Sexy Money Genius

Must-read for all women entrepreneurs

What woman doesn’t want to build a million dollar (or peso) business? Susan Solovic gives meaningful, practical advice that I wish I’d read before venturing into business. This book stays by my bed for my daily dose of inspiration. If you’re a woman, if you’ve ever had to face any obstacles trying to start a business or you’ve been wanting to bring your business to the next level but don’t know how to, this book is a perfect guide to help you along the way. It won’t give you all the ingredients but you likely wouldn’t be as lost if you did.

Practical advice you can actually put to use

Every chapter is a mix of wise advice you’d expect to hear from a compassionate mentor, inspiring stories of women who did things right or learned things the hard way but you get to “cheat” by reading about their past mistakes now, and “how-to’s”. My favorite “how to” is the media planning – oh and finding funding, too.

Lovers as business partners

I’ve read through the book and didn’t see an anecdote about women venturing into business with their boyfriend or husband. Scratch that, there was one, but it didn’t have a happy ending. Is this scenario rare, taboo, or just plain not advisable? There was an issue of Entrepreneur that featured couples in business, such as the Havaianas importers – though they’re married.

More anecdotes, more successful women to emulate

I just love love love to hear about women who’ve built and grown sustainable businesses. It’s not exactly something you learn at school, is it? I never really thought about it growing up, or in college. I always looked up to women CEOs who were running multinationals – it never occurred to me how those businesses even got started? I want more stories, more inspirational examples.

Local women entrepreneurship programs

This book got me thinking whether there was a local program to encourage women entrepreneurs? I’ve read about a lot of micro-financing loans for women selling in the palengke but for brick-and-mortar businesses that have a business model other than peddling?

• Chit San Juan, ex-CEO of Figaro hosts talks every so often.
• NEWomen organizes bazaars, talks, and regular networking sessions
• GE Money Bank, affiliate of the giant General Electric, launched a Women Entrepreneurs website – though I haven’t heard of any financing programs

Any others?

Just me documenting some sales training articles, videos, and/or podcasts.

Colleen gives a high-level explanation of their Sales Training program in this webinar (Recorded Nov 21, 2008). Even from just the introduction, I got a wake-up call much similar to the self-slaps on the forehead I get listening to Steve Pavlina and Dave Ramsey. You really are what you do. I’m fond of getting to know people and networking comes easily — but I have to get in the habit of making that first call to a prospect and follow-up after an initial email.

Emotional Quotient

It’s important to be aware of myself, to empathize (easy), and to get used to delayed gratification (It’s been relatively long, actually, but hey I’m here doing sales training, aren’t I? I’ll stick to it.) especially with

• prospecting

• planning & time management

• major account selling

In a tough situation, think about what’s funny and what’s good about it. It has definitely been a tough past few months — but I guess what’s funny is… I get free cellphone credits anyway and what’s good is, JP’s still sticking with it, and with me.

Aim to be likeable

Aim to be likeable. Mirror the body movements and demeanor of the prospect and match his tone — and maybe, just maybe, that can make the difference in getting the sale versus another account executive. My natural tendency is to come on strong although assessing past networking situations, I’m usually able to draw out the quiet ones. I’ll learn to tone it down and match the quieter ones — they buy who they like and who are like them.

Rules

1. Get their story (Problems, Needs).
2. Who is/are the decision maker/s and how’s the process?
3. Find out the budget — before making a proposal.