 2010, by SmartCEO Magazine (which honors the region’s 25 most influential women CEOs); recently she was listed in Washington’s 100 Technology Titans by Washingtonian Magazine. She is also the DC Women’s Entrepreneurship Examiner. Describing her true passion as “helping other business owners be successful with their own business growth,” Marissa can be reached through her website or Twitter.

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“That’s it Patrick!! We have to become Entrepreneurs!!”
“SpongeBob, is that gonna hurt??”

Entrepreneurship is as American as apple pie, baseball, and SpongeBob Squarepants. The essence behind entrepreneurship is the freedom to live a professional life that has the most meaning to you – to not be defined by someone else’s value system, personal vision & goals, and decisions.

But with that freedom comes tremendous accountability, responsibility, and risk.

As SpongeBob and Patrick so eloquently discussed, entrepreneurship has unlimited possibilities. With entrepreneurship, we are limited only by our own vision (and money – but we can often find it if we look in the right places). However, entrepreneurship does bring its own pain and suffering with it, so to answer Patrick’s question, yes entrepreneurship can hurt at times.

Our founding fathers probably did not consider themselves to be entrepreneurial in 1776 when they declared the United Sates to be free from British rule. After all, the battle for freedom was risky and gruesome, and our most dedicated American citizens paid the greatest price for America’s freedom, which we all still celebrate today.

In business, when an entrepreneur decides to break free from the restrictions of an established organization and pave his/her own way, he/she has made the decision that they are ready, willing, and able to establish their own independence, and build a business that reflects all of the facets that are important to him/her.

The unique talent or knowledge that they have

The value system that they wish to impart

The value that they can bring to the marketplace

The lifestyle that they want to live

All of these factors go into a person’s decision to embark on entrepreneurship. In the mind of the entrepreneur, the benefits of separating themselves from an already established organization outweigh any of the risks that may be associated with the decision.

These drivers are not dissimilar to the drivers behind our founding fathers’ motivations for establishing our country’s Independence. In an excerpt of the Declaration of Independence, we can see this to be true:

We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

Entrepreneurship is a microcosm of this statement. As entrepreneurs, we make these decisions every day: levy war against our competitors, align with our competitors, engage in business transactions, and participate in all other activities that occur in the typical state of business.

Like freedom, entrepreneurship is not free.

Entrepreneurs need to protect and defend their position every day. Every day is a day of battle, in which we are protecting & defending our corporation, our value, our customers, our employees, and everything that defines who we are in our business.

Also, like freedom, entrepreneurship brings tremendous risk and accountability. When entrepreneurs build a business, they often risk everything, knowing along the way that the best laid plans go to waste.

And if they happen to lose everything, they are often alone to pick up their pieces.

But again, like freedom, I know that many entrepreneurs wouldn’t trade entrepreneurship for anything in the world. They would rather live with the risk and lack of security than to ever work for someone else again.

Entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart. It’s not for the risk-aversive. But it is for me.

Happy Independence Day, everyone.

More:

• Mayra Ruiz asks, “Were you born to be an entrepreneur?“
• The rock star boss: a conversation with Lynn Tilton
• Thursday Bram asks if you have a fall back plan for entrepreneurship over at Grow Smart Business

Cross-posted with permission and minor edits from Marissa’s DC Women’s Entrepreneurship Examiner column.

Image: Ludovic Bertron, Creative Commons

Guest contributor Marissa Levin is Founder and CEO of Information Experts. Marissa was named a 2008 BRAVO Award winner, and a Smart100 CEO for both 2009 and 2010, by SmartCEO Magazine (which honors the region’s 25 most influential women CEOs); recently she was listed in Washington’s 100 Technology Titans by Washingtonian Magazine. She is also the DC Women’s Entrepreneurship Examiner. Describing her true passion as “helping other business owners be successful with their own business growth,” Marissa can be reached through her website or Twitter.

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Business owners know that connecting with other executives, mentors, and industry experts must be a key component of a growth strategy.

They also know that there aren’t enough hours in the work-week to attend every networking function that they would like to attend – especially in the DC region where there could be 8-10 high-profile, competing networking events on any given day. There are so many events now in this area that an individual could attend a breakfast, lunch, dinner, and reception event every day of the week and still not make the rounds to every event out there.

So how does one decide where and with whom they should spend their valuable time?

This was one of the excellent questions I received this past weekend when I presented at the inaugural Women Grow Business Bootcamp (photo of Marissa at the boot camp by Shashi Bellamkonda (cc), www.shashi.name | Social Media Swami | www.networksolutions.com).  In response to that question, I reflected on the process I use to evaluate organization membership.

First, analyze your objectives for joining specific organizations, and for attending specific events.

Some of the reasons people attend networking events or join networking groups include:

• Learning/education
• Business development/lead generation
• Meeting specific individuals that are affiliated with a specific group
• Competitive analysis
• Brand-building
• Taking a leadership position (committee member, Board member)
• Expanding your social circle
• Emotional support/personal connections

Every decision a business owner makes must be tied to the strategic objectives for the company’s growth. This includes evaluating which networking organizations and functions are most closely aligned with your strategic objectives.

Second, create a budget for networking and membership.

When considering the budget, it’s important to determine how you will measure a return on investment.

If a membership costs $2,000/year, are you anticipating contracts (through new contacts) that will exceed the $2,000 plus the cost of doing business? Are you expecting to meet a certain number of strategic partners? Are you working to build your brand recognition? Do you anticipate learning about specific topics that are relevant to your overall business strategy?

It’s important to factor in additional expenses that are outside membership fees, including fees associated with activities such as networking breakfasts, lunches or dinners, awards ceremonies, retreats, and conferences.

Third, realistically determine how much time you can dedicate to networking, and who else in your organization can/wants to participate.

Candidly assess your schedule and the competing demands in your life. We’ve all joined organizations with the best intentions of attending the majority of events, but often business and life gets in the way of networking. For example, if an organization hosts monthly lunches that run from 11:00 – 1:00, realistically you should set aside 4 hours of downtime to attend that event.

While the event may “feel good” and give you an opportunity to connect with interesting, enjoyable people, at the end of the day, does it impact your bottom line?

There is an “opportunity cost” to attend functions. What are you NOT able to do because you are attending this events? Write proposals? Meet with customers? Engage with your employees?

Your time is valuable, and the allocation of that time is either an expense or investment.

Fourth, correlate your organization affiliations to your growth strategy.

In other words, visualize where your company will be a year from now, and determine which groups can help you get there. Which groups will connect you with the people you need to meet your goals? You shouldn’t join a group based on where you are today.

Rather, you should join a group based on the future vision of your company, so that you can grow into your group, and your group to foster your growth.

Fifth, make your decisions based on logic.

It’s very easy to get caught up in the “fun” of networking when we are trying on a regularly scheduled event or organization for size and the right fit …

To read more of Marissa’s column, check it out at the DC Women’s Entrepreneurship Examiner, from where it’s been excerpted with permission and minor edits.

More from Women Grow Business:

• Jen Consalvo shares lessons from Austin for women in business
• Melanie Spring tells you how to get out of your comfort zone

Guest contributor Marissa Levin is Founder and CEO of Information Experts. Marissa was named a 2008 BRAVO Award winner, and a Smart100 CEO for both 2009 and 2010, by SmartCEO Magazine (which honors the region’s 25 most influential women CEOs); recently she was listed in Washington’s 100 Technology Titans by Washingtonian Magazine. She is also the DC Women’s Entrepreneurship Examiner. Describing her true passion as “helping other business owners be successful with their own business growth,” Marissa can be reached through her blog Marissa Levin.

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“Marissa, you need to slow down. People need a chance to catch their breath and catch up with you.”

Those were the words that hit me hard in a conversation with one of my VPs recently. I can’t remember the day because at the rate I have been running, all of the days, meetings, and conversations blur into one another.

Image: Alexander Goodyear, Creative Commons

The “Acceleration Trap”

According to an article entitled “The Acceleration Trap” in the April 2010 issue of Harvard Business Review, I’m not alone.

In response to intensifying competition, organizations increase the number and speed of their activities, raise performance goals, shorten time-to-market cycles, and introduce new organizational systems and technologies at an unprecedented rate.

On the surface, all of these initiatives may indicate a growing, thriving company – a company that’s moving forward at a brisk and healthy pace.

But if you dig deeper, you may realize that the organization at hand may be in danger of becoming its own worst enemy. Aggressive deadlines coupled with a consistent demand for innovative ways to be faster, better, and smarter can give way to chronic overloading, lack of focus, and burnout.

As I read through “The Acceleration Trap,” I was able to identify with some of the symptoms that are found inside organizations suffering from uncontrolled acceleration – and this bothers me because I am very committed to maintaining a healthy culture.

Too much work?

The authors of this article studied more than 600 companies over the past nine years to understand acceleration. For example, 60% of surveyed employees agreed or strongly agreed that their companies lacked sufficient resources to get their work done.

As the CEO of a firm that has not experienced a dry spell in workload in 10 years, and has identified recruitment as one of the most important strategies to keep up with our growth, I can relate to this challenge.

When people make light of my challenge to manage our ever-growing workload, I explain that CEOs lose just as much sleep when they have too much work, as when they don’t have enough work.

Business owners are constantly balancing the need to build the pipeline and backlog with ensuring our employees are not overloaded.

Further, 86% of respondents said they did not regularly get a chance to regenerate after working at full-capacity for an extended period of time. This is also something that concerns me.

Now that I’m aware of the risks of falling prey to the acceleration trap, how can I – the person who consciously or subconsciously sets the organizational pace – avoid landing in the trap?

Setting the pace

I recently brought in a business development expert to lead a proposal development boot-camp, and one of the topics he discussed was the importance of mirroring the cadence of your customer.

When you are engaging or presenting to a customer, how aware are you of their cadence… their pace? Do you speed up or slow down to mirror their rhythm and their posturing so that you are synchronized with them? This is one technique that you can use to you align with your customer.

I thought about this concept, and how I can apply it to my employees as well. “Mirroring the cadence” … What a great concept both inside and outside of your organization. As the CEO, how does your pace compare to the pace of those you lead?

What signals are you giving?

As the CEO, you own the cadence and pace of your organization. If you are seeing signs of acceleration and burnout around you, what are you able to personally do to halt them?

The first thing may be to examine what signals you are giving, and what expectations you are communicating – whether you are aware of them or not.

Are you asking for the development of new initiatives before existing initiatives have even been implemented?

Are you constantly asking employees to suggest new initiatives to improve the company, when perhaps the real question is what initiatives should be put on the back burner or even terminated?

Online, all the time

What is the pace of your communication? Do you as the CEO consistently send emails outside of business hours… at 10 PM during the week, or throughout the weekend? Now that home offices and blackberries are natural extensions of our regular offices, there is no “typical” work day.

Employees in virtually every position across the organization are online all the time, leaving no room for disconnection.

For better or for worse, when a company executive sends an email, the recipient feels compelled to respond. What implication does that have on your culture? What message does this send about constant communication?

The burden to set the pace of the organization heavily relies on the executive leadership. As leaders, our employees are constantly watching – and responding to – our behaviors.

Striving for “Sustaining Energy”

Ideally, a company is powered by what the Harvard Business Review article authors call “sustaining energy” – a joyful urgency among the employees that never burns out. When this occurs, the energy in the company is intense, positive, and definitely conspicuous.

But if the leader gets greedy, demanding the same level of urgency and output every day with no respite, energy will evaporate, morale will suffer, and both individual and organizational performance will fizzle.

Conversely, working at a sustainable pace will protect the organization and its people over the long term.

So for the CEO, this means vigilantly protecting against the dangers of burnout and acceleration by setting a healthy pace for everyone to mirror, starting with themselves… inside and outside the company.

Cross-posted with minor edits and permission from the DC Women’s Entrepreneurship Examiner

More from:

• Regular contributor Francie Dalton on seeding business and preserving life
• Sibyl Edwards on when it’s time to fire your client
• Stacey Hanke’s excellent two-part guest post on communicating to enhance leadership

Guest contributor Marissa Levin is Founder and CEO of Information Experts. Marissa was named a 2008 BRAVO Award winner, and a Smart100 CEO for both 2009 and 2010, by SmartCEO Magazine (which honors the region’s 25 most influential women CEOs); recently she was listed in Washington’s 100 Technology Titans by Washingtonian Magazine. She is also the DC Women’s Entrepreneurship Examiner. Describing her true passion as “helping other business owners be successful with their own business growth,” Marissa can be reached through her blog Marissa Levin.

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Why is it that we are so skilled at helping others through their problems?

When those we love turn to us in need, most of us become pillars of strength. We reach deep inside ourselves to find just the right words of comfort, we take action, we provide a voice and vision of clarity when they are unable to find it themselves.

Our loved ones’ problems and situations seem much more surmountable than our own. We are able to see the light at the end of their tunnels, even when they are in total darkness.

Yet when we are faced with a setback, we become paralyzed. We panic, we question our ability to find our solutions, we look for magic bullets. We rarely consider the guidance and strength we give to others.

I consider myself a fairly strong person. I’ve conquered a lot of personal and professional setbacks, and I’ve become adept at tapping into the resilience that resides deep inside of me to rebound.

Image: DB King, Creative Commons

But once in a while, a situation arises that blindsides me, knocks me off-balance, and shakes my foundation.

I’m usually able to access my spiritual strength to pull myself through my challenges. I believe a strong combination of faith and patience can help us navigate what’s happening around us. We often are unable to understand why something happens at the time it happens, but through patience and faith, perhaps we’re able to reflect back at some point in the future to understand why the dots connected in the manner they did, and extract valuable lessons for future situations.

Recently, I had a challenge, and initially, it paralyzed me.

I was so unnerved that my confidence crumbled. I internalized the challenge completely from an emotional place. I took it personally and applied no logic. I was too self-pitying to be able to look at it from anyone else’s viewpoint except my own, I felt betrayed and defeated and for a split-second, I wanted to run.

A friend compassionately pointed out that this was very honest but definitely not an option, and that we all want to hide at some point from our problems.

So after listening to his advice, and after telling him that I thought much of what he was saying was going in one ear and out the other because I just couldn’t process what he was saying at that exact moment, I paused.

I realized he was asking me to drink my own Kool-Aid.

He gave me great advice – the exact same advice I give to him and others I care about when they face challenges.

“Step away from it. Go work out. Do something to get rid of the stress. Don’t do anything about it now. Give yourself some time. Have patience. Have faith in the bigger plan. Don’t take it personally. We learn our greatest lessons from our biggest challenges. Connect with others you trust that can teach you and help you through your problems. You’ll get through it. Write about it.”

He also repeated advice (without saying “I told you so”) that he has been giving me for months, which I’ve ignored. Finaly, I conceded he was right.

Thanks to sound advice and a strong resilient streak, I’m in a much better place with my challenge. In the scheme of things, it’s a very typical business situation, and it’s nothing that many other businesses haven’t encountered in their lifecycles. In fact, if there was a Richter scale to measure business earthquakes, this event would rank low to moderate. In my 15 years of business ownership, I have weathered far-worse, and have overcome much more potentially damaging scenarios.

This one event doesn’t define me as a person, and it isn’t a reflection of my success as a leader or business owner.

I do have the strength, the patience, the faith, and the wisdom to address this. I am open to receiving help from others inside and outside of my organization to turn this negative into a positive, and I will learn from this experience.

I’ll use this experience to strengthen both my leadership and my organization, and we’ll all be stronger for it.

To not learn from the situation, and to not apply those lessons to my entire organization and to future actions & decisions, would be the truest setback.

And through this experience, I will be able to do what I love most: I will be able to help other business owners better navigate their experiences as they continue along their paths of growth, learning, leadership, and self-discovery.

Cross-posted with permission and minimal edits from Marissa Levin’s DC Women’s Entrepreneurship Examiner column.

More from Women Grow Business:

• Marissa on 16 characteristics of greatness
• Guest contributor Katie Kemple on getting enough critical feedback as an entrepreneur

Guest contributor Marissa Levin is Founder and CEO of Information Experts. Marissa was named a 2008 BRAVO Award winner, and a Smart100 CEO for both 2009 and 2010, by SmartCEO Magazine (which honors the region’s 25 most influential women CEOs); recently she was listed in Washington’s 100 Technology Titans by Washingtonian Magazine. She is also the DC Women’s Entrepreneurship Examiner. Describing her true passion as “helping other business owners be successful with their own business growth,” Marissa can be reached through her blog Marissa Levin.

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Editor’s Note: This is adapted and republished, with permission, from Marissa Levin’s DC Women’s Entrepreneurship Examiner column, which originally ran February 9, 2010.

If you were in the DC area earlier this month, you had three feet of snow outside your door, the kids hadn’t been to school in almost a week, and the government shut down. So what’s a business owner to do?

The thing about all storms – in business or in life – is that they always come at inconvenient times… because we never plan them!

Our success in getting through them with our sanity intact lies in our ability to adapt and respond.

And as we experienced first-hand, often another storm will occur before we have recovered from an earlier one. This happens in business all the time.

Being in a storm becomes our reality

We have a heightened sense of what’s happening around us, we engage in self-preservation strategies, and our energy goes into planning our counter-attacks. When unexpected disruptions occur, we have no choice but to move to Plan B.

The silver lining

As disruptive as they are, storms are usually short-lived. Slowly, things return to normal, and what is left is the opportunity to reflect and plan for the next time. This is life.

In business, in general everyday life, it’s all a journey and it all comes down to rolling with the punches and engaging in resilience.

So here are 30 reasons why we should appreciate the Blizzards of 2010. Hopefully they’ll infuse a little sunlight into your day the next time one of these suckers rolls around.

30 Reasons to Appreciate the Blizzards of 2010

1. The Blizzards have forced us all to slow down. We’ve been able to cut back on our driving and carpooling, and we don’t need to be at multiple places all day long.
2. Kids get a break from academic pressure, and they get to catch up on their sleep.
3. We get to catch up on our sleep.
4. We get to catch up on our reading.
5. We can clean up our emails, and respond to those we forgot so long ago.
6. We can clean our closets.
7. We can organize our pictures/photo albums.
8. We’re finally getting to the food in our pantry with a long shelf life.
9. It’s good for the environment: less traffic/pollution.
10. We are not in danger of a Spring drought.
11. So many people are helping others.
12. We can appreciate the hard work of the road crews clearning the roads for us.
13. We’ve never appreciated our home gym equipment as much as we have this past week.
14. DC is finally in the news for something other than politics.
15. Snowball fights.
16. Sledding.
17. Snow angels.
18. We have plenty of time to update our i-Tunes library.
19. We are having a lot of family time and we can catch up with our friends.
20. We can relate more to the Winter Olympic athletes (OK that one is a stretch!)
21. We can work on our business plans.
22. We can evaluate our 2010 goals to see how we’re doing. And if you didn’t make them, now is a good time.
23. We have time to do more writing! (Hooray!)
24. We can get caught up on all of the TV shows we recorded.
25. We will greatly appreciate Spring.
26. We’re making the rest of the country feel better about their own weather (Yes Buffalo, we KNOW we received more snow than you this season.)
27. It’s beautiful to see.
28. The meteorologists feel pretty good about themselves because they are actually accurate int heir predictions for once.
29. We don’t have to listen to Michael Buble sing Haven’t Met You Yet.
30. There’s definitely going to be a Baby Boom in October.

Well, that’s all I have. If you experienced the Blizzards of 2010 as well, hang in there. Spring will be here before we know it. And if you are somewhere else in the country, thanks for your compassion and kind thoughts!  See you after the dig-out!

More from:

• Network Solutions’ Shashi Bellamkonda, DC’s Social Media Marketing Examiner, on the community and “snowmageddon”
• WGB editor Shonali Burke’s (and her dogs’) fun take on the afore-mentioned #snowmageddon
• The Snowpocalypse group pool on Flickr

Image: Eric Williams, Creative Commons

Guest contributor Marissa Levin is Founder and CEO of Information Experts. Marissa was named a 2008 BRAVO Award winner, and a Smart100 CEO for both 2009 and 2010, by SmartCEO Magazine (which honors the region’s 25 most influential women CEOs); recently she was listed in Washington’s 100 Technology Titans by Washingtonian Magazine. She is also the DC Women’s Entrepreneurship Examiner. Describing her true passion as “helping other business owners be successful with their own business growth”, Marissa can be reached through her blog Marissa Levin.

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Ever feel like a bowling pin?

No matter what we endure as women, we always feel as if we have something in our life that keeps knocking us down. And often, we truly can be our own worst enemies. We constantly compare ourselves to one another, and we berate ourselves for not having it all together like other women do.

Not only is this unhealthy, it is also misguided and unfair. We have no idea what other women have on their plates, professionally and personally. Sure we all show up looking like we have it all figured it out… we’re manicured, holding the latest designer bag, wearing the best designer shoes and jewels. We look GOOD. But the truth is that under all of the polished glam, we are all in the same boat, just trying to navigate our way along just like everyone else.

Nobody’s perfect, even if they look like it

I know better. Because I’ve had countless honest conversations with other women like me, and also because so many women have told me that they think I have it all together!

What they SEE is a CEO of a multi-million dollar firm who has absolutely brilliant and beautiful children, a husband who is madly in love with her, a woman who has everyone eating out of the palm of her hand, and a woman who doesn’t have a care in the world.

What they DON’T SEE is a woman completely in over her head, who wonders when the world will wake up and realize that I have no idea what I’m doing, who has two children that have taken the concepts of “negotiation” and “sarcasm” to new heights, and a 45-year old husband who I love with all my heart and treats me like gold but still has not learned where the hamper is.

So my reasoning is that if everyone else thinks I have it all together, when I really don’t, then they must not have it all together either, right?

Running a business and marriage are very similar

The thing is, you just don’t know what goes on behind closed doors. When you look at your neighbors, you think that everyone has it figured out except you. They have the perfect relationship, perfect kids, perfect relations with the in-laws, always doing quality family time projects, saving lots of money… everyone except you knows how to do it right. The truth is that most of us are actually struggling in some aspect… life is messy and complicated!

Lessons From Emerson

I want to share with you a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson. My husband gave me a card with this quote, at a point in my life when I was having a hard time handling everything that was on my plate.

”Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.”‘

I think about that quote often – particularly at the end of a day when I feel I just wasn’t as productive as I could have been. I try, on these days, to be kinder to myself. Not that I’m letting myself off the hook – come on, did I really need to take the Facebook quiz to learn which Sesame Street character I am, or what my Mafia name would be?

But we aren’t going to be running on all 8 cylinders every hour of every day. It’s just not practical. And what I’ve learned from all of this is that somehow, the important tasks always get finished, and it is OK to push some things off to the next day.

Let’s shift away from the concept of “work-life balance” and adopt the concept of “work-life synergy”

The idea of balance sets up a woman for failure. The very definition of balance conveys harmony, equality, equal distribution of various components, and emotional stability… and who among us can be emotionally stable 24 hours a day?

In all seriousness, the goal of work-life synergy is a much kinder and gentler goal for us because each and every day is different. We must look at each day as its own puzzle that has interlocking pieces which are constantly shifting. On some days, the puzzle will take on a more work-focused scenario. We may spend 80 percent of our time on work priorities (meetings, deadlines, networking events), and only 20% of our time on personal priorities (saying good morning to the kids, making lunches, tucking them in.)

The next could be completely reversed…perhaps we need to care for an aging parent or an ill child. Most days will fall somewhere in the middle, but every day will be different from the one before and the one that comes after.

Regardless of what the day-to-day scenario is, we must remember to give ourselves a break, and reward ourselves for all that we have done.

Ask for help

The ability to ask for help is a wonderful and essential strength. It does not indicate a weakness. When we inaccurately convince ourselves that we are all alone on the Island of Difficulty, we inadvertently isolate ourselves from others that can help. You are not alone.

If you are struggling with an issue at work – either as a business owner or as an employee – you are not alone. If you are struggling with aging and ill parents and don’t know how to stay focused on your work, you are not alone. If someone you love is battling cancer and you want to know how you can help or how you can cope, you are not alone. If you are at a crossroads at your life – either personally or professionally – you are not alone.

You owe it to yourself and the people that love you to get help – whether it is professional help, spiritual help, or simply reaching out to your inner circle of friends.

Research has proven that the happiest people are those that have strong ties to others.

In a Duke University Medical Center study, researchers found that people with fewer than four close friends were more than twice as likely to die from heart disease compared to those who had more friends. And for women, this network is even more essential. In the Nurses’ Health Study from Harvard Medical School, it was found that the more friends women had, the less likely they were to develop physical impairments as they got older, and were more likely to lead a satisfying, joy-filled life.

Finally: stay healthy

Women are notorious for putting themselves at the bottom of the list.

I often think about the standard operating procedure to follow in the event we have a flight emergency. “In the event of an emergency, secure your own oxygen mask first, and then secure the masks of your children.”

This is an instruction we should follow every day of our lives. In order to have strength for our loved ones, we need to practice self care.

I’m often asked, “Marissa, how do you go to the gym at 5:30 in the morning?” My answer to that question is, “How can I not?” To be strong for everyone that needs me and trusts me – my husband, my children, my extended family, my friends, my employees, my customers – I must strengthen myself, emotionally, physically, and spiritually.

I often say, “Strengthen the body, strengthen the mind, strengthen the outcome.” The 60 minutes that I give to myself every morning mentally strengthens me to face what is ahead of me, and to deliver what others expect and need from me.

In addition, it strengthens my immune system, my heart, my joints, and my lungs. It keeps blood pressure, weight, and cholesterol problems at bay. It keeps my cognitive functioning as sharp as a tack. It ensures I sleep well at night. It enables me to live my life on a daily basis without the need for any medication.

How many of you are overdue for an important doctor’s visit? A mammogram, pap smear, dental exam, dermatologist exam, a physical? I am a melanoma survivor. You must move your health to the top of your to-do list. Your conference calls, meetings, and presentations can wait.

To not practice self-care not only deprives me of my best self… it deprives others of my best self.

Giving yourself the gift of self-acceptance and forgiveness

I’m finally at the point where I’ve learned to be more forgiving with myself – to know that overall, I’m doing OK, the business is doing well, and the kids are on the right track. And I think this is really one of the best gifts we can give to ourselves – permission to be imperfect, permission to be in our own unique place without thinking about how it compares to a place where someone else is standing, and permission to exhale…to just breathe.

Every single reader one of you reading this has a story… a journey of triumph and inspiration. I hope this inspires you to celebrate all that you are, and all that you bring to your families, your organizations, your communities, and to the world around you.

What you are doing is extraordinary.

Image: Rance Costa, Creative Commons

Guest contributor Marissa Levin is Founder and CEO of Information Experts. Marissa was named a 2008 BRAVO Award winner, and a Smart100 CEO for both 2009 and 2010, by SmartCEO Magazine (which honors the region’s 25 most influential women CEOs); recently she was listed in Washington’s 100 Technology Titans by Washingtonian Magazine. She is also the DC Women’s Entrepreneurship Examiner. Describing her true passion as “helping other business owners be successful with their own business growth”, Marissa can be reached through her blog Marissa Levin.

This post was originally published by Marissa Levin in her DC Women’s Entrepreneurship Examiner column. We’re greatly appreciative to republish an edited version here with Marissa’s kind permission.

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Recently I was blessed with the opportunity to hear Don Yaeger speak. Don is a four-time New York Times best-selling author and Editor of Sports Illustrated. His professional and life experience really made an impression on me – in regard to personal and professional leadership.

His insight relates to how we can impact our companies, as women and innovators in business and more.

In addition to actually getting past Michael Jordan to make a three-pointer during a charity sport weekend, Don has experienced some other life-changing circumstances that have taught him what it truly means to overcome adversity, muster strength from deep inside at the times you need it most when you don’t think you have anything left, and live a life of intention and passion.

Some of these experiences include:

• Walking into Afghanistan with the mujahadeen as they fought the Soviets
• Going into Baghdad with the victorious Iraqi soccer team as the battle between insurgents and the US Military waged around them
• Visiting China in pursuit of underworld characters counterfeiting American golf clubs
• Heading to Damascus to find the last living terrorist from the 1972 Olympics
• Living with football legend Walter Payton and his family as Payton was dying to write Payton’s biography
• Roaming around Europe and the Middle East interviewing Iraqi athletes tortured by Saddam Hussein’s son Uday, chairman of the Iraqi Olympic Committee

Shaping his perspective
Throughout his exceptional career, Don has developed deep, lasting relationships with the most elite athletes that you and I will only get to admire from afar. From Tiger Woods and Tom Brady to Serena Williams and Shaq, these are the people that has shaped Don’s perspective on life… and now Don is sharing those insights with the rest of us.

16 Characteristics of Greatness
Throughout Don’s entire speech, I was engaged in every story of both triumph and adversity… his own as well as the stories of others. But the greatest take-away for me that I want to share with you is what Don has identified throughout his journey as Sixteen Consistent Characteristics of Greatness. These traits describe the sports leaders that are the best in their field – the people that we admire every day.

How they think:

1. It’s personal
They hate to lose more than they love to win. People that aspire to greatness know that defeat just isn’t an option.

2. Rubbing elbows
They understand the value of association. I always say that we become the people that surround us. Those of us who are aspiring to greatness, it is our job to rub elbows with the right people and to learn what makes them successful and what keeps them going. In turn, it is up to them to help us better ourselves. And if you can’t change the people around you, then choose different people to be around. Think about it.

3. Believe
They have faith in a higher power. It is proven that a strong spiritual commitment, and a strong belief in faith is linked to a positive outcome. In our current economic state, always remember the power of a positive mind-set and the importance of belief in beating the impossible.

4. Contagious enthusiasm
They are positive thinkers… They are enthusiastic… and that enthusiasm rubs off. When you’re trying to work through your challenge-professional or personal – do so with the belief that the best is yet to come. Stay positive.

How they prepare:

5. Hope for the best but…
They prepare for all possibilities before they step on the field. I am an eternal optimist. But I am also a realist. When I enter into any situation, I am excited about the possibilities it may bring. But I also know that there are a lot of variables beyond my control. So I contingency-plan.

6. What off-season?
They are always working towards the next game… The goal is what’s ahead, and there’s always something ahead. if you visualize where you want to be and work backwards from there, you can always be moving the ball forward.

7. Visualize victory
They see victory before the game begins. Positive visualization is a proven ingredient of a successful outcome.

8. Inner fire
They use adversity as fuel.One thing in life is certain… none of us gets through without adversity. What matters is that we find the strength to work through it. When we are knocked down, it may take hours, days, weeks, or months, but we need to get back up. For me, I’m at the point where challenging situations invigorate me. I’m mentally tough enough to embrace the adversity heading my way, overcome it, and learn from it.

How they work:

9. Ice in their veins
(Image Ice Drip by Scott Kinmartin, Creative Commons)

They are risk-takers and don’t fear making a mistake. Failure is one of our greatest teachers. I’m amazed at how much risk-tolerance I have acquired. But it’s the one component that enables me to keep growing. If I stopped to think about how much I have on the line, I would be paralyzed.

“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career,” NBA legend Michael Jordan, who was known for his late-game heroics in addition to six national titles, once said. “I’ve lost almost 300 games – 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life, and that is why I succeed.”

10. When all else fails
They know how – and when – to adjust their game plan. Flexibility and adaptability is essential to survival. I wrote a previous column on this exact topic… the ability to shift when everything around you is shifting too.

11. Ultimate teammate
They will assume whatever role is necessary for the team to win. Individual accomplishments are important, but the sum is always greater in value than the individual parts. How much do you step up to help those around you? When others around you thrive, you thrive as well.

12. Not just about the Benjamins
They don’t play just for the money. It’s never about the money. And if it is, it’s about the wrong thing. The money will come if you follow your passion… if you become a part of something bigger than yourself. As a business owner, I view our profits as a catalyst to build a greater organization.

How they live:

13. Do unto others
They know character is defined by how they treat those who cannot help them. One of the greatest sources of satisfaction is helping others, from a truly altruistic standpoint. We all have something to give… our time, our experiences, our compassion.

14. When no one is watching
They are comfortable in the mirror… they live their life with integrity. I always tell my kids… “What matters is not what you do when everyone is watching. What matters is what you do when no one is watching.” Your ultimate accountability has to be to yourself.

15. When everyone is watching
They embrace the idea of being a role model. As leaders, we have an obligation to promote positive leadership, and demonstrate the positive influence we can have on others. Our actions shape those coming behind us.

16. Records are made to be broken
They know their legacy isn’t what they did on the field. They are well-rounded. A legacy isn’t what you took from this world. A legacy is what you leave behind.

More from:

• Marissa Levin and her Women Grow Business series on women in business, leadership, and sales;
• Sibyl Edwards and observing the mindset of entrepreneurs.

Guest contributor Marissa Levin is Founder and CEO of Information Experts. Launching a new Women Grow Business series on sales strategy, Marissa was named a 2008 BRAVO Award winner by SmartCEO Magazine (which honors the region’s 25 most influential women CEOs) and recently was listed in Washington’s 100 Technology Titans by Washingtonian Magazine. Describing her true passion as “helping other business owners be successful with their own business growth”, Marissa can be reached through her blog Marissa Levin.

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Being warm and safe
With the fall season in full swing, nearing winter – many of us think of the wonderful gifts that the season brings us: the beautiful changing foliage, the opportunity to wear our favorite sweaters & jackets, evenings with friends & family as we share warm meals and blazing fires. But for too many in our society, the changing season brings a sense of dread because of plunging temperatures, lack of substantive food to warm our bodies, and a warm, safe place to sleep.

Homelessness is happening everywhere we turn.
It is not somebody else’s problem. It is everyone’s problem. Regardless of where you live, it is highly likely that you have come across a homeless individual or homeless family. Perhaps you’ve simply walked right past them as you carry on a conversation on your cell phone. Or maybe you’ve rolled up your window as they pass by cars stopped at a city traffic light.

As entrepreneurs, we can do better.
As entrepreneurs – leaders who are driven by a need to improve the world around them – we have an obligation to do better.

Business owners have tremendous reach and influence. They have the ability to inspire others to take positive steps, and call others to action.

Did you know that children under 18 make up 27% of the homeless population?
Families with children are now among the fastest growing group of the homeless population. They account for about 40% of the people who become homeless each year. 38% of the people already homeless are families with children. And 50% of America’s homeless of women and children are running from domestic abuse.

Homeless veterans
Did you know that of all of the homeless men, 40% of them have served in the armed forces? Compare that the the total adult male population, in which only 34% of the population has served in the armed forces. 19% of the urban homeless population are veterans. Think about that next time you roll up your window when someone walks by your car asking for help at a city light.

Homelessness among families upsets nearly every part of the family’s life. It disrupts children’s education and development. It affects the emotional and physical health of the family. It often forces family members to separate because of gender or age. Families with children constitute 20% of the homeless. Of those families who become homeless, 40% are families with children. That makes them the fastest growing segment of the homeless population.

So now I’ve pulled at your heartstrings, and you are saying, “Wow, that hits home a lot closer than I ever thought it did. Marissa, what can I do?” Well, I am glad you asked.

As a business owner, you can align with one of the many homeless shelters in your region to become a corporate donor.

We happen to support Reston Interfaith because our office is located in Reston, VA. We participate in coat drives and Thanksgiving drives every year. Like all homeless and transitional shelters, Reston Interfaith is in desperate need of food for its pantry. Donations are down significantly at all shelters, while the need for their services continues to escalate.

As a business owner
You can support Reston Interfaith’s need for food to fill Thanksgiving baskets so that needy families can have an enjoyable, food-filled Thanksgiving…something many of us take for granted. Reston Interfaith posts the information for the Thanksgiving baskets and the coat drive on their website, if you would like more information.

There are shelters all across the country
Just like Reston Interfaith, they need your help. If you have not visited a shelter, you should. For our older son’s birthday, in lieu of birthday presents for past birthday parties, he has collected donations to Reston Interfaith, and then has presented them to Kerrie Wilson, Reston Interfaith’s CEO. (Kerrie is a fellow SmartCEO BRAVA Award Winner, and has worked tirelessly to ensure that Reston Interfaith’s families get the support they need to regain self-efficacy and self-sufficiency).

Lessons in embarrassment, community, my son, and compassion
Through this experience, not only did my son gain the gift of a greater appreciation for his own life, he discovered the gift of compassion for children that are just like him…only living in a different environment. He donated the money he collected to purchase books and toys for these children.

One notable memory that has remained with him is that these children who live at the shelters board their school buses first in the morning, and exit the school buses last in the afternoon to avoid the embarrassment of living in a shelter.

So it is very possible that if you have children who attend school, they have school mates who live in a shelter, and your family would not even know about it.

There are so many ways a business owner can make a difference in the lives of others.

Toy drives, canned food drives, and clothing drives are just a few ways to make a difference. Supporting specific charities is another way. Donating products or services pro-bono is yet another way to give back.

Action plan for the next homeless person you meet or see
At the individual level, we can all take small steps to make a big impact. One thing I want to suggest to everyone is to go to Costco or another food warehouse and purchase a case of bottled water and perhaps some granola bars or another non-perishable item. Keep these in your car, on the floor behind your seat. The next time you are approached by a homeless person, or you see someone on the street, do not pretend you do not see them.

Give them a bottle of water and a couple of granola bars.
It very well be the only thing they have to eat and drink all day. In addition to giving them nourishment and sustenance, you will also give them something that is just as important… hope in humanity that we will take care of one another.

How are you and your organizations helping the local area?

How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the struggling, and tolerant of the weak. Because someday in life you will have been all of these. – George Washington Carver

More from:

• Mahalo and where to help the homeless in the Washington, DC region;
• Thrive DC on helping homeless women in the DC area;

Guest contributor Marissa Levin is Founder and CEO of Information Experts. Launching a new Women Grow Business series on sales strategy, Marissa was named a 2008 BRAVO Award winner by SmartCEO Magazine (which honors the region’s 25 most influential women CEOs) and recently was listed in Washington’s 100 Technology Titans by Washingtonian Magazine. Describing her true passion as “helping other business owners be successful with their own business growth”, Marissa can be reached through her blog Marissa Levin.

Image I Wanna Hold Your Hand by San Diego Shooter, Creative Commons

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Ladies, I’m back.
-with more of the top 10 women’s networking groups in the DC area. I hope you found the first five of this list useful. And the added suggestions from Women Grow Business readers to that list were fantastic (so if you have any more to add, please do in the comments for this post!).

1. YES!Circle.
   YES!Circle is the creation of Margarita Rozenfeld, who is an exceptional career coach, and completely committed to both entrepreneurship and helping others. YES!Circle brings together entrepreneurs from all industries, in all phases of the business lifecycle. Many of the YES!Circle events are held in the downtown DC area. The events provide an intimate setting of brainstorming and learning, and are true peer advisory groups for anyone looking to learn the nuts and bolts of entrepreneurship. One of YES!Circle’s most popular annual events is a weekend-long visionary retreat. The next one happens June 26 – 28, 2009 at Berkley Spring, WV. These retreats are for entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs and creative types who want to get crystal clear about their vision, mission and action steps to get to their next level of business growth. There are still a few spots available, so check the website for details if an immersion in entrepreneurship interests you. Yes!Circle meets monthly, and the meetings are always full of successful, passionate entrepreneurs looking to connect with like-minded individuals.
2. Executive Women’s Roundtable.
   EWR has evolved into an outstanding group of executive women from all facets of business and government in the DC region. This rapidly growing group meets monthly at Maggianos in Tyson’s Corner, VA. This wonderful setting provides great networking opportunities, and the luncheon speakers are among the best that any networking group has to offer. Speakers include leaders and business owners from all types of businesses, government leaders, political experts, national news correspondents, business coaches, chefs, international authors, women’s rights advocates, health experts, and many more. The leadership of Executive Women’s Roundtable is extremely strong, which ensures top-notch programming and ongoing participation from the best and brightest in our business community.
3. eWomenNetwork.
   eWomenNetwork has been around for many, many years. What started out as a small networking group has mushroomed into one of the most far-reaching women’s networks in the United States. The group has hundreds of networking events occurring during any given month, and the DC Chapter is particularly active. It is run by Susan Wight, who has transformed the DC chapters (meeting in both Tyson’s Corner and Leesburg, VA) into excellent networking events with strong speakers and great attendance. The unique aspect of eWomenNetwork is its national reach. The founder of this group had a vision to create a nationwide, cost-effective network for women, and she has achieved it. There are annual conferences, an author’s network, a coaching network, a speaker’s network, and many other benefits. You can find Susan’s information on the main website, under Managing Directors.
4. National Speakers Association.
   I am a newcomer to NSA, but I attended an event last week, and I know the President of NSA, Susan Trivers. I also know several incredibly gifted colleagues (Sally Strackbein, Jennifer Abernathy, Vernice Armour) that are active in NSA, and they are among the best speakers you could ever hope to see. Not only was I very impressed with the quality, talent, creativity, and diversity of the speakers I saw at their monthly June meeting; I learned so much in the short time that I was there. Professional speaking is truly an art. It is a discipline that requires knowledge in many aspects that extend way beyond an understanding of a specific topic. If you have any interest in pursuing a speaking career, or if you are required to give presentations in your line of work (and most business owners are required to do so), you should consider attending a NSA event or explore their membership options. I hope to be spending more time with NSA.
5. Women’s Business Center of Northern Virginia.
   The Women’s Business Center of Northern Virginia is one of the SBA-run women’s business centers around the United States. It is the flagship women’s business center; truly setting the standard for what all women’s business centers should be. These centers fall under the supervision of Ana Harvey, President Obama’s appointed Assistant Administrator for the Office of Women Owned Business within the SBA. Ana is dedicated to ensuring all of the Women’s Business Centers nationwide provide the resources that women business owners need to thrive. This center offers so much to women business owners. It provides classes in virtually every topic, from writing a business plan to securing financing. It provides excellent conferences and workshops, and is a phenomenal springboard and resource for all women business owners.

So there you have my top 10 list. I hope you found a few resources that you have not experienced, and I hope you have been inspired to get out there and connect with other like-minded women.

One more resource
I would like to mention just one more resource. The Hot Mommas Project was launched by an amazing, inspiring woman named Kathy Korman-Frey — who has contributed to Women Grow Business. She’s been teaching women’s entrepreneurship and leadership at George Washington University for years. And here is a description of the Hot Mommas Project:

The Hot Mommas Project is an award-winning women’s leadership program housed at the George Washington University School of Business. The research initiative started in 2002 to fill a gap in the education system:

Scalable access to role models, particularly female ones. Thus, our mission is to increase self-efficacy of women and girls across the globe through exposure to role models. To accomplish our mission, we are building the world’s largest women’s case study library to produce not just vignettes, but credible academic tools that can be utilized in a classroom environment.
I encourage you to visit Hot Mommas to learn more about this groundbreaking program, and to be inspired by heroic tales of entrepreneurship from across the globe.

Thank you for reading my post … more valuable information to come for sure. And what other networking groups and events have been a great support to you in the Washington, DC area?

Happy Networking!

More from Women Grow Business:

• Marissa Levin and her series on sales strategy and leadership;
• Liz Scherer and building quality partnerships (hint: would you marry them?);
• Patricia Frame and women entrepreneurs: value of building your development plan for 2010.

Guest contributor Marissa Levin is Founder and CEO of Information Experts. Launching a new Women Grow Business series on sales strategy, Marissa was named a 2008 BRAVO Award winner by SmartCEO Magazine (which honors the region’s 25 most influential women CEOs) and recently was listed in Washington’s 100 Technology Titans by Washingtonian Magazine. Describing her true passion as “helping other business owners be successful with their own business growth”, Marissa can be reached through her blog Marissa Levin.

Image High Five by LinksmanJD, Creative Commons.

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