Spotlight Entrepreneur: Lydia Andrews, Holistic Health Coach

When Facebook launched in 2004, not even Mark Zuckerberg could have predicted that it would have 1 million active users by its first year.  This social media powerhouse has connected friends, family, coworkers and like minded individuals to grow to a community of over 500 million active users (as of July 2010).  When I reconnected with a high school pal via FB, little did I know that he would introduce me to such a dynamic, inspirational entrepreneur like Lydia Andrews. Thank you Brian Lam for connecting SleeveShirt Consulting with Being Well + Living Healthy!  

What is a health coach?  A health coach is a personal advocate for living a healthy life, in mind body and spirit. Health coaches offer guidance and support for individuals who are working to achieve their health and lifestyle goals.  As a health coach I work with my clients one on one to discover the food and lifestyle choices that best suit their situations.  I like to say that health coaches are 'cheerleaders' for our clients because we encourage and cheer on people to really strive for their best life.

Why is it important to take a holistic approach to health?  It's important to take a holistic approach to your health because in our society today, we are over-medicating ourselves.  And, I feel that we often are so quick to reach for a pill instead of focusing on our bodies and why they may be in pain.  Holistic health care looks at not only your body but your overall lifestyle to find a solution to a physical problem you may be experiencing.  By no means am I saying we should never take medications because there are instances where it is needed, but we also need to be mindful of what stresses we may have in our life...we need to look at our lives on a whole.

What is the most common health complaint from your clients?  One of the most common health complaint is lack of energy.  And, the lack of energy can be caused by a number of things like weight gain, lack of exercise, not drinking enough water.

What do you enjoy most about being an entrepreneur?  I enjoy the fact that I am in control of what my day will be and how much time I spend on any given task.  It gives you a feeling of great freedom when you know that you can say work 4 hours one day, have lunch/dinner with friends or tend to other important things in your life and on another day work 8 hours.  To have that kind of flexibility is definitely less taxing on your mind and body.

Owning your own business can be difficult.  How do you stay motivated?  I stay motivated by remembering my reason for doing what I do and why I wanted to own my own business.  That always gives me the exact motivation I need when I run into challenges from day to day.

What is your advice for females who are thinking about starting their own business?  My advice is to first make sure your business is something you LOVE to do.  When you love what you do, it never feels like work!  Second, create a business plan so that you have a structured outline of what your business will be and that you will always be clear about your direction.  Third, ask for help!  You cannot do it alone.  Lastly, make sure you stay on top of your game by always researching the latest trends in your industry or line of business.  Keeps you in the loop of what's new and good.

How can readers get in touch with you if they are interested in a health coaching consultation?  I can be reached by email: lydia@beingwell-livinghealthy.com.  I encourage everyone to schedule a consultation so they can really get a sense of what it would be like to work with me in a health session.

Thank you so much Lydia for participating in our very first Spotlight Entrepreneur. Please follow her on facebook and twitter for tips and tricks to living life as your healthiest you!  

Lydia Andrews

Holistic Health Coach

Certified Meditation Teacher

http://www.beingwell-livinghealthy.com

http://www.mind-body-spirit-lydia.blogspot.com

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www.sleeveshirtconsulting.com

Kate, err… I mean Catherine

There are not many things I would voluntarily set my alarm for these days.  But the Royal Wedding is one of them!

What will Kate, err… I mean Catherine wear?  Will the impending rain give us less opportunity to see her and her dress?  

We don’t know much about how Princess Catherine will spend her days once she settles into married life. What will her platform be? Which charities will she devote time and star power to? 

While William and Kate are bucking many long standing traditions, I can bet the future Queen will not have a career.  At least not a traditional one like us commoners.  She’s a smart cookie; she holds a Masters of Art degree, has held a position as an accessory buyer, and pre-engagement was rumored to be taking classes with famed photographer Mario Testino.  A life behind the camera?  Not much of a chance for that now.

Or is there?  My hope is that the monarchy will be open to Flexible Work Arrangements.  Let's hope that while traveling the world on her honeymoon, Kate doesn’t forget to pack her camera.  

Cheers!

www.sleeveshirtconsulting.com

ABC’s of Small Business Success

At SleeveShirt Consulting we’d like to take you on an inspirational journey to reach your career goals.  Are you just starting to think about launching a business?  Or maybe you are looking to build your brand and grow your customer base?  No matter what phase you fall into, together, we will build successful strategies to help you become the fearless entrepreneur you want to be. Here are some tips, from A to Z.

Anthem.  Choose a song that motivates you to focus on your goals.  Listen to it while you’re exercising, make it your ring tone or set your alarm to wake up to it and kick off your day with a smile on your face.

Barter.  There are ways to conduct business that do not include invoicing customers. Find a complimentary business that needs your services and find common ground on a trade agreement.

Communicate. Have you ever heard of anyone being looked down upon for OVER-communicating?  Ranked in order of importance; In person, over phone, via email, via text, and lastly, megaphone.

Drumroll, please!  Celebrate your successes- no matter how small. If you don’t pat yourself on the back, no one else will. 

Elevator Pitch.  A 30 second intro to your brand and your mission.  Don’t have one? SleeveShirt can help.

Freebies.  That’s right, I said the magical word: FREE!  Everyone wants a deal. Together we’ll brainstorm ways to market your product/service to customers and provide them with some valuable extras so they keep coming back for more.

Greed is good.  Be greedy about your time.  Time is money.

Humility.  Make a mistake? Own it.  Don’t hesitate to apologize and make good on the situation. 

Intention.  Setting an intention, different than setting a goal, allows you to focus on “being” in the present moment.  Let go of goal-oriented outcomes and instead look inward and ask yourself, “Where do I want to be (with my business/with my life)?”

Just Do It.  So you’ve been thinking about starting your own business for a few years, but just haven’t had the time…  What’s stopping you?  Fear? Don’t know where to begin?  Call me for a free consultation and we’ll get you on your way.

Kindness. Kill ‘em with it.  

Love thy neighbor.  I recently reached out to a number of local small business owners for advice and I couldn’t have gotten more genuine, helpful responses.  Your community wants you to succeed- reach out!

Mentor.  Don’t have one? Get one. Feel you would be a good one?  Sign up here: http://www.mentoring.org/

Network.  With your facebook fans, with your chamber of commerce, with a local women’s group. You never know where your next customer will come from.

Optimism. Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t… You’re right. 

Pay.  Not a copywriter? Don’t pen your website. There is good value setting aside money to pay for expertise.

Question. Ask it:  “Do I have your business?”  You can’t be shy about this.  You have to close the deal.  Here are some additional tips: http://www.startupnation.com/business-articles/1138/1/AT_5-Tips-For-Closing-Deal.asp

Read.  About your industry, about your competition, about people who inspire you. Then share those good resources with your network.

Stamina.  If you are thinking about launching your own business, or are already self-employed, you know that it takes stamina and endurance to keep going.  Think of yourself like an athlete who is in training for the race of your career.

Travel: Outside of your comfort zone.  Sometimes we have to do things that make us uncomfortable just to break down the door and move past it.  It's good for the soul.

Underminers.  You know those folks in your life who tend to be on the more negative side? If you let them, they’ll just bring you down.  Avoid them at all costs! 

Vision.  Ever created a vision board?  I can walk you through 3 simple steps to achieve your most important goals in business, and in life.

White Board.  Oh how I love my white board calendar.  Thank you Board Dudes!  Organizational tools like this one help me visualize my to-do list and gives me a snap shot of my schedule so that I am able to stay on my game.  Are you on your game?

X factor. What will Simon Cowell be looking for on his new show?  The indefinable “something” that brings unique star power?  What is your businesses Xfactor? Let's define it together.

Yard Sale!  Cleaning out the clutter in your space allows you to focus on the task at hand. If you work from home, ensure you have a quiet, comfortable work-space free of distractions, and full of inspiration. 

Zero-tolerance.  Adopt it for ignorance, hostility, arrogance, wastefulness, dishonesty, and the complacent.

Ready to get started?  Call me to set up a free consultation.

www.sleeveshirtconsulting.com

What do you want to be when you grow up?

My 5 year old is sick. Again. I could think of nothing better than giving her fresh sheets on her bed this morning because I know where she’ll be spending most of the day after I ban Disney Junior.

Stripping the bed and what do I find under her pillow? Highlights magazine. This child cracks me up.  Whereas sending a kid to their bedroom is a punishment for most, mine has approximately 100+ books and her magazine collection (she does not allow us to recycle them)  I think we’re a little ways away from calling Hoarders for a “Very Special Episode…” but it just makes me laugh to think about how much she loves to read.  

Last weekend we had friends in town and you would have thought a rock star had entered the building when she discovered Amy is a librarian (Well to be exact, she is the Director of the Digital Information Management Program at the State Library of North Carolina).  I kept thinking my daughter was going to want to go home with them at the end of the weekend.

Wondering if any of my dear readers had an inkling about their future careers at a young age?  Assuming you didn’t dream about sitting behind a desk and developing carpal tunnel syndrome.  (although there was that one girl in my Middle School class who dressed as a “business woman” for Halloween; so maybe she did).

As a kid I plastered my bedroom walls with ads that I ripped out of magazines, purely based on what resonated with me.  Did I know I was destined for a job in advertising and a love of all things-paper?  Maybe…

When she’s feeling better, we’re off to the library.  Happy reading. 


www.sleeveshirtconsulting.com

Etiquette tips that every professional should employ, to stay gainfully employed

Mind Your Manners: March

Years ago, when by David Lowry, PH.D. was the head of an elementary school he started to jot down simple rules of etiquette for children.  What resulted was a master list of 25 manners every kid needs to know by age 9.  The goal is to get kids to be noticed- for all the right reasons.  This inspired me to scribe some guidelines that I learned first-hand as a young professional.  After all, we adults want to be noticed too, right?  Let’s hope you don’t recognize any tips aimed at you. 

Etiquette tips that every professional should employ, to stay gainfully employed

1. Refrain from using a hands-free mobile device in the restroom.  Your call is not that important to overcome the horror of hearing a flush at the conclusion.
2. Emoticons should only be used in personal emails and not business correspondence.  Thx ;-)
3. The company refrigerator is not your personal grocery cooling device.  Bring one days lunch, not the weeks worth.
4. Always hold the elevator door.  You never know who might be running to catch it.
5. Never run out of business cards.  When you open a new box, immediately shove a small stack in a hidden area of your wallet.  They will be out of your way and when you meet that unexpected contact you won’t be fumbling with your smart phone to input a new contact. 
6. Hold your liquor.  Getting drunk in front of your boss is an image burned into their memory forever.  You don’t want to be known as “That-girl”.  As in, “Remember that-girl who talked about her vibrator and then spit on the CFO when he closed the bar tab?”  Yeah, that-girl got fired.
7. Wear a watch.  Hello Kitty, Swatch, Movado, Rolex?  Doesn’t matter.  Just be on time and respect others.
8. Do not schedule meetings for before 9am or after 4pm.  Not every one is a morning person and not every one likes to burn the 5pm oil. 
9. If you offer to drive colleagues to the client meeting, have a full tank of gas and ensure you’ve vacuumed up the kitty hair.
10. If you finish the coffee, make a new pot.  PS: Those pots don’t clean themselves either.
11.  If someone offers you a breath mint, accept it politely.  There is only one reason someone offers you a mint.  You have bad breath.
12. It happens sometimes. You rush out to work and you forgot to put on your deodorant.  Keep a stash (in your car, or in a desk drawer at the office) of some hygiene essentials.  Deodorant, toothbrush and paste, floss, and of course breath mints.
13. Be selective about who you befriend on Facebook.   Boss, direct report, potential client?  Do you think they want to read your status updates or see Hangover-type photos of you in Vegas?  If they are already friends, understand all the privacy options available to you.
14. If it’s taking you 4+ paragraphs to type it in email, pick up the phone and have a live conversation.  Your IT manager in the server room just IMed to say thank you. 
15. Be present.  When you are in a meeting and you’re looking down at your blackberry, we know you’re not listening.  Don’t make us send you a 4+ paragraph email recapping the meeting you were just in but weren’t paying attention to. 
16. Flip Flops are not appropriate footwear in a business setting.  Even on casual Friday.  Even if they are bejeweled. 
17. Casual Friday does not mean you can be casual with your undergarments. No cleavage, no protruding thongs, and yeah, I’ll say it again, no flip flops.
18. Always alert your caller to the fact that they are on speaker phone. 
19. Understand how to use the MUTE functionality of your phone.  This is especially important if you multi-task while on conference calls.
20. Be selective about your use of “reply all”.  Do all of those folks need your response?
21. Sending an email at midnight does not necessarily make others think you are a hard-working professional.  Insomniac? Brown-noser?  Person with poor time management skills?  Someone with a lack of work-life balance?  These all come to mind.
22. You know that friend who’s always reviewing your resume and acting as a reference as you job hunt? Buy her a cup of coffee to say thank you.  Long-distance friend? A hand-written note goes a long way. 
23. Always give credit where credit is due.  Boss compliment the project you worked on with a co-worker?  Throw her name into accept the accolades.  Or send an email to a vendors boss (cc’ing them) when they’ve done an outstanding job.  Those shout-outs help when its time to prepare annual reviews.
24. Think a receptionist is a notch beneath you? You couldn’t be more wrong. Not only should you not judge an education by a persons position but the receptionist is a gatekeeper to the people you really want to get to at any front office.  Treat them: with a smile, with a grande latte, or with a small token of your appreciation on National Receptionist Day.  They have more power than you realize.
25. Nominate your favorite #25 _____________________________________________ 

  

This list was born out of some of the bad and the ugly from my past experiences but let me also highlight some of the good.  I will never forget a woman I interviewed with at my first job. It was Casual Friday in the office but she looked so classy in her tailored jeans, crisp white button down and flats.  I don’t remember her name, but I remember her style and the impression it left on me.  What she did was treat herself like her own personal brand.  And she was consistent (Yes, she looked that good every Friday!)  How you look and act in the work place, with clients, with vendors and yes, even with receptionists say a lot about your personal brand.  Do you want to be the kid on the block who no one wants to play with since they have such poor manners or do you want to be the one who gets invitations to all the cool parties?  It’s up to you.


www.sleeveshirtconsulting.com

Never say never

10 years ago or so I distinctly remember having a conversation with a fr-enemy co-worker. Her boyfriend at the time had dragged her to a NASCAR race one weekend and she was horrified. Did loving him mean that she had to enjoy this past time?  I remember taking secret pleasure at the thought of Ms Kitten-Heels &Pearls traipsing around a dirty race track surrounded by rednecks wearing tank tops and little else.  I would NEVER find myself at a NASCAR event.

Fast-forward to today.  Not only have I been to a track, but I have been fully indoctrinated into the culture of NASCAR.  My husband was always an enthusiast of antique cars, so when a job opportunity came up marrying his love of cars and his expertise in exhibit management we were on our way to Charlotte without looking back.

I learn something new about racing every time I sit down with my family to watch a race.  What's new with the points system? Why is Kyle Busch running so loose?  Does praying for the little baby Jesus do anything to help the drivers like it does for Ricky Bobby?

My husband has met some fascinating characters through his job- and we even have little old ladies offering to cook him dinner when he stops by to pick up artifacts for the hall.  Junior Johnson's moonshine?  Delicious.

Well its about time to go check in on how my driver is running at Daytona.  Yes, 10 years ago, these are words that I never thought I would utter.  But in life, you can never say never.

Is anybody out there? Exploring the Twitterverse.

Each week I make sure to check out my list of Twitter followers. It’s amazing to see a diverse group of friends, moms, bloggers, business owners, all around funny people, politically conservative marksmen, ….<<<screech>>>.  Did you just hear me skid off the road?

Is this what happens when I unlock the security on @MamaSleeveShirt?  Now, if the President of a seniors group wants to listen to me crack jokes, retweet funnies, or rant about direct mail, then I guess I really shouldn’t judge. But somehow, I think his 13 year old granddaughter set up his Twitter account and started following anyone and everyone in the Twitterverse. 

But @GaylandAnderson isn’t even the most obscure follower I have. 7 out of 7 of @SebastianRITD ‘s tweets have included the word “pizza”.  @MyTrainerBob would not approve.  For that matter, neither would @tom_colicchio  Dude, expand your palette. 

But actually, isn’t that what he’s doing by following me?  Maybe he might just be encouraged to cook by a RT of mine from @fabioviviani   or see that pizza dough exploded in my fridge yesterday which inspired me to tweet:

Remind me not to make pizza tomorrow. http://yfrog.com/h718hhhj

Out I go, to expand my palette, and follow a bunch of crazy new friends.  Join me?