Featured Speaker at Leadership Essentials Summit

I will be speaking at the 2009 Leadership Essentials Summit, Dec. 8-11, 2009.  This is an audio conference and therefore, no travel is necessary.  All 10 sessions are included in the price and companies may take advantage of the audio format to benefit numerous employees for the price of one admission.  Please check out the details of those presenting and consider signing up.  All you need to do is follow the link provided by clicking the title of this post.  Alternatively, you may purchase an audio recording of the three days of sessions.  Opportunities for Q&A are included in the sessions.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and a safe start to the holiday season.  If you plan on shopping on Friday, keep in mind our earlier post about sticking to your budget.  Bargains are only bargains if you can afford them.  If you are on a mission for some particular purchases as advertised, understand there may be limited quantities and do not be up-sold to something you were not planning on buying.  This is the time when it is easy to make exceptions to your own rules because there are so many great buys. Great buys or not, come the end of the holiday season you will be much happier if you stuck to your guns.

Women in Business: Follow the Podcast!

There are many great resources available on the internet and one of them is finding great podcasts.  Check out Suzanne Caplan's podcasts on Pittsburgh Business Radio, 1280KPBS.  Suzanne is the author of numerous books on business and specializes in small and family owned businesses.  She hosts a radio show and brings a woman's perspective to the mix.  (Literally, she is the only woman--and minority--in their line up.)  Here is the link.

http://www.pittsburghbusinessradio.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=365:host-suzanne-caplan&catid=36:hosts-programming&Itemid=55

Today I listened to some wonderful information on women in sales.  This confirmed what I already believed, that cold calling is not for most of us!  Everything we tend to prefer to do, that is, building relationships before sales, networking instead of forcing sales down peoples' throats, will lead to success in the end.  For all of the women I know who are repeatedly told what they are doing is wrong and they just need to go out and sell, sell, sell...check out some of these podcasts.

BTW, Suzanne Caplan is going to be coming to Memphis in the spring with Womenetcetera.  Stay tuned for details!

Did you know?  In addition to our feature in the Memphis Minority Business Magazine, we have also been profiled in both the Commercial Appeal and Memphis Business Journal?  The Women, Money & Cheesecake workshops have also been featured on KWAM radio and Live@9 TV.  Maybe it's time for you to find out what the fuss is all about!  Contact us at info@womenmoneyandcheesecake.com for information on bringing this financial workshop to a women's group near you. Consider a workshop or perhaps you need a keynote speaker for an event.  The women of Women Advocating Financial $uccess are available to help you out.  Special rates apply for non-profit groups. 

Featured in Memphis Minority Business Magazine

Please follow this link to read a nice profile of our company in the Memphis Minority Business Magazine.  We thank the magazine for its support!

http://mmbmagazine.com/images/Memphis_Business_WOMENStoWatch_09_NovDec2009.pdf     

The Quiet Panic of an Upcoming Season

It's official.  The holiday season has started.  One can barely get the candy out of the bag when those first inevitable signs of future spending start popping up.  One of the traditional first ads to run is a jewelry commercial, selling mall diamonds, in the hopes men will get it done and forget about it.  Then there are the department store ads, first the Targets and WalMarts and, soon to come, Macy's and others.  It is all part of the rhythm of the year, whether you celebrate Christmas or any other holiday or not.   What are we thinking about if our wallets are a little leaner this year?  Weren't they last year as well?  Is it going to be another year of trying to time shopping for the absolute rock bottom sale price?  A year of not caring about sales?  A year of home-made goodies or a year of exchanging simple good wishes and nothing more?  Regardless, there is probably some financial stress in there. 

How can we work to reduce this stress?  Obviously, planning ahead is one tried and true method.  Creating a holiday budget--and sticking to it--goes a long way.  A holiday budget needs to include not just gifts and travel, but entertaining as well.  Even home-made gifts cost money, bringing house gifts to those who invite you or having 10 or 20 people for a holiday meal adds up.Then there are the office party gifts to consider, the babysitters, postal employees and others you just want to recognize.

Diminished expectations also help.  We are a year or so into the "new reality" of saving more, spending less and reconnecting with families in old-fashioned ways, and the holidays are certainly part of this.  Families may drop hints, subtle and otherwise, that these habits are now part of the annual landscape.  Participating in charitable work, a healthy year-round habit, may find an introduction during this time of year.  What a great way to help children appreciate what they do have and find out how great it feels to help others.

It's early November.  Where we live the weather is still temperate and pleasant.  Multi-colored leaves remain on the trees, albeit much sparser than a week ago when a heavy rain brought many of them to earth.  This is a great time to gather your thoughts and resolve what will and will not happen over the holiday season from a spending point of view.  Make your financial plans, accept them for what they are and then breathe.

Welcome to Women, Money & Cheesecake, The Blog

As we get ever closer to finishing our book, we decided to launch a blog to talk about women's financial issues.  This blog is a companion to our Facebook page.  You can find the link for the Facebook page on this blog.  Facebook is where we post upcoming events, including ground events in the Memphis, TN area as well as others around the country.  Yes, we travel to bring Women, Money & Cheesecake money workshops for women wherever we can! 

What is Women, Money & Cheesecake?  It is a unique and fun financial workshop for women where we move away from the financial regrets of the past and focus on practical and productive information to help women take control of their own financial destinies.  Why cheesecake?  Why not?  It is perfectly delicious and provides a great analogy for us to talk about the fundamental ingredients of money. 

Women are consummate multi-taskers.  We are really busy and we really don't have time to deal with professionals who talk down to us.  The fact is, women have great tools already to take control of their finances.   And there is nothing wrong with enjoying a nice piece of cheesecake while we talk about money!