SouleMama Sponsor ~ SILK OAK ~

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Today, I bring you a giveaway from SouleMama Sponsor, Silk Oak. In Jan's words:

 "Silk Oak offers original design cotton clothing, hand silkscreened in our studio in Ithaca, NY since 1977!"

SouleMama: What's inspiring you these days?

Jan:  I was recently part of a panel at my local credit union, Alternatives Federal Credit Union. AFCU has an innovative business development program called Business Cents (Community Enterprise Networking and Training Services). The cornerstone of thier services is a 10 week class called Getting Down to Business which takes you from idea through business plan, financial feasibility, marketing strategies, and all of the confusing details that go into building a successful business. It's an amazing class!

As I sat in the final session of the series, I was struck by how much the world has changed since I first went into business 34 years ago. There were no books to be found on running a small business (small business was defined as under 100 employees!), no "Marketing for Dummies", social media, Etsy... In short, I felt like I was on my own. On top of that, most businesses were run by men and I was a young mother with 2 small children in tow.

My marketing class was my real world business, which had been financed by taking out a second mortgage on our house. Wow, that puts the pressure on!

In contrast, I could see that the students in the AFCU class, who ranged from their 20's to 70's, were going to leave with skills that took me years, thousands of hours of work, tens of thousands of dollars and lots of hard earned lessons to acquire. What an amazing resource!

At the end of our panel session, we were asked if we had any last thoughts, lessons learned, something we wished we had known then. Here are our seasoned words of wisdom:

~ Create the vision of what you want your business to be in your mind and live into it. Remember that everything, no matter how grand, began as an idea. Just as a house begins as a drawing, create the blueprint of your business and build it from there.

~ Let your passion inspire you. Always make time to fill the well, renew your excitement, take time to enjoy the present moment. Don't allow the busywork and details bog you down so that you lose sight of the passion that pulled you into your business to begin with. 

~ Be open to ideas and suggestions from mentors but, ultimately, be true to your own instincts. We all have different styles, needs and levels of tolerance for risk. Some of us jump right into the water, while others need check it out, dip their toes in and get used to the water more slowly. It's all good, there is no "right way". (I'm the jump in first and check to see if there's water later, kind of girl!).

~ Remember that you're on a journey. It's not a straight path. There are detours, wash-outs, unexpected pleasant surprises and helpful tour guides. Be prepared to add some extra stops, pick up some new maps and be willing to make changes. 

~ Enjoy your journey, you get to choose!

 

 

For today's giveaway, Silk Oak is generously offering the following to TWO winners: 

~ A $50 gift certificate to the Silk Oak Shop!
 

In addition, Silk Oak is offering SouleMama readers a 15% discount on all orders placed in the next two weeks. Use coupon code SOULEMAMA at checkout. Offer expires November 26, 2011.

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Thank you to Silk Oak!

To enter today's giveaway, please leave a comment (one entry per person, please) in today's post. I'll close comments by 8am EST on Sunday, and announce the winner(s), chosen via Random Number Generator, shortly after.   

The winners are...

Just gorgeous - and those words of wisdom are so inspiring!
Posted by: Christine @ little red clog

so fun.. love it!
Posted by: farmingmama