by theEmother | Jun 23, 2009 | adventures with daughter, entrepreneurial mothers, inspiring women, MEinc
In bathrooms, boardrooms, buses, bagel shops, and everywhere else, we all need to imagine a little girl following us around, repeating everything we say and everything we do. Think about all the things you want for yourself and your daughters, granddaughters, and girls everywhere – and teach them by living it yourself.
Nell Merlino in
“Stepping Out of Line: Lessons for Women Who Want It Their Way in Life, in Love and at Work (Broadway)
What a quote.
What a reminder.
What a fact, worthy of that constant consideration
Are you living it?
by theEmother | Jun 22, 2009 | entrepreneurial mothers, political offerings, so you think you're in business
There’s a growing movement afoot…are you a part of it?
The latest from the Independent Contractors of Australia…
* The latest labour force survey released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (June 2008) shows a steady increase in the number of self-employed people. The number of self-employed people in the community is over 19% of the workforce. That¹s 2.03 million people (2008) up from 1.9 million (2004).
It¹s also clear that as people mature they gravitate toward self-employment. 50% of the self-employed are aged 35-54. 28% are older than 55. This could predictably result in larger numbers of self-employed as the workforce ages. For ICA’s full commentary on the latest ABS figures click here…
* Three further ATO links to help prepare for the end of the financial year (on tax deductions, business seminars and rental properties) can be found on their news page
by theEmother | Jun 11, 2009 | adventures with daughter, entrepreneur trends (past & present!), entrepreneurial mothers
I really like where Bernard Salt for The Australian is going with this article.
And I suspect, so will most mothers as it resonates around the values stuff that we would like our children, and in turn all those around us quite frankly, to not only understand but to demonstrate…
Especially when sometimes we feel like we’re the only ones trying to live and breathe such a message. As we have all come to realise at some point or other, sometimes consistent role-modelling can be tough!
THE media has gone into a frenzy in recent months tracking the minutiae of recession trends evident in consumer spending.
“Lipstick sales are up” because women are spending on small indulgences rather than on complete outfits. “Hemlines are down” because women are more conservative during a downturn. And my favourite, “Men are reverting to beards” because they don’t have to buy razors.
Others (well, me) are talking of a new morality that is underpinning consumer behaviour: green is not just good for the environment, it is good for the soul. All of a sudden, conspicuous consumption is shameful and frugality is honourable… read on
and whilst on the subject of what is good for the soul… so to is travelling. I’ve often thought of putting a hit list like this together myself, but hey when someone beats you to it (namely Ben Groundwater from The Age), and their list is very similar to yours… then I only need supply the link!
Australia’s been built on a tradition of pinching the best stuff from other countries and claiming it as our own (Russel Crowe aside). We’ve stolen other people’s food, we’ve stolen their drinks, we’ve mastered their sports and claimed their bands.
So I don’t think there’s anything wrong with knocking off a few more gems.
When you travel, you tend to notice certain things and think to yourself, “Why don’t we do that in Australia?” Here’s a list of some of those things. I say we give them a shot.
1. Siesta (love this one)
2. Self-service bike hire (we really like the fold-up bikes, and the many SMART cars on the road)
3. No ties
4. Sharing food
5. Autobahns
6. Drinking laws
7. Beachside bars
8. Singing
9. Philandering world leaders (not sure about this one!)
10. Island time
for more details, and/or to make comment…read on
by theEmother | Jun 9, 2009 | entrepreneurial mothers, inspiring women
An interesting question I think…
What? I’m not jumping up and down on the spot saying “you have got to be joking!” I hear you cry… well no I’m not actually.
As discussed in the Age this morning (for love or money?), there is some merit in raising this question, if it suits you to do so. I for one can not and have not ever been able to seriously go down this path, but hey, horses for courses I say, and here’s why…
1. Most marriages for love don’t last (and good luck to those that do).
2. Many women, once on their own, are not well equipped to earn their own money.
3. It worked in Jane Austens day, why not now? Although you’d want to be able to do your own choosing of prospective suitors surely. After all, not all things historical are outdated.
4. If you can combine love and money, all the better!
Flippancy aside…
what I do know is that of the many women I meet (who claim to want to build a business and be in charge of their own destiny etc etc); if they found themselves in a situation where their cashflow stopped all of a sudden… they really don’t know how to start the cash flowing again in an kind of hurry. Or if they did, they know even less about how to make it work around the life they want to have with their children/family. And that’s a very scary prospect.
So maybe marrying for money takes care of all that!
assuming you’re looked after in the will that is…
by theEmother | Jun 5, 2009 | entrepreneurial mothers, inspiring women, so you think you're in business
Yesterday, I was very pleased to have delivered the entrepreneurial mother “Design YOUR Business, and the lifestyle to make it work” program for 10 participating businesses in the Mornington Peninsula and Frankston shires.
The program went particularly well, and the response from the participants was very warm and thankful. For some, it was the first time they had encountered “mind mapping” for example, but they came through with flying colours.
Yesterdays 1 day workshop (in school hours!) is designed to analyse what your business/life aspirations were when you started out in your business, and then look at where your business/life is at present, with the primary function being to reveal the gaps. The key mentoring component of this then will happen over the alloted 10 hours for each of the businesses, with the deliverable being a very specific “one-page business plan” addressing that gap analysis. But knowing me, and provided I can help, they will walk away with a whole lot more than that…
Businesses that participated yesterday are:
www.robinsonsbooks.com.au
www.theorganisedtouch.com.au
www.manmadecreations.com.au
www.pawbehaviour.com.au
www.artbydesign.com.au
www.juleswdesign.com.au
www.toastmorningtonpeninsula.com.au
www.spoonfuloflove.com.au
and
Transmend Panels & Utmost Care
Congratulations to each of these businesses, and I look forward to continuing to work with them over the ensuing months. A big thank you to “Economic Development” at the Mornington Peninsula Shire and the Frankston Shire offices.
How exciting!
by theEmother | Jun 1, 2009 | entrepreneurial mothers, so you think you're in business
Given how resourceful us entrepreuerial mothers are, I thought you’d appreciate this rather light piece, but nonetheless a big fat maybe!…
It is August. In a small town on the South Coast of France, holiday season is in full swing, but it is raining so there is not too much business happening.
Everyone is heavily in debt.
Luckily, a rich Russian tourist arrives in the foyer of the small local hotel.
He asks for a room and puts a Euro100 note on the reception counter, takes a key and goes to inspect the room located up the stairs on the third floor.
The hotel owner takes the banknote in a hurry and rushes to his meat supplier to whom he owes E100.
The butcher takes the money and races to his supplier to pay his debt.
The wholesaler rushes to the farmer to pay E100 for pigs he purchased some time ago.
The farmer triumphantly gives the E100 note to a local prostitute who gave him her services on credit.
The prostitute goes quickly to the hotel, as she was owing the hotel for her hourly room use to entertain clients.
At that moment, the rich Russian is coming down to reception and informs the hotel owner that the proposed room is unsatisfactory and takes his E100 back and departs.
There was no profit or income.
But everyone no longer has any debt and the small townspeople look optimistically towards their future.
COULD THIS BE THE SOLUTION TO THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS?
author unknown
