More Tips for Balancing the Supermom Act - part 2

This post is part two in a series of three posts about Balancing the Supermom Act. If you missed part one, click here...>

Last week, we learned about Lucinda Cross and her new book Corporate Mom Dropouts. This week, Lucinda talks more about the book and the mom entrepreneurs who are featured.

TME: Can you explain how Corporate Mom Dropouts was written to represent the birthing process?
Lucinda: The book took nine months to write and the stories in the book bring you from conception of an idea to the full term birth of a business. Each story starts with an idea and then takes the reader through the growing process. It ends with their success of attaining a business model they love, the time with their family and a profitable lifestyle.

TME: There are several interviews with mom entrepreneurs featured in the book. Can you tell us about these women?
Lucinda: I interviewed over 200 mom entrepreneurs for the book, and the women featured in Corporate Mom Dropouts were hand picked based on their stories about the raw truth. These women provided me with the inspiration and comfort I wanted reflected in the book. Each of these women is living purpose driven lives and they love what they do and who they serve.

TME: How can people order the book?
Lucinda: People can order the book by visiting our site or at Amazon.com.

On December 8th from 1:00 - 2:00pm EST, The Mom Entrepreneur will host Lucinda for a teleseminar entitled Balancing the Supermom Act: tips and techniques for getting more done, spending more time with family and achieving more.

This is a FREE event for moms who do everything themselves, won't seek needed assistance, refuse to delegate assignments, are overwhelmed juggling family and business, and who are experiencing "Burn Out" or “Melt Down”.

To learn more and to register, click here...>

This week, Lucinda offers us more tips for balancing the Supermom Act.

1. Get–and stay–organized: There are so many tools and gadgets that are useful for us as moms to make business at home run a lot smoother. Here are some tools that I use that I know you can enjoy and add to your Get-and stay-organized list.

• Vitalist.com - Helps you to get things done and stay organized. It's easy to use and most of all free. The free version does everything you need.
• A habit list - Your habit list keeps your action list from becoming overwhelmed by the every-day things and helps you to separate your to do list as well.
• Remember the Milk - Handles lists and tasks very well, including repetitive tasks. It has a plug-in for Google Calendar for one-stop organizing.
• Google Calendar - Along with Gmail and Google Reader, this application allows you to keep your life easily organized, intuitively, with no hassle and share your calendar with your network or team.
• Backpack - Great list-maker, perfect for to-do lists and other types of lists. Backpack can be accessed from anywhere: home, work, Mac, PC, mobile.
• The trash bag - Clean this bad boy out on a regular basis - not the actual trash but many of us use our desk space as a trash can. Please reduce this bad habit by tossing anything that’s not absolutely needed and you won’t have a need to organize. Free yourself!
• Don’t forget me when you leave rack - It’s for unloading your stuff as you come in, so it stays organized, and so you don’t forget it as you leave the house. You can personalize the rack and include the kids section or partner section that will hold things that you don’t want to forget such as mail, keys, sunglasses, cell phones, library books and more.

2. Delegate: You do not need to do everything yourself. Identify activities that only you can do effectively, and those that could be done by someone else. What are you spending most of your time doing. Are you putting out fires all day or coming up with creative ideas that can generate cash flow? You also want to examine whether you are using technology effectively to reduce the time you spend on low value tasks.

3. Schedule a mommy day: This is also known as a “Take Your Mom to Play Day” this is not considered me time, this is just time that your child or kids schedule a day that they want to hang with you by themselves. Therefore, since I have two kids, my daughter chose Friday nights to do something together and my son chose Wednesday for me to watch wrestling with him. This not only helps me unwind but I get to know each of my kids likes and dislikes without them battling each other for attention. It works and it keeps them busy.

Stay tuned for more tips on Balancing the Supermom Act next week and for details on a great giveaway from Lucinda at Corporate Mom Dropouts.

For more information about Lucinda or Corporate Mom Dropouts, visit www.corporatemomdropouts.com.

Waging the War on Wrinkles

Got wrinkles? It’s cute for dogs and babies to have them, though the lines and creases are not so attractive on adults. With mom entrepreneur's faces constantly ending up in photos and on video in today’s technology-driven culture, we should all be looking for ways to improve our skin.

Thanks again to Celeste Hilling of Skin Authority for more great advice about preventing wrinkles. I turn 40 in January and I feel very fortunate to not have any wrinkles yet. I know they are coming. I thank my mom - something in the genes!

In this Q&A post with healthy skin care expert Celeste Hilling, this Skin Authority CEO explains that while there are no miracles in waging the war on wrinkles, there are some smart tools that you can place in your arsenal.

TME: What Causes a Wrinkle?
Celeste: To put it simply - a wrinkle is a fold where the dead skin has sunk into the face. Hilling shares a helpful analogy to help you understand the cause, click HERE.

TME: How does your family tree affect skin health?
Celeste: Each of us has unique skin needs based on the affects of age, ethnicity, health and hormones. Click HERE for more insight into how your family tree plays into your skin health.

TME: What advice do you have about using sun screen?
Celeste: Use sunscreen each and every day – rain or shine. To determine the quality of a sunscreen, check the SPF number (it must be SPF 15 or greater). The active ingredient label should list UVA-blocking ingredients of either titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, and/or those in the avobenzone family. More sun sense tips can be found HERE.

TME: Do moisturizers eliminate wrinkles?
Celeste: It’s important to use a soothing, lightweight moisturizer twice daily on your face and neck. Moisturizers alone do not eliminate wrinkles. Click HERE for more information.

TME: How about the eyes? That seems to be where wrinkles always start.
Celeste: The No. 1 selling skin care products are those for the eyes. And, in addition to products, there are several quick tips to help the skin around the eyes.

TME: Can you tell us about your Wrinkle Reversing Serum™?
Celeste: My team created a way to get rid of crow’s feet and worry lines without needles, downtime or thousands of dollars. Wrinkle Reversing Serum™ is the first in a range of products to incorporate SGF-4 Technology™. Derived from four natural, nourishing proteins, SGF-4 Technology was developed specifically to target and reprogram the aging process of skin cells. To learn more about SGF-4 Technology and to see the results of Wrinkle Reversing Serum, watch this video.

Great advice Celeste, and thanks for the informational audio links. Just a reminder that Skin Authority's Beauty Workout Holiday Boot Camp continues until the end of November. For a listing of events in your area and to register, click here...>

About Celeste Hilling
Celeste Hilling is the host of the syndicated Internet radio show “Skin Health TODAY” and the Founder and CEO of Skin Authority, the leading skin care lifestyle company. As a respected speaker on beauty, health and self-esteem, Hilling is a recurring skin care expert for FOX News iMag, Spa Magazine and Les Nouvelles Esthetiques. More details on Hilling and Skin Authority online at http://www.skinauthority.com/.

Search Engine Marketing: Increasing Exposure and Traffic on Your Website and Understanding a Google Analytics Report

On Wednesday, November 18th from 1:00pm – 2:30pm EST, The Mom Entrepreneur will host Ben Adams of Spiral Media for an informative Webinar on Search Engine Marketing.

This Webinar will teach tips and techniques for increasing exposure and traffic to your website through search engine marketing tactics.

During this presentation, you will:

• Learn how to set up your dashboard with the important information and have it sent to you and any other stakeholders automatically.


• Learn how to interpret the reports on your dashboard, and make sense of the data.


• Learn goals, what they are, how to set them up and what the value is for your site.


• Learn how analytics can help you bring more customers to your site and convert those visitors into leads or customers.


• Learn about segmentation and profiles and how to find out where geographically your traffic is coming from.

Overall, you will learn how to gain a better understanding of how your site works and make decisions to strengthen your web site based on what the data is telling you.

For more information and to register, please click here...>

The Do's & Dont's for Using Twitter and LinkedIn Together

LinkedIn and Twitter recently announced that users who have profiles on both social networks will now have the option of pushing LinkedIn status updates out to a Twitter account or pulling tweets into a professional profile.

I read an informative article today on PCWorld by Ian Paul about the do's and don'ts of integrating these two powerful social networks with one another that I wanted to share. It is important for mom entrepreneurs to understand the pros and cons about setting this up before moving forward.

You have three options for integrating LinkedIn with Twitter:

1. you can rebroadcast your LinkedIn status updates to Twitter,
2. turn your tweets into your LinkedIn status,
3. or both.

To start integrating your tweets, you need to edit your LinkedIn settings by adding Twitter from your profile page or by clicking the Twitter icon next to your status on the homepage. Twitter integration will be rolled out to all LinkedIn users over the next few days, so you may not see the new feature right away.

Do's and Don'ts are summarized below:

• DO broadcast your LinkedIn status to Twitter.
• DO link multiple Twitter accounts to your LinkedIn profile.
• DON'T send all your tweets to LinkedIn.
• DON'T display your Twitter account on LinkedIn.
• DON'T forget about LinkedIn.

To read the article in its entirety, please click here...>

Learn How to Reduce Stress & Improve Your Skin's Health

On Tuesday, November 17th from 1:00pm – 2:00pm EST, The Mom Entrepreneur will host skin care expert Celeste Hilling, CEO and Founder of Skin Authority and host of “Skin Health TODAY” for a FREE and informative presentation about the affects of stress on your health and skin.

Mom entrepreneurs admit they have very little "me time", which includes watching their stress level, taking care of their skin and managing their overall health.

During this teleseminar, Celeste will discuss the following important topics:

• The most important things you should be doing daily to ensure healthy skin – establishing a regimen busy moms can stick to.


• The damage stress can cause the skin and one's overall health (e.g. premature aging and wrinkles).


• Quick skin care and beauty tips that take less than 5 minutes per day.


• What products are best for maintaining the health of your skin.


• Other stress relieving activities (e.g. deep tissue massage – what other benefits does this have on the skin, bubble baths – what types of bubbles can be used that do not dry out the skin, etc.)


• How to fight the affects of aging.


• How to join the Beauty Workout and have your own FREE, personalized skin care coach.

For more information, and to register for this FREE event, please click here...>

5 Tips for Balancing the Supermom Act - part 1

This post is part one in a series of three posts about Balancing the Supermom Act. I know that this is a topic all mom entrepreneurs can relate to.

Lucinda Cross is a speaker, mom and the founder of Corporate Mom Dropouts. She also runs a blog, hosts a radio show and is the author of the book Corporate Mom Dropouts, which was released in August.

TME: What is the concept behind Corporate Mom Dropouts?

Lucinda: The concept is to become a successful mom in business and have the flexibility to create a profitable business that fits your lifestyle as a mother, wife and woman.

TME: How will this book help moms make the transition from the corporate world to running their own business?

Lucinda: It provides real time stories with expert advice from women who have started and are now highly successful. This is not a step by step guide to transitioning but a book of life that will inspire women and moms to step into their greatness with confidence.

On December 8th from 1:00 - 2:00pm EST, The Mom Entrepreneur will host Lucinda for a teleseminar entitled Balancing the Supermom Act: tips and techniques for getting more done, spending more time with family and achieving more.

This is a FREE event for moms who do everything themselves, won't seek needed assistance, refuse to delegate assignments, are overwhelmed juggling family and business, and who are experiencing "Burn Out" or “Melt Down”.

Yes, I am talking about YOU and ME. To learn more and to register, click here...>

After interviewing over 200 moms, Lucinda has come up with some of the most interesting ways Supermoms can fly and create a life that operates the way they want it to.

5 Tips for Balancing the Supermom Act - By Lucinda Cross

1. Identify where you want to be: The most important thing is to know what you want and where you want to be. Think about the end result. If you have a clear identified target of desire to succeed, you can walk that path with confidence. But you must know where you want to be and what does that vision look like. (Create a vision board.)
   
2. Work your super star pitch: Know that you have 20 seconds to make a wow impression, but first things first. Always mention: who you are, what you do, and what type of industry your in. Add in some personality so that the person your talking to feels your passion. Be able to describe who you are and what you do in the time it takes to ride an elevator.
   
3. Develop a clear strategy: Strategy is one of the steps in the planning process and success cycle. The sequence in creating a clear strategy is having a Vision, Mission, and Goals. Take a look at your business model and write down what worked and what did not work. Then list the things you have not tried and combine that list with your "this worked" list. Begin to craft an execution strategy plan and be deliberate in your actions.
   
4. Refuse to lower your standards: Many times we lower and drop the value of our personal and professional goals and values in exchange for something or a project that requires more commitment or more sacrifice for less value. Understand your value and refuse to lower your standards if it is not a win-win situation.
   
5. Realize your purpose and understand that its not about you: You are in business to service others, this is not about you and how you feel, its about creating that ultimate experience for your clients and prospects. What is your purpose and how is it fulfilling the needs of others? How does your product or service make others feel? What problem is it really solving besides for example (saving them time, creating a brand, marketing their service or etc...)?

Stay tuned for more tips on Balancing the Supermom Act next week and for details on a great giveaway from Lucinda at Corporate Mom Dropouts.

For more information about Lucinda or Corporate Mom Dropouts, visit www.corporatemomdropouts.com/.

Lucinda will also be appearing live on ABC News on Friday, 11/13 at 9:30am EST. To watch, please visit: http://abcnews.go.com/abcnewsnow/.

5 More Thrifty Tips for Taking Care of Your Skin

Two weeks ago, we shared five thrifty skin care tips with you from skin care guru Celeste Hilling, CEO of Skin Authority.

By popular demand, Celeste is back this week with five additional thrifty and simple tips for achieving radiant skin. This is especially important for busy moms who very rarely take time for themselves.

The Mom Entrepreneur will be hosting a teleseminar on November 17th with Celeste who will share 5-minute skin care tips for moms who need to take more me-time. She will also discuss how stress causes premature aging and wrinkles - I turn 40 in January and I am not ready for wrinkles! More details will be coming soon.

Thursday, November 5th from 9pm - 10pm EST, Celeste will also be sharing skin care and beauty tips for moms at our Twitter Party. We will also be giving away some amazing prizes all donated by Skin Authority - including a visit to the spa! I hope you will join us.

5 More Thrifty Tips for Taking Care of Your Skin

by Celeste Hilling

As we head into the holiday season, enjoy these simple and cost-effective skin care tips…

1. Wash Your Face – it sounds simple and it is, cleaning your skin is one of the most important things you can do when you wake up and before you go to bed. Remove make-up and deep cleanse in one step by using cleansers incorporating AHAs, which are antibacterial and remove dead skin cells.
2. Hands Off – regardless of the urge, keep your hands off your pimples! By pushing and prodding, you are actually pushing bacteria deeper, causing more inflammation and potentially scarring the skin.
3. Stop Smoking – in addition to its negative, carcinogenic effects on your body and overall health, smoking causes premature aging. Cigarette smoke contains more than 4000 toxins, many of which are absorbed directly into the bloodstream and are taken by the blood into the skin's structure. Smoking also thins the skin, reduces collagen and contributes to an unflattering “apple” body shape in women.
4. More Sleep, Less Stress – as one of the biggest impairments to skin care is stress, ease into a good night’s sleep by turning off the television, taking a warm bath, dimming the lights and practicing breathing exercises.
5. Free Skin Care Coaching – in light of the economy, Celeste has developed her own Skin Health Stimulus Package. Everyone has access to a free phone or online consultation with a licensed professional to help them make safer, wiser choices on where to spend their skin care dollar or better utilize the products they already have. Simply dial 1.866.325.SKIN (7546) and say that you want to join the Beauty Workout. It’s really that simple!

About Celeste Hilling
Celeste Hilling is the host of the syndicated Internet radio show “Skin Health TODAY” and the Founder and CEO of Skin Authority, the leading skin care lifestyle company. As a respected speaker on beauty, health and self-esteem, Hilling is a recurring skin care expert for FOX News iMag, Spa Magazine and Les Nouvelles Esthetiques. More details on Hilling and Skin Authority online at http://www.skinauthority.com/.