The secret to successful networking
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Posted on May 17, 2012 by

Networking is the best business tool you have. As you may know by now, I try to simpliy things down to the most basic of terms. So my definition of networking is this: Networking = connecting with others. This can … Continue reading →

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It’s not about the money!
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Posted on May 17, 2012 by

Susan Sherbert’s Humor Column in Caypen Magazine What, Besides Money, Motivates People To Do What They Do? Money is such a complicated topic that, as the humor columnist for Caypen Magazine, I’m sure I’ll be writing about it a lot in the … Continue reading →

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Business, Learning, and Back to School
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Posted on May 17, 2012 by

From Susan Sherbert’s Business/Humor Column in Caypen Magazine Business, Learning and Back to School   If this was your basic magazine instead of Caypen, a magazine about business, I would be writing about back to school. Why not – it’s September. Summer vacation is over so … Continue reading →

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Finding Success By Becoming King Of Your Mountain
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Posted on February 6, 2012 by

From Susan Sherbert’s Humor Column in Caypen Magazine King of your business mountain Business is a very complicated subject, but I can pretty much sum it up in thirty seconds. When you are an entrepreneur, your life can go from uncertainty, to … Continue reading →

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Having The Courage to Stand Up and Fight For Yourself
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Posted on January 28, 2012 by

Susan Sherbert's humor column on courageStand up and fight for yourself

This Caypen Magazine business/humor colum is about courage. But not the kind of courage where you are willing to risk everything to make someone else’s life better. No the courage I’m going to talk about is a bit more on the selfish side. It’s about the courage to take a stand to fight for what you believe in. To have the guts to stand up for yourself, and not let others push you around. This selfish kind of courage is what entrepreneurs are made of.

I suppose the battle for yourself really starts in childhood when you want to wear the green cape and purple boots to school but your parents won’t let you. At that young age you’ve probably already learned to please others to get along, so reluctantly you take off your purple boots and put on sneakers. Unfortunately, as we get older, too often the problem gets worse. It’s like when someone asks you what you want to eat. You feel like an ice cream, but you don’t want to be thought of as a pig, so you shrug your shoulders and say nothing. Someone suggests a salad, so you order a salad too. How stupid was that! Would your friends think less of you because you ordered an ice cream? And if you did happen to stand up for yourself and order that ice cream, would you then feel the need to explain yourself and justify that you had an extra long workout that morning?

If you want to be an entrepreneur, you absolutely must learn to stand up for what you believe in. Sure you need to seek the advice of others and value their opinions, but you must be true to yourself and have the guts to stand firm and disagree. Entrepreneurs tend to be dreamers and most grown ups tend to live in a reality based world. For example, one day I decided I needed a lifetime dream, so I decided I was going to golf every golf course inCalifornia, I was excited about my dream so I rushed to tell my reality based golf buddies. “You can’t do that” they all said. “Do you know how many golf courses there are? And how are you going to get on all of those private courses?”

Well it was my dream, my life, and my choice to live the dream or let my friends squash the vision right out of my head. So I stood up for myself. I found a book that listed all 864 courses so I began playing, and checking courses off the list. And the funny thing is, once they realize that I wasn’t going to give in, do you know what happened? They wanted to become part of the journey too. “Hey, I know a friend that can get you on to this private course, and maybe my other buddy can help you with a few more.”

The point of all this is that it takes real courage to believe in yourself. Do you see the little cartoon drawing I use as my headshot? Magazine editors take one look at that and ask for a real photo, but I stand my ground and explain that I write a humor column, and that drawing is Susan Sherbert, so it stays. Using that cartoon takes courage… Or maybe I’m just being totally chicken, and don’t want people to recognize me if they don’t like my humor.

Written Susan Sherbert

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The Making of an Entrepreneur – I’m not making copies for a living

Posted on January 20, 2012 by

Susan Sherbert’s Humor Column in Caypen Magazine

Issue #3 April 2011I’m not making copies for a living

As employees, executives, and entrepreneurs, we all started with that first job. Maybe it was flipping burgers or taking tickets at a movie theater. Maybe it was a paper route, or a lemonade stand. But the second we are handed that first paycheck, that first coin in our pocket, our lives will never be the same. Goodbye childhood and welcome to the grown up world.

So where do we go from here? Well, the theme of this issue is nature verses nurture: the making of an entrepreneur, and I’m the new Caypen humor columnist, so let me start with a little story. And since most of you don’t know me yet, let me warn you that I have a tendency to wander, but I always make a good point at the end. It’s not about how you get there – it’s about knowing where you want to go and never, ever giving up. Did you know that Edison failed 10,000 times before he got the light bulb to work? But I digress.

On with my story. My first job was at a roller skating rink, and there were a few others, but my first “career” job started at a copy shop. I was going to college and the job fit my schedule. The owner was great because when I wasn’t making copies, I realized that it was best to put my nose in a book and stay out of his way. How cool was that! I was getting paid to make copies and do my homework.

Then I graduated from college. I’m not making copies for a living so it’s time to get a better job. The business owner (an entrepreneur) offered me more money to stay. Okay what the heck, I’ll stay a while longer. Soon there were more employees and not much down time, but still I read sales, management, and even accounting books, because I have a brain, and I’m not making copies for a living.

A few years later, I was offered another job. Once again, the owner offered me more money to stay. How could I refuse? The computers were coming. Imagine what these little electronic boxes could do! So I started reading computer books because I knew that some day I would be doing something besides making copies. Then guess what? One day the owner decided to retire. And who do you think he chose to sell the business to? That means I became a business owner… who makes copies for a living.

The moral of the story is; to be an entrepreneur you have to practice, practice, practice. When opportunity knocks, you have to be ready. See I told you I would make a good point by the end of the story. Until next month, smile and start practicing.

Written Susan Sherbert

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Entrepreneurs must embrace fear carefully
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Posted on January 17, 2012 by

Susan Sherbert’s Humor Column in Caypen Magazine Be careful – Not Fearful As an entrepreneur, you have to be wiling to travel on whatever road will get you to your destination. No one wants to experience pain so most people avoid it … Continue reading →

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Another small step for the socially awkward with social media?
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Posted on January 16, 2012 by

Another baby step tip to help get you started with your social media marketing journey 

If you Remember tip#1 I like to over simplify the whole social media process because I write humor and corny jokes. That means I speak in very simple terms and like to get right to the punch line, so…

Baby Step #2 - Show up. That’s it!

7am breakfast meetings are hard, but networking is part of any marketing plan, social or otherwise. So get out of the office, off the computer, or away from Facebook, and go meet some people.

I attended a SCORE women’s breakfast series this morning and I didn’t really want to go but I did and I met some good people that could lead to some great connections. It reminds me of my New Year’s resolution from two years ago. That was again, simplified down to a child’s level. The resolution was that if I’m invited somewhere, I go. None of this well maybe, I’ll think about it stuff. I used to have a client that always said “to delay is to decide.” That means if you don’t decide now, the answer has a 99% chance of being no.

The guest speaker was Ursula Mentjes, and her talk gave me the little nudge I needed because, as part of human nature, we have a tendency to slip back into old habits. So this morning I was reminded that I need to remember to say yes instead of not now, maybe, or I’ll get back to you.

This whole blog reminds me of a humor column I wrote about parties. Parties are supposed to be fun so why would anyone ever say no. Free food, free drinks, and all you have to do is show up. You could make a life changing business connection, or meet the person of your dreams. And all of this for free! Why would anyone ever refuse to go to a party? Yet it happens all the time. “Oh, I just can’t be bothered to go.” or “I’ll wait to see if something better comes along.” What!!! How can a re-run of Friends be better than a party where you could meet new real live living and breathing friends.

It’s not too late for another, super simple New Year’s Resolution, so in 2012 commit to simply saying YES instead of no (and then follow up by showing up). Besides you are probably almost ready to give up the exercise and Valentine chocolates are around the corner… Baby steps remember.

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Feeling socially awkward with social media? Here’s a super simple place to start

Posted on January 12, 2012 by

  • Feeling socially awkward with social media?

  • A beyond the beginner place to start.

    I’m no social media expert. I understand computers okay, but the whole social media craze is a bit out of control, and most of the articles are written by techies with a smart phone in one hand and a never ending supply of Tweets and Facebooks entries from the other.

  • In my the last post I talked about baby steps, so here is a baby step you can take with Twitter. Sign up and follow a few people. That’s it! No need to Tweet, retweet, or worry about what those strange characters mean. All of that stuff is will come later. Right now, just get in the game.

  • Twitter reminds me of the game of craps. I love the game because it’s exciting and there are a million things going on all around you that most people will never understand. But what people don’t realize is that if you just put a few dollars on the pass line, you are in the game. You can sit and watch everything that happens around you until you start to understand the rules.

  • It’s the same with Twitter. People are so hung up on Tweeting that they forget that following is a huge part of the game. A friend of mine doesn’t really Tweet, but she has a comedian that she just loves. So she follows him on Twitter. That is super simple, something anyone can do. And you know what, one day her comedian was playing an unannounced gig in her home town, so she got to see him up close and personal. All because she simply followed his Tweets.

  • Every Tweet needs followers, so until you no longer feel socially awkward, just sit back and follow someone you are interested in. Baby steps remember. And if you don’t know who to follow, I’m available. And I don’t Tweet every second, or use a lot of annoying code.

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Social Marketing Baby Steps for the true beginner

Posted on January 5, 2012 by

Social Media is so confusing? Where do you started?

Even though I’m an entrepreneur, when it comes to social media I’m a bit lost. It’s hard to know where to start, but I do know that you have to start somewhere. When it comes to many things in life, getting started is one of the biggest obsticles to overcome. So take a baby step and jump on in.

Here is one tiny baby step that anyone can do, but you have to do it. You have to START NOW. If you are a business owner, I’d say start with LinkedIn, if not Facebook is okay too.

Are you ready for it?

Baby Step #1 Sign up, and comment on something. That’s it!

That is your first baby step. You are in the game. You have started the social media ball rolling. I could be wrong, but joining a group and contributing with your thoughts is the very basic idea behind social media. There is a whole lot more to it but don’t worry about running when you don’t even have your balance yet. Take one tiny step today (a comment) and take another one tomorrow, and soon social media will be something you don’t have to think about. But remember, in the beginning, you have to fall down and get up may times, so don’t get discouraged if you don’t get any response. Just get up and try again.

Hey you could even start by taking one big step right now by commenting on this blog. And since the blog is called Give Get Prosper, if you comment this month, I’ll send you a free copy of our baby joke ebook for taking that first step.

 

 

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