New Beginnings

No matter how good things are, they can be better.  Sometimes to get to the better, we have to say good-bye to the old and start again.  If we are smart, we take everything we learned from the old and apply it to the new.

This is where I am with my business.  I am at another new beginning. 

When I started my business almost 20 years ago, my focus was on long-term health care food service management consulting.  At one point, someone suggested speaking to increase business.  I had done extensive training for a previous employer, so speaking was an easy step.  I found that I enjoyed the speaking more than the consulting.  Speaking and training became the main focus of my business.

Although I have always enjoyed food service management, a few years ago I decided I wanted to apply what I had learned professionally and personally to a wider audience than food service managers and dietitians.  I also decided I wanted to speak on topics that would have a greater impact for more people, especially women.  I have worked with many great women managers over the years, and yet most of them could have been even better with additional knowledge and assistance.

I have also always wanted to write.  I have published my first book, Don’t Act Like Prey!  A Guide to Personal Leadership for Women.  It is available through Amazon.com.  Or, if you order it through my new website, www.SusanLFarrell.com and leave me your email address, I will send you a special bonus chapter, free.

My new website, www.SusanLFarrell.com, reflects my new speaking and writing venture, personal leadership.  I will still be blogging, and it will be part of the website.

I do not plan to do more with this blog, but I will keep it active for awhile.  I hope that you will visit my new website and become a frequent reader of my new blog.

Thank you!

Personal Leadership for Women: Business or Hobby?

“Businesses are in business to make money.  If it does not make money, it is not a business.  It is a hobby.”

This was the most valuable piece of information I learned when I went to the University of Louisville for an MBA.  (If I could remember the professor’s name, I would give him the credit.  Unfortunately, I do not even remember name of the class.)  It forced me to take a very critical look at my business at the time.  I have used it to assess my business since.

If you are self-employed, do you treat your business as a business?  Or do you treat it as a hobby?  Do you invest as much time into your business as you would if you were punching a time clock?  Or do you fit in time where you can in between personal pursuits?

I know people who run their business as a business.  They put the time and effort into it that is needed to achieve the success they want.  I know others who consistently let everything else come first.  It can be easy to do, especially if you work from home.  There are many potential distractions.

This may be hard to believe, but the ones that are most successful are those that treat it as a business and work extremely hard and put in long hours.  If you want a business, that is the price to pay.

If what you really want is a hobby, there is nothing wrong with that if you have another way to support yourself.  But at least be honest with yourself.  A simple question to ask yourself is if you would pay someone else to do what you do throughout the day.

Do you have a business or a hobby?  And which do you want?

Personal Leadership for Women: Lessons from Miniature Golf

Many years ago, my husband, Rick, started an annual miniature golf outing with his sons.  When Rick and I married, I joined.  When Scott married Shannon, she joined.  When Robert married Laura in 2009, she joined.  There has been a traveling trophy for the winner for years.  When Laura joined, a couple’s trophy was added.  We generally play 145 holes in one day.  (For those of you doing the math, one course has 19 holes.)  It’s silly and fun.

This year, we had our competition in May.  Some interesting things happened that can be life lessons for all of us. 

The men have always come in first, second, and third, and the ranking varies.  I want to talk about the women, though.  Laura has always come in fourth, I have come in fifth, and Shannon sixth.  Until this year. 

In 2011 we started saving everyone’s scores.  That year there was a 25 point difference between Laura and Shannon.  In 2012 the difference was the same, as neither Laura nor Shannon improved.  I, however, improved by 14 strokes.  This year, I improved by another 14 strokes, Laura improved by 5, and Shannon improved by a whopping 27 strokes!  I placed first for the women, Laura second, and Shannon third.  There was only 5 strokes difference between our scores.

So what lessons can we learn?

From Laura’s experience, an important lesson is that no matter how good you are, and no matter how long you have been the best, there is always the possibility that someone will be better than you.  It is important not to get complacent.  (Not that Laura did; her goal was to move to third place.)  It is important to continually improve, and perhaps improve at a faster rate than is comfortable for you.  Keeping this in mind can keep you in front.

From Shannon’s experience, one lesson is to never give up.  Another is to decide how you are going to define success.  In my opinion, Shannon is the real winner in this match because she improved so much.  Another lesson is to always focus.  Shannon always played well in the morning, but fizzled in the afternoon.  She stayed focus all day this time.

From my experience, the most important lesson is to continually analyze what is happening, why, and then implement appropriate changes.  A problem I have is my eyesight.  I have bifocal contacts for office and everyday work.  I wear prescription glasses, with sunglass clips over them, for driving and to see far away.  In 2011, I realized that by taking my glasses on and off, it affected how I aimed.  In 2012 I just took the sunglass clip off.  It helped.  In 2013 I tried just wearing ordinary sunglasses when I needed them.  It helped more!

Whenever we can learn lessons from the little things in life (like miniature golf) and apply those lessons to the big things in life (like career and personal pursuits), we can be more successful.

Are there things you have learned that you can apply to other areas of you life?

Personal Leadership for Women: Use It or Lose It

I am not sure where this phrase originated, or in what capacity.  It can apply to all aspects of our lives, however.

From a physical standpoint, if we do not exercise our body, we will lose the ability to do the things we take for granted.  How many of you have elderly parents or grandparents who could do more if they simply would do more?  I do!  That will be us someday if we do not continue to use our bodies and our muscles.

From a mental standpoint, we need to continue to use our minds to keep them sharp.  Learning new things is a great way to keep the mind young.  Studies have shown that learning may also help deter Alzheimer’s.

We need to continue to utilize our talents to remain good.  When we don’t, we lose the skills that we have and need to regain them. 

Doing all these things will help keep us young and active, mentally and physically, even as we age.

Personal Leadership for Women: Mental Health Days

Sometimes we all need to take a “mental health day.”  We might not be sick.  There might not be anything physically wrong with us.  But we just do not feel right and we need to take a little time off for ourselves.

This happened to me recently.  I was feeling really irritable, I could not focus, I was not accomplishing anything, and I was getting really frustrated.  Finally about mid-morning I told myself enough was enough and I was taking a mental health day.

I went out, treated myself to a mid-morning snack, ran some errands, and took care of a few things for me.  In the process, I ran into my brother, who was in town to see a client.  We had a nice chat.  I treated myself to a late lunch.  (I like eating out.)

It was one of the first really nice days this season, perfect for putting the top down on the car.  When I got home, I found reasons to go driving again just to enjoy the day.  When I got home again, I spent some time reading.

The next day I felt great!  I was energetic and enthusiastic.  I was so productive that I more than made up for taking the previous day off.  Taking a day off was what I needed.  I needed a mental health day.

Being self-employed does have its advantages.  I realize I can do something like this easier than if I punched a time clock.  If you can, when you know you really need to take a day off even if you are not sick, take a mental health day.