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February 2012

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38 SUCCESS FEBRUARY 2012

w i n S TA R T

S MA L L, T H E

CHALLENGE




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Pat yourself on the back: You survived 2011.

Like you, I wake up every morning to adrumbeat of bad news that could easily sendme back under the covers. But to what end?As a small-business owner for 13 years, Ican tell you that none of my success hascome easily or in my sleep.

In the last three years, when people have first

heard about Women For Hire—career expos geared

to women—they’re stunned that I’m still standing.

Sure, millions of Americans are looking for jobs,

but most people think that, at a time like this, selling

recruiting services to employers—which is where wemake money—is like selling ice to Alaskans.

Obviously, there have been steep challenges, but

giving up was never an option: I couldn’t afford to

allow the economy to destroy my business. I’m sure

you can’t either.

So I took a series of deliberate steps that allowed

me to not only survive, but thrive. I ramped up

online sponsorships, allowing companies that aren’t

hiring to keep their brand top of mind with women.

My sales staff began pitching smaller firms with

jobs to fill and popular direct sales companies to

join us at our expos. We produced a webinar seriesabout working from home that thousands of women

purchased at a $20 introductory price.

None of these steps were huge moneymakers

alone, but collectively, they replaced lost revenue

while many competitors in the career expo busi-

ness folded.

However, my most profitable move came from

listening to attendees at my career expos as the

recession took its toll. Whether they had been down-

sized or were just starting out, more women told

me they wanted to start their own businesses but

needed basic steps on exactly how to do it. When,

they asked, was I going to hold an expo for budding

entrepreneurs?

So I launched Spark & Hustle to produce intimate

conferences and provide private consulting servicesto current and aspiring small-business owners. In

less than a year, Spark & Hustle broke the million-

dollar revenue mark. Yup, in a recession.

What I’ve learned is that becoming successful and

staying successful is hard work. It’s very doable, but

it takes smart, deliberate, consistent persistence.

Over the next few months, I will challenge you on

these pages and at SUCCESS.com/winbig to do and

be your best, with a 12-week, 12-step program to

help boost your business. These are all things I have

learned along the way, use in my own business and

teach to my clients.I’ve made this bite-sized and doable. Nothing is

overwhelming. I’m right by your side here, online

and on the next three SUCCESS CDs to encourage

you to reach your goals and to celebrate your mile-

stones and discoveries. This is your time to shine.

So take the challenge. Share your breakthroughs

on SUCCESS.com/winbig for a chance to be featured

in the magazine and win some great stuff, including

lunch and SUCCESS’s personal coaching sessions with me

and Darren Hardy!

S TA R T

S MA L L, T H E w i n

CHALLENGE





Step No. .

Commit to Your WHY

When I started Women For Hire in 1999, my financial goal

was simple: Replace my paycheck. I could have done that by

getting yet another public relations job, so money alone wasn’t

part of my why. My why was rooted in the permanent scar from

a pink slip.

After being unexpectedly fired from a job I loved at NBC—one

I thought I’d stay in forever—I wanted to be my own boss. I was

determined to never have my family feel the pain and financial

devastation that comes when someone else controls my destinyby taking me off their payroll.

Since I knew I could never control the decisions of an employer,

I went the path of small business ownership. Giving up or giving

in was—and still is—never an option because starting a new

business wouldn’t be any easier. And getting a “real” job, so to

speak, wouldn’t insulate my family and me from the possibility of

one day revisiting a layoff.

So my why remains crystal clear—and I never lose sight of it.

Ask yourself now: What’s my why? Why bother with small

business ownership? Maybe it’s because you want the financial

freedom to choose medical treatments for a loved one, based on

the best options, not the price tag. Maybe it’s that you want tocontrol where and when you work to accommodate personal

responsibilities. Maybe it’s because you want to generate aware-

ness for a cause that’s close to you.

When you understand your why—why you’ve chosen small

business ownership over traditional employment; why you’ve

chosen this business type; why you’ve chosen to go after any

particular goal—you’re much less likely to throw in the towel

when the going gets tough, which it most certainly will.

This isn’t a five-minute conversation you have with yourself—

take some time to think it through.

Step No.

Take Responsibility—You’re in Control

Part of owning where you are right now is a willingness to

pinpoint exactly how you wound up here, especially if you’re

looking to go someplace else.

Assume you’re swooping in as an outsider who has been

called in to assess the business. Ask yourself three questions:

First, what worked? Examine what went right, what gener-

ated the desired results and where your victories were.

Second, what didn’t work? What didn’t pan out? What

intentions were left unfulfilled? What exactly went wrong?This may take more time and soul-searching.

Third, what could have been done differently? Often, when

my clients work through this exercise, they realize they’ve

had the answers all along. They know in retrospect what

they could or should have done, where they stumbled, where

they wish they could get a do-over. Most times, they slipped

because they didn’t listen to their gut, got lazy or they followed

someone else’s advice when they knew better.

Taking responsibility is all part of gaining control over

your business. Blaming intransigent politicians, the economy,

budget cutbacks—you know the list—is pointless. Own your

circumstances. Nobody is coming to rescue you or your busi-ness—it’s all up to you.

If you’re stuck or stalled, figure out why. For example, if you

hate sales and you know it’s a weakness that’s hampering your

revenue growth, isn’t it time to finally address it? If you own

up, you can take specific steps to fix just about anything. In

this case, read a book or two on selling. Take a course. Hire a

sales expert. Get coaching.

When you don’t tackle those key weaknesses that are at the

root of your stalled business, you can continue to expect more

of the same, which isn’t necessarily a pretty picture.





Step No.

Know Your Numbers—When You’re Down, by HowMuch and Why

My client Sandy Stein spent years as a flight

attendant before she made millions selling her

Finders Key Purse key chains. She says it’s

easy in an economic downturn to be lulled

into complacency, to assume things will magi-cally improve.

“My controller started telling me that our

numbers were down in mid-2010,” she recalls.

“I told her not to worry, as they would pick

back up with the holiday season.”

Although her money chief continued to issue

warnings through the year, Stein remained

optimist ic. Several months later, reality hit: Her

business needed help.

The devil was in the details, she said. “When I

actually sat down and looked at what the stores

were ordering—little tiny amounts—the stacks

of bankruptcy letters that we had received andhow little our reps were selling, only then did I

make the determination that our marketplace

had changed, and that it would be necessary to

reinvent our business model.”

In retrospect, Stein says her mistake was not

paying close enough attention to the numbers

all along. “I was resting on my laurels—hoping

to coast through this economy—when I should

have started much earlier trying to figure out a

better way.”

Today she doesn’t allow small problems to

become big ones. Each month Stein and herteam review every number and they create

solutions on the spot rather than waiting for a

miracle, which positions her for tremendous

growth in 2012.

Now it’s your turn to pay close attention to

your numbers, watch key trends and hear out

the people you pay to watch your back.

S TA R T

S MA L L, T H E w i n

CHALLENGE

RULES

When to enter:SUCCESS magazine’s Start Small, Win

Big Contest begins January 17, 2012,

and ends April 5, 2012, at 11:59 PM

Central Time (CT). By submitting an

entry, each contestant agrees to the

following rules of the contest and states

that they are 18 years old or older.

Who may enter:Persons 18 years old or older—except

for individuals affiliated with SUCCESS

magazine, including employees, interns,

contractors, and their immediate families

(children, siblings and spouses) and

others living in their households—are

eligible. SUCCESS magazine will

determine winners’ eligibility.

How to enter:The Start Small, Win Big Contest is a

3-part series starting with the February2012 issue of SUCCESS magazine

and going through the March and April

issues. In the first issue we challenge

readers to take the steps Tory Johnson

explains, by which they can achieve

big goals. Readers who participate

will set goals at the beginning of the

Challenge and track them online

through SUCCESS.com/winbig. By

entering the contest, entrants grant

SUCCESS a royalty-free, worldwide,

perpetual, nonexclusive license to

display, distribute, reproduce and create

derivative works of their submissions,

in whole or in part, in any media now

existing or subsequently developed, for

any educational, promotional, publicity,

exhibition, archival, and all other

standard SUCCESS purposes. SUCCESS

will not be required to pay any additional

consideration or seek any additional

approval in connection with such uses.

Judging:Judging will be conducted by the

editors of SUCCESS , Tory Johnson

and SUCCESS Publisher Darren

Hardy and will be based on what

they view as progress as it applies to

each contestant’s own goal or goals.

Winning entries and selected finalists

will be published in the August issue of

SUCCESS . Decisions of the judges willbe final.

A grand prize winner and 2 runners-up

will be selected. The grand prize winner

will be chosen from 3 finalists.

The 3 finalists will be notified of their

status by July 6, 2012, and will appear

on our website on July 10, 2012. The

contest is void where prohibited or

restricted by law. SUCCESS reserves

the right to cancel the contest or modify

these rules at its discretion.

Prizes:Grand Prize:The winner will appear in a feature-length

story in the August 2012 issue of

SUCCESS magazine, and will receive

lunch and a personal coaching session

with both Tory Johnson and/or

Darren Hardy.

Runners-up:

The 2 runners-up will be mentionedin a sidebar to the story on the grand

prize winner in the August 2012 issue

of SUCCESS .

Winners may receive additional noncash

prizes. Winners must sign an affidavit and

license and will be responsible for paying

any taxes they may owe on a prize.





Step No.

Own Your Destiny:What Could I Be If I Refuse to Fail?

If you could wave your magic wand and make three things happen in your business, what

would they be? Not 30 or 300 things: When you make a list that’s a mile long, you’ll never tackle

it. But three is a number you can wrap your head around.

Be specific. For example, maybe you want to get out of debt. Too vague. Instead, make it clear:

“Pay off the $9,000 credit card balance in four months.”

One of the items on your list may be “make more money”—again, that’s obvious. Instead, bedeliberate and targeted: “Generate $20,000 in sales in the next three months.”

Next, define yourself and declare your expertise. Coin your nickname or moniker—and own it. My client Marianne Carlson calls

herself The Granny Geek because she makes complicated web design simple—not what you’d expect from a woman in her 60s.

I love when someone stops me in the airport or on the street and says, “Hey, you’re that jobs lady on TV.” I smile because I’ve worked

very hard to establish that reputation and it feels good to see my hard work pay off. That doesn’t happen in a vacuum. I nurture it

every day.

You must figure out what exactly you want to be known for before you can build an effective plan to make it happen.

There you go: four initial steps to get your mojo going in this new year. I’ll talk to you next month about identifying and listening

to your customers and building a specific type of list that’s among the best weapons in my sales arsenal. In the meantime, I’ll be blog-

ging every week at SUCCESS.com and I’ll be following your stories on SUCCESS.com/winbig. Let the Challenge begin! S

ANNOUNCING

the 2012 SUCCESS Start Small, Win Big Challenge

Small steps can create big results. Join SUCCESS and

Tory Johnson starting Tuesday, Jan. 17, for the biggest,most exciting entrepreneurial challenge we’ve ever hosted.

We’re not superlative kinda folks, but really, this is big.

It’s time to take your small business to the next level. Even

your business of one.

Starting Jan. 17, visit SUCCESS.com/winbig to register,

where you’ll share and set a tangible goal for your small

business. Make it specific. Make it doable. Make it

your own.

During the 12-week challenge, contestants will receive

weekly tips and action items from Good Morning America

workplace contributor and entrepreneur Tory Johnson

and SUCCESS Publisher Darren Hardy, as well as theopportunity to submit questions for the SUCCESS

editors. We’re giving you all the resources we have to

help you succeed.

SUCCESS will select one grand prize winner from three

finalists to be in a feature-length story in the August issue.

The runners-up will be featured in a sidebar to the story.

The fabulous prizes? We’re still finalizing prizes at press

time, but from what we’ve seen so far, they are sure to

please. Stay tuned.

Visit SUCCESS.com/winbig on Jan. 17 to get started.

More help

online

from Tory—

and Darren

Hardy too!

Marianne Carlson,a.k.a. The Granny Geek

© K i m b e r l y C l i n e


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