Monday, February 25, 2008

KEEPING IN TOUCH

How many friends have you talked to this past week? According to recent research, six out of ten of us speak to five friends or fewer each week.

Now I have a wide circle of friends, but when I reflected back on the week, I wasn’t much over the five, which at first surprised me, as I have always prided myself in my ability to keep in touch. In fact, when I did a head-count on last week, I also realized that my “score” went up because we had a Company of Women meeting – as many of the women who attend have become friends. That’s the good news. The bad news, is that without that dinner, I would hardly have racked up any contacts with friends
at all.

Food for thought. These days, a quick email is taking the place of conversations over coffee or a chat on the phone. And it’s not the same. You don’t always accurately pick up the nuances in an email, in fact, you can get it all wrong and read too much into a statement or comment.

This same research found that 43 percent of us think our communities are less friendly than they were a decade ago. Clearly we need to slow down and look at what’s important. The work will always be there, but our relationships are more fluid.

Having just spent the evening with some long- time friends, it felt good to laugh, share stories and catch up on each other’s news. Make sure you’re not missing out on the fun and laughter that friendships can bring. That’s what keeps us warm long after winter is over.

Monday, February 18, 2008

COMPETITION OR COLLABORATION? YOUR CHOICE

We live in a competitive world. I don’t know about your line of business, but in mine, there are some groups that are supportive of each other and the end goal of helping women grow their businesses, and others that are not. For them, they have to be king pin.

It’s too bad really, because it’s not about us – it should be about what’s best for our members. So it was really refreshing this week to connect with Kathryn Bechtold, the publisher of Mompreneur - check www.themompreneur.com

Kathryn and I have not met but our paths have crossed and at the end of the month she is moderating a panel for me. The purpose of our call was to brainstorm ideas for the questions to be asked of the panel members – all editors or former editors of prominent Canadian magazines.

But it actually took us a while to get there in our conversation as we were both sharing the ups and downs of launching and publishing a new magazine, and enjoying the connection with a kindred spirit. Now, we could have viewed each other as competition, but we didn’t. Instead, we were sharing war stories and looking at ways we can work together to create a win-win situation.

Now that is what it is all about…

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Mompreneur

Mompreneur. What does that make you think of?

Last night, along with several Company of Women members, we had the opportunity to screen the taping of the new Fortune Hunters TV Show on CBC. This particular episode focused on the growing trend of mothers at home who are starting their own business as a way to achieve work-life balance – hence the new term mompreneur.

After hearing Dianne Buckner talk about current trends in business, particularly women and business, and viewing the show, the audience made up of women from Company of Women and Women in a Home Office entered into an interesting discussion about the term, mompreneur.

While some loved it feeling it captured the dual roles, not everyone felt the same way. Others were opposed feeling it detracted for the business aspects of what the women were doing, making it sound like they were just “playing” at their business.

Certainly much depends on what the mompreneur is doing. To my mind, if they have launched a business building on an idea or need they have identified through their own experiences as a mom – then mompreneur may be appropriate. But if they’re offering say graphic design services from home, I suspect that nametag could have a detrimental affect on their business growth, as it conjures up pictures of a woman at the computer, with a babe attached at the hip.

In the show last night, they also highlighted some ideas that have been developed by mothers around the world which was fascinating. But as for the bottled Mom’s Spit, available in different flavours – somehow you can’t imagine it taking off – whether it’s been developed by an entrepreneur or a mompreneur.

Watch the show for yourself – see what you think. It airs February 16 at 6.30 ET and repeats on Sundays at 1.30pm and 4.30pm. ET on CBC Newsworld.