Wow, am I ever jealous of Francoise Gri.

She was named by Fortune as one of the “International 50 Most Powerful Women in Business” and has made the list for the fifth consecutive year. This is quite an honor and exhibits an obviously stellar performance and track record by Francoise. To be named as one of the most powerful women in business is in honor all it’s own. I don’t know what tracking measures were used to gauge the honorees effectiveness or business sense, but for five consecutive years, she’s doing something right. (Press Release)
Why am jealous?

I used to work for a temporary staffing service as well (no, not Manpower though), and had high aspirations of moving up in the company. Remember when I mentioned them in my political ranting post sometime ago? Anyway, temporary staffing corporations are really ideal to work for, since they employ other individuals anyway, they offer great benefits and lots of perks. But an easy job it ain’t.

There are a lot of responsibilities to deal with, multiple clients to manage (along with their personalities as well), and all while having to make quotas each month. I don’t know if Ms. Gri had/has all of those particulars to deal with, but I’m certain she has had her fair share of challenges in that industry, to say the least. Working for large corporations has both its advantages…and disadvantages. That’s with any job. But the main focal point is to steadily work past those things that are perhaps frustrating or annoying and keep your sights on the bigger picture. Although I chose not to remain with my staffing firm, there are other women in business who are confronted often with challenges and work through them.

One of the biggest frustrations that I ever faced in corporate America was always trying to keep up with and run the “man’s game.” It seemed that the only ones in power were men and to get to the top, you had to play their game. You can believe too, that they very often didn’t play fair. Is that a requirement?

What are some of the biggest challenges that you have faced working corporations? Was it worth the headache? Are the perks generous? What do you find rewarding about working for corporations?

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Copyright – 2008 Bridget Wright

Post from: EveryJoe

A Powerful Woman in the Temporary Services Industry

I said no again today.

• No, I will not help with the PTO fundraiser.
• No, I will not serve on the community board to raise funds for a new park.
• No, I will not bring 2 dozen brownies to my son’s first grade class party.
• No, I do not have a “second” to chat.
• And, finally, no I do not want that credit card offer/lotto winnings/a free ice-cream maker/fill-in-the-blank.

I said no and it felt good.

[Photo Source: Getty Images]

Being in business, whether you’re a freelancer, work-from-home woman, corporate exec or a telecommuter, I’m sure you’ve found maybe three reasons just today as to why you should say “no.” It’s so easy to overcommit when you have a flexible schedule and everyone around you “needs” you. Yeah, right. What were they doing before us?

A couple of months ago I had a “situation” that occured in my professional life that made me realize just how overcommited I was and how badly I needed to scale back. There are/were soooo many things that I want to do in both my professional life and in my personal life, but I was always struggling with time and finding time to make all of these things happen. With a business, children, spouse and a household, achieving my own goals was growing farther and farther away from me and began to seem like only a distant dream. Have you ever wanted something so badly that you could almost feel it, as if you already had it?

One day it hit me that I was never going to achieve any of my goals if I didn’t
1) prioritize,
2) set goals (with timelines),
3) work towards those goals on a daily basis and
4) just…say…no.

Now number four was and has always been my challenge, but this summer all of that changed. No more nice girl here. Bridget stopped long enough to realize that the ONLY way that I was going to see any of my dreams come true was to perhaps fizzle everybody else’s dreams. Not being mean or anything, but I had to realize that the world will not come to an end if I am not the one serving as president of the PTO committee or if I am the soccer team mom. It just won’t.

In my realizations, I had to adjust a few things and let a few other things go. I was serving on too many non-revenue producing boards. I eliminated three of them in one fail swoop. I was writing and maintaining other blogs that weren’t lining up with my core business interests. I eliminated 4 of those and started focusing on my blog here at Biz Chicks Rule and at Corporate-Eye. I’m streamlining my Professional Speaking Blog and Church Marketing Blog. The last two you don’t see yet because I’m, well, streamlining them. (btw, anybody know of a good WordPress designer?)

That was the point of downsizing my life. I took on higher paying clients and eliminated the ones that paid below my target hourly rate. I figure I would fare better to place all of my energy into a client that paid $1000 month than I would 5 clients that paid $100 month. Simple math for me.

I also streamlined my personal life by not allowing my kids to participate in so many extra-curricular activities. That just creates more work for us moms. Since all three of them are in sports, I made a deal with them to take their activities seasonally. In other words, my cheerleader is currently cheering for football season and when that’s over, then my soccer player will pick up and play soccer in the spring. In the middle of that, my basketball player will dunk baskets at the top of the season in January. I will not find myself running all over town, carting children to various sporting events and activities. And besides folks, they’re only 11, 7 and 4. OK, now you see what I’m saying.

Overcommiting is quite harmful to you as a business woman because it can keep you from being focused on the things that really matter to you. Aside from the obviously important things like family and job, everything else should be secondary. Watch out for the “little” things that seem like harmless activities but can turn out to be time-eaters. I’m sure you can identify at least two things in your life right now that waste your time.

1.

2.

See? You can and should eliminate those immediately if you want to see productivity in your business. Chatty friends? Turn on the answering machine. Spouse wants you to run errands? Set certain days that you will do just that and help him understand that. Slow or non-productive days? Set daily goals and reward yourself when you accomplish them.

Take each thing that you have to do step by step, carefully planning where you want to be and what you want to do and it can happen for you. I am beginning to have more productive, fulfilling work days and I even feel quite accomplished at the end of the day when I am able to check things off of my list.

What are some areas that you struggle with “no” in? How can you change this to start seeing some of your goals come to life?
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Copyright 2008 – Bridget Wright

Post from: EveryJoe

Avoiding Overcommitment: Knowing When To Say No

I work from home as a freelancer, and have been trying to get to the four-day work week for about a year now. No dice.

In order for me to get to that coveted four-day work week, I’d have to go up on my rates and work more hours of course during the other four days. With kids in school, activities and other outside family interests, it may not be possible to slide in extended days for the enjoyment of one extra day. But for the trade-off, I’m willing to give it a shot.

I figured I could work four nine hour days and still get the bulk of the work that I need done in that time to get that extra day. If I could get family and situations to be compliant with my idea, it should work. In theory, of course.

As a business person, do you think the four-hour work week is something viable for the type of business you’re in? Is there someone to take up the slack for you in case you can’t meet all of your deadlines or commitments? What would you do with the extra day off?
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Copyright 2008 – Bridget Wright

Post from: EveryJoe

The Four-Day Work Week – - It Might Actually Work

Here is a cute article that I found written by a stay-at/work-at-home mom who “manipulated” her resume. What can you add to the list?

Wendy Surber
123 Hair Torn Out Ln.
Premature Gray, Ca. 43210
Phone: (805) IAM-INHELL

Objectives:
To get through at least one day without the uncontrollable urge to runaway from home! To improve communication gaps. Such as figuring out what part of “no” and “stop fighting” don’t the understand.

Employment/Experience Summary:

Current Employment
As of July 21, 1999
Stay at home mom of three beautiful little monsters!

December 12, 1996
Gave birth to a screaming cat!
Nursed every hour and a half
Used as projectile vomiting target after nursing sessions
Helped her find her thumb when Binky wouldn’t work

December 20, 1995
After 4.5 hours of pushing, got her big fat head out!
Functioned on only 4 hours of sleep
Multi tasking

Additional Experiences

Line cook
Maid
Chauffer
Referee
Toilet Trainer
Doctor
Appointment Setter
Outfit coordinator
Safety Captain
Crossing Guard
Nightly Lock-Down Warden
Activities Director
Kisser of Boo-Boos

Education

I have learned:
Showers on a daily basis are possible, when to aim an over nursed infant at the floor, eat after they go to bed, always make sure to have the snuggle blankets in the car. If not, then plan on turning the car around. The sound of a joint popping can and will wake a sleeping baby, no such thing as peeing alone, a bored child is a destructive child, children are drawn to puddles like gold diggers are to rich men with weak hearts!

Skills:
Can get all three to adjust to routine changes, know when a stormy fight is going to start (my knee starts acting up), bathe a baby, make dinner, and do the dishes all at the same time.

Personal interests:
Researching the nicest Looney bins to commit my fried and weary nerves.

Blog Link
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Copyright 2008 – Bridget Wright

Post from: EveryJoe

How Many Jobs Do You Have?

What would you tell your 10-year old daughter to do with her life, if she asked you?

Loaded question, isn’t it? I’ve offered my (now) 11 year old advice on numerous occasions about her life and career. I always, always, always encourage her to go to college and then all kinds of opportunities open up for her.

What would you tell your little girl to do with her life as a business-woman-to-be?
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Copyright 2008 – Bridget Wright

Post from: EveryJoe

Advice For A 10-Year Old In Starting Her Own Business

[Image Source: sxc.hu]

It’s Monday morning everywhere (just about) and women small business owners, online marketers and female power executives are gearing up to have a phenomenal Monday. They’ve lined up their call resources, targeted which area of town they’re going to cover and have decided that they’re going to finally approach that business they’ve been wanting to cold call for a month.

But, is today a good idea to do it?

Why not market on Mondays?

A couple of reasons come to mind initially as to why it wouldn’t be a good idea to market your business on Monday mornings. Here they are, listed in no particular order:

• Decision makers are playing catch-up on Monday morning. They are returning telephone calls, putting out (proverbial) business fires and making other important decisions. They may not have the time or careful attention to give to you or your product or service and clearly decide whether or not to do business with you. Nothing personal, they’re just very busy.
• You haven’t “wooed” them yet. It’s Monday morning and you’re asking for something like the other half-a-gajillion people in their life. And, you haven’t even established a connection with them. Instead of starting off on a Monday asking for something, send them something. Have some pastries delivered to their office, or better yet, take them by yourself. Briefly introduce yourself, leave a card, the pastries and tell them you’ll call them at a later date. The donuts – $2.00/dozen. The lasting impression – priceless.
• Budget Reports/Financials aren’t in yet. Meaning, they perhaps don’t know if they have enough money to spend. Think it’s far-fetched? Not so. Years ago when I used to manage a small staffing branch with Olsten Staffing Services, we used to produce financials every Monday morning showing us our financial health for the week. That information would provide us with what we needed to a.) market to more companies b.) give out more bonus and incentive checks to the staff or c.) wait until the next Monday to do anything financially-related.

Assess what type of conditions may apply to the companies that you approach before embarking on any Monday marketing calls. Make sure your timing is right, the environment is optimal and that people want to see you coming. You want to create lasting and healthy business relationships.

What other reasons can you think of that would warrant you NOT marketing on Mondays? Can your reasons apply to any type of business?
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Copyright 2008 – Bridget Wright

Post from: EveryJoe

Business Marketing Monday: Why You SHOULDN’T Market on a Monday Morning

If you want to keep abreast on things Kristen and I write about on this wonderful women’s business blog, take a moment to sign up to receive updates via email, RSS or your choice of notification. It only takes a minute, but the rewards are great.

See you at the blog!
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Copyright 2008 – Bridget Wright

Post from: EveryJoe

Keep Up With Us

I was at a PTO Board Meeting this morning, and something interesting was brought up at the meeting that I think would benefit the business women here at Biz Chicks Rule. As business women, part of our job is marketing (of course), and often having to market to people and companies that you just prefer to not deal with. It’s just part of the business of being in business. We often have to deal with people that we would prefer not to.

Anyway, the interesting topic that came up was how we should approach local businesses in the community about educating them on things that the schools are doing, asking them to donate different things to the school, etc., etc. One of the ladies who is a small business owner talked about not “apologizing” for approaching the business, asking for (something). She said that we should be firm, direct but pleasant and simply “ask for the sale.” Don’t apologize, don’t sweat it and don’t (in some cases) take no for an answer.

Do you ever apologize when you market your business? Do you sing-song “I’m sorry” when marketing your wares? How do you approach businesses and ask for the sale?

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Copyright 2008 – Bridget Wright

Post from: EveryJoe

Does Saying “I’m Sorry” Get You Any Business?

At the beginning of the year, we talked a lot about goal-setting and priortizing our business lives. So here I am in August with over a third of the year almost over to check in with you and see how your goals are coming along.

Did you set any business goals in January? How many?

Have you accomplished any of those goals yet? Halfway? None?

With only four more months left in 2008, what will you do differently to meet your business goals?

For me, I have not met all of my goals yet. One of my goals was to add one speaking and one client per month to my portfolio. A very lofty goal! So as to not offer any excuses, I’ll just say I have to try harder. While I did add some writing and speaking gigs to my gigfolio, I just didn’t do the 2 each month that I had initially planned. But, like I always say, quality over quantity.

And, I have four more months left to do it. What about you?
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Copyright 2008 – Bridget Wright

Post from: EveryJoe

Are You There Yet? Checking In On Your Goals

Really quick, before you think…what did you spend your stimulus check on?

If it’s all a blur to you (as it was with me), then get ready to do it all over again. Maybe. President Bush and the White House are currently debating and deciding if in fact another tax rebate payout is needed to further stimulate the economy. Things are just not going ideally or as planned and they’re toying with the idea that perhaps the first round of payouts wasn’t enough. With the ever-increasing gasoline prices, the lending market just about tanked and the housing crisis going into overtime, our fearless leaders think all you guys need is just a little more money to get things going. Do you? Would a little more money make a difference?

As a business owner who has been through a few tough financial crunches, I can tell you that spending MORE money isn’t always the answer to getting out of a mess. Now I realize that my small business pales in comparison to the details of the business of running a whole country, but some principles do apply and can carry over to big projects like this one. If I were on the financial committee helping to make those tough decisions, I would contribute the following:

• Stop spending any more additional money that YOU DO NOT HAVE starting today. If you don’t have it, don’t buy it. Doing that will only make your financial situation worse. Getting out of debt requires immediate action. Doesn’t always feel good. Doesn’t have to…it’s just right.
• Revamp current systems that are not working. If you keep trying over and over and over to do something a certain way and it’s just not working, stop it and try it a different way. Just think that maybe that original system was a dud to begin with.
• Employ and do business with smart people. I know we like to think we’re the brightest Crayola crayon, but there are other brands that are just as good. Folks with experience are more likely to know what to do and how to handle certain situations. Being the boss doesn’t always mean you have to make decisions or that you’re always right. A good boss recognizes when there are bright ideas in others.
• Learn from your mistakes. Didn’t work out? Don’t try that again or do it that way again then. Learning from your errors can help you understand yourself better and avoid making that same mistake again.
• Learn from other’s mistakes. First, review why that person failed. If you think you can do a better job of it, see #4. If you think you can do a better job of it, see #5. “nuff said.

It’s hard to tell whether or not these stimulus checks will actually materialize since Nancy Pelosi is going to put it to a vote in September. Until then we’ll have to wait and see.

But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to have the House vote on additional aid when lawmakers return in September from their summer vacation. She believes more is needed to counter higher gasoline prices and other costs.

News Story Link

Do you think another check is a good idea? What would you suggest to Bush’s team if you were on the committee?

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Copyright 2008 – Bridget Wright

Post from: EveryJoe

Is The Second Time Around Really A Charm? Another Stimulus Check Is On The Way…Maybe