The Real Reason You Do Agreements
by Alexis Martin Neely (Smart Women Institute Faculty Member)

I’ve talked with so many business owners recently who are doing business with undocumented agreements.

Hand shake deals.

They tell me they intend to get it done, but we both know the truth … they won’t.

I get it – I experience a lot of my own personal resistance to getting agreements documented.

Getting written agreements in place brings up a lot of stuff that can be challenging to deal with.

Just the other day though I was reminded of how important it is.

Tina Forsyth hired me to create custom Terms of Service for the website for her THRIVE Hiring System and a template agreement that business owners who invest in the THRIVE Hiring System can use before hiring.

Before I began work, I sent Tina an agreement confirming what I understood the scope of work to be and it’s a good thing I did because I was slightly wrong about what I thought I was doing for her.

Had I gotten right to work without sending her the agreement for review/signature (as many of you are doing!), I would have wasted my time and hers.

This is why you do agreements – clarity, certainty, the best possible chance of success in your relationships, which means more work with less time and more ease.

Who knew you could get all that from an agreement?!?

Do you use agreements in all your business dealings? If not, why not? How can I help?

Read more about Alexis on our faculty page – Click Here

Eating For Beauty
by JJ.Virgin (Smart Women Institute Faculty Member)

In my new book, “Six Weeks to Sleeveless and Sexy,” I’m not taking away your favorite foods, but instead helping you make lateral shifts for great health and to lose weight.

Now a confession: Many of the foods that I want you to shift towards will also help you look younger, reduce wrinkles and keep your skin in great condition.

You’re welcome!

But seriously….beauty experts have known forever that creams can only do so much. What you eat directly relates to how your skin looks – and how it ages. For examples, if you’re someone who ingests a lot of sugar through juice or cola then your body will be working overtime to process all that high fructose corn syrup in these products. That sugar overload will create inflammation that will make your skin look older and saggy while making it more prone to wrinkles.

That’s the bad news. The great news is that there are so many foods you can eat that do “double duty beauty.” You’re slimming down with the “side effect” being a natural glow that makes you lose five to ten years off your face. Ever see someone who has lost weight and they suddenly look like they turned back the hands of time? The reason is they’re probably eating foods that support great skin. To that end, why not try these meal suggestions from my new book:

*Fresh salmon with a side of spinach for dinner

The anti-inflammatory properties in the omega-happy salmon will make your skin glow and get rid of any bags under your eyes while the Vitamin A in the leafy greens like spinach helps support skin healing.

*Oatmeal topped with chopped walnuts 

The oatmeal is a high in fiber, keeping you fuller, longer and the walnuts give you a dose of heart and skin healthy optimal fats.

*Coconut milk for a quick stir fry or avocado slices on your turkey burgers.

These are healthy fats and your skin craves a little fat for hydration. Ever see someone with that crusty dry skin? Perhaps the problem is they have little good fat in their diets. By hydrating from the inside out with good fats, you may even help prevent wrinkles. And if you’re following my Sexy Arms program, that hydration will help make your new gorgeous arms look beautiful, soft and hydrated when you show ‘em off.

*Mixed berries for dessert

High in fiber and low on the glycemic index, these delicious antoxidant gems also help protect you from sun damage and help your skin stay youthful.

*Green tea as a drink or water with lemon.

The green tea is a wonderful anti-oxidant that does the same thing as the blueberries. It gives you stronger skin, plus helps fight harmful lights. The water will detoxify and hydrate.

As you can see, you’re gorgeous from the inside out. Now, please pass the strawberries.

Chickens Came First, At Least Last Week | An Example of New Business Opportunities and the Importance of Keeping Moving
by Andrea J. Lee (Smart Women Institute Faculty Member)

As a business coach, I often hear the plaintive sounds of those newer in business:

“Andrea, when will I be done?”

Done, as in finished building the business. Completed. Complete.

Of course, the answer is never, but I do try to break the news gently.  Still, there IS delight in the fact that nothing is ever done, I think. There IS joy to be found in the ever-moving nature of Planet Entrepreneur.

A great example of this comes in the form of a by-law that was recently passed in the city of Vancouver, allowing the keeping of chickens in urban backyards.  Prior to May 18, 2010 – it was not lawful to raise chickens in your yard.  Now, by stroke of executive pen, it is.

And with that, a whirlwind of commerce begins.

Chicks… Roosters, of course…. Hens. All the accoutrements to keep them including food, shelter, and of course, information.

What to do when the urban chicken gets sick?

How to cope when the coop gets overcrowded, or, dare I say flown?

Is it true that sometimes an egg can get stuck and what is the proper handling of such circumstance – ebook, or better yet, educational video, anyone??

When and exactly how to, err… not just properly husband the beginning of life – the eggs – but…well… you know.

(Now’s probably not the time to tell you about the ‘pet’ bunny rabbits our cousins had as children…another time over wine, then.)

And then there’s the infrastructure.  Chicken resource directories. Chicken swap tweetups. Insert your idea here. (Go on, you know you can!)

If you look closely, or think just a few moments longer than usual, you’ll see that in this example, current as of just last week, is a pattern.  It’s a pattern of activity, behavior, consumption and BIRTH of VALUE that occurs when something new (that someone wants) comes onto the scene.

The City of Vancouver may have thought of this as a quelling of a small urban uprising.  Responding to a group of people intent on taking control of a part of their lives, their food chain, their sense of capability. But the bylaw that was passed was even more important in my eyes for one reason – it stepped out of the way and allowed the birth of value to occur.

Commerce, of the great kind, the kind that really matters, is just human behavior that follows the creation of value.

What added-value can you create today?

How can you over-deliver on your promises to contribute value, to your customers?

When might it be useful to think about the value you add as a citizen of the world (who also happens to be an entrepreneur) as opposed to ‘how much money can I make?’

If you fall on the other side of the spectrum, when is it useful to seize the opportunity to make money as a result of value?

Comments, questions, answers, debate, are all welcome.

Read more about Andrea on our faculty page – Click Here

Why Western Women Will Save the World
by Jessica Eaves Mathews (Smart Women Institute Faculty Member)

“Women small business owners will ultimately create more opportunities for employees to grow in their jobs and inspire others to start their own small business – all while providing customers with superior service.” The Guardian Life Small Business Research Institute, Dec. 2009

I am taking a break this week from giving my opinion in order to share some very promising statistics with you about women in business. After reviewing this information, I am even more motivated and excited about all of our prospects and about the future of our economy.

At the Vancouver Peace Summit in September 2009, the Dalai Lama gathered with a powerful group of Nobel Laureates, Authors, Musicians, and other change agents to discuss the idea of world peace. As you have likely heard by now, during that event, the Dalai Lama stated that we are seeing the rise of the feminine energy globally as we move toward a more compassionate, empathetic and nurturing global society. As a result, he stated unequivocally that the world will be saved by the Western Woman.

But the Dalai Lama isn’t the only one who sees Western Women as a positive and powerful force of change on our planet.

The Center for Women’s Business Research did a study that showed that there are about 8 million women-owned enterprises in the US alone, and that those enterprises generate approximately $3 trillion and create or maintain more than 23 million jobs — 16% of all US employment. According to the study, Women entrepreneurs have economic clout. Why? Because the more women entrepreneurs participate in the labor force, the higher our Gross Domestic Product! Wow.

But that isn’t all: The World Bank has reported that on a global level, women own or operate 25% to 33% of all private businesses. And, I love this one….statistics show that women-owned enterprises grow faster than those owned by men and faster than businesses overall. You go girls!

Moreover, Forbes published an article this year taking this even further. According to Forbes.com, women are fast becoming THE job-creation engine for our country. According to Forbes, women start businesses and are responsible for an increase in new jobs at rates well beyond men and in a way that disproportionately exceeds their current contribution to U.S. employment.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics is predicting that by 2018, 15.3 million new jobs will be created. Do you want to know the best part? According to a new report by The Guardian Life Small Business Research Institute, women will create one-third, or 5.5 million, new jobs!

Yes, it gets even better than that. Not only will women create these jobs, but the report predicts that women will also be responsible for transforming the workplace from the male-dominated, hierarchical, exclusive “good ole boys” club of yesterday into a more “inclusive, horizontally-managed environment.”

According to Forbes, “this job growth projection is based on a rigorous analysis of converging factors, including the faster growth rate of female-owned vs. male-owned businesses; higher college graduation rates by women than men; and the predicted growth of industry sectors and occupations traditionally dominated by women. The projection also reflects the timely fact that female-owned businesses, more often self-funded than male-owned ones, are therefore less reliant on bank financing at a time when many say small business lending practices are more restricted.”

Using the Guardian Life report, Forbes predicts that women business owners will create a very different work environment than the male-dominated work place we have all experienced. This will include characteristics such as a positive working environment and opportunities for all involved in the business, better pay and health care, better customer service and customer loyalty, a smarter focus on ideal clients (niche marketing), better collaboration and communication, and better long-term planning, including a succession plan and a solid retirement plan not only for owners but for their employees.

As Forbes says so eloquently, “[T]his deeply engaged, inclusive, horizontal and diligent female-led approach to business management can be expected to counteract the top-down, command-and-control style long practiced by the male-dominant business establishment. Over the next decade, it will have a profound impact on the U.S. economy as female small-business owners create more opportunity for employees to grow in their jobs, encourage others to start their own small businesses and inspire a greater commitment to superior customer service and retention.”

I don’t know about you, but all of that data and those projections get me pretty darn excited.

I am witnessing a growing movement toward conscious capitalism, and I believe that women will lead that charge. I feel so honored to be a part of this and to help other women be a part of this great shift in our economy.

I have no doubt that the Dalai Lama was right: Western women will save the world, one business at a time.

Read more about Jessica on our faculty page – Click Here

Ready, Set, Reinvent by Sheri McConnell
(Excerpted from Smart Women Know Their Why, Pub. Date June 2010)

Reinvention. To remake or redo completely. Are you ready to pour your heart and soul into a business and then go back to the drawing board repeatedly? In my experience, you will need to reinvent your personal and business image, your website brand, your infoproducts and much more, every few years.

In business, reinvention is what helps you stand out against the competition. My hope is that the creative side of reinvention excites you as it does me. I need to reinvent to keep me interested. If I didn’t get to reinvent my companies, I would be completely bored with them and they would not be profitable at all.

Here are a few areas (and time frames) you should consider as avenues of ongoing reinvention. Remember that there is less competition at the top and you always want to lead.

• Personal branding, such as your bio and pictures (minimum of once a year)
• Complete update and redesign of website (minimum of once every two years)
• Information products (minimum of once a year)
• Product and service offerings (minimum of once a year)

Over the last 10 years, I have literally created hundreds of new promotions, reinvented my websites at least a few dozen times, updated my information products at least once a year, and reinvented my personal brand a few dozen times, too. My customers have always responded with enthusiasm and each time we upleveled our companies in some way, we always increased our revenues.

Simply put, your customers want to see you invest time and money in reinventing or updating your solutions in order to continually invest in you to solve their problems.

Are you a reinventor?

When I reflect back on my life, I realize that reinvention has always been exciting to me and I believe is one of the reasons I have been so successful. However, early on, when I was jumping from one entrepreneurial adventure to another, I felt more like a failure than someone who was reinventing. For a few months each, I sold Avon and then Discovery Toys. As a single mom, I even started my own very profitable in-home daycare called, SMILES Learning Center. But my heart wasn’t in it and I kept finding myself back in start-up again and again in new businesses. Sound familiar, anyone?

Now, I get it, that reinvention is in my DNA. So, once you find a smart business model like I did, stay in that business model and pour all of your reinvention energy into that one business. That is how you achieve success.

Other hints of my “branding reinvention DNA” go as far back as first grade when I changed the pronunciation of my name to “Sher-ee” instead of “Sheri” (which is how it is still spelled today). My mom moved us a lot and when we moved to my new school, I just decided that when I enrolled again, I would tell them to pronounce my name a different way. It worked! And my mother, who was always in the middle of her bipolar chaos, just went along with it. Talk about early reinvention. I must have known intuitively that Sheri Lynn Keys just didn’t work for me.

Earlier this year, my inner circle client, Daria Boissonnas, e-mailed me and told me some interesting trivia about the way I pronounce my name now. She said it is also like the Hindu girl’s name “Shri” (pronounced “Sher-ee”), meaning luminous beauty. And it can also mean Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of wealth, light, wisdom, and fortune, as well as luck, beauty, and fertility. So, because of the uniquely beautiful way I pronounced my name, it means: wisdom, luminous beauty, light, wealth, fortune, luck, and fertility. Yep, that sounds like me! I often wonder what if? What if I had never been so bold at six years old to reinvent myself? Maybe my whole life would have turned out completely differently had I never literally changed the meaning of my name.

Want To Use This Article In Your Ezine or Website? You have my permission, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Sheri McConnell is the CEO of Sheri McConnell Companies, Inc. and the president and founder of two global organizations, the Smart Women’s Institute of Entrepreneurial Learning (formerly the National Assn of Women Writers-2001) and the Global Institute of Associations-GIA. You can visit Sheri, access her free article archive, and grab lots of free stuff at http://www.smartwomeninstitute.com or http://www.giaconnect.com. Sheri lives in San Antonio, Texas with her husband, their four children, a weenie dog, and three hermit crabs.

The Power of Focusing on Transformation by Sheri McConnell
(Excerpted from Smart Women Know Their WHY – Pub. Date June 2010)

Want to know my favorite business building secret?

Focus on transformation. The true way to create positive change in the world is to focus on the transformation of others. When you help other reach positive results in their lives and businesses, you also win.

Money is actually not the reason at all that people do or do not buy something. Money becomes relative in business when you focus on transformation.  Said another way, when people really want the transformation you are selling, the price melts away.  They will actually pay whatever you tell them to pay if they need the transformation you provide.

Most people will never believe the paragraph above. The have too many emotional attachments to the value of money and what it means for them. Yet, this concept above is what I know to be the truth for myself and hundreds of one-on-one clients I have coached and consulted with over the years.

The next time you sit down to create a product or service in your business, ask yourself the following questions so that you can focus in on WIIFT (What’s In It For Them).

• What is the transformation?
• What is the outcome or result of investing in the product or service?
• What are the consequences of your clients not investing in the product or service?
• What do they (your target market) want already?
• What have they already asked you for?
• What is their biggest source of pain?

Your job is to focus on making sure your products and services provide the tools for the  transformation you promise. Now you can’t promise transformation itself. It is a journey that only your customers can take on their own. And many of them won’t take it. Do not have attachments to their results. They have to do the work to grow… but it is your job to provide the tools to allow them grow faster and easier.

Want To Use This Article In Your Ezine or Website? You have my permission, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Sheri McConnell is the CEO of Sheri McConnell Companies, Inc. and the president and founder of two global organizations, the Smart Women’s Institute of Entrepreneurial Learning (formerly the National Assn of Women Writers-2001) and the Global Institute of Associations-GIA. You can visit Sheri, access her free article archive, and grab lots of free stuff at http://www.smartwomeninstitute.com or http://www.giaconnect.com. Sheri lives in San Antonio, Texas with her husband, their four children, a weenie dog, and three hermit crabs.

The Road to Authenticity Is Through Awareness by Sheri McConnell
Excerpted from Smart Women Know Their Why (Pub. Date June 2010)

Authenticity or the state of being real not only feels good, is easy to manage (let’s face it, you don’t have to remember who you were pretending to be!) and more importantly, it leads to new levels of awareness and growth.  When you are willing to just be yourself in your relationships (business and otherwise) everyone wins because the energy vibration is much higher.  When we give into the expectations of others, we begin to die.  So authenticity is really about being faithful to the internal rather than external.

So many of my customers and yours really want to do business with people they like, they know, and most importantly trust.  Being authentic is peaceful and profitable. Follow the four part path below to become more aware and practice authenticity:

One—Decide
Before anything and before everything comes decision.  Let the universe know you are ready to be real and to grow. Trust me, you will be heard.

Two—Focus on the “Why”
After decision, remember to stop and take time for the most important question of all.  Why?  See chapter two for help during your journey along this part of the path.

Three—Commit and Recommit
Did I mention that you would have to decide over and over again and well, you never get to stop asking “why?”  Not if you want to grow.

Four—Let the Universe Flow Through You
Ahhh. The entire reason you are taking your journey is because of this part of the path. Bliss and joy are your rewards. This part of the path is what makes being an entrepreneur somewhat of a manic experience because the highs can be addictive and all consuming. When the universe flows through you, time literally disappears and you forget about all the other parts of the path.

Want To Use This Article In Your Ezine or Website? You have my permission, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Sheri McConnell is the CEO of Sheri McConnell Companies, Inc. and the president and founder of two global organizations, the Smart Women’s Institute of Entrepreneurial Learning (formerly the National Assn of Women Writers-2001) and the Global Institute of Associations-GIA. You can visit Sheri, access her free article archive, and grab lots of free stuff at http://www.smartwomeninstitute.com or http://www.giaconnect.com. Sheri lives in San Antonio, Texas with her husband, their four children, a weenie dog, and three hermit crabs.

Trusting What You Can Not See, by Sheri McConnell
(Excerpted from Smart Women Know Their Why-Pub. Date June 2010)

Faith is a big part of living a successful life and being a successful entrepreneur.  My secret is deciding to have faith in myself more than any type of external force.  Notice I said the word “decision” because that is where it starts. My journey has taught me that I always intuitively know which direction to head next and when I look to find answers outside of myself, I always end up off the path a bit. It took me until I was well into my thirties to be able to trust others because of not having established trust in any form whatsoever during my childhood.  For me, I had to have my own family and connect with the love I had for them to be able to trust myself and others.

The deeper reason it is important to be able to trust is because your heart must be full and complete in order to bring out the passion and joy for yourself and others in your life.  The feeling of trust will penetrate the walls surrounding a broken heart, the pain from being alone or feeling alone.  Just like you, others have been in the dark and are searching for what you now know to be true. They are searching to believe in themselves in the darkest moments of their being.  This is trust at its core.

So let’s talk about a few ways to learn to trust yourself so you can be empowered to live the life of your dreams which could mean grow a very profitable business, or have a huge family, author a series of books, or travel the world and meet exciting people—shoot your dream life could include all of these—mine does!

Trust in Balance

If you are moving in “auto-pilot” the heart will not shine and the days will cast heaviness in the center of your body.  Balance will provide the base of being grounded to the truth. Believe in the love you have for yourself and you will come from the deepest parts of your soul.

The fastest way to develop a trusting relationship with balance is connect with nature.  This will bring the balance between work, family, love, and life.  In this connection you will build the foundation that will hold you up in any storm.  So each day work on getting out and just seeing the beauty of nature around you.  This will help make the connection stronger and remind you of just how small we are in the universe.  The more you bring in nature and hold the thought of each molecule and atom circling in your path, the more balanced you will become.

Now, I am aware that I live in San Antonio, Texas and we are blessed with nine months of beautiful weather each year, so I know I am able to connect more often than some—if you live in an area that isn’t as mild as where I live, do whatever you can to create the sounds and smells of nature in your home during the cold months.

Trust in Power

True power will emerge when you are in service. All you have to do is trust that the power is given to you to serve and that if you serve, the world is abundant.  This doesn’t mean when running a business, you don’t charge for products and services.  You can’t produce quality products and services and really help your customers if there isn’t an exchange of money.  Trusting in your own power to lead others through your products and services is the inner structure that allows the new ideas and the new beginnings to come forth.

Trust in Energy

The innocence of childhood energy is what we tap into when we are at our center.  Remember the feeling of being with one self and no cares or a negative thought to speak of. Trust that this energy still exists within you and allow yourself to bring this calmness into your thinking when you are taking on the biggest obstacles and the biggest conflicts. Tapping into this energy will help you to reduce stress and become heart centered. This is the constant energy that is felt by others so they can rejoice in their knowing of this power within them.  And knowing about this energy will help you break the barriers of negative energy in any room.

I have found that our truest sense of self comes from just trusting in our energy and the energy signals we get from others. Your goal is to have no barriers or boundaries where energy is concerned and just be with the energy of each moment. In the present moment, there is no fear, no doubt, just you in your power and experiencing all of life’s joys that are presented to you each day.

Trust in the Journey

A lot of people get stuck in their own journey. They relive the worst parts of it over and over again in a very unloving way.  It becomes a vicious circle of inner self disappointment that circles them right back around to the same place again.  I’ve been there and I get it.

Instead of getting stuck on your journey, take the mistakes you made and will make and love yourself as if you were a child who is learning. Even as adults, in some areas of growth we are only children and we must be gentle with ourselves to truly grow through the journey. What I know to be true is that people are searching for a place of belonging and validation. You can create this for them by being a leader who spreads passion and love.

Remember that your journey is a gift because it provides the wisdom you will need to go out and create positive change in the world. So your goal is to learn from your past and do better as soon as you know better. Be strong and have courage to change. Trust me, I know how hard it is to move past a dysfunctional patterns that have become comfortable.  But the rewards of doing so allow you to stand outside of yourself and get a good look at whom you have been and where you are now.  What surfaces is love. And now you can shine this love for others…. You see, without the journey, you would not have this gift.

Because of my journey (see chapter one), I was able to survive the darkness and now shine a light for others who are now in the shadows of darkness themselves.  They need help from someone who has been there and conquered the fear of internal and external chaos.  I do this by casting light on dark situations and allowing my words to fill the gap between doubt and love.   I invite you to find your passions (your gifts) and cast light for others too.

Want To Use This Article In Your Ezine or Website? You have my permission, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Sheri McConnell is the CEO of Sheri McConnell Companies, Inc. and the president and founder of two global organizations, the Smart Women’s Institute of Entrepreneurial Learning (formerly the National Assn of Women Writers-2001) and the Global Institute of Associations-GIA. You can visit Sheri, access her free article archive, and grab lots of free stuff at http://www.smartwomeninstitute.com or http://www.giaconnect.com. Sheri lives in San Antonio, Texas with her husband, their four children, a weenie dog, and three hermit crabs.

The Five Types of Smart Women by Sheri McConnell

Creating the Five Types of Smart Women is important and personal work to me because as women, we each have a huge responsibility to inspire younger generations to “practice awareness”. As you read through the five types of smart women below, hopefully you will see a little or even a lot of yourself in each type.  My goal with the Smart Women Types is twofold: one, you can use them as a tool for self growth and two, you can use them to have a better understanding of how to market to each of these types of women in your own businesses.

Type One “Encourager”

The first type of Smart Woman is the encourager. She spends most of her time helping others accomplish their goals. She loves to share resources and actually refuels the more she shares them. The encourager also feels validated each time someone experiences growth from her help. She needs to be cautious of burn out and propping others up too much.

Type Two “The Big Thinker”

The second type of Smart Woman is the big thinker. She spends most of her time thinking and planning the big picture. She offers inspiration to those who are detail oriented and loves to be part of a movement. She is extremely productive when she takes time to see the moving parts. She needs to be cautious of overwhelm and not following through on her ideas.

Type Three “The Manager”

The third type of Smart Woman is the manager. She spends most of her time managing projects and people. She is in the zone when she can pull all the right resources together to complete a project on time and in an efficient manner.  She needs to be cautious of micromanaging her team and not empowering them to come up with better solutions on their own.  She should also be cautious of burnout.

Type Four “The Implementer”

The fourth type of Smart Woman is the implementer.  The implementer is at her best when she can hop from one project to another and be a part of the end results.  She would rather be in the fast moving thick of things than in start up.  She needs to be cautious of not forgetting about low hanging fruit in her business before moving onto next project. She also needs to make sure she enjoys the journey.

Type Five “The Connector”

The fifth type of Smart Woman is the connector.  The connector is at her best when she can bring people together and match strengths with other peoples weaknesses. She thrives when she is able to be social and resourceful at the same time. She is often looked at as the go to “people” person.  She, like the encourager needs to be cautious that the majority of her time is not spent propping others up.  She struggles when others disapprove of her.

To read about the five types in detail including all the red flags to look out for and how to grow into balancing all the types within yourself, make sure to pick up a copy of Smart Women Know Their Why in June when it is released.

Want To Use This Article In Your Ezine or Website? You have my permission, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Sheri McConnell is the CEO of Sheri McConnell Companies, Inc. and the president and founder of two global organizations, the Smart Women’s Institute of Entrepreneurial Learning (formerly the National Assn of Women Writers-2001) and the Global Institute of Associations-GIA. You can visit Sheri, access her free article archive, and grab lots of free stuff at http://www.smartwomeninstitute.com or http://www.giaconnect.com. Sheri lives in San Antonio, Texas with her husband, their four children, a weenie dog, and three hermit crabs.

3 Ways Women Can Embody Male Energy In Their Businesses And Increase Their Profits
by Sheri McConnell

One of the best things about starting and growing a business is how much you get to grow as a person.  Taking a business from start-up to six-figures and way beyond requires a lot of energy–specifically female and male energy. As with all things in the universe, balance is again the key.  In business, you will reach profits faster when you can embody both female and male energy in your business.

As a married women with four children and the coach to hundreds of women and men over the last decade, I have been observing the differences between men and women (and boys and girls too) and I love asking the question: What is different and how did it affect their results? There is so much we can learn from each other, you only need to have the intention to do so.  And even though this article is directed toward women, men only need to read and flip the lessons to grow their businesses too.

Here are three ways women can embody male energy in their business and increase their profits:

One- Men Ask Themselves “How Will I Make Money Today?”

The first main difference I notice between male and female business owners is that men move faster and are more focused on answering this question: “How will I make money today?” whereas women tend to be too shy or take way too long to get to this question.  Since men often have their identities connected to this question, they get right to business figuring it out and thus are profitable sooner.  Women on the other hand have multiple identities (no joke intended!) and wear so many hats that they hardly have time to get focused enough on one identity.  And because women are known for this, we often have to prove ourselves far longer to men before they will support us. Sound familiar?

What I have witnessed: When women are able to clear away the clutter (see the next two points below) and focus on the answers to this question, they are unstoppable.  Because they naturally embody the female energy of connection, trust, and empathy; they are able to move at lightning speed in their business because they focus on “How to make meaningful money today?”.  I am smart and lucky enough to surround myself with women who balance their male and female energy well and their businesses as does mine bypassed many of our male counterparts a long time ago.  All men have to do is put some of that female “meaningful” energy into their work and they will experience the same results.

Two- Men Delegate Effortlessly

The second difference I see between women and men is the way they delegate. I often say that men come out of the womb delegating while women are naturally caretakers. Since I was lucky enough to have a little boy almost four years ago after three girls, I can say with experience that I think delegating is a male dominate trait.  And yes, I definitely get my husband better after all these years now that I understand he was was just born that way.   Seriously though, balance is what you should strive for in life and in business.  My own struggles were in this area as were many of my clients.

What I have witnessed: The more I delegated and relied on others to reach my life and business goals, the more abundant my life became.  Stephen Covey talks about the difference between being interdependent and independent. Interdependence is the sweet spot because you are able to experience the brilliance of others instead of trying to do everything yourself.  Men get this. They would never try to do all the things a woman tries to do in a single day.  As my clients and I delegated in our businesses over the years, we were able to reach goals that would have never been possible otherwise.

And yes, we girls did have to give up some of our female energy to delegate more.  We had to do less caretaking and not feel guilty about it. Very hard. We had to rely on the “community” to help us raise our children. Hilary Clinton said “It takes a village to raise a child”. I totally agree. I couldn’t run successful businesses without great neighbors to rely on. And if you don’t have children, then know it also takes a virtual village to raise a business too!  Everyone wins when you delegate.  My business is far more successful because there is brilliance pouring into it that I am not capable of producing. And on the home front, my husband is far closer to my children because he is given the opportunity to be their sole caretaker when I travel.

Three- Men So “No” With Ease

The third main difference is how men and women say “no”.  The ease at which men are able to say no is simply astonishing to me.  I think they just process it through one filter: Do I want to do this?

On the flip side, women process the decision through at least half a dozen filters that are something similar to this:

• Can I do it?
• Who will be mad at me if I do it?
• Do I have time to do it?
• I don’t have the right outfit to do it!
• Maybe I shouldn’t even be thinking of doing it?

And the filtering goes on and on until we simply say, YES because it is much easier than saying no.

What I have witnessed: As my clients and I began to say “no” and say it often, we empowered the people we love to step up and say yes and play with us in a meaningful way.  When we began to say no to those things that didn’t bring us and the world as a whole more inner peace, we began to use our new attained free time in smarter ways. We began to create passive income opportunities that allowed us to then delegate more and be able to focus on the question that should be at the tip of every entrepreneur’s lips:  “How will I make meaningful money today?”

Want To Use This Article In Your Ezine or Website?You have my permission, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Sheri McConnell is the CEO of Sheri McConnell Companies, Inc. and the president and founder of two global organizations, the Smart Women’s Institute of Entrepreneurial Learning (formerly the National Assn of Women Writers-2001) and the Global Institute of Associations-GIA. You can visit Sheri, access her free article archive, and grab lots of free stuff at http://www.smartwomeninstitute.com or http://www.giaconnect.com. Sheri lives in San Antonio, Texas with her husband, their four children, a weenie dog, and three hermit crabs.