Discovering Your Inner Samurai Blog

Inner Holiday Celebration

I'll be taking a bit of holiday break, so I thought I would leave you with this lovely holiday movie until I return to blogging on January 5, 2009.

Enjoy and Happy Holidays to you all!

Merry Christmas

Susan L. Reid
The original Accidental Pren-her™
Award-winning author of Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success

Inner Christmas

I'll be taking a bit of holiday break, so I thought I would leave you with this lovely holiday movie until I return to blogging on January 5, 2009.

Enjoy and Happy Holidays to you all!

Seth Godin on: The Difference Between a Freelancer and an Entrepreneur

I read this blog post by Seth Godin over at the American Express Open Forum and thought it would be particularly helpful to you . . . my Accidental Pren-her readers. Seth Godin is a marketing guru and writes the most popular marketing blog in the world.

The Difference Between a Freelancer and an Entrepreneur

Which are you? Are you sure?

A freelancer is someone who gets paid for her work. She charges by the hour or perhaps by the project. Freelancers write, design, consult, advise, do taxes and hang wallpaper. Freelancing is the single easiest way to start a new business.

Entrepreneurs use money (preferably someone else’s money) to build a business bigger than themselves. Entrepreneurs make money when they sleep. Entrepreneurs focus on growth and on scaling the systems that they build. The more, the better.

The goal of a freelancer is to have a steady job with no boss, to do great work, to gradually increase demand so that the hourly wage goes up and the quality of gigs goes up too.

The goal of the entrepreneur is to sell out for a lot of money, or to build a long-term profit machine that is steady, stable and not particularly risky to run.

The trap is simple: Sometime freelancers get entrepreneur envy and start hiring other freelancers to work for them. This doesn’t scale. Managing freelancers is different from being a freelancer. Managing freelancers and saving the best projects for yourself gets you into trouble. The cash flow gets you into trouble. Investors don’t want to invest in you because you can’t sell out if you’re a freelancer at heart.

If you’re an entrepreneur, it is impossible to succeed by using your own labor to fill the gaps. That’s because your labor is finite. It doesn’t scale. That’s because if it’s a job only you can do, you’re not building a system, you’re just hiring yourself (and probably not paying enough either).

The solution is easy. If you’re a freelancer, freelance. Figure out how to do the best work in your field, the best work for the right clients. Don’t fret about turning away work, and don’t fret about occasional down time. You’re a freelance for hire, and you need to focus on your reputation and the flow of business. Find partners if you like but keep the cash flows separate.

If you’re an entrepreneur, don’t hire yourself. Build a business that works, that thrives with or without you. It might not be good for your ego, but it will be good for your bank account.

Whatever you do, don’t mix em up.

What did you think of Seth's blog post? Which are 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

Thinking About Names for Your Business? Avoid These!

What's in a business name? You want it to be everything. Sadly, many business names are nothing. Deciding on a great business name takes time. It takes thought. Moreover, getting it wrong could spell disaster for your business. Getting it right, however, will give customers a reason to hire you, connect you to your niche market, and save you thousands of marketing dollars.

Five Popular Business Naming Trends to Avoid

1. Don’t abbreviate your business name.2. Avoid anything that ends in “global”, “enterprise”, or “Inc.” They’re passé.
3. Avoid using your own name. Build your brand on your company, not on your name.
4. Don’t hyphenate your business name.
5. Avoid geographical names unless you're trying to create a strong local affinity.

Watch our 4-minute "how-to" video on how to create a great name for your business.

Then let us know what you think of the video.

Susan L. Reid
The original Accidental Pren-her™
Award-winning author of Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success

Do You Have What it Takes to be a Woman Entrepreneur?

Today . . . I am thinking about what it takes to be an entrepreneur.

Have you ever thought about what qualities and characteristics are distinctive of an entrepreneur? Ever wondered if you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur?

Fortunately, psychologists, sociologists, and historians have been studying the behavior characteristics and traits of successful entrepreneurs for long enough to have come up with a composite list of attributes and characteristics. Read the list and mentally keep count of how many times you said, “Yes, that’s me!” At the end, you'll tally up the score and see if you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur.

Top 10 Characteristics of Entrepreneurs

1. You have a strong desire for autonomy, to be your own boss, and live life on your own terms.
2. You are an independent self-starter, not needing or wanting others to tell you what to do.
3. You have a powerful drive to make money and accumulate wealth.
4. You are a calculated risk-taker with a higher-than-normal tolerance for failure and consider failure a non-issue.
5. You like to be in control and call the shots. 
6. You are highly self-motivated and are indefatigably fearless when it comes to getting the job done.
7. You had childhood experiences as a budding entrepreneur and/or entrepreneurial parents, grand parents, or relatives.
8. You have a high level of energy that is sustainable over a long period of time.
9. You are creative and innovative, a strong decision maker, and able to think quickly on your feet, and set things in motion.
10. You are a big-picture thinker capable of seeing how everything relates to each other.

Scoring:

1-3:  Don't quit your day job.
4-7:  Call a coach, start saving start-up money, get the gears in motion!
8-10:  Watch out, Donald Trump!

Take the Accidental Pren-her Quiz!

Susan L. Reid
The original Accidental Pren-her™
Two-time award-winning author of Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success

The Secret to Building Your Business Inner Samurai Style

As a woman entrepreneur, have you ever wondered what the secret is for building business success?

Sure, it’s important to have a mission statement, a business plan, and a product or service that meets the needs of your niche market. It’s also essential that you have funding to back your venture, a support system in place to guide and mentor you along your journey, and savvy business acumen.

What is the key to business success for women? The secret is to build your business from the inside out. From a place inside that you as a woman intuitively know and understand. From your Inner Samurai. The key to your business success is to connect with your Inner Samurai.

Connect with my Inner Samurai? What’s that? Connecting to your Inner Samurai means connecting to your inner knower. This will empower you with the strength you will need on your journey as you build a successful business.

All You Need to Know about Your Inner Samurai

• Who? Your Inner Samurai is known by many names. It has been called the voice within, the inner knower, the still small voice, God Self, Soul, God Within, and Spirit, to name a few.
• What? Your Inner Samurai is best defined by describing its opposite — the voice inside the head, the monkey mind, the ego. By contrast, your Inner Samurai is the inner voice, the voice within. It is the quiet, sure, confident, strong, vast, and powerful voice of inner knowing.
• Where? Your Inner Samurai is aptly named because it is the voice within. Inner because the voice is deep within your being (to distinguish it from the voice inside your head) and Samurai because of how strong and powerful it is.
• Why? Everyone has an inner voice. It is that part of us that is the repository of all our life experiences, hopes, and dreams. It’s so important to get in touch with our Inner Samurai because it is our greatest source of strength and knowing. It is the seat of our wisdom. It is the place of our extraordinary uniqueness. It exists to remind us of who we are.
• How? The most challenging part of connecting with your Inner Samurai is realizing how it communicates with you. Your Inner Samurai has a gentle, yet very recognizable, way of doing so — I like to call it “pulsing.” When you go inward and ask your Inner Samurai a question, you will feel a pulse answering you. This pulse will have one of two distinct qualities. It will feel like either a yes or a no.
• When? Once you know who, what, where, why, and how, the last thing you need to know is when. When is the best time to tune in and feel for the pulse of your Inner Samurai? The answer is: always. Make your Inner Samurai the primary voice you listen to. Turn to others for support. Turn inward for guidance. When in doubt between your feelings and thoughts, go with the pulse. Your Inner Samurai will never lead you astray, do you wrong, or leave you hanging. Your Inner Samurai pulse is right 100% of the time.

So, enjoy writing your mission statement and your business plan. Get creative making your product or service the best it can be. Develop positive relationships with your investors and supporters. And don’t forget the most important relationship of all — the relationship with your Inner Samurai.

What do you think? As a woman, do you think that the key to building your business success is getting in touch with your Inner Samurai? Or, not?

Susan L. Reid
The original Accidental Pren-her™
Award-winning author of Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success

Derschaun Sharpley on Accidental Pren-her Podcast

Business podcast with Derschaun Sharpley – subscribe now via iTunes.

This week I spoke with Dershaun Sharpley of Helping Individuals Succeed Agency. The Detroit based H.I.S. Agency works with youth, ages 8-18, to help improve their character, leadership and etiquette. Derschaun shares how these skills helped her transform her life into the success it is today. Listen to this podcast and learn how Derschaun overcame obstacles in her life to create this inspiring successful business.

• Listen to the interview. (If needed, click here to access easy download instructions page.)
• Read the transcript.

This episode of Accidental Pren-her: Stories of the Unexpected podcast is brought to you by Windsor Media Enterprises: books, blogs, & beyond. A publishing 3.0 company focused on new media and technology.

SawStop Table Saw on Discovery Channel

This is a great example of a product solution perfect for a specific niche market - table saw users who are fond of their fingers.

Would you say this man has found a solution that will alleviate a frustration experienced by a large enough group of consumers to make it worth his will do develop?

This is niche marketing at it's best, folks! Watch all the way to the end.

Discovering Your Inner Samurai Named a Finalist of USA Book News 2008 National Best Books Awards

Dr. Susan Reid’s New Book, Discovering Your Inner Samurai – The Entrepreneurial Woman’s Guide to Business Success, Is Recognized In the Business Award Category

Rochester, NY - (December 11, 2008) WME Books, a division of Windsor Media Enterprises, LLC, is pleased to announce that author Dr. Susan Reid’s book, Discovering Your Inner Samurai – The Entrepreneurial Woman’s Guide to Business Success, is a finalist in the business category of the USA Book News 2008 National Best Books Awards. This follows her recent recognition as a finalist in National 2008 Next Generation Indie Book Awards.

USABookNews.com, the premiere online magazine and review website for mainstream and independent publishing houses, announced over 500 winners and finalists in over 140 categories covering print and audio books. Awards were presented for titles published in 2008 and late 2007. A complete list of the winners and finalists of the USABookNews.com National 2008 “Best Books” Awards are available online at http://www.USABookNews.com.

“We are so proud of Dr. Reid for this recognition of her outstanding book,” said Yvonne DiVita, CEO of the publishing company, Windsor Media Enterprises. “Her outstanding work in the area of women’s entrepreneurship deserves many accolades. We are honored to have been chosen as her publisher.”

Discovering Your Inner Samurai is for women entrepreneurs, but it's also for anyone who wants to understand — or market to — women entrepreneurs. The book provides deep insights into who these women are and why they start businesses, while uncovering their deepest fears, challenges, passions and joys. Dr. Reid helps teach you how to think like an entrepreneur, how to separate the talents and skills that will lead you to success, from the talents and skills you only think will lead you to success

Dr. Reid’s blog and her recent book trailer can be found at www.discoveringyourinnersamurai.com. To purchase Discovering Your Inner Samurai – The Entrepreneurial Woman’s Guide to Business Success, please visit the publisher’s website at www.wmebooks.com

About Susan L. Reid:

Susan L. Reid, DMA, is the founder and owner of Alkamae. The place where entrepreneurial women come to transform their lives and make a difference in the world by starting up successful small businesses. Specializing in intuitive small business solutions, Alkamae offers strategic consulting including One Page Business Plans, niche clarity programs, and attraction-based marketing tools. Susan has helped hundreds of women create a vision for themselves that connects their passion to sustainable profit and combines their inner wisdom with savvy business skills. The business is based in Massanutten, VA For ore information, visit www.alkamae.com

###

Contact: D-D Flannery, 585-703-6243

Three Approaches to Deliberate Creation

Today . . . I am thinking about the Law of Attraction and how I can help my clients to effectively use it to create what they want in their life and work.

There's so much confusion surrounding the Law of Attraction and how to use it effectively, isn't there!

The key to using the Law of Attraction is two-fold:

• recognize how much resistance you have toward manifesting what you want, and
• determining which of the three approaches to deliberate creation is best to use, when.

The Three Approaches to Deliberate Creation

First Approach – Hold a vision specifically of what you want.

This approach is perfect if every fiber of your being knows that what you want to manifest is going to happen very soon. That it's right around the corner. So close you can taste it.
This is when you can get specific and detailed about what you want.

People who are in this stage of creation have no resistance, are ready for what they want to manifest, and are in a state of great appreciation about the manifestation. They just know in their knower that it's going to manifest very soon.

Second Approach – Find the essence of what you want and feel into it.

Finding the essence means finding the core of what having this thing that you want means to you. For example: the essence of being in a relationship could be happiness, fulfillment, or companionship. The essence of having money could be freedom or ease.

Feeling into it means dwelling on the essence of what you want and deeply feeling how it would be to manifest it.

This approach to deliberate creation is perfect if you are experiencing just a little bit of resistance  around what you want to manifest. It's also a good approach to use if you have a sense that what you want will manifest in the not to distant future.

This approach won't work for you if you have a lot of resistance toward it, or feel as if manifestation is a ways off. You'll know this is the wrong approach for you because you will feel overwhelmed and frustrated with not getting what you want.

Third Approach – Take what you want completely out of the equation and don't focus on it at all.

This approach to deliberate creation is perfect for you if every time you think about what you want to manifest all you can see is that it hasn't manifested yet. When there is no gut-level knowing that it will manifest anytime soon.

People who are in this stage of deliberate creation have high resistance and the balance of their feeling about the manifestation is in the direction of not having it. People who are in this stage of creation are not really ready for manifestation to occur, even though they may want it, very much.

When you have high resistance going on, it means you are quite a ways off from manifesting what you want. You may even be in a state of anger, feeling some fear around it, and desperation. If you are finding yourself in a moderate or higher rate of resistance, than focusing on something specific will only increase that resistance and your feelings of anxiety and doubt.

Therefore the best thing for you to do is to take what you want completely out of the equation. Don't even focus on it. Focus on some other aspect of your life that is going well – Something that has no resistance to it. Once you do, the resistance in other areas of what you want to manifest will lessen and you'll be able to focus on it later, perhaps using the second, or even the first approach to deliberate creation.

How was that? Did that clear things up for you? Leave a comment and let me know.

Happy manifestation!

Susan L. Reid
The original Accidental Pren-her™
Award-winning author of Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success

Want to Turn Your Business Dreams into Reality? Then Deal with The Oppressor

Are you someone who has struggled with success all your life?

If you've been struggling with success much of your life, then you know what it's like to feel all lit-up from the inside one minute and then deflated the next. If struggle has become synonymous with success, you know about "The Oppressor."

Do the following remarks by The Oppressor sound familiar?

•    You know how this is going to turn out. Don't even bother.
•    Now, don’t go getting all excited. You've never been able to pull it off before.
•    Why bother?
•    Who do you think you?
•    This time won't be any different.

What is oppression? It's prolonged, unjust treatment or control. Generally, when we talk about oppression, we automatically assume someone else is doing the oppressing. But what about when you’re the one squashing your dreams and sabotaging your plans? When you are oppressing yourself?
Then, it's time to look at when most internalized oppression occurs. Consider the three-phase process for turning your dreams into reality: Dreaming, Planning, and Criticizing. Most oppression takes place during The Planning Phase.

While The Critic can show up in both The Dreaming and The Planning phases, The Oppressor, cousin to The Critic, usually raises its ugly thumb while you're in the midst of planning your business dream.

Three Obstacles that Arise During The Planning Phase 

1. Being too ambitious.

The whole point of The Planning Phase is to put a plan into place to realize the business dream you came up with in The Dreaming Phase. During The Planning Phase, detailed plans of creation come into being. Structure is added, the sequence of events is outlined, and the blueprint is laid out.
The Planning Phase takes the most amount of time when starting up a business. If you don't allow for that time, rush to get through, or start-up before you’ve finished planning all the way to the end, The Oppressor will see your business dream as overly ambitious and put its thumb down.

2. Being will-power based.

Will power can only get you so far. When you find yourself "white-knuckling it" and willing your business dream into reality, this means you've prematurely jettisoned from The Planning Phase and are headed for disaster. The Oppressor has been here before with you and recognizes what’s happening. So, while you're strung-out on caffeine trying to make it all happen, your Oppressor is saying, "I don't think so."

3. Being unrealistic, given your life circumstances.

If you sidestep the all-important Criticizing Phase, The Oppressor will bear down on you like a ton of bricks. That's because you haven’t allowed The Critic to come out and evaluate your plans in reference to your life or lifestyle.

Planning to go from start-up to profit in six months is unrealistic. The Critic would have found this fault in your plans and pointed it out to you. When you bypass The Critic, The Oppressor stops you from going forward.

Nobody starts out in life wanting to be unsuccessful. We all want to succeed. When you oppress yourself, you are opposing all forward movement. This happens because you haven't taken the necessary time to plan your business dream all the way to the end. Understanding and recognizing the three obstacles to success and where they occur in The Planning Phase will help you end your struggle with success and turn your business dreams into reality.

Have you had much experience dealing with The Oppressor? Many of us do. Tell us how you dealt with her. What worked and what didn't.

Susan L. Reid
The original Accidental Pren-her™
Award-winning author of Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success

Alana Lennie and Kendall Morris on Accidental Pren-her Podcast

Business podcast with Alana Lennie and Kendall Morris – subscribe now via iTunes.

This week on the Accidental Pren-her Podcast, I speak with Alana Lennie and Kendall Morris, owners of The Blue Top Hat. This exciting new business helps people give the perfect gifts for their friends and loved ones. Find out how this mother daughter team work successfully together, even on opposite coasts, and how they created their unique business!

• Listen to the interview. (If needed, click here to access easy download instructions page.)
• Read the transcript.

This episode of Accidental Pren-her: Stories of the Unexpected podcast is brought to you by Windsor Media Enterprises: books, blogs, & beyond. A publishing 3.0 company focused on new media and technology.

How to Create a Great Business Name for Your Business

Here's a short, 4-minute "how-to" instructional video my production assistant, Angela Giffin, and I put together for you this morning. After watching this video, you'll know exactly what goes into creating a great business name and also what popular trends to avoid. 

When you're done watching, let us know how helpful this was to 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

Dr. Susan L Reid's Book Named a Finalist of USA Book News 2008 National Best Books Awards

Dr. Susan Reid’s New Book, Discovering Your Inner Samurai – The Entrepreneurial Woman’s Guide to Business Success, Is Recognized In the Business Award Category

Rochester, NY - (December 4, 2008) WME Books, a division of Windsor Media Enterprises, LLC, is pleased to announce that author Dr. Susan Reid’s book, Discovering Your Inner Samurai – The Entrepreneurial Woman’s Guide to Business Success, is a finalist in the business category of the USA Book News 2008 National Best Books Awards. This follows her recent recognition as a finalist in National 2008 Next Generation Indie Book Awards.

USABookNews.com, the premiere online magazine and review website for mainstream and independent publishing houses, announced over 500 winners and finalists in over 140 categories covering print and audio books. Awards were presented for titles published in 2008 and late 2007. A complete list of the winners and finalists of the USABookNews.com National 2008 “Best Books” Awards are available online at http://www.USABookNews.com.

“We are so proud of Dr. Reid for this recognition of her outstanding book,” said Yvonne DiVita, CEO of the publishing company, Windsor Media Enterprises. “Her outstanding work in the area of women’s entrepreneurship deserves many accolades. We are honored to have been chosen as her publisher.”

Discovering Your Inner Samurai is for women entrepreneurs, but it's also for anyone who wants to understand — or market to — women entrepreneurs. The book provides deep insights into who these women are and why they start businesses, while uncovering their deepest fears, challenges, passions and joys. Dr. Reid helps teach you how to think like an entrepreneur, how to separate the talents and skills that will lead you to success, from the talents and skills you only think will lead you to success

Dr. Reid’s blog and her recent book trailer can be found at www.discoveringyourinnersamurai.com. To purchase Discovering Your Inner Samurai – The Entrepreneurial Woman’s Guide to Business Success, please visit the publisher’s website at www.wmebooks.com

About Susan L. Reid:

Susan L. Reid, DMA, is the founder and owner of Alkamae. The place where entrepreneurial women come to transform their lives and make a difference in the world by starting up successful small businesses. Specializing in intuitive small business solutions, Alkamae offers strategic consulting including One Page Business Plans, niche clarity programs, and attraction-based marketing tools. Susan has helped hundreds of women create a vision for themselves that connects their passion to sustainable profit and combines their inner wisdom with savvy business skills. The business is based in Massanutten, VA For ore information, visit www.alkamae.com

###

Contact: D-D Flannery, 585-703-6243

Build Your Business from the Heart Up.

Today . . . I am reading The Trump Blog. I'm a fan of Donald Trump, don't you know? He is a business man who walks his talk, knows what he wants, has the courage and conviction to go after it, and, best of all . . .  is in touch with his Inner Samurai.

Here is an excerpt from his "Know Your Audience" post that reminded me, once again, of how important it is for entrepreneurial women to connect with the person, not the product. To find  the common common ground, not go for the juggler. To build a relationship from the heart up, instead of the head down.

Whether you're involved in negotiations, war, public speaking, or merely socializing, learn about the person across from you and find out what he or she wants so that you can build a better relationship.

At every level, relationships are built on listening, connections, common interests, and experiences. It is essential to be able to read your audience, whether that audience consists of a couple of people in your office or 40,000 in an amphitheater listening to you speak. The challenge is to find common ground.

For example, I was once involved in a very difficult negotiation and found myself disliking my adversary. My feelings placed a wall between us; my dislike made our dealings strained and unproductive. Our deal was on the verge of collapsing, when I discovered that my adversary was an avid golfer like myself. When we began our next session, I mentioned that I had heard he was a golfer. We started talking about golf, which eased the tension. When we resumed our business, we were more at ease, communicated more easily, and closed the deal.

What do you think about the concept of building a business from the heart up? From a place of connection first? Can building a business from the heart be as financially successful as building a business from the head down? Weight in. Tell us what you think.

Susan L. Reid
The original Accidental Pren-her™
Award-winning author of Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success

Who or What Hooked You on Blogging?

Blogging is one of the most liberating things I have done for my Inner Samurai and ranks up there with one of the most powerfully expressive things I’ve ever done for myself. Besides being wildly easy and fun, blogging creates a wonderful sense of community.

How did you first become a blogger?

I first became a blogger seven months ago when I signed-up for Andy Wibbel's (author of Blogwild!) Write Your Book in 45 Days teleseminar. It was one of those marathon writing seminars where a bunch of crazed writers all got together for a weekly call, then went off on their own to write in isolation. Some of us rented cabins in the mountains for weeks at a time, others of us took a month off from work, and still others of us hammered it out between 3-5a each morning before going off to our day job. The one thing, though, that all of us had in common was our sacred writer’s blog space, created specifically for our class.

Here, from an absolutely impoverished place of writer’s isolation, too many days spent staring glassy-eyed at the computer screen, and a week’s worth of half-eaten take out in my ‘fridge, I began my blogging career. Driven from the need to connect, and with absolutely no prior instruction and a great amount of intrepidation, I wrote “Alkamae” in the ‘post a comment’ name box. “So far so good,” I thought as I typed something scholarly in the body of the post like, “help, anyone out there?” Then, I warily clicked ‘post’ and . . . eureka, our community of book writers was born!

Seven months later, I had my own blog site and have been blogging steadily ever since.

So, what's your blogging story? When did you begin blogging? What the experience been like for you? Let us know . . . we'd love to hear.

Susan L. Reid
The original Accidental Pren-her™
Award-winning author of Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success

Mary Massey on Accidental Pren-her Podcast

Business podcast with Mary Massey – subscribe now via iTunes.

This week on the Accidental Pren-her show I speak with Mary Massey, founder of Okiana Designs. In this interview Mary talks about how personal loss prompted her to start her website, logo and graphic design business. She also shares how she came up with her unique business name, and how she’s able to maintain a balanced and healthy life while running a business and raising a family.

• Listen to the interview. (If needed, click here to access easy download instructions page.)
• Read the transcript.

This episode of Accidental Pren-her: Stories of the Unexpected podcast is brought to you by Windsor Media Enterprises: books, blogs, & beyond. A publishing 3.0 company focused on new media and technology.