After55:

When I co-owned a direct-selling company I was responsible for “inside”–sourcing, receivables, payables, inventory, order processing. You get the drift: If it wasn’t sales, recruiting or design, it was mine. We used Quickbooks and, once I got the hang of if (and I did get some wrinkles because of it), I loved the program. That was five years ago–centuries in software time.

Earlier this week I got to sit down virtually with a senior product developer from Quickbooks to see what the newest version can do. I admit to being dazzled. Intuit has  taken care of some of the issues that kept me up nights. For example, what a pain in the neck it was to change prices on 250 inventory items. The company has figured out a way for users to deposit checks virtually and have all the information show up in the appropriate places.

But I want to talk about somethings came late in the conversation . . . strategic thinking and marketing. As After 55 entrepreneurs, we usually don’t have a lot of staff or support AND we usually have extremely full lives in addition to our business. This leaves precious little time to step back and take a look at our business on a regular basis and make strategic decisions. Here are the two features that I think make the program amazing: Company Snapshot and Marketing Center. I’m going to tell you why I am impressed by these, and then I urge you to explore the site and see if they make equal sense to you.

Company Snapshot
On one very colorful page there are graphs to tell you the TRUTH about your business. Comparisons to previous months/years, cash flow or any of a number of completely customizable charts that are important to your business. With a mouse click you get a great-looking page that you can print or send. When I think of the hours I spent crafting a weekly report for Peggy . . .

Marketing Center
The thing we struggle with most is marketing and keeping track of customers.  In this new edition there is an area called Marketing Center that takes all the angst out of maximizing customer relationships.  Click the report that tells you which customers have ordered in a specific time period or by sales level and then select an e-mail template to say Thank You, We Miss You or to send a coupon, customize it and send it off.  It even tracks the resulting sales from these e-mails.  Omigosh!  What difference would you see in your business if you could have just this feature alone?

Let’s be very clear here–I got to hear about this new edition because I write this blog.  They walked me through the features and said they hoped I would write to you about it.  I am telling you all this, not because of any obligation, but because I loved the program years ago and I am truly, truly impressed with what I saw.  Will it work for you?  Depends on the size of your business, but it is definitely worth your time to take a look.

“We don’t know who we are until we see what we can do.”
– Martha Grimes, author (you have read Martha Grimes mysteries, haven’t you?)

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you know I’m a collector of quotes. One of the things I find interesting about these “collectibles” is how few of them are ascribed to women. In fact, one quote said that it was their assumption that Anonymous was really a woman! This isn’t as much of a digression as it looks.

One of the very best things about being an After 55 entrepreneur is that it challenges us to learn new skills (think computer, social networking, Quickbooks) and gives us something new to work toward. Many of us Women of a Certain Age have already lived very full lives and find ourselves looking around and asking, “Now what?” If you have a solid business concept and plan, entrepreneurship will provide you with unlimited challenges (that is not a negative word or euphemism for problems) that will keep you feeling vital and vibrant. You may even develop an entirely new appreciation for who you are and what you can do.

Now to quote a man, Dr. Seuss: “Oh, the places you will go!”

Last week I mentioned reading an article about unitasking.  So much has been made over the past several years about women’s ability to multitask.  I have been giving this a good bit of thought the last several months as I switched homes and traveled internationally as well as domestically several times since April 1.  Mind you, this is no complaint about my travel–I loved every bit of it–but I’ve been thinking about how we are so available 24/7, my cell phone rings wherever I am in the world, and e-mails arrive, too.  Is it any wonder I’ve been feeling frazzled, edgy and a little forgetful?  No, it isn’t. I, who used to be so proud of my ability to do three things (at least!) at once, am now enamored about giving my entire attention to the task at hand, doing it to the best of my ability AND enjoying the process.

How much more effective would you be if you focused on your major task until you completed it, or spent the time you alloted to start it?  How many more productive ideas toward a project could you come up with if you gave yourself a 15-minute brainstorming session each morning with a specific topic, pencil, paper and even a cup of coffee–no phone, no e-mail?  Try it for one, two or four weeks, and be prepared to be amazed!

I am spending a few days in Breckenridge, Colo., and in the 36 hours I have been here I am struck by how simply gorgeous the town looks.  If you have yet to experience “Breck,” it’s a Victorian-era town that loves its heritage as a mining town and loves its current life as a ski resort and hiking mecca in the summer.  What has dazzled me in these two days is the abundance of flowers everywhere.  I’m not talking about a pot of petunias here and there; I’m talking redolent with hanging baskets, beautiful containers and gardens stuffed with flowers of every color.

And what does this have to do with you and your business?  Pride. Breckenridge lives on tourist dollars, and we all know that the tourism industry has been hard-hit, especially destination locales.  There are definitely empty storefronts, empty places where restaurants once stood.  The town could have cut back on the flowers as a non-income-bearing expense, but it didn’t.  People who are on the streets are in a happy mood because there is beauty all around them. Shopkeepers are working together to give customers a reason to come into their stores, and galleries are becoming innovative to support artists in the area. They are acting “as if” all is well, while working hard to make their dream a reality.

What can you do to lift the spirits of all who come into contact with your business?  What can lift your spirits when you head to your office?  Flowers always do it for me; what does it for you?

“I have learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions and not on our circumstances.”
– Martha Washington

This was brought home to me just this week.  My daughter and her family just moved into their new condominium two days ago.  It is beautiful and the realization of a dream.  To say they are excited is an understatement.  A neighbor dropped by yesterday to say hello and pick up some pans from a dinner she provided the night before.

This person was the first to move into the building and had nothing but complaints and disappointments to air.

How do you look at your business right now? Are you accentuating the positive? Are you sliding into the common  vernacular and putting on a world-weary face and tone of voice? Remember that your attitude can make the difference. What is yours?

No, honey, I don’t mean the kind that removes age spots! Well, maybe I do. I am talking about focus, focus, focus. As entrepreneurs, and especially women entrepreneurs of a certain age, we are used to doing everything ourselves.  If you’re cleaning the sink, you can’t be making income-producing calls–unless you have a cleaning business!  What are your greatest strengths?  Focus, focus, focus on them.  When you’re that good at what you do, no one will notice the age spots!

If your position is everywhere, your momentum is zero.

Michael Korda

Before we go any further in the step-by-step of opening a business, I want to inject a note of reality here. I have just read David Brooks’ op-ed piece about genius in The New York Times. He echoes what I have read elsewhere, and what I think bears repeating here if someone is thinking that she will whip up a startup company or simply follow her newfound bliss and become an instant millionaire. OK, it has happened, but the number of cases is infinitesimal compared with the number of startups that go belly up each year.

The issue is that excellence has been found to be the product of at least 10,000 hours of focused work on your area of interest or desired expertise. It seems that there is no way around this figure: 10,000 hours minimum. What does that break down to? I’ve done the math for you because I was curious, too:

10, 000 = 250 40-hour workweeks = 5 years of 50 weeks

(generous soul that I am, I have allowed for two-week vacations each year).

Maybe you have a leg up on this number because you have worked in your intended field. That doesn’t mean you will automatically have a “Get Out of Work” card; it means that you can still devote necessary hours about the aspects of your business that you have not studied.

You already know I am passionate about owning your own business. I also want to be fair and clear–having the knowledge to do it successfully is not a slam dunk (I can’t believe I’m using sports metaphors!).

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature.”

- Helen Keller

 I hope you have now identified an area you would like to address by starting your own business. For entrepreneurs, there is a lot of activity between the two pillars of Helen Keller’s statement, and that is where success begins–with a lot of planning and hard work. Talk to any entrepreneur and you will find she is always thinking about her business.  Entrepreneurs love the “product,” and the intricacies and challenges of bringing it to market. Here is this edition’s question:

What three features or qualities make my idea/product/service different from what is already out there?

This may seem like a pretty simple question, but it will be the foundation for your sales and marketing efforts.  Don’t slide over this step.

Of course, there’s a side of entrepreneurship we don’t like to talk about–when the going gets beyond tough, when the water is rising higher than your Wellingtons.  Yet, we Women of a Certain Age know a thing or two about keeping on keeping on.  To whit, I am going to ask you to do me a favor–when you do, I think you’ll be inspired and motivated, and no longer weakened by seeing the world through rose-colored lenses.

Cindy White is an entrepreneur of many years standing, and the creek is rising.  I met her, as we each do with new friends we feel a kinship with,  through someone I know and trust saying, “Would you take a look at this?”  I did and I’m glad.  Here’s what I’m asking:  Please click here and read about Cindy–good looking, too, no?  If you feel like it, please make a comment–no pressure, just if you feel like it.  Getting a lot of visitors and comments/votes will not ensure that she’ll come out a winner, but it won’t hurt either.  What’s in it for you?  Glad you asked:

The opportunity to:

1. Meet one of us
2. Read a great story
3. Help a “sister”
4. When you’re finished reading, take a look at her website. Her product is nothing short of magnificent.  I have been in the garment business nearly all of my working life, and I have never seen anything like it.  Yum!

Let’s go, girls, and win one for the After 55.  Rah!

By the time we are After 55, we know what it takes to keep on keeping on.  Been there, done that.  Well, it’s time to be there and do that again.  What are the wellsprings that have gotten you through the tough times before–whether professional or personal?  Drag them out and dust them off.  Here are mine:

1. Have three goals I want to accomplish.
2. Make a plan.
3. Write copious lists to make sure I don’t forget something.
4. THINK about Nos. 1,2 and 3
5. Limit negative information from newspapers, television and internet if they aren’t solution-oriented.  Keeping up with the basic news is important–negativity is a no-no.
6. Hang with positive people.
7. Get out of the house/office.
8. Walk every day.
9. Work on No. 2
10. Repeat Nos. 1 through 9 as often as necessary
11. Get a massage.

I was conducting an interview earlier this week with a woman who started her business in 1983. She mentioned that she had done all the preliminary groundwork two years earlier, but had held off because of the recession. She also spoke of the challenges her company, by then a national firm, faced during the S&L crisis. As I listened to her, I was amazed. I knew of both of those significant downturns, but they didn’t affect me financially. I was a commissioned sales rep at that time–really, I was self-employed and entrepreneurial.  I had no limits on industries I could sell to, no minimum or maximum sales. I had a product line and a territory–no expense account, no benefits.  Sound familiar?  Oh yes, I had two children to support with no help from anyone.

In early 1983, as the country was just coming out of a significant recession,  I bought a very large condo from cash flow. In the late 1980s, I had a daughter heading to college and a non-performing territory I had just taken over. I paid for college from cash flow.

So . . . what’s my point? If you are an entrepreneur, you can direct the future of your business.  During the above-mentioned conversation, I realized that I had changed my client base during those two economic upheavels. Originally, I had sold mostly to the financial sector; by the time the dust had cleared from the second downturn, the majority of my customers were in the health-care industry.

How can you turn these challenging times to your advantage? Can you turn your attention to new areas? Can you use this opportunity to reshape your business?  Yes, you can.

No, I’m not talking about some Retina-A prescription!  As of today, the year is 10% over.  Can you believe it???  So the mother in me wants to ask, “What have you done so far this year to make your business better?”

• Go to a networking event?
• Read a book about some phase of yor business?
• Reworked yor financials?
• Thought of a great new marketing plan?
• Come up with a new way to use your product?

There were five to get you started…get started and let the rest of us know the list you have been working on, please!