This post first appeared on Lioness Communication Coaching. As humans, we’ve spent years (millennia really) developing language and culture, even going so far as creating very specific words to cover very specific nuances that occur in our day to day lives. For example, in areas where snow is a large part of their lives, the local people have developed many words to describe all the different types of snow that they encounter: the Inuit apparently have 50; the Sami people in the northern … [Read more...]
California Supreme Court Ruling Impacts Independent Consulting and Subcontracting – Keep It Legal!
July 13, 2018 By Leave a Comment
:: Two months ago, the California Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in the case Dynamex Operations West Inc. v. Superior Court that is likely to result in it being harder to qualify as an independent contractor, as well as more difficult to legally hire subcontractors to help you with your work. More than ever, it’s critical that self-employed consultants and their subcontractors take steps to maximum their chances to pass what is likely to become a stricter vendor compliance process. … [Read more...]
How to Combine Productivity with Mindfulness
May 1, 2018 By Leave a Comment
:: You may have heard of a productivity method called the Pomodoro Technique, developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s. The technique allows a user to choose a task and focus on it for 25-minute intervals. A pre-set kitchen timer will ring once the minutes are up, allowing the user to take a short break before picking the task up again. After completing four cycles of 25 minutes each the user is encouraged to take a longer break. Since the inception of the Pomodoro Technique, several … [Read more...]
Sage Advice from Corporate Buyers of Consulting Services
January 11, 2018 By Leave a Comment
:: Recently I had the opportunity to make a presentation to a small group of consultants; a couple of them worked for Chevron-Texaco. They had just completed a screening process for a multi-million consulting project. In brief...here's what they shared: 1. First consultants eliminated were ME CENTERED...they dominated the conversation, told all about their processes, products, past clients. It was all about them. They asked few questions. 2) Second set of consultants eliminated were … [Read more...]
WIC Turns 20 in 2018
January 4, 2018 By 1 Comment
:: What better way to kick off the 20th Anniversary of WIC in 2018 than sharing a WIC “aha moment” from member Mandi Toutsch: “Even traveling between the Midwest and California for the past year, I find the WIC emails and off-topic subjects very helpful. I am grateful to have met wise and resourceful women, whom are a great support to each other with their businesses and life.” While a more formal anniversary celebration is planned for the January 18th General Meeting, the blog will feature … [Read more...]
Key Takeaways to Scale Your Consulting Practice
November 14, 2017 By Leave a Comment
:: I was fortunate to be in the audience when WIC hosted a panel on how to scale your consulting practice. These amazing speakers had very consistent advice and not necessarily what I was expecting to hear. Lisa Ann Pinkerton, Founder and President, Technica Communications Sheila Hatch, Creative Director and President, Decca Design Emmy Gengler, CEO and Founder, Softjourn Kathryn Bowsher, Managing Director and Founder of Act One Healthcare These 4 women have really scaled their … [Read more...]
How Great Consultants Can Stand Up and Stand Out
November 8, 2017 By 1 Comment
:: As a strategic marketing expert, I help my clients get heard above the noise. If we think of the marketplace like a large gathering—say a cocktail reception—it seems that today everyone is trying to talk at once. They’re using old and new channels to reach us—from mass media to mobile to social to IoT. All of this chatter makes it really hard for anyone to hear—both prospective customers as well as the people who are trying to reach them. If you start to SHOUT, you just add to the … [Read more...]
Three Lessons Learned from Writing a Book
September 22, 2017 By 1 Comment
:: In retrospect, I’ve always wanted to be an author. Growing up in a bookish family, I spent much of my childhood reading. In college, I majored in English literature while dabbling in psychology and biology. But whenever I tried writing fiction, my inner critic was scathing. Creative writing terrified me. And nonfiction? I wasn’t an expert in anything. I put the idea of being an author on the shelf and went on with my life. But it was never completely gone. Lifelong dreams have a way … [Read more...]
How Do You Start Your Pitch?
April 18, 2017 By Leave a Comment
:: Ok, you have something you’d like to pitch… Where do you start? To help explain, let me set a scene for you: You’re on a nineteen-hour flight between Sydney and Dallas. In the seat next to you is the one person you’ve been trying to talk to for over a year; the VP of Marketing you’d like to show your new product story to, the movie producer who would love your story outline, or your CEO. Direct TV is broken, so you have their full attention for the entire nineteen hours. This is the … [Read more...]
Essential Tech Tools for Entrepreneurs
January 14, 2017 By Leave a Comment
:: Entrepreneurs need lots of support to be successful, and it can take many forms. For example, it’s important to have sources for trusted advice, like the Small Business Administration. It’s also key to have practical tools to get established and maintain your workflow. Here are a few valuable use cases and my go-to technology tools: Keep track of the interwebs. You probably have a number of websites and blogs you visit to get your daily dose of news about your industry. It’s a waste of … [Read more...]
