Well we come down to the last month of the year. 2009 was a hell of a year for a lot of people. Some people lost jobs, some lost businesses, some even lost homes. We ushered in a great new beginning with the swearing in of our new President Barack Obama in January and many people thought he was going to be the answer to everyone’s prayers. But as with all incoming presidents who inherit a big mess, he was hit hard by reality…WE were all hit by reality. All of the damage done will take years, decades to repair. So a lot of people will be grateful that 2009 is coming to a close.
Well, as bad as it all seems, I choose to focus on the positive. I too have had some extremely difficult times this year. But I look at everything as a learning experience that prepares me to survive the tough times. As many of you know, I’m launching
Fearless Woman Magazine and an Internet TV station in January. I’m also launching
Empower Me Institute as well. Regardless of how this economy is I am plugging ahead to make these launches successful. See, now is the time a lot of people would run and hide from the big bad economy. But as I told my audience on my teleconference the other week, it’s times like these that successful businesses are launched. Some of our greats (Proctor & Gamble, Sears, etc) have been launched during down economies.
See, this is not the time to run and hide. So you lost your job. Are you going to sit around and feel sorry for yourself, or worse, hold on to anger for a company that made a supposed business decision that was nothing personal? Are you diversifying your skills? A common mistake people tend to make is believe that they are so specialized they can’t be replaced. Guess what…NOT! Everyone is replaceable. I don’t care how skilled you are. No man or woman is immune. The best defense to coping with this situation is to diversify. Add new skills that are transferable and in demand now. I’m not saying go out and get a whole new degree. But you can get the skills you need to make you more marketable. Now is not the time to be complacent, afraid or paralyzed in your old ways. Things change, people change, situations change. You have to be prepared to change and flow with change.
So instead of waiting out the month of December hoping for better times in 2010, use this time to reflect. Decide what you want to accomplish and start laying the groundwork for it NOW. December should be a month of preparation. I know it may seem like the easiest thing to do may be to just sit and wait it out. Inaction is very detrimental. Don’t give up now. You’ve made it this far. Think of December as the testing ground. And in January, come out swinging.
Til next time.
Adrienne Graham
Adrienne Graham’s Empower Me! Corporation Wins Top Ten Honors in Business Competition in the Savviest in Social Media Category
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Atlanta, GA– Nov 17, 2009 – Atlanta, GA – Empower Me! Corporation http://www.empowerme.org has been recognized by StartupNation http://www.startupnation.com as a Top Ten business in its 2009 Home Based 100 competition under the category of Savviest in Social Media. http://www.startupnation.com/homebased100/contestant/7515/index.php
Many of the StartupNation Home-Based 100 submissions revealed that business owners are bucking the current economic downturn and finding business success in these tight times. Historically some of today’s most well known businesses started in a downturn, including Microsoft and General Electric.
“The 2009 ranking shows that the home-based business is more relevant than ever. The current recession has spurred a new wave of home based businesses as a response to loss of jobs, the need for supplemental income and the sheer passion for blazing your own trail and running your own show,” said Rich Sloan, co-founder of StartupNation.com, one of the leading small business networking and advice websites. “Home based businesses are the biggest block of all businesses in existence and we expect numbers to grow ever greater as extra bedrooms, kitchen tables, basements and garages become host to the innovative thinking and pursuit of success by millions of Americans.”
“Being selected as a Top 10 winner in the Savviest in Social Media category is an incredible honor for me”, says Adrienne Graham, Founder & CEO of Empower Me! Corporation. “It shows that small business is what the country is built on, and that Social Media has leveled the playing field for more small businesses to grow and be created. This award has further solidified my expertise in Social Media and I am excited to see what’s to come as the field develops”.
The StartupNation Home-Based 100 highlights 10 top-ten lists making it not just your ordinary business ranking. From the wackiest, to the most innovative, to the savviest in social media – this unique and diverse list highlights the home-based businesses that usually go unrecognized, but still play a vital role in the economy today. MSN publishes the ranking as well in an editorial collaboration with StartupNation. The ten categories for 2009 include:
• Recession Busters
• Savviest in Social Media
• Most Innovative
• Boomers Back in Business
• Greenest
• Yummiest
• Wackiest
• Highest Vote-Getters
• Most Slacker-Friendly
• Most Glamorous
Empower Me! Corporation was selected from among thousands of contestants by a StartupNation judging panel, which issues the ranking results annually in the November. The full results of the Home-Based 100 ranking are available on StartupNation’s website at http://www.startupnation.com/homebased100/. The 2009 ranking was sponsored by Microsoft Office Live, Infusionsoft and FedEx Office.
About Empower Me! Corporation
Empower Me! Corporation (www.empowerme.org) is a media, publishing and professional networking organization for the upwardly mobile professional woman. Empower Me! is the top resource for Professional women and the companies concerned with initiatives for the advancement of diverse Women in the work place. We celebrate the diversity of all women of all ethnicities and are sure to keep it fair and balanced showing all of our stories. Empower Me! is a professional lifestyle brand for the upwardly mobile Professional Woman who epitomizes & strives for professional success. It’s about Professional Women connecting and effectively netWORKING for the empowerment and success of self and others. Building relationships is vital. THAT is empowering. “Your success is my success” is the attitude we live by.
About StartupNation
StartupNation (www.startupnation.com) provides over 175,000 pages of business advice and networking for entrepreneurs and serves millions of entrepreneurs annually. StartupNation is a free service founded by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs with the intention of providing a one-stop shop for entrepreneurial success, including blogs from small business experts, podcasts, forums, webcasts, eBooks, award-winning step-by-step advice, online and offline networking groups, and more.
StartupNation co-founders and “chief startupologists,” Rich Sloan and Jeff Sloan, are two of the country’s leading small business experts and run StartupNation from home to this very day. They speak frequently at entrepreneurial forums and act as sources for top media venues nationwide. They are authors of StartupNation: Open for Business, published by Doubleday, and provide their insights online at www.startupnation.com. The Sloans are regularly quoted and featured in media such as The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Fortune Small Business, Entrepreneur Magazine, CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, FOX News and many others.
About Microsoft Office Live
Microsoft Office Live is the award-winning service that offers a complete, affordable set of easy-to-use Internet-based tools that help small business owners create a professional web presence. More information is available at http://www.smallbusiness.officelive.com. Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
About Infusionsoft
Infusionsoft, the leader in automatic follow-up software, helps small businesses grow fast by putting email marketing, CRM and e-commerce on auto-pilot, backing it with the ‘Double Your Sales’ guarantee. The privately held, three-year-named Inc. 500 company is based in Gilbert, Ariz. and is funded by Mohr Davidow Ventures and vSpring Capital. Marketing and small business insight from the Infusionsoft team can be found on the Infusionsoft blog at www.infusionblog.com.
For more information, press only: Rich Sloan, for StartupNation, (248) 766-2905, rich(at)StartupNation(dot)com
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It doesn’t have to be lonely at the top. Sometimes women feel they have so much more to prove than men, that they keep every task, project, or issue to themselves. This can lead to destruction if you’re not careful. Ladies, you can be a leader and still delegate critical tasks to others, while maintaining control. There’s no rule that says in order to be successful you HAVE to do it all. Join me as my guests and I discuss how women in top positions handle leadership and delegating. We will be discussing how to learn how to delegate in order to lead effectively, the pitfalls of not delegating, hiring the right people and deciding what should be delegated, and how to create an environment where people will gladly follow your lead because they believe in your vision and mission. Tune in live at 9AM EST at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/viewsfromthetop and join the conversation in the chat room. Call in with questions or comments at (347) 215-9362.
Well we come down to the last month of the year. 2009 was a hell of a year for a lot of people. Some people lost jobs, some lost businesses, some even lost homes. We ushered in a great new beginning with the swearing in of our new President Barack Obama in January and many people thought he was going to be the answer to everyone’s prayers. But as with all incoming presidents who inherit a big mess, he was hit hard by reality…WE were all hit by reality. All of the damage done will take years, decades to repair. So a lot of people will be grateful that 2009 is coming to a close.
Empower Me! The Empowered Black Women's Network 
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