I’ve been doing a few interviews lately and some of the interviews are about my experience as an entrepreneur (not mompreneur…don’t even get me started). One of the most common questions I’m asked is what advice would I give to someone thinking about starting their own business?

Honestly, my initial thought is “RUN. Don’t do it. OMG…save yourself!!!!! For the love all things holy, find a job, get paid every two weeks and forget your idea!”. I never actually say those words, but some days I tell ya…some days…

I digress.

After I take two breaths, I then decide that’s probably not very motivating or empowering, so often my next thought, and the thought I usually share is this:

No matter what happens, if you truly believe in your idea, if others truly believe in your idea, do it anyway.

Do. It. Anyway. [Read more…] about 5 Hard Truths About Entrepreneurship and Why You Should Do It Anyway

When I founded my fitness company (Hot Mama Health & Fitness), I don’t think I understood the importance of loyal clients. Loyalty was just an end result of hard work, wasn’t it? If I do a good job, people will be loyal. That’s a given, isn’t it? The answer? No, loyalty isn’t a given and a number of factors can pull a recently loyal client away from you. What I’m not certain of is whether our clients understand the impact of failing loyalty.

Competition is fierce in the fitness industry. Competition is fierce in most industries, but in the fitness industry…phew! But, one of the greatest things about Hot Mama is that we tend to have the most wonderfully loyal clients. It seems that once someone joins the community, they become loyal to Hot Mama and our programs quite quickly. It’s awesome. And, it speaks volumes about our franchise owners and the fact that people stick with them.

Recently, one of our franchise owners has been faced with (*gasp, cringe*) losing a client to another company. While it’s only a temporary loss (she’ll be back), it got me thinking that maybe people don’t understand the effect consumer decisions have on small business owners.

Let me enlighten you. [Read more…] about When Loyalty Fails

“Do you love your business more than you love me?”.

That was the question my daughter asked me yesterday as we celebrated Mother’s Day. While we were twirling and whirling around the kitchen dancing to the Dixie Chicks, my little 5-year old, super crazy, wonderful daughter looked up at me with a little doubt and worry in her eyes and posed that question.

Later, as I sat with my friends, I relayed the question she asked. They gasped and I know their hearts broke a bit for me when they heard this hard to hear question. One friend asked “So, did you instantly start doing the ugly cry?”. And to be honest, I had the opposite reaction.

When she asked me if I loved my business more than I loved her, yes, it took my breath away. And yes, for an instant I thought “Whoa, I am doing something terribly wrong here”, but almost immediately I felt great pride. I was proud of her for having a question, no matter how difficult it was, and asking me.

I took a breath and I said “No. No way do I love my business more than I love you. Why would you ask me that?”. She tried to shrug it off but I was bound and determined to get an answer. [Read more…] about “Do you love your business more than you love me?”