Discovering Your Inner Samurai Blog

Selling the Invisible

How do you approach marketing when you are a professional service business? Like coaching or consulting?

Compared to services, products are an easy sell. After all, you can touch a product. People can actually hold it in their hands, turn it over, and see it with their eyes.

A service is a whole 'nuther beast.

So, just how do you sell to the invisible?

One of the best books I've read on this subject is Selling the Invisible by Harry Beckwith.

In this book, Beckwith systematically takes you through how marketing works and how prospects think about services. The best part is the hundreds of quick, easy-to-understand strategies he includes.

In this book, you'll learn:

• What works and what doesn't.
• The most important emotion that influences your prospects.
• The value in saying less.
• How to save your marketing dollars.
• The importance of guarantees.

I've read this book and found it both helpful and useful. For more information, the Newfangled Web Factory wrote a detailed review that you can read.

If you have read this book, we'd love to hear from you. Leave a comment and tell us what you thought. We're his ideas helpful? Was there one, in particular, that really worked for you?

Susan L. Reid
The original Accidental Pren-her™

Award-winning author of Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success

Mom Entrepreneurs Running a Business from Home - Solutions to Common Problems

Today . . . I am thinking about my amazing mom preneur clients. They do so well managing everything . . . their home, business, life, and their family!

Sometimes, though, it can be a pretty rough go. Enough to make them seriously consider throwing in the entrepreneurial towel and going back to work.

Crivens! Before that happens, try these three easy solutions to the most common problems associated with running a home-based business.

Three Most Common Problems and How to Fix Them

1.    Dealing with isolation. Being a home-based business owner means you don’t have much opportunity to socialize around the water cooler, walk down the hall to collaborate with colleagues, or brainstorm ideas with other professionals. Plus, except for trips to the grocery store, picking up kids from after school activities, you don’t have much time to yourself.

Solutions: Remember to take breaks throughout the day just for you, not for doing laundry. Go for a quick walk to revitalize. Line up a babysitter and attend one professional event a week. Join mom preneurs online and take part in a forum.

2.    Make-do office space. One of the problems with running a business from home is that there often isn’t much space in your home to dedicate to your home business. As a result, you make-do with working from a desk in a bedroom, the kitchen table, or living room couch. This leaves you open for constant interruptions.    

Solutions: Your home office needs to be a designated place just for work. Preferably a room with a door. If possible, keep the door closed when you are working and closed when you’re not to insure that your business life does not spill over into your private life and vice versa.

3.    Everything in one location. If you are used to working outside the home, bringing your business into your home can be an incredible challenge. Where there used to be a separation of work and home, now it’s all under one roof. Here you do it all: eat, sleep, play and work. Temptations are greater and distractions endless. 

Solutions: Decide what your business hours will be and stick to them. Work out your schedule with your family in mind, and display it prominently outside your door. Clearly indicate when family time is. Also school events and family outings. Since you’re so used to doing house related things when you’re at home, making a schedule will help organize your time and control your temptations and distractions.

No matter how long you’ve been a mom entrepreneur, chances are you’ve run into these problems. Do you have anything wonderful to add to these solutions? Something that will make running your business from home a smart decision for your entire family? Let us know!

Susan L. Reid
The original Accidental Pren-her™

Author of Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success

Mike Dooley Knows His Inner Samurai

I am a Mike Dooley fan and of his TUT emails that arrive in my inbox each morning. This one just blew me away!

This is the answer to Inner Samurai creation and manifestation!

When your dreams or "end results" are stated generally, in broad brush strokes, like wealth and abundance, friends and laughter, health and harmony, then please, by all means attach yourself to them. Attach, attach, attach. There is no limit to what you can have and no reason to expect anything less.

But when your end results are specific, like the ultimate car, a hot date, or a home in the country, do not attach, do not attach, do not attach.

Material details and specifics are always "how" to get to a grander picture of your life and are never important in and of themselves. They're "cursed hows" disguised as end results. Steps disguised as destinations. By all means, think of them, put them in your scrapbook or on your vision board to remind yourself of the kind of possessions and adventures that are your birthright, but do not give them an importance, through attachment, greater than what you are truly after: a fuller, richer life with all cups running over, the details of which will take care of themselves, when this is your end result.

Know the "wows"  not the "hows."
— The Universe

Did this just blow you away, too?  Here's the secret to all creation!
Weigh in and let me know what you think!

Jambo!

Susan L. Reid
The original Accidental Pren-her™

Author of Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success

Accidental Pren-hers - Stop Shooting Yourself in the Foot!

3 Stunningly Simply Ways to Stop Shooting Yourself in the Foot

1. Nip the inadequate, little me voice in the bud.

You know the one: “Who do you think you are starting up a business without a business degree?” Calm that voice by realizing that no one starts up a business, even someone with a business degree, all by him or herself. Skills can be learned, books read, coaches found, and support people hired.

2. Figure out whether you are experiencing fear or resistance.

Fear makes you run. Resistance makes you question. Many confuse fear with resistance, believing that if you feel resistant toward something, that that’s an indicator that you shouldn’t do it. Not so.

Before you conclude that “maybe this wasn’t such a good idea,” hold the phone! Take some time to figure out what resistance is telling you. Do you need to do some more research? Take things a little slower? Go in another direction? Answer the questions that resistance asks, instead of collapsing into fear.

3. Ask yourself questions from the future.

Perspective is everything when it comes to making a decision. Decisions made in the heat of the moment, when your heart’s pounding and thoughts racing are usually not the decisions that are in your best interest. So wait until things have cooled down.

Then, project yourself into the future. From the perspective of one year from now, write out your thoughts to these questions: Last year was an amazing year for me. I accomplished so much. What were some of these accomplishments? What am I so glad I did? What do I wish I would have done? This perspective will help you get in touch with what’s important to you.

No matter where you are in the start-up process, chances are you’ve fallen victim to the panic that precedes the fear of making a wrong decision. The good news is that now you have three stunningly simple ways to stop yourself from sabotaging your new business start-up, and insure your business has a shot at success.

Certainly food for thought -- especially that first one. What do you think?

Susan L. Reid
The original Accidental Pren-her™

Author of Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success

Letting Go of the Words

Mary Ellen Whitaker, the editor of my e-Zine (Launch You), is always on the look out for what makes sense when writing for the web. Recently, she stumbled across Janice Redish's book, Letting Go of the Words and recommended it to me.

Excellent book!

I read the first three chapters while getting my nails done, and the rest over the weekend. I couldn't put it down. Perhaps thats because I'm keen, at the moment, on optimizing my website, or maybe because it is one of the easiest to understand books on writing for the web that I've come across.

Regardless, this book will show you how to create usable, useful content for the web. It gives clear examples of what web content should look like, and tells you why it is best done this way.

Janice (Ginny) Redish has put a lot of research into the issues in writing for the web, and come up with a strategy of how to organize, write, and design web content that will keep your website visitors coming back for more.

I highly recommend this practical and informative book.

Want to create better web content? Want to know the best way to put links on your home page? Want to learn how to keep your niche market front of mind? Then this book is for you.

If you have already read this book, I'd love to hear what you thought of the book. Do leave your comments here to add to this book review.

Susan L. Reid
The original Accidental Pren-her™

Author of Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success

Pros and Cons of Being a Home-Based Business Owner

Today . . . I am thinking about the the plusses and minuses to running a business from your home.

Becoming a home-based business owner is more popular now than it ever was. That's because people associate working from home with flexibility and freedom. And with so many mom entrepreneurs opting to stay at home while raising their families, running a business from home makes sense.

Pros

• You'll save on start-up costs.
• Lower operating costs.
• No more commuting.
  
• You can live and travel almost anywhere in the world and still conduct business.
• Time with family.
• Work anytime you want.
• Family members can easily get involved with the business.
• It's convenient.
• Everything is in a central location - work, play, sleep, eat.
• Can wear anything to work.
  

Cons

• Vulnerability to interruptions.
• Temptations and distractions - TV, laundry, fridge, sleeping in.
  
• Need for space when your business expands.
• Cooped-up at home.
• Work bleeding over into family time.
• Privacy.
• Outside employees may not like coming to your home to work.
• Hard to get motivated sometimes.
• Isolation without other professionals around.
  
• Running a business and taking care of your family at the same time.
  

There's my list of pros and cons. What have I missed? Anything you'd like to add to the list? Please do!

Let us know!

Susan L. Reid
The original Accidental Pren-her™

Author of Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success

Scheduling and Your Inner Samurai

Here's an intriguing quotation from an interesting woman.

Annie Dillard is an author who never promotes herself or her books. She used to give public readings; now she doesn't. She doesn't travel. Can't meet with strangers. Doesn't sign books or answer letters.

She is driven to read and concentrate. Still, she writes. And writes she does. Very interesting books on intriguing topics.

Here is her quote on scheduling. I think the image of the leaf  provides the perfect scaffolding for the drop of water.

A schedule defends from chaos and whim.
It is a net for catching days.
It is a scaffolding on which a worker can stand and labor with both hands at sections of time.

— Annie Dillard

What do you think of this quote from Annie?

Leave a comment. Weigh in!

Susan L. Reid
The original Accidental Pren-her™

Author of Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success

 

Interview with Accidental Pren-her Leslie Haywood

Today's special guest on The Accidental Pren-her Show, Stories of the Unexpected is Accidental Pren-her Leslie Haywood of Grill Charms.

This quick-fire, 10-minute interview talks about the unusually spicy light-bulb experience Leslie had:

We had a dinner party one night, like we quite frequently do. My husband was grilling chicken, and he likes everything so gosh-darn spicy and I don’t. He seasoned his really spicy and left some for my friends and me on the milder side. When he brought the platter of chicken to the table, he couldn’t remember which was which. So I had a very spicy “light bulb moment” after I bit into the spiciest piece of chicken on the platter, and he came up with a comment about how someone just needs to come up with a way for him to tell who has what!

You'll also hear how being diagnosed with cancer and having bilateral mastectomy and reconstructive surgeries did not deter her from her goal:

I was diagnosed with breast cancer in June, right in the beginning stages of the company. So it was really hard, but the drive and passion was there so I just kept going. By the time it was all over . . . I decided, "Okay. Cancer didn’t slow me down. There is nothing that’s going to!” The world can throw what it wants at me, but I’m going to keep on going!

Lastly, after you listen to Leslie's inspiring story, you'll want to head over to her site and get the free Grill Charm she said she'd throw in with your order. While you're there take a look at her Grill Charm demonstration video!

Download her interview and listen to it from your computer or ipod.

Read the transcript.

Enjoy!

Susan L. Reid
The original Accidental Pren-her™

Author of Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success

Letting Go of the Words: Writing Web Content that Works

Mary Ellen Whitaker, the editor of my e-Zine (Launch You), is always on the look out for what makes sense when writing for the web. Recently, she stumbled across Janice Redish's book, Letting Go of the Words and recommended it to me.

Excellent book!

I read the first three chapters while getting my nails done, and the rest over the weekend. I couldn't put it down. Perhaps thats because I'm keen, at the moment, on optimizing my website, or maybe because it is one of the easiest to understand books on writing for the web that I've come across.

Regardless, this book will show you how to create usable, useful content for the web. It gives clear examples of what web content should look like, and tells you why it is best done this way.

Janice (Ginny) Redish has put a lot of research into the issues in writing for the web, and come up with a strategy of how to organize, write, and design web content that will keep your website visitors coming back for more.

I highly recommend this practical and informative book.

Want to create better web content? Want to know the best way to put links on your home page? Want to learn how to keep your niche market front of mind? Then this book is for you.

If you have already read this book, I'd love to hear what you thought of the book. Do leave your comments here to add to this book review.

Susan L. Reid
The original Accidental Pren-her™

Author of Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success

How Do I Start Up a Business Without a Degree?

Today . . . I am thinking about an answer to the question, "How do I start up a business without a business degree?"

Once you consider it form the point of view of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, the answer is pretty simple! Check out the five things Bill and Steve did and do to insure their business success. Like you, they, too, started up their businesses without a degree, and look where it got them.

Five Steps to Take Before Starting Up a Business to Insure Its Success

1. Check your passion and conviction levels.

Bill Gates is passionate about his work. He loves what he does and willing does it. Despite the many challenges, problems, and headaches he faces, one of the things that drive him is his absolute passion and conviction about what he is doing. Do you have that same level of passion and conviction?

2. Understand the business industry you’re getting into.

Your next step to starting up a business is to get to know your industry. Find out how other people in similar businesses are doing. Ask successful business owners what their biggest problems are. Find out from failed business owners what mistakes they made. Both Bill Gates and Steve Jobs learn from their mistakes and the mistakes of other businesses. So can you.

3. Determine if you have something that other people want.

Who is your niche market? How big is that market? Does your product or service fill an unfilled or underserved need? How do you get in contact with them? Bill and Steve know how, do you?

4. Tweak and test again.

Next, test out your product on your market. Then pay attention to the feedback you receive. Then tweak, and test again. Steve Jobs has perfected tweaking and testing to the point where Macintosh has one of the most stable operating systems in the industry.

5. Create a Business Plan.

The most important reason to have a business plan is to clarify where you are taking your business, what you are focusing on, and how you plan to get there. Do you think Bill or Steve started up Microsoft or Apple without a business plan?

What do you think of these five steps? Is there another step that you would add if you were Bill or Steve?

Susan L. Reid
The original Accidental Pren-her™

Author of Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success

George Carlin Knew His Inner Samurai

George Carlin had a unique way of seeing the world. Whether it was his memorable Religion is Bullshit monologue or his comedic word-smithing, George's take on things will continue to challenge us to look within for our own answers and meaning of things.

HOW  TO STAY YOUNG

• Throw out nonessential numbers. This  includes age, weight and height. Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay them.
  
  
• Keep only cheerful friends. The  grouches pull you down.
• Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let the  brain idle. An idle mind is the devil's workshop. And the devil's name is Alzheimer's.
• Enjoy the simple things.  
• Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.
• The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person, who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive.
  
  
• Surround yourself with what you love, whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge. 
• Cherish your health: If  it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond  what you can improve, get help.
  
  
• Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county; to a foreign country but NOT to where the guilt is.
• Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER: Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

What do you think about George Carlin's thoughts on staying young? Do you agree? Did George know his Inner Samurai?

Susan L. Reid
The original Accidental Pren-her™

Author of Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success

Start Up Cash for Accidental Entrepreneurs

As a small business start-up coach, I get asked a lot of questions. The most frequent one: Where do I get start-up cash?

Just like Cuba Gooding Jr's character in the wildly successful Tom Cruise film, Jerry McGuire, my Accidental Pren-her clients frequently shout, "show me the money!"

Being the wise entrepreneurial women that they are, they want to know where they can get their hands on some start-up cash. They want to know what options are available to them for start-up funding.

And like Tom Cruise's character, I am happy to do so!

Show you the money? No prob!

Here are the 7 main stashes for start-up cash for small business owners:

1. You
2. Friends & Family
3. Angel Investors
4. Business Partners
5. Commercial Loans
6. Seed Funding Firms
7. Venture Capitalists

Do you have any other big money source tips for start-up business owners?
If so, show us the money!

Susan L. Reid
The original Accidental Pren-her

Author of Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success

 

62 Ways to Boost Your Business Success

HOT OFF THE PRESS!

62 Ways to Boost Your Business Success
A Collection of Essential Tips from Networking Experts

Featured in this 15-page booklet are my tips about Networking for Entrepreneurial Women.

This booklet offers practical and immediately useable networking insights in bite-size pieces from 11 professionals in various fields throughout the United States. These surefire tools and techniques work for them and can work for you no matter where you are in the world or in your business development.

Here are three of the topics featured in this booklet especially valuable for entrepreneurial women:

• Product Networking Tips
• Networking and Staying Connected
• Networking Online
  
  All yours for the hot-off-the-press price of $5. Immediately upon purchase, a .pdf will be made available for you to download, so you can get started. Then, a hard copy of the booklet will follow shortly.

Happy Reading and NJOY!

Susan L. Reid
The original Accidental Pren-her

Author of Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success

Are you a Polymath?

Today . . . I am thinking about Accidental Entrepreneurs as polymaths. 

I came across a neat post by Suw Charman called Polymath in an age of specialists that got me thinking. What's so important about becoming really good at one thing? What's the big deal about becoming a specialist? Why not become a person of great learning in many different fields? Isn't that what women do anyway?

As Suw says,

Once, though, polymathy was not so unusual. Scholars studied astronomy, biology, natural history, literature, art, whatever took their fancy. From Ptolemy to Leonardo da Vinci to Erasmus Darwin, the terminally curious felt free to explore the world around them without having a set of artificial boundaries foisted upon them.

As women, we are polymathic by nature. Women are, most typically, non-linear thinkers. We view our lives from a wholistic viewpoint. We don't break our lives down into separate pieces. They are taken together as a whole -- we create lifestyles not life parts. Our best creative thinking is done non-linearly. It's done following a stream of consciousness that may make absolutely no sense to anyone else around us, though perfect sense to us.

Our ability to unite seemingly disparate parts into a whole is our strength.

Polymathic women unite!
Tells us about how many different things you do really well.

Susan L. Reid
The original Accidental Pren-her

Author of Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success

Finding that Realm of Inner Stillness

Our Inner Samurai Quotation of the Week is from spiritual teacher, Eckhart Tolle.

The incessant mental noise of thinking prevents you from finding that realm of inner stillness that is inseparable from Being.

Reflect on that awhile and let us know what you think.

Susan L. Reid
The original Accidental Pren-her

Author of Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success

Interview with Accidental Pren-her Julie Northrop

Today's special guest on The Accidental Pren-her Show, Stories of the Unexpected is Accidental Pren-her Julie Northrop of Free Birthday Treats.

This quick-fire, 10-minute interview talks about how starting up a business changed her life. You'll hear about her struggles, resonate with her passion, and discover what she does to attract the frugal consumer.

Stepping out of my comfort zone has been a big issue for me and, starting this business, it’s what I have to do. I’ve found that I can do so much more than what I really thought I could do.

You'll also find out about the wide-range of freebies and discounts that Free Birthday Treats offers:

We’ve got freebies and discounts that range from little babies all the way to pets. There is free golf, free skiing, free manicures, free tanning, free movies, bowling . . . Oh, my goodness, there’s so much stuff that I have found, and that’s what’s so much fun about this is finding all these great deals and sharing them with the millions of Americans.

Lastly, after you listen to Julie's inspiring story, you'll want to head over to her site and get in on the soy candle give-away she has going on!

Download her interview and listen to it from your computer or ipod.

Read the transcript.

Enjoy!

Susan L. Reid
The original Accidental Pren-her™

Author of Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success

Discovering Your Inner Samurai Blog

For the spiritually conscious businesswoman who knows how fundamentally important it is to align her business with her deepest inner principles. 

At the heart of our blog is the woman's inner journey to business success.

Each week, we post segments focused on spiritual entrepreneurship:

• Monday — Business issues relevant to the woman entrepreneur.
  
• Tuesday — Inner Samurai Business thought for the week.
• Wednesday — Hot business strategies you can apply now!
• Thursday — Business made easy.
  
• Friday — Inner Samurai Business.

Happy Independence Day for the Accidental Entrepreneur

July 4 is the day when the whole of the United States gathers for BBQs, picnics, parades, baseball games, and fireworks to celebrate our Declaration of Independence from Great Britain. So, too, this is a perfect day for entrepreneurial women who are transforming their lives and making a difference in the world to take a moment and reflect upon the declaration of independence each of us made when deciding to become small business owners.

What were the reasons you became an Accidental Pren-her?

Was it because you wanted more flexibility and freedom in your life? Perhaps you were tired of working for someone else and wanted the independence that comes from working for yourself? Maybe you wanted to be at home with your children.

Whatever your reasons, this evening, when you watch the splendor of the fireworks rain down in the distance, think about how your personal declaration of independence has opened up and changed your life.

Then write and tell us about it.

Happy Independence Day!

Susan L. Reid
The original Accidental Pren-her

Author of Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success

What the Heck is Social Networking?

Today . . . I am over at Common Craft listening to Lee LeFever's video on social networking. The cool thing about Common Craft is that their product is explanation. Explanation! Now how cool is that!?!?! And explain things they do, in simple, short, easily understood video bytes.

Social networking is an important consideration for all entrepreneurial women working from home and using the Internet as their primary way of doing business. Watch this less than 2 minute video to see how social networking could boost your business.

Next, read Five Reasons Social Networking Doesn't Work to get a fair and balanced perspective.

Then, tell us your view of social networking for business success. Does it or doesn't it work? Is it or isn't it useful?

Susan L. Reid
The original Accidental Pren-her

Author of Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success

 

SocialNetworkingPlainEnglish
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D.H.Lawrence Knows His Inner Samurai

Food for thought for your Inner Samurai.

For whereas the mind works in possibilities, the intuition works in actualities, and what you intuitively desire, that is possible to you. Whereas what you mentally or "consciously" desire is nine times out of ten impossible; hitch your wagon to a star, or you will just stay where you are.

— D H Lawrence

Want to know How the Mind Works in Possibilities and Intuition Works in Actualities?  The answer will blow you away, oh students of the Law of Attraction.

What think you, my fellow Accidental Pren-hers™?

Susan L. Reid
The original Accidental Pren-her

Author of Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success