It’s essential viewing for women in business – no matter what type of business you’re in: you must watch “The Holiday” at least once. I know, I know – you’re thinking it’s a sappy chick flick or you’ve already seen it and you KNOW it’s a sappy chick flick.
But THAT means you’re missing the awesome tips inside for women in business.
We’re told all the time that we should read self-help books and take courses and…well, you know how long the list is of things we SHOULD be doing. Why not sit down, relax, kick back and watch a click flick for some good old fashioned business advice? Now, if you haven’t seen the movie, this post is going to be a complete spoiler. Read on or click away and rent – you’ve been warned!
When all you care about is work, people notice. Amanda starts off our story by booting out a boyfriend who has sought solace in his (ahem) assistant after Amanda’s proven herself a workaholic who sleeps with her Blackberry. Bottom line is that when you don’t pay attention to the people in your life who want to be with you, they’ll go find someone else to be with. Take time each day to figure out what’s important and remember: we make room in our lives for what and who is important to us.
When someone’s a jerk, people notice. Iris, Amanda’s British counterpart, has been in love with Jasper for ages. While Jasper’s been dallying with other ladies, mind you. We open up on the company holiday party where one of Iris’s coworkers informs her that when your fella is shagging another gal, you never call him again – you don’t do his laundry. When she shares her Jasper story with Miles later on in the movie, Miles concurs: Jasper is not a nice guy. The lesson? Trust your friends and colleagues to tell you when someone (or something) is no good. It’s a great lesson for both business and living in general.
Sometimes it takes other people to bring out the best in you. By the end of the movie, Amanda’s found love with Iris’s brother in a remote London suburb, Iris and Miles are sharing puppy eyes for one another, Arthur’s received a lifetime achievement award (and accepted it using his own two feet) following some help from Iris and Jasper’s officially gotten the boot. The lesson? It’s why I have a wonderful career as an executive coach: I help people find their potential and provide support. It’s a greta day when I can help people see things that are right there in front of them but they can’t see without a little help. Go find YOUR support structure – that extra set of eyes. Let your career blossom!
And now I’m curious – is there a movie that you found unexpected wisdom in? Do tell – I’ll watch your movie if you watch mine!
It's time to connect all the pieces of your business investment puzzle!
“Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.” Theodore Roosevelt
So, we’ve spent just over two weeks now reviewing your business investment on EVERY level: intellectual, emotional and financial. Today, we’ll chat about where the rubber meets the road: the point where they all converge.
It’s not at Starbucks or the grocery store.
It’s your every day business practices.
You, dear reader, are a veritable balancing act! You’re pretty much an expert juggler, yet it’s likely no one’s ever called you that. You’re an unstoppable machine when it comes to your business investment…but you know what? You can do better. We all can! And it’s not even as difficult as it might sound at first.
I’ll be honest with you: there are things I do better than others in my business. But just because I don’t do some things as well as others doesn’t mean they’re not important or I don’t get credit for trying. The key to building a better business investment is what we’ve gone over these past two weeks: identifying your intellectual, emotional and financial investments and seeing what we can do better.
Some of you have realized that you could be spending your money in different places. Others have realized that you need a colleague to bounce ideas off of, and I’ll bet one or seven of you have noticed that you’re not truly monetizing your intellectual investment to its full potential. This convergence is where we can all do better. And sometimes, we need some help.
I’m lucky that my career as an executive coach lets me work with people seeking to balance this convergence each and every day. And we ALL need help creating that balance. Here are some examples:
Great with making money but NOT great at managing it? A virtual assistant and CPA can help keep you in line.
Great with balancing the bank account but NOT so at client goodwill? A part-time assistant could make follow-up and thank you calls for you, as well as manage your email campaigns to stay in touch.
Is your family vacation the same weekend as a great conference you want to attend? Split the cost with a friend or colleague and attend “virtually” for half price! R&R and education – easy.
Now, here’s your action task for today: make a list of places in your business (and personal) life you’d like to add more balance. On Tuesday, we’re going to talk about how to get the help you need so you can do the things you love doing each and every day. Make it a great weekend!
“Confront your fears, list them, get to know them, and only then will you be able to put them aside and move ahead.” Jerry Gillies
On Tuesday, you made a list. If you missed Tuesday’s post, you can check out the first step in my new Business Investment series here. Today, we’re going to have a deeper look at that list.
Intellectual Investments – These are pretty much inarguable. It’s your inner net worth. What you bring to the table. The things on this part of your list are the reason you can have a business that does what it does. But, here’s my question: are you lacking? Is there a way you can improve the strength of your intellectual investments? A business coach, mentor or trusted ally who can help guide you and maximize the contribution of you to your business. Every ship needs a captain AND a navigator. Do you have both?
Emotional Investments - Does your business fill you up or bleed you dry? The feelings in this section might seem all-too-familiar or pretty alien, now that you’ve had a day off from looking at that list you made. Take a highlighter and highlight anything you want MORE OF in the list. Honestly, we’re not going to even give any of our bandwidth to the things we don’t care for (if that’s OK with you!).
Financial Investments - Ahhhh, money. Money, money, money! It keeps us going every day and we love seeing it come in, but do you really know how you’re spending it? And is what you’re spending it on paying you dividends? Sure, we all need office supplies and paid-in-full cell phone bills, but are you considering the investments that you currently perceive as expenses? Take that highlighter and highlight everything you’d like to spend LESS money on. We’ll get back to this shortly.
Now, that wasn’t so hard, was it? An easy task for a Thursday. Now, you’ve got the weekend to think, but in Tuesday’s installment, we’re going to delve deeper into the Intellectual Investment you have in your business and I promise you’ll have some incredible takeaways from that installment. So for now, have a wonderful weekend and get ready to further examine what you’re investing in your business from EVERY angle!
Are you a woman who has it all? Are you doing what you love and getting recognized for it?
Do you have a super career, outstanding personal relationships, and feel healthy and confident?
If you do, congratulations! If you don’t, no need to worry because there is a way to influence what you deserve. The good news is you have the potential to make it happen.
Getting what you deserve requires more than [Read More]
What is it that propels women into zones of great accomplishment from zones of pleasant safe comfort? I call it – comfort zone relocation!
Lisa Weber, 46, the daughter of a New Jersey taxi driver who was president of Individual Business for MetLife Inc., one of the world’s largest providers of insurance and financial services – a hulking enterprise with $19 billion in revenues and some $1.5 billion in operating profits – has definitely set the bar for moving out of her comfort zone.
Weber hesitated in 1998, fearful she had no sales background, when asked by Rob Henrickson, MetLife’s CEO, to take a role in operations. She could have stayed in a position that required little risk, no need for competition, and few reasons for assertion.
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Dear Karen! I want to thank you for your wonderful Influence It! teleseminar. It was very good and informative. I learned a lot and got tons of inspiration!
Thank you!
Lyn Shlonsky
New York
“Client numbers increased 35%; Profits up 60% in first year”
“When I started my own company, I invested in Karen Keller’s coaching program. It was the best investment I made! She inspired me to take the risks needed to take charge of my destiny. My client numbers increased 35% and my profits shot up 60%–in my first year! Dr. Keller motivated me to invent and implement ways to expand my business 45% with little financial investment. Her ideas were critical to helping me know which actions to take.
Roberta Stone
CEO/Owner
http://www.rastondesigns.com
“Karen Keller is ‘Influence Mastery”
Two things are immediately noticeable in executive coaching with Dr. Keller: (1) her expertise and (2) insight on the value of productive team performance, decision making, and influence mastery. Our division saw a 51% increase in shared leadership, a 57% increase in enhanced team competency, and a 65% increase in developing measurable performance targets and definable goals. Overwhelmingly Karen Keller’s coaching contributed to a 46% increase in our continued enrollment from last year.
Deb Conklin
Executive Director Division of Continuing Studies Indiana-Purdue University
http://www.ipfw.edu
“Coached me to a 200% increase in commissions and a new Lexus”
Coach Karen Keller motivated me to expand my business to a 200% growth in my team sales and a whopping 200% increase in my own commission check. Dr. Keller showed me now only how to create action items for my business based on the teachings in her program but also to take it to new levels. Her ideas were critical in keeping me focused on my goal. I was the first person to earn a brand new Lexus—which was presented to me at our company convention in front of thousands of my peers.
Deb Ott
Executive Director and National Trainer
http://www.beauticontrol.com
“From regional manager to international executive with quadruple the pay”
Karen Keller’s unique blueprint carefully outlined the step-by-step process for creating high-impact influence and let me know when I was being influenced in a way that didn’t serve me. I put Dr. Keller’s 7 critical behaviors into practice right away to not only increase my sphere of influence by 40-60% in all my conversations, but maintain that level consistently. I found myself advancing to where I wanted to be professionally…I was getting recognition for my work and my pay quadrupled during the time we worked together. Bottom line? Karen coached me from being a regional manager to an international executive.
It’s essential viewing for women in business – no matter what type of business you’re in: you must watch “The Holiday” at least once. I know, I know – you’re thinking it’s a sappy chick flick or you’ve already seen it and you KNOW it’s a sappy chick flick.
