I have been doing some reviews lately for companies who want me to evaluate their products and publications. I don’t take payment for my reviews, that way I’m don’t feel beholden to say I like a product if I don’t. In most cases, the companies post my more favorable reviews on their websites or blogs, but I am going to start re-posting more of those reviews here because I do come across some excellent things worth sharing (and some I’d recommend you not waste your money on).
To be totally forthcoming, some of these reviews are done for my clients – but I still wouldn’t say I liked something if I didn’t – even for a client. I would just decline to write the review if I didn’t like a client’s product. But to be honest, I don’t choose to work with companies whose products or services I don’t like. I have turned down potential clients because I thought their products or services were inferior. There are too many great companies out there to work with substandard ones anyway. I will make clear here who is a client and who is not whenever I post a review. Your thoughtful comments and questions are of course welcome!
I also don’t review products or publications that fall into an area for which I know absolutely nothing about. Fortunately, I’m one of those geeky types who loves to know a little about lots of things and lots about a few things. That makes life so much more interesting!
In my business at Hip Chameleon, I work with a lot of different companies and people – most of whom I really enjoy. I am always trying to center my work on companies and people whose values resonate with my own. If you are operating under a similar philosophy, I highly recommend that you read Michael Port’s books on consulting. You can follow him on Twitter too. He’s great – and very accessible.
If you are in a creative industry, as I am, I also recommend Blair Enns’ book, the Win Without Pitching Manifesto. I have built my practice around his principals on developing yourself as an expert in your field. But remember, you really do need to be an expert if you’re going to successfully sell yourself as one. Expertise is not something you can fake for long.
I’ll share some other books with you later that I am reading or have read on business, marketing, lifestyle, health & wellness, balance and relationships, but I want to leave you with Epictetus. That old Italian/Greek philosopher has put the “why” and the “how” back into my life. If you need inspiration and want to find what’s truly important in your life again, I urge you to read The Art of Living.
Oh yes… and I will be posting some of my photographs again. Here’s one to leave you with from beautiful Colorado. Being a native Seattle gal living in Colorado, I often long for the water. This is one of my favorite places to go to relax, renew and reboot.
I’ve heard one too many female entrepreneurs preface a challenge they’ve had with the statement “maybe it’s just because I’m a woman but I find it hard to”…(you can fill in the blank): ask for what I want; settle for something less than perfect; not to try to do it all myself. These statements make me cringe. I’m not a fan of sweeping gender generalizations and I’m certainly not keen on women attributing their challenges (challenges that many people experience by the way) to the fact that they are female. Women entrepreneurs get enough flak for not being more like men without us jumping on the bandwagon ourselves.
I can’t say whether any of the oft-recited gender stereotypes are true (“scientific” studies always seem to be contradictory in their findings), but let’s pretend for a moment that they are. Then let’s pretend that these differences aren’t deficits (gasp) and instead are assets. What if gender differences made women even better business owners? It’s not hard to make a compelling case.
Let’s take a stab at it. Here are 10 reasons why women are better entrepreneurs:
1. Women are better connectors. A stronger network means they will be better resourced throughout the life of the venture. By leveraging their connections, they will have to reinvent the wheel less and learn fewer lessons the hard way.
2. Women are better at multitasking. They can work towards multiple priorities and balance multiple roles simultaneously. They won’t shy away from a full plate and will be equipped to handle the multifaceted job of entrepreneur.
3. Women are perfectionists. They have high standards and won’t settle for mediocre efforts or results. The business will save money and time because haphazard mistakes and sloppy work will be avoided in the first place.
4. Women take others into consideration. They build businesses that deliver value for multiple stakeholders – customers, employees, investors, and founders. They aren’t out for purely their own gain and their “put others’ first” attitude will net tremendous loyalty for the business in the long run.
5. Women think success comes from hard work not just from being “awesome.” They are willing to do what it takes to hit the mark and they don’t let their egos get in the way. Failures, which are inevitable, spark a redoubling of efforts, not a crisis of self-worth.
6. Women share the credit. They build companies where employees feel valued for their contributions and input.
7. Women second guess themselves. They consult others about important decisions to make sure they aren’t overlooking something. They won’t be afraid to change course if new information or learning is brought to light.
8. Women don’t take as many risks. This means that the ones they do take are more calculated and well thought out. They won’t over-extend the company by chasing bright shiny objects or the latest hottest idea.
9. Women don’t fiercely negotiate for the best they can get. They understand that the price paid or received isn’t the whole story. They think about value more broadly and understand the price that relationships and the process requires.
10. Women value their life outside of work. Their commitment to their company is only enhanced by having a full life outside of work. They know that friends and families are an important part of overall satisfaction and that the costs of burnout are significant for both themselves and the company.
Certainly this isn’t true of all women. All of it may not even be true for one woman. But any of it could be just as true as the current deficit model that many of us subscribe too. Further consideration of our assumptions is warranted when we assume that any differences, if true, are instant liabilities – qualities to apologize and compensate for. So, the next time you hear a woman apologize for being a woman, offer one of these alternate interpretations as a reason for her success.
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Adelaide Lancaster is an entrepreneur, speaker and co-author of The Big Enough Company: Creating a business that works for you (Portfolio/Penguin). She is also the co-founder of In Good Company Workplaces, a first-of-its-kind community, learning center and co-working space for women entrepreneurs in New York City. She is a writes a blog for Forbes.com and is a contributor to The Daily Muse. She lives in Philadelphia, PA with her husband and daughter.
It’s been too long since my last post! I have resolved to be better at blogging, despite my hectic days, because I love to write. It reboots my brain.
Lately, I’ve been writing a lot of client press releases, brand messaging, media stories and the like. It’s very rewarding to be able to write for a living, but sometimes I really just need to write what’s in my head and not a PR or marketing piece.
I have started a book and I am debating posting some excerpts or chapters here. The book is about the valuable lessons I’ve learned in my life so far – and there are some BIG ones! I never really thought my experiences were all that unique, but apparently they are (according to many friends, family members and colleagues who gasp when I tell them some of the gory details). Recent events and urging from those same friends and family members have pushed me to write it all down.
So, you will see this blog return to its former format where I share more openly the things I’ve learned through experiences I’ve had – including my favorite photos. Last fall I decided to stop posting a lot of the personal stuff here because I was in the middle of a contentious divorce and my ex-spouse (a trial lawyer) was digging for anything he could find to try to damage my integrity. I am hoping that he has now moved forward with his life and will find his own peace and joy. I know that I have. I wish the same for him.
If you enjoyed the social media, marketing and business pieces I’ve contributed to Katalyst Blog recently, you can still find them on my company’s website blog at www.hipchameleon.com. I will still write about the ups and downs of launching and running a business here – but those posts will be personal anecdotes, just like nearly everything else I post on Katalyst Blog.
As many of you already know, I launched a Marketing and PR firm with two partners in January 2011. After about three months of pretty stable success, we decided that having only two partners worked better for our lives. It was too hard to make decisions with three people and we didn’t all agree on the direction of the business or how to divvy up the workload fairly. My partner, Brett Greene, and I agree quite nicely on the direction of Hip Chameleon, how to meet our client deadlines and what services we want to offer. It also helps that he is an experienced social media adviser and a prolific writer. We’ve taken Hip Chameleon in the direction of specializing in digital marketing and social media, because we believe that’s where the world is heading, we’re passionate about making strong, personal connections online, and we want to help take our clients there where they can meet and help their current and future customers/clients. It’s turning out to be an excellent fit for us.
After only six months in business, Hip Chameleon is doing very well. We have had some wonderful clients and some slightly odd ones too – but that’s what makes this work interesting. I wouldn’t enjoy working with just one personality type all of the time anyway. Some clients are deeply engaged in every step we take, while others just hand us the reigns and say, “Drive!” We like both approaches, as long as we are treated like the experts we are.
In addition to writing a book, leading social media and digital marketing workshops, diving into a web developer program and managing our company, I am also creating a natural, organic skin care product line that I’m very excited about. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do and know a good deal about. After using my homemade concoctions on myself for years, I finally decided that the time has come to share them – but more on that later!
For now, I just wanted to check in, let you know what’s happening on my end and ask you how you’re doing on yours.
So, how are you doing? What new or exciting thing is happening for you? Let’s talk!
Yep. That’s me: Real, rugged and refined. I’m pretty down-to earth, but certainly no shrinking violet. I love my designer strappy sandals as much as my hiking boots.
This month I was interviewed for Sashay Magazine‘s spring issue. You should check Sashay out. It’s the perfect publication for us real, rugged and refined gals. They have a great website chock full of inspiring stories, candid interviews and valuable resources, but I also recommend subscribing so you can read a lot of the great content that is not available on their website.
In the spring issue is a terrific piece on Sue Monk Kidd, best-selling author of The Secret Life of Bees and The Mermaid Chair, a photo-rich feature on two historic and visionary Frank Lloyd Wright homes in Pennsylvania – Fallingwater and and Kentuck Knob, and a deeply inspiring story about the beautiful Juanita Bass – the high priestess of soul food gourmet. You’ll also find regular gals, like me, gracing the pages of Sashay.
This is what a women’s interest publication should look, feel and read like!
In case you were wondering, I was in no way compensated by Sashay for adding this post to my blog or for the interview. I had to pay for my print issues too. But, I do like to share my great finds and discoveries with you whenever I can!
I go to bed late, wake up early (wake up in a panic at 4 am over a line I think I left out of the last proposal I sent out) and think about our clients and our business all of the time! I forget to eat and only exercise sporadically these days – which is the one thing I am severely missing – my daily runs that reboot my brain. I will have to do something about that.
Still, despite every true word Altucher (@jaltucher) writes about the craziness of being an entrepreneur, I wouldn’t want to have it any other way. I am my favorite boss. I’m tough on myself, without being condescending or mean. I know what I expect and I do my best to deliver. I freely give credit where credit is due, without fretting that someone is out to make me look bad. I allow myself to show up for work in slippers and take as many breaks for a fresh cup of coffee or tea as I want. I am grateful for my partners – especially for the wisdom and experience they bring. And when a client asks for help with something, I just do it. I don’t have to ask anyone else for permission or worry about whose toes I may be stepping on.
Less sleep is a fair trade for freedom and inner satisfaction. Now if I could just find time to get the darned company website done!
I recently went back to working as a PR, Marketing, Communications & Promotional Event Consultant; only this time, I took it one step further and decided to form an actual company with two trusted friends and talented PR and marketing pros.
Our new agency, Hip Chameleon PR & Marketing (@HipChameleon), officially launches on 1/11/11 at 11:11 am until 11:11 pm. Why? Because that sounded like a really fun date and time to take advantage of! We’re planning a party and inviting our friends, families and community.
For me, I felt I needed to get into a space between working full time to make someone else’s business dreams happen – and going it completely alone to make my own dreams happen. I had “gone it alone” before and learned that it gets pretty lonely after a while.
I am an entrepreneur, not a loner. I really like people and enjoy working with them. It’s also a good strategy to have at least one other person to bounce ideas off of and engage in the workflow process – otherwise, too much time spent working on projects alone begin to take on the patina of a mad scientist’s isolated thinking. When you work alone all of the time, there’s no one around to tell you that your idea is whacky. Everything looks feasible when sound ideas aren’t weighted to counterbalance the crazy ones. Let’s face it, some ideas are just plain dumb. It helps to have a good friend and/or partner on hand who is willing to gently tell you that you are off your rocker.
Being an entrepreneur is terrifying and thrilling at the same time. No one is going to cut you a paycheck every two weeks just for showing up and doing a reasonably good job. No one pays you to take a bathroom break, a long lunch or a two-week vacation. Sick days result in lost income and business development is necessary, but takes a lot of energy and effort to result in new, paying work.
As an entrepreneur you think twice about signing up for a 3 day conference – even when you believe future potential clients will be there too. The Return on Investment (ROI) is unclear, but what you do know is that it will take funds from your cash reserves and you won’t be chalking up billable client time while you’re sitting in a presentation (unless you are really crafty or downright dishonest). As a corporate employee, being sent to a conference in San Diego is a boondoggle. I always ate well, slept perfectly, enjoyed drinks on the waterfront with colleagues and ran the pier in the morning whenever I was sent to San Diego by my agency. As an entrepreneur, I take the cheap flights, stay in the cheap hotels, work at night so I can bill for some of my time, eat sandwiches and hope I will run into someone I know who will offer to treat me to dinner or drinks on their company’s dime. It doesn’t matter that I can write the conference off on my quarterly taxes; it’s the revenue I have to spend on the front-end that hurts a little.
Despite all of that, the thrilling parts of being an entrepreneur are a much bigger deal for me. I wake up every day excited to cut my own path through the forest. Every “win” is a win for me, my partners and our company. I don’t have a boss telling me what to do or using me to cover his or her own ass when something goes wrong. I take on the clients and projects I most want to engage with, that excite me every day to be working on, and that provide opportunities for me to stretch my skills, my mind and test my courage.
If you are an entrepreneur, or have ever tried to become one, you know that it takes courage to fly solo - and only slightly less courage to fly with trusted co-pilots. It’s even more challenging a flight when you’re a woman because you often have to prove yourself to clients and prospects for actions that most men are given credit for on the spot – earned or not. Women have to demonstrate they can handle challenging tasks, where men are oftentimes given the benefit of the doubt before they even climb into the cockpit. But that’s ok; having to prove our navigational skills just makes us better pilots.
I’m not what most people would label a feminist. I grew up with a father who treated me like a son most of the time. I was told I could do anything I wanted, as long as I was willing to work hard for it. I was not allowed to make excuses just because I was a “girl.” In fact, my father warned me that I would have to work even harder than boys for some things. I am lucky to have a dad who didn’t treat me like a princess, but even his wisdom couldn’t prepare me for what I would later encounter in the work world as a female.
I have been denied promotions and blatantly told that I didn’t get it because it was “no job for a lady,” (even though I was outselling and outperforming the men doing the same job I was doing). Equally true, I have been offered promotions because I was told that I was attractive and my looks would garner more sales. I won’t lie. I took those promotions and still went out and kicked ass, knowing that my looks might get me in the door – but being a reliable, straightforward, helpful sales rep would increase my sales volumes and earn me valuable referrals.
I took a lot of crap from men over the years and heard my share of sexist comments. Likewise, I endured snarky, catty remarks and blatant sabotage from women peers and bosses who thought I was just a “Kewpie Doll.” I wish I had a nickel for every time I was called that name. But, that was a long time ago and Human Resource laws have come a long way to diminish abusive office behavior and improve working conditions for all. What’s more, as more women have become organizational leaders and shattered the glass ceiling, they have embraced a willingness to mentor younger women up the corporate ladder without fear of being accused of simply promoting “the sisterhood.” That was not the case when I started out in the workforce. It was dog-eat-dog and every woman for herself, if you wanted to get ahead.
I think that I am especially lucky to be in Boulder, Colorado at this stage in my life and career. There is such a strong sense of community here – especially among entrepreneurs and start-ups. I’ve never witnessed so many people who so unselfishly give away advice, contacts, referrals, work product and offer help and resources (expecting that what comes around goes around). But in order to be showered with support for your ideas, you have to be authentic in how you approach people in this community. Boulder folks quickly sniff out a phony or con artist. I know that probably sound corny, but it’s true. If you show up for a networking event and only come there to hock your wares and promote yourself, you may as well have shown up wearing a baby seal fur coat and announce that you clubbed it yourself (most Boulderites will stone you for that). Okay, maybe it’s not quite as bad as that, but you will get labeled a “snake oil salesman” pretty quickly if you don’t embrace a collaborative and candid approach to the local “meet and greet” events. Soon, no one will take your phone call and you’ll be shunned on Twitter by your nearest neighbors. Fortunately, a sincere mea culpa brings forgiveness and second chances here.
The [i4c] Campaign (@i4cCampaign), which hails from Boulder, is deeply committed to supporting and honoring entrepreneurs. In fact, it was being tagged on Twitter by my friends at [i4c]Campaign to view the video below that drove me to write this post. As a woman entrepreneur, I found this presentation inspirational and encouraging. I hope you will too. I invite you to check out the [i4c}Campaign’s website and connect with the good people there: http://www.i4ccampaign.com/
Avery Baker, Exec. VP of Global Marketing & Communications for Tommy Hilfiger: “Print is the backbone of our plans on an ongoing basis, but in addition, we’ve really stepped up our activity in the digital space. We think the combination of that with TV is essential. The two really need to work in tandem. Already, for example, on Facebook, on Twitter, on our own site, the Hilfigers have been engaging with fans on a frequent basis. We actually saw in one month our fan base grow by 25% on Facebook, once we started to feature these family members as an active part of the brand experience. We think the more we can push this campaign out in traditional media, the more we can pull consumers in to engage with the family and with the brand in social media and the digital world.”
Meet the Hilfigers is a smart, multi-channel, multi-disciplinary marketing campaign developed to engage customers in the lives of fictional characters – never mind that most of us don’t come from such an astonishingly good-looking and well-dressed family!
The campaign aligns social media with print and TV advertising to generate a sense that this “family” wants to meet us and educate us on having some wholesome family fun – and look good doing it. Of course, the next step after seeing the TV or web promo is to adopt the style of your favorite Hilfiger family member and buy exactly what he or she is wearing. From the Hilfiger website you can select any of 15 family members, click on that person’s name and see what outfit s/he is sporting in the ad and order the coordinating pieces right there. You don’t even have to think. Just buy what Jacqueline., Or “Jax” to her friends, is wearing and you can look just as fashionable.
Tommy Hilfiger has covered most of the bases to make buying easy. If you’re stuck on a commuter train without your laptop, there’s an iPhone app for you as well. The only real flaw that I found was when I selected “meet the Hilfigers” individually and see their stories, which read like Peyton Place, I could not click on Jacqueline and be taken to her wardrobe. I had to go searching through Hilfiger’s online merchandise catalog for the great, cable knit cowl neck sweater she is wearing in the video (I made it easier for you with a link). Hilfiger needs to make it as easy as possible for a potential buyer to make the purchase their ad campaign is driving you to desire.
I would also advise Hilfiger to utilize the Hilfiger family actors as models in their online catalog wearing the outfits they are promoting in the commercials. This would allow customers to connect one more time to the characters that Helfiger created.
Cross-pollination among branding venues is primary to a successful marketing campaign.
New mothers are a target sales demographic and, overall, they spend a lot of time on the web (since they are a captive audience while their children nap and they have no where else to go).
We’ve all heard or read the term Mommy Bloggers- and they are a force to be reckoned with.
In doing some client social media marketing research, I have discovered that many of the most entertaining, informative and useful blogs on the web derive from mothers who have made blogging a regular part of their daily lives. They share everything from recipes and money saving tips to information on childhood illnesses and postpartum depression – and those are just the “mom” categories I’ve discovered. I have enjoyed reading self-described mom bloggers who are also gifted artists, photographers, eBay Power Sellers, craftswomen and shrewd business women who gave up the corporate life to work from home and raise their children…sans the nanny.
In my public relations work with bloggers, I advise clients not to sell blogging moms short for what they can contribute to sales, marketing and promoting brands. Many a mom blogger I’ve come across holds an advanced degree, has written a book or two, advises large overseas corporations via Skype conferencing and would handily kill a snake in her kitchen with her Hanna Andersson clog, while stirring the spaghetti sauce and bouncing her baby on her hip.
Moms are great at sharing information with anyone who will listen. Actually, lots of women fall into that characterization – whether they have children or not. What is unique about the mom bloggers is that they are spending a good deal of time communicating with each other, friends and family via the social web.
“Social marketing is growing up: Not only have activity levels across social communities risen, but the number of brands now applying more focused and disciplined approaches to their social media communities has increased significantly over the past year, according to a study by ComBlu.
Among four defined stages of social media participation, nearly one-third of brands (25 out of the 78 studied) have a cohesive strategy for social engagement, compared with 20% who did so a year earlier. Such brands have a solid social media approach, with multiple activities rolling into a single online experience, according to the study.”
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