SmallBizResource Blog -- Women in Business

Wednesday's Woman: SBR's Own Gayle Kesten -- The Secrets To Her Success

Posted by Naomi Grossman Wednesday, Sep 10, 2008, 08:25 AM ET

Every working mother has a strategy, a way to achieve a work/life balance that allows for job satisfaction and quality mothering time. Often that strategy involves ways to work more efficiently, more productively, and more effectively. SmallBizResource editor Gayle Kesten is not only a provider of tech tips and tools to help readers develop those strategies but she is also one of those working mothers who incorporates much of what she shares on the site in her own workday.

I recently interviewed Kesten for bMighty.com and in our Q&A she shared what makes her tick.
Kesten is like many home-based entrepreneurs whose biggest change of scenery in a day is going, as she says, from the bedroom to the dining room, her laptop always in tow.

As is true for many at-home workers, it's the simple, easy-to-use, and convenient apps that make her day. Tools like IM, texting, and her Bluetooth headset help her communicate and multitask. She doesn't use GenBook, a Web-based appointment scheduler, for calendar management but she has recommended it to several small-business owners that work by appointment. Her Google RSS feeds help Kesten stay on top of news and events. Keep in mind that most of these apps are free, a sticking point for anyone who is running their own show.

Kesten praises videoconferencing, but uses Skype.and a Webcam for her own communications. Kesten also cautions small businesses to get on top of SEO -- its amazing power is demonstrated by bMighty's most recent hero, Avante Gardens, a small florist that is getting a lot of attention from the search engines thanks to its owner's immersion in search tactics.

Kesten speaks most powerfully to home-based workers when she explains her reasons for blogging: "It's a great gig! I'm writing about something that matters to me, and I'm learning from readers as much as they learn from me. It's a great way to connect with people. Hearing from my readers gives me such a huge lift. Working from home can get isolating. It really tames that isolation."

And the way she measures success on the SBR site is indicative of what it is all about: "I measure [success] by feedback. Even if one person responds, I'm thrilled."

One of the most potent features of SBR, and indeed any blog, is its ability to connect readers and create a community. SBR has become such a community of small business owners some of whom are working mothers, some of whom work from home, some of whom are on the road -- and many of whom are all of these and more. But this is a community of people who are united in their desire to build successful businesses in their own way. Kesten understands that all too well because she shares that same aspiration. She is part of the SmallBizResource community and it shows.

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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