Welcome to all the brand new Smart Women Members this week! I am off to speak about opportunities women have right now in the current economy on CBS in Memphis and in Nashville. Would love for you to tune in during the morning business segments if you live in those areas. I am also really looking forward to staying at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis. They have a wonderful family of ducks that live at the hotel and are escorted to the fountain in the lobby I believe a few times a day. Lucky ducks!

Congratulations to this month’s Twitter Contest Winners:

1st Prize – Ticket to Smart Women Event goes to @ShawnaHarper
2nd Prize – Free Smart Women Membership goes to @ColortheUnivers
3rd Prize – Smart Women Business and Marketing Planner goes to @MarieCornelio

Brand New Smart Women’s 8 Week Course Starting in August!

Today is the last day to take advantage of the Early Bird discounts for our next online course at http://www.smartwomeninstitute.com/createnetwork If you want to grab the discount links, just subscribe to the primer preview series here and the autoresponder will go right out to you. Note, you will not find the discount links on the page above. Enjoy the preview calls, a number of my past and current clients came on the calls to talk about their fast results using this model.

Have a great week,

Sheri McConnell

The Smart Women’s Institute for Entrepreneurial Learning™

http://www.smartwomeninstitute.com

PS – This intro was taken from our latest newsletter.  Not getting our newsletter?  Sign up by clicking on “Send My Kit” at the TOP of this page and you’ll also receive our FREE Smart Steps to Success kit!

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

Welcome to all the brand new Smart Women members this week! And a big huge welcome to all the amazing women I met last week at the EWomenNetwork’s 10th Anniversary Conference in Dallas. We have lots of pictures posted here of you. Enjoy!

We also started some amazing preview calls this week for leaders and visionaries! Click this link: http://www.smartwomeninstitute.com/teleseminar for more info on the content we are covering and to sign up for the free preview calls and if you want to go ahead and check out the entire course, you can do that below. Enjoy the preview calls!

Brand New Smart Women’s 8 Week Course Starting in August!

For the first time, I am teaching an Eight Week Course with Step-by-Step Instruction where I will hold your hand as you create and launch your own network the right way! This course will include weekly training calls, weekly Q & As, and weekly individual hotseats in a group setting. Plus A LOT more! Find out all the details here http://www.smartwomeninstitute.com/createnetwork and register soon so we can go ahead and send you some of the amazing bonuses.

Have a great week,

Sheri McConnell

The Smart Women’s Institute for Entrepreneurial Learning™

http://www.smartwomeninstitute.com

PS – This intro was taken from our latest newsletter.  Not getting our newsletter?  Sign up by clicking on “Send My Kit” at the TOP of this page and you’ll also receive our FREE Smart Steps to Success kit!

Welcome to all the brand new Smart Women members this week! I hope you enjoyed this week’s monthly bonus call with Jessica Eaves Mathews on building a strong business foundation. Members can download the call on your Core Curriculum page and if you missed it, you can still join today and access it immediately! Click Here

I also want to invite you to a series of informational Preview Calls on our new 8 Week Create A Network Course that start on July 20th at 2 pm CST. Click this link, http://www.smartwomeninstitute.com/teleseminar for more info. and to sign up for the free preview calls and if you want to go ahead and check out the entire course, you can do that below. Enjoy the preview calls!

Brand New Smart Women’s 8 Week Course Starting in August!

For the first time, I am teaching an Eight Week Course with Step-by-Step Instruction where I will hold your hand as you create and launch your own network the right way! This course will include weekly training calls, weekly Q & As, and weekly individual hotseats in a group setting. Plus A LOT more! Find out all the details here http://www.smartwomeninstitute.com/createnetwork and register soon so we can go ahead and send you some of the amazing bonuses.

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.

Dear Smart Woman,

Welcome to all the new Smart Women Members this week!

Thank you to everyone who “played” with us during our Smart Women Know Their WHY book launch last week, we are grateful to everyone who purchased or promoted (or did both!) Because of YOU, we reached #11 in entrepreneurship at Amazon and I was the only woman author in the top 25 that day! Maybe competing with the hoopla of Twilight’s Eclipse movie launch was just too much for us to hit #1. Either way, I am forever grateful that so many women are now on their way to finding their WHY and being part of the WHY Movement.

Brand New Smart Women’s 8 Week Course Starting in August!

For the first time, I am teaching an Eight Week Course with Step-by-Step Instruction where I will hold your hand as you create and launch your own network the right way! This course will include weekly training calls, weekly Q & As, and weekly individual hotseats in a group setting. Plus A LOT more! Find out all the details here http://www.smartwomeninstitute.com/createnetwork and register soon so we can go ahead and send you some of the amazing bonuses.

Have a great week,

Sheri McConnell

The Smart Women’s Institute for Entrepreneurial Learning™

http://www.smartwomeninstitute.com

PS – This intro was taken from our latest newsletter.  Not getting our newsletter?  Sign up by clicking on “Send My Kit” at the TOP of this page and you’ll also receive our FREE Smart Steps to Success kit!

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

Dear Smart Woman,

Welcome to all the new Smart Women Members this week!

I just returned from one of my favorite masterminds ever (see pic below). We had such a great time networking and mapping out the next set of concrete plans for their businesses. After the mastermind, my family joined me in Marina Del Rey, CA and we went to the beach a few times and Disneyland while we were there. (You can check out the family pictures on Facebook if you would like.)

And please keep an eye out for our big book launch next week (June 30th!) of Smart Women Know Their Why. We will have a lot of bonuses for you from the Smart Women Institute when you purchase the book on that day.

Have a great week,

Sheri McConnell

The Smart Women’s Institute for Entrepreneurial Learning™

http://www.smartwomeninstitute.com

PS – This intro was taken from our latest newsletter.  Not getting our newsletter?  Sign up by clicking on “Send My Kit” at the TOP of this page and you’ll also receive our FREE Smart Steps to Success kit!

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

Dear Smart Woman,

Welcome to all the new Smart Women Members this week! I hope you have enjoyed your week so far and have a great weekend.

As many of you know, I just finished a new book called, Smart Women Know Their Why (launches on June 30th) and I am excited to say that the editing process is finally over. I spent the last few weeks reading the advance praise that is flowing in and I am truly humbled. Being of service and helping others is truly fulfilling on so many levels.

Quick Deadline Reminders:

June 4th is last day to apply to Smart Women Fast Track Program (only 2 spots left)

We only have a few dozen VIP Tickets availble for the Smart Women Business Conference and Expo

Have a great week,

Sheri McConnell

The Smart Women’s Institute for Entrepreneurial Learning™

http://www.smartwomeninstitute.com

PS – This intro was taken from our latest newsletter.  Not getting our newsletter?  Sign up by clicking on “Send My Kit” at the TOP of this page and you’ll also receive our FREE Smart Steps to Success kit!