Member Monday Featuring: Carina Lindgren
Carina Lindgren of Flawless Faces
1. What is your business?
I own a makeup & skincare lounge in Costa Mesa called Flawless Faces. We offer Private Makeup Lessons, Special Occasion Makeup & Hair, Facials, Microdermabrasion, Brow Shaping, and Spray Tanning. We also offer medical services such as Botox/Restylane, Laser Hair Removal, Photo Genesis, Laser Genesis, and Cosmelan. Our main business is weddings. We travel on-location or in studio every weekend!
2. Why did you launch this business?
I launched this business because I love everything about the beauty
industry! Especially makeup, and have an obsession with perfect skin, hence
the skincare side of the business. I worked for other companies in the
past, but always knew deep down I was going to own my own business, I hated
making money for someone else when I was doing all the work!
3. What gives you your greatest pleasure in your business?
Receiving praise and thank you messages/cards from clients letting us know
how happy they are with the services they have received @ Flawless Faces and
getting referrals from past clients is such a rewarding feeling!
4. Where have you run into challenges in your business?
Managing other people has been my biggest challenge in business. When I
first opened Flawless Faces, it was just me and 2 girls that I rented out
spa rooms to. Quickly I became booked up and realized that I needed to hire
more people to handle the work load. In the last 3 years, I have hired 14
Makeup Artists & Hair Stylists that I book on weddings every weekend. I
have never been in a management position in past jobs, so this has all been
a learning process for me. I have high expectations as I am very detail
oriented, and have great work ethic and expect the same from everyone that
works on our team. There is a very fine line from being “friends” with your
employees and being a “boss.” This is something I’m still working out.
5. What is a key resource that has helped you and might also help other businesses?
I think that being good at what you do, delivering good product/service, and
reliability is key elements in a successful business. Networking and
passing out my card to anyone who will take it, I always let them know to
take a look at our website. Your website needs to really represent your
brand, this is all people have to judge you and your company before they
ever even pick up the phone to consider your business. For me, the blog has
been a great tool in show-casing our work and getting people involved and
familiar with what we do. I blog several times a week with tons of photos
of new work and any specials we are offering. On top of that, Social Media
is FREE such as Facebook which has definitely been HUGE in the success of my
business. Twitter is still new to me, but I’m having fun tweeting and
getting responses from that now as well. Also, getting connected to someone
in your field that can refer you to their clients is a big one too.
12 Steps to Creating Your One Page Business Plan
Stephanie Barrymore
Business Growth Strategist Stephanie Barrymore’s
12 Steps to Creating Your One Page Business Plan
1. Identify your Ideal Client Profile or your Ideal Company Profile
2. Prioritize your top 3 revenue buckets
3. Pull a list of 200-300 companies you want to target and blueprint them
4. Create your approach and anticipate any objections you may receive
5. Sign up for a low cost online CRM (customer relationship management) tool
6. Create a time management system that allows for “prospecting” time that is focused and uninterrupted
7. Create goals and metrics that will help you measure your success
8. Hold yourself and your team ACCOUNTABLE
9. Lead a one on one with each business development focused employee (it may just be you!) to review results and make any changes to the overall and weekly goals
10. Make sure any employees are aligned to the process
11. SEE YOUR BUSINESS GROW!!
12. Then, think about your social media strategy… It will compliment your business and position you as an expert in your field, not necessarily bring you sales
Tuesday, July 26th join us and learn how to implement these steps to create a one-page working tactical plan that will hold you and your team accountable to direct the growth of your business and more in Stephanie’s Peer to Peer Workshop: The One Page Business Plan
Member Monday Featuring: Gail Baral
1. What is your business?
The Algabar Tea Collection is a Los Angeles based on-line retailer of exquisitely blended, scented and flavored teas, many of which are organic, fair trade and/or biodynamic. I provide signature tea services at tea parties and conduct tea tastings that bring people together to learn about tea and experience the pleasures of tea culture.
Years of personal meditation practice and study lead me to recently launch rituals4wellbeing which hopes to inspire fellow entrepreneurs to nurture their spirit and quiet the incessant chatter in their mind so they can hear the important stuff.
2. Why did you launch this business?
When I launched the tea business four years ago, I sensed a shift in the perception of tea. The image of the lavish upper class Afternoon Tea or the coma inducing sweet iced tea was evolving as people of all backgrounds discovered the healthy and energizing virtues of tea. Wishing to bring attention to the mastery of tea production and the artistry of blending teas, my mission was to offer delicious teas paired with memorable tea experiences and to inspire Americans to experience the way of tea, much like the rest of the world.
3. Greatest pleasure in business
I do the happy dance when a non-tea drinker or a life long tea drinker tells me that they love my tea and that it has changed their idea about tea.
4. Greatest Challenge
My greatest challenge has been transitioning from a retail store to an on-line business. I miss the face-to-face interaction and the rewards of building personal relationships with my customers. This year I am putting more effort into group tastings and events, which have been great for me emotionally and have been good for business.
5. Key Resource
I closed my store over a year ago and moved the business to my loft in Hollywood. With limited part time help, I struggle with isolation and loneliness, but the hardest challenge was reinventing my business from retail to on-line. Then along came SMARTY. The Foundation Course changed the course of my business and helped me redirect my focus towards a new target market and towards other opportunities to directly interact with my target customer. I have met many talented women and have implemented many great ideas that I garnished from various events and conversations. SMARTY has been a lifeline to other like-minded entrepreneurial women who dare to dream big but struggle with similar challenges.
Office Upgrade at the SMARTY Headquarters
I couldn’t put my finger on what was “off” recently, so like any good woman, I redecorated my office.
Why?
Because when all else fails, do what you love and you’ll probably forget something was amiss in the first place. I speed dialed the Improvementalist, Laurie March and Amanda Hughes at Simplify who kicked their teams into high gear on some accessorizing and organizing for our SMARTY Venice headquarters.
Why am I telling you this?
Because change for “change” sake actually kinda works. The smell of fresh paint energized me about a couple of dormant ideas, reminded me to connect two people who now just made a wad of cash together, and made me remember how exciting the first few months of business is…before the “paint” dry’s. I’m probably just high on non-toxic paint fumes but you know what? It’s working!
Laurie setting the stage for white board.
Time for the white board paint.
Amanda tackling the chaos like a pro!
Viola! Amanda makes it look so easy!
Member Monday Featuring Daisy Swan
Daisy Swan, Career Coach
1. What is your business ?
Daisy Swan & Associates Career Coaching and Strategy. I am a career coach and strategist who works with individuals to help them clarify their career direction and to take actions to reach their desired goals. I provide one-on-one coaching as well as groups to meet the needs of individuals of all ages and life stages. I also offer at least one panel event per year to discuss topics of interest to clients. Recently I co-taught a class at Insight LA, a meditation center in LA; I am a long-time meditator and I know how valuable it can be to clients who are experiencing stress about career transition to increase their mindfulness and gain a larger perspective on where they are in their journey. I have had associates work with me for the past 6 years. At times I’ve had three associates; at others just one. I am about to bring on a second associate again.
2. Why did you launch this business?
This question gave me pause as the answer has several dimensions. I had been a career counselor at universities and knew that I wanted to eventually have an ability to have a flexible schedule so that I could be available to my family. In 1995 I started seeing clients ‘on the side’. In 1999 I stopped working for any organization to be home with my son who was 3 at the time. So I was seeing clients just a few hours per week. I started to see that I wanted to have larger conversations with clients, to help them with other issues that were clearly impeding their career growth so I decided to get my coaching certification. At the end of that one year process I launched my website in 2003. I never thought I’d have so much success off of a website! In 2006 I decided to put more effort into my branding because I wanted to offer more services and classes to help more people. So in 2007 I re-launched my website with the branding you now see on my site. Of course it’s always a work in progress, but the look and feel remains the same. I still have a flexible schedule and my son is now 15, but I work basically full time now.
3. What gives you your greatest pleasure in your business?
Because I know what transition feels like (I feel like I go through one several times a year!) I appreciate the challenges people face and love to help them through these. I really love working with people who are working in diverse fields –while I help them gain clarity I also learn so much from them. And seeing the unfolding of options and actions taken to achieve change is really fulfilling.
4. Where have you run into challenges in your business?
The biggest challenge for me is managing my calendar…personally and professionally. I think I always assume it should be easier than it is so I think I’m doing something wrong. I’d like to set up a scheduling system that helps me juggle things more simply. While there is probably a solution, I think the juggle is just part of having a really full life. I also, at times, just want to make everything better for the world of people who are struggling so I put a lot of pressure on myself to figure out big solutions. I know that sounds grandiose, but it’s true…I get caught up in thinking about how to get people back into jobs they really thrive in. How to help workplaces and jobs be more satisfying for people. All of these thoughts make me hungry to learn and do more, and so far we’re stuck with 24 hours a day, so I have to ease up on my expectations of what I can really do right now.
5. What is a key resource that has helped you and might also help other business owners?
My website has been a very important aspect of my company for sure. I have had two assistants (one virtual and one virtual but also local) helping me for years, and they are so helpful to me. I think the most important thing is that I have met many wonderful people through my involvement, which is sometimes very loose due to time constraints, in various groups. While I have gotten a lot of clients from my website I also have gotten many, many referrals from friends and former clients. The communities I’m involved with feed me immensely, especially because I work alone so much. I really need the balance of being with ‘my people’. So I suppose, ultimately, it’s been my hunger to learn and reach out to others to do so, that has been my greatest ‘resource’.
