Meet Featured Diva Kathleen Engel

What is the name of your business and a description of what you do?

FabFit50s.com. I’m a certified personal trainer (through the National Strength and Conditioning Association). I maintain a site and write eBooks devoted to helping women in midlife get and stay fit and healthy. I also freelance health and exercise pieces for several publications.

How much has your business direction changed in the past five years and why?

Three years ago, I was laid off as a medical editor. At that time, I worked full-time while also freelancing. Once laid off, I started the
blog and began narrowing my life’s purpose. I plan to expand on my goal of reaching women in midlife and helping them get in better health.  I have a professionally published eBook. My next goal is a book.

What advice do you have for women who are trying to grow their businesses?

Do not procrastinate. Don’t talk yourself out of things. Read and research. Learn from others. But, don’t allow yourself to become paralyzed.  Above all, have faith and move forward. If you don’t do it, someone else will.

What do you know now that you wished you knew 10 years ago as it relates to business?

Oh, gosh. I know that “experts” aren’t always smarter, better than YOU. That new ways of doing things can meet with greater success than the old ways. That creativity and passion are critical elements to business success.

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Why Business Loves Older Women

Special Guest post by Anjana Ahuja, Ph.D for Psychology Today

What makes a powerful woman?  Check her birthdate.

There’s something that unites the female chief executives, politicians and policymakers on Forbes magazine’s 2010 list of the most powerful women in the world.

• Irene Rosenfeld, Kraft CEO, aged 57
• Angela Merkel, German Chancellor, 56
• Hillary Clinton, 63
• Indra Nooyi, PepsiCo CEO, 55
• Gail Kelly, Westpac CEO, 54
• Nancy Pelosi, 70.

Of course, it’s in the numbers. These women are in what we might call their business prime, which is rather different from their biological prime. Where are the female equivalents of Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, a mere stripling at 26, or David Cameron, the 44-year-old British Prime Minister who, while in office, has become a father for the fourth time? Scanning the magazine’s separate list of top-paid young CEOs reveals a similar age profile: not a single female appears. The gentler sex is also, once she gets into the boardroom or the voting chamber, the older sex.

Whoever heard of a “career man”?

Of course, it might simply be that, because of discrimination, women take longer to ascend to positions of power and are therefore older once they take the throne. But look at the sexism evident in media coverage whenever a young woman takes a prominent business position. When was the last time you read of a male appointee being quizzed about his childcare arrangements? And have you noticed how we don’t have the term career man, only career woman? So often, the term is used to denigrate women who step into the boardroom, to reflect an unspoken belief that their families are shunted into second place. The exceptions to the Forbes list are celebrities, such as Beyonce and Lady Ga Ga – but youth and beauty are especially prized in the worlds of music and fashion.

Once a woman reaches menopause or once her children are grown up, women seem to be taken much more seriously in the boardroom.  This might explain the very noticeable presence of post-menopausal women in the Forbes list. Is it possible that older women not just have the advantage of experience and authority, but also are taken more seriously once they are no longer perceived as biologically necessary for group survival?

To learn more about this subject, check out a book Dr. Ahuja co-authored, titled: Naturally Selected: The Evolutionary Science of Leadership, which goes some way to explaining the underrepresentation of young and middle-aged women in positions of power. While there has been decades of discussion whether social conditioning is to blame, Ahuja and her co-author believe the origins of male domination in public life stretch right back to our evolutionary beginnings, two million years ago.

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50 and Fabulous Top Bloggers Named by Boomer Diva Nation

Tips On Returning to the Workforce

Special Guest Post By:   Barbara Pachter

Have you been out of work for awhile and now looking to return?  According to business etiquette expert Barbara Pachter, author of  NewRules@Work: 79 Etiquette Tips, Tools, and Techniques to Get Ahead and Stay Ahead, “The position people hold, the responsibilities they have and the type of workplace they enter may be very different than the one they left. As a result, it is normal for people to experience anxiety while learning their job and their organization’s culture”

Pachter stresses that it’s helpful for new hires to remember that no one expects them to know everything at once. Follow these eight tips to overcome new job jitters and make an initial positive impression:

1. Do more than expected of you. Naturally it is important to do your job and do it well, but you also want to get noticed. Doing more than expected of you is one way to have others see you as a competent person. Help others and volunteer for additional assignments.

2. Don’t keep comparing your former position to your current one It’s easy to compare the old to the new, but your colleagues don’t want to keep hearing, “Well, in my old company we did it this way” You sound like a know-it-all. Also, don’t complain about your salary. You may not be making what you did in your last job, but complaining won’t make it any larger. It just makes you annoying.

3. Know your company’s social media guidelines Social media has exploded in the workplace over the last couple of years, but it may not have been an issue when you were last working. Learn what you can and cannot do on Facebook, YouTube, etc. Also, do not post negative comments about your new employer. You don’t want to bite the hand that feeds you.

4. Greet people As you walk the hallways, stand in the lunch line, or ride the elevator, make an effort to say “hi” or “good morning” to others. You appear friendly and approachable when you do.

5. Listen to others. You cannot learn what others know when you’re talking. Listen more than you speak. Eventually though, if you don’t speak up, you can become invisible. Just make sure that when you do speak, your questions are relevant and your comments worthwhile.

6. Don’t advertise your inexperience. People often say “I’ve never done this before” or “This is all new for me” You want people to view you as a capable person. Reminding them of your lack of experience creates a different image.

7. Dress appropriately. What was appropriate in your old company may not be suitable for your new position. Look at what successful people in your company are wearing. You can usually model yourself after them.

8. Take business social situations seriously. Activities held outside the office, such as dinners in restaurants or holiday parties are still business events. Attend, mingle and don’t get drunk. You will meet more people and learn more about your company when you do.

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Do You Have Smile Power?

1. You’ll feel better – even if you fake it

There’s no doubt that the “best” smiles are genuine. They light up your face, crinkle the corners of your eyes and produces positive physiological changes in your body temperature and heart rate. But consider research findings that even if the smile is mechanically produced, positive feelings still emerge. This study matched samples of people looking at cartoons. The first group ranked every cartoon as funnier than the second group. The only difference is that members of the first group were asked to hold a pencil crosswise between their back teeth. The simulated smile caused by the pencil between their teeth effected their emotion – and their perception of the cartoons as funnier.

2. You’ll be unforgettable

Why do some people make a lasting impression while others are quite forgettable? The answer may be in their smile.

Research from Duke University proves that we like and remember those who smile at us – and shows why we find them more memorable. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the Duke researchers found that the orbitofrontal cortices (a “reward center” in the brain) were more active when subjects were learning and recalling the names of smiling individuals.

3. You’ll encourage collaboration

According to research conducted reported by the British Psychological Society, positive and negative emotional responses systematically alter the use of language. Speak to a positive listener and people will likely use more abstractions and subjective impressions. But if people talk to a negative listener, they’ll probably stick to the relative security of objective facts and concrete details.

Researchers speculate that this is because the smiles and nods of a positive listener are interpreted as a sign of agreement and understanding, encouraging the speaker to provide more of their own opinions and speculations. By contrast, negative listeners provoke speakers to adopt a more hesitant and cautious thinking style.

4. You’ll improve your productivity

Charles Garfield, the author of Peak Performance, once coached the Russian Olympic weight-lifting team. Garfield noticed that when team members lifted to exhaustion, they would invariably grimace at the painful effort. In an experiment, he encouraged the athletes to smile when they got to that point of exhaustion. This seemingly minor difference enabled them to add 2-3 more reps to their performance.

No matter the task, when you grimace or frown while doing it, you are sending your brain the message, “This is really difficult. I should stop.” The brain then responds by sending stress chemicals into your bloodstream. And this creates a vicious circle: the more stressed you are, the more difficult the task becomes.

When you smile, your brain gets the message, “It’s not so bad. I can do this!”

5.You’ll positively contaminate others

Some nonverbal behaviors can bring out the best in people. Smiling is one of them, as it directly influences how other people respond. When you smile at someone, they almost always smile in return. And, because facial expressions trigger corresponding feelings, the smile you get back actually changes that person’s emotional state in a positive way.

Want to brighten your mood, make a lasting impression, encourage collaboration, lighten your work load, and positively influence others? Then smile – really smile. Think of someone who genuinely amuses or delights you. But if you can’t do that, then fake it . . . or hold a pencil in your mouth. 

Carol Kinsey Goman, Ph.D.

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7 Career Mistakes That Turn Your Mojo into Nojo

 Special Guest Post by:  Dr. Maynard Brusman

If you’ve been working hard for any length of time, in any field, chances are you’ve experienced at least one humiliating career failure. Career “hiccups” can kill your spirit and make it difficult to regain your intrinsic motivation and drive.

Some of the “bad” things that happen to hardworking, well-meaning, capable people each day include:

• Missing the big opportunity

• Getting passed over for a promotion

• Getting demoted

• Losing a lot of money

• Getting fired

• Going bankrupt

What happens to us when our worst career nightmares come true?

There may not be scandalous headlines in the local papers, but with the emotional turmoil you’re experiencing, there may as well be.

Public or company humiliations suck the air out of one’s spirit, making it hard to carry on with dignity and drive. Our lifeblood and mental energy are drained.

Career-altering events can happen to anyone — and they do. But when they happen to us, they seem incomprehensible, largely because we’ve worked so hard to be nice, dedicated and well-meaning.

But even when we can partially blame the economy, there comes a time when we must take a hard look at what we could have done differently. Despite faltering companies, imperfect leaders, coworkers who don’t like us and other external variables, we must eventually engage in private, honest introspection. It’s time to ask: What part did I play in the events leading up to the career crisis?

One of the most powerful questions you can ask yourself is “Am I maintaining my career mojo?” Emotionally intelligent and socially intelligent organizations provide executive coaching and career development for leaders who want to be maintain their career mojo and be fully engaged at work.

About Dr. Maynard Brusman:

Dr. Maynard Brusman is a consulting psychologist and executive coach. He is the president of Working Resources, a leadership consulting and executive coaching firm. We specialize in helping San Francisco Bay Area companies and law firms assess, select, coach, and retain emotionally intelligent leaders. Maynard is a highly sought-after speaker and workshop leader. He facilitates leadership retreats in Northern California and Costa Rica. The Society for Advancement of Consulting (SAC) awarded Dr. Maynard Brusman “Board Approved” designations in the specialties of Executive Coaching and Leadership Development.  To learn more about Dr. Brusman, visit his website:  Working Resources

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5 Tips to See of Your Website is Up to Snuff

1. Is it simple, clear and fast—think of your homepage as a billboard. Tell them exactly what they need to know up front.
2. Leave plenty of white space around text. A simple font on a light background works best. Separate wide blocks of text into columns.
3. Sub-headings make for quick reading. Make sure pages are easily skimmed.
4. Let your best customers sing your praises. Display their testimonials prominently on your site.
5. After each update, click through your entire site. Mistakes or broken links will only send visitors away.

Brought to you by SCORE, America’s small business mentors, at www.score.org.
Ask SCORE

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Tips for Returning to the Workplace

Though the unemployment rate is still high, people are returning to work and hopefully this trend will continue in the future.

According to business etiquette expert Barbara Pachter, author of NewRules@Work: 79 Etiquette Tips, Tools, and Techniques to Get Ahead and Stay Ahead, “The position people hold, the responsibilities they have and the type of workplace they enter may be very different than the one they left. As a result, it is normal for people to experience anxiety while learning their job and their organization’s culture”

Pachter stresses that it’s helpful for new hires to remember that no one expects them to know everything at once. Follow these eight tips to overcome new job jitters and make an initial positive impression:

1. Do more than expected of you. Naturally it is important to do your job and do it well, but you also want to get noticed. Doing more than expected of you is one way to have others see you as a competent person. Help others and volunteer for additional assignments.

2. Don’t keep comparing your former position to your current one It’s easy to compare the old to the new, but your colleagues don’t want to keep hearing, “Well, in my old company we did it this way” You sound like a know-it-all. Also, don’t complain about your salary. You may not be making what you did in your last job, but complaining won’t make it any larger. It just makes you annoying.

3. Know your company’s social media guidelines Social media has exploded in the workplace over the last couple of years, but it may not have been an issue when you were last working. Learn what you can and cannot do on Facebook, YouTube, etc. Also, do not post negative comments about your new employer. You don’t want to bite the hand that feeds you.

4. Greet people As you walk the hallways, stand in the lunch line, or ride the elevator, make an effort to say “hi” or “good morning” to others. You appear friendly and approachable when you do.

5. Listen to others. You cannot learn what others know when you’re talking. Listen more than you speak. Eventually though, if you don’t speak up, you can become invisible. Just make sure that when you do speak, your questions are relevant and your comments worthwhile.

6. Don’t advertise your inexperience. People often say “I’ve never done this before” or “This is all new for me” You want people to view you as a capable person. Reminding them of your lack of experience creates a different image.

7. Dress appropriately. What was appropriate in your old company may not be suitable for your new position. Look at what successful people in your company are wearing. You can usually model yourself after them.

8. Take business social situations seriously. Activities held outside the office, such as dinners in restaurants or holiday parties are still business events. Attend, mingle and don’t get drunk. You will meet more people and learn more about your company when you do.

Barbara Pachter is speaker, coach and author of numerous business books, including The Power of Positive Confrontation ($15.95, paperback, Marlowe & Co.) and When the Little Things Count ($13.95, paperback, Marlowe & Co.). 

For a free copy of Pachter’s communication e-newsletter, Competitive Edge, go to www.pachter.com.

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5 Tips for Successful Networking

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Creating and Building an Opt-In Subscriber List

When building an online business, opt-in list subscriptions allow you to keep in contact with your customers. How can you get started with email marketing? If you want to create an effective subscription list, use these proven techniques.

1. Utilize marketing programs already in existence.
When sending customer emails, include a link to your opt in page. If you send out paper statements, include an insert, which contains information about your opt in email list. Customers, who have purchased one of your products already, may show an increased interest in buying additional goods and services in the future.

2. Conduct market research.
Find out what your clients are looking for. Short surveys engage your clients and interest them in the research process. After gaining basic information about a client, merchants should tailor their message to their customers’ interests in future promotions.

3. Make the opt in subscription process easy.
Fewer fields yield improved results. Use large subscription buttons and highlighted fields. In order to ensure the highest conversion rates, keep the subscription box simple. Use a simple coloring scheme for your opt in box, which most internet users will recognize.

4. Be clear.
When dealing with a wide audience, a clear message results in high conversion rates. Highlight the reasons that a visitor should subscribe to your opt in list. Long lists of benefits may send mixed signals to a prospective list subscriber.

5. Be concise.
When trying to increase your opt in email list, include as few words as possible. Do not cheapen your points, but make them fast.

6. Be compelling.
Convince your customer. Tell them why they need to become a subscriber. Forcing your client to divulge their personal information is a personal sacrifice. Give them a good reason to offer you their email address.

7. Focus on your customers
Customers respond to incentives. Offer them a free course or e-book. In order to entice buyers to sign up for their opt in list, online merchants may offer sales coupons or special promotional offers.

8. Use word of mouth.
Viral marketing yields inexpensive results. A clear and concise message, focused entirely on your customers needs, will be passed around to others, ensuring increased business.

9. Research your competitors.
Look at what your competitors are doing. You can gain valuable insight, by studying what techniques work for your competition.

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How to Thrive Through The Recession

Guest Post by Francie Dalton

Be Proactive, Be Positive, Be Practical, and Be People-Centric

“Stop being your own worst enemy!” says Francie Dalton, President of Washington D.C. based Dalton Alliances, Inc. “If your thoughts are primarily fear based, if you’re envisioning the worst for yourself and your business, if your conversations are focused predominately on bad news, then”, she warns, “you’re seriously impeding your own success’.

Instead of giving succor to all the negative blathering, Dalton’s advice is to buckle down and commit to taking 3 actions every single day to improve revenue. Here are her suggestions.

1. Don’t you DARE Pick up that Phone, go into Twitter, FaceBook or LinkedIn Unless it’s to Generate Business! Be ruthlessly disciplined about generating business as JOB ONE. Any activity that doesn’t secure new business should be delegated, or done during non-business hours. Prioritize everything else around this fundamental principle. During business hours, dedicate yourself exclusively to expanding your client base or deepening business with your current clients.

2. Virtually “Stalk” your Prospects: Describe your ideal client. What types of organizations do they belong to? Join them. What kinds of publications do they read? Read them. What types of events do they attend? Attend them. Differentiate yourself with detective work about your targeted prospects. Research them; research their industry; tap your network to learn more about them. Think about how impressed you would be if someone had clearly extended effort to learn about you, your achievements, and your industry. This tip will help you warm up the cold contacts and will set you apart from most others who won’t go to this much effort. The result? You’ll be more likely than your competitors to get the business.

3. Work Backwards to Move Forward: If you’re tracking important ratios, you know how many qualified prospect meetings it takes to generate one client, and the average sale per client. With only these two pieces of information, you can control how much you sell each month. Determine desired sales volume, then conduct two to three times the number of qualified prospect meetings required to achieve your revenue goal.

4. Invite Scrutiny: Whose business acumen do you admire? Who’s already successful in your field? Whose clientele do your products or services complement? Establish an Advisory Board, and invite these folks to be part of it. Meet quarterly to gain their advice on your business challenges. Advisory boards impose a level of scrutiny and accountability that both challenge and comfort, and a level of ideation and innovation that helps you expand your scope and reach. Ensure you get unbiased, unemotional, tough truths by not including friends and loved ones on the board. Alternatively, you could treat selected individuals to a meal now and then to get their advice. Whatever the way in which you access the intellectual capital of others, be sure to thank them, act on at least one of their suggestions, and follow up with them to them know the outcome of having implemented their advice.

5. Your Pipeline is your Lifeline: NEVER stop prospecting. In good times or bad, keep your pipeline full! Even when you’re flush with business, don’t get cocky. Realize that if you wait to prospect until you need new clients; it’ll be too late to achieve immediate results. Sales is, in a large part, a numbers game. If you aren’t getting enough business, a major contributing factor is that you’re not contacting enough prospects, which means you’ll erode or prevent your success. Understand this: whether you like it or not, prospecting is how to keep your business pipeline full of potential clients. If you neglect this critical function, you can hardly complain when business is down.

6. The “Lag Before you Bag”: The lag time between your first meeting with a qualified prospect and closing the sale is an essential ratio for managing your productivity. The sales you bag today likely began at least 3 months ago. In achieving your goals, knowing your average lag time is essential. If you’re calculating the total lag before you make a deposit, don’t forget to add in the time it takes to render the service before you bill it, and the time between the billing and the receipt of funds.

7. You Gotta Network to Get Work: Whether you enjoy it or not is irrelevant; networking is an imperative. Learn how to do it well. If you want to survive the lean times, you have to network regularly. Go to appropriate events with the objective of helping others rather than seeking those who can help you. Doing so will make others want to help you in return. Remember – nothing “comes out of the blue”. The seeding you do today will produce unexpected business in the future. Suggested reading: Make Your Contacts Count by Lynne Waymon.

8. Don’t Pander; Ponder! Showcasing your wisdom too early, without taking time to probe causal factors, can be insulting. Instead, if what you sell is intellectual capital, honor the complexity of client issues by asking probing questions. Be inquisitive about their goals, frustrations, hopes, and struggles. Then construct a matrix of options, and augment this with the advantages and disadvantages of each. Use the matrix as a discussion tool, inviting edits, improvements, and further details.

9. Prepare to Bend by Predicting the Trends: Be vigilant about monitoring relevant trends, since they’re always in flux. Just as important are tangential trends – forces that could affect the trends you’re already monitoring. Doing so enables you to foresee and adapt to emerging trends before your competitors do. Set up Google alerts at http://www.google.com/alerts to ease the monitoring process.

10. Don’t Defer Getting Referrals: If you’re not comfortable asking your satisfied clients to provide referrals, do it anyway! Once you’ve delighted them, conduct a brief interview to learn what they valued most about working with you. Using this information, draft a brief testimonial for them to edit and print onto their letterhead. Suggested reading: Referral Prospecting by Bill Cates.

11. Publicize to Optimize: Both credibility and sales increase as a result of publishing articles or books, and speaking on your area of expertise. It’s not that hard. Every time you solve a problem for a client, produce an outline of the process from start to finish. Then fill in the outline, and voila, you have an article or a speech. Multiple articles can comprise a book. Writing a book is less daunting if you write only one chapter at a time without thinking of it as a book. Suggested reading: POP by Sam Horn.

12. Link Value for Free to Service for Fee: Consider providing an educational session to prospective clients at no charge, but structure the delivery so that they want more. For example, deliver the information promised, but make reference to additional, high value information that you can provide and how it has helped your clients. Consider making complimentary presentations at conventions whose attendees are great prospects for you. Or select a few organizations locally that would be great clients for you, and invite their top 3 executives to breakfast, or offer a no-fee brown bag session to their employees.

13. Don’t Attend Conventions without Clear Intentions and Quotas: Recoup the opportunity cost of attending conventions. Get an attendee list in advance of the meeting, then identify and research your targets before you even leave town. Then make it your mission at the meeting to establish contact and engage these targets. Remember: attendance is not an outcome. Make your attendance result in new business by preparing in advance.

14. Break it Down to Build it Up: Identify key result areas of your business, such as prospecting, delivery, writing, marketing, speaking, new product development, etc. For each, assign yourself measurable goals for each month or each quarter. Break these down into component parts, and include them in your calendaring tool.

15. Diversify to Amplify: Particularly important in tough economic times is that you have established multiple lines of business. Ensure your repertoire includes as many of the following as possible; business consulting, facilitation, an ever expanding menu of workshops on as many topics as you’re fluent in (both virtual and on site), surveys of as many types as you can do well, coaching (both in person and virtually), speeches, retreats, and more. You might also consider partnering with others whose offerings are complementary, and/or subcontracting to others who have skills that you don’t have.

16. Essential Certifications: If you’re a consultant, or if consultants are your target market, get your CMC from the IMC. The Institute of Management Consultants is an extremely prestigious group of professional consultants, from which you can earn the highly coveted “Certified Management Consultant” designation. The CMC certification confers competitive distinction globally, making it much more likely that you will gain the attention of decision makers. Find the chapter nearest you, and learn more at www.imcusa.org.

Every bit as prestigious and essential is the IOM from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Earning the “Institute of Organizational Management” certification requires a total of four weeks of classroom attendance, which can be completed in a variety of time frames to suit your schedule. The learning process puts you in close contact with decision makers from both for profit and nonprofit business sectors, all of whom are potential clients. The scope, depth, and quality of instruction is top notch, and the relationships you’ll develop are of a caliber you’ll want to retain throughout your life.

Regardless of how many of these tips you implement, Dalton challenges business owners to remember that their own outlook and attitude can diminish their effectiveness. “Those who prevail in difficult times” she notes, “are the ones who steadfastly refuse to allow negativity to form a barrier to their success – who instead deliberately and diligently take multiple constructive actions every single day. Doing so refreshes the spirit, helps sustain a positive attitude, increases resilience, and reinvigorates a commitment to success.”

So – which of these tips will YOU implement today?

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