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Top 10 Recommendations for Women Business Owners

by admin | Oct 28, 2021 | Asheville, Business, Leadership, Management, Women

By Susan Clark Muntean

As a consultant, mentor, and advisor to entrepreneurs over the past two decades, I have identified patterns, principles, and paths for entrepreneurs to follow. My passion is to support women as entrepreneurs and my expertise is in how to connect women with the resources they need to succeed. These are my top ten pieces of advice and words of wisdom to support you on your journey. You’ve got this!

Seek Mentorship
Seek out inspirational role models and establish a mentoring relationship with them. Establish yourself with mentors who will be honest with you and who will respect you. Seek well-connected members of your community to advocate on your behalf and who will offer to connect you with important stakeholders. Don’t forget to seek mentors of the opposite sex as well.

Find Your Tribe
Find a supportive community that will nurture your soul, feed your ambitions, sell your expertise and creative genius, and help you to market yourself and your business. Leverage both formal and informal networks to spread the word about you and your business. Connect and support others and pay it forward.

Secure Sensible Funding
Seek low interest loans, SBA loan guarantees, forgivable and/or flexible low interest loans, and government or non-profit sources of funds for launching and growing your business. In addition, consider equity investment, especially among family and friends as well as crowdfunding campaigns. Avoid high interest credit card debt at all costs.

Listen to Your Customers
Design your product or service around the needs and wants of your target market. Solicit frequent and honest feedback. Get a minimally viable product into their hands early on and use the beta version of what you offer to improve what you produce. The customer is queen and should be an integral part of the development of your business model, product lines, service delivery and customer relationship management strategies.

Use Weak Ties
Research shows that women tend to rely on close connections, family members and close friends when networking to generate new business and when seeking financing, partnerships, and support while men tend to use distant connections and engage in transactional networking using so-called “weak ties”. In the business world weak ties—those expansive loose connections of friends of friends who know people—are critical to scaling your business and selling more products and services. Get on LinkedIn and connect with second and third level weak ties.

Find Support Organizations
Entrepreneurship is a significant driver of economic development and local, regional, state, and federal governments allocate taxpayer dollars to supporting inclusive entrepreneurship as a means to economic growth. There are so many free and low-cost resources to take advantage of as an emerging entrepreneur or as an established business owner. Seek out the assistance of small business centers, women’s business centers and networking groups, business incubators, accelerator programs, community colleges that offer instructional programming for entrepreneurs, and shared co-working spaces that support entrepreneurs.

Manage Bias
Gender bias is a well-documented all-to-common experience that women face, especially when seeking equity financing and the support of resources critical for success. Don’t gaslight yourself if you experience very subtle forms of discrimination or exclusion or if the services you are receiving feel in any way disrespectful. Manage systemic bias by preparing responses to it in advance. You are not alone on your journey, and you are inherently powerful, capable, intelligent, and worthy of support and the respect you deserve. Don’t forget it!

Differentiate Yourself
Small business owners need to compete on specialization, uniqueness, customization, and delightful experiences that customers rave about relative to existing offerings. How are you better than the competition? Why are you special? Communicate how you are above and beyond the rest with crystal clarity. Own and exude your unique, amazing brand and be consistently clear in communicating that to your target market.

Expand Your Entrepreneurial Mindset
Work on your capacities to identify opportunities, take calculated risks, empathize with your customers, and execute on your ideas. Successful entrepreneurs have a future focus, are optimistic, persistent, and self-confident. Activate your passion and apply your ambition towards continuous self-improvement. Dedicate time to developing your entrepreneurial mindset daily.

Orient Yourself Towards the Future
Too many small business owners are trapped in the cycle of putting out fires and reacting to the immediate, daily, urgent needs of the business. Take time and space away from the daily grind to put your feelers out to the external environment. What is the competition doing? What are shifts in the regulatory environment? How are customer tastes changing? What are groundbreaking emergent technologies and how will they impact your business model? Today’s marketplace requires constant innovation and that requires understanding changes impacting your business model as well as creating future opportunities. By orienting yourself towards the future, you position yourself to take advantage of emerging opportunities that can secure your success over the long haul.

Susan Clark Muntean is an Associate Professor of Management at the University of North Carolina, Asheville. In addition to being an author of Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: A Gender Perspective published by Cambridge University Press, she serves as an advisor, mentor, board member and advocate supporting women entrepreneurs in Western North Carolina.

Five Things to Do at the Beginning of a New Relationship

by admin | Oct 28, 2021 | Asheville, relationships, Wellness, Women

Entering a new relationship is a fun and exciting experience. This phase consists of discovering each other’s interests, laughter, and late night conversations that you spend the next day thinking about. The world is filled with endless possibilities. It’s electric, and so far everything is as close to perfect as it can be. But it’s important not to get too swept away during this time. As your emotions surge, it will be harder to keep a level head and set necessary boundaries, but if you want your new relationship to truly blossom, to mature and grow in a healthy way that’s exactly what you need to do. Below, you’ll find a few tips to help as you navigate your new relationship.

Be Yourself

It’s no secret that everyone wants to appear appealing and put together to their new partner. While you certainly don’t want to dump all your childhood trauma on them right out the gate, you shouldn’t lie about who you are either. You don’t have to put on a show to make someone like you. An ideal partner is someone who will love you for who truly you are, but in order for that to happen, they have to know who you are. Building a relationship based on lies is a foolproof way to create drama and trust issues down the line. Be yourself. Don’t change for anyone. Be honest about your hobbies and your likes and dislikes. Be your goofy or clumsy self. Tell them your favorite movies, even if they don’t appreciate the genre. Don’t tell them you love the outdoors if the idea of spending the day hiking sounds like your own personal hell. Obviously, you can learn to love and appreciate new things in the relationship, and you can certainly try out things they enjoy simply because you want to be around them, but don’t lie about who you are and what you like. Be your beautiful self, and let that be enough.

Don’t Give up Control

Relationships aren’t a game. They shouldn’t be a power play or a battle of any kind, but that being said, you can still lose the power in the relationship by constantly deferring to the other person. If you find yourself asking questions like, “When can we take this step?” “When can I say this without scaring them?” “I want to spend more time together, but should I tell them that?” then you are giving control of the relationship’s speed and direction to the other person. One thing a lot of people forget but should remember is that you are equal partners in the relationship. It’s your relationship too; it belongs to both of you. You have an equal say in things. Your voice matters. Your needs should be met just as much as theirs. Don’t lose your voice, and don’t leave all the important decisions up to someone else.

Set Boundaries

When you’re swept up in someone new, it’s easy to let other aspects of your life fall to the side. You start seeing your friends less because you’re spending all your time with your new partner. You don’t put in as much effort at work because you’re too busy thinking about your possible future together. You don’t spend time alone because you’d rather be with them. And while there’s nothing wrong with being excited about a new relationship, it shouldn’t consume your life and make you put everything else on hold. You are still important, and spending time away from your partner is healthy for your mental health and your identity. Your friends are still important; these are relationships you’ve spent time cultivating and people who’ve been by your side through thick and thin, and they deserve your attention too. Your career is still important. Your goals and hard work shouldn’t fade into the background just because you’re falling in love. Putting boundaries in place, like not seeing each other every night and making time for other aspects of your individual lives, is crucial in the beginning of the relationship. It’ll help prevent you from ‘losing yourself’ within the relationship and neglecting the people and things that matter to you because you’re enchanted with the light of new love.

Be Honest About What You Want

If you want a long term relationship, don’t act like you’re okay with something casual and temporary. If you don’t want kids, don’t say that you can see yourself starting a family. If you love where you live and never plan to move, make that known to your partner. Everyone has to make small compromises in relationships, like eating at a restaurant you aren’t fond of because it’s your partner’s favorite, but no one should have to compromise on the big issues. You need to remember that this is your life; it should look the way you want it to. You should never rearrange your biggest dreams, goals, or desires in order to be with someone. Some lines should be drawn and never crossed, and you should do it early.

Don’t Bring Past Trauma into Your New Relationship

Obviously, you won’t magically heal from all your past pain the moment you get into a new relationship. That would be great, but it’s simply not realistic. Still, you need to keep your past and present separate in your mind. Just because your last partner cheated on you, doesn’t mean your current one will. Just because your last partner was controlling and manipulative doesn’t mean your current one will be. Certainly keep an eye out for red flags, but don’t project other people’s behaviors onto your new significant other. It’s unfair and will only cause doubt and drama to fester in the relationship. Communication and vulnerability are crucial in order to succeed in leaving the past behind you. Talk about your insecurities without accusing anyone of anything. Have a mature and open discussion, and do your best to trust your significant other unless they personally give you reason not to. Relationships are hard enough to navigate without the ghosts of past partners lingering around to mess things up.

If you recently entered into a new relationship, or you think you might start one soon, use this list as a guideline to help you enjoy the happiness new love brings while also making smart decisions for you and your future. It’s not always easy setting boundaries or being open and honest, especially when you want your partner to see you as ‘perfect,’ but it’s crucial if you want your relationship to mature win a healthy way.

Solo Date Ideas for Your Next Day Out

by admin | Aug 30, 2021 | Asheville, relationships, Social

In today’s world where hectic schedules seem to be the norm, taking time to care for yourself can be a challenge. And when you do find the time, deciding what to do and who to do it with can turn into a daunting task that ends up robbing you of precious time. But what better way to unwind and indulge in some much-needed self-care than a solo date? Read on for a list of ideas that are sure to give you some inspiration, whether you’re looking for relaxed fun or a bit of an adventure.

Coffee shop If you’re the kind of person who likes the smell of coffee and the gentle buzz of conversation in a coffee shop, then your solo date could be as simple as some time spent in your local café. You can also explore a new spot around you or order something you’ve never had at your usual haunt to change things up. Pick a comfy seat, grab a book or magazine, and you’re good to go.

Park Nothing can beat Mother Nature when it comes to providing some peace and quiet. If that’s what you’re looking for, a trip to the park could be just the thing. You can fix yourself a snack and read, draw, journal, or just watch people. Needless to say, the fresh air and sunlight will do you good.

Dinner Going out for dinner is probably the most popular idea for a date, so why not do it solo? Dining alone can seem a bit intimidating, especially if you’ve never done it before, but that’s even more reason to go for it. You can step out of your comfort zone and enjoy a nice meal at a restaurant of your choice.

Gallery Whether you’re in the habit of visiting galleries and art shows or not, time spent appreciating art is never wasted. It makes for a great solo activity that is sure to entertain you and open your eyes to new things.

Shopping Many claim shopping is therapeutic. You may agree, or traipsing around the mall may sound like a chore to you. But how about shopping for what you love? Maybe you’re a comic book fan, or you like collecting antiques. Whatever your passion is, there’s almost certainly a store that caters to it.

Event Events are a great way to take a break from your routine and get your mind off things. While it’s true they’re not what they used to be before the pandemic, it’s still worth finding something that interests you, be it live music, poetry readings or even a lecture on a topic you’d like to learn more about.

New skill It’s hard to come up with a better use of downtime than self-improvement. There’s a wide range of skills you could learn while also having fun. Maybe you’ve been itching to try pottery or take a dance lesson. And who knows? You might even pick up a new hobby along the way.

Somewhere with a view The relaxation and the feeling of distance from the daily grind that a great view offers can hardly be matched by anything else. This option is also very versatile, as you can find different places with a view you can enjoy. You could drive to a spot where you can look out at your city, or the sea if you happen to live near one. A rooftop restaurant or bar is another possibility. You could also hike somewhere, adding a sense of achievement to the beauty of the view at the top.

Different cultures You may not have the luxury of traveling the world, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use a day off to satisfy your sense of adventure. Get a taste of a different culture by sampling foreign food you’ve never had before or exploring a part of town dedicated to a particular culture.

Adrenaline rush If you spend most of your time sitting at a desk or tackling the same long to-do list every day, you could really benefit from challenging yourself and feeling the high of an adrenaline rush. Use your free time to go on a scary ride, skydive, do some public speaking or any number of things that can get your blood pumping. A word of caution – your safety should always come first.

Now that you’re armed with this list, you know where to look the next time you feel like taking a break and planning a solo date or ten.

5 Toxic Personalities That You Should Avoid

by admin | Aug 30, 2021 | Asheville, Positive Change, Psychology, relationships

Toxic people are hard to steer clear of. Sometimes they are hard to spot because of how subtle and calculated their form of manipulation is. They make you feel drained, insecure, and anxious, amongst so many other negative emotions, and then they benefit from those emotions to either feel better about themselves or to make sure that you have something to blame yourself for. Whether they seek to make your life miserable on purpose or whether they are not even aware of the impact they can have on others, they still deserve to be called out on their behavior. In return, you deserve to have people in your life that you enjoy being around. So here are five types of toxic personalities that you should be on the lookout for and try your best to avoid:

Negative personalities

It goes without saying that people with a negative mindset are bound to bring only negativity into your life. But a more specific definition of a negative personality refers to the kind of person who adopts a pessimistic view on life and who finds a flaw in almost, if not every, aspect of your relationship with them. They could be a family member who always lets you know the ways in which you could apply yourself better instead of congratulating you on your accomplishments, or a romantic partner who seems to regularly find a reason to start a fight with you. Whichever category this type falls in, they are not the kind of people you want in your life. Negative feedback can work in certain situations, but people are generally found to be performing best when they are given positive reinforcement or when they are being praised instead of scolded. If you are dealing or have dealt at any point with someone who had a negative personality, it is important to remember that they are also making themselves miserable by demanding perfection, because they live in constant disappointment. What you can do to escape their negativity is to surround yourself with people who do see your flaws, but who care about your qualities more.

Positive personalities

On the other side of the spectrum is a positive personality, and perhaps this type is not as obviously toxic as the previous one. It does not sound unfortunate, because everyone needs a person that nudges them towards seeing the good side of things. But sometimes too much positivity can be just as damaging as too much negativity. The problem with believing in the power of positive thinking is that it is just not realistic. We are only human, so our failures or bad experiences do not define us, but they should be acknowledged nonetheless for the sake of personal growth. Someone who encourages you to always look on the bright side or reminds you that other people have it worse is just invalidating your difficulties and trying to take away the guilt or sadness that you are allowed to feel. It is not healthy to see the world in black and white, in negativity or positivity. What could work instead is trying to remind yourself that balance is what everyone should try to strive for.

Victim complex personalities

A person with a victim mentality is someone who refuses to take full responsibility for their actions, and perpetually finds someone else to blame for their own issues or mistakes. The dangers of having someone like this in your life stem from the way in which they are able to make you feel sorry for them. Perhaps they blame their behavior on childhood issues. Perhaps they blame their mishaps on you because they feel you caused them to act a certain way. Regardless, a person who is always quick to point fingers at others instead of owning up to their mistakes is also someone who self-sabotages their own life, and will therefore sabotage their relationship with you as well at one point or another.

Arrogant personalities

There is a big difference between someone who is confident and someone who is arrogant. A confident individual feels good in their own skin, while the arrogant type gives themselves more importance than it is due. They tend to act superior towards others and to talk down to them, and the biggest problem is that they can come across as intimidating. They seem to be in a constant, sometimes imaginary competition with someone else, and they have a strong desire to dominate others in conversations. You might feel insecure around them or you might even dread having a chat with them because of the way in which they seem to make themselves the center of attention while making you an afterthought.

Gaslighting personalities

The term “gaslighting” represents a form of manipulation in which an individual makes another question their own memory or feelings by downplaying certain situations and planting seeds of doubt in their mind. This is the most dangerous type of toxicity, especially because of the insidious way in which it presents itself. Most people who have been gaslighted in relationships have not realized it until later on. The person doing the gaslighting will often tell you that you are too sensitive, or that you take things to heart when you shouldn’t, or even that you don’t remember things correctly and that they never actually wanted to hurt you. But the truth is, no one should get to decide when you have the right to feel upset. People on the receiving end of gaslighting tend to be quick to question themselves, when instead they should recognize that once somebody wrongs you, it is their responsibility to earn your forgiveness and trust, not yours to hand it to them for free. Whether it is intentional or not, this form of manipulation should not be overlooked once it is spotted.

While dealing with someone who has a toxic personality, people don’t realize when something that should be easy becomes hard. Indeed, relationships are difficult to maintain, even healthy ones, but at the end of the day, the good that they bring into your life should outweigh the bad. If you find yourself in a position where being around a loved one brings out feelings of guilt, insecurity, or exhaustion, then it is time to question their presence in your life and to start focusing on your own self-worth.

Look On The Bright Side

by admin | Jul 27, 2021 | Asheville, Health, Lifestyle

Pessimism can hold you back in life. After all, if you always assume that the worst will happen, you will always stay on the safe side. But taking risks is what life is all about. If you didn’t take any risks at all, you would never date anyone in case things didn’t work out. You wouldn’t change jobs because you might not be able to handle the new role.

Some people believe that they are natural-born pessimists. But if that were true, you would never have enjoyed the carefree and hope-filled childhood that you likely remember. So, if you want to regain that youthful optimism, read on. Here are some tips to help you become more of an optimist.

Learn from Past Mistakes

Past experiences shape a person’s attitude to life. So, if you have experienced disappointments or hardships, then it is only natural that you might have a more negative view of your future. However, you cannot change the past, so there is no point in dwelling on past events. Instead, learn from your mistakes and failures and recognize that you did eventually come through the bad times.

See the Good as Well as the Bad

If it is past events that have made you a pessimist, then it is likely that you are only focusing on the negative aspects of events. For example, you are only thinking about the pain that a breakup caused, and you are ignoring the good times that you had with your ex-partner. So, every time a negative thought comes into your head, try replacing it with a positive image of something good that came out of that situation.

Keep Things in Perspective

People who are pessimists are incredibly good at catastrophizing. If a pessimist has a bad day at work, for example, they will start thinking about losing their job. Next, they will imagine themselves being homeless and destitute and never being able to find a job again. When you feel yourself beginning to make a mountain out of a molehill, try to get things back into perspective. Don’t think about the worst possible outcomes; try to weigh up the situation logically and think about the most likely outcome.

Remind Yourself of All the Disasters that Never Happened

If you look back at all the times you thought the worst would happen, you will likely find that the disaster you feared never materialized. Indeed, if you did lose your job, you probably got a new job reasonably quickly. And, what’s more, you likely get paid more now, and the role is more enjoyable. So, when you find yourself in a negative thinking spiral, just remind your pessimistic self about how many times you have been wrong before!

Stay in the Present

Instead of letting your negative imagination run wild, try to focus on what is happening around you right now. While you are thinking about the bad things that might occur, you are missing out on all the beautiful things that are happening right now.

Talk Yourself Out of Pessimism

If you had a friend who was going through a tough time, you would try to help them through it and give them some encouraging words of advice. You certainly wouldn’t tell a friend that their current woes are only the beginning, and it’s going to get a lot worse from here! So, try to be kind to yourself, too. Instead of talking yourself down all the time, try giving yourself the same kind of upbeat advice that you provide for a friend who was worried about something.

Think Longer Term

If pessimism has become an ingrained way of thinking for you, then you probably assume the worst of every situation. If you want to go out for a walk, you will believe that it will rain. You may think you will make a fool of yourself if you go to a party. You may be right, but five years from now, you won’t even remember that you got soaking wet, and you will laugh along with everyone else about the time that you spilled red wine down your shirt at a party. So, try to remember that, even if embarrassing or painful events do occur in your life, they won’t last forever.

Make a Daily Gratitude List

Start each day by making a list of six things that you are grateful to have. Making a gratitude list will set you up for the rest of the day with some positive thoughts. Becoming an optimistic person is not all about changing who you are; it is about changing how you look at the world. So, when you start focusing on the good things in your life, it will help you realize that positive things do happen to you.

Tell Yourself That You Are Optimistic

If you walk out of your front door every day, convinced that you are a pessimist, guess what? You will spend the rest of the day believing that you are a pessimist! No label describes who you are, because you are an individual, and, like everyone else, you will have some good fortune and some bad.

Spend Time With Optimists

People tend to gravitate toward like-minded individuals. So, if you take a negative view of life, then it is likely that you have friends who do the same. Try to widen your circle of friends to include some more update optimists, because enthusiasm and optimism are catching on! If you spend too much time with pessimists, you will all convince each other that things are even worse than you imagined!

Conclusion

Of course, the above tips are not going to transform you into an eternal optimist overnight. Hopefully, though, these ideas will give you a starting point. The most crucial decision that you must make is to decide that you want to change your perspective on life to a more positive one.

“Reality is created by the mind, we can change our reality by changing our mind.” -Plato

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