Patty Briguglio a friend of mine from the “community” as I call it of Women Owned Business took a giant leap forward in advocating for small business.  I have not even tried to call her!  I am sure her phone lines are fried.  She was photographed with President Obama and it ran on the cover of the NY Times.  As a sequel to that event, today the Times ran a column both on Patty and her business!  WAY TO GO, PATTY

I am so proud of Patty.  I would expect no less from the owner of a PR agency! She took on a formidable challenge, that of asking a very popular president about his plans for Health Care and its impact on Small Business. She specifically asked about tax credits being reflected on not only those business’s that are incorporated as C Corps but those that are S corps and LLC’c

Thank you Patty!!!! 

 

What does is take to ask the tough questions of those legislators that control our taxes or tough questions you might ask yourself as a business owner? What are the right answers.?  Listen in on Thursday August 13^th as author Suzy Welch leads business owners to discover how to make the right decisions for you and your business.  The first in our series of

 NIMBLE NOW, survive and thrive in the new economy! Presented by AT&T and Exxon/Mobil

As women we all know that it is like to have a bad hair day ugh!  And great hair days!!!  So several weeks ago I got an email from a male friend of mine informing me that he had just signed up at the blog site WHORL.com and her Hair Thursday section to seek a new hair style.  It’s simple, you post your current look and members post two styles and then everybody votes!

100 votes later my friend has a new style direction but no place o get it cut with the appropriate amount of fan fare.  I quickly suggested a great teaching academy near where we live called the Sono Academy.  Sono Academy is a new style of professional vocational schools and I had been frequenting them for their ever so popular $10.00 wash and blow dry.  We put our heads together, met with Thea, the owner and came up with an event that would not only give Richard a new summer style but also draw attention to the Academy and her current problems of finding new sources of educational loans. 

This crazy economy has had so many ripple effects that I listen in amazement of story after story of the domino effect.  Sono Academy had been a thriving vocational school instructing hair styling professionals.  Thea had managed all the pieces of running a business and her waiting list for new students was at an all time high.  However, now her biggest problems were not in managing the business but in helping her students secure financing for school.  Talk about wearing a lot of hats!

The event was a success, Richard has a new do and the financing problem drew local and national politicians into her school to get involved

Moral of the story…  you just never know when a bad hair day will turn into a good one!

 Support your local and women owned business; they are on the front lines of this economy!

WHAT WE CAN DO TO STAY HEALTHY!

I have tosay with all the television hype and talk of pandemic I wasfreaking myself out. The swine flu is everywhere or so it seems.  So I made a quick call to a friend of minethat runs a health site for women called EMPOWHER.  It is a great site and Michelle Robosn calmed me down immediately.  She saidthat this a flu like all other flu’s. She reminded me very gently that people die of the flu all thetime.  I think, what sent me a bit overthe top is the way people seem to get this flu; it appears very communicableand contagious.  That perhaps makes itseem much worse.

To therescue on the contamination front, is a simple product that is non alcoholicand strong enough to kill the germs but not harm you in any other way.  Francine Glick the creator of WaterJourney is another great entrepreneur who told me on the phone that she ismaking her product, HANDS2GO as fast as she can, the phone is ringing off the hook!  In fact she could only talk to me long enoughfor me to tell her that I needed her logo ASAP! 

All thingshave an upside and both of these companies share two things, the vision oftheir founders, one in her passion for communicating straight forwardinformation to women about their health and the other for knowing that her daywould come.  This flu scare has I thinkfinally pushed people to realize that keeping yourself and your family sanitaryby keeping your hands clean is NON negotiable. The other is a relentless focus that makes hard working entrepreneurswin in the game of survival. 

So ladies,log on to www.empowHer com and go to www.waterjourney.com and stock upon hand sanitizer.

Stay safeand stay informed…  Linda C

In looking around at my blogs and others across the blog sphere I have decided that mine should inspire all of you to go out and find the best little shops and services you can find to support I will blog about my finds weekly and you can go to the community section at Keep the Cash in the Circle and do the same. I can’t wait to hear what you’ve found!

Ok my turn first, last month while I was in Denver, Colorado, I happened upon a gallery of sorts. The first floor was more like a museum, large multi colored glass art and glass fixtures of all kinds were on display. Upstairs smaller less expensive pieces were for sale. Everything from glass jewelry to glass vases, plates, sculpture and more. I had found this cornucopia in the Cherry Creek part of Denver , a place called Pismo Glass . Pismo Glass has been in business for 15 years and has grown in sales and in size ever since. The owner Sandy Sardella says her shop is unusual because it is both, gallery and shop. The prices upstairs were very reasonable I bought some great glass chocolate candy with great hearts and hugs as valentine gifts ( next year) for about $35.00 each. I also bought a wonderful glass heart a little bigger than the palm of my hand standing as a paperweight or just adornment for a shelf or bookcase.

Sandy started her shop about 15 years ago and credits good timing and hard work as the secret to her success. I was so comfortable browsing, I think I was there for the better part of an hour. Normally, I might feel that I would bump into something and it would end up on the floor. I would end up feeling really clumsy or worse . Both women in the store were helpful but not hovering around me. My enthusiasm over finding this gem was infecting them and they were willing to educate me about many of the artists featured in the store. They even offered to send my wish list to my husband for my upcoming birthday! I’ll just keep my fingers crossed on that one.

I left the store with my purchases in hand and feeling like I spent and hour learning about the beautiful world of glass it doesn’t get much better than a bit of shopping and culture.

Are you looking for a way to spend your $20.00 this week, logon right now to http://www.pismoglass.com and enjoy

Have a great weekend!

I just got the latest issue of TRENDWATCH in my email.  It reminded me of a blog I posted a year ago titled A World of Cash fFow.  Sometimes I should just take my own advise  right???  How many times have you told yourself that?

So here are my thoughts on the Trendwatch news:  A recession-induced need for cash, and an ever-growing web infrastructure enabling individuals to act as (part-time) entrepreneurs, are fueling concepts that help ordinary consumers make money instead of just spending it. Trendwatch calls it  the “SELLSUMER”

“SELLSUMERS: Whether it’s selling their insights to corporations, hawking their creative output to fellow consumers, or renting out unused assets, consumers will increasingly become SELLSUMERS, too. Made possible by the online revolution’s great democratization of demand and supply, and further fueled by a global recession that leaves consumers strapped for cash, the SELLSUMERS phenomenon is yet another manifestation of the mega-trend that is 'consumer participation'.”

The following three points are necessary to be successful, however almost all of can say that we meet the criteria

Are you an Expert?
For decades, people have been trained to become experts in business, marketing and advertising (read: to see through the BS and to understand the underlying workings of being marketed to). The business of business has become something that interests producers and consumers alike. No wonder SELLSUMERS are confident enough to try their hand at (tiny) businesses of their own.

Making it with what you know
Big Business is all about who you know. On top of that, as Big Business is increasingly seen as being behind the times, and niche startups are stealing the show, showing off one's business acumen as a SELLSUMER yields personal status.

It’s all about price
SELLSUMERS provide other consumers with 'premium obscure' products and services and experiences—different, hard-to-find, special, vintage, quirky, and/or personalized. Equally important in recession times: unburdened by massive cost structures, some SELLSUMER offerings are dirt-cheap.

Oh and the extra CASH

Oh, and let's face it, most people welcome a bit of extra cash, in bad and good times.