women who lead – SiMar

5 Ways to Integrate Giving Back to Company Culture

Allison Todd — Wed, 18 Oct 2017 14:33:36 +0000

Many entrepreneurs are now beginning to see the goldmine in building a socially-responsible business. Unlike in the not-so-distant past, today’s businesses have dipped their toes right where they are needed—philanthropy. Giving back has become a culture in many companies as they struggle to find a defining balance between making profits and showing compassion to those in need. While many companies have successfully, there are still others grappling in the dark on what possible courses of action to be done so they can positively integrate the virtue of giving back into their company culture.

To some businesses wherein “giving back” is virtually new territory, there are some ways to make such a regular habit and integrate it successfully into the company’s DNA. Here are ways how:

1. Share your company’s expertise or creative genius. Are you involved in technology and can make a usable app for people with autism, Down Syndrome, epilepsy, and so on? Can you offer financial review or accounting work for a charitable organization? Can you handle digital promotion or marketing campaign for a charitable event? Your business can offer any of these services pro bono and build connection with the community.

2. Of course, the easiest route is to give money to a philanthropic cause. Donation can create a huge impact to the operational capabilities of charitable organizations. When choosing to donate money, however, it is highly recommended to do so within the bounds of the local community. Note carefully the organizations, their causes, and their credibility before you simply sign and mail a check. These community-based organizations may be smaller and less popular than other established ones, but doing so will help you connect directly to the community where your business thrives.

3. Offer products or by-products or perhaps, services. Factories, food shops, bakeries, cafes, restaurants, and other consumable-based businesses may offer what they produce to a particular charitable organization which needs such assistance. Some doughnut companies like Krispy Kreme and Dunkin’ Donuts, for instance, have franchises which donate food items to local charitable organizations on a regular basis. Other service-oriented companies are also keen on offering part of their service packages to these charitable organizations for free. In some cases, these people raise funds by offering part of a new product’s sales proceeds to a cause.

4. Consider volunteerism. Company workers who volunteer together always find it more fulfilling and liberating to interact with one another. It was also proven that employees who do volunteer work together become more cohesive in their actions at work. Volunteering together in an act that constitutes compassion to others tend to forge a closer connection among them. This somehow create a trusting, compassionate, and longer-lasting cooperation in the workplace.

5. Some small businesses also thrive in developing the giving back culture through inspiration. These companies usually do annual activities to raise funds for a charitable organization or a cause they support. Christmas and other holiday luncheons or dinner parties are designed as fundraisers. Personal pre-loved items collected and sold in a garage sale where everyone participates and the proceeds donated to a cause.

Before picking a giving back strategy, consider rallying everyone’s opinion. Seek out suggestions and recommendations. Allowing your employees to freely say their take will not only make the efforts more fulfilling for them, it will also forge mutual respect leading to more cooperation. When done accordingly, you will be surprised at how a seemingly simple act of kindness can make your business mindset more worthwhile.

Everyday is a New Year!

Allison Todd — Wed, 18 Oct 2017 09:23:43 +0000

What a crazy week you may have been into!

After all that holiday travel and fun meeting family and friends, the first week of January may seem to come in a blur. There seems to be so many things left undone and unsaid. As you look at your own calendar, plans for the New Year seem to be in disarray leading to you to chuckle while your brain scrambling for more coffee to feel “settled” in the office. With a steaming mug at hand, you step back and assess how far – or how not-far—you are from your goals.

While the New Year (or any special event) may be considered landmark occasions that present an opportunity for you to reassess and rediscover your business or career efforts, they can also be limiting your abilities to truly unleash the power within. Special occasions though useful in creating timetables for goal-setting, they should not be regarded as the end-all of your desire to become successful.

Set No Limits

People who tend to rely on New Year’s resolution or penance to be done during Holy Week or some other belief mumbo-jumbo to change for the better are bound to lose a lot of opportunities in the process. They are so tied-up to the perception of timeframes when it comes to implementations of their goals. This somehow leads to the habit of “waiting for something to happen” instead of doing one’s best by the minute.

It is important to remember that it is quite limiting to simply wait for any life events to start implementing your goals. It is futile to say “I will go on a diet after I consume this huge tube of ice cream.” It’s almost akin to saying that you will not start working on your business goals until you fail.

The waiting game is just not going to cover the many opportunities you allow to pass by.

Seize Every Opportunity

But while “carpe diem” or “YOLO” are heavily scoffed at by many conservatives, millennials are actually doing great in this regard. A generation known to shun procrastination, this new breed of young entrepreneurs and professionals runs after opportunities instead of waiting for them to fall on their lap. They shape their lives in the perception that a break comes rarely on its own accord. One has to pull strings to make things happen—and almost always, it does work the magic.

So, dear subscribes and followers, I strongly advice to make everyday a “new year.” Treat special events as icing on your cake. With or without it, you are moving. Every day you are growing and only reach a full year older on your birthday. Every day is Christmas if the intention is to glorify the Heavens and to share goodwill to everyone.

Yes, treating every day as a new year will ultimately bring in more successes. Instead of waiting for momentous occasions, cultivate the habit of making daily adjustments. This allows you to see your progress in a clearer perspective, work on your misgivings and mistakes, and prevent accumulating negativity. Everyone has 365 opportunities to pursue this 2017. It is high time to commit to the habit of making each day the “new year” and embrace success one day at a time.

Healthy Eating Habits For Go-Getter Womenpreneurs

Allison Todd — Wed, 11 Oct 2017 09:32:53 +0000

Womenpreneurs have a lot on their plate. Apart from tending to their businesses, these women have to run a home, raise kids, or support a cause. They tend to move fast and unceasingly strive to achieve more. Women, being prolific fighters, tend to give in double than what’s intended—and this could compromise their health when not addressed accordingly. It is therefore important that they develop healthy eating habits to provide needed sustenance to the body and mind.

There are actually a few things that a womanpreneur can do to keep a hale and hearty lifestyle. Here are some tips how:

1. Always eat breakfast. Skipping breakfast is known to increase risks for obesity, diabetes, and mood alterations. Going to an early morning meeting with a growling stomach also diminishes your sharpness. No matter how simple, like grabbing an apple or banana or making a green smoothie, eating breakfast before taking off means a great deal to your mind and body.

2. Be prepared. If you can plan one full year of marketing strategies, why can’t you prepare a meal plan for the whole week? There are hundreds of apps out there which can help you on this ordeal. Yummly or MealBoard are great options. Choose simple meals which you can grill or simply snuck into an oven. Invest in BPA-free, dishwasher-friendly plastic containers to help you organize your ingredients.

3. Go for convenient but healthy snacks. Those office vending machines offer nothing but high sugar, high in calories, and are virtually suffused in trans-fat. Pack up granola bars, boxes of raisins, fresh fruits, and veggie sticks. These help suppress your hunger pangs longer.

4. Always take a few minutes off your work when you eat a meal or go for a snack. Set aside your financial auditing task and focus on your meal. A quick walk around the block can also recharge your system making you feel refreshed the moment you go back to the chopping block.

5. Make lunch efficient by doing meet-ups. While the idea is to eat a nutritious midday meal, doing so with team members allows free flow of ideas. You can also meet clients and prospective investors or perhaps, beef-up your network of connections.

6. Always stay hydrated. Do you know that drinking water helps replenish needed electrolyte to keep your body and mind in tiptop shape? Or that you can survive days without food but not without water? Always keep a water dispenser handy in your office. Choose one with a hot-and-cold feature to deliver cold water during summer or hot water during winter.

7. Consider shopping for grocery early morning, on a Sunday. If you can, ditch those preservative-filled aisles and head directly to the fresh produce and organic section. You may also want the convenience of apps like InstaCart as they can deliver groceries to you straight from your favorite local stores.

8. Always choose nutrient-dense foods for your daily diet. Focus more on energy-boosting foods, fruits and vegetables, and whole grain. Do make sure that these are fresh and organic.

9. Limit alcohol intake. While happy hour drink may take place with a client, family, friends or employees, it is important to put a self-imposed limit. A glass of red wine is good for the heart but a bottle may spell disaster if done on a regular basis.

10. Spend dinner at home. This allows time well-spent with family members. If single, you may want to consider dinner with friends or cooking in batches. This helps keep work-life balance while nurturing a good emotional quotient.

All it takes is a few doable modifications in your eating habits to go about a vigorous business-life balance. Complement these with exercise routines, daily guided meditation or yoga, and a lot of positive thinking. When you keep yourself healthy, you can guarantee living life to the fullest while nurturing a flourishing business.

Personal Spring Cleaning From A Womanpreneur’s Perspective

Allison Todd — Sat, 07 Oct 2017 23:54:17 +0000

After the wintry spell, fall is nearly upon many businesses. Sure thing, this is the perfect time of the year to rev up your engine and crank your accelerometer to optimize your business goals. Spring brings a certain promise to every womanpreneur who wants to start anew particularly after a huge slump. It is also meant as a wake-up call for those procrastinating due to perceived risks in the future of the business.

Like vegetations that sprout as the sun’s magical rays finally seep through melting snow in its path, this is a time to start from a clean slate and to look for signs of opportunities and growth. Business spring cleaning is going to challenging. No doubt about that. But womenpreneurs may have the advantage.

So, how will you harness the invigorating energy that spring brings to your business? Are you ready to begin a new business cycle on a high note? Here are tips on how to start the new business cycle right.

1. First stop: de-clutter. Nothing is more distracting than a table filled with papers, files, folders, and such. It is high time to segregate the necessities from the undesirables. Clean up your table as fast as you can. Beneath those mounds of paperwork, you may stumble upon an agreement or a business plan that may sound ridiculous last year but useful now. Dust. Scrub. Repaint if you must. Basically, do not leave any flat surface remain untouched.

2. Give your computer a breath of fresh air. Open an account on DropBox and lodged past files and documents in there. Consider also having a backup hard drive to hold those files. Label them carefully. The more you will extract old files, reports, and documents that’s so last year from your laptop or PC, the more it will run efficiently.

3. Don’t forget cleaning up your online DNA. Give your website and social media pages the necessary spring cleaning, too. Perhaps, it is high time to “re-dress” your website’s look. A quick run on your dashboard will be so much fun. Social media profile badges may also have to be changed. Turn off those notifications. Realign your settings in a manner that’s conducive to your goals.

4. Reassess what you have done to your business and to your life. Do a no-nonsense month-by-month blow on the things you have done vis-à-vis your vision and mission. Are the marketing strategies you and your team painstakingly craft followed to a tee? Did you exceed or fall short from your goals? Are customers staying or going? How powerful does your online presence become? Make past performances as your gauge in setting goals and action plans to ensure improvement and growth this year.

5. Boost your business prowess. You can do so by having yourself and the whole workforce re-trained. Enroll your steering committee into a training class or a seminar. Have your operation workforce go into training for new skills. It is time to stretch everyone’s capabilities to the hilt, including your own self.

6. Give your own self the break you deserve. Perhaps, you have toiled high and low in the past months due to a slump or various challenges of the business. After all other aspects have been addressed, now is time to give your own self the pampering it needs. Go on an off-grid getaway. Reconnect with loved ones and friends. Meditate. Cleanse and purge your system from all the toxicity of last year’s struggles. Strengthen your mind and body—and come back with a renewed sense of purpose.

Always regard every cycle of the business with care. Every womanpreneur know that like running a home, doing an annual spring cleaning for your business will definitely create more opportunities for growth. Do so regularly and enjoy newly strengthened motivation to forward your goals.

Addressing Counterproductive Behaviors Of Women Leaders

Allison Todd — Mon, 25 Sep 2017 12:28:52 +0000

Black women face challenge inside and outside the workplace. From conversations about how we can wear our hair at work to the preconceived notions and stereotypes, it’s a fact one can not deny, especially if you happen to be a black woman. Collectively women have been fighting one generation after another. From access to interest, there is seemingly a constant struggle to be seen as an equal. But, equal to what?

There are many successful women how have “figured it out”. They understand the chaos of the real world and have figured out the path around the obstacles or the solution to face challenge. But many are still hankering in the dark, holding back their greatness as a defense to a judgmental society. And I am here to let you know that those defense mechanisms are only hurting yourself. Eliminate the counterproductive behaviors and reveal your greatness. What to do? Start here:

STOP apologizing. Your opinion and your actions don’t have to match anyone else’s style. Be collaborative without bending (or bowing) down to others. Your unique disposition can achieve the goal and be a valuable contribution to the decision-making process.

STOP curtailing your own convictions to accommodate someone else. It’s virtually inconceivable to limit your greatness so others can feel better about themselves. It’s not as if you are choosing bragging or being a pushover. Instead, you are making you, priority. By valuing and trusting your ideals and decisions, you would be surprised how profitable it is for your career and business. Be open to ideation, share your creative mind, offer your talents and capabilities, lend your support and do so with an energetic vibe. Never let yourself feel small so another person can feel big, period.

STOP unhealthy habits. Okay here’s a secret revealed, its OK to be an ambitious woman. Be committed to achieving your career or business goals but do so without compromising your health. Many successful workaholics have literally passed out before the awakening that they had to care for self first, more, NOW! Divert from your routine and have fun. Schedule time to be still, silent or meditate. Let gratitude be a permanent part of your daily habits. Most of all, forgive yourself. There is no such thing as work-life balance and life happens. Ensure you can make it to the “finish line” and prioritize health and wellness.

STOP looking at the future but rather focus on the “now”. Once you plan your goals and set your goals, focus forward and live in the now. Coulda, shoulda, wouldas have no place in your vocabulary. Give your best daily and press forward without regret. Doing so will give you plenty of chance to build on your personal brand and carve a career path that will lead to the promising future of your dreams. But don’t forget you can live abundantly today. It’s not just about sustaining it’s also about adapting, life will throw change at you like curve balls (at high speed), it’s OK. Brace yourself and ….what? You got it! Press forward!

STOP limiting yourself. Many people will tell you not to have a family, career, entrepreneurship, volunteerism and more at the same time. They will give you every reason while living with boundaries is what’s right for you! WRONG. Kick those notions to the curb and do, at least try the things that speaks to your heart (and the things that don’t). Live limitless and accept the notion that life is an adventure. A quick look at some of the most successful black women today will tell you that there is no limit to what you can achieve as a mother, a wife, an entrepreneur, a career professional, a celebrity, an executive, you name it – there’s no limit. Believe and take action and you have won half of the battle is won.

The time has come for you to STOP these counter-productive behaviors now! Get a hold of your inner prowess and start carving positive changes in your life, career and business. Now is the time for you to own your greatness and live beyond the limits your fears. One generation after another, women to women we will continue and it doesn’t have to be a fight. Instead let it be a life lived well, outloud. Perhaps the internalized struggle is the most powerful of all and once conquered life can be lived …without limits.