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The Green Girls Summer Giveaway

A Successful Woman Summer Giveaway

Green Business Women Summer Giveaway

The book references “A Scientific Process to Identify Your Skills and Match Them to the Best Career for You” and highlights 12 ways of understanding skills, with the premise being that if you know which top three skills you possess, you have a better chance of slotting yourself into a job that uses those skills.

If you’re a worker, manager, or executive, use this book to understand the different ways people process information and act on it — and then you have more of an understanding on how to “right-seat” people, which is what author Chuck Martin means when he says you can “work your strengths.” If you put the right people, using their topmost skills, into the right seats, then your travel towards your destination (business success) goes much more smoothly.

One interesting skill that I don’t think I possess is called metacognition, which in the book relates to the ability to “stand back and take a bird’s eye view of yourself in a situation and be able to understand and make changes in the ways that you solve problems.”

The authors studied more than 2500 people to get the results in this book, and for the Metacognition faculty, they came up with these findings:

a) industries with more high performers strong in Metacognition work are associations, manufacturing and business services. (Fewest high performers with Metacognition were found in healthcare or nonprofits).

b) Leading departments where these high performers work are research and development, marketing, and general management (fewest are found in clinical or finance industries).

c) About 1/3 of high performers with strong Metacognition skills hold the title of chairman/owner/partners or executive or senior vice president (fewest of them hold titles of consultant or employee).

What this means is that if you have a strong ability to understand your surroundings and to basically “know what you don’t know”, and take steps to make changes, you have a higher chance of appearing in one of the groups above.

The book goes into multiple other skills, including response inhibition, working memory, emotional control, sustained attention, task initiation, planning/prioritization, organization, time management, goal-directed persistence, flexibility, metacognition, and stress tolerance.

According to the research, the skills which you most identify with can be clues to tell you which jobs in which industries best match your innate brain structure: also, these skills are fixed, from youth onwards, so once you know your skills, you’ll always know which types of jobs best fit your abilities.

If you’re an employee, consider using the information in this book to self-direct your career.

If you’re a manager, the book also has excellent information on how to form teams and understand how to best “fit” all your individuals together in a way that best works for everyone involved.

Follow Chuck Martin on Twitter: http://twitter.com/chuckmartin1

We may be good at performing music.
We may be good with numbers.
You might have an ear for learning languages.
Your skill might be in woodworking.
Some of you prefer to think, whereas some of you prefer to act.

All of us have a unique skillset and particular sphere of expertise that we’re good at and that we enjoy.

Our main task while we’re here on the planet is to use our skills to match with our big vision of what we are here to accomplish.

Your soul, when you decided to come to Earth, had a list of items that you wanted to check off: perhaps your task you gave yourself was to learn how to be more compassionate. Or perhaps you had a checklist item to make the world a better place for children or sick people. Perhaps your initial task list included being a good husband, father, son, brother, or wife, mother, daughter, or sister.

Whatever that to-do list includes, you are participating in that work day by day. Your soul grows through your daily work. You reflect everything around you by participating in our shared experience of Life.

When you choose your job, or your occupation, or your ongoing daily practice, consider that you were born for a particular purpose. I encourage you to do as much as you can to bring your life work into alignment with your soul’s deepest need.

We all like to stay in our “safety zone.” If your constrain your safety zone to a certain amount per year (level of job responsibility, salary, net worth, etc.), then you never willingly or consciously go beyond that safety zone. In fact, you’ll sabotage any efforts to expand beyond your safety zone.

To increase your external world by having more (more time, more money, more ability to engage with the people you care about, more time to do the things you love), the first thing to do is work on increasing your internal perceptions.

You are who you believe you are.
Increase your external world by increasing your internal world.

You adopt a more prosperous mindset by considering what kind of value you bring to others. How do you help other people in your community, or your state, or country, or our world?

As you bring more value to more people — in the form of solving their problem, easing their workload, bringing them enjoyment or entertainment, helping their daily life, or offering better information — you increase your cash flow.

Your task as an individual and through your business is to identify and act upon all the ways you create value for your customers.

I believe that each person has a unique gift, talent, or skill — this is your innate reason for being alive. You know what this is by observing which activity/activities you enjoy doing above all else.

• What gets you in “the zone?”
• Which types of activities do you naturally gravitate towards?
• What hobbies or enterprises do you engage in for fun?
• What part of your life do you love?
• If you have free time, what do you do all day, without looking at a clock?

This set of activities may be your starting point — can you convert your unique gift, talent, or skill into an invention? a widget? a tool? a CD or DVD? a book? a downloadable digital product? a patented idea?

I fully believe that each of us on the planet has something to contribute through our life’s purpose, and it is our most important duty to fulfill that life purpose.

• Write a mission statement.
• Identify ten ways that you live your mission (or plan to live your mission).
• Convert those ten ways into products or services that bring value to others.

By doing the above — on an ongoing basis — you’re on your way to converting your ideas into twenty-dollar, fifty-euro, and 100-yen notes.

For example, I have converted much of my knowledge of good web design practice into equity partnerships, books, checklists, and processes that help my customers.

What will you convert into an object, physical or digital product, or service to help your clients?

Need ideas? Find information, resources, and support for women in business by purchasing my books and visiting my website, http://www.ASuccessfulWoman.com.

	Social Networking for Women in Business, 136 pages of tips on managing your social media. Available as an e-download or as a trade paperback from Amazon. Click to purchase the e-version for $8.99.
	Thirty Steps to Starting up Your Green Business, an easy-to-follow guide with 110 pages of details to launching and growing your green business. Available as an e-download or as a trade paperback. Click to purchase the e-version for $7.99 (use code: womenonbusiness).

Thank you for your support.

• What about spellcheck and correct grammar?
• How about making sure things are numbered and bulleted correctly?
• Is it fact-checked?
• Is the address right?
• Is the person’s name spelled correctly?
• Did you polish it?
• Is the packaging clean? No stains?
• Are things lined up in rows?

If you deliver the highest quality for project, especially that last 20%, you’re hired.

If you create a checklist that makes sure to cover that last 20% of a process, you’ll have a competitive edge.

If your proposal provides the extra attention to detail that’s needed to make the project a success, you’re the best candidate for the job.

It’s that last 20%. How do you deal with it? More importantly, how do you communicate your qualifications to your decisionmaker (the client, customer, boss, or employer?)

Most people do the 80% necessary.

What do you do?

Too overwhelming? Start simple.
Too confusing? Ask a trusted advisor.
Too hard? Hire out.

Click to view the moving counter:

What is your story? Share your story and personalize your company’s mission, vision, and values. Why do your customers support you? What does it mean to join your company’s list of clients?

Tell us an engaging story and give us a reason to care.

My story:
I’ve always had an interest in using my skills to fulfill the world’s needs, and I’ve always been good at the intersection between technical understanding and communication. I compiled my first computer program when I was 9 years old (in BASIC), and I started coding my own websites in 1999. I was volunteering for an educational nonprofit at the time, and we built a series of lesson plans around grassroots initiatives in 35+ countries around the world, including Central and South America, Africa, the Middle East, China and India.

In 2004, my partner and I decided to start our own company to better serve the types of people we want to support: small businesses, minority-run and women-run ventures, progressive organizations, and green companies. We quit our “day jobs” and launched ourselves into self-employment with 10K Webdesign, our full service web design and development company, which now serves over 200 clients around the country and is an excellent resource for those interested in reaching a targeted niche through community-building websites.

We specialize in highly functional and effective website design and we serve a variety of clients, from mid-size nonprofits to private family foundations, small startup businesses to brick-and-mortar retail companies that need a robust online store. Our team of top quality designers, programmers, editors, and content managers is now spread out over California, New York, and Hawai’i and we continually strive to do better and learn more.

I have been blessed with a supportive husband, two children and one cat. I like to read inspirational books, listen to classical music, get together with friends and family, travel, and go for walks.

We appreciate our abilities to do good work every day, and we always look for new opportunities to do the right thing and help other people.

I’m grateful for the many opportunities we have through 10K Webdesign to support our clients. Over the last few years, we’ve struggled with our own issues and learned many lessons. Most importantly, we understand the importance of reaching out, practicing honesty, demonstrating compassion, and having integrity. I believe we are all unique, we all have a purpose in the world, and our highest calling is to fulfill our life’s mission, and I’m happy to do this through my own business as a technology partner for our customers.

What’s your story?

“Social Networking for Women in Business” is a 136pg resource on managing your online social presence. Available as an e-download for Women on Business readers or as a trade paperback from Amazon.

For instant download click to purchase.

2) Follow your passions.
You are the only one of you in the world. Your unique spirit is special. Use your life to fulfill your stated purpose. Follow where your heart leads you, and trust you will find a way to turn your innermost dreams into a reality.

3) Raise your consciousness.
Much of the pain and suffering in our world relies on us believing that other people are “separate” or “wrong” or “bad” or “less than.” We are all connected, we are each human beings and we are each sparks of divine Creation. You are what you are, and others are who they are. We all are able to co-exist. When we believe that and act that way, we make a better world.

4) Find a mentor or a role model.
Learn from others who embody your highest and most conscious truths. People like Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Gandhi all demonstrated true acceptance, equality, and recognition of our equal nature. Learn from any lessons your role models may be able to share. They have created a path for you: you do not need to follow in their exact footsteps, but you definitely learn from their examples.

5) Volunteer.
Volunteering and doing pro bono work are effective ways to contribute to your community and “step outside” of your own reality for a few hours or a few days.

6) Learn how to maintain your own finances.
Learn about your money and keep a positive relationship with its growth and flow. Money is about exchange of energy: feelings of abundance or lack are connected to your own energetic feelings about how you are participating with the Universe.

7) Computer skills: get them.
Train yourself, read books, or take a class: it’s a fact of the 21st century that your ability to use standard programs will make a difference when you present information, share ideas, and collaborate remotely.

Keep a values list.
Keep your list of values in your wallet, on your wall, and by your nightstand. Continually strive to demonstrate these values in your life. Your life *is* your message.

9) Cultivate friendships in your life.
Seek like-minded people who will be your companions (literally, someone you eat bread with), and who will support you in your path. During times of joy as well as in extreme sorrow, your friends help remind you who you really are.

10) Take care of your body.
Your body serves you for the rest of your life, so feed yourself as well as you are able, drink water, exercise, and take all things in moderation. Note any kinds of extreme behavior and understand what drives that behavior. Your body is a great gauge for how your spirit is interacting with your environment.

11) Sleep.
Rest, relaxation, and deep sleep restore your mind, spirit, and body. Good sleep gives you much of the energy you need every day.

12) Care for living things.
Find a small patch of garden or some potted plants, or take care of a pet. Your respect and practice in this area trickles over into other areas of your life.

13) Love your loved ones every day.
Relationships thrive on constant renewal. Your sacred duty is to turn every new day into another opportunity to recognize the spirit and oneness in all of us. Love and feel loved. Practice loving your loved ones as well as your enemies. We are all connected.

14) Whatever you pay attention to becomes a reality in your life.
Choose wisely.

15) Learn a language, play a musical instrument, join a team, share your talent.
Foster communication, create community, and play with others by sharing your joy with them. Peace begins with understanding— conversation, music, and sharing help us remember we are all inhabitants on Earth, our shared planet.

16) Dance.
Every day, do a little jig, stretch your arms to the sky, or wiggle. Most living things move, sway, and stretch: remind yourself of your precious life by dancing.

17) Respect for others begins with respect for yourself.
Strive to treat yourself the same way you treat others: you are fair to others, you are kind to others, you are thoughtful of others’ needs: do the same for yourself. The more you understand yourself and feel the spirit within you, the more you recognize this same connection with others.

18) Talk with the people who raised you.
Your first relationship with the outside world began through those who raised you as a child. Revisit yourself and your relationships with parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. The more you recognize these specific individuals as people (not just as your caregivers) the more you break free of any holdovers or past “conditioning” in your current experience of life. They are who they are. You are who you are.

19) Move towards compassion.
True compassion means more than sympathy notes, tut-tuts, or listening to complaining. True compassion means recognizing who someone is underneath their exterior. Compassion is reaching out and creating a bridge between you and another person. The kind of compassion that gives life and eases sorrow or pain is the kind that recognizes the “oneness” within all.

20) Share.
Your life touches other lives in amazing ways. In the time you are here, you have an opportunity to complete your purpose. Share your knowledge, share your skills, share your home, share your experiences, share your abilities. Look within and find what it is that most yearns to be created, set free, or developed: that in-dwelling spark is the part of you that is everlasting and that touches those around you.

You may have the skills to become an excellent entrepreneur.

• Do you believe in your business and are you willing to make it work for you? Your passion determines your ability to commit to the work.
• Do you have a head for numbers? You’ll need to make projections and identify price points, at least until you can get some excellent hired help.
• Do you understand cash flow? Money comes in (income) and money goes out (expenses), but the bills don’t come in at the same time as the e-payments and checks come in.
• Do you have clients or customers ready to pay you? (add two points)
• Do you understand who you will be selling to?
• Have you made some sales already (this is a good indicator!)
• Do you know what your own strengths and weaknesses are? You can always find someone to help “round out” what you don’t have.
• What is your work ethic? Would you enjoy working at your business? The hours are probably longer than what you have at a “regular” job.
• Are you somewhat competitive?
• Do you have an honorable and progressive idea about how to make something better, stronger, faster, more useful, more recyclable, or more effective, or more valuable to your customers?
• Are you willing to work with others in your community such as associates, vendors, suppliers, or partners?

If you’ve answered yes to 5 or more of the above, you may have what it takes to run a business.

If you answered yes to all, you’re probably already in business!

If you have a green business, I invite you to register in the Green Business Women directory http://www.greenbusinesswomen.com/?q=user/register.

“Social Networking for Women in Business” is a 136pg resource on managing your online social presence. Available as an e-download for Women on Business readers or as a trade paperback from Amazon.

For instant download click to purchase.




]]> http://www.womenonbusiness.com/do-you-have-what-it-takes-to-be-an-entrepreneur/feed/ 0 http://www.womenonbusiness.com/how-to-increase-your-search-results-through-social-media/ http://www.womenonbusiness.com/how-to-increase-your-search-results-through-social-media/#comments Thu, 25 Mar 2010 12:30:47 +0000 Monica S Flores http://www.womenonbusiness.com/?p=3455 Are you just “managing” your online social profile? Or are you taking a lead by collaborating and participating with others through comments, wall posts, Twitter feeds, blogging, and discussion threads?

By adding a layer of proactivity onto our social media, we have the opportunity to use our social posting as a great way to increase the number of search results associated with our online profile.

We’ve all heard about someone’s off-the-cuff comment costing them a job, or someone’s derogatory Tweet resulting in a loss of respect or a contract award, but how often do we hear about people who specifically talk about their values and principles to increase the opportunities available for them?

Do a search of your name or your chosen keywords on Google. What comes up? A good mix includes news items, events, blog posts, Twitter statuses, images, and videos all related to you.

Are the first 10 results related to you and your business? If not, here’s a terrific chance for you to start participating within this sphere.

• Use your keywords and talk about your business.
• Use your keywords and write about your industry.
• Use your keywords and post about your events.
• Use your keywords and share more about your process.
• Use your keywords and discuss your personal story.

You will literally take over the search engine results by continually adding to the social media mix under your name and consistently talking about your 5-7 key phrases.

You’ll succeed in increasing the relevance of your posts by being focused and effective. Be proactive and share content specifically on your field of interest.

1) Focus on the topics that are interesting to you and your readers.
2) Focus on your main keywords.
3) Focus on posts that match your principles.

It’s always great to hear some person’s perspective on the news or the (fill in the blank) or the issues with (fill in the category) or the problem with (fill in this topic) — but for you and your business, I recommend you pick your keywords and focus on them to the exclusion of any other topic.

For the next 30 days, specifically talk about memes, phrases, and subjects that align with your overall values. Take an “evergreen” approach — will your article still be relevant in a week, a month, or a year? Schedule your posts on a daily basis, if possible.

Then, check your search engine results after a month to see how well you’re doing.

“Social Networking for Women in Business” is a 136pg resource on managing your online social presence. Available as an e-download for Women on Business readers or as a trade paperback from Amazon.

For instant download click to purchase.




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