Dear Feminists of The Women’s Lib Movement,

What a month! Between the 50th anniversary of The Feminine Mystique and the launch of Sheryl Sandberg’s new book Lean In there has been a tidal wave of conversation on women and work. There’s even talk of “The Second Women’s Movement”! It’s exciting.

On the whole I’ve found the conversation fascinating and I particularly love that the dialog has been really intergenerational. Of course not everybody agrees and of course some people’s comments have caused offense to others. What else is new? I figure this is READ MORE »

I love small business stories. I find the purpose, the passion, and the suspense intoxicating. It’s no wonder then that the site Kickstarter has become a (not so) guilty pleasure for me. For those that don’t know, Kickstarter is a popular online funding platform that allows people to offer incentives and rewards in exchange for monetary contributions that are to be used to help create or further a creative project – often a business. It is like a mini-investment but the creators don’t need to sacrifice their equity.

Recently I talked with 3 entrepreneurs who have run successful and compelling Kickstarter campaigns. I was READ MORE »

An installment of ‘Making Room for Baby: A Series About Becoming a Mother When You’re Already an Entrepreneur”

Anne Kilcullen

Professional path: Floral design expert strikes out on her own

Children: Son, almost 3

Location: New York

The back story…

Anne launched Blade in the fall of 2007, knowing that she had 100% of her time and energy to commit to building her business. Since Anne did not have children, she had “complete freedom to work at any time, taking last minute jobs, run to the flower market at the wee hours of the morning to buy flowers, load my READ MORE »

An installment of ‘Making Room for Baby: A Series About Becoming a Mother When You’re Already an Entrepreneur”

Allison O’Neill

Professional Path: Banker turned Children’s Boutique Owner

Children: 16 week old daughter

Location: New York

Allison runs Bundle, a New York City boutique and global e-commerce site offering designer children’s clothing and gifts. She’s proud to have clients all over the world, many of who have discovered the store while vacationing in New York, or while searching web for the top designers in kids fashion.

The back story…

Allison started her business in 2008, years before her daughter READ MORE »

Elizabeth Cronise McLaughlin Professional Path: Lawyer turned Executive Coach Children: 10 month old daughter, baby boy due in July Location: New York City

Elizabeth runs ECM Executive Consulting, an executive coaching and consulting business focused on guiding high performing executives through major transitions and toward profound growth, professionally and personally. She works one-on-one with clients based all over the world, and also teaches seminars and workshops for corporations, law firms and organizations both within the United States and internationally.

The back story…

Elizabeth started her business in early 2011, after opting into READ MORE »

Over the years I have had many (maybe even daily) conversations about combining entrepreneurship and motherhood. Sometimes I’m the listener, sometimes the sharer, other times the advice giver. I have no position on what women at large should do with regards to work and family.  I think we each subscribe to different recipes over time – sometimes by choice, sometimes not. I will never claim that combining a business and a family has been easy. But I do know (beyond a shadow of a doubt) that hearing (and even witnessing) the stories of other women has made READ MORE »

The learning curve for all entrepreneurs is a steep one that never quite flattens or slows. While it’s great to learn a lot, the pace and intensity makes it hard to absorb, never mind implement, the lessons learned. Kind of like when youused to cram for an exam. You knew the information really, really well for about a day before it became lost in the deep recesses of your brain. That’s why, at the end of the year, it’s really important to reflect on what you’ve already learned before you outline what else you want to accomplish. This READ MORE »

The learning curve for all entrepreneurs is a steep one that never quite flattens or slows. While it’s great to learn a lot, the pace and intensity makes it hard to absorb, never mind implement, the lessons learned. Kind of like when you used to cram for an exam. You knew the information really, really well for about a day before it became lost in the deep recesses of your brain. That’s why, at the end of the year, it’s really important to reflect on what you’ve already learned before you outline what else you want to accomplish. This is READ MORE »

The learning curve for all entrepreneurs is a steep one that never quite flattens or slows. While it’s great to learn a lot, the pace and intensity makes it hard to absorb, never mind implement, the lessons learned. Kind of like when you used to cram for an exam. You knew the information really, really well for about a day before it became lost in the deep recesses of your brain. That’s why, at the end of the year, it’s really important to reflect on what you’ve already learned before you outline what else you READ MORE »

The learning curve for all entrepreneurs is a steep one that never quite flattens or slows. While it’s great to learn a lot, the pace and intensity makes it hard to absorb, never mind implement, the lessons learned. Kind of like when you used to cram for an exam. You knew the information really, really well for about a day before it became lost in the deep recesses of your brain. That’s why, at the end of the year, it’s really important to reflect on what you’ve already learned before you outline what else you want READ MORE »

As a mom of a toddler I spend a lot of time talking about the appropriate way to treat others. I try to teach (and model) kind, generous, and forgiving behavior and thoughts. Learning not to just get along but also develop empathy for others is a key milestone for kids my daughter’s age. Many preschool curriculum are nearly entirely focused on this very important concept.

Recently I’ve been thinking however about the efforts I’m making (if any) to teach my daughter how to treat herself with kindness, generosity, and forgiveness. After all, I find that much of the sadness I’ve witnessed in READ MORE »

Most people have already set their New Year’s resolutions. Some have probably already broken them. There is lots of information on what makes for a more successful resolution, but personally I’m not into resolutions. Maybe I’m too “soft” on myself, but I in general don’t like rules and don’t like to “resolve” to do anything. Once I feel forced or obligated all the joy disappears.

Nevertheless, during this time of year I do like to reflect on the past year and think about what’s important to me for the upcoming year. I usually spend a lot of time in January mulling READ MORE »

Many of us have been conditioned to think that overstating our intentions as specifically and boldly as possible is a good way to help these ambitions materialize. The more we define the future, the more successful we are likely to be, right? On the contrary, actually. It turns out that SMART goals or BHAGs don’t necessarily deliver the results you’d expect. In fact these lofty goals can often have a deleterious effect, leading to discouragement, unethical behavior or even underachievement.

So if we abandon BHAGs, how do we make progress?

Part of the solution is to identify what’s limiting about goals. Let READ MORE »

A very interesting article in Wall Street Journal last week tackled the unexpected downsides to positive thinking. The author, Oliver Burkeman, argues that instead of always pushing ourselves to be positive and believing that “everything will work out”, that we are actually better served by confronting the worst-case scenario instead. The very act of defining what we don’t want to happen can help assuage our fears and concerns by making us see that it’s often not that bad, or at least not as bad as we think.

After some consideration I realized that this has been true READ MORE »

I’ve called myself many things: entrepreneur, coach, writer, “expert”, consultant, etc. Titles which are far from descriptive. Here’s what I love to do: Help women move closer to what they want. I’m great at creating roadmaps and helping people think about how to get from A to B.  I’m also great at helping people define the work they want to do instead of the work they think they should do. And even though I’m good at this AND I enjoy it, I’ve found it challenging to find the most successful and comfortable way to package and present it.  Most READ MORE »