First Word

When I first began my career, and I had spent little time around women who had money to spend on their wardrobes, I thought you really couldn't tell the difference between designer labels and regular clothes from the run-of-the-mill department stores. I bought the belief that cost didn't influence anything in terms of fabrics, etc. Then I worked with this woman who wore high-end designer suites. I quickly noticed a huge difference between my cute, little Limited skirts and blouses and her clothes. People eschew designers and say it makes no difference, but I always joke and say throw that little Wal-mart blouse in the washer and see what happens. Can we say dish rag now? Your personal style and your choice of designers makes a difference and influences your image. It's funny to me that the men in my life make comments more than the women. I never tied the idea of "sexy, classy" with where I shopped. But if you're trying to project an image, you need to fir...

Good morning land lovers ... yes, I'm feeling wacky this morning. So I read a great book over the weekend by Janice Jordan titled It's More than Wine and Meatballs: The secrets to more effective Networking and Growing Through Referrals . I've been in business six years now going on seven and most business books don't necessarily tell me anything I don't already know. I've long since hit the message home about the value and importance of networking and relationship building to grow your business. So, I thought this morning I would give you three meaningful tips that Janice's book simply reinforces: Relationship building is not about throwing business cards at people . Relationship building is exactly how it sounds -- you build a real relationship and you help each other. Relationship building is not necessarily about making the sale. It's about getting to know each other and figuring how you can create synergies to flow the business back and forth. Some...