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 »

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 »

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 »

***Don’t miss The Art of Branding with Laura Garnett on December 5, 2-4pm.***

You know the feeling. You were clear. This man, this project, this job, this client was THE perfect one for you. You can’t begin to even imagine that they could think differently. Then it comes, the Big No. The, “I’m sorry I am not interested”.

If I could count how many times I have experienced rejection I would be counting for days. It’s an inevitable part of life and yet it always causes a little or big ding to our egos, READ MORE »

Some small business owners feel insecure about their size. To compensate, they work hard to project a business image that’s bigger than they really are. They use the word we, when there’s really only an “I”. They sanitize the “about us” or company history with more corporate lingo, and dilute their brand, shifting the focus off of themselves and on to more generic mission statements or industry speak. In nearly every case, I think this is the wrong approach. Granted I’m a small business lover, and tend not to favor more corporate companies. But it’s still READ MORE »

I have boatloads of information and data on In Good Company metrics. I hoard details and am constantly at risk of going over my gigantic email storage limit. However, while I may be vigilant about collecting, I’m not always diligent about organizing those pieces of information and turning them into information I can USE. (And, when I do get the itch for analysis I spend way too much time gathering these details from multiple locations – but that’s a whole other story.)

A recent conversation with a marketing consultant however prompted me to think about READ MORE »

Managing distraction is a huge battle for everyone but particularly the self-employed. After all, I make my own deadlines and can leave the office when I want. So you could argue that distractions cause fewer consequences for someone like me. Yet, like everyone else, I’m way more productive – and happier – the less distracted I am. So for better or worse it’s important for me to police myself.

I used to get frustrated at myself for getting distracted. “C’mon”, I’d say to myself, “You just lost 30 minutes for nothing! What are you doing?” Now I try to embrace it READ MORE »

Last week we talked about the little annoying to-do items, which, left, undone, can get under your skin. In addition to these pesky tasks I find that most entrepreneurs have a few haunting questions that also cause great daily anxiety and angst. These are the “keep you up at night” questions and concerns that seem to undermine the very foundation of your business.

Despite the fact that these haunting concerns impact your productivity and clear-sightedness, most entrepreneurs ignore them for long periods of time – often because the questions just seem too big and scary. And while it’s perfectly normal READ MORE »

A friend of mine experienced an atrocious situation last week. A potential business lead was referred by a mutual acquaintance. In their conversations, this lead was rude, judgmental and inappropriate. My friend has grace and poise like you wouldn’t believe so she was able to quickly dismiss the meanie and move on. But while she responded remarkably in the moment, inside she was reeling.

And while she could certainly choose not to work with this woman, she wasn’t quite sure how to follow up with the referrer. Should she just say thank you and not anything more? Should she tell READ MORE »

As with any job, there are lots of less than thrilling tasks associated with entrepreneurship (bookkeeping, filing, and insurance all come to mind). And, since we entrepreneurs are our own bosses we don’t typically have externally-reinforced deadlines that ensure that all the annoying but important things get done. We call the shots! And we can conveniently postpone these tasks into oblivion if we want. Yet, not doing them feels bad. They collectively hang over our heads and give us the sense that we are being irresponsible or neglectful. And it’s hard to fully enjoy your business and being an entrepreneur when you can’t READ MORE »

Most of us start businesses because we want to be happier. We’re certain that when we are our own boss, we’ll finally have the creative freedom, autonomy, challenge, and meaning that we’ve been craving. We imagine our future selves working on our own terms, for something that we believe in (or at the very least are excited about). We dream about how this new professional reality will improve our personal lives, too—we’ll have the time and flexibility to exercise, to eat right, and to see our kids, friends, and spouses.

Keep reading for the four READ MORE »

Here at Help with a Smile, we’re big fans of Gmail and Google Apps, so I thought I’d share some of my own methods for dealing with the (now officially age-old) problem of e-mail overload.

I really like Merlin Mann’s Inbox Zero philosophy- so I keep my Inbox completely void of things that are not important to me at the moment.  You’d be surprised how easy and fast it is to archive a message (learn the Gmail keyboard shortcut- “y”) Most folks that do not subscribe to this READ MORE »

Is your online web presence missing just one little thing, for example, your photograph?   I dodged this vexing question for as long as I possibly could, because I’m safely beyond the age of twenty-five and don’t scream with delight at the way I photograph.  I’m a baby boomer.

Years ago I acted professionally, and my headshots were updated regularly; when I stopped performing, I no longer needed them.  Then came digital proliferation, which made me less comfortable in front of a camera.  Too many people preferred photographing a moment to just being in READ MORE »