Have you ever told someone about your business, and they give you the “doe in headlights” look?

They may even look at you like you’re saying this:

Solutions Start NOW

In this post, you will learn along with HotMommasProject.org as we undergo messaging bootcamp.  Gone will be the days of the unsavory reactions above!

Enter, Sam Horn

Below, legendary “Intrigue Expert” Sam Horn uses the Hot Mommas Project as a guinea pig and provides six tips that all of us can use to revise a pitch.

Read the rest of this post HERE.

Being a solopreneur can be lonely.  Today my day – and probably year – was brightened when my husband moved into my office. Well, officially he moved in last week, but today we made it look like a place that could be inhabited by humans.  Here he is:

He has fully outsourced every part of his business, and let go of his office space saving $18,000 a year. Nice honey! He’s launching another business basically teaching people how to run a million-dollar-plus business from one desk.  (He’ll be on CBS national radio on Friday…I’ll update with the link here if they stream). Because he is my husband, and we’re sort of heading toward this business/women’s education empire together, I have welcomed him into my home office: The Garage Mahal.

Loneliness and isolation is something women entrepreneurs deal with all the time. Maybe other entrepreneurs (e.g., “male,” “wookie”, etc.)  also feel isolated.  Here’s something I learned recently when prepping for a presentation to investor/advisors: According to the US Census…

Read the rest of this post HERE

Today I watched performers from RuPaul’s “Drag Race” show on a reality show “The Arrangement” which is about floral designers.  It’s basically Project Runway meets flowers.  You know what struck me, in addition to how gorgeous these drag queens were: They were having FUN. (Please note, blue dress is Gigi Levangie Grazer – a noted screenwriter and author who hosts the show).

So here’s what drag queens have to do with me: I realize I’m not having  fun anymore with my business.

Read rest of this post HERE

I think I’ve finally discovered the ultimate delegation plan for women: Your head explodes.  If your head explodes then, clearly, you are other otherwise occupied and the people around you have to start doing things that you previously did. Right now my head is at risk of exploding. I am unsure if these are real adult-onset migraines or if I was too overwhelmed some revenue projections I ran last week.  With the two brain cells I have left, I started delegating stuff to my team since the headache seems to be moving in like John Belushi, the over-stayed houseguest in the old SNLs.

Note: Building a Million Dollar Business Part time is the Hot Mommas Project “insiders” blow-by-blow series recently moved to our main blog.

Here is how it’s going (the delegating, that is).  Click HERE to read the rest of this post.

"I'm still throwin' the HEAT!" Kenny Powers, Flama Blanca

By Kathy Korman Frey 

So, here’s where the last post ended:  In the copy room at Funger 315 I realize my Powerpoint presentation displays as Gobbledygook,  I have no workbooks (“printer warming up”), there’s a lobby full of attendees downstairs, and I have two minutes until I’m supposed to begin speaking.

Oh, yeah, and a bunch of the folks in the audience are social media folks.

This failure is about to go viral.

8. 58 am With the Gobbeldygook presentation pulled up on the screen in the copy room, I text downstairs to my team and said,

My txt: “Does the PPT look normal?”  

Team txt: “It looks fine!”  

Whew.

8.58 am I can wait no longer. 

 My txt: “Someone needs to come up here to wait for the workbooks with the security guard.”  

I figure I’ll  give the intro, and pray the workbooks are printed and brought down as I’m talking. If  they don’t print, I seriously don’t know what I’ll do. Oh wait, I know:

Shirley MacLaine Freaks Out in "Terms of Endearment"

8:59 am I walk out of  Funger 315 and head downstairs to the lecture hall. The printer hadn’t even started, but Sis U must go on.

9.01 am When I step into the lecture hall, everyone is seated. Their backs are to me, and I see what they are viewing at the front of the room on the large screen. The WRONG presentation.  It’s dated June 2010.  So when my team was texting about the presentation that “looks great”…it was not the right presentation. I am not quite sure how this happened, and, at this point I don’t care. Action mode continues.  

9.01 and 30 seconds: I go over to the camera guy, “How much additional time do you need to set up?” I ask. A delicious five minutes of time. I feel like a character in a video game (sound effects) “By stapling papers in the hallway earlier, YOU earned FIVE bonus points to cash in with the CAMERA MAN!” (Sound effects)

9.02 am I make an announcement in my calm Stepford voice,

Me: “Welcome to Sis U! We need about five extra minutes while the camera finishes setting up, so please, relax, chat, and here’s a little music for you!” (Smile, hiding inner panic, of what I will find on that Powerpoint). 

9.03 am  From the podium control panel, I blank out the LCD, and look for the USB drive in the computer menu. It’s not there. The USB with my presentation is not showng up. I remove the USB from one socket (or whatever you call these things) and plac it into another. Bingo. It shows up. 

9.03 am and 15 seconds. I hold my breath and double-click the document to open it. Will it be Gobbletygook? One of my adorable team members tries to ask me something and I respond in my robot voice, “Can’t talk. Crisis mode.”

9.03 am and 30 seconds. Cha ching! The presentation comes up and the fonts are readable. I quickly page through the presentation, all okay. They are not perfect, but they are readable.

9.07 am I fire back up the LCD screen, look at the camera man – who gives me the thumbs up – and turnoff the music.

9.08 am

Me: “Welcome to Sis U! Today, you are participating in a pilot where you will engage in exercises, learning never-before shared.  Our goal is to produce measurable results for your career in three hours.”

I know I can handle it from here if my team walks in with those workbooks. I keep on with the intro.

9.18 am My team walks in with the workbooks. (dot, dot, smileyface)

I breathe a sigh of relief. A big one.

So – fast foward: Ultimately, Sis U was a success and exceeded my and my team’s expectations in terms of results (measurable results). Here is a fantastic write up from WUSA Community Content Producer Leigh MacDonald (@NiceShuzNoDrama) and LiveYourTalk.com’s @JillFoster

But in those moments, where I was one step away from severe failure, I was not confident about success. And afterwards, my knee-jerk reaction to chaos or disappointment is always to say, “How can I prevent this from happening again in the future?”

1. You can’t. One viewpoint is that I CAN’T prevent all crises in my life and work. They ARE going to happen. Accepting myself as an imperfect person, who cannot manage everything into perfection like a cyborg, is a big part of my learning here. I just breathe into it, feel happy it turned out okay, and know that I can survive this…and probably other things that will surface in the future.

2. Time management. When I first thought about this crisis, I was convinced the “answer” was time management.  Ideally, I would have done everything early, tested the PowerPoint, had the workbooks printed days before. But, in reality, I had – perhaps – one spare hour during the week. This is not to make excuses.  This was just reality. I ask you, what should I have said “no” to of the below items to give myself extra prep time? The White House Council for Women and Girls Conference, my two classes launching that week, my husband’s guys golf trip (planned to coincide with a music fest in Austin).

View This Poll

3. Delegation. And, of course, the zinger of all lessons for me here is “delegation.”   If I did it over again, I’d have people I trust involved earlier in the process. I cannot cap my own business by my limitations as one person. I need to EXPAND my vision of the business, and I believe that more people and partners is the way to do that.

Parting Thought: Is Your Business Fat or Thin?

A local business owner down here has described the “Fat / Thin” theory with business. He says, “Sometimes you business is fat. You have a surplus of staff and you are waiting for the business to support them. Then, there are the thin times. You’re spread too thin and need to hire staff and bulk up to handle what you’ve got on your plate.” This experience showed me that, despite the ultimate success of the event,  we’re in a thin time.

Can you handle the HEAT? I'm throwin' it. Kenny Powers, Flama Blanca

You voted in the last post, and you’re getting what you want: THE HEAT. Below – finally- is the scoop on the behind-the-scenes crisis at #sisUdc.  I am sharing the real deal for the purposes of :

#1 Being authentic. I find it silly when people pretend everything is perfect.

#2 Learning. Crisis management is a legitimate skill. Keep it together under heat, and you just might be able to keep it together in general.

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Scenario: On October 9, 2010 I am scheduled to deliver a “groundbreaking pilot seminar” called Sisterhood University (#sisUdc) to between 50 and 80 women at the George Washington University School of Business.  This is an important part of  ”my plan.”    WUSA (news station in DC) is going to be covering it. I have promised a lot to attendees.

The trouble begins at 8.21 am

8.21 am Networking is from 8.30 to 9.00. My team has been there since 7.45 am.  I run upstairs to my office to grab materials which are supposed to be waiting for me on my chair.  This is a common routine I’ve repeated with the office staff over my nine years as an adjunct at GW. I’ll send materials for class via email, the office prints them, they leave the papers on my chair. All good, right?

8.22 am I unlock the door to my office. The materials are sitting on my chair. Whew. I fan through the piles just two be sure. There are only two piles. There should be THREE piles.  The most important thing is missing: The participant workbook.  The workbooks are THE central part of the entire workshop. The are NOT THERE. A “freak out” starts to rise within me, I suppress it so I can think straight. In case this is not crystal clear, the entire anchor of Sis U – the workbook – is MISSING.

The entire anchor of Sis U – the workbook – is MISSING.

P.s. For those of you who think “Oh, just get them to write on their own paper.” This is a techy crowd. I’ve learned through experience: Laptop, yes. Paper, no.

8.23  am In a “pretending-I’m-not-frothing-at-the-mouth” frenzy, I call the senior secretary for the Department of Management. It’s the WEEKEND, but,  I am desperate. She never got the workbooks. She printed everything she got.  My document must have bounced. My first thought is “I’m an ID-iot!” How could I not have noticed this?Many reasons, as we’ll discuss.

Triage

8.24 am I shift into some strange kind of business triage mode where I start quickly prioritizing and assessing what needs to be done (all the while with a horrible nervous feeling). FIRST, I run downstairs and announce to the team:

“You are going to have to hold down the fort, there is a major problem I have to deal with upstairs. Keep your phones on.”

Lesson: A team to “hold down the fort” is key.

8.25.00 am Attendees look at me expectantly as I zoom past, grab my phone, head over to the elevator bank of Funger Hall and press the “up” button. I can’t waste any minutes saying “hi.” Attendees probably think I have some kind of social anxiety disorder or something as I run around like a weird animal afraid to make eye contact.

I run around like a weird animal afraid to make eye contact.

8.25.30 am Over at the elevator banks, one attendee who has strayed from the crowd asks, ”Can I do anything to help you?”  She must have seen my “inner freak-out” bubbling to the surface, and not been fooled by my “scurring rodent” routine.  I put on my best Stepford voice: “Thaaaakkknks hon, just have to run upstairs and deal with something real quick,” I say. HA! Understatement of the year.

8.26.00 am After much toe tapping and pacing, the elevator arrives. I hop on. I step in and press “3.” Nothing happens. “Is THIS how it’s gonna be?” I ask and look up at the florescent light grid. Sometimes, I seriously think WE are the rats in the maze for someone who is experimenting with us.

8.26.30 am I step out of the broken elevator, and press “up” again. I fear ALL the elevators are broken. A bum elevator is a known occurence from time to time in Funger Hall. I feel lame when I realize, even in my 9th year teaching here as an adjunct…I have no idea where the stairs are.  Finally, a new elevator arrives. I press “3.” The doors close. With my luck, I’m going to get stuck in the elevator. Then – at least – I’d have the perfect excuse.  Ding….ding….third floor, doors open.  NEXT, time for a serious Workbook Plan B.

Time for a serious Workbook Plan B.

Copy Room in Funger 315 “No One Gets into See the Wizard.”

8.27 am I quickly walk from the elevators over to the Funger 315 (copy room is in Funger 315). I try to open the door. LOCKED. I try another entrance. LOCKED.  I mysteriously start channeling a sailor; a sailor with very bad language.

8.28 am I call 994-1000, the main GW number, and ask for security.

• GWU Security: “George Washington University Security.”
• Me: “Hi, this is Professor Frey in the School of Business. I need to get into Funger 315. It’s an emergency. I ‘m supposed to speak to a group at 9. Can someone please let me in?”
• GWU Security: “Okay, we’ll put in the request.”
• Me: “Does that mean they’re coming now? What does that mean time-wise?”

Please Note: I am  trying to act like a normal person when – in fact – I am getting ready to pull a full-fledged Shirley MacLaine.

• GWU Security: “It’ll be about five, ten minutes.”

At this point, the difference between five and ten minutes feels like the hugest time swing in the world.

Shirley MacLaine Freaks Out in "Terms of Endearment"

8.29 to 8.35 am I wait. It’s painful. Like root canal painful. Security still doesn’t show up. I wind up channeling the sailor with very naughty language. Again.

I wait. It’s painful. Like root canal painful.

8.35.00 am I called security again. “Oh, it’ll be about five minutes.” I totally don’t believe them, just like I don’t believe Diamond Cab when they say they’ll have a driver at my house in “about 10 minutes.” I am going to have to enact a Plan B. A very, very lame and desperate Plan B.

8.35.30 am I grab a ream of copy paper and a stapler from my office and crouch in the hall outside of Funger 315 (where the copy room is). “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven”…I am counting out – by hand – seven pieces of plain paper and stapling them together.  ”This is just pathetic,” I say to myself. I watch the door to Funger 315 , crouching with paper and stapler, looking like some weird corporate cavewoman.

I am…crouching with paper and stapler, looking like some weird corporate cavewoman.

8.40.00 am Security shows up. Hallelujah!

8.40.15 am Not so hallelujah is when the guard says, “Do you have your GW ID?” Eeek! I dont’ carry anything with me on event days. Nightmare! I start fumbling with my phone, getting ready to call someone from the department to vouch for me. This person could be “my other brother Daryl” and even as I raise my phone I am highly skeptical about security buying this.

8.40.30 am In a stroke of crisis-brilliance, perhaps the ONLY brilliance of the day, I notice a photo of me on the wall…”Oh oh! This is me!” I waive him over to a display case that has all the faculty and their pictures, I point to my picture. He nods and lets me in the office. I love you Stephanie Gresham! (Who did this display board.).

8.42 am By this time, I have 18 minutes, a lobby full of attendees, no workbooks for the attendees, and no guarantee that I can even work the copy room stuff to make this happen. I seriously feel like my reputation is on the line here. This is a social media crowd and, if I mess up, it’s going viral. I turn on the computer outside the copy room, find the password. I look at my email to see if I can print out the workbook from the bounced email file. No such luck.  Nada.

8.43 am I open PowerPoint, and realize I am going to have to make an entirely new workbook…in 10 minutes.  I try to focus on the screen in the dark office, because it’s CLOSED for the weekend, and work fast.

8.44 am I quickly type “Section 1″  on Page 1 of the workbook. I try to add a new page.  This is PowerPoint 2007.  All the computers have been upgraded. I can’t figure out how to add a new slide.  Click, click click. Pointless. Zero idea what I’m doing. And I’m pretty techy. This is very anxiety-provoking.  It seemed like everything was working against me. I thought:

“This is TOO close.  There is a VERY good chance I am going to fall flat on my face here.”

8.47 am I try to keep my brain under control and keep forging ahead. But, apparently my mouth was still moving….

• Me: “Oh no, oh no, oh no.”
• Security Guard: “Is everything okay?”
• Me: “This is PowerPoint 2007. All the terminals have been upgraded. I can’t figure out how to add a new slide.”
• Security Guard: “Oh, I can help you. I’ve done tons of PowerPoint presentations.” (Hallelujah plays in background).
• Me: “Seriously, I you are the best. I cannot thank you enough.”
• Security Guard: “This is much better than a typical call of dealing with a homeless person who has wandered onto campus.”

Lesson: Hire security guards who know PowerPoint.

8.53 am I finish the seven page workbook.

8.54 am I figure out how to send the document to the printer, left staple, 80 copies.

8.55 am “The printer is warming up.”

8.55.30 am I use the “spare time” to pull up the presentation that I am giving downstairs. Since they just upgraded all the computers to PowerPoint 2007, I better just make sure.

8.55 am Gobbeldygook!  All of the letters looked like symbols. The presentation is unreadable.

8.55 am So, at this stage, I have no workbook as I’m not sure the copier will really work., my presentation is Gobbledygook, and I am supposed to start talking in five minutes downstairs to a group of women participating in the pilot – some of whom have traveled from out of state!

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Fun enough for you yet?  Stay tuned for Part II of this post to see how we successfully excavated ourselves from this mess, and pulled off this successful event. Subscribe to this blog at the right via email or Facebook. Lessons learned thus far include:

So far, here is what I’ve learned based on the above:

• Crisis Management: Practice suppressing your inner “freak out” – it will help you some day.
• Font-astrophe: THIS is why people say “Don’t use weird fonts.” My guess is Times New Roman serves up just fine no matter what your Microsoft office version.
• Time management: Bad time management during the week of created this pressure cooker environment. Having all materials ready WAY ahead of time is how I normally roll. But…..there was a White House Council on Women and Girls event. I launched two classes. My husband was out of town (we have two kids that cannot be raised by wolves and require human care and feeding). Was it worth it?

Click for post soundtrack

In my days as an analyst in the merger and acquisition/competitive analysis industry, I would listen with utter shock as heads of major corporations would pour their “business hearts” out to my team.  Product x was lagging in sales, and consumers hated it. They asked us for help.  They were getting killed by a foreign competitor. Could we help them? We were the business therapists for corporate America. I always wondered if they spoke this way to everyone, or just a select few. Whatever the methodology, they seemed clear on one thing:  Our clients had the wisdom to realize they must confront reality, to change reality.

Confront reality, to change reality.

A lot of entrepreneurs “spin it.” You have to, for funders, clients, etc.  ”How is everything?” “Oh, greeeaaat! Greeaaaat!” But, when DO we share the truth? So, when I detailed the crisis which almost de-railed #sisUdc – Sisterhood University – last weekend, my husband:

• #1. Couldn’t believe I survived without having a nervous breakdown and
• #2. Discouraged me from writing about it.

Now mind you, everything turned out great (see news coverage), but it was quite the juggling act getting there.

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Me, on walk this a.m. with hubby:  ”I wrote a post describing the fire-fighting I did behind the scenes before #sisUdc.”

Husband:  ”Uuuuuhhhh, I wouldn’t write about that. I think you can use other examples of crisis.  So many people think you do great work. Why jeopardize that?”

Me:  ”Because I go through the tough times like everyone, and have to balance a ton of stuff just like the women in the audience. It seems silly to pretend I don’t or that everything is perfect.”

Husband: “Veeeeerrryyy interesting.”

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So, I am still not sure I should “out” the series of crises that almost prevented #sisUdc from happening. Do I share what REALLY went on behind the scenes?  Please vote below.

View This Poll

Subscribe via email or follow us on Facebook (right column) to see if I wind up writing about this.

Click pic for music

In the last post I shared struggles with the following:

• In an effort to stave off the vampirism of my professional drive, I’ve entered a professional coma.
• Or….am I simply entering a new, more mature phase of my life?

All of this was brought about when two angel investors jumped all over the Hot Mommas Project business model during the month of August.  We have the credibility. We produce great results in our classes with women. I am affiliated with a university and am an entrepreneur. And some other stuff. All of these things make the investors excited.  The real challenge is at home and how all of “this” will work. My husband is pushing me to kick it up a notch.  Should I? He even says he’ll help me. We’re a good team, see, just look at these T-shirts he got us…

Doesn’t this just spell “I support you honey?”

Pro argument: Don’t invite the vampire in. Having toned down the maniacal drive is a good thing. This is the “new phase” of my life where I learn that, in fact, the CEO of a major nonprofit being a snit is NOT that big a deal, but my daughter double-downing on Tylenol IS a big deal.  There’s maturity, perspective, and fewer highs and lows. DON’T LET THE VAMPIRE BACK IN!!

Con argument: Invite the vampire in. I’m in a professional coma. The old “get-obsessed-and-do-whatever-it-takes-to-get-it-done” part of me is possibly gone, or on hiatus. Only, no one has cured me of my coma or – conversely – ordered a DNR. I’m probably the only one who can do either. It’s time to welcome back our old friend…maybe there can be some cross-breeding with a Fairy like in True Blood so I can walk in the light with my kids and not be a professional troll/vampire holed away somewhere.

Sookie, a fairy on True Blood, whose blood allows Vampires to walk in the daylight. Bonus!

Well, “crat“ (this is my seven year-old’s attempt at a curse word).

Both of these sound sort of compelling.

I wonder if the answer is …. BOTH. I am BOTH in a new phase of my life, but also in a professional coma (compared to my past vampire drive self). So, what to do?  The main reason I don’t kick it up a notch is:

1. I get tired and

2. People in my house get cranky

If I’m not there to make things better, then…well….and that is when I came up with the Part Time Worker’s Bill of Rights. To keep people from thinking they’re doing too much, or not enough, and get my reinforcements in gear if I do hop back on the runaway train.

Part Time Worker’s Bill of Rights (Draft)

1. There is no such thing as “part-time.” The part-time worker is working ALL of the time. It’s really “split full-time.” List typical schedule here:

• Typical schedule of split full-timer:________________________________

2. The part-time worker is home more often because it is understood that role has value. That value should be recognized and, if necessary, quantified to ensure a home filled with mutual respect for each other’s roles and skills sets. Quantify the numerical or other value of the part-time and full-time worker below:

• Part-time professional worker:  ____________________________________
• Full-time professional worker:  ____________________________________

3. Grievances of the part-time worker can and should be discussed, as they should for any member of the household. List what’s working and what’s not to be raised at a Sunday family meeting at 4:00. Use “I statements” in describing grievance, and make requests, not demands.

• What’s working: _______________________________________________
• What’s not working: _______________________________________________

4. The part-time worker reserves the right to “kick it into high gear.” If there is an opportunity,  he/she should expect some means to establish spouse and family support. Write an example of event, and type of support needed:

• Kick it into high gear event/project example: __________________________________
• Family/spouse support expected: _________________________________

5. The part-time worker should have a plan. Will they go back to full-time, if so when? Will they continue to work part-time? If so, the driven part-timer has an obligation to attempt to maximize “power per hour” or the amount accomplished/amount earned due to constricted hours. Write work schedule and plan for improving power per hour here:

• Schedule: __________________________________________________________________
• Power per hour tips: __________________________________________________________
• Power per hour improvement plan: __________________________________________________

That’s as far as I’ve gotten.

What am I missing?

Related links:

Here is someone running for Senate with a platform of a policy-oriented Part Time Workers Bill of Rights

Read REAL Bill of Rights here.

From BPW Foundation: Women: Like Men, Only Cheaper

Momentum Resources: Part-time work for skilled professionals. Momentum DC CEO’s Hot Mommas Case here.

Hot Mommas Project Talk Shoe Audio Blog Episodes

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What is this, where I am, who are you? If this is your first time here, this is the insider’s blog for The Hot Mommas Project. We are a women’s leadership project housed at the George Washington University School of Business (where I teach) and have an audacious goal of becoming a million dollar venture…while being led by a mom working part time. Since I started this blog, we have become the world’s largest women’s case study library. We showcase the stories of the women in your life in a TEACHABLE format, and they are published in major textbooks and used by educators. Click here to nominate someone.  Click here for about page. Click here to check out our classes which are producing stunning increases in self-confidence for women and girls.

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If you’re like me, back from summer vacation, the grim reality is approaching like estimated taxes: It’s time to be a productive member of society again. Debbie Downer Soundbyte

But just HOW productive? That is the question I’m grappling with today…and, kind of like everyday. I remember getting a survey for Harvard Business School Alumnae years ago. It asked if I worked part time, or full time. This study became the basis for the media flurry of “opting out” articles and TV segments. I thought, “You’re missing the point. I work part-time, and make more than I used to make working full-time.” Yet, the decision to be home more seems to relegate me into this land of the “professional coma.” I find my own flexibility confusing sometimes. One day is go go go professionally. The next day is subsumed by kid stuff, and the little voice says:

“Oh, remember all those hopes and dreams and cool goals? Yeah, just stick those in the ’70s style trash compactor and be happy about it, little lady.” (Dot-dot-smiley-face).

More people have to deal with part and flex-time:

• In this Women’s Business Fact Sheet, we learn an interesting fact: More women prefer to work part-time versus men. This one sentence, alone, could fuel some excellent cocktail chatter.
• Newsweek reports that one in five Americans works non-standard hours.

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What is this, where I am, who are you? If this is your first time here, this is the insider’s blog for The Hot Mommas Project. We are a women’s leadership project housed at the George Washington University School of Business (where I teach) and have an audacious goal of becoming a million dollar venture…while being led by a mom working part time. Since I started this blog, we have become the world’s largest women’s case study library. We showcase the stories of the women in your life in a TEACHABLE format, and they are published in major textbooks and used by educators. Click here to nominate someone.  Click here for about page. Click here to check out our classes which are producing stunning increases in self-confidence for women and girls.

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So, how do these factoids apply to our real lives? Here’s a quasi-interesting tale. On vacation at the beach, my husband and I took a walk and talked about plans for the fall. Okay, that’s a lie. We sat at our computers and opened Outlook and were scheduling like total nerds and sending each other appointments. He (Josh)  has a lot of commitments because he is chapter president of EO (Entrepreneur’s Organization – formerly YEO).  I shared an observation with him: That, recently, he has been on the “EO Crack” big time.  He has a killer board, is all revved up, and can’t seem to “put it down” if you know what I mean.

I empathize. This was me at a certain point in time.  Now, I work part-time which I started doing when I had my second kid.  I am deciding if I feel evolved, or lame. Am I on a weird kind of “professional-drive-prozac”…in some metaphorical institution for part-time workers, wandering around with bed-head and a weird gender-neutral gown that ties in back? A tech-guy at x4243 and a fancy lunch would be the professional equivalent of a mani-pedi right now.

Do I want the professional-crack back? To be continued…. Former professional “career crack addicts” – where is this going?

Related links:

Here is someone running for Senate with a platform of a policy-oriented Part Time Workers Bill of Rights

Read REAL Bill of Rights here.

From BPW Foundation: Women: Like Men, Only Cheaper

Momentum Resources: Part-time work for skilled professionals. Momentum DC CEO’s Hot Mommas Case here.

The next year will be key to see if I can really pull this off.

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What is this, where I am, who are you? If this is your first time here, this is the insider’s blog for The Hot Mommas Project. We are a women’s leadership project housed at the George Washington University School of Business (where I teach) and have an audacious goal of becoming a million dollar venture…while being led by a mom working part time. Since I started this blog, we have become the world’s largest women’s case study library. We showcase the stories of the women in your life in a TEACHABLE format, and they are published in major textbooks and used by educators. Click here to nominate someone.  Click here for about page. Click here to check out our classes which are producing stunning increases in self-confidence for women and girls.

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MAC DADDY SUMMARY:

The major learnings for me have been:

• Persistence: Keep pressing, pushing, and smushing on the idea until it “clicks.”
• Mentors: Share with mentors, it will amplify your idea and impact.
• Operationalize: The idea is part one, part two is creating the “machine” behind it.
• Delegation –  The Org Chart in Your Head: The machine includes people, who you meet by actually talking…at events, via coffees, over the phone. That is when the TRUE connection happens. They will fall into place in the “org chart in your head.”
• Get Your Affairs in Order: Have the talk with your spouse/partner. Tell them about your dream.  Tell them what it will mean for your life you’re successful.  See if they are up for it. GO THERE mentally. If those closest to you are not on board, and your idea takes off, you will still be a failure. Home ALWAYS wins. If you won’t think big, and dream, and make it real by discussing it with people….you’ve lost before you’ve even started.

Read more below….

POST SUMMARIES #28 – #37

(Summary of Posts 1 / Summary of Posts 2 / Summary of Posts 3)

#28 – Free Black Friday Gifts: The Gift of Mentorship

Topics: Promotional/launch strategies, effective use of deadlines

Post summary: In this post,  I use the excuse of “Black Friday” to launch the 2010 Hot Mommas Project case study competition.  It kind of didn’t work. Major lessons:

• Lesson in Failure: SEO – While, in theory, the concept of leveraging searches for “Black Friday” sounds good, it resulted in ZIPPO nominations of women to tell their stories on HotMommasProject.org.
• Win/Failure? – A lot of the promotion we do, especially in traditional media, leads people to say “I’ve heard of you” but does not produce actual nominations of women – directly. How far is the jump between what you’re asking someone to do (e.g. take an action, nominate a woman in their life) and the medium where they’re being approached (e.g., sitting on their butts watching TV). Twitter and other internet mediums = best for nominations. TV, radio, newspaper = good for awareness / credibility.
• Win: Deadlines - I used the excuse to develop some great content tools that tell our story (listed in blog).

#29 Free Online Business Tools for Which I am Thankful

Topics:  Organization, time management, sanity for the entrepreneur.

Post Summary: Being organized, and having methods for detoxing are CRITICAL for successful entrepreneurs.  There are tips in here on those topics. Lesson:

• Win: Great tools to find/re-claim time and sanity for a busy entrepreneur, mom, person.

#30 Would You Read This? My Book Outline for Women and The New Sisterhood of Success

Topics: New Sisterhood of Success, Book Outline, the “CLICK”

Post Summary: This was major. It’s my first stab at a book outline.  I had been talking about it for years, drafting proposals for months, and finally – in a blip – it came pouring out.   Lesson:

• Win: Let your freak flag fly. I keep a lot of what goes on in my head to myself so as not to overwhelm others .  On this occasion, I let some big/deep thoughts fly. After a heart-to-heart with my hubby on meaning-of-life type stuff, my brain was clear and the book outline was inserted.

• CLICK: Every now and then, I feel/hear/sense what I can only describe as a “CLICK.” It’s like pieces of a universal seat belt coming together. This was one of those moments. Always be on the lookout for these times. This one instance led to important stuff later, like meeting with a famous book agent.

#31 Are Entrepreneurs Really Crazy? Escaping: The Vortex.

Topics: Entrepreneurial obsession

Post Summary: The Hot Mommas Project 2010 Case Study Competition is over. We are officially the world’s largest women’s case study library. I start to think I am officially insane as I  send the team emails about fixes and tweaks for next year, instead of taking some downtime. Lesson:

• Win/Failure? – you decide: Entrepreneurs are obsessed freaks.

#32a How to Not Look Like a Tool in Your Business Communications

#32b How to Not Look Like a Tool in Business Communications Part Deux

Topics: Communication in business, social media vs “traditional” communications

Post Summary: As the popularity and visibility of the Hot Mommas Project grows, I start to get more and more emails/requests.  I also give more talks. I notice a trend: There are a shocking amount of questions about how to relate/connect socially with others. Example:

Me: “You need mentors.”

Audience members: “How do I talk to these people?”

I start to hypothesize that certain social skills are degenerating.  This post provides helpful tips I then took back and used with my students at the George Washington University School of Business. Lesson:

• Win: Winners of the future will master both social media AND traditional communication (talking to actual people on the phone/in person.)
• Mini-CLICK: The mounting confusion around social skills really stood out to me.  It is, I believe, going to be a significant teaching point in the Hot Mommas Project /New Sisterhood of Success future book.

#33 Giving Myself a Wife for Mother’s Day

Topics: Delegation for women/business people

Post Summary: As the amount of communications, and appointments, and other dreck mounts…I know it is time for reinforcements. Thus began the real and serious thinking about additional staff at work, and home. Lesson:

• Win: Many women say, “I want help, but struggle with delegating.” There will be a point at which it’s so painful, it’s more of a struggle if you DON’T delegate. All women who want to be successful must practice and employ delegation. MUST.
• Win: Home culture. The focus. The safe place. Treat it that way.
• Win/Failure: I was also, with this post, testing a partnership with HelaSpa wherein they acknowledged our 2010 winning case authors via a Mother’s Day marketing campaign.  The win was treatments for our deserving case authors. The failure was no additional spike in nominations. Maybe awareness increased? It’s hard to know. We don’t have any great measures in place which is why we now have Amber Wason heading up our marketing.

#34 How Entrepreneurs Deal With Failure

Topics: Failure, learning from failure

Post Summary: This post expresses my disappointment, and resolution strategies, around trying to get a teleclass off the ground. I changed the title, and the price, resulting in a more successful result.  Lessons:

• Win: Capitalizing on failure is a MAJOR skill, but, it takes a really strong person to say “Wow, I screwed this up.” I seriously think 99% of the population can’t do this. So, if you can, consider it a strength.
• mini-Click: Accepting the failure, instead of beating my head against the wall (a fav of Type-As) resulted in a teleseminar 2.0 which taught me something CRITICAL about word usage and messaging around the Hot Mommas Project concept. This knowledge paid off BIG TIME in my later meetings with an angel investor/mentor and literary agent.

#35 Letter to a mentor: I’m kind of freaking out right now

Topics: Success, learning from success

Post Summary: This was the big “CLICK.”  I was able to focus on the ONE THING I think is MOST IMPORTANT for women and girls to do to reach their potential.  It’s my “it.”

• Win: Figure out the pattern that produces top notch results for you. In this case, it was – just as in post #30 – having a heart-to-heart with a mentor, then waiting for the “epiphany” or outpouring of good stuff/ideas/content. This is my pattern. I think everyone has one.
• Failure: I realized I was onto something, and then kind of freaked out and didn’t know what to do about it. What about “do nothing?” what about, “Sit back and enjoy?” Somehow, neither of these options occurred to me.
• Win: I met with the mentor/angel investor discussed in this post, then did a plan, assembled a team,  did a book proposal, and met with a book agent – all within one and one-half months of writing this post! Like the picture up top says, it CAN be done…but, it will just need to be your way…a different way…that you create.
• CLICK: This presentation worked. It represented my long-time-accumulating thoughts on what I considered to be THE most important thing for women. The underlying message was:  ”The New Sisterhood of Success” is what will propel us to our potential. And I have the research to prove it, and the how-to manual to do it.

“The New Sisterhood of Success” is what will propel us to our potential. And I have the research to prove it, and the how-to manual to do it.

#36 Meeting with Book Agents

Topics: Literary agent meetings, spreading self thin

Post Summary: I set a meeting with a book agent, then scramble.  The person with whom I met is a major book agent at a large agency who is constantly rejecting people. Had I known this going in, I might have been nervous.  This is one of those ignorance-is-bliss cases.

• Win: I asked around and asked around and shared my book outline with advisors and mentors. Guess who set me up with the book agent? One of my mentors. So, here – EXACTLY  - is the point of the New Sisterhood of Success: Put yourself out there, ask for help, and the power of two, or three, or four will always exceed the power of one.
• Failure: I was so exhausted from pushing myself to get the book proposal done, the presentation at MasterCard, and the meeting with broadway producer Ken Waissman (both later that day) that I literally I barfed on a ferry out to see my former b-school professor and mentor @RosabethKanter.  Immune system = gone.  So when I’m running gunning in the future with wherever the New Sisterhood of Success and Hot Mommas Project takes me, I think I’m going to have to do the OPPOSITE of what Emeril says, and “Kick it DOWN a notch.”

#37 Is Business Un-FUNNY?

Topics: Women underselling, humor in business, writing style

Good news: She loves my writing style (the literary agent)

Bad news: There is a time and a place for funny. The place is NOT my bio. She pretty much told me this straight-up.

I decided to turn this experience into a post and discussion about the appropriate and inappropriate use of humor in business.  ”Discussion” is a generous terms since no one cares about this topic, and there are no comments… Well, except for this one:

Мы поможем Вам решить квартирный вопрос – у нас Вы найдете объявления, новости рынка недвижимости, все о квартирах, о ремонте, о ЖКХ, о текущих ценах и многое другое

Lessons include:

• Failure: Women….don’t undersell yourself! Bad bad bad. I did that in my book proposal.
• Win: If you listen for the “CLICKS” you can get meetings with famous literary agents, angel investors, and do what it takes to move your idea forward.

With a business model, book interest, message focus, fans, and the discussion with the spouse of “Hey, this could be successful” under my belt, I’m looking forward to the next year.  And, no, I have not written about the business model yet. That is going to have to be my little secret pending further testing….stay tuned, and wish me luck.