Remember your summer reading list? You know, it was that piece of paper the teacher handed out the last week of school with a long list of books that you were supposed to read over the next few months. Most of my friends would throw this list in their backpack and not look at it again until the week before school started back up in August (if they even glanced over it at all!). Not me, though, I couldn’t wait to plan my trip to the library and start devouring those books.
Telling this little story to some groups would no doubt result in me being called a big ol’ nerd. However, I’m going to guess that most of you biz-e-chicks were like me, based upon what occurs when the word “book” is mentioned at one of our meetings.
What usually happens is this: one of our girls will say something like, “ … which I read about in a book called …” or “… and this book is so perfect for that. It’s called …” As soon as the word “book” is mentioned, you can see the other girls grab their pens and start furiously scribbling down the title as it’s spoken. Yes, fellow nerds, for sure!
In the spirit of reading and to pay homage to the beloved summer reading list, we’re going to talk about books at our next meeting. More specifically, we’re going to discuss “the” book. We all have “the” book; it’s the one that changed our life, the one that caused us to think differently, the one that made us who we are today. Just because we are biz-e-chicks does not mean that this book is going to be a business book, though. Some girls may bring up a Dr. Seuss classic or even a textbook recommended by an adored college professor. It doesn't matter the type of book, just that it affected your life in some way.
Come prepared to share with your fellow biz-e-chicks, the title, the author and a brief summary of your book. It’s not a big deal if you don’t have the actual book with you. Also, for our overachieving chicks, if you can’t possibly choose only one book, at least narrow it down to two. And, don’t worry! We’ll take notes on all of the books so you can give your pens a rest. :)
Peep out!
Liz and Summer
Biz-e-meeting details
Date: Thursday, June 18, 2009
Time: 12 p.m.
Location: The Bungalow, 2202 W. Kennedy Blvd., Tampa, FL 33606
Pricing: $20 payable in advance by visiting our Web site or $25 cash or check at the door, includes lunch
Spotlight on biz-e-chick, Tina Fischer
 Tina Fischer received her Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Florida State University. After graduation, she traveled across the United States as a computer consultant for Accenture and Renaissance Worldwide helping clients such as Progress Energy, Florida Power & Light, Federal Express, Franklin Templeton, The Gap, and Anheuser-Busch. Through this experience, her propensity for efficiency developed. She specialized in workflow management, process improvement and quality control. By helping people simplify and clarify the way they do their jobs, Tina gave them a sense of control that allowed them to be more productive.
Tina continues to teach as an adjunct math instructor at St. Petersburg College. Her love of teaching is apparent during organizing sessions. Also apparent is her patience, which she gained as a wife and mother of seven-year-old triplets!!! Not surprisingly, Tina excels at developing time management tricks for busy professionals, whether they are small business owners or executives of large corporations.
An organizing enthusiast for many years, Tina discovered her true passion for helping others enjoy their space when she co-chaired the Leadership St. Pete class project to renovate a living facility for at-risk teens. The complete reorganization and makeover of the bedrooms at the Brookwood home for girls brought the troubled teens a sense of pride, and Tina saw immediately how improving a space can also improve attitude and outlook on life.
Tina is an active member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) and is working toward her CPO certification. She is a member of the St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership and on the Board of Directors for Brookwood Florida and Leadership St. Pete Alumni Association, where she held the position of Membership Chair from 2004-2008.
To contact Tina, please visit http://www.yourbizeditor.com or you can e-mail her at tina@yourbizeditor.com.
Happenings and Events for Tampa Bay Area Women Entrepreneurs
Here, we provide links to the Web sites of organizations/individuals that have their own listings of happenings, events and great business advice. This way, if you know you're only interested in advertising events, you can check out TBAF's calendar. If
you only want business classes, you'll want to look at the sites for the Hillsborough County Small Business Information Center and the
USF Small Business Development Center. Happy networking!
Hillsborough County Small Business
Information Center
USF Small Business Development Center
Ad 2 Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay Advertising Federation
Tampa Graphic Design Meetup Group
Weekly Options
Emerge Tampa
Connect Florida
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Bizwomen
Ladies Who Launch
Women Entrepreneur - a division of
Entrepreneur.com
Tampa Bay Creative Network
Creative Tampa Bay
E-mail to us any Web sites that you know have cool, chick-friendly events. Our e-mail address is info@bizechicks.com.
Book, Blog and/or Web site of the Month
Each month, we choose a book, a Web site and/or a blog entry that go along with this month’s topic; these ones have to do with life-changing books:
Book: The Book That Changed My Life: 71 Remarkable Writers Celebrate the Books That Matter Most to Them, by Roxanne J. Coady (Editor), Joy Johannessen (Editor)
Web site: http://www.citypaper.com/special/story.asp?id=16743. This is a long article, but it brings up some great points; it’s worth the read!
If you have any Web sites, books or blogs you think should be featured in our new monthly column, please send an
e-mail to info@bizechicks.com.
A recap of the last biz-e-chicks meeting
Our May meeting was led by Tina Fischer, Your Business Editor. Tina is this month's One Hot Chick and more information about her is included above. For our meeting, she spoke to us about the importance of time management and gave us a lot to think about. Here are some of the great things we learned from her:
- Time Management is not about being controlled by time, and time management is not about doing more things in less time, but about doing fewer things of greater importance.
- Set goals and align your activities towards them.
- Pareto’s Principle: 20 percent of your activities generate 80 percent of your results; think about it another way -- 80 percent of your business comes from 20 percent of your clients.
- Look at your goals weekly to make sure that your activities are aligned with them.
- Use the SMART model for writing your goals.
SMART = Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-oriented. Make sure that your to-do list is not a project list.
- Check your energy: Everything: Write it all down.
Next Step: Write down what the next step is.
Everywhere: Bring the list with you everywhere.
Review: Review it every week.
Goals: Map to your goals.
Yes, I did it!: Check it off!
- Only schedule the things you have time for. What are your three most important tasks? Put only those on there. This equals gratification. You should only have three daily goals!
- After you have your goals, define time for achieving these goals. Set blocks of time to complete recurring tasks, i.e., Planning, Business tasks, Professional growth, etc.
- Schedule more time than you think it will take to accomplish. Always assume you will get interrupted or possibly get on a roll.
- Do not “snack” on your e-mails through the day. Set times to check it.
- After an event, go through the business cards you collected. Follow up with contacts.
- Get rid of your “PILES OF GUILT.” You will not go through them. Move on.
- Keep one file called “Someday/Maybe” or “Ideas File.” But, don’t let it get overwhelming. Schedule some time to go through it.
- Combine goals when/if you can. Make the most of the time you have.
- Treat yourself as the most important person in your life. Respect your time, like you do others’ time.
- FROM CAREN: Clear the Space: Come up with one or two words that describe something in your "background noise." State it and the emotion that comes with it and then say that you will come back to it later. Then set aside time to think about it. It allows you to set it aside and focus on other things.
- At the END of the day, write down three good and positive things that you did or that happened, no matter how small they might be.
- Jot down the things that really make you happy or excited. Use them to create your goals.
- Your goals are ever-changing and organic. Readjust them as needed.
- Make sure you have an accountability partner, talk or meeting weekly at a scheduled time to go over your goals.
- Schedule weekly review time.
- Check out “Making Time Work For You” by Harold Taylor.
- A file folder that has dividers for 1-31 and Jan-Dec is helpful. Use it as the catch-all for flyers, invites that have a date attached, etc. Use this as a DAILY reference for support files. (See link below.)
- Allow for things that are unscheduled. Getting sidetracked is OK as long as you get your three things done first.
- Remember that you are doing well. Do not spend time getting upset with yourself over small things or your lack of organization. Spend time working on it, and know that making any effort is good.
- Good Enough is Good Enough. Do not get tied up in perfectionism.
- Jott.com is a good resource. Leave yourself a voicemail and it will transcribe it and send it as an e-mail or text message. Good for reminders, grocery lists, etc.
- Be clear when talking to clients what their deadlines are and tell them "no" if they are too pushy and demanding of your time. Don’t let them infringe upon your time.
Here's a link to the handout Tina distributed during our meeting: Time Management Handout
Here’s a link to purchase the daily file sorter Tina talked about and showed us at the meeting: http://www.staples.com/office/supplies/p1_Staples-EveryDay-Letter-Size-File-Sorter-1-31-Jan-Dec-Each_13013_Business_Supplies_10051_SEARCH.
Thanks to everyone for your feedback on this popular topic! Here are a couple of good articles you sent us related to the topic of time management/organization:
- A Simple Way to Manage Projects and Tasks -- http://www.forcopywritersonly.com/newsletter2.html
- Better Time Management of Your Social Media Marketing -- http://www.flyte.biz/resources/newsletters/09/05-social-media-time-management.php
- This one isn't an article, but can help you only spend a certain amount of time on the Web: http://minutesplease.com/
Thank you to all of our peeps who attended our May meeting, and thanks to Nicole Levin for hosting it in a beautiful room in the building in which she lives. Please visit our Web site for more details or to register for our next meeting. If you have any questions or would like more information on our monthly meetings, please e-mail us at info@bizechicks.com.
Announcements and News About our Peeps, and Other Chick-friendly News
- Here are a few chicklets of social media information that we thought would be good to share with everyone: http://www.engagement.eventbrite.com/ and http://www.bachelorsdegreeonline.com/blog/2009/twitteredu-100-excellent-educational-twitter-feeds/.
- The Tampa Bay Creative Network is having one of its awesome and creative speed networking events on Thursday, June 4, at Midtown Sundries. There is no cost to attend and the fun starts at 6 p.m. More info can be found here: http://www.tampabaycreative.org/events/creative-speed-networking.
- You're invited to the Pink Martini Cocktail Party Fundraiser benefiting our chicks (Rachel Coleman, Jessica Grimsley and Julie Billing) who are doing the 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk in San Diego. The event is on Saturday, June 20, from 7-10 p.m. at 101 S. 12th St., Tampa, 33607 (in Channelside district). Tickets are $25 per person and include pink martinis, beer, wine and appetizers. If you're interested in attending, please contact the High Hopes in High Heels girls at hhinhh@yahoo.com.
- Imagine Network International Proudly Presents "The Toliet Paper
Entrepreneur" Tuesday, July 14, 6:15 p.m., at the Feather Sound Country
Club in Clearwater. You won't want to miss this event that is
guaranteed to change everything about how you do business. This
innovative networking organization is open to business owners
exclusively and is limited to one category per profession. Our goal is
to provide support and education by maximizing the wealth of knowledge
within our network, while supporting local and international charities.
For more information, or to purchase tickets, please visit http://store.toiletpaperentrepreneur.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=TPE-TS903-A1 or e-mail Sherry Sexton at sherry@imaginecoaching.net.
- We’re well in advance of this event, but it never hurts to start planning early. Wait – did I actually write that?! http://business.ikea.com/sb/siteshell/startup.html#,en_US;eventview,10585922.
Let us know if you would like to go to this; it would be fun to go
together for a biz-e-chicks field trip. Also, check out that site and
see about putting up a profile -- pretty neat!
- Be sure to check out, and become a follower/member of, the biz-e-chicks Twitter, Facebook Page, Facebook Group and Linkedin pages!
Have an announcement or helpful information you'd like to pass along to our peeps? Please e-mail us at info@bizechicks.com so we can include it in our next newsletter.
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