I had a very interesting coaching conversation the other day with a bright young woman. We were talking about her desire to expand her business and play bigger in the world.

(And don’t worry, I asked her permission to tell this story. And no, that is not her picture, it is a stock photo )

When I asked what would happen if she started to put herself out in the world in a bigger way by offering more programs and connecting with more people, she got kind of quiet. I asked her what it would mean to her life if she grew her business.  This is what she said:

“I would have to be out there with people all the time and wouldn’t be able to spend days at home re-energizing.” (she is an introvert according to the Meyers-Briggs, which means she needs time alone to re-charge her battery)

“I would ramp up my business, then if I decided to have kids, it would be hard to give that up so I could focus on being a mom.”

“I would have to have all the answers and I am not sure I do.”

I listened to her, and realized that she had...

Avatar is a world-wide phenomenon and is currently the top grossing movie of all time*. How can you learn from its success and apply it to your own projects (even if they aren’t billion dollar movies).

1. Technology Matters. James Cameron first wrote Avatar in 1994, but he ended up tabling it until 2005 because he felt the technology wasn’t there yet. Figure out what your idea needs and how you can make it happen. If your current idea won’t work well, put it on hold and work on something else.
2. Love Your Idea. This movie finally came to fruition 15 years after Cameron’s initial idea. He didn’t just forget about it, he waited for his moment and made it happen. And now he’s very rich (er, richer).
3. Get Fans, Not Just Viewers(/Users). Avatar was so successful because you didn’t just go and think “good movie” and go to sleep. You wanted to tell everyone you knew about it. After watching this movie I immediately started telling my family and friends they had to see it. Now.
4. A Little Controversy is Good. Avatar’s a commentary on the war in Iraq. And our treatment of...

Trust is a key factor in any customer’s purchase decision. PR company Edelman have recently released their 2010 Trust Barometer which highlights that we are now less trusting of business than we have ever been. Within this context we need to try even harder to instill confidence in our online purchase processes.

Here is a list of 20 things you can do to in order to reassure your customers and online:

1. Third-part seals or certificates, such as the Verisign logo, are important in reassuring customers that any data input is securely protected by a recognised independent vendor. Make sure that the seals are visible, clickable and present from early on in the sales process.
2. Make sure that personal data is visibly submitted securely using HTTPS...

One way to think about running a successful business is to figure out what the least you can do is, and do that. That's actually what they spent most of my time at business school teaching me.

No sense putting more on that pizza, sending more staff to that event, answering the phone in fewer rings... what's the point? No sense being kind, looking people in the eye, being open or welcoming or grateful. Doing the least acceptable amount is the way to maximize short term profit.

Of course...

The mission: to interview growing small and midsized businesses this year as part of a series

The plan: to glean insights specifically from women business leaders which will not only be really exciting to share, but will start to crystalize a picture of how 2010 will take shape from a business perspective. 

The questions: (samples)

1) What do you do?

2) How will your business change this year?

3) What advice can you give other business leaders especially women who are looking to learn from your success?

In so doing, I expect to share insight into the way the business world is changing for small and midsized businesses and the way in which women business leaders can rise to the occasion and capitalize on the opportunities, best practices, and advice from other business leaders. 

The business:

For the first of our interviews, we are delighted to have Mary Lou Jepsen, entrepreneur extraordinaire, one of TIME Magazine's Top 100 Most Influential people in 2008, and currently, founder of a fascinating global company which has offices in the US – Silicon Valley - and Taipei, Taiwan, called Pixel Qi.  Pixel Qi designs and manufactures innovative LCD ...

Last year I recorded and published a podcast about using the Google.com Local Business Centre to list your business and enhance your online visibility using this free tool.

I was recently explaining it to my client – and decided to create a short video tutorial to explain the benefits and how to get started. And I thought I would also share it here.

Your business can optimize your listing in Google Local for the key words you want to be found for when people are searching for services and products that you offer in your town or city.

In this video I cover...