Like many lawyers, Lisa spent time at a large law firm learning the trade and working 90+ hour weeks.  She was working in New York City where the legal field is intense and competitive and Lisa was able to move from her firm to an in-house counsel position that seemed to be a better fit. This was 1999 and the Y2K craze was consuming all business sectors including the legal field and Lisa started thinking seriously about finding a different career that honored her passions while still playing to her strengths.

We Plan Lives

A dear friend sent Lisa an email telling her about the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) and encouraged her to learn more about this field. The long time friend knew that Lisa was a talented organizer and encouraged her to establish her own business. Lisa’s husband then named it Montanaro, Inc. with the slogan – We Plan Lives. Lisa was known for sharing her wisdom and life planning skills with friends over the years.

Lisa’s friend was not too far off the mark because after researching NAPO and attending an event she discovered her true professional peeps and found that people actually organize for a living. This association was leading the profession for organizers and Lisa’s career world opened up.

Monetizing Your Passion

Lisa’s interest was piqued and she began to really consider how to make a career as a professional organizer. [She attended a panel discussion about lawyers who found their passion in alternative careers and this inspired her to make her move away from the legal profession.] I actually was on this panel a few years ago after leaving the law. I attended a life coaching event with Cheryl Richardson at the 92^nd Street Y that inspired me to make my move away from the legal profession. I may have confused you – sorry.

As one would expect from a natural organizer, Lisa had a plan to execute her new career goals. At the time, she was working as Associate General Counsel at Pace University, her law school alma mater. During an 18 month period, she articulated a plan on paper, paid off her remaining student loans, and banked 25K to start her new business venture. She even shared her plans with her employers at Pace knowing it would take time to conduct a search to find her replacement.

Her superiors at Pace recognized her organizational expertise and encouraged her to work part-time – with benefits while launching her new business. That career boost was delivered on a silver platter and allowed for Lisa to build her business and her brand slowly while still having the security of a steady income and benefits at Pace. She knew she was very fortunate to have such a well cushioned exit strategy.

Recognize Your Calling

Understanding the importance of being credentialed in the industry, Lisa became an inaugural Certified Professional Organizer® through a rigorous and intensive training program through NAPO launched in 2007. This put a stamp of approval on her business and validated her as an expert with additional learned skills that go beyond her natural organizational abilities.

Lisa’s business is called LM Organizing Solutions, LLC (LMOS).  She realized that as a multi passionate entrepreneur, her company is an umbrella organization with many spokes that include professional organizing, business and life coaching, and motivational speaking.

Lisa was able to identify her calling a second time in her life. Her first calling was as a performer. She spent her childhood singing, acting and dancing, and wanted to go professional. While she decided to pursue the law after college, she never gave up performing and turned it into a wonderful hobby that continues to this day. Lisa is also able to tap her performance skills as an engaging motivational speaker.

Equalize Your Work and Life

Her attorney background makes Lisa a sought-after business expert, mediator and trainer for entrepreneurs. She offers business coaching to a variety of clients from solo-preneurs and non-profit organizations, to major corporations and municipalities. Lisa serves as an instructor for New York State’s Entrepreneurial Assistance Program.

As a life coach, Lisa taps her mediation skills and guides clients to achieve results by motivating and encouraging without judgment. According to Lisa:

“During my time of career transition, I realized that I had been organizing people’s lives on an amateur level my whole life, and that my organizing and coaching skills transcended my work as a lawyer, teacher, mediator, writer, speaker, and performer.”

Lisa’s LMOS clients rely on her for leadership, guidance, support, encouragement, and coaching.

“I took a leap of faith and created a business that allows me to meld together many different, but related callings at the same time, while helping people live better lives and run better companies and organizations. The result has been both successful and rewarding.”

Break the Roof off the Cottage

Lisa was well equipped as a lawyer to create a business plan and establish her LLC for the business. She set up her separate business bank account early on, even before she had steady clients and tracked expenses and kept meticulous records for tax purposes.

She pursued a lot of industry research and became a self described organizing geek and read every book on the market to study her competition and distinguish her value-add in the industry. Lisa talked about visiting IKEA and The Container Store to learn about the latest organizing products. From the beginning, she wanted to treat her business as a real venture and pursued trademark and copyrights for her signature themes and strategies.

The messaging of a real business is powerful and Lisa encourages her entrepreneurial clients to adopt this mindset immediately. She recalled a NAPO conference with a famous speaker telling the participants – “If you want to break the roof off your cottage industry – do it. Don’t treat your business as if you are the Avon or Tupperware Lady.” This was a powerful message that helped Lisa legitimize her business in her own mind early on.

Are You Ready?

Lisa’s target market is success minded individuals and busy professionals. Clients must be committed to behavior modification and be ready to work. An example of an organizational project she works on with clients is de-cluttering the paper in their home or office. She helps them sift through mountainous piles of paper and develop a filing system for management. Some papers may be scanned, archived, or shredded but the goal is to develop a system so the client can manage their files (on their own) in the future.

Lisa developed and trademarked her own unique organizing process after years of noticing that disorganized people have difficulty making decisions. These decision making road blocks in turn cause delays and stress which translate into personal and professional frustrations.

She believes a client must decide to be organized and buy into the premise that becoming organized will empower their future. Here is Lisa’s DECIDE™ plan to allow clients to take control of their lives.

Discover what you have and want at home, at work, and in life.

Eliminate what is unnecessary and does not further your goals.

Categorize what remains.

Implement a system designed to match your needs, habits, work & lifestyle.

Dedicate yourself to maintaining your new system and integrating it into your life.

Enjoy the freedom and positive results that being organized brings.

Lisa feels strongly that – “DECIDE™ is an empowering process that leads to change. It will assist you in achieving results at home, at work, and in life in general. While the process guides a person or organization in making decisions that lead to a more organized state, it is itself a decision; a decision to take control.”

The Solutions Expert

In addition to a multi-tiered business model that honors her work values and allows her to play to her strengths, Lisa maintains a blog www.DecideToBeOrganized.com that delivers organizational strategies we can all use. Her blog was recognized by a national publisher and she was asked to write a book about organizing.

The Ultimate Life Organizer: An Interactive Guide to a Simpler, Less Stressful & More Organized Life will be published by Peter Pauper Press in April 2011.

The target audience for the new book is women and Lisa has incorporated 2 pages of journal space at the end of each chapter so readers can map their plans and take notes directly in the book.  She calls the book a best friend to help you get organized and purposefully made it an easy and enjoyable read to demystify organization. It’s a learned skill and Lisa believes anyone can do it if they are taught how.

Rent Her Brain

Lisa shared that often she feels like clients are “renting her brain” during a session and there is a lot of truth in that description. Lisa is the brand of her own business and has built her success by earning the trust of her clients and obtaining referrals.

She is using social media and a fabulous website to market the business and her national public speaking engagements certainly get her noticed out in the field. Lisa knows that working for yourself can be the hardest endeavor since you can only hold yourself accountable. But LMOS is built upon integrity and loyalty to her customers and Lisa has earned her many accolades and positive testimonials.

As for work/life balance – it’s easy to want to do it all, especially for a professional organizer who manages her time so well. Lisa has learned to say no to clients if they are not a good fit or if they don’t work into her schedule. Every good organizer knows that you must schedule time for yourself and your priorities first.

Lisa is thrilled with her career reinvention and even though it’s not her official slogan – she is helping to plan lives and loving every minute of it.

Lisa’s Advice and Action Steps:

• Figure out what you love and what you are good at and do it!
• Focus on skill sets not job titles or industries.
• It’s ok to be multi passionate but pick one to focus on for your reinvention. Add other passions incrementally.
• Dump your brain on paper and create an action plan. Seek the help and wisdom of others to achieve your goals.

Quote:

“What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” ~ Jane Goodall

Resources:

www.LMOrganizingSolutions.com – website

www.DecideToBeOrganized.com – blog

www.Facebook.com/LMOrganizingSolutions

www.Twitter.com/LisaMontanaro

www.LinkedIn.com/in/LisaMontanaro

The lay-off was not a complete surprise since Nicki’s salary was cut by 25% a year before the final job elimination. She worked in the non-profit fundraising arena for 18 years creating special event auctions for organizations. Coaching the non-profits through the entire auction process utilized her excellent training and relationship building skills but the industry was changing and the signs were clear that her long term career in the charity auction field had no future.

Pursuing the Dream

Nicki went through her savings and eventually her retirement account in order to survive. She took even took a “terrible job” that was below her skill level and required crazy hours in a toxic work environment with no potential for career building. For 10 weeks, Nicki stayed the course hoping things would get better until she finally had the courage to admit that she was ready to start her own company.

The dream was always on the back burner in her mind and she had a clear vision of what she wanted to do with her business but lacked the funding she thought she needed to get things rolling.

Her resolve strengthened on the day she resigned the self proclaimed terrible job which gave her a tremendous inner calm even during this time of career uncertainty and seeming chaos. In February of 2010, Nicki officially began the new career chapter in her life and has not looked back since.

The Death of the Cold Call

From the fundraising arena Nicki honed and developed exquisite relationship building skills. She was a natural networker and understood the power of professional relationships in business success. Her transferable skills also included development, goal setting, event planning and marketing but she knew that cold calling strategies were ineffective and a thing of the past.

A member of Executive Women International in her native Philadelphia, Nicki tapped into the resources of this organization for entrepreneurial advice. She had previously tapped EWI to network art auctions across the country so she knew the power of positive relationships and this organization gave her the courage to take her vision and make it a viable business.

Nicki launched We Network 4 You with a unique understanding that not all business owners have the time, resources, or comfort level to build referral relationships. So Nicki’s company provides customized referral-network planning as well as marketing and management strategies. Now an official LLC, We Network 4 You fills a market gap that serves all parties equally.

She Likes to Network!

While some people shutter at the thought of networking, Nicki does it with ease and makes connections for companies to promote clients and services in face-to-face opportunities beyond the standard business networking events. But how did she launch a new business of this magnitude and where did Nicki start?

“Networking and mentoring is a big piece of my belief system and my business-model.  I would have to say that EWI (Executive Women International) is an organization that I engaged in about 4 years ago and I do consider this organization one of those pivotal resources.  I also threw myself into personal development and leadership training while I was in the process of getting the courage up to leave my husband.  My passion for personal development, setting goals, leadership development, staying focused, chanting Law of Attraction has continued to develop and has been instrumental to the success of my business.”

Nicki has a resource team of mentors, many from EWI and established a website to make her business visible and searchable. But this business woman really practices what she preaches, so networking was the key factor in getting her business on the map and connected with paying clients.

Are there still scary times and feelings of apprehension? “Almost daily…” admits Nicki but she keeps her eye on the prize and knows how she wants to grow her business.

Professional Trust

Nicki thrives on the personal dynamics she develops with her clients. She explained that the relationship between two business owners is much different than between an employee and the employer.

According to Nicki – “I find myself wanting to work harder – do a better job for my clients. They support me and trust me and I love the feeling of mutual professional respect.”

The variety of services Nicki provides at We Network 4 You includes:

• Business Plans & Strategies
• Networking & Representation
• Identifying Referral Partners & Client Prospects
• Managing Relationships
• Database Management
• Marketing Card Campaign
• Social Media Marketing

Nicki has embraced the new career change as an opportunity in her life and she is empowered to choose what she wants to do. She evaluated her strengths and is now monetizing her passions doing what she loves.

To be clear, it was not an easy road. The lack of start-up funding was what prevented her from launching the company sooner. She incurred about $25,000 in launch costs which she is working to pay off. With the advice and counsel of professional business coaches, some of whom are also clients, Nicki is able to identify and work towards realistic goals.

Additionally, Nicki is working to refinance since she now has a year of income as proof of a viable business under her belt. The debt is now becoming less of a fear burden and she is able to trust in herself and the value of her business model.

Onwards and Upwards

Nicki is a woman with a plan on a mission to grow her company and be recognized as a top-woman entrepreneur. She has goals to speak and train others on networking and referral marketing. This is her way to pay-it-forward to future generations of business owners who are cutting their professional teeth during this trying economy – and let’s face it – this is a brilliant networking opportunity.

The reviews are in and Nicki’s clients are singing her praises. One satisfied customer even warned prospective clients to hire Nicki before their competitors did – and that says it all! Her business continues to adapt to accommodate the needs of her clients and now she also includes social media marketing on her menu of services. Even in the new normal of the changing business economy, nothing beats networking and Nicki’s business is proof of that reality.

Nicki’s Advice and Action Steps:

• Have a vision – learn what it is you like and what you don’t like.
• Surround yourself with people who motivate and inspire you.
• Get a coach, make goals and understand that you deserve to be happy in your career. Then go for it!
• Ask a ton of questions and follow your instincts.

Quote:

“If you think you can or you think you can’t – you are right.” – Henry Ford

Resources:

We Network 4 You http://www.wenetwork4you.com/Face2Face_Marketing.html

Executive Women International http://www.executivewomen.org/

Before long – “If You’re Happy and You Know It” became “If You’re Hannah and You Know It” and the idea of Name Your Tune was born. Candace’s husband, Eric works in the music industry and he supported the idea of the new business venture and also brought significant skills and expertise to the table. From the beginning, the focus has been on making music fun for children and parents alike. By customizing songs with a child’s name, this wife and husband team has been able to take classic children’s songs to a new place.

Sing a New Song

Candace admittedly has no experience in the music industry but her background in liberal arts and education has provided her with a cadre of transferable skills that help her run the business. Directly after college, Candace hoped to pursue teaching but the lack of opportunities in the education field led her to a position in the retail industry. She was working her way up the management ladder when she became pregnant with Hannah. The plan was to go back right after her maternity leave but Name Your Tune happily took her life in a different direction.

Candace has been active with children and youth in her community through social programs, summer camps and trips abroad so creating a new business about kids was an ideal fit. They started with 9 songs and 800 recorded names. Candace and Eric invented the technology to personalize the songs with a child’s name in the recording process.

Eric’s music background came in very handy with this new business venture. As the company co-founder, he has been active in the Canadian music scene for 15+ years and has experience with media relations and acquisitions for Koch Entertainment which proved extremely valuable for Name Your Tune.

Bringing Home the Bacon and Cooking It

In the beginning, Candace admits she was useless around computers as technology was not her forte. But, she is now the company’s one-woman IT department and coordinates the efforts of 4 amazing singers, producers, and a West Coast office, handling most of the day-to-day tasks herself.

Being a mompreneur and a WAHM (work at home mom) means that Candace can be her own boss. She sets her own hours, which lends itself to a flexible schedule so she can balance her varying roles as a mom, wife, daughter, sister, and business owner. While Candace admits to accepting a certain amount of imbalance as a reality to her day, she feels fortunate to be able to work from home and enjoy the little things that she couldn’t do if she worked off site.

While juggling Name Your Tune responsibilities she usually does a few loads of laundry and gets her daughter to and from school daily. She has become the queen of multi-tasking. On an ambitious day this might also include cooking a batch of homemade spaghetti sauce because these are things that she is able to fit in during her work day now.

A Hard Day’s Night

While the work day might sound idyllic, prioritizing her family during the day means that Candace often works at the computer well into the night. Eric is often at her side since this business is truly a joint venture and a family affair. She has his total support and kid coverage when the job requires her working weekends away for promotional events to brand their product. They have developed a partnership and have each other’s backs to cover things on the work and home front.

Since the company launch, Name Your Tune has become the leading personalized CD in the world. Children will hear their name more than 80 times throughout 14 treasured songs and they now have over 4500 names to choose from!

People Magazine called Name Your Tune CDs “This year’s most coveted item.” in 2009.  NBC’s The Today Show calls the CD “Must have baby gear – now that’s something to sing about!” Celebrity parents sporting customized CDs include: Patrick Dempsey, Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie, Matt Damon, Debra Messing, Tori Spelling, Denise Richards and many more.

Reality Check

The business is thriving now and going better than Candace and Eric ever expected. But, the start-up costs were significant. Family was very supportive and Candace’s dad is an accountant who shared his financial wisdom and backing for the new company.

With 4 performers and a full studio assembled to record the customized songs, Name Your Tune cost $25,000 to become functional in the very beginning. Candace and Eric also have West Coast partners that manage and grow the business in the states. They see it as a 4-way partnership and each person has a specific job that makes the engine run.

Candace warns other aspiring entrepreneurs to protect themselves legally early on and seek out expert advice from a lawyer. She and Eric sought out the counsel of many specialists to make up for skills they did not possess.  Defining their unique brand in the marketplace has been incredibly important as well as the research required to figure out the nuance of supply and demand in the kid’s music industry.

At the end of the day, Candace is happy as a WAHM but warns other moms to be realistic about what you can commit to while raising your family. “Sometimes you have to learn to live with the fact that the beds aren’t made and the dirty dishes in the sink because you are working and growing your business while raising your kids. And that’s ok!” Candace is still figuring out the delicate balancing act and no two days are alike. She wants her daughter to know that there is more to life than work even though as a WAHM she is never off duty.

Play it Forward

A portion of company proceeds are donated to Hear Here, the non-profit, charitable organization that purchases hearing aids for children through the Hospital for Sick Children. In 2007, Candace also launched a campaign called Play it Forward, a new initiative to support the Canadian Music Therapy Trust Fund. This effort collects new and pre-loved CDs to be distributed across Canada in support of Music Therapy. With the support and generosity of her customers, friends and colleagues, over 20,000 CDs were collected and distributed last year.

The accolades keep rolling in since Name Your Tune CDs have been named as an iParenting Award winner, the Parent to Parent Award, and in 2010, was nominated for both a Nickelodeon Parent Pick Award and Candace was herself nominated for an RBC Entrepreneur Award.

Out of a great idea, a song or two, and a lot of hard work and enthusiasm, Candace Alper changed her tune and reinvented her career from retail management in waiting to record label entrepreneur.

Candace’s Advice and Action Steps:

• To the WAHMs – don’t underestimate how hard it is to work at home.
• Empower yourself with information and seek help from others who do what you can’t.
• Don’t take things personally, business is business.
• Research the market you want to enter and find out what the needs are. Plan your transition according to what you love and what is needed.

Quote:

“It’s only a good idea if you do it – so do it fully!” Candace Alper

Resources:

Name Your Tune www.nameyourtune.com

With this lack of passion, she decided to tap her creativity and enrolled in Aesthetic School with a focus on skin care therapy. She thrived in her Aesthetics program and embraced how truly impactful the beauty industry can be on building confidence in women. This is where she found out how exciting and fulfilling helping people feel special truly was.

Sandra attended the University of Massachusetts where she studied Hospitality and Tourism Management and gained valuable experience working as an event planner for a waterfront special events venue. Her foray into the aesthetics world was the perfect complement to her event experience. This is when she caught the event planning bug, although it was put on hold for a bit as she pursued and built a successful Bridal Beauty Agency.

Sacrifice Leads to Success

Initially it was a tremendous sacrifice to go back to school for the 5 month Aesthetics program but Sandra soaked up every minute of her training and soon launched her company focusing on weddings. Initially for the first few years, Sandra’s company focused on Bridal Beauty, but after a personal battle with a rare form of skin cancer and 4 surgeries, this gave Sandra a new lease on life. She fulfilled a desire to play to her strengths and honor her true career passion and love of design, creativity, entertaining, and crafting. Sandra’s company is a one-stop-shop for Brides and event clients alike looking to get all things pretty.

Sandra Downie Event Designs is a premier full-service boutique wedding and party design firm, based in Connecticut specializing in weddings, parties & social occasions. Nationally, Sandra is recognized for her wedding and party design services and her couture dessert tables. The business has earned a reputation for its ability to create spectacular settings while focusing on couture detailing.

Currently, Sandra and her team are proud to offer services in Connecticut, New York, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, across New England and beyond. They are also available for worldwide travel and love the destination wedding trend.

One Stop Shopping

With a sincere love for helping women, Sandra wanted to create a business where brides could create their dream event from beginning to end including on-location hair and make-up. Leading her award winning on-location hair and makeup team of beauty professionals, Sandra is dedicated to serving the unique needs of the modern bride and the discerning client. By offering Bridal Beauty services on location, she gives her clients the luxury of time and convenience by having their services provided on-site in the comfort of their home, hotel, or other special location.

Sandra believes she is more than a party planner but a true designer focusing on the presentation aspects of a wedding, party, or event. She designs custom atmospheres, with a personal touch and creative eye, to make memories unique to the client’s vision and inspired by their personal story. From conception to final execution, Sandra and her team will design an event with panache, elegance, and modern style.

The Business of the Business

While it all sounds magical and glamorous, Sandra admits that she learned her entrepreneurial skills on the job. She did it all on her own in the beginning starting with hair and make-up application for brides and working her way up to fully designed events.

She was the master of her own research, finding contract templates online and learning the ins and outs of a successfully run business by establishing professional relationships with vendors she trusted. She made mistakes and learned from them.

In the beginning she remembers not knowing what to charge for her services or how to put a value on her skills and talents. After learning the ropes and comparing notes with her peers in the industry, Sandra had confidence charging what she was worth and the clients started lining up. Referrals of course are the number one way to generate new business and Sandra’s website showcases a myriad of “Love Notes” from very happy clients.

Her staff now includes 2 professional event planners that found Sandra and were eager to share their creative talents in her successful business. Sandra feels fortunate to have a great team whom she trusts and she enjoys the flexibility of being her own boss.

As a self proclaimed control freak, this type A personality loves that she doesn’t have to report to anyone else. Being her own boss suits Sandra very well and also allows her to spend time with her 17 year old daughter.

How Sweet It Is

Sandra finds inspiration in many places from flowers to colors and has just launched a sister business – Pretty Little Party Shop featuring stylish party ware, supplies, paper goods, and delightful gifts available for purchase online. You can even join Club Pretty to get a monthly newsletter about all things creative, chic, and couture – Sandra’s tag line for her event business and her inspiration for design.

A specialty service that has become a signature trademark for Sandra’s business is her Couture Dessert Table. Stylized dessert tables capture the element of surprise as a sweet alternative to traditional party favors. According to Sandra – “A dessert table is a fun way to encourage conversation and mingling amongst your guests while also enhancing the overall visual aesthetics of your event.”

Lights, Camera, Action!

Sandra’s events have captured critical acclaim and have been chronicled in leading publications including The Knot, The Connecticut Bride, Wedding Nouveau, La Bella Bride, and Supermodels Unlimited, to name just a few.

Speaking of celebrities, Sandra has provided make-up and hair styling for such notables as Christina Aguilera, Scarlett Johansson, America’s Next Top Model – Jaslene, and Sharon Carpenter.

With an eye for beautiful things and a desire to take her creative skills to the next level, Sandra’s design aesthetic naturally results in a signature style layered in couture detailing, beautiful colors and timeless style. From make-up and hair to a formal wedding, or an intimate celebration event, Sandra strives to always create unique and memorable experiences through attention to detail and flawless orchestration.

Escaping the cubicles of corporate America to play to her strengths and ignite her passion, Sandra Downie is thriving as a multi-faceted business woman. Be sure to follow her on Facebook and Twitter and check out her delightful blog The White Library with inspirations and ideas in pursuit of domestic bliss flavored with humility, humor, and some great Do-It-Yourself tips to bring pretty things into your life.

Sandra’s Advice and Action Steps:

• Always play to your strengths.
• You can find inspiration anywhere if you look.
• Look for a mentor and stick by them.
• Do what you love and the money will follow.

Quote:

“It’s all about the pretty!” – Sandra Downie

Resources:

Website: http://www.sandradownie.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sandradownieeventdesigns

Twitter: SandraDownie

Pretty Little Party Shop: http://www.prettylittlepartyshop.com/

The White Library Blog: http://www.thewhitelibrary.com/

This Renaissance woman has a sophisticated understanding of aesthetics and composition and her earlier career pursuits explain her profound ability to create moving works of art in her photography.

Melani enjoyed a career as a professional dancer while earning her undergraduate degree at NYU. Dancing with the world renowned Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, she also danced in numerous off Broadway productions and as a featured commercial dancer during the birth of MTV when dancers were highly sought after for the emerging music video genre.

The Show Must Go On

While working as a dancer fed her artistic soul, Melani was routinely frustrated with how women were treated in that artistic world. Sexism and inflated egos were rampant and even though she stayed with it for a while, Melani knew this was not a long term career for her. She started her Master’s program at NYU while still dancing on the side but an injury precipitated a permanent change which launched her in a new career direction.

On full scholarship – plus a stipend, which was extremely hard to come by at a private school like NYU, Melani began her graduate studies in the Art History division of the Institute of Fine Arts. Her focus was on two subjects: 17^th century Dutch and Flemish artists and Ancient Roman sculpture groups. At the time she thought she would advance directly into the PhD program and pursue a career in academia but the birth of her first child changed her mind.

Objets d’Art

While at the Art Institute she studied photography and would archive works of art with photos as a way to catalog and study individual pieces. Melani worked with a studio in the basement of the Institute to photograph these historical artifacts from Ancient Roman sculpture to fine paintings and antiquities.

Through her NYU program she also studied photography at the famous Parsons School of Design in New York and learned the nuances of lighting, composition, and photographic technique. She further enhanced her study with a year at the International Center for Photography in New York and fell in love with the art form, especially the lighting which remains a favorite part of the photographic process for her today.

Open for Business

Friends started asking Melani to take their photos and before she knew it she had clients before she had an official photography studio. By this time she had three kids and it was a great way to earn money, go on location for a shoot, and then spend quality time at home with her kids. For 15 years including her school days, she enjoyed city life in the Big Apple before moving to Connecticut where she built a photography studio in her garage.

In the middle of her emerging photography business she got divorced which changed how she could spend her time growing the business while also caring for three children. He former father-in-law was extremely generous in sharing his entrepreneurial and business acumen to help Melani establish her business in Connecticut where she is now thriving.

With a full studio in her garage, Melani learned the essentials of tax ID, business insurance, trademarks, etc. and the necessity of beautiful brochures and printed samples showcasing her photos to share with prospective clients. In her line of work, customers expect something tactile, not just a website image, when considering whether to hire Melani for a shoot.

The showroom space was a big expense and Melani is at a point where she can say that she is now earning her living as a professional photographer. Initially she would reinvest a lot of her earnings into the business to upgrade equipment and keep products in stock. She recalls the importance of having a strong line of credit since in the early days she relied on that to get her business up and running.

Cutting Edge

In 2004 Melani went digital with her photography which gave customers more immediate gratification and the ability to see their photos faster. For example, Melani will upload highlights of a full wedding shoot to an iPad or smart device so a newly married couple can enjoy a sampling of wedding day memories on their honeymoon. The trend is to share these highlight photos on Facebook and Melani is able to use social media to her advantage in this digital age which makes her customers very happy.

Melani wants budding entrepreneurs to understand how intense running your own business will be. She advises others to be prepared to work harder than they ever imagined and be ready to lose sleep. Her former father-in-law was very helpful in coaching her on how to deal with clients. In addition to old adage that the client is always right, he encouraged Melani to become an active listener and to validate her customers since building a trusting relationship was essential for her kind of business.

Always prepared to keep things professional, Melani learned to check her emotions at the studio door when she was ready to meet with a client. They deserved 100% of her time and focus and she learned that the referral was the key to her business growth and currently forms 95% of her business clientele from referrals.

Poetry in Motion

The bread and butter of Melani’s business is wedding photography but she also does commercial, editorial and architectural photography, as well as custom portraiture, engagement and special occasion sessions. Melani’s images define a moment in time. With grace and playfulness she captures the poetry of the ordinary and her work clearly celebrates life. Blending journalistic truth with artistic vision, Melani captures moments in time that delight her clients.

Her studio offers complete post-production services including archival printing on museum quality cotton rag papers, cutting-edge printing on Plexiglass and large scale framed prints on canvas. All of the albums and books are hand printed and Melani’s art history expertise is evident in every inch of the finished product.

Fluent in Spanish and French, this multi-faceted artist also travels the world to pursue photojournalistic and editorial assignments in addition to on-location weddings, and portraits beyond her studio walls.

Melani looks forward to future projects where she will photograph cancer survivors and exhibit these photos in museums and art shows. Her exhibition “CarHavana” showcasing pre-embargo autos in Cuba has earned international acclaim and will be exhibited in Vienna in 2012. A sought after authority on wedding photography, future plans for Melani also include offering best practice tips for wedding photography on TV and in an online blog. She has won “Best Wedding Photographer” 2010 and 2011 in Fairfield County and is a member of the esteemed WPJA. Her work is regularly featured in magazines including Connecticut Brides, atHome Magazine, Architectural Digest, Greenwich Magazine and The Knot.

While growth can be good for a business, Melani has a desire to keep a boutique-y feel for her studio so customers feel special and honored in the process. A true artist with multiple layers, Melani Lust is living her passion as a professional photographer. Her roots as a dancer are evident in the movement of her photos and she is living the life she designed.

Melani’s Advice and Action Steps:

•           Be willing to take a risk to grow your business.

•           As an entrepreneur be ready to work your ass off.

•           95% of any business is referral so stay current and be ready to change and  adapt your business as the market dictates.

•           The customer is always right!

•           Believe in what you love.

Quote:

“Play the game for more than you can afford to lose. For only then will you learn the game.”

•           Winston Churchill

Resources:

http://www.melanilustphotography.com

The pace of Manhattan was thrilling and Michelle immersed herself in the culture taking a writing class and earning her keep with temp jobs, one of which turned into a full-time position. But Michelle knew she was not doing the kind of work she loved and felt like she was being swept along in the momentum of the city without a particular goal or focus. The problem was clarity of expectations. Michelle knew she wasn’t 100% happy but also didn’t know what she wanted career wise. Little did she know then that a natural talent, which also brought her joy, would turn into a viable business enterprise down the road!

How Sweet it Is!

After careful consideration, she ruled out graduate school, knowing it was not for her and continued to plug away at her job hoping for a break in the publishing world. A few years later she met her husband and in 1998 the happy couple moved to Fairfield, Connecticut to begin raising a family and establishing their home.

Michelle takes great pride in being the Chief Household Officer, a serious and full-time career that rarely gets the credit it deserves from those who work out of the home. Michelle believes that making a home is a career and an art. She cherishes her role as a mother and derives great satisfaction from raising her 3 boys who are now 8, 9, and 10.

She recalls her happy childhood, growing up in a hand-built cabin in Big Sur, California with its mountainous coastline and breathtaking views. Their rustic home had a wood-burning stove where Michelle’s mother baked fresh bread, cookies, and pies. I could almost smell these delectable treats as she relayed her fond memories to me by phone.

As a mother and wife, Michelle now continues the family tradition of being together and baking in her own kitchen with her kids. Her natural talent as a baker emerged and Michelle became well known in Fairfield for her delicious and beautiful cookies and cupcakes. A self proclaimed baking foodie, Michelle even loves to read about baking and authors a blog to connect with other baking types to share ideas, techniques, and inspiration.

Finding Your Sweet Spot

Two years ago things got serious for this baking maven. Michelle treated herself to a 6 month amateur baking class at the French Culinary Institute in New York as a special birthday present. For the first time, true clarity set in and Michelle owned her natural talent and realized how much joy it brought her to bake. She would eagerly anticipate each next class and baked up a storm in-between testing out new recipes and techniques from the course.

Her lucky friends were the recipients of these treasures and started to regularly suggest that she consider selling them. Michelle thought she could test drive her wares at the local Farmer’s Market but soon learned that she needed a Health Department permit and a commercial kitchen to sell her goods anywhere in Connecticut.

Where there’s a will there’s a way and Michelle’s entrepreneurial spirit emerged in full force. Her personal posse includes a friend who is a graphic artist and another whose kitchen co-op in Bridgeport offered space to food entrepreneurs where she did her baking early on.

Before you knew it – she had a logo: “Sweet & Simple: Baked with Love” and beautiful packaging to ensure that each treat looked like a special gift. Her signature daisy is a nod to her California hippie roots and the goodness and simplicity of family baking. And so, Sweet & Simple – a baker’s dream cottage business was born.

Baking Karma

Before long, Michelle grew out of the baking co-op and sought a larger space at Ambrosia Bakery in Milford, CT where she rents a large commercial walk-in oven. This full-time Mom now has a full-time baking business that keeps her busy 40 hours a week (at least) baking, delivering, and handling orders for her delicious treats. Not to mention cleaning up after baking large batches of her famous goodies.

Since Michelle jumped through all the appropriate small business hoops and acquired the permit, trademarked her logo, and bakes in a commercial kitchen, her wares are now featured in retail shops throughout the Connecticut region.

Not one for preservatives, her cookies only have a 2 week shelf life and feature real butter to achieve her signature moist and chewy consistency. It’s rare that her cookies last up to 2 weeks on any retail shelf since they are in high demand and sell fast.

Several stores in the area carry Sweet & Simple cookies and Michelle has plans to sell certain products online this fall. The e-commerce site will be limited to products that are shippable so this will take some business planning to select her most suitable creations and navigate the new shipping component. It may require hiring some help to assist Michelle with her one-woman operation.

Made with Love

So how does the Chief Household Officer now manage a growing baking business in addition to her family? Michelle admits that work/life integration is a challenge. Her boys are all very excited about the business and in addition to being expert taste testers and home kitchen helpers – they enjoy seeing their mom gain recognition and achieve success with her business in their community.

Michelle’s husband is also supportive and eager to lend his business acumen as Sweet & Simple evolves. Since baking in the commercial kitchen first started during the non-traditional hours of 8pm to midnight – Michelle’s husband helped out with the kids and the house when needed. Happily, baking now happens during the day which has helped the Jaffee family keep a more regular schedule.

Before Sweet & Simple, Michelle admits to keeping a tighter, neater, less cluttered ship at home but she let go of that fantasy after the reality of her new life as an entrepreneur took wing. She has learned to relax if the laundry is not done as often as she would like but laments that she doesn’t get to play tennis or garden as much as she used to. A trained Master Gardener, Michelle created beautiful gardens for years before Sweet & Simple but now tends to her green spaces with benign neglect. But the trade-offs are worth it since she never imagined how exhilarating running her own business could be.

Sleep is something she is not getting enough of and as a one-woman operation; Michelle is now faced with the small business question of growth potential. Should she stay a boutique or grow the business to produce more volume? She is breaking even financially now and re-invests a lot of her money into Sweet & Simple to ramp up her marketing and promotional efforts.

Her cookies, cakes, and other desserts are delicious but Michelle was savvy enough to know that high quality photos were essential to showcase her baked creations. Melani Lust and Sandra Downie have styled and photographed Michelle’s baked goods so they are a visual work of art. This was a financial investment that has proven worthwhile since her delicious website will entice you to seek out a retailer that carries Sweet & Simple goods immediately.

Find Your Passion

Michelle has truly found her passion and is living it with Sweet & Simple. But she wants to keep the joy in her baking and keep the business manageable so she doesn’t turn into the “crazy lady” she knows could surface if things grow too fast. She appreciates the wisdom and counsel of friends and family who continue to offer sound business advice.

Her lifeline and support system has helped her through challenging times and Michelle believes in the power of mentorship and paying-it-forward to others in need. She wants other women looking to find their passion to seek out guidance and develop a personal resource team.

In addition to baking, delivering, filling orders, and running the administrative end of the business – Michelle understands the power of social media in making her business viable. Follow her on Twitter, Facebook, and check out her food blog on her website to pick up some great advice and recipes.

So whether you prefer cakes, cookies, cupcakes, granola, or specialty breads, Michelle Jaffee has got a treat in store for you that will always be baked with love. The publishing world in The Big Apple may not have unlocked her career passion, but Michelle came full circle from California to Connecticut to home-sweet-home to discover her true joy and a new career.

Michelle’s Advice and Action Steps:

• Take the time to listen to yourself so you can find your passion.
• Surround yourself with supportive people.
• Adopt a glass half full mindset. Positivity is crucial.
• Don’t get swept away in the momentum of life. Take control of your personal journey and own what you enjoy doing.

Quote:

“If you wake up and think – it’s going to be a great day – it will be!” Michelle Jaffee

Resources:

Sweet and Simple Website:  www.sweetandsimple.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sweet-Simple/246901931443

Twitter: @ Michelle_Jaffee

Melani Lust Photography: http://www.melanilustphotography.com/

Photo Styling by Sandra Downie Event Designs www.sandradownie.com

Before long – “If You’re Happy and You Know It” became “If You’re Hannah and You Know It” and the idea of Name Your Tune was born. Candace’s husband, Eric works in the music industry and he supported the idea of the new business venture and also brought significant skills and expertise to the table. From the beginning, the focus has been on making music fun for children and parents alike. By customizing songs with a child’s name, this wife and husband team has been able to take classic children’s songs to a new place.

Sing a New Song

Candace admittedly has no experience in the music industry but her background in liberal arts and education has provided her with a cadre of transferable skills that help her run the business. Directly after college, Candace hoped to pursue teaching but the lack of opportunities in the education field led her to a position in the retail industry. She was working her way up the management ladder when she became pregnant with Hannah. The plan was to go back right after her maternity leave but Name Your Tune happily took her life in a different direction.

Candace has been active with children and youth in her community through social programs, summer camps and trips abroad so creating a new business about kids was an ideal fit. They started with 9 songs and 800 recorded names. Candace and Eric invented the technology to personalize the songs with a child’s name in the recording process.

Eric’s music background came in very handy with this new business venture. As the company co-founder, he has been active in the Canadian music scene for 15+ years and has experience with media relations and acquisitions for Koch Entertainment which proved extremely valuable for Name Your Tune.

Bringing Home the Bacon and Cooking It

In the beginning, Candace admits she was useless around computers as technology was not her forte. But, she is now the company’s one-woman IT department and coordinates the efforts of 4 amazing singers, producers, and a West Coast office, handling most of the day-to-day tasks herself.

Being a mompreneur and a WAHM (work at home mom) means that Candace can be her own boss. She sets her own hours, which lends itself to a flexible schedule so she can balance her varying roles as a mom, wife, daughter, sister, and business owner. While Candace admits to accepting a certain amount of imbalance as a reality to her day, she feels fortunate to be able to work from home and enjoy the little things that she couldn’t do if she worked off site.

While juggling Name Your Tune responsibilities she usually does a few loads of laundry and gets her daughter to and from school daily. She has become the queen of multi-tasking. On an ambitious day this might also include cooking a batch of homemade spaghetti sauce because these are things that she is able to fit in during her work day now.

A Hard Day’s Night

While the work day might sound idyllic, prioritizing her family during the day means that Candace often works at the computer well into the night. Eric is often at her side since this business is truly a joint venture and a family affair. She has his total support and kid coverage when the job requires her working weekends away for promotional events to brand their product. They have developed a partnership and have each other’s backs to cover things on the work and home front.

Since the company launch, Name Your Tune has become the leading personalized CD in the world. Children will hear their name more than 80 times throughout 14 treasured songs and they now have over 4500 names to choose from!

People Magazine called Name Your Tune CDs “This year’s most coveted item.” in 2009.  NBC’s The Today Show calls the CD “Must have baby gear – now that’s something to sing about!” Celebrity parents sporting customized CDs include: Patrick Dempsey, Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie, Matt Damon, Debra Messing, Tori Spelling, Denise Richards and many more.

Reality Check

The business is thriving now and going better than Candace and Eric ever expected. But, the start-up costs were significant. Family was very supportive and Candace’s dad is an accountant who shared his financial wisdom and backing for the new company.

With 4 performers and a full studio assembled to record the customized songs, Name Your Tune cost $25,000 to become functional in the very beginning. Candace and Eric also have West Coast partners that manage and grow the business in the states. They see it as a 4-way partnership and each person has a specific job that makes the engine run.

Candace warns other aspiring entrepreneurs to protect themselves legally early on and seek out expert advice from a lawyer. She and Eric sought out the counsel of many specialists to make up for skills they did not possess.  Defining their unique brand in the marketplace has been incredibly important as well as the research required to figure out the nuance of supply and demand in the kid’s music industry.

At the end of the day, Candace is happy as a WAHM but warns other moms to be realistic about what you can commit to while raising your family. “Sometimes you have to learn to live with the fact that the beds aren’t made and the dirty dishes in the sink because you are working and growing your business while raising your kids. And that’s ok!” Candace is still figuring out the delicate balancing act and no two days are alike. She wants her daughter to know that there is more to life than work even though as a WAHM she is never off duty.

Play it Forward

A portion of company proceeds are donated to Hear Here, the non-profit, charitable organization that purchases hearing aids for children through the Hospital for Sick Children. In 2007, Candace also launched a campaign called Play it Forward, a new initiative to support the Canadian Music Therapy Trust Fund. This effort collects new and pre-loved CDs to be distributed across Canada in support of Music Therapy. With the support and generosity of her customers, friends and colleagues, over 20,000 CDs were collected and distributed last year.

The accolades keep rolling in since Name Your Tune CDs have been named as an iParenting Award winner, the Parent to Parent Award, and in 2010, was nominated for both a Nickelodeon Parent Pick Award and Candace was herself nominated for an RBC Entrepreneur Award.

Out of a great idea, a song or two, and a lot of hard work and enthusiasm, Candace Alper changed her tune and reinvented her career from retail management in waiting to record label entrepreneur.

Candace’s Advice and Action Steps:

• To the WAHMs – don’t underestimate how hard it is to work at home.
• Empower yourself with information and seek help from others who do what you can’t.
• Don’t take things personally, business is business.
• Research the market you want to enter and find out what the needs are. Plan your transition according to what you love and what is needed.

Quote:

“It’s only a good idea if you do it – so do it fully!” Candace Alper

Resources:

Name Your Tune www.nameyourtune.com

Pam designs custom pieces that act as windows in time and reflect old world craftsmanship, dedication, and attention to detail. Venetian Décor does not promote the trapping and killing of animals but works exclusively with vintage fur coats to ensure that these historic resources are refashioned into useful and appreciated products.

According to Pam:

“Our mission is to imbue a little corner of your life with some old world magic and elegance by re-purposing vintage items and giving them a modern twist. My love of beautiful vintage fur coats and French furniture inspired me to create this line of products for you to enjoy for many years to come.”

A Little Bit of History Preserved

Her signature pieces are beautiful one-of-a-kind furnishings and throws made from vintage fur coats and buttons just like great-grandmother owned.  “We are based in the Coast Mountains of British Columbia, where the pioneer spirit of early fur trappers and adventurers still whispers through the spruce and fir at night, and the hopes of gold-seekers echo down the wild rivers.” For Pamela, working with re-purposed fur coats and vintage rhinestone buttons and jewelry is a chance to imagine a moment in time in a world of horse-drawn buggies and mink capes to bring a touch of old world elegance into the busy modern world.

Pam came up with the prototypes for Venetian Décor in her home studio, an 800 square foot space where she also sells her creations. She uses Italian made and imported French furniture as well as antique French furniture for her pieces. The soft Italian made leathers, natural silk fabrics and ribbons, plus natural down cushions and wool are the ultimate in eco friendly materials.

Her first big break came from an Interior Design Show in Vancouver, BC where she showcased her wares. A writer profiled her business and featured a two page article in the Vancouver Sun newspaper with photos, and the official buzz began. The writer tackled the animal rights issue and deftly wrote that re-purposed fur means that no animals have died today. It also means that no faux fur, with its own environmental issues including pollution and petroleum based synthetics are being manufactured for these artistic creations.

Pam has her own philosophy about using vintage fur:

“I truly believe that I have found a final resting place for these animals. It’s a way to say that we appreciate you and respect you.

Whether you believe in Pam’s vintage fur credo or not, kudos are due to this mompreneur that has created a viable business she is passionate about.
Venetian Décor has was featured in a high profile article in the Beverly Hills Times magazine. Pam hopes this will introduce her brand to celebrity clientele that could really put her on the map. The Venetian Décor signature style is a blending of shabby-chic, eco-chic, French, Boho and refined but relaxed glamour styles blended together for a one-of-a kind design.

The Challenges of a Working Mother

Inspired by her own creative mother who was a ceramics artist, Pam feels a great sense of accomplishment with her new business venture. She still loves being a mother but finds this new work fulfilling and it gives her a sense of purpose so she can now put herself first. Her husband and family have been very supportive and enthusiastic and her daughters even lend a hand with her pieces.

With a new beginning in her 40’s when her kids are about to leave the nest, Pam is ready to succeed in her new business but admits there are challenges. She is a one woman show and shared that her responsibilities as a wife and mother don’t change with her new business so now she has two full-time jobs!

Without financial backing or business loans available to her, Pam used her savings to purchase the start up materials including reproduction furniture from Italy. She reinvests her profit into the business and keeps her overhead low by working from her home studio. Her husband is a professional in the building industry so he has been helpful as a resource for some basic business fundamentals but Pam has been on her own to learn the trade of the interior design industry. She advises other budding entrepreneurs to do their research about trademark, company name and logo first, and then focus on your product.

Waste Not, Want Not

Inspired by shabby chic queen, Rachel Ashwell, Pam is building her brand on the historic preservation of vintage furs as a way to honor the history of each piece with a new life. Re-purposing has become vogue in the art, interior design, and fashion world so Pam is capitalizing on the “waste not, want not” approach. Since vintage fur can last up to 100 years, her creations make sustainable sense, economically, environmentally, and socially.

Pam was featured on the Canadian TV show Urban Rush and she was recently approached by a jewelry designer to sell her pieces in their store. These baubles are a favorite of celebrities, Tori Spelling and Anne Heche so Pam hopes that they might also consider buying one of her pieces. If you have an heirloom fur coat that you want re-purposed, consider commissioning Pam to make you a custom piece that will live on for years to come.

While Pam is living a new dream with her own business, she is also establishing a practice of re-purposing and recycling items to create new furnishings. This business woman with a conscience feels like a butterfly that has just begun to spread her new wings

Pam’s Advice and Action Steps:

• Don’t overwhelm yourself with a new business, take baby steps and preserve your inner peace.
• Follow your heart and do something you are passionate about.
• Be sure you have a good resource team (family, mentors, etc.) to back you up.
• Go for it because you have nothing to lose by trying.
• Do your homework in setting up your trademark, company name and logo.

Favorite Quote: “You will never know if you don’t try.” Pam Beattie

Resources:

Venetian Décor http://venetiandecor.ca/

Fur Council www.furcouncil.com

So, Kim created The Urbane Concierge for people like her. But rather than simply start a personal assistant service, she wanted to offer something special. For 30+ years Kim worked as an event planner and global travel arranger, and her clients demanded a unique experience. And that’s what she vowed her new company would offer. Kim’s concierges are experts at delivering intangibles beyond simply serving your needs. They become an extension of yourself, anticipating your requirements and accomplishing tasks the way you would want them to be done. That’s why all her services are customized and Kim wouldn’t have it any other way. Many people start businesses out of necessity, and that is certainly the case with The Urbane Concierge. Kim was ready for a change.

Wanted: Chief of Staff for Your Life

The very definition of an urbane concierge is: affable, balanced, cosmopolitan, courteous, cultivated, gracious and mannerly.  These days, hiring the equivalent of a “Chief of Staff” is more common than you think for everyone from business owners to corporate managers and stay-at-home moms. Yet, as our lives get more complicated, the role of personal assistant has grown in scope to include highly sensitive and confidential tasks such as project managing small business owners, paying bills, managing the individual services for your home (i.e. gardening, housekeeping, remodeling), personal & business travel arrangements, even overseeing your social calendar. There are tremendous benefits to having someone within arm’s reach who can juggle what you never have time for.

Kim believes that in reality, work time is intermixed with personal time.  Her clients need far more than a junior assistant, they need a trusted adviser, a concierge who is standing by 24/7. The Urbane Concierge provides customized packages so clients can focus on their core competencies and strengths and leave what they don’t enjoy doing in the capable hands of a concierge.  In return, life is simplified and clients can have more balance to enjoy non-work time with friends and family.

I Can’t Get No Satisfaction

Kim started her business after 30 years in the corporate sector because she was extremely unhappy in her professional life. She felt like she was selling her soul to her employers and had to compromise her values to make a good living. In March of 2007 she quit her job and began to research what else was out there.

Knowing her strengths, she enjoyed the organization and detail orientation skills that came naturally to her as well as helping others. But, she wanted to do it on her own terms. Kim was a frequent conference attendee at the Professional Business Women of California (PBWC) events and became inspired to branch out on her own after attending a PBWC program.

With the input of a SCORE (Counselors to America’s Small Businesses) advisor, Kim quickly developed a business plan, a web design logo and applied for a tax ID number.  Soon after she assembled an amazing team of women whom she knew and trusted from her professional contacts and the business officially launched in October of 2007.

She chose the name The Urbane Concierge because she wanted to reflect the unique services offered that distinguished her from other personal assistant companies out there. Branding is especially important for a new business and Kim did a lot of self reflection and research to consider what her special sauce would be in this service industry.

A Very Special Valley Girl

Demographic research was also very important when Kim decided where to focus her business. She has captured a niche market in Silicon Valley and the San Francisco region. 95% of her clients are men and 90% come from within the San Francisco area. These young professionals are very busy and career focused so they need The Urbane Concierge services to handle their multi faceted lives. This high-end clientele is the definition of urbane and they see having a personal concierge as a status symbol as well as a necessity and that’s good for business.

In her business, Kim often has access to a client’s personal bills and medical records, etc. so discretion and confidentiality is of the utmost importance for her and her staff.  Kim relies on having a stellar reputation as well as positive recommendations from clients. This is the number one way that her business grows.

The old adage – The customer is always right! – is alive and well. However, there are some clients that just can’t be helped, according to Kim and she has learned that in some cases she must turn down a client if she thinks it won’t be a good fit for her or her staff. This is the beauty of running your own shop – you can say no to business you don’t want.

Über Organized

In some cases, Kim talks about working herself out of a job because she gets a client so organized that they don’t need her anymore. But that is usually a good thing because it results in a strong referral and the original client most often comes back for another service down the road.

While being organized is what Kim does best, she admits that some clients seem to have monumental tasks to accomplish. She trains her staff to keep their games faces on and to remember that “fear breeds courage” and to persevere at all costs. Since her team is made up 100% of contractors, she hand picks which concierges on her staff are best suited for particular assignments. Kim does the original client intake to build trust and determine how The Urbane Concierge can best help.

At the end of the day, Kim now values that she is completely accountable and responsible for the satisfaction of her clientele. She runs her business on integrity and trust and feels like she is making a contribution in the lives of real people that she gets to know very well. Developing these strong professional relationships has given her a newfound satisfaction on the job and she enjoys being her own boss.

One-Stop Shop

The goal is to make the client aware that a concierge is a one-stop-shop for all of their needs. Kim offers customized packaged and pricing for each client based on what they require. A sampling of services includes, but is not limited to:

•           Appointment setting

•           Home life organizer

•           Project Managing Small Business Owners

•           Travel & event planner

•           Personal shopper

•           Errand runner/ courier

•           Home greeter

•           Pet care

•           Project manager

Your Wish is My Command

Kim has developed packages and customized services for individual and corporate clients so the possibilities are endless depending on what a person needs. The first question in an intake is usually about cost. Why should they employ someone to do what they usually do for free? Kim has them to fill out her Urbane Concierge Time/Cost Assessment, something she encourages clients to do before they even make an initial appointment. Suddenly, their mindset changes and they realize they actually need a concierge because Kim adeptly shows them that their time is valuable and time = money.

Here is an example from one of Kim’s customers. The client billed $300/hour as a business coach. She also estimated she spent 10 hours per week running errands, shopping, and so on. That is $3,000 per week at her billing rate, $156,000 a year! After employing The Urbane Concierge, she not only saved money and time, but also found she had more energy to devote to both her business and her personal life.

Studies have shown that 75% of employees handle personal responsibilities while on the job. To make matters worse, 92% of employees admit to taking personal time off just to keep on top of their errands and personal responsibilities. Kim’s business mission is to take care of people’s needs so they can focus on their core competencies and enjoy life more.

Time Flies

The business launch in October of 2007 seems like more than 3 years ago and Kim is thriving as a business owner.  In 2009, she was named one of the Top 50 Women Entrepreneurs by Savor the Success.  In 2010, Kim was awarded a full scholarship by Wells Fargo for the Fearless Entrepreneur Program.  Future goals include continuing to build her clientele as well as her team of experienced concierges so she can focus more on growing the business and handling select clients.   She is conscious about staying on top of current trends, techniques, and technologies to better serve her clients.

Kim is now living her philosophy that time is money and she appreciates having control over her own time now. She has numerous client testimonials on her site that endorse The Urbane Concierge and validate that Kim’s career reinvention was well worth it!

Kim’s Advice and Action Steps:

•           Find the right people when building your staff.

•           Be tenacious for what you really want.

•           Realize that some clients can’t be helped and that is no reflection on you –   simply move on.

•           Use technology to your best advantage. Keep abreast of new gadgets, programs and features that can help you in your work and life.

Quote:

“People have hired me because of me.” Kim Daly

Resources:

The Urbane Concierge www.theurbaneconcierge.com

Savor the Success www.savorthesuccess.com

Professional Business Women of California http://www.pbwc.org/

SCORE http://www.score.org/index.html

Wells Fargo Fearless Entrepreneur Program

http://www.futurewomenleaders.net/entrepreneurship-program

It’s Not Worth Losing Body Parts!

Law school is tough enough but Janet earned her JD while raising her two small children, who were 1 and 4 years of age during her first year of the program. A mother and top student, she succeeded at litigation and won several trial competitions and the esteemed American College of Trial Lawyers Medal, which led to a competitive summer job in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office. Post graduation, Janet was recruited to work at a prestigious Philly law firm where she discovered her knack for computers and was put in charge of automating a very high profile case.

While Janet was earning accolades at the firm she was also starting to get physical ailments that were taking a toll, not to mention trying to raise her kids with the stresses of a billable hour legal career. She developed pancreatitis and asked the senior partner at the firm if she could work part-time to take care of herself. The response was not favorable after it was put to a firm-wide partner vote and one of the partners remarked, “You can expect to lose a few body parts working in this profession!”

That was a deal breaker and Janet began working with a career coach, Doug Richardson to make a transition in a new career direction.

Just Because You are Good at it Doesn’t Mean You Like Doing It

Janet’s work with her career coach began with self assessment and a full scale reflection about what she valued in her life and career. Using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® and other assessment tools, Doug asked Janet to think back to her childhood and reflect on what she liked to do as a young girl. This strategy helped Janet come to terms with the fact that she did not like conflict, a conundrum for a litigator, and helped her realize that just because you are good at something doesn’t mean that you necessarily like doing it. Janet gave herself permission to let go of the parts of her work world that did not align with her values and move towards new positions that fed her passions.

She pursued several jobs playing to her strengths as a consultant, project manager and litigation support specialist. But these new positions required travel and were high stress, which caused Janet to lapse into an unhealthy lifestyle. Not having the time to prioritize her health, she was back where she started from by not valuing work/life balance and wholesome eating habits at work. In 2001, she was diagnosed with adult onset Type 2 diabetes. This was not a complete surprise as her brother was also diagnosed as an adult so the family history was clear.

First, Take Care of Yourself

Janet did not take her diabetes diagnosis lightly. She went to an Integrative Health doctor to turn her entire life around quickly. From her brother, she knew the frustrations many people have with controlling their blood sugar, planning for meals, and how difficult it can be to establish healthy eating habits. So, Janet was determined to succeed as her own change agent and begin a new and healthy life that she was in control of.

If you visit Janet’s home you will see 100’s of cookbooks adorning her shelves. She has always loved to cook and became a certified macrobiotic chef. Janet turned this passion for food into a plan for handling her diabetes. She developed a system of action steps to control emotional eating, utilize the power of whole foods, stock her pantry with healthy choices and develop strategies to handle the special event occasions when she was not at home.

Her doctor was so impressed with the speedy turn around and diabetes reversal that she started referring patients to Janet so she could share her healthy strategies and put them on a similar road to recovery. Janet quickly became known as a Change Management Coach.

A Door Closes and a Window Opens

This unexpected career opportunity turned into a part-time venture that Janet pursued on the weekends. She considered becoming a Registered Dietician to further credential herself in this new area but instead found The Institute of Integrative Nutrition in New York and became a Certified Health Coach. This school was the perfect combination of teaching, counseling, and business building that Janet needed to launch her new entrepreneurial venture. Guest lecturers included leading health care and mind/body/spirit experts like Andrew Weil, MD and Deepak Chopra.

Janet has since become an ambassador for the school and in this role spreads the word about the program while sharing her personal and professional journey to good health. While Janet was able to reinvent her health and well being, her day job took an unexpected turn and she was laid off from her firm over a year ago due to cut backs in the economy.

As the saying goes, a door closes and a window opens and this serendipitous opportunity gave Janet the freedom to pursue her passion full-time. Now known as The Diabetes Coach, Janet has built a business to provide hope and resources for those who struggle with this Type 2 diabetes.

It is projected that without a change in current obesity rates, 0ne in three children born after the year 2000 will develop Type 2 diabetes at some point in their life, and Janet is on a mission to give a human face to this disease and empower her clients to live fuller lives. She is tapping into her former life as an attorney to write a novel called “Diabetes on Trial” to give a voice to those who live with this disease.

The Mission of a Great Life

Janet’s current book “The Diabetes Coach Approach” is an easy to follow, self-paced program that shows her clients how to unleash the power of whole foods to control blood sugars, how to manage weight without dieting, and how to make healthy lifestyle changes. Her eight steps to change management, empowers those with Type 2 diabetes to live fuller, healthier lives.

But Janet’s career transition was not effortless. She utilized two business coaches to help her visualize her Diabetes Coach business and determine how she could make her livelihood from this new venture. She worked to develop a brand and multiple streams of income including her coaching sessions, e-books, recipe cards, public speaking and webinars. Her latest product, the Diabetes Tool Kit is targeted to become a sought after resource for national health care providers.

By walking the walk herself, Janet is living her mission of a healthy life. She is the ultimate role model for her clients and can relate from experience to the day-to-day challenges and realities of this disease.

A Team of One

For her entire professional career, Janet worked in large organizations with sizable teams so the transition to being her own boss took time. She is celebrating her passion for helping people and enjoys having control of her own time but the challenge in the beginning was finding the discipline to treat this new venture like a job. Janet enjoys what she is doing so much it often seems too good to be true that this is her new profession.

There are emotional ups and downs to starting a business as well. When Janet gets stuck she calls on her team of coaches to find solutions and plan a strategy. At the end of the day, she says looking out her home office window onto her beautiful garden brings her great joy. She never looked back to the days of the billable hour and is focused and determined to make this new business a success.

Janet to Janet

You never know who in your network will turn out to be influential. Janet Sanders had been watching Philly TV news anchor, Janet Zappala for years before she had the opportunity to meet her in person at a charity event. Zappala is also on a nutritional mission and authored the cookbook “My Italian Kitchen” featuring delicious and healthy foods. Janet Sanders was showcasing a diabetic friendly chocolate product at the event when Janet Zappala approached her booth. The two Janets became fast friends and ultimate colleagues and they feature each other on their respective websites.

Building a personal advisory board has been very helpful to Janet as she launched her business. She continues to tap into this valuable resource and also looks to pay-it-forward to others who can utilize her strategic alliance.

The future is bright for Janet Sanders and she has new programs in her pipeline for stress eating solutions and stress management for lawyers, among many other projects. A career reinvention and a health renovation have given birth to Janet’s great new life.

Janet’s Advice and Action Steps:

• Develop a plan, and assemble your advisory board of mentors, resources, and people who will share candid feedback.

• Be good to yourself.

• Make yourself accountable for all your actions, it will motivate you.

• Join networking and social groups for support and camaraderie.

• If you aren’t ready to go “full time” with a new venture, start slowly while employed, with the goal of building your business with a phased plan for success.

Quote: “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” Gandhi

Resources:

The Diabetes Coach www.diabetescoaching.com

The Institute of Integrative Nutrition http://www.integrativenutrition.com/

Janet Zappala http://janetzappala.com/

Carey Peters: Wellness Career Coach www.coachtoolstogo.com