SmallBizResource Blog -- Women in Business

Wednesday's Woman: Words of Wisdom You Can Really Put to Work

Posted by Gayle Kesten Wednesday, Aug 13, 2008, 12:30 PM ET

I've written before how I approach advice-type articles with a huge dose of skepticism. Much of that has to do with someone I thought I knew in a former life turning out to be a big blowhard who spouted off his textbook knowledge as if he were an authority.

But I'll save details about my personal soap opera for another day. Advice as generic as my Wednesday horoscope -- "Today's energy can dampen the fires of passion, but this doesn't mean that the coals cannot be rekindled" -- and not based on one minute of true experience won't get us very far. The kind of practical, school-of-hard-knocks tips that will? Check out the re:invention blog.

I learned about this site from another small-business blogger, Rieva Lesonsky, whose admission about her General Hospital addiction (speaking of soap operas) had me at her Luke & Laura headline. About re:invention, Rieva points to a weekly blog feature called "10 Tips for 10 Million Women," which "highlights a woman business owner or executive and her top 10 tips for business success…With 45 articles archived on the blog so far, that’s 450 tips. I know there’s something there for you."

Absolutely. Here are three pieces of advice that hit home for me:

1. "I once heard Zig Ziglar give a presentation and declare, 'To get what you want in life, help someone else get what they want.' Zig is right. The goodwill and positive energy you create from a great referral will always come back tenfold." -- Marie Schuerlein, founder and CEO of Seattle-based Affirmagy

2. "Put away your inner critic who wants you to do things perfectly. As I say to my clients, Perfect is the enemy of done.'" -- Lisa Nirell, Chief Energy Officer of Sunriver, Ore.-based EnergizeGrowth

3. "It's inconceivable that you could have in-depth knowledge of every aspect of your business. Acknowledge your weak areas and surround yourself with competent resources and trusted partners and learn from them." -- Lesely Mattos, owner of San Francisco-based Adesso Albums

For the full list of profiles and tips, click here. Let me know what speaks to you, as well as your own pieces of advice.

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Recent Wednesday's Woman articles:
>> Just Say No to Yes
>> Push Your Senators for Fair Pay
>> A $1 Million Business Plan
>> Tips Before Putting Your Honey on the Payroll
>> What Working Women Want Mo$t
>> Archives

The Wednesday's Woman series is written for today's community of hard-working, small-business women, featuring profiles, industry trends, research, work/life balance issues and other topics of interest. As always, send your ideas to Gayle Kesten.

Women in Business

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