After55:

I’m in the middle of a dilemma. As always, I’ve been doing a lot of reading about our demographic. In the past two months a lot of studies have indicated that Silver Vixens will not be successful because we do not participate in social networks, we see no value in them, we don’t want to risk our privacy, we aren’t that technologically savvy–and on and on.

Late one night recently I found myself wide awake wondering what to make of all the negativity. Should I give up and pull down the website? Should I change my expectations? What to do?

Here’s what I decided:

1. I would take each of the negatives apart to see if there was something I could learn.
2. I would go back and check the sources and how they might have benefited from their gloom and doom. Did it make them seem more expert? We all know that bad news sells and good news languishes.
3. I would see how their points applied to my business in particular.
4. I would compare their findings with what I have seen and heard myself.

I felt much better. Isn’t it amazing how being proactive helps our outloook? Here’s what I learned:

1. Each of the points had merit, but they were also opportunities! In response, I have added solid information to the site and will continue to add more regularly; I added the ability to respond to each other anonymously. I will shortly be adding fun, clear ways to learn to use the website.
2. Some of the authors were men–very knowledgable, but they haven’t lived our experience and perhaps don’t know the correct questions to ask.
3. Where the points applied to Silver Vixens, I mined them for the gold I knew was there.
4. We all know how easy it is to trust “experts” over what we intuitively know. I remembered that the worst mistakes I’ve made occurred when I didn’t trust what I really knew. All my knowledge has worth!

Yes, it pays to see what the experts have to say, but let’s not blindly accept their “facts.” Silver Vixens continues to grow and to make a difference!

Do your customers think about you? Sure, they buy from you, but do they think about you as you would like them to? The quickest–though not the easiest–way to keep in touch with your customers is an informative, reliable, regular e-mail or newsletter.

Make it informative by letting them know about one of your services they might not be using, an issue they may not be aware of or a new product that can help them. Ensure that it’s reliable by doing your homework so you know the information you are sharing is true and helpful. Keep it regular so they will come to expect hearing from you. That is one of your goals : to become a trusted resource.

The content needn’t be long or in depth, particularly if writing does not come easily to you. What’s most important is that you bring something of value to your recipients. Your sincerity will shine through. And use Spellcheck to make sure you are putting your best foot forward.

You probably already know about Constant Contact, a widely used program for just this purpose. Constant Contact will help you design professional looking missives easily. The company’s support is excellent. Sending a crisp simple e-mail will also work, but it’s not as eye-catching.

Like we tell our kids–keep in touch. The rewards are great.

This week I went back to reading Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat. He was struck that almost all the executives he interviewed used the same phrase, observing that “Just in the last couple of years” they had been able to do things they had never dreamed possible before or that they were being forced to do things they had never dreamed necessary before. Of course, this got me to thinking about our lives, too. We all remember the birthday decorations for “50″ as being over the hill or graveyard stuff. Maybe some of us even bought into it that the best part of our lives was over when we got that mailer from AARP. Now that we are “after 55,” we know the truth. Life has never been better nor offered us more opportunity.

Let’s talk about it. What have you done or been forced to do over the past couple of years for your business (Let’s not get into personal life stuff because we could probably all write volumes.) that would meet Tom Friedman’s criteria? What did you learn? I can’t wait to read your responses.

By now everyone knows I am a reading junkie. One business magazine I particularly like and read cover to cover is PINK magazine. In this month’s e-mail newsletter, the following item appeared: “It is really frustrating that after years of hard work and vigilance, we cannot let up. Though we think we have gotten legislation passed to help level the playing field, we then find out it has been ignored. Now we read that they are planning to make it harder for us to compete again. Please read on and click through to lodge your protest. Now the younger women will know what we have fought for so long.

“PINK Slip Update–and a Call to Action

“The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), former recipient of our notorious PINK Slip, has yet to comply with a 7-year-old law that would reserve 5 percent of government contracts for women-owned businesses. Although women-owned firms account for 41 percent of all privately held firms in the U.S., they currently receive only 3.3 percent of these contracts. ‘The difference in federal spending between 5 percent and 3.3 percent was $7.5 billion based on 2006 numbers,’ points out Linda Denny, president and CEO of Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, the nation’s largest third-party certifier of women-owned businesses.

“The SBA has now proposed a rule to Congress that would only allow federal agencies to implement the program for women-owned businesses in four out of more than 2,300 business categories. ‘This rule would make it virtually impossible for any woman business owner to take advantage of the 5 percent set-aside, completely invalidating the intent of Congress,’ says Barbara Kasoff, president and CEO of Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP).”

“To get involved:

1. Click here to contact the SBA and ask it to rescind the proposed rule. Deadline: February 25. (WIPP asks that you forward a copy of your response to Anna at alubiner@wipp.org.)

2. Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher has written a ‘Dear Colleague’ letter asking members of the House to join her in asking the SBA to work with Congress to redraft the proposed rule. Let your representative know how you feel and cc WIPP.”

Within the last week I have learned about Make Mine a Million $ Business from two sources, and am I glad I did. M3 (to those of us in the know) is a program of countmein.org, founded by Nell Merlino. She is also the founder of Take Your Daughter to Work Day. This woman moves mountains.

M3 is for women whose businesses are established, but who are ready to commit to taking them to the million-dollar level. As you explore the website, look at all the ways you can learn and benefit. I was particularly pleased that several awardees are “of a certain age,” and that means you can benefit! The next event is in Phoenix on March 4, and it will be co-hosted by Valerie Morris, the financial columnist for SilverVixens.com.

I, too, thought this sounded nearly too good to be true, but the program is backed by such rock-solid companies as American Express, Dell, FedEx, Cisco and Marriott. I will be at the Phoenix event: Be sure to say hello.

I’ve talked about loving my business because it is totally mobile and have shared that I have written my blog and column while traveling to the East and to the West. This week I am appreciating the flexibility of my business life because it has allowed me to keep moving forward though my husband was unexpectedly hospitalized for six days. The hospital has wi-fi throughout (and free). During the inevitably long periods when nothing was scheduled, I just whipped open my MacBook Pro and went to work. How wonderful to have a business that I could work on at any hour. Yet another reason that I am so happy to be an entrepreneur. What are your reasons to look at your business life and say “Wow! I am so happy I have this work situation I have developed”?

My new website is up! www.silvervixens.com. The columnists are terrific, the rewards will be great, the neat women will be so cool, and on and on and on. I can see wonderful things happening if we can connect neat women, shine our lights, share our knowledge and have fun.

The process had ups and downs, took longer than expected–OK, so I was out of the country 31 days in the fall–and turned out to be quite complicated. But it is incredible to actually see what I have had in my head.

Please take a look at it. I hope you find it and its potential as exciting as I do. I would more than appreciate if you would tell anyone you know who fits the Woman of a Certain Age description. I hope you will join and consider giving the membership as a gift to a family member or girlfriend. The more of us, the merrier we can make it.

Dreams do come true–not to those who wait, but to those who work hard and persevere.

Over the months I have been writing for WomenEntrepreneur as both a columnist and a blogger, I have been on the same personal journey that many of my readers are traveling. My short bio at the end of my column says I am a lifelong entrepreneur. I am in the throes of it again! I have written here about finding what would make your life easier or more fun and filling the need. Yep. I did that too. Remember the one about thinking like a young techie? That has been an important component too. So what on earth have I been doing?

In June I remarried after eight years on my own. Seismic shift. My new husband is semi-retired and accustomed to wintering in Scottsdale. Seismic shift. One of my daughters and her family, who I am used to seeing at least 6-8 times a year moved out of the country. Seismic shift. How could I reconfigure my life to maintain the professional part of my life that I so love and yet totally uproot it?

I knew I could have a totally mobile business, because I had co-owned a direct selling business that I ran my part from my laptop, but my current business had been structured on relationships in the Chicagoland area. So I looked at what I had. For the last two years I have had a cute little, do-nothing website that I couldn’t figure out how to describe what I wanted it to be, though I had built two corporate websites before and two since! I would spruce it up from time to time, but couldn’t find the vocabulary to move it forward. In early May, Lena West, the Tech Forward columnist, and I had occasion to talk about it. She gave me the vocabulary!

I used the process from my IT’S REINVENTION workshop and looked at my strengths (ugh! my weaknesses, too) and what I love to do. One of my very strongest qualities is that I am a connector. I am fortunate to meet someone interesting everywhere I go and somehow we are connected or I know someone who has been looking for them. (Last week in the airline lounge in Hong Kong a Chinese woman looked at me and asked if I was a writer because she is looking for a woman to write a book with her! Why me? But it happened I know a good resource for her). I love telling peoples’ stories. I love to laugh. I love business. I have friends who are experts in their fields. I love to share information I learn. I love to give dinner parties. I love color. I like to learn new things. I love to travel. I’m independent, rather fiercely I’m afraid. I think I’m smart and I like to be around intelligent accomplishing women. These are not unique, rocket science kinds of qualities, but they add up to me. So what did I do with this? I designed an online community for women over 55!

As I just typed the above qualities, I am astonished at how many of them are visible in the site (I’ll let you know when it goes live - SOON!). It not only meets my needs to meet women like me, but it also meets my need to be mobile. Over the last 5 weeks I have been in Italy, Israel, England, Hong Kong, Macao and Vancouver — and you didn’t know it. We have been connected though you may have been travelling too. How cool is that?

Just you know — your columnist is actively using the same processes she suggests for you.  Stay tuned.

Many of us have the old notions about starting a business — location, location, location, long hours chained to a desk, or to have your own business means lack of flexibility.  Though I know better myself, having co-owned a business with locations in 23 states that was entirely mobile, I still fall into that old thinking easily. Wrong!

Yesterday, I bought the cables that will allow me to work on airplanes.  I know my MacBook will definitely not last 4 hours on battery, but I had forgotten that several seats in coach and all seats in business or first class on most airlines have electrical ports.  I just picked up several hours of good thinking and writing time!  You can even tell which aisles by looking at the technology information on your favorite airline’s website.

Are you using New Think or you trapped in Old Think in planning your business?  Get up to speed — it’s a lot more fun in the fast lane!

I’m thinking about technology a lot lately. I’m knee deep in having a new website built — more about that soon. I have also had several conversations with both colleagues and friends about everything from search engine optomization to digital cameras and iPods. Each woman professed to not being up to speed on how to make the most of what technology could do for them. Hmmm. This is a disturbing pattern, but also an opportunity.

If we want our businesses and ourselves to be taken seriously, remembering that many times the deck is stacked against us immediately because we are women — and women over 55! –we need to keep our skill set and knowledge base in top condition. We cannot stick our heads in the sand and say we leave it to our consultants, tech people, or children. While we do not need to know how to construct the technology side of our business, we do need to understand enough to make intelligent decisions that will affect the life of our business.

We are already time crunched. What are quick ways to learn “Greek”?

1. Read the Technology articles and blog on this website. Lena is clear and practical in her thoughts about how technology can enhance our business lives.
2. See if your computer or software company has online classes for the products you are using.
3. Make a list of questions that would help your business run more smoothly and pay for a hour of a tech consultant’s time and learn what you need to know immediately. Of course, make sure the person you hire is familiar with both the hardware and software you are using. Be specific so you can get the improvements you want quickly.

The time you spend getting up to speed will pay huge dividends in your efficiency, functionality and your self esteem.

Here we are in early August, the month that most Europeans take as their holiday. Americans may grab a few days away, but in our bags are our cellphone, PDA, laptop, iPods to listen to our saved podcasts and all the cords we need to recharge our links to our businesses. What do business owners in Belgium know that we don’t?

I just returned from a 5 day road trip with Sweet Jack that was simply wonderful. Of course, I did have my laptop (which I had trouble logging on in Toledo because I didn’t read the instructions carefully), my PDA, and for part of the trip I had my cute pink Razor (which I left in Toledo and, therefore, didn’t have for three days!). This is a quiet time for my business, so why did I feel the need to be so tethered ?

As a lifelong entrepreneur, it is hard to believe my business will continue to thrive without my constant attention. Will the call or email I am hoping to receive be null and void if I don’t answer it within 20 minutes? I am afraid to find out the answer. On the bright side of the question, I had some time to sit and think which led me to solutions to problems that have been at the back of my mind for weeks. Sitting in the sunshine, unable to call anyone, gave me the perfect opportunity to let my mind roam. Creativity flourished, excitement returned, ideas surfaced. All this in five days! I wonder what would happen in a month!

How are you handling your summer vacation?

James Surowieckiof The New Yorker Magazine writes Philips Electronics reports that half of all returned products have nothing wrong with them, but that consumers simply can’t figure out how to use them. I know I don’t use all the features on my cellphone, digital camera, or MacBook. I enjoy each of them, but would like to be able to use all the cool features. I think it would be great to have a choice of learning styles for each product. Instead of only written instructions, many only available on the internet, I think having an instructional video also available would be an effective sales tool. Apple does a great job of having videos on their website. The current one explaining the use and features of the iPhone is excellent. After watching the video it makes it much easier to think about spending $500-600 for that awesome looking phone.

I just lost nearly two days because my Entourage program lost all my contact management information! I spent otherwise very productive time trying to recreate contact lists and find other sources for important information I had stored in my email folders. Mac guru Jeff at Lapin Systems found all my lost folders, but the lost time and the subsequent clean up were very time consuming.

Clear, easy to follow instructions will increase the loyalty of our customer. Everyone’s frustration level seems to be at a high, so clarity could be considered a new facet of customer service! What are your thoughts about dealing with confusing technology? Have you ever returned a product because you couldn’t figure out how to make it do what you expected? What does this confusion do to your productivity?