29. February 2012 by Terri.

As I stepped over the elevator threshold, I glanced down. I burst out laughing and couldn’t move for giggling.    Over the course of the cocktail party my tongues had been hanging out – the tongues of my shoes.  One was an inch and a half – the other only an inch.  What a site I must have been to any onlooker – alone and lost in laughter at the elevator exit.  The community leaders, the business prospects – what must they have thought!  I giggled all the way home.

Having a sense of humor is an important aspect of being a consultant as we describe in  War Stories - A Consultant’s Reality in Chapter 15 of Just a Couple of Women Talkin’…The Real Story of Being a Woman Entrepreneur. Here you will find more “The Shoes” stories of the sub-title:  The Journey. The Business.  The Shoes.

Need a speaker?  Dr. Linda Gravett presents “It’s all About the Shoes – Seven Steps to Using Humor in Your Service Business” for your organization or conference.  Call 513-753-8870 and talk to Dr. Gravett for more details or to schedule her for your next conference.

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31. January 2012 by Terri.

The simple answer is about a year, if you write two hours per day.  The average writing time for a non-fiction book is 725 hours, for a fiction book 475 hours.  At 2 hours per day, six days a week, you could write a book of fiction in about forty weeks.  For a book of non-fiction, if you can write 2 hours per day, six days a week, then your manuscript will be written in sixty weeks.

Of course, there is more to it than that.  If you would like to read the entire article, click here, and you will be taken to the articles section of our web site, www.justthebasics.com.  If you would like to receive alerts about future blogs from us, please sign up for our RSS feeds at the bottom of the left column on this page. 

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3. January 2012 by Terri.

Our message to your this year . . .

“The future will depend on what we do in the present.”  –Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)

This year, take just one step toward your dream.  –Terri and Linda

Considering consulting as your new career in the new year?  Take the free self-assessment on our web page www.justthebasics.com, from Chapter 3, To Be or Not to Be: That is the Question, in the new book Just a Couple Women Talkin’.  A more detailed assessment is included in the book, along with some tips and techniques if you are considering consulting as a career.

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6. December 2011 by Terri.

Blog - 4 Common Misconceptions about Consulting

We have probably talked more people out of going into consulting than coming into the field by telling them what consulting is not.  You decide - here are four common misconceptions we share with potential consultants and students of entrepreneurship.  Consulting is not:

1.       A sure fire way to get rich… quickly.

2.       An easy way to make a living.

3.       Considered by one and all as a prestigious role in society; or

4.       The best way to earn a living while in transition between jobs.

Building a consulting business takes time, patience and capital. 

4 Common Misconceptions about Consulting is taken from  Just a Couple of Women Talkin’…The Real Story of Being a Woman Entrepreneur. Chapter Three, To Be or Not To Be: That is the Question - What Isn’t Consulting?

Linda and Terri

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12. November 2011 by Terri.

The 7 Principles of Sales

Many women have a difficult time with the business concept of sales, including us.  Therefore, we make it a practice to document the sales “lessons” we learn.  The following are the lessons that we have incorporated into our sales beliefs.

1.       You don’t have a business until you have a client.

2.       Getting a client requires you to sell yourself.

3.       The purpose of a first meeting is to make certain there is a second.

4.       If people don’t like you, they won’t hire you.

5.       If people don’t trust you, you will not get a contract.

6.       If you don’t deliver with quality, on time and on budget, you will not get a second contract.

7.       The client has to hurt, they have to need you, they have to want what you have to offer and the timing has to be right.

What do you think?  Do you have some sales lessons to share?

Terri and Linda

The 7 Tenets of Sales is taken from Just a Couple of Women Talkin’ …The Real Story of Being a Woman Entrepreneur. Chapter 8, Always Be Selling: Our Philosophy on Sales

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12. November 2011 by Terri.

Choose your favorite small business and make just one purchase.  Small businesses are the engine of this economy.  Make a purchase and make a difference.  Will you shop Small Business Saturday?

Terri and Linda

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30. October 2011 by Terri.

Our first blog post is Why We Wrote the Book on “Just a Couple of Women Talkin’…The Real Story of Being a Woman Entrepreneur. We both have a near fanatical passion for what we do. We talked about our businesses over the aroma of freshly brewed cinnamon coffee in neighboring coffee shops. We discussed the difficulties and the joys of running our own businesses, what books we were reading, and we laughed a lot. 

At some point in 2004 one of us said, “We should write a book called “Coffee Shop Talk”. (Neither of us came remember which one of us said it.) Later when we got serious about actually writing the book, we met in each other’s kitchens and eventually decided on the title:  Just a Couple of Women Talkin’…The Real Story of Being a Woman Entrepreneur The Journey. The Business. The Shoes., because it better conveyed the contents of the final manuscript.

Beyond the initial “to be or not to be” question, we decided to include common topics we had both received questions about over the years –colleagues considering consulting or those struggling with a new consulting practice. And, we developed a self-assessment to help.

Additionally, we shared how and why we started our businesses, and we found each other’s stories compelling, divergent and at the same time, strangely similar.  We had chosen to focus on different types of clients in the same geographic area. We put in just the basics on pricing, money, cash flow, and proposals as well as enough data to support a consulting business plan. We realized that we were also passionate about our clients, so we included stories about them – with their permission, of course.

Anyway, the stories and the journeys are in the book, along with the good, the bad, the tears and the laughter and the downright dumb things we did (look for the shoe stories).

Our original purpose in sharing our journeys was to help other individuals decide whether or not to enter the consulting business.  To do that we knew we had to tell the truth as we saw it, so we did.  As we wrote, we determined a larger goal: to encourage each woman to take just one step toward her dream.

We are excited to share our experiences with you, and we are looking forward to hearing your stories of why you are passionate about your entrepreneurial experience.  Will you share with us your stories?  That is what blogs are all about.

PS In future blogs, we will share some of the contents of the book as well as some thoughts on writing a book, so come back soon and often. Oh, and we will talk about not just the journey and the business, but the shoes as well.

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20. October 2011 by Terri.

Greetings.  Welcome to our Blog.  Soon we will tell you about our latest book, Just a Couple of Women Talkin’ – The Real Story of Being a Woman Entrepreneur.  We’ll have some real advice about what makes a successful entrepreneur.  Please come back.

–Dr. Linda Gravett & Terri Bonar-Stewart

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