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There is a struggle growing in this economy between the traditional business philosophies of longtime corporate executives and those of today’s entrepreneurs. Certainly, the debate about whether work/life balance is possible is not a new one, but one that has burst to the forefront thanks, in part, to the recession. Recently, an article in Entrepreneur Magazine titled “Love Your Business More Than Your Family” reveals just how out of touch so many former executives-turned-business-consultants truly are with the new economy.

The article’s author, George Cloutier, has a favorite phrase that is also the title of his book: “Profits aren’t everything – they’re the only thing.” His practice advocates that business owners shun family activities as well as everyday family responsibilities in order to focus solely on their business. His is an old mindset: focus on work first and foremost so you can retire wealthy, and then live out your dreams only after you retire.

The new mindset reflects the actual state of society as a result of economic downturn: live out your passions now because in today’s world nothing is certain. Too many entrepreneurs have watched as their bosses, friends, and loved ones work “all day, every day” as Mr. Cloutier suggests is required for success, only to retire with much less than they had planned for, and whose dreams may never be realized. Imagine living your adult life for your business instead of for you; what a sad ending and what a life wasted.

I work with hundreds of small business owners around the country each and every day, and what I have seen magnified in the last five years is a rebirth of individual passion, personal voyage and commitment to quality of life. We are inventors, adventurers, explorers once more! Yet we are also practical business strategists: we understand that what is in our portfolios today may not be there tomorrow, and so we LIVE. We live for our families and friends, we live out our dreams by creating businesses about which we are insanely passionate, and we create pathways to success on our own terms.

As a 35-year-old executive of two small businesses, the mother of two young children, wife to my college sweetheart, and friend to an amazing circle of hundreds of individuals I know I can call on at any time for support as they know they can call on me – I, along with thousands of other small business owners raising families – am proof that Mr. Cloutier’s perspective is not the only path to success. Yes, I do work 50, 60, sometimes 70 hours a week in order to build my businesses, and I love it. But unlike Mr. Cloutier, I also have a life – a very rich life - outside of my work. I get the absolute privilege of spending at least 20 hours more per week with my kids than I would if I worked by someone else’s rules, and during those hours they are #1, not work. I don’t just buy loved ones jewelry as Mr. Cloutier suggests, but I do my best to spend quality time with them doing what he would categorize as unnecessary distractions: girls’ night outs, date nights, birthday parties, barbecues, impromptu trips to the beach. And when one of my best friends calls me crying while I am in the middle of a grueling project, I take the call and sit with her for an hour, because I know my work can wait, but my friend’s happiness cannot.

You see, I have the capability to do all of this because I am the boss. I make the rules. Perhaps Mr. Cloutier forgets that part when he’s consulting his clients. I am sorry that he has apparently failed at his own ability to be both a savvy business man and a loving family man, however that does NOT mean it is not possible for the rest of us.

Too often, both women and men entrepreneurs will tell me that they don’t have balance in their lives. And yet when I speak with them, I am able to see that they do. They are successful at being mothers, fathers, life partners, business owners and active members of their community. Yet they are evaluating their success based on outdated measurement standards instead of their own. If you are an entrepreneur, never forget that you make the rules: only you can decide what success means to you.

To all of the business owners and entrepreneurs, I say do not let men like Mr. Cloutier cloud your perspective. His is a tale that has sold books but I doubt has made many lives truly rich. What it comes down to is a difference of perspective: his success is defined solely by money. Is that how you want to define your life? At the end of the day, it is our family that hugs us and makes us human, not our profits. It is our love for one another and our contributions to the lives of others that keeps us motivated, that creates new opportunities, that provides real platform for profits with staying power. My paycheck is not my self-worth, and I highly doubt it is yours. You and I – WE are changing the way the world works, one family-owned business at a time.

Marlynn Jayme Schotland is the President of The Power MOB, Chief Creative of Urban Bliss, serial blogger, and mother to two young children. Contact her at http://www.marlynnschotland.com.

As I was writing a very insightful post for The Power MOB about balancing the needs of home life and business, my cell phone rang. With only 30 minutes to finish my day before picking up my toddler from preschool, I didn't answer.

As a savvy business owner, I did check my messages right away. It could be a new client or even Oprah (finally). And I am glad I checked because it was a journalist wanting to interview me for an article!

I heard the brilliant Mindee Doney of Boogie Wipes in my head: "When the media calls, drop everything and call them right back."

So, I spent the time I intended to use for the blog post answering questions for an article in a women's journal about the benefits of women furthering their education.

I hope you will both forgive me (I promise the insightful blog will come next month) and also learn from my experience.

1. Always check your work messages right away.

2. The media could call at any time, be prepared! Call them right back!

3. Your knowledge and experience is valuable. The more you are seen as an expert in your field, the more frequently the phone will ring!


Savannah Mayfield is the mama to two boys and a Life Coach and Massage Therapist for women. She is passionate about inspiring women to greater clarity and positive change in their lives. For more information, visit Nurture Life Coaching.

These days a website is a must for any business owner.  The Internet is today’s Yellow Pages directory - if you lack a website many potential customers will go directly to your competitor.  However, this new “directory” raises new issues as we all learn how to navigate this new landscape.  Following are some tips to help you avoid common website liability issues and to protect your own rights:

•  Avoid Trademark Infringement.  Trademark law protects words, symbols, and slogans that identify and distinguish a given product or service.  This means logos, domain names, and some keywords may be trademark protected.  Trademark don’ts:  

o    Don’t reproduce logos on your site without permission;
o    Don’t register a domain name or keywords that are trademarked by others; and
o    Don’t use trademarked names in your Meta tags.

•    Avoid Copyright Infringement.  Copyright law protects an author’s pictures, photographs, images, articles, etc. the moment they are created.  As a copyright owner, the owner has the exclusive right to reproduce, copy, and distribute the work.  If you want another author’s images or articles to supplement the content and design of your site, you will need the owner’s permission.

•    Use a Contract.  If someone else is creating your website for you, be sure to have a contract in place.  With an outside consultant you want to specify who owns the website as well as its design and content, and the domain name.  You’ll also want to include an indemnification provision in case your consultant infringes someone else’s rights in creating your website.  If an employee is creating your site clarify that it is a “work-made-for-hire” and that you retain ownership rights in all intellectual property.

•    Protect your own Trademarks and Copyrights.  Identify your trademarks and copyrights to alert users of your rights.  Registered trademarks and copyrights have some greater protections available, but even unregistered trademarks and copyrights are protected.  Use the following marks as appropriate for your situation: ™, ®, and ©.

•    Linking Don’ts. Don’t use deep links, framing, or mirroring.  The legality of the aforementioned techniques is disputable and many argue that such tactics involve illegal use of their site or confuse the consumer to an illegal degree.

•    Don’t Defame.  Defamation claims can arise when a Webmaster publishes untrue statements that tend to damage the reputation of another person or company.  If you’re going to talk about the competition, be sure you know what you are saying.

With a little knowledge, common sense, and the practice of treating others fairly we can avoid many common pitfalls and strengthen our reputation as business owners.

Sarah E. Adams is an Oregon-licensed attorney. She has her own practice in Portland and specializes in advising business owners on how their legal rights and needs fit in with their practical business considerations.  Sarah is also a happy mom to Madeline (age 3) and Evanna (age 9 months).

 
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I went to school for five years to become an architect.  So much of our training was about great furniture design, great graphic art, and the BEST architecture.  We learned about the people who made these gorgeous things – how they lived.  We were taught what was CORRECT to like/appreciate and what was NOT.  We thought we should live the way these greats lived in order to produce the kind of work they did.  I don’t work as an architect any more since my kids were born, but my husband does, and most of my friends still are.  It is funny how few of us actually live to these extreme minimalist standards. 

I look around my house and see mostly hand-me-down furniture, silly inexpensive window treatments I’ve fashioned out of various things, no real “pieces” to speak of.  I have teetering piles of paperwork – no bare desk with nothing but a laptop.  I wear contacts, only sporting my super cool black glasses to find my bed at night, and I even wear *gasp* color.  No streamlined closets full of perfect black pants, white shirts and black jackets for me. 

Am I living my dogma?  One word: NO.  Does it matter?  Do you live your dogma?  Do you think being a slave to your dogma makes you better at what it is you do?  Is it being a slave, or is it immersing yourself in what you love?

As for my family, we have found our own way in design.  Few people can afford to surround themselves with the midcentury design aesthetic that we were trained to love.  After being taught to love only clean, simple things, I tend to rebel a bit with color and pattern while still always searching for the simple solution; for form that follows function. 

I still LOVE what I’ve been taught, but also love the chaos of a house filled with children and toys and noise.  Does that make me a better designer?  Would I be able to create more in a house of stillness or a house of chaos?  What do you think?

After much deliberation, we have decided not to host the Mom Shop 3 trade show & fair in 2010. It breaks my heart to not host this fun, family-friendly showcase of mom-owned businesses this year, but alas, 2009 hit businesses - including The Power MOB, potential exhibitors, and our potential corporate sponsors - quite hard. While we truly enjoy producing this event and connecting mom business owners, we do not in any way want to add further strain to our local businesses and thus have decided to cancel the 2010 event.

We are instead focusing our efforts on the Makings of a MOB Conference, which will be sometime in mid-September. The conference will have panel discussions featuring top local mom business owners, media and other experts, as well as opportunities for local businesses to showcase their products and services with exhibit space at the conference. Think of it as a hybrid conference/Mom Shop: you'll get to increase your knowledge and expand your resources as a mom business owner while also promoting your business to others and connecting with your fellow MOBs!

Tara and I are working fast & furiously on the details and will share them with you all once everything is confirmed. We are truly excited about this conference! Please feel free to email me with any questions. 

I swore I would be more organized than this by the end of the first month of 2010. But then, since I (along with half the world, it seems) can't figure out what to call the decade, I figure I'm already messed up. Sigh.

However, I did have the presence of mind to at least consider a few options facing me and my business in Twenty-Ten. I needed to find a new accountant to wade through my travel reciepts, do my math, and generally keep the IRS from flying to Alaska and knocking on my door to audit little old AKontheGO.com.

Procuring an accountant in the 49th state is rather an interesting chore. Either choose the one who has been in the state so long a sports facility has been named after him (yes, it will be a him, another interesting Alaskan fact; all accountants of a certain age are men), or select the bean-counter who talks a good story and promises dollar signs before my very eyes but seems to lack a certain level of confidence for freelance writing businesses. Not that I would blame him/her, travel writing is full of interesting record-keeping and even more interesting write-offs that I am sure make for fascinating conversation around the table at accountant conventions.

After much deliberation, I chose the former, a crusty but still charming, twice-retired-but-still-working gentleman who had plastered his little office with framed photos of bands from the 1950's, and filled my head with one cuss word after another. He looked at my meager stack of recipets and records, uttered a few G-- D--ns, and told me, in so many words, "not to worry about it". In our hour meeting, he fumed and swore and fussed at the IRS, the Government, and taxes in general, but never once failed to call me "Ms. Kirkland". He also opened all the doors and pulled out my chair before seating me at his little wooden table to talk finances.

I like him. I just hope my ears can stand it.

I love my job! I teach a class of the most amazing, precocious, silly, loving 3-year kiddos, ever. Today, I had a student tell me I was beautiful, another mention that he thought I was a really good dancer and the sweetest little thing on the planet tell me she loved me. Where can you were tiaras and face paint, dance to James Brown all day (under a disco ball), sing at the top of your lungs to Annie (oh yes I did!) and go on a letter treasure hunt with the most amazing 3 year old kids…school!

February and March are popular "Open House" and pre-enrollment months for Preschools in Portland. If you are considering placing your child in a Preschool program this fall, please do not wait to begin your search. Most Preschools complete pre-enrollment and are completely full by March.

Both NW Kids Magazine and Metro Parent Magazine currently have “Open House” issues in circulation showcasing many wonderful schools in PDX (and NW Kids has a great article on the importance of Early Childhood Education). The NE/N Moms club will also be holding a (free) Preschool Fair this Saturday, January 23 from 10-1 at the University Park Community Center, 9001 N. Foss Avenue.

Purple Moon will host an Open House on Saturday, February 27th. Please feel free to contact me for information.

Since news broke of the massively destructive earthquake in Haiti this week, local businesses have been doing what they can to help by hosting fundraisers (scroll to the bottom of post to see Paint the Pearl Red for Relief efforts), creating new products to benefit relief efforts, and donating portions of their sales to various charities.

In addition to the list of businesses below, The Power MOB will be donating 15% of all new membership applications, event registrations and MOB merchandise that are posted online now through midnight, Monday, January 18th to the Red Cross relief efforts.

You can make a difference by supporting these businesses over the next few days as well. The first set came together through efforts spearheaded by Power MOB member Milagros Boutique. They've got a great list on their site that they are updating regularly. Thanks to Tony & Jennifer for their lead! The businesses below have pledged to donate sales toward Mercy Corps relief efforts.

Milagros Boutique (Power MOB member) - donating 10% of all sales through Monday

Clementine NW (Power MOB member)- donating 10% of all sales through Monday

Munchkin Designs (Power MOB member) - donating 10% of all sales through next Thursday

Mother Nature's (Power MOB member) - donating 10% of all sales through Monday

Spielwerk Toys (Power MOB member) - donating 10% of all sales through Monday

Urban Bliss (Power MOB member) - donating 10% of all sales through Monday

Alma Chocolate - donating 10% of sales through Monday

AM-Living - donating 10% of sales through Sunday

Baby Star - donating 10% of all sales through January

Back to Eden Boutique Bakery - donating 10% of sales through Sunday

Bella Stella - donating 10% of sales through Monday

Black Wagon - donating 10% of sales through Monday

Buttons & Bows - donating 10% of consignment sales through Monday

Clever Cycles - donating 10% of sales through Monday

Green Bean Books - donating 10% of sales through Monday

Kid's Edge - donating 10% of sales through Monday

Townshend's Tea - donating 10% of sales through Monday

Loyly Sauna - donating $10 for any massage booked through Sunday

Be sure to check Milagros Boutique website for any new listings who have joined the cause. 

Fundraising Event: PAINT THE PEARL RED FOR RELIEF

This Saturday, January 16 stop by any of the businesses below to take part of their "Paint the Pearl Red for Relief" efforts.

Bishop's Barbershop -- $5 from every hair color service, including red (Pearl location only); cash donations collected on-site (all 7 locations)

Bubble Boutique -- 5% of all sales (through Sunday, Jan. 17)

Cupcake Jones -- 100% of proceeds from the sale of red velvet cupcakes

BARISTA -- 100% of tips for the day + company match

Imelda's -- 10% of all sales

Vault Martini Bar & Jinx Lounge -- 100% of proceeds from the sale of their red specialty cocktail "7.0"

Do you ever doubt your own ability to accomplish something in your business or personal life that is really important to you?

Are you holding yourself back right now from making a change that would make a big difference in your life?

We all have moments of self-doubt; it is part of being human! But when self-doubt turns into chronic self-limiting thinking, we are not able to move forward or have the life/business/relationships that we could have.

The good news is this: it’s all in your head! You do have the ability to shift your thoughts and that can have a powerful impact on your life and business.

Think of someone that you know who is a real go-getter (yes, many of us have Marlynn in mind). Does this person ever have self-doubt? Probably so, maybe even often. But, instead of buying into it, they are able to generate creative, positive ideas and make things happen despite their doubts!

If you would like to learn more about shifting self-limiting thoughts, please join me for a FREE Women's Circle on Sunday, Jan 31st from 3 to 4 PM. Details are at Nurture Life Coaching.


Savannah Mayfield is the mama to two boys and a Life Coach and Massage Therapist for women. She is passionate about inspiring women to greater clarity and positive change in their lives. For more information, visit Nurture Life Coaching.