This post is the sixth in a series of seven about entrepreneurship. When we sat down to think about entrepreneurship for women, several themes continued to come up in our discussions about struggles that women (and men) come up against when starting their own businesses.

This post comes from Kate, and is about feeling the fear and doing it anyway.

Facing fear.

Fear is perpetuated by “what if’s.” And there are plenty of “what if’s” when it comes to entrepreneurship.

• What if what I have to offer is not useful to anyone?
• What if others laugh at me and think I’m crazy for quitting my job and going out on my own?
• What if something I do or say in my business offends someone else?
• What if I am not able to find any clients?
• What if I don’t make enough money to support myself?

Sound familiar?

It’s amazing how “what if’s” can cycle over and over again in our minds — even when they tend to be irrational and full of speculation.

Fear can sneak up on us and suck away our time and energy.

It can paralyze us.

Perhaps the worst thing about fear is that it can prevent us from living our dreams.

Fortunately, fear can be conquered. We can choose to kick fear out of the driver’s seat and make our own choices. We can choose to focus on our goals instead of our obstacles.

You are not alone.

Let’s make one thing clear. You don’t have to face fear alone.

Sometimes just saying your fears out loud to someone you trust can help you find clarity and direction. That’s the beauty of coaching and a huge benefit of mentors and masterminds.

That’s what Propelle is here to help you with.

We’re providing resources and tools to get you through all of the challenges when it comes to your business. We’re going to break down those barriers together!

And here’s the best part: we get stronger as we help each other, and fear becomes less and less of an issue. Isn’t it great how that works?

What’s one thing that you have been afraid of when it comes to your business? Leave a comment below, and let us support you on the journey!

New to the series? That’s okay. You can find the other posts here:

• Part 1: Find your voice.
• Part 2: Use jealousy to your advantage.
• Part 3: Value yourself.
• Part 4: Confidence is key.
• Part 5: Leap and the net will appear. 

I’ve been on a library kick the last few months. The library is perfect for stumbling on books that you might not otherwise read.

Word Hero by Jay Heinrichs was one of those books.

I’ll admit, I was initially drawn to it by the cover and the catchy title. But once I read what the book was really about, I knew I had to read it.

Getting Jiggy with Jargon

Not only is the book rife with quotes from Glee, it’s filled with tips and how-to’s to take your copy from drab to fab.

The book focuses on the technicalities of wordsmithing (tropes, puns, and more), tricks to parse your favorite quotes and make them your own, and how to get your point across without getting lost in the details.

As someone who writes daily — from blogs posts to newsletters, marketing copy to menus — I found the tips and techniques to be practical and playful.

A winning combination in my eyes.

5 Tips to Craft Your Copy

Some of my favorite tips from the book were:

• Parsing: what are you really trying to say? Write down a list of words that get at the heart of the matter. When I’m writing about my programs and services, words like empowerment, fun, life changing, and sustainable came to mind. Once I knew the key points for my copy, the easier it became to write.
• Use a thesaurus. This might sound like obvious advice, but I can’t even tell you how often I hit up thesaurus.com for some synonyms to make my text sing.
• The sound and feeling of words matter. If you’re trying to describe the gerth of something, it’s important to use bigger sounding words. Vast, huge, and massive all conjure size through sounds. Just like tiny, peckish, itty, and minute sound small and constricted.
• Mad-lib it. I am a huge fan of quotes, sayings, and pop-culture references. Song titles are some of my favorite phrases to play with (hello, getting jiggy with…jargon). Being able to take bits and pieces that are familiar, and mix them with your own brand of wit is a great way to get people playing along.
• Use your wit wisely. No one wants to read copy that’s pun after saying after marketing garb. It feels forced and nonsensical. In other words, don’t fill your entire blog, newsletter or presentation with nonsense. Use the wit to get people hooked, and then wax poetic with your fabulous content. Not every sentence can be a winner. So don’t try to force it.

For more exciting tips, check out the Word Hero site. Heinrichs has a wealth of information to dig through, play with, and show your wordsmithing prowess.

Do great minds (or businesses) tweet alike?

#heckno

Kate, Emily and Carrie – the loverly ladies of Propelle – will help you understand how Twitter can send your business soaring by jetting through the who, what, where, when, why and how of the #Twitterverse.

Cultivate Your Inner Twitter Superstar with a Workshop aimed at:

• Developing your Authentic Voice
• Beginning a dialogue
• Connecting with YOUR tribe
• Engaging others rather than broadcasting at them
• Figuring out craft killer commentary in 140 characters
• Learning the lingo (aka what @, # & DM mean)
• Following discussions and Twitter conferences

And bonus material covering:

• Help using services like Hootsuite, Mobile Twitter, and TweetChat
• How to make your profile work for you
• Tips and tricks to spend less time on Twitter doing more
• The best ways to share your content on Twitter

Speaking of Twitter, are you following @wepropelle? Join in on the conversation by using the #propelle hashtag.

Better yet, join us for a fun and fabulous night focused on improving your business!

Navigating the Twitter Terrain for Your Trade

Date: Wednesday, May 9th
Time: 6-7:30PM ET
Location: Pittsburgh Glass Center (5472 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15206)

This post is the fifth in a series of seven about entrepreneurship. When we sat down to think about entrepreneurship for women, several themes continued to come up in our discussions about struggles that women (and men) come up against when starting their own businesses.

This post comes from Emily, and is about taking risks that are in line with your vision.

Leap and the net will appear.

Quitting my job as an account manager was a risky move. It was one that was met with a lot of skepticism, questions, and “good luck with that” attitudes. But that job wasn’t in line with my vision of empowering others to feel better, live better, and work better…one kick ass goal at a time.

I knew there would never be a good time to quit. To leave the comforts of a steady salary. To start a new venture. And yet, it was all I could think about; all I wanted to do.

I planned. I plotted. And finally I took the leap.

And you know what? The net appeared. We had enough money to pay our bills. I was happier than I had been in years. And was doing something that I was extremely passionate about.

I was living life on my terms.

Take risks that are in line with your vision.

This is the hardest lesson you will ever have to learn as an entrepreneur. And yet, it’s the most important one.

Being in business for yourself is all about taking chances. About taking the leap even when you aren’t 100% certain what lies ahead. And doing the things that make your stomach do cartwheels.

What this doesn’t mean is to jump into something feet first.

You still have to do your research and gather the best information that you can.

But then you have to act.

Things are never going to be perfect. There will never be an exact right moment for things to happen. You will never have enough money to feel secure about going into business for yourself. Your website will never be exactly the way you want it to be.

And it doesn’t matter one single bit.

Create a vision for yourself and for your business, set goals, and then act. Just don’t be surprised when everything that you want starts to fall into place.

Let us know in the comments below about a time when you took a leap — a risk that was in line with your vision — and what you learned from the experience.

New to the series? That’s okay. You can find the other posts here:

• Part 1: Find your voice.
• Part 2: Use jealousy to your advantage.
• Part 3: Value yourself.
• Part 4: Confidence is key.
  

A wise woman (Emily Levenson) once said to me, give it 15 minutes, you’ll be amazed by what you can accomplish. True to form, she was right.

Schedule it in.

Set a timer for 15 minutes, close your web browser, and get to work writing, planning, designing, and implementing. Just DO that one thing on your list that gets copied and pasted into the next day for weeks on end.

In the bigger scheme of time management, it is important to make your work life work for you.

Balance is key and something that many entrepreneurs forget about, especially as they start their business.

Scheduling, and not overbooking, yourself are key to success. It gives you the flexibility to handle curves in the road as they occur, and to build in time to work in your business instead of on your business.

Super Strategies

Here are some tried and true strategies for time management. Make sure to choose the one that is right for you.

• Calendaring
  Choose the calendar application that is easiest for you. Depending on your business and workforce/partners, you may consider a Google calendar that you can share with others for scheduling. You can also set up your Google calendar on your mobile device for quick access on the go or at a out of office meeting.
• Body Rhythm
  What time of day are you most productive? Do you write best first thing in the morning, feel like a million bucks after a noon-time workout, enjoy meeting over lunch, or plan best before bed? Track a few days activities noting the time of day when you felt most energized to tackle that activity, and then begin to set up your calendar accordingly.
• Schedule Checking and Responding to Email
  You do not want to run your business by reacting to the most recent request coming to your inbox. But many of us fall into that trap. So instead, close down your Outlook, resist the urge to click your iCloud icon and schedule the times that you can concentrate on reading and responding to your emails.
• Alerts
  I find that setting an alert on an appointment, wether one for myself or with someone else, will keep me on track for finishing up one task and preparing myself mentally for the next task. Depending on your needs, most calendars provide the option of alerts from 30, 15, 10 and 5 minutes before the appointment and can come in the form of a sound, pop up window, text message or email.

I’ve shared a few of mine, what are your favorite methods for keeping on track?

Share them below in comments below. You might just help someone else tap into their time management mojo.

(Image source: AnneMarieCross.com)

What the tweet?
I blog your pardon?
To Facebook or not to Facebook…

These are the questions. And we have the answers!

Social media is the quickest way to speak to your audience.

So how do you use it to make your small business soar?

Join Carrie, Emily and Kate — the loverly ladies of Propelle — in a 3 part series aimed at introducing you to the wonderful world of blogging, the fabulosity of Facebook, and the terrain of Twitter.

We will walk you through the who, what, where, why and how of social media, and help you come up with a stellar plan to implement it for your entrepreneurial needs.

Join us for one session or all three and you will soon be a blog-tweet-facebooking master!

One session (Blog, Twitter or Facebook): $35
Social Media 3-Pack (Blog, Twitter, and Facebook): $75

The dates and times, how sublime.

The Wonderful World of Blogging for Business

Date: Wednesday, April 18th
Time: 6-7:30PM ET
Location: Pittsburgh Glass Center (5472 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15206)

Navigating the Twitter Terrain for Your Trade

Date: Wednesday, May 9th
Time: 6-7:30PM ET
Location: Pittsburgh Glass Center (5472 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15206)

Putting Facebook to Work for Your Business

Date: Wednesday, June 13th
Time: 6-7:30PM ET
Location: Pittsburgh Glass Center (5472 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15206)

Want to get in on all three?

Fantazmo.

Click the link below and you’ll get the super spectacular 3-pack pricing.

Ever spotted someone in the grocery store and thought…

“I THINK that’s @emilylevenson but I don’t want to bother her.”

Or have you ever connected with someone on the interwebs and said to yourself,

“@carrienardini is amazing. I’d love to get drinks with her! I just feel a little shy about asking…”

If so, then you may be suffering from inperson-a-phobia.

Knock the fear of face-to-face networking from your mind and invite your favorite Twitter superstars, that intriguing Facebook friend, or an inspiring blogger (like our girl @katestoltzfus!) who lights up your Google Reader to our Networking Happy Hour!

We will be featuring the lovely ladies of LUPEC (Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails). LUPEC is a women’s history group that teaches women’s history through the vehicle of classic cocktails. We’ll toast a historic woman and drink a cocktail in her honor!

Invite your social media girl crush and get your happy on.

Join us at AVA Lounge in East Liberty from 6 – 8 pm on Wednesday, April 11.

The cost of admission? An easy $5 donation for LUPEC.

RSVP over at the Facebook Page, and let us know that you’re coming!

Save the date!

Join us at AVA Lounge Wednesday, April 11 for drinks and good conversation with some of the most inspiring women Pittsburgh has to offer!

We’ll also hear from the women of LUPEC (Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails). LUPEC is a women’s history group that teaches women’s history through the vehicle of classic cocktails. We’ll toast an historic woman and drink a cocktail in her honor!

Check our Facebook Page for more information and to RSVP. See you soon!

Meet Mia Scarfone, owner of Metamorphosis Salon and Spa in Lawrenceville (with her mom and business partner, Judy!). Mia has a warm, welcoming spirit that immediately put me to ease when we sat down to chat. Open since July of 2011, Metamorphosis offers hair services, massage, natural nails and more. 

In high school Mia was told that one day, she’d have to answer to a boss. That she’d never be able to make her own schedule. Just four years later, she’s her own boss, creating her own schedule. Talk about drive!

Enjoy Mia’s Q&A!

***

Introduce yourself and your business as if you were speaking from the cockpit.
Good Day Beautiful Men and Women:
This is your Captain, Mia, speaking from the cockpit of Metamorphosis Salon and Day Spa. In this calm serene environment, you can expect to feel on top of the world, except for a few patches of bumpy air because we like to switch things up from the normal day spa experience. We like to take classic services and intersperse them with some Lawrenceville flair and some new and innovative techniques.

When did you earn your wings?
I am flattered to be referred to as an Entrepreneur because my salon has only been open since July, 2011 and I’m only 22; but I’ve had the spirit of an Entrepreneur since I was young.

If you could name a nail polish color after yourself or your business, what would it be?
If I were to design a nail polish around my business it would be metallic green and be called “Metamorph Me”. We are striving to be an all organic salon using natural products and we promote green awareness and health and beauty from within.

If I were to design one for me it would be a transparent gold polish because with me I am exactly what you see – an honest individual with nothing to hide. It would have specs of gold glitter because, like all humans, I am not perfect, but I always try my best to shine. It would be called “What you see is what you get”.

Not all flights are smooth. Tell us about how you handle turbulence in your business.
So far we’ve only hit some patches of bad weather, no real turbulence. I handle all problems, whether big or small, by being professional, kind, courteous and treating others as I would want to be treated. I promote a team environment, the staff is amazing. My family has been instrumental in getting me off the ground and always has my back.

Who is the wind beneath your wings?
The wind beneath my winds is my mother, my business partner and best friend. She is such a hard worker and can take absolutely nothing and turn it into something fantastic.

Advice to other women as they navigate the business world?
Advice to other women: As cliché as it sounds – follow your dreams. I look at myself as an average individual – I didn’t graduate at the top of my high school class (I hated school); I didn’t graduate from an Ivy League College (I went to CCAC and Beauty School). With the support of my family, I took my huge dreams and passion and went for it!

We are beyond excited to be launching our first class in 2012. And with something that we are completely and utterly passionate about: living what you love.

Do you dread Mondays? Live for the end of the week, when you get to relax, do nothing and be away from work? Does that alarm clock make you want to hurl things across the room every morning?

This workshop is for you.

We will help you tap into your passions, turn that energy into profits, and live what you love day in a day out. Before you can be awesome at what you do, you have to love what you do.

And because we want to make sure you love the class, we are keeping it small. We only have 10 spots available, and they will fill up quickly. Once we sell out, we sell out. And we would hate for you to miss out.

Live What You Love and Make Money Doing It.

Date: February 20th, 2012
Time: 6:00 – 7:30 PM
Location: Songwhale, 100 43rd Street, Suite 115, Pittsburgh, PA 15201. (Located in The Ice House Studios in Lawrenceville!)
Cost: $25