Mistress Minds, My Own Olympic Event

Focus on the successes. Trying is EVERYTHING. I'm repeating this daily of late. I've been bruised by a couple of attempts to pitch sponsorship of dsmBUZZ to bigger locally owned merchants without success. Basically I'm asking for merchants to offer memberships to their employees in exchange for banner space on the site but the couple of of contacts I've spoken with have been dismissive or ready to peg dsmBUZZ as something else. I must regroup and ask myself the "why" question. If you have the time and a dime I'll share my tale of woe, (funny stories really) to get further feedback on how I fell short with these folks.

Asking oneself the "Why am I doing this" question was one of the concepts that Timothy Johnson of Carpe Factum explained to our Mistress Minds group this week at Christopher's restaurant. He graciously shared ideas on how to manage our businesses with a project management mindset. If you haven't heard Tim speak yet make a point to catch him when you see his name. It's worth your time.

Speaking of successes, our little band of women business owners called Mistress Minds is going strong coming on year two. We started with the goal to offer each other entrepreneurial therapy and that has been the best medicine. Having a strong group of women to commiserate and brainstorm with has been incredibly powerful.

In attendance this evening were Kelly Moore of Kelly Moore Consulting and Des Moines Families, Stephanie Binney of Sweet Binney's, Lisa Ballenger of Golf Etc. for Women, Angela Clark of EnrgPath, Sandy Renshaw of Purple Wren and Around Des Moines. We had first day of school conflicts for some of our regular group including Mindy Toyne of In Any Event, Barb Niccum and Belinda Goodwin of Pure Paper, and Christine McNunn of Fair World Gallery and Trish Flaherty of Metropolis PA. My big success is knowing and associating with these ladies.

Mitch Matthews' post on Iowa Biz about the Olympics resonated. I've been glued to my TV this past couple of weeks catching the drama. My heart broke and I weeped for Lolo Jones when she did not get the gold glory but based on her story of getting to there I know she'll be okay.

I consider dsmBUZZ to be my Olympic event. Taking an idea and making the effort to make it tangible is success. I count my wins not by the coinage in my purse but rather by the caliber of people that I've met and that help promote conscious consumerism. Thanks to the merchants who make the time, thanks to the consumers who make the small investment, thanks to all the people who help. You make the setbacks worth it.

 

Comments

[Timothy Johnson]

Sherry - thanks for the invitation to address your group. It was fun meeting new faces and having the opportunity to share.