For all you twitterfiends–and design-o-philes:
drop on by www.twitter.com and play in the stream with me and Bryn Mooth, Editor in Chief of the brilliant HOW Magazine.

Bring a topic, be a voyeur, chikky check us out! We’ll be talking about next week’s inHOWse Conference, among other juicy things.

Tweet you there.
UPDATE, 9/3, 1240pm: check out the summary on the HOW Blog.

Related posts:

1. Pitch Perfect: LIVE! 7/17, 1p, Pacific
2. How-To: Get a Project GOING!

I had a dream last night—I’ll save you the full details (unless you want them), but let’s say William Shatner, a large scared Husky and a fictional opera diva, Leonore (on whom I had my first celebrity crush, evidenced by walking up to her in the dream to tell her how stunningly she had influenced me and bursting into fan tears) were all there.

The closing scene: I was in a car, recovering from my dreamvening, talking to my mom on the phone. After I’d gone a few blocks, I said, still teary from Leonore and the Husky and Captain Kirk (really Shatner-slash-McConaughey), “How do I get from here to your house?” –silence- “Well?” and woke, clear as a bell at my usual, 532am.

How do I get from here to. . .? Have you ever asked yourself? Are you asking it now? What’s the conundrum?

Is that your real question?

Let’s go deeper:

Where do we go from here?

What do we do when we get there?

How do we do what we do when we get there?

Are these the right questions?

What about: what is my passion?

How do I express my values?

Does it matter where I’m going if I’m not living at my highest vibe right here, right now?

What are your questions? Dreams? Do you have answers to share here? Leave a comment, take a comment.

Photo by David Masters, used under a Creative Commons license.

Related posts:

1. How-To: Get a Project GOING!

Client Tell is a guest-post series from clients who have worked with me and want to share their process. The first series is a 5-part story from Alison Turner, Brownie Boss of Signature Bites, a small-batch, handmade and all natural gourmet brownie company. Let us know what you think of her story–and her brownies!

Brownie Brazenness!
By Alison Turner

“I am capable of brazenness,” Dyana encouraged me to tell myself during our second phone consultation.  “We need to activate you being brazen,” she explained.  “We want to evoke it, because it’s in you!”

Me? Brazen? OK, I can go with that.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, my second call with Dyana was a little delayed – giving me more time to do my homework and collect my thoughts.  Since we last spoke, I was 95% done with my  website, had received my printed business cards, had put together a direct marketing email list and set up some informational meetings with local, successful female entrepreneurs in the baking business.

Dyana was wonderfully supportive of my progress and excited to hear what my next steps were for the week.  On the agenda is getting my website “live”, developing a promotional campaign to publicize the site’s launch and that I’m here and ready to take orders.

From our discussion, it became clear that I need to manage this venture like I managed my corporate jobs.  That’s especially challenging when my “cubicle” is my paper-strewn kitchen counter.  Further, while attempting to realize this dream, I’m riddled with guilt over not focusing on a “real” full-time job hunt.  I was laid off at the end of February.  There’s severance money – but it will run out eventually.  My brain cannot fully grasp the concept yet that that my brownie business can support my life in the same way that a full-time job working for some multinational organization could.

Dyana can tell that I’m somewhat frantic about having everything set up and ready to go, and that integrity is very important to me.  She wants to steer me toward re-framing my business, moving away from seeing it as a pastime towards a fully operational “brownies are being made while you’re at the beach” type operation.  The issue of scaling the business is very important, and it’s frustrating to my controlling nature that I don’t have all the answers.  A meeting with a successful local entrepreneur (her company’s cakes were featured on Oprah’s favorite things episode a few years ago…) this week will help me on this front I think.

We also talked through some of the logistics I’m dealing with, and I followed up on Dyana’s recommendation to get a separate phone number for the business to put on the website.  Another friend suggested using Skype to do this – it’s far more cost-effective than a separate cell phone line.  We also brainstormed some email campaign themes, and Dyana’s non-stop enthusiasm had me wake up the next morning with yummy, chocolate thoughts prodding me forward all day.

Give Alison some feedback, add your own story and add your own blockades or blockade-busters below.

Find out more about Alison and order some brownies!

Related posts:

1. Client Tell: Brownie Blockade, Part 4
2. Client Tell: Brownie Blockade, Part 1
3. Client Tell: Brownie Blockade, Part 2

Signature Bites, by Alison Tucker

Client Tell is a guest-post series from clients who have worked with me and want to share their process. The first series is a 5-part story from Alison Turner, Brownie Boss of Signature Bites, a small-batch, handmade and all natural gourmet brownie company. Let us know what you think of her story–and her brownies!

First step to breaking through the “brownie blockade”
-    By Alison Turner

I approached my first phone session with Dyana with a good deal of trepidation.  I was fearful of sounding like a “corporate snob”, of not appearing committed enough to my brownie cause, of coming across as “too knowing” about the ins-and-outs of starting a business when I’ve no proven track record.

Thankfully though, my desire to connect with someone who could help me break through my “brownie blockade” was more powerful – and so while it occurred to me to worm my way out of our initial conversation and put forth another self-imposed STOP sign, I forged ahead and made the call.

Dyana was brilliant at getting to the heart of things very quickly, and very painlessly!  Her probing questions promptly validated my self-diagnosis for throwing out one excuse after another for not having developed my business as far as I proclaim I have wanted to.  “It’s not a lack of self confidence,” she said, “It’s about shaking the anxiety loose and growing in a controlled fashion.”

Ah, control.  That word comes up in my personal life too.  My ever-supportive fiancé commented on my control issues this past weekend in an entirely different context, so I shouldn’t be surprised that this spills into my business persona as well.  But what to do about it?  When does too much control become a bad thing?  How do I control my control problems?

Dyana was also quick to identify my very practical nature and approach to life, and encouraged me to start segregating the practical side of my brain from my brownie plans and aspirations.  It’s almost as if my practical mind has a choke-hold on my ambitions, circumventing development because I’m trying to control the outcome of next steps instead of just moving forward.

I was also very encouraged to have Dyana explore my work-style preferences.  I’m a social person, and historically, I’ve really enjoyed the corporate office atmosphere and working in teams with smart people.  I fear my quest for entrepreneurship will leave me lonely and bereft of social interaction.

I wasn’t quite sure where all of this was heading, and how we would work through it.  So when “homework” was assigned, I smiled to myself and like the good student I always was, I wrote down my assignments:

1.    Come up with a brownie vision – how to take it from a one-woman collective to something much bigger and doesn’t have me as a lonely baker!
2.    Map out my collective ambition and develop an organization chart. Define the ideal business model – is it Patagonia-style or Vermont Country Store?
3.    Develop a target list of buyers, both “sure bets”, “maybe’s” and “fantasy” buyers.

But I think my most enjoyable, and easiest homework assignment – what Dyana called my “bonus” task – will be listing all those STOP signs I have no problem coming up with – just watch me fill up an entire sheet of paper with those!

Give Alison some feedback, add your own story and add your own blockades or blockade-busters below.

Find out more about Alison and order some brownies!

Related posts:

1. Client Tell: Brownie Blockade, Part 3
2. Client Tell: Brownie Blockade, Part 1
3. Client Tell: Brownie Blockade, Part 4

Client Tell is a guest-post series from clients who have worked with me and want to share their process. The first series is a 5-part story from Alison Turner, Brownie Boss of Signature Bites, a small-batch, handmade and all natural gourmet brownie company. Let us know what you think of her story–and her brownies!

The “brownie blockade”
– by Alison Turner

I have been baking decadent, delicious brownie “bites” since 2003 – and since those first batches came out of the oven, friends and family have urged me to start a business selling them.

But as good as I am at baking, cooking, and taking care of myself both financially and mentally, I am even better at coming up with self-imposed road blocks for not starting my brownie business.  As each Thanksgiving and Christmas merged into Valentine’s Day I would declare, “That’s it, next year I’m going to be in operation and taking orders.”  But it hasn’t happened.  I am at an impasse – a brownie blockade.

I consider myself a smart woman, accomplished even.  I put myself through college, earned a MBA from a leading English university, have lived in countries on both sides of the Atlantic, am debt free, have worked for global corporations, and have an extensive and valued network of friends.  My first career was as a business journalist – I’ve interviewed hundreds of small business owners as well as CEO’s of huge companies.  I’ve studied business management, and even entrepreneurship. I  know the scary facts.  Added to that, I spent my second corporate career in the marketing, advertising /branding and communications arena. I know how to promote.

I turned 40 a few months ago –and I think my best years are still in front of me. I’m confident I have a handle on what does and does not contribute to success.  I’m ready.

So why do I return to my “this time next year…” speech?  Why does each year close and my countless batches have only gone as far as my workplace, friends, or family functions?  While others around me search for an idea, a concept they can be passionate about and turn into a business, I have something laying at my feet, but I can’t bend down and pick it up.

One of my dearest friends, Cat, has listened to my brownie banter for quite a few years now.  I tortured her recently when trying to select a company name for my brownies – and then finalize the branding color scheme.  Cat is very much like me, and also completely nothing like me.  However, one of our commonalities is that we are active “connectors” – putting people in touch with each other when we feel or see that they can help each other in some small or big way.  That’s how I met Dyana – Cat connected me to her – as they both worked together some years ago and have remained friends.

As soon as I read Dyana’s tag-line on her LinkedIn page: “Helping self-starters learn to self-finish: one project at a time.” – I could identify!  I was immediately hopeful that someone was out there that could decipher my subconscious inability to turn my ‘bites’ into a viable business – one that operated outside of my mind!

Dyana considers herself an instigator – I consider Dyana my business therapist.  I am looking for and expecting analysis of my reservations, my hang-ups, my preconceptions about having one’s own business, plus a lot more!  But most importantly, I’m open to her help – I am here to embrace it.

I want my business to launch and to succeed.  I want to break free of the confines and security blanket of my former ‘Corporate America’ jobs.  I want as many people out there as possible to experience the joy of eating my creation.  I am at my brownie breaking point.

Give Alison some feedback, add your own story and add your own blockades or blockade-busters below.

Find out more about Alison and order some brownies!

Related posts:

1. Client Tell: Brownie Blockade, Part 3
2. Client Tell: Brownie Blockade, Part 2
3. Client Tell: Brownie Blockade, Part 4

Click here to view the embedded video.

Last week, I had the pleasure of recording a tele-seminar with Dallas Travers and her Thriving Artist Circle. Five brave volunteers completed a Project Assessment, detailing what project they were working on and what help they needed. We then worked with them to help them combine their personal strengths with their struggles to come up with unique project solutions to move them forward. This one hour recording gives you a great example of how I help self-starters learn to be self-finishers. Remember: if you focus on even ONE of the 5-steps to self-finishing, you WILL make progress!
1.     Start where you are: be nice to yourself! Just because you aren’t an expert now, trust that you’ll get there.

2.    Accept invitations: even unlikely ones.

3.    Ask for feedback: be clear about what you need and when.

4.    Focus on what DOES work: be positive and be brave enough to re-evaluate your goals.

5.    Make a small decision and TRY it: nothing is permanent, you can always try something else.

6.    GET ACCOUNTABLE: when you are in the moment of choosing to watch tv on hulu.com; call a friend and be SPECIFIC about what you are doing—endcap it with a call to report what you did accomplish. Here’s an Accountability Check In Sheet to help you start your own accountability process.

Dallas and I invite you to download and listen to the tele-seminar:  Dallas Travers & Dyana Valentine: Finish What You Start! (you may wish to complete the Project Assessment first), and enjoy the process. Write your questions, suggestions and ideas in the comments. Let me know how I can help you finish what you start!

Related posts:

1. Pitch Perfect!
2. DIY: Accountability!
3. Client Tell: Brownie Blockade, Part 1

Click here to view the embedded video.

Pitch Perfect: 3 Steps to your perfect pitch

Ever find yourself in a panic when someone asks, “What do you do?” Here are 3 easy steps to take to create a perfect pitch, elevator speech or blurb. Please make comments and let me know your ideas for creating a perfect pitch. Ideas in this video are adapted from a tool developed by Colleen Wainwright and used with permission. Find out more about how fabulous SHE is at communicatrix.com.

Related posts:

1. Pitch Perfect: How-To
2. Pitch Perfect: LIVE! 7/17, 1p, Pacific
3. How-To: Get a Project GOING!

Image by frischmilch, used with permission via Creative Commons License

Have you ever felt nervous starting a new project, job or adventure? Wondered how to put your best foot forward on the first day? How about two weeks in?

When communicating with others, you are constantly demonstrating your intentions. If you can get clear about your intentions: which you have put on the wall, you can communicate them clearly. Here are some tools rocking it out:

1. SHOW UP, Attendance/Accountability:
Don’t be on time—be early;
Do what you say you will do;
Be prepared: find out what is required.

2. BE CLEAR, Phone/E-Mail/In-Person:
Phone: your cell is your business line now, plan out what you will say on someone’s voicemail, consider your policy on responding to messages (is the work culture one where everyone returns calls within 2 hours or 24 hours?), be shrewd when making your ringtone selection;
E-Mail: make a very clear Subject Line, be sure to include your Contact Info, make a Draft (without recipient’s email in the To line) first, a note on blind cc’ing: either copy all openly or forward your e-mail with a note indicating why you are copying them separately;
In-Person: Use same principles, be clear, respond to points on the table and keep it professional.

3. GET WHAT YOU WANT. Really, you can!
Don’t leave until you got what you went there for;
When in doubt, ask for help OR hang back and imitate person next to you, act cool and take notes;
Keep an eye out for one another and share resources.

Good luck!

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We will many “first days” in our lives. It could be the first day on a project, job or at a new worksite. The tips are the same whether you are joining a new theater company or going to your first-ever job. Check these out and tell me what tips you’d give others on their first day

1. Be prepared. Learn everything you can about the company, your position and your coworkers.

2. Say thank you. Take the time to send gratitude cards to everyone who helped you while you were looking for a new job; and for goodness sake, thank the folks who hired you!

3. Don’t be on time, be early, and be prepared to put in some extra time as you learn the ropes.

4. Dress appropriately to your work situation. Find out the culture of the company and find a sincere blend of your style and the company or organization’s style.

5. Ask a lot of questions. Check in to let your coworkers and supervisors know you have questions and find out when is a good time to get the answers. Consider keeping a running list in a journal or draft e-mail (don’t add recipient’s address until you it is clean, edited and ready to send:)

6. Get to know your coworkers and learn their names. Introduce yourself as often as possible–a good tip to know if someone knows your name is that they will usually use it when greeting you. Keep a list of who’s who with short descriptions of what they look like or what they are wearing that day if you have loads of humans to learn.

7. Find out what is expected of you. Explore what you are to do, how you’ll be evaluated and whether creativity is welcome or if there is a set way to accomplish your work.

8. Stay out of the gossip mill. Really, it’s absolutely none of your business. Try moving away from those conversations, no matter how juicy they are. Walk away.

9. Study the interpersonal relationships of your coworkers. How do folks communicate? Are they direct? Do they prefer small talk before they get into an issue or discussion? How does your style relate to theirs?

10. Don’t expect everyone to be warm and fuzzy and love you right off the bat. That’s not why you are there–take a breath and remain professional, always.

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