Who Do You Know?

You've all heard the saying, "It's not what you know, it's who you know." Do you believe that? I do. This is not to say that you should ride any ones coattails, it's just to say that when pivotal people know who you are, you have opportunities that others may not.

Case in point; I met a woman at a networking event who had invented a great baby product. We talked and initially connected because she is also the wife of a National Guard Soldier. As the evening went on, I agreed to take a sample of her product and send it to a friend of mine who has connections with a company that may possibly be interested in licensing her product. She sent it to me, I sent it to him, he took it to them, and viola! A licensing deal is on the table. This deal wouldn't even be a possibility if we didn't tap into our willingness to ask for help.

Who do you know? Who do they know? Ask! You know what you need and the kind of professional people who can help you make your dream a reality. Find out how many degrees of separation there really are between you and them. I bet not as many as you might think!

Intention To Bring A Product To Market

All of you know I've worked my behind off to get our gloves in stores this fall (http://www.zipperbackgloves.com/). If I had a place to go get answers like this newly created library, I'd have been in hog heaven! Check it out. If you're not an inventor, send this link to everyone you know, I bet you have friends who have ideas and just don't know where to start. Check it out and let me know what you think!

The Inventor’s Mentor Library is now open.

Seeking a place to learn without all the chi-chat? The Inventor's Mentor Library is exactly what you are looking for!

Search through the information already there, and help them grow by asking more questions related to inventing. You ask questions, and the mentors answer them, it’s as simple as that.

Information from licensing your invention to watching videos of the manufacturing process, there’s sure to be something to help all level of inventors gain knowledge. If what you’re looking for isn’t there, ask for it and we’ll do our best to get the information for you.

There are no personal opinions here, just information. You take from the site what you need and give back in the form of inventing related questions.

The site is monitored almost 24 hours a day to ensure respect for all mentors and members.
Take a look; you have nothing to lose, but everything to gain.

http://theinventorsmentors.forumo.biz/index.htm

Happy inventing!

From What Do you Wear To Where Do You Work?

Today my hubby Dave and I had a marital meeting with regard to finances, expectations, the glove journey, and all my endeavors to bring home a real paycheck.

We both agreed that the setback with poison oak was legitimate (meaning I needed to stay home and get well) and that I have so many irons in the fire, it's hard to tend to any of them well. He's absolutely right, I need to get organized and get focused! I certainly would be at a regular job on time, stay the length of my shift, and do the best job I could do while punched in. Why is it so hard to stay focused when we work from home? Lord knows it's real work, and lots of it!

Dave's answer was ready and waiting. "You need to get off the bed and work from a table and chair. Better yet, we will get your office back in shape and you can work from there. Psychologically, the bed is a bad desk." Hmm. He might be right, but I love working from my bedroom. The light in here is better than anywhere else in the house. The bed is nice and big when it's just me sitting here. And, I face my vision board all the hours I'm working from my bed.

I know, I know, there are people who make their living in bed, that's not me. I just mean, sitting on your made bed working on your computer. What do you think, is the bed a bad place to work?

Happy Memorial Day!

I'm off spending this day with my family. I hope you are, too!

Please take a moment and remember the many lives that have been sacrificed to allow us the freedoms we so dearly love. Also, the men and women who did not give their lives, come back from war forever changed. This in turn changes the families they love.

In loving memory of my dad, a VFW (WWII and the Korean War).

What Do You Wear To Work?

I love being an entrepreneur for so many reasons, but mostly because I like that I can work in my pajamas if I want to. And many days, I want to!

The really nice thing is that there are times when you need to pull out the tailored suit, and other days when jeans and a freshly pressed shirt will do. Those days are a nice change and make me feel important, but in reality, I'm one of those people who is most comfortable in my yoga pants, thick socks, and a super soft t-shirt.

So hear is my question; do you think it matters what you wear to work? Of course if you work in a bank or corporate environment, you need to comply with specific dress codes, but what about being self employed? I say dress for the event. If you are meeting investors, or making client calls, dress professionally. No matter what your product or service is, you'll feel more confident and your client will have more faith in your professional ability. If you're doing admin at your home office, wear whatever you want, even nothing if that suits you!

This applies to all areas of your life. You're not going to a formal wedding in cut off jeans and a tank top. The same way you're not going to the beach in your best business suit. Use common sense and good judgement and you'll always be dressed appropriately!

On a side note, this reminds me of something I said as our wedding ceremony was beginning. We had a garden wedding planned and as fate would have it, it rained. We moved the wedding to the reception hall where there was a gorgeous stone fireplace. The minister made mention of the bad weather and I politely chimed in, "There is no such thing as good or bad weather. There is just weather and if you are dressed appropriately, every day can be a great day!"

What Do You Do When You Have A Lull?

You know, the time when you finished one thing but can't start the next step yet? It always feels a little strange when I ramp up, work hard, and finish a task to find that there's nothing to do until...fill in the blank.

For ZBG, the blank is, until it's time to start working on our trade show booth for ABC kids in September. We are working on it in terms of tossing around ideas, but no solid "to do's" yet. I'm also waiting on our glove order to put together samples for retailers like Sports Authority.

There is certainly aways something to do, but there are also those times when you just have to wait. I can hear Tania now, "Wait, wait for what? I'm working on invention #352 while I wait on colors from Asia for #176, and bendy wire from Mark for #267."

What do you focus on when you are in a lull? I'm working on other ways to earn an income while we wait, and that means many balls in the air at once. I'm also using this time to get fit and trim so that when the spotlight is on me, I'll feel good about how I present myself and comfortable in my clothes.

When all else fails, I had a manager tell me once, "If there's time to lean, there's time to clean." And I've done my fair share of that over the last few months as well!

Going Out On A Limb!

This is a duplicate post to my IWIL blog (you can see more pictures at http://www.intentionalwinning.blogspot.com/, but I wanted to put it here because I feel it ties into being an entrepreneur.

When your family life is happy and you allow yourself time to play, you find that your business gets a shot in the arm, too. While we were off riding with the wind in our hair, we were also talking about new ways to market our gloves, and even talking about new product ideas. It gave us the opportunity to brainstorm and be inspired. The best part is that we were inspiring each other! We laughed as we took this picture of me going out on a limb! As entrepreneurs we do this every day. Here's how our day went.

Dave took the day off and we had a spontaneous day of fun.

We started off with breakfast at Awful Annie's in Old Town Auburn where we had breakfast outdoors on the veranda. After a delicious meal, we put the top down on the Miata and headed over the summit to Boomtown where we had a few dollars to play poker. We played for an hour or so with the seniors who clearly play everyday, they all knew each other, and the dealers, too!

From there, we headed back home stopping at a beautiful spot along the Truckee river. The water is raging and the scenery was gorgeous! We kissed and played on the rocks like new lovers, and took pictures to remind us that we an still have fun like we did as a brand new couple.

After our stop at the river, we stopped in at Fox Barrel Brewery and tasted cider, yum! We planned a nice barbecue for later, but before we picked Mason up, we made our final stop at Carpe Vino back in Old Town Auburn, for a lovely glass of zinfandel.

What a great day. The best part is that Dave acts on his intention to keep our marriage full of love and life. Friday was the epitome of Intentional Winning in Marriage!