What a great night! THANK YOU for all the inspiration. As promised please see below for a rough transcript of my speech. Would love to hear your thoughts and stories from your life experiences as a WOMAN IN BUSINESS!
When Gabriele asked if I would be interested in sending out an inspirational talk for the upcoming Women in Business 2010 event at Quails Gate Winery I immediately thought… “Can I find a sitter?” With that in place I quickly answered YES! For me there is nothing more empowering than connecting with fellow women in business.
It’s like hanging out with other moms and finding out that yes their three year old still wears diapers or that their sixteen old can, at times, also be heard screaming, “I hate you mom!”
There is comfort in shared experience, understanding in common paths, and support to be found by those who pursue excellence in business and beyond.
I say "and BEYOND" because for me, being an entrepreneur is more than a vocation—it’s a way of life. A way of thinking. Have you ever found it difficult to relate to people who are not in business? My friend, Joel Young, founder of the Okanagan Valley Entrepreneurship Society once told me “Entrepreneurship is easily defined as being an agent of change. Looking at the world and thinking, behaving and believing that one can truly make a difference.” If only, being in business was as easy as it is wonderful.
They say we are a steadily rising trend.
Women oversee 83 percent of direct consumer spending,
own half of all public stock,
and make up more than fifty percent of the talent pool in business.
They also say…..
We should exercise at least three times a week. Drink 8 glasses of water a day. Get a decent 7-8 hours of sleep a night. We should fight off wrinkles and hide cellulite. Whiten our teeth and take grey out of our hair.
They say, “boy you look tired today.” What they mean is "you look like crap".
They say, “how do you do it all…with your kids and your business.”
What they mean is "do you spend enough time with your family?" At least for many of us…that is what we hear.
They say anyone who uses "not enough time" as an excuse is cheating themselves out of success. They probably don’t have a couple of kids, dog, cat, partner and house to take care of. They have probably never had to choose between being at home with your sick child or making that important meeting that could be the difference between clearing (or not clearing) overhead this month.
And from my own personal experience: They have never been up all night nursing every two hours PLUS escorting a toddler to nighttime potty breaks only to “wake up” the next morning to be live on the air.
I have even heard them say…to me in person….you can’t have it all.
You can’t do it all. You can’t live up to everybody’s expectations all the time. For once. They are absolutely right.
Entrepreneurship…..being an agent of change.
They can have back all their expectations.
As women in business today we have our own.
We multitask multitasking. Just the other day I found myself conducting media research, while exercising on the treadmill and checking emails on my stupid smart phone. Not recommended. Sometimes I find myself thinking about when I need to think about what I need to think about. Anyone else a member of that crazy club?
We re-prioritize. Not just today but everyday. Constantly searching for more efficient uses of our skills and time while balancing the needs of those around us. Do we always succeed? Sometimes more than others.
We value our health—we acknowledge feeling good about ourselves is more than just how we look. We laugh at commercials that promise to get rid of wrinkles and then sometimes, when shopping to relieve stress, we buy it anyway.
We adapt and learn quickly. How many of you ladies have experienced something like this?
For the very first time in your life, you are standing at the Starbucks counter with a smiley barista asking you “what would you like today?” Terms that have never passed through your mind before are mocking your intelligence from every angle. Tall? Grande? Venti? The Starbuckians have their own language and you have no idea what they are saying. After a few minutes of explanation and through more visits (did I mention we are persistent?) you now enter the once elusive world of Starbuckianland and confidently ask for…”I would like a single grande soy latte with one pump sugar free vanilla, one pump mocha, no foam, light whip extra hot please!”
I have seen fellow women in business acquire unbelievable skills, some of which are completely unrelated to their natural talents and comfort zones, all in the name of business success!
We work hard. We have passion. We love what we do.
Growing up in an entrepreneurial family I was told time and time again that to be successful in business, and in life, you must never, never, never give up. Suppliers cheating you out of tens of thousands of dollars? Industry colleagues who lie to win business? Employees who don’t care? "Water off a ducks back", my dad would always say. Live and learn. Keep going.
It can be hard. It can be very hard. As women we often struggle to keep the balance between business success and a happy home. We have doubts.
When laundry piles and unfinished emails are competing for our attention….we wonder sometimes…is it worth it? Of course I am stereotyping here…perhaps your partner does all the laundry. My husband is not allowed anywhere near the laundry room—lululemons do not go into the dryer!!! Oddly he can remember all the numbers and statistics for every Vancouver Canuck but simply cannot remember that simple fact.
Yes, the list of responsibilities and duties as women are long and sometimes overwhelming. So I ask again, is it worth it? With all you have experienced, good, bad, the ugly and AMAZING…..would you have it any other way? For me, I don’t have a choice. To ignore my entrepreneurial spirit is the equivalent of living in grey instead of colour.
One of my favorite writers Maya Angelou once said, "We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.” Is it worth it? Absolutely.
Every morning ask yourself, “What will today bring?” Life is all about perception. CHOOSE to see your journey as an adventure. Passionate speaker and entrepreneur Peter Comrie said to me the other day….. Being in business is like living in a jungle. Play by the rules that your heart can live with. And remember, You get out of your business not what you do but WHO YOU ARE.
Look around the room. The energy of everyone’s passions, dreams and business enthusiasm is tangible. All lasting business is built on relationships. Every connection a potential business partnership. Tonight as we celebrate being women in business be sure to tell your story.
All of our journeys are incredibly unique and without question full of wisdom to be shared.
I was asked tonight to be inspirational—a tall order when speaking to an entire room full of extremely motivated individuals. The request got to me thinking….where does inspiration come from?
The very definition of inspiration is an idea or stimulus. Synonyms include arousal, awakening, creativity, deep think, elevation, encouragement, enthusiasm, genius, influence, insight, motivation, revelation and vision.
Have you ever been driving you car when an idea just HITS you and you think YES! That’s awesome. You barely notice the drive as you formulate your plan.
Inspiration comes from within. Like dormant seeds waiting for the right conditions to sprout and grow—to come to life they need…time, support, passion, solid ideas, persistence, soul deep belief, energy and ACTION.
The energy of inspiration can be found all around us. Last Christmas morning I was a little stressed out busy with the whole festive package—cooking the turkey, getting the kids into their special outfits, cleaning the house for guests….you know how it goes. I ran upstairs to make my bed (just in case the company happened to walk by my room) and came across a magazine. Amongst the chaos I thumbed through it and stumbled upon a powerful story.
It was the memoirs of a young girl from Sierra Leone. Rebels invaded her village and found her hiding in the forest. To show their strength they hacked off both her hands. She was a child. She stumbled to the nearest centre for help. After medical exams she was informed that she was pregnant from a rape she endured from her cousin months before. Her baby boy was born and she stopped begging for money to nurse it as much as she could. But she did not have enough to offer. Her child passed away in her arms from malnutrition. I was humbled, stunned, and so incredibly sad. My mind could not wrap itself around such devastation, horror and cruelty. An American family later adopted this young woman. She now works for the UN and shares her story with others.
If she can be an agent of change I thought—-so can I.
Her story of many defeats that did not leave her defeated energized my own inspiration…my own KARMA.
Such energy is around us all the time. My friend Shawnee Love just launched her new company Love HR. Her passion and excitement for her new business is like water for my inspirational seeds.
We are here to inspire each other.
WE PURSUE OUR DREAMS.
WE ARE THE AGENTS OF CHANGE.
WE ARE WOMEN IN BUSINESS.
